"Di Alten Shul / Di Roten Shul". Russian propaganda-poster advocating for the Soviet education-system, Центриздат (Tsentrizdat) publishing house. Moscow, (1920s), Yiddish.
An impressive poster comparing between pupils who went to school in a Soviet establishment and pupils who went to the "Cheder". The poster draws two routes, representing two possible paths of life; one painted in red and the other in blue. The red route begins with studying in a Soviet school (in the illustration we see children in school, wearing red kerchiefs associated with the Communist youth-movement "Pioneers"; at the backdrop stands a portrait of Lenin), continues with working in the factory and agricultural work and leads eventually to the "unification of the people" ("folker akhdes"). The blue route begins with studying in the "cheder", goes through working in a small store, praying in the "Klois" (pray and study-house), and ends up with the dividing or “hatred” among the people (“folker sinne”). At the center of the poster we see a Yiddish inscription, explaining how “the old school”(the “cheder”) advances enslaved people, while the Soviet school advances healthy people, fit to work and ready for the socialistic order. Beneath the inscription we see an illustration of a mother and son, with their faces turned towards the Soviet school.
72X108 cm. Good condition. Folding marks, creases. Tears around the edges and within the folding mark. Framed.