---
title: 'Народы СССР раньше и теперь (The Peoples of the USSR, Before and Now: old and new life in Central Asia)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kustodiev-peoples-of-the-ussr-before-and-now-1926/
description: Two Central Asian scenes in one sheet. At left, yurts, a camel, riders and men in padded robes, with a figure in a white tunic and a raised fist at the…
section: Collection
---

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

[![Народы СССР раньше и теперь (The Peoples of the USSR, Before and Now: old and new life in Central Asia)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/kustodiev-peoples-of-the-ussr-before-and-now-1926.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/kustodiev-peoples-of-the-ussr-before-and-now-1926.jpg)

# Народы СССР раньше и теперь (The Peoples of the USSR, Before and Now: old and new life in Central Asia)

Two Central Asian scenes in one sheet. At left, yurts, a camel, riders and men in padded robes, with a figure in a white tunic and a raised fist at the edge; at right, brick factories, a tram, a street lamp, a dome and a young woman in a red headscarf and a man in a skullcap carrying a red banner. Under a pink banner in Arabic script, only the 'before' and the 'now' are shown, each with only what flatters its side of the comparison: the card-stacking tell.

## Text on the object

Original (Arabic script (language not identified)) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
[illegible: banner in Arabic script, ending in an exclamation mark; not read]
```

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

```
[not translated]
```

The only text on the hosted image is the pink banner, which was not read by a reader of the language; the artist's signature at lower left is too small to read.

[← "Jungles Today, Gold Mines Tomorrow" (Empire Marketing Board, 1926)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jungles-today-gold-mines-tomorrow-1926/) [La Voz de la Verdad (Lugo), front page for the silver jubilee of the Tarsicios, 11 April 1926 →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/voz-de-la-verdad-tarsicios-lugo-1926/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (Kingdom of England · 1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [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)
- [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.
- [The Virginia Argus, "Letter to Mazzei" and rebuttal, 16 September 1800](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/virginia-argus-letter-to-mazzei-1800/) (United States · Sep 16, 1800 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [The Examiner, No. 608, 22 August 1819, 'Disturbances at Manchester' (Peterloo)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/examiner-disturbances-at-manchester-1819/) (United Kingdom · Aug 22, 1819 · Card stacking)
- [Punch, 'Laurels at Ningpo' column on the First Opium War, 1842](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/punch-laurels-at-ningpo-1842/) (United Kingdom · 1842 · Card stacking). Content note: Period satirical prose describing the killing of Chinese soldiers at Ningpo in graphic terms, using period terms such as 'pig-tail' for Chinese people.
- [La paz según el Perú – La paz según los chilenos (Peace According to Peru, Peace According to the Chileans)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/la-paz-segun-el-peru-el-banquillo-1880/) (Peru · Jun 12, 1880 · Card stacking)
- [New York Journal and Advertiser, front page, 17 February 1898 ($50,000 reward, Maine 'work of an enemy')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ny-journal-maine-destroyed-enemy-1898/) (United States · Feb 17, 1898 · Card stacking)