#soviet propaganda

עם ישראל חי, אהבלים

Israeli soldier drinking with émigré Ukrainian. Bottles are signed "anti-Communism" and "anti-Soviet", with a radio microphone signed "Liberty"

A religious Jew and Ukrainian insurgent pulling the cart of the Cold War. Once again, "anti-Soviet", "Voice of America" and "Radio Liberty". Note David's Star mixed with Trident on a yoke (as well as $ coins under it)

"Ukrainian" wolf in tattered pants with "Israeli" fox, once again "anti-Communism" and "anti-Soviet" on their banners.

Communists have an old history of fighting the same nations and rehashing the same tried-and-tested propaganda. Just change some specifics to better fit modern audiences and their concerns. But not very much as antisemitism is still all about the same stuff at the end of the millenia...

So anyway, some photos I took at the Moscow Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center

I still see people arguing whether the regime was serious or not, whether everything they know is a so called "western propaganda" or not etc. I do not honestly know what to add or prove about the regime, for no matter how hard you try to prove something — human stupidity always wins. Plus, because of the stupidity I always feel like I am absolutely gaslighted, that is tiring. However, let me try to be clear about everything and just tell some stories of my family, so you can make your own conclusions.

So, let us start from the main members of my family tree.

Father.

I don't want to talk much about him, for I know little about the pressure he faced in the childhood for not being an ordinary boy and not wanting to be a komsomolets; also, about how many traumas killed his personality and mental health completely. The people I want to talk about are first of all my grandparents and his parents. My grandpa (I never met him, he died because of the beautiful free soviet medicine) lost his parents at the age of 11 or 12 in 1947 or earlier. He was adopted by his uncle. He had a beautiful surname before the adoption: Ostrovsky. However, despite the fact that he was born in the Ukrainian family (maybe even half Jewish one), his very passport stated that he was "ruzzian", as at the time it both granted more privileges and put a lot of questions to rest. All I know about his temper is that he was a very strict and, time by time, tough man. My grandmother is (she is still alive) a Ukrainian and, probably a bit Belarusian. She lost her siblings because of the famine and post war poverty. The irony here was that the people that fed her during WW2 were German soldiers. After WW2 she had multiple traumas: fear of famine, fear of speaking Ukrainian and Belarusian (she was bullied for that), she still suffers from panic buying and a fear of budget deficit.

Mother.

My mother somehow coped with the life under the regime; still, she faced ostracism for her distrust of the regime, her independent views, and her loyalty. My grandparents, her parents, had different experiences. My grandpa is Ukrainian and Jewish, he somehow he remained immune to the propaganda: although he lived in a deeply propagandised setting, his older family members always sought to deprogram him. Plus, he is a boomer, stalin luckily was dead at the time he was born. He hates the regime, poverty, deficit and hardworking he faced, he hates everything that leads to genocide and poses a threat to the lives and safety of his loved ones. Lol, and he loves Lady Gaga's songs plus classic rock. Because of the Chornobyl he often has to check his skin and to remove cancerous skin tumors.

My grandmother is a half Tatar and Ukrainian. She is a very complex and broken person whom I found really tough and mean back in my childhood. She has serious health issues because of the endless stress and anxiety she experienced, plus thanking fucking stalin for supporting women that tried to give birth after endless famines and WW2. It was incredibly hard for her back then to care for her sick mother while somehow managing a mountain of her own problems. Now, because of the war, she has also started sleeping and eating poorly, and barely has the strength for anything.

My great grandmother, her mother, was a Tatar woman from modern Tatarstan Republic, that also lost a sibling because of the famine and beautiful soviet medicine and had to assimilate to the rest of society called soviet people to, as she said, "shield her and her family from those who wished them harm". Being a Tarar was forbidden even back then, so all the family members had to hide their real names and identities from the regime. She had a beautiful name Khairul-Banat, which means "the most beautiful among women", but she had to introduce herself as Valya (its Valentine or Ukrainian equivalent Valentyna). I remember not much about her personality, for she was old when I was born and died when I was almost 14 at the age of 85 or something like that. She was a caring and hospitable woman, deeply empathetic and generous—a genuine, inherited Tatar trait that is sadly dying out today. However, in her later years, she developed dementia, having had to leave school at the age of twelve (roughly equivalent to just five or six years of education, which would be considered unacceptable in Ukraine today) and toil her entire life for the sake of her children and grandchildren. She was also left with a lingering fear and anxiety stemming from scarcity, war, and repressive measures. I remember how shocked she was when my mother told her that ruzzians started the war in 2014. She thought those were Germans again...

My great grandfather was a half Polish, and all I remember about him is that he became an abusive drunk because of the beautiful soviet regime. No wonder my grandmother got her mental issues. He died before I was born.

by Micha Danzig

It’s remarkable. The same activists who shout themselves hoarse at Western protests, who flood social media with memes and reels, somehow manage to hold two (or three, or ten) contradictory claims in their heads at once without blinking.

Like Soviet propagandists or Goebbels’ Ministry of Public Enlightenment, they rely on volume, not consistency. Because in propaganda, coherence is optional — but outrage is mandatory.

As Joseph Goebbels infamously put it: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” That is the strategy: not persuasion through reasoning, but relentless repetition.

Here’s a sampling from the Hamas-friendly, Israel-hating narrative machine:

Contradiction #1: Gaza — Prison or Paradise?

Before October 2023, Gaza was an “open-air prison” or even a “concentration camp.” But also, before October 7, it had many wonderful features — including being a “beautiful Mediterranean beachside paradise” — that Israel supposedly destroyed. Which is it? Concentration camp or paradise? Apparently both, depending on which slur works best.

Contradiction #2: Statehood or Extermination?

“Israel is a racist ethno-state.” But the same activists chant: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — and in Arabic, “Palestine will be Arab.” Destroying Israel and denying Jews the right to live on the land, in order to establish a 23rd Arab ethno-state is fine; but Jewish sovereignty in any form is racism.

Contradiction #3: Hostages? What Hostages?

“There were no hostages taken on Oct. 7.” Yet also: “Look how well Hamas treats the hostages!” So which is it — none taken, or proof of Hamas’ supposed hospitality?

Contradiction #4: Peace or Perpetual War?

“Ceasefire now!” they scream. But even in the same demonstrations: “Long live the Intifada!” and “Israel will soon be destroyed.” So, do they want peace — or endless war until Israel no longer exists?

Contradiction #5: Starvation Theater