In the Country of Crimes: French Satirical Postcards Chart the Struggle for Liberation in Russia, 1903-1912

• In Event: Postal Materials as Forms of Visual Political Commentary

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which French satirical postcards commented on events in Russia as the country descended into revolution in 1905 and as efforts to create a new, more democratic, political milieu failed. While none of the postcards directly refer to famed Russian revolutionaries, they do cast some of the Empire’s minority groups as well as the Duma in general as martyrs in the struggle for liberation. At the same time, other examples chronicle- often in rather gory detail – the frequent assassinations of government ministers at this time, and through references to events during the French Revolution suggest that regime change is imminent in Russia.

Author

• Alison Rowley, Concordia U (Canada)