Tea at Trianon: Soviet Propaganda Cartoons

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, October 30, 2025

Soviet Propaganda Cartoons

From Mark Judge at Hot Air:

Most of the cartoons criticize America for racism and greed. The Politburo called America oppressive while ignoring our constitution, civil rights movement, and freedom of speech. They mocked Western wealth while censoring our charity and basic decency. Like the Nazis, they rejected jazz in favor of "traditional" songs. Many of these cartoons are inspired works of art - not surprisingly, some of the best were made not by true believers but by animators who feared for their family’s safety if they didn’t toe the line. 1972's anti-war "Ave Maria” is like the darkest parts of Fantasia and Guernica - although it should be said that some of the other films are pure Disney or Warner Brothers.
Yet even a society as closed as the former Soviet Union couldn’t keep all Western influence at bay. In 1979's trippy, anti-gun "Shooting Gallery," artist-director Vladimir Tarasov gave the main character a red hat with a huge front brim. Tarasov had gotten the idea from a character named Holden Caulfield, who wore a hunting cap in a book called The Catcher in the Rye.
It is striking how much the modern Western left has come to reflect old Soviet ideology. The essay by Igor Kokarev that accompanies the DVD set has 8 points that characterize the Soviet system. Many of them, like restricting travel and prizing modesty to the point of violence towards those who dress differently, are common among Islamic immigrants to the West, and are being adopted by their leftist defenders, who are self-admitted Marxists. (Read more.)