Recently, I spent part of an evening in Petaluma, CA after a day at Dillon Beach with Sarita and her siblings. I have driven through Petaluma countless times, but only stopped once to explore some vintage shops. This time I discovered an entirely new side of this adorable wine country/almost beach town town. My impression of Petaluma has completely changed from cute to kick ass.
We parked the car on Kentucky Street and walked down it until we hit Washington Street. I wanted to show them the Seed Bank, which is awesome treat only found in Petaluma. In short, it is an old bank building converted into a gardener’s heaven and includes an astounding array of seeds and gardening supplies. After admiring this we turned and strolled down Petaluma Blvd N until we found Putnam Plaza Park. We were all taken back by how adorable the establishments were decorated to their specific “personalities”, if you will, and decided that it reminded us of a movie set. The alley way American Alley cuts through the block, which is where we found a huge mural of propaganda style art. Within the last few months, I have taken a tremendous interest in socialist realism propaganda posters of the USSR (c. 1929 – 35) and of China pre-Cultural Revolution. Therefore, I have developed a hyper sensitive eye for socialist propaganda and become extremely overjoyed when I stumble upon some, especially in a place likely Petaluma.
Socialist realism is a style of art that developed in the Soviet Union. It became the dominant style in other communist countries and serves to further the goals of socialism and communism. Propaganda is a form of communication that aims to influence the attitude of a community. I don’t think Petaluma inhabitants are closet socialists but I do recognize communist propaganda when I see it.
The image above exhibits a farmer on a tractor, a large hand holding a wrench, and a large bust image of a man. I could interpret that these elements advocate the practice of an agrarian society, which is one of the two major facets of a communist society, the other being industry.* The large bust of a man is not individualized and therefore symbolizes the masses. He could be anyone and anyone could picture them self as him. The wrench is a tool that farmers and factory works use to advance their society in diverse ways, and is also a product of industry. The progress of industry is also demonstrated in the presence of the tractor. Without factories there would be no wrenches nor tractors, or very few and very expensive.
*Quick Note: Originally, the communism ideology written by Marx and Engels “was a Eurocentric doctrine that addressed itself to a postindustrial revolution that would liberate society from the disabilities produced by intensive industrialization. Marxism has become a rationale for revolutionary movements in industrially underdeveloped, non-European societies, peopled by essentially nonproletarian populations”1. Basically, I am interpreting these images as I would Soviet and Chinese propaganda posters. Two industrially underdeveloped countries that adopted communism ideology to elevate each into the twentieth century. Both also used socialist realism propaganda posters to influence the masses to participate in the advancement of their society, either through farm work or as a factory worker (agrarian and industry).
The second image exhibits two illustrations.
The illustration on the left, is of planes soaring through the clouds. I don’t know f these are war planes or just Cessnas, but they are the product of industry; the second major facet of a communist society.* The illustration on the right exhibits the workers; the farmers and the factory workers. In the foreground are identical men dressed in uniform and look to be marching** to their duty. In the background, is a single person not individualized and dressed in an industrial worker or war-like costume. All the imagery in the two illustrations above suggest war and uniformity.** The text, “For Safety”, at the bottom of the second illustration is unfamiliar to me. Maybe you can offer an interpretation.
**Quick Note: I use the word marching because communist countries, like the USSR and the PRC, viewed their efforts of agrarian and industrial advancement as a war against the capitalistic imperialist West.
The final image shows multiple illustrations, but I will focus on the largest illustration with the text production. In the foreground, is a sole man standing in front of an anvil with a large fist lifting a hammer in the background, and lastly, on the left side printed sideways is the word production. The man is a factory worker and his duty is to produce goods, weapons, machinery particularly for farmers (i.e., tractors and wrenches), and other products that will advance the society he inhabits.
Exhibited in all the photos are sprocket wheels, which are used in machinery to “transmit rotary motion between two shafts where gears are unsuitable”2. These sprocket wheels are the product of industry and contribute to the perpetuation of industry. I love it that the artists disseminates the sprocket wheels throughout the entire mural. They really top it off.
1 Gregor, James A. and Maria Hsia Chang, “Maoism and Marxism in Comparative Perspective,” The Review of Politics 40 (July 1978): 307-327.
2. Wikipedia, “Sprocket,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprocket.
This mural of socialist propaganda ideology or if it’s not, it’s certainly easy to interpret it as so, was such a pleasant surprise. As soon as I noticed it my mind began to decode the illustrations! I love using my knowledge. I most certainly will be heading back to Petaluma very soon! I’ll be sure to post my surprising and interesting finds.
It seemed unnecessary and kind of rude to unwrap all the already wrapped gifts just so all of my gifts could be wrapped in polka dots, although I did have a brief impulse to do so. Anyway, I love our Yayoi Kusama inspired Christmas tree and all its silliness!!! I might just keep it up all year around… at least the dots.
