After the Bolsheviks seized power from the royal family in 1917, many institutions within Russia were radically changed to fit the messages of communism. Over the course of just a year, the royal family was brutally murdered, with Vladimir Lenin and his communist party taking its place. However, one aspect of czarist Russia remained – the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory (IPM) in St. Petersburg.
When Lenin took control of the factory, he renamed it the State Porcelain Manufactory, changing its status from a factory meant for the upper social class to one used for the spread of communist propaganda to the masses. Artists such as ceramicist Sergei Chekhonin created and integrated designs promoting productivity and efficiency, messages at the heart of Leninist ideology. Prominent designs included telegraphs, factories, and towers which replaced the beautiful pastures and gilded designs once produced by the factory.
Porcelain was not the only product affected by the new wave of communism within Russia, with culinary items and chess sets also featuring common people such as factory workers laboring for the good of the nation. Natalia Danko’s chess set made in 1923 featured such themes, with a Soviet-themed army opposing a tsarist army featuring proletariat pawns.
Due to the far reach of works of art such as the porcelain plates produced by the State Porcelain Manufactory, the iron hold of communism was able to control Russia until 1991. On December 25th, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as the president of the Soviet Union, allowing Boris Yeltsin to become the president of the newly independent and democratic Russian state.
When Lenin took control of the factory, he renamed it the State Porcelain Manufactory, changing its status from a factory meant for the upper social class to one used for the spread of communist propaganda to the masses. Artists such as ceramicist Sergei Chekhonin created and integrated designs promoting productivity and efficiency, messages at the heart of Leninist ideology. Prominent designs included telegraphs, factories, and towers which replaced the beautiful pastures and gilded designs once produced by the factory.
Porcelain was not the only product affected by the new wave of communism within Russia, with culinary items and chess sets also featuring common people such as factory workers laboring for the good of the nation. Natalia Danko’s chess set made in 1923 featured such themes, with a Soviet-themed army opposing a tsarist army featuring proletariat pawns.
Due to the far reach of works of art such as the porcelain plates produced by the State Porcelain Manufactory, the iron hold of communism was able to control Russia until 1991. On December 25th, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as the president of the Soviet Union, allowing Boris Yeltsin to become the president of the newly independent and democratic Russian state.
