Deutschlands ideale zukunft unter der Herrschaft des Bolschewisten [Germany's ideal future under the dominion of the Bolshevist]

A post-First World War German anti-Bolshevist poster issued by Vereinigung zur Bekampfung des Bolscheivismus [Alliance to Combat Bolshevism] c.1919. The poster features the image of a giant male figure representing Communism. He is stamping over a German town, wielding a flaming torch that is causing havoc and fire. The title and text are positioned beneath this image and translate as: 'Germany's ideal future under the dominion of the Bolshevist'. The 1919 campaign for the German National Assembly stimulated propagandists on both the Right and the Left, which manifested itself in a classic battle of slogans and images plastered on the walls of German cities. On one side, the proletariat created posters calling for a restoration of order in the streets and, on the other, posters called for revolution. Similar in style, the propagandists produced posters that are purposefully crude, dark and expressionistic. Each poster tackles the problems of hunger, unemployment and exploitation left in the wake of the First World War with the intent to capture the hearts and minds of a divided and conquered German people. The active presence of communists in Germany after the First World War led to the heightened fears of a Russian-style revolution.