Professor Victoria Smolkin’s HIST 352: The Communist Experience in the 20th Century course traces the development of Communism as an answer to capitalist modernity following the 1917 Revolution through the Soviet collapse. The goal of the course is to shed light on the birth, life, and death of Communist modernity through historical events, literature, and art. Even though the primary focus of the course is Communism within the Soviet Union, the course also draws comparisons between Communist experiences in Eastern Europe and Asia. Prior to their visit to the CEAS collections, students read Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine 1958-1962. It tells the experience of Yang Jisheng during the Great Famine and his experience working with the Communist propaganda team.
In March, Professor Ying Jia Tan organized his guest lecture on the Chinese Cultural Revolution for this class around CEAS’s collection of Cultural Revolution propaganda posters. He invited students to view and make observations about each poster, which facilitated class discussion on the influence of propaganda in a Communist regime.
“Viewing the Chinese propaganda posters helped to contextualize how propaganda was spread during everyday activities and how Communist rhetoric became engrained in people’s subconscious.”
– Miranda Nestor, Class of 2020
