"Крепи оборону!" Плакаты из коллекции Серго Григоряна.

Set from the series "Golden Collection. Publishing house "Contact-culture", Moscow, 2015, 24x33cm

In the spring of 1919, the republic of soviets faced an urgent need to provide defense against the enemy advancing from all sides, to mobilize all forces and resources to defend the gains of the proletariat. The main role of the defender of the proletarian republic was assigned to the Red Army, and the military poster became the most important agitation and propaganda resource of the country. Its feature was a clear correspondence to a specific task, which did not allow different interpretations of the image. Along with propaganda sheets, the artists created posters with an important military text or poetic accompaniment. Such posters did not solve a one-time task, but became an instrument of political and military education.
After the end of the Civil War, in the conditions of building the country's armed forces, the nature of the poster changed. Propaganda work, including by means of a poster, was carried out by the state constantly. Poster artists, in addressing the workers and peasants, used the understandable and accessible language of political appeals, the main of which was "Strengthen the defense!". The army and navy were replenished with aircraft, tanks, cars and warships, built on membership fees from voluntary societies and deductions from lotteries. armed forces. In subsequent years, one of the main tasks of the poster was to demonstrate to the people the combat power of the armed forces, through the demonstration of parades of military equipment, aircraft and ships of the Navy in the poster. In the process of preparing for the adoption of the new Constitution of the USSR and the expansion of the categories of the population subject to conscription into the armed forces, poster artists were tasked with revealing the nationwide character of the invincible Red Army, and one of the topics was "the army and children".
After the victorious end of the Great Patriotic War, the theme of protecting the country and the peaceful labor of the Soviet people was reflected in the festive posters for the February date and the days of the armed forces. As the military confrontation with NATO countries intensified and the Soviet Army and Navy were equipped with new effective military equipment, images of a resilient Soviet soldier and a courageous officer, skillful and reliable defenders of the Motherland, constantly guarding its borders, were established in the military poster.