Comment on Ukraine rebels appeal to WWII spirit with Soviet propaganda

Pro-Russian rebels in east Ukraine are turning to Soviet World War II posters to spread their message of fighting against Ukrainian “fascists” in a part of the world that was flattened by Nazi troops. “The Motherland Calls!” read one billboard accompanied by a vintage print of a stern-looking Soviet woman against a background of bayonets — jarring next to garish adverts for phone operators, vacuum cleaners and bikinis. Dozens of posters have sprung up on the main roads in and around Donetsk, a rebel-held industrial city and commercial hub for eastern Ukraine. “We have put up about 100 of them,” said Yelena Nikitina, the minister of information of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic government. “We Will Win!” read another poster featuring a picture of a mediaeval Russian knight, the Russian general Alexander Suvorov who fought against Napoleon and a Bolshevik fighter from the 1917-1922 Russian Civil War. Some of the images have been adapted to fit with modern-day circumstances. One shows a mother and child cowering as a bloody bayonet is thrust towards them and the slogan reads: “Russian Army, Save Us” — a small but significant alteration from the original Soviet version: “Red Army, Save Us.” Another depicts a Soviet Red Guard fighter in the Civil War with the date 1918, followed by an image of a Red Army soldier with the date 1941, then a modern-day rebel fighter with a surface-to-air missile and the date — 2014. “They reflect people’s inner convictions.