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Picture 29:
The picture, taken before „elections“ in 1958, shows a board with a propagandist cartoon
facing a cemetery. The cartoon is meant to illustrate socialism’s superiority. A worker with
the word „socialism“ on his overalls is shown smiling, with open eyes, healthy and
strong-looking. The old toothless gnome who symbolizes capitalism has screwed-up eyes and is
yelling at the worker: "How ridiculous! We are the superior power!". He needs to stand on
stilts in order to reach eye-level with the worker, thus ineffectively hiding his
powerlessness. His suit is that of a person who does no "real work", and he has a dollar sign
on his hat - the whole figure embodies anti-Western and anti-capitalist stereotypes, which the
Nazis had also drawn on. This comparison applies to the strong and healthy-looking worker, too.
The ideological message, however, is the Marxist-Leninist doctrine of the inevitable
withering-away of capitalism, which will be replaced by socialism/communism. One may read
this as an attempt to implore onlookers to believe in the strength of socialism despite its
obvious weakness in the light of mass escapes. 1958, however, was indeed an optimistic year for
the East German communist leaders, not least because of declining numbers of escapees (see
introduction). The person who put up this board in front of graves may have been deliberately
mocking its message, although we can't know this with certainty. Very probably, the
photographer was not the only one who was amused by the picture. |
