---
title: 'This Man Is Your Friend: Russian. He Fights for Freedom'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/this-man-is-your-friend-russian-1942/
description: A smiling Red Army soldier with a rifle on his shoulder is introduced to American viewers as 'your friend' who 'fights for freedom.' The virtue word does…
section: Collection
---

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

[![This Man Is Your Friend: Russian. He Fights for Freedom](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/this-man-is-your-friend-russian-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/this-man-is-your-friend-russian-1942.jpg)

# This Man Is Your Friend: Russian. He Fights for Freedom

A smiling Red Army soldier with a rifle on his shoulder is introduced to American viewers as 'your friend' who 'fights for freedom.' The virtue word does the work that a description of the ally's political system would otherwise have to do, and the friendly face transfers the warmth of personal friendship onto a wartime alliance with the Soviet state.

- **Date:** 1942
- **Period:** [Second World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwii)
- **Made by:** U.S. government (printed by the U.S. Government Printing Office)
- **Region:** [North America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=north-america)
- **Country:** [United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-states)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [State](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=state)
- **Regime:** [Roosevelt Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=roosevelt-administration)
- **Leader:** [Franklin D. Roosevelt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=franklin-d-roosevelt)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Theme:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military)
- **Event:** [World War II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=world-war-ii)
- **Techniques:** [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2009634186/), retrieved September 27, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (U.S. government work; LOC: no known restrictions on publication) U.S. Government Printing Office, 1942. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-23988.

## Text on the object

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

```
This man is your FRIEND

Russian

He fights for FREEDOM

★ ★ ★

For additional copies write to Graphics Division, Office of Facts and Figures, Washington, D. C. . . . Specify GPO Jacket No. 455915.                                                    U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1942—O
```

[← This Man Is Your Friend: Chinese. He Fights for Freedom](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/this-man-is-your-friend-chinese-1942/) [Wanted! For Murder — Her Careless Talk Costs Lives →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/wanted-for-murder-careless-talk/)

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- [Trois Tetes sous l'meme bonnet (three heads under the same cap)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/trois-tetes-sous-le-meme-bonnet-1789/) (1789 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities)
- [Proclamation by the Queen in Council, to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India (printed sheet, Allahabad, 1 November 1858)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/queens-proclamation-to-the-people-of-india-1858/) (Nov 1, 1858 · Glittering generalities, Scapegoating)
- [The Great Battle of Ansong Ford: The Valor of Captain Matsuzaki](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ansong-ford-toshikata-1894/) (1894 · Glittering generalities)
- ['The Congress Cross or "Swastik"' (Pickings from the Hindi Punch, Bombay, February 1896)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hindi-punch-congress-swastik-1896/) (Feb 1896 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Un combate en el río Zapote (A Fight on the Zapote River), Blanco y Negro](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/un-combate-en-el-rio-zapote-1898/) (Jul 9, 1898 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)