---
title: 'Bezbozhnik u stanka No. 19, 1929: anti-alcohol issue, ''a modern variation on drunkenness at Cana'' (cover)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bezbozhnik-u-stanka-anti-alcohol-cana-1929/
description: 'Magazine cover: a haloed Christ in orange and blue pours from a long tube into a clutter of bottles and plates while bearded, drunken men slump, sprawl…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** Satirical depiction of Jesus Christ as a drunkard and moonshiner among drunken, vomiting men; ridicule of a religious figure. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Bezbozhnik u stanka No. 19, 1929: anti-alcohol issue, 'a modern variation on drunkenness at Cana' (cover)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/bezbozhnik-u-stanka-anti-alcohol-cana-1929.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/bezbozhnik-u-stanka-anti-alcohol-cana-1929.jpg)

# Bezbozhnik u stanka No. 19, 1929: anti-alcohol issue, 'a modern variation on drunkenness at Cana' (cover)

Magazine cover: a haloed Christ in orange and blue pours from a long tube into a clutter of bottles and plates while bearded, drunken men slump, sprawl and vomit around the table. The printed legend calls him the first and most malicious moonshiner. Pinning a loaded label on a religious figure so that the issue's anti-drink message rides on ridicule is the name-calling tell.

## Text on the object

Original (Russian) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь!
АНТИАЛКОГОЛЬНЫЙ
БЕЗБОЖНИК У СТАНКА
1929
№ 19
СОВРЕМЕННАЯ ВАРИАЦИЯ НА ТЕМУ О ПЬЯНСТВЕ В КАНЕ ГАЛИЛЕЙСКОЙ
Рис. [illegible]
Цена 35 коп.
Седьмой год издания
САМЫЙ ПЕРВЫЙ И САМЫЙ ЗЛОСТНЫЙ САМОГОНЩИК ПО ИМЕНИ ИИСУС ХРИСТОС
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Proletarians of all countries, unite!
ANTI-ALCOHOL [ISSUE]
THE GODLESS AT THE WORKBENCH
1929
No. 19
A MODERN VARIATION ON THE THEME OF DRUNKENNESS AT CANA OF GALILEE
Drawing by [illegible]
Price 35 kop.
Seventh year of publication
THE VERY FIRST AND MOST MALICIOUS MOONSHINER, NAMED JESUS CHRIST
```

Literal translation by Claude (machine translation, not fluent-reader verified). A diagonal bar partly covers the masthead. Handwritten English glosses on the scanned copy are a later annotation and are not transcribed.

[← Eulenspiegel cover, July 1928: 'Caesar Mussolini' by Charles Girod](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eulenspiegel-caesar-mussolini-girod-1928/) [Bezbozhnik u stanka No. 22, 1929: The Five-Year Plan crushes the gods (cover) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bezbozhnik-u-stanka-five-year-plan-crushes-gods-1929/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers.
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)