Cariсature as a source of the Soviet childhood history (based on the 'Pionerskaya Pravda' newspaper in the second half of the 1920s)

A.A. Salnikova*, K.A. Korniushkina**

Kazan Federal University, Kazan, 420008 Russia

E-mail: *Alla.Salnikova@kpfu.ru, **shkniba@gmail.com

Received October 11, 2020

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DOI: 10.26907/2541-7738.2020.6.194-209

For citation: Salnikova A.A., Korniushkina K.A. Cariсature as a source of the Soviet childhood history (based on the “Pionerskaya Pravda” newspaper in the second half of the 1920s). Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2020, vol. 162, no. 6, pp. 194–209. doi: 10.26907/2541-7738.2020.6.194-209. (In Russian)

Abstract

This paper deals with the phenomenon of newspaper caricature and its influence on the life of Soviet children. Caricatures were widely used by the Soviet authorities as a means of official propaganda, in children’s periodicals as well. For children, they were employed to create an image of the “standardized” Soviet child, through cartooning and criticism of antipodes. The analysis of caricatures from the pages of the “Pionerskaya Pravda” newspaper dating back to the second half of the 1920s revealed the ways by which various archetypes developed in the satirical ideological images. Their strong impact on children was demonstrated. The caricatures for young readers of “Pionerskaya Pravda” were considered as a creolized text (binary – verbal–non-verbal) with categorical, simplified, political, and educational purposes. A classification of caricature images based on their genre and content was developed. The value of newspaper caricatures as a source for reconstruction of children’s “sovetization” in the USSR during the second half of the 1920s was discussed.

Keywords: history, historical source, Soviet childhood, “Pionerskaya Pravda”, caricature, USSR, second half of 1920s

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