The posters in this exhibit were completed as projects in HIST 3644: Twentieth Century Russia in the spring 2023 semester. Each poster explores one cartoon depicting the changing political situation in Russia in the era of revolutionary change. The eighteen cartoons in these posters were published in the Evening Star, a daily newspaper in Washington DC, in the years 1917-1919. Students worked in collaborative groups to research the historical context and write an interpretation of how the cartoon interpreted important issues in this stage of twentieth century Russian history. 

Each cartoon depicted key events such as the end of the Romanov autocracy, the struggle to establish a democratic and representative government, the Bolshevik seizure of power, the collapse of the Russian army, the negotiation of peace with Germany, and the establishment of a new Soviet government. Headlines published by the Evening Star during this same period of time provide further details about these historical events as interpreted for American readers.

Cartoonist Clifford Berryman (1869-1949) was an insightful observer of the unfolding drama of world events whose drawings shaped American perceptions of political processes. Berryman, whose drawing of President Roosevelt invented the popular image of the “teddy bear,” often depicted Russia in the form of a bear whose size, position, and facial features suggested relative levels of danger or domination. Other common elements across these cartoons included an activist identified as a Bolshevik, historic individuals such as Kerensky, Trotsky, and Lenin, and a bearded figure representing the Russian people whose fate appeared increasingly desperate and despondent as the promise of the revolution turned into a Soviet dictatorship. This series of cartoons suggests how the American perceptions evolved from hope for the promise of democratic government to concern about Russia’s withdrawal from the war against Germany to hostility to the radical ideology promoted by the new communist government.

Posters (slide show)