Content note: Grotesque caricatures of Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious figures crushed by a Five-Year Plan symbol; includes a stereotyped caricature of a Jewish figure. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Bezbozhnik u stanka No. 22, 1929: The Five-Year Plan crushes the gods (cover)
Magazine cover: a giant red 'V' topped with a hammer and sickle, above factories and tractors, crushes three grotesque bearded figures with haloes, drawn with a skullcap and prayer shawl, a hat and spectacles, and a turban with crescent and star. The headline calls the plan a crushing programme against religion. Drawing three faiths' figures as helpless, leering caricatures is the name-calling tell.
- Date
- 1929
- Period
- Interwar
- Made by
- Bezbozhnik u stanka (The Godless at the Workbench), illustrated magazine of the Soviet militant-atheist movement, Moscow
- Country
- Soviet Union
- Medium
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Soviet Union
- Leader
- Joseph Stalin
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Demonize
- Themes
- Religion, Economy and finance
- Event
- First Five Year Plan
- Techniques
- Name-calling
- Leader
- Joseph Stalin
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (published 1929, before 1931); also PD-Russia on Commons
Bezbozhnik u stanka No. 22, 1929. Copy digitised by the New York Public Library; scan on Wikimedia Commons (PD-Russia). US basis: first published 1929, before 1931.
Text on the object
Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! БЕЗБОЖНИК У СТАНКА 13-ый год пролетарской революции № 22 ПЯТИЛЕТКА, — ЭТО СОКРУШИТЕЛЬНАЯ ПРАКТИЧЕСКАЯ ПРОГРАММА В БОРЬБЕ С РЕЛИГИЕЙ. Vтн ЛЕТКА Цена 35 коп. Седьмой год издания Да здравствует пятилетка!
Proletarians of all countries, unite! THE GODLESS AT THE WORKBENCH 13th year of the proletarian revolution No. 22 THE FIVE-YEAR PLAN IS A CRUSHING PRACTICAL PROGRAMME IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST RELIGION. V-th [YEAR]-PLAN (the 'V' stands for 'five'; 'ЛЕТКА' completes 'пятилетка') Price 35 kop. Seventh year of publication Long live the Five-Year Plan!
Literal translation by Claude (machine translation, not fluent-reader verified). The printed 'V' plus 'ЛЕТКА' spells 'пятилетка' (five-year plan). Handwritten English glosses on the scanned copy are a later annotation and are not transcribed.
