History Of Art: Story Analysis/Historical Context

Tintin's first adventure 'Tintin In The Land Of The Soviets' was drawn and publicized between January 1927 and Mai 1930. Tintin, the young reporter of the newspaper 'Le Petit Vingtieme' is sent to Russia in order to do a story based on a foreign country. It's a period set just before the big financial collapse of the 1930's and Joseph Stalin was in power. For people who don't who Joseph Stalin is, let's just say he was responsible for the deaths of 20 million people, one of his most notable actions being the 'Great Purge' of 1937-1938, were everyone who opposed his regime were tracked down and executed. As the story progresses Tintin slowly discovers the oppressive rule that the USSR have over it's people. Many of the events shown in the album were actually present in the reality of the time. For example let's take a look at page 36:

Here we see Russian soldiers in front of a crowd enforcing their political party (communist) on the population. Those who refuse their political regime are immediately put at gunpoint, although Herge implies that this situation is humorous. During Stalin's regime the people of the USSR often had ZERO choices when it came to voting: you either sided with the communists or...well the communists! The communist party was the only political party allowed, so naturally they won every single election! Of course to the absent minded reader this would just come across as humorous, but unfortunately in real life it was hardly a laughing matter...


Now how about we take a look at page 29 again:

Here we see four stereotypic English men (each wearing a hat and smoking a pipe) being shown around a USSR factory complex by a Russian tour guide who is boasting about the productivity of their factories. The english are impressed, seeing the smoke coming out of the chimney as a clear sign that work is being done. If you look at the next page though:

It seems we've all been fooled, the smoke is actually created by the burning of straw and the sound of machinery comes from some poor bloke whacking metal sheets together with a hammer. The 'beauty' of the Russian regime is shown to be merely an illusion, an act to fool anyone into believing the USSR is a powerhouse. Herge once again blends fiction with reality as in the late 1920's the soviet union mislead and convinced other countries that they were producing far more raw materials than they actually were. They sent immense quantities of wheat abroad in order to prove their power as a nation and increase industrialisation when in reality they barely had any food for themselves and the nation was soon crippled by famine and poverty. This was a consequence of the agricultural collectivisation, a regime enforced by Stalin as a means to improve productivity, which obviously failed seen as by 1932 have the country was starving! Herge quite clearly demonstrates this and it can be witnessed in pages 78, 97, 104 and 107:

In 'Tintin In The Land Of The Soviets' Herge represents the Soviet Union as a country crippled by famine and poverty, not to mention ruled over by a bunch of power hungry tyrants, forcefully imposing their laws with every step they take. The surprising thing is that it's accurate for the most part (there are a few factual errors like adding -ski at the end of every Russian name), despite Herge's ONLY source of information coming from the pamphlet 'Moscou Sans Voiles' or 'Moscow Unveiled' by Joseph Douillet (1878-1954), a anti-Bolshevik propaganda piece in which many of the claims made in the book were of doubtful accuracy at the time.  


While later on in life Herge admitted that his superiors forced him into something with 'limited outlook', but 'Tintin In The Land Of The Soviets' is still a fairly accurate representation of the Soviet Union.  

As for the Story in 'Land Of The Soviets', it's mostly in line with Herge's other Tintin works. Like with any other Tintin album, it starts with Tintin setting out to investigate something for a local newspaper (this time it's  a story on the Soviet Union), getting into trouble and then having to escape his adversaries by any means possible whether it's by car, train, boat ect... The comic was published at a rate of two pages every Week, and because of this the overall story was built to be extremely fast-paced and relentless, as an incentive to keep readers entertained every week. It essentially follows a basic formula: Tintin observes an act made by the Soviet Union (whether it's famine, forced elections ect...) gets caught or found out and has to escape/flee. This situation will then propel him into another locale, where once again he gets caught after observing something and flee....rinse and repeat. The album is action-packed, and Tintin often escapes by luck alone, all the while making remarks about how awful the USSR regime is. Herge was fascinated by  technology, and he included rather detailed depictions of what is to be considered 'cutting 'edge' technology in his drawings like the boat chase on page 53:

Conclusion:


Herge made 'Tintin In The Land Of The Soviets' with the idea that it would be an anti-communist propaganda comic aimed at children. And you know what? He does it well. The comic/album is fast paced, funny and littered with anti-communist propaganda that was (for the most part) rather accurate, considering his limited views on the subject. Not only that but it was the first Tintin comic ever made, which has got to count for something. If it wasn't for 'Le Petit Vingtieme' forcing the story on him, we probably would have never got the Tintin character in the first place. The character that sold over 200 million albums and inspired many young kids (including me) to get into comics and start reading more! Which brings me around to the big question, why did I pick this comic for HDA? Well back last October when I desperately needed a subject for HDA, I happened to stumble upon a documentary on BBC 2 all about Tintin's first album, 'Tintin In The Land Of The Soviets'. It was purely happenstance, and to be honest I couldn't have found a better subject. Tintin has long since occupied a place in my heart, ever since the first Tintin book I ever read 'The Red Sea Sharks', so not only was I passionate about it but it was also ripe with material. It was a match made in heaven, and here I am eight months later applying the finishing touches to my report. A report that is due in for tomorrow, and I also have to do an oral presentation on it! But no worries, as long as I keep to my notes I should be fine...