The Place of Lenin and Atatürk's Figures in Propaganda Posters Following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and the 1923 Turkish Revolution

To increase the number of people who believe in their ideology and thoughts, propaganda means the influence of people, especially the sovereign powers in various ways; while carrying out its activities with technological developments in every period, it closely followed these tools and reinforced its effect with the help of these tools. The manipulative feature of propaganda was understood during the First World War, and this feature was further developed and was accompanied by mass media in the Second World War. First World War, after the establishment of totalitarian governments in Europe, in 1917, during the recycling of stone in Europe and The United States of America continent the made the Bolshevik Revolution, in 1923, the importance of propaganda in the Republic of Turkey’s establishment can not be denied. On the other hand, both Ataturk and Lenin used propaganda, especially posters, to adopt their regimes and presented their portraits to the public through these posters. In this study, the concept and history of propaganda were discussed and the Russian and Turkish Revolutions, two separate revolutions that took place in 1917 and 1923 were examined historically. The propaganda posters of the leader of the Bolsheviks Vladimir İlyich Ulyanov's (Lenin), who took over after capturing the Petrograd Winter Palace in 1917; and the posters of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who became the founder and leader of the Turkish Republic after the Turkish War of Independence in 1923 were analized by Roland Barthes semiotic analysis method. At the end of the study, it was determined that both leaders were depicted as a hero on posters and pioneered the revolutions in the country. In the propaganda posters of Lenin, after the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, Lenin’s struggles against the Russian tsarist family, capitalists and clergymen are at the forefront. These people were seen as obstacles to the revolution and great efforts have been made to liquidate them. At the same time, the Communist Party founded by Lenin was another theme that was frequently covered in Lenin’s propaganda posters. The Soviet people were asked to join the party and it was pictured that the great victory would be achieved only by uniting the whole nation under the leadership of Lenin. In Ataturk’s propaganda posters, the reforms that Ataturk realized in the country after the Turkish National Struggle are in the foreground. However, another prominent factor is that those who opposed Ataturk’s reforms are depicted as a creature in the posters. On the other hand, the value and importance that Ataturk gave to the Turkish women was also found in the posters examined within the scope of the study.

Keywords

Communication, Propaganda, Poster, Bolshevik, The Republic of Turkey, Ataturk, Lenin