Power and propaganda

Look closely at this Soviet poster. Lenin strides forward in a long coat with his cap in his hand, as if he is marching straight into the future. The whole background is red. Behind him a red flag carries the hammer and sickle and a star, and the date 1917 sits in the lower corner. The Russian words at the top are credited to the poet V. Mayakovsky. In English they read 'Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live forever'.

The slogan moves through three tenses. 'Lived' admits that the man himself has gone, since Lenin died in 1924. 'Lives' and 'will live forever' make a much bigger claim. They say that his ideas, his authority and his place at the heart of the Soviet state will never end. Nobody looking at the poster thought Lenin had come back to life. They were being told how to feel about him, and about anyone who claimed to carry on his work.

A single picture, a few colours and one line of poetry are working together here to build loyalty. That is propaganda, and it has been one of the most important tools of people who hold power or want to win it.