A Foray into the World of Soviet Philately

Lets talk about the Lenin memorial issue. The design of this is very simple, red for communism with a black mourning border. The Lenin memorial issue was designed quickly after the death of Vladimir Illyich on 21 January, 1924: the release was in late January, less than a week after his death. The design is simple and elegant: it was used in many subsequent issues, including the 1934 anniversary issues, which used a very similar design. The image of Lenin is based on a photograph dated 1918 by P. A. Otsupiy. Lithographed most likely in St. Petersburg, the stamp comes in many varieties due to its rushed nature: the 1975 Soviet Stamp Catalogue, Iskusstvo Na Pochtovikh Markakh, recognizes varieties of both matte and glossy black ink, as well as paper that is white, gray, and yellow in color. 

Lets begin our story with the Russian Revolution. In 1917, the October Revolution sent the Petrograd Soviet into full revolt. The Imperial family was captured, sent to Yekaterinburg, and then brutally murdered. Socialist Alesandr Kerensky and his Provisional Government allied themselves with the Royalist forces and became known as the ‘whites’, or ‘Menshiviks’, meaning minority. Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky’s Red Army began known as the ‘reds’, or ‘Bolsheviks’, meaning majority.

Years of civil war were fought, and the Soviets saw through thick and thin. Initially, overprinted stamps of the Imperial post were used, but eventually, a need for new Russia’s own stamps became seen. That was where the famous ‘Chainbreaker’ stamps came in. First printed in 1918 and symbolizing the freedom of the people through revolt, these were the first stamps of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR).