---
title: Sovetskie soldaty! Russian-language appeal to Soviet troops, Budapest 1956
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hungarian-youth-appeal-soviet-soldiers-1956/
description: 'A hand-lettered Russian sheet tacked to a Budapest board addresses ''Soviet soldiers'' directly: do not shoot unarmed people, because ''traitors of the…'
section: Collection
---

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

[![Sovetskie soldaty! Russian-language appeal to Soviet troops, Budapest 1956](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/hungarian-youth-appeal-soviet-soldiers-1956.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/hungarian-youth-appeal-soviet-soldiers-1956.jpg)

# Sovetskie soldaty! Russian-language appeal to Soviet troops, Budapest 1956

A hand-lettered Russian sheet tacked to a Budapest board addresses 'Soviet soldiers' directly: do not shoot unarmed people, because 'traitors of the homeland' misled you, and Hungarian workers and youth ask only for freedom and more bread. The sheet puts the blame for the soldiers' presence on unnamed 'traitors', not on the soldiers themselves.

- **Date:** 1956
- **Period:** [Cold War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=cold-war)
- **Made by:** Signed 'Hungarian Youth' (Венгерская молодежь); anonymous authors of a Russian-language sheet posted in Budapest, 1956
- **Region:** [Eastern Europe and Eurasia](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=eastern-europe-eurasia)
- **Country:** [Hungary](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=hungary)
- **Medium:** [Leaflet](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=leaflet)
- **Issuer type:** [Movement](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=movement)
- **Regime:** [Nagy Government](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=nagy-government)
- **Leader:** [Imre Nagy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=imre-nagy)
- **Audience:** [Enemy forces](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=enemy-forces)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Empire and colonialism](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=empire-colonialism)
- **Event:** [Hungarian Revolution 1956](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=hungarian-revolution-1956)
- **Techniques:** [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/)
- **Source:** Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- **Source:** [Fortepan (donor: Fortepan)](https://fortepan.hu/en/photos/?id=6655), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** CC BY-SA 3.0 (Fortepan site footer: photos published under CC-BY-SA-3.0) Fortepan, ID 6655 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

## Text on the object

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

```
СОВЕТСКИЕ СОЛДАТЫ!
Не стреляйте на людей, у которых
нет оружия. Предатели родины
ввели Вас в заблуждение. Венгерские
рабочие и молодеж требуют свободы и больше
хлеба. Не воевайте против венгерских рабочих.
ВЕНГЕРСКАЯ МОЛОДЕЖЬ
```

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

```
SOVIET SOLDIERS!
Do not shoot at people who have no weapons. Traitors of the homeland have led you into error. Hungarian workers and youth demand freedom and more bread. Do not fight against Hungarian workers.
HUNGARIAN YOUTH
```

The signature line is in outlined block letters that are smudged in the scan; it is read as ВЕНГЕРСКАЯ МОЛОДЕЖЬ. Spelling is as printed (молодеж without a soft sign in the body text).

[← 'Japan's pro-communist policy: let us smash it!' (日本의容共政策을粉碎하자): school banners at a rally, South Korea](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/smash-japans-yonggong-policy-rally-1955/) ["Denkt an Ungarn: Seid wachsam!" CDU poster, 1957 Bundestag election →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cdu-denkt-an-ungarn-1957/)

## 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/) (1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [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/) (1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [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/) (Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [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/) (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/) (Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Exit Liberté a la Francois! or Buonaparte closing the Farce of Egalité, at St. Cloud (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exit-liberte-buonaparte-gillray-1799/) (Nov 21, 1799 · Name-calling)
- [Van Moscouw tot Elba moest ik wyken (From Moscow to Elba I had to give way), Napoleon caricature by Wijnand Esser](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/van-moscouw-tot-elba-napoleon-esser-1814/) (1814 · Name-calling)