In memory of the fallen leaders

The National Museum of Art, Riga (Latvia).

Lithography.

The album of memoirs “In Memory of the Fallen Leaders” was edited by prominent publicist Felix Cohn. On 88 pages of the publication issued to the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution by the Young Worker Publishing House, there are epitaph essays about 23 active participants in the revolution of 1917. Gustavs Klucis designed the cover in a constructivist style, using mostly red and black colours. Hands (photo), clutching a real pole of a painted red banner, belong to the working class. On the last page of the cover, the author depicted a mausoleum and a stream of people who came to see the leader of the revolution – such long lines were commonplace until the 1980s. It is symbolic that by the time the album was released, many had already been killed by Stalin as enemies of the people; by the end of the 1930s, the authors of most articles, including the author of the cover, Klucis, were arrested, exiled or shot. The circulation of 10 thousand copies was removed from the libraries and destroyed. The album currently has great antique and historical value. A copy of the book was acquired by the New York Museum of Modern Art.