2019-12-30 Mon

The 1924 silver Rouble coin issued in the heady early years of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or Soviet Union) present stories of agitation propaganda.

Agitation Propaganda od Agit-prop, from the Russian agitatasiya propaganda is a political strategy that employs the tactics of agitation and propaganda to influence and shape public opinion. Communists in the early days of the Soviet Union were obsessed with it as a tool to reach their political and cultural goals.

In the early years of the formation of the Union, the leaders of the Communist state wanted to develop industry so they could compete with the United States and other highly industrialized nations. To that end, they developed agit-prop to attempt changing the culture of people to be more willing to engage in industrial work.

The 1924 silver Rouble coin tells a great story of an old peasant and a young proletarian. The old peasant holds a farm tool and a sickle. The young worker guides the old man to an industry shown far away. The sun is rising over the mountains behind a modern factory. The obverse of the coin depicts the 1st Coat of arms in the center.

The young proletarian is telling the old, broken peasant that the future greatness of the Soviet Union will come through industrialization.

Image Courtesy: https://colnect.com/