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Published in The Waterbury Republican, 1991, by Edmund Valtman.
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This political cartoon, featured in The Waterbury Republican newspaper in 1991, depicted a crestfallen Russian Communist, Mikhail Gorbachev, staring forlornly at his fractured empire. During this time (late 1980s-early 1990’s), the Soviet Union was crashing to the ground due to failed policies, the world trend against Communism, and the emerging power of the United States. Gorbachev was a USSR official who tried to promote several polices to prop up the ailing country; his most famous policies were Perestroika and Glasnost. Perestroika (“restructuring”) was Gorbachev’s plan to revitalize the Soviet economy to make it a superpower once more. Glasnost (“openness”) was a policy that promoted a loosening of social media controls on the citizens of the USSR by the government. Although both policies were moderately successful, they could not prevent the degradation of world Communism and the “iron curtain.” Finally, in December of 1991, the Soviet Union was broken up into separate states/regions that claimed sovereignty for themselves.
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The crossed hammer and sickle, which was the emblem of the Soviet Union, was depicted in this cartoon as splintered and shattered (symbolizing the dissolution of the ideal communist state). The cartoon was intended for Americans, many of whom were watching the unfolding events of the Soviet Union closely. The artist, E.Valtman, showed Gorbachev as tiny, powerless, and old, but the hammer and sickle was still large and threatening. The purpose of depicting the cartoon this way was to show the ineffectiveness of Soviet attempts to rejuvenate their overstretched country (Gorbachev’s policies), as well as the menacing threat that communism, although weakened in Russia, still held (as in China, Vietnam, etc.)
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Worker and Collective Farm Woman (holding hammer and sickle) http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/L’operaio_e_la_Kolkhoznitsa |
This American artist clearly displayed his bias towards the Soviet Union and Communism in general. The greatest facilitator by which biased was displayed was through symbols. The hammer and sickle, the icon of the struggle between capitalism and communism, was showed broken and destitute; this reflected the American relief that capitalism finally triumphed over the threatening communist beliefs. Although no statistics or facts were presented in the cartoon, this symbol was probably more effective towards an American audience because they could automatically recognize the political implications of the USSR. With one simple design, Valtman managed to degrade the Communists by showing their livelihood crushed, with a powerless official just standing there dumbfounded. The equivalent of the Soviet Union belittling America would be the Soviets depicting a shred/ burned American flag. Another symbol the cartoon used was that of the little man, Gorbachev, who was depicted as tiny, powerless, old, and tired. He was a symbol of the all the USSR officials and citizens who were watching their country split. The emotion displayed by his broken expression was interesting because it evoked a sense of pity for the man.
Although there is no doubt that the artist was happy to see the Soviet Union toppling down, he also showed Gorbachev as an old man who tried everything he could to keep his ship from sinking. He was powerless yet pitiable because he did try to invigorate the Soviet Economy (emotional appeal). Also, the artist used the bias of omission because he just represented a separated symbol on a barren plain. He didn’t list or draw the reasons why the Soviet Union fell or what the implications were once it tumbled. The cartoon was merely reporting the fall of a political ideology that the Americans helped conquer and quash (making is factually less valuable). Valtman made the USSR seem weak from the beginning, like a giant entity that was bound to collapse.