Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge

History

Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge is one of the most famous works by Lissitzky. Lissitzky made it in 1919, when Russia was going through a civil war, which was mainly fought between the "Reds" (communists, socialists and revolutionaries) and the "Whites" (monarchists, conservatives, liberals and other socialists who opposed the Bolshevik Revolution). The name, allegedly recommended by Ilya Ehrenburg, was possibly chosen to counter the Russian pogrom slogan "Beat the Jews!" (). The full slogan was (), and it was predominantly used by right wing monarchists and their militant Black Hundreds.

According to Sophie Lissitzky-Küppers, in 1945 Pablo Picasso declared that the "painting was not invented for decorating houses, but as a weapon of attack and defence".

Art historian Maria Elena Versari connected Lissitzky's poster with Italian Futurism manifesto Futurist Synthesis of War, published in 20,000 copies in 1914, and signed by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Luigi Russolo, and Ugo Piatti. Lissitzky never mentioned the manifesto, but his friend and colleague Malevich met Marinetti in 1914, and even called him one of the "two pillars, the two 'prisms' of the new art of the twentieth century". Malevich was also well aware of the Italian Futurists works and of Boccioni's theories. In 1916–1917 Malevich, together with artists Alexandra Exter and Olga Rozanova, published two issues of a journal about Cubism and Futurism. Later, in 1918, Malevich wrote: "Cubism and Futurism are the revolutionary banners of art". Also in 1918, young architect Nikolai Kolli created The Red Wedge monument in Moscow. It "consisted of a red triangle vertically inserted as a wedge into a white rectangular block. A very visible crack snakes downward from the tip of the triangle, suggesting that the force of the red wedge has succeeded in breaking the solidity of the white structure. The abstract metaphor was intended to signify the victory of the Red Army over the White, counter-Revolutionary forces." The monument initially was erected as a symbol of victory over White general Pyotr Krasnov, an important early triumph of the Red Army. Versari argues that Lissitzky "adopted an almost identical language" for his Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge, though he never mentioned it.

Lissitzky later used similar idea, a wedge in a circle, for a cover of Yiddish magazine Apikojres ('Atheist'), a periodical published by the League of Militant Atheists. As Artur Kamczycki writes, "Apikojres is a heretic – a Jew who does not believe in revelation and negates traditional religion and will therefore not have a share in the world to come and is bound for eternal damnation. In Yiddish, this word is often used to describe someone who has opinions that contradict the orthodox doctrine. Lissitzky suggests here that a revolution requires sacrifice and transformations in the name of the new, better world." He also noted that Lissitzky believed in the forces of Revolution and combined it with a messianic elements of Judaism, writing:

Modern use

Visual arts

• The Slabinja Monument to the fallen fighters and victims of WWII fascism from Slabinja, Croatia, seems to be directly inspired by this poster.

• The poster was drawn as hanging on a wall in a 1995 poster created by Gabor Baksay.

• The Russian artist Sergei Bugaev produced an "Anti-Lissitzky" series between 1991 and 1995 which included several derivative works based on "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge".

• In September 2021, a modified version of this painting was used in Novosibirsk to promote vaccination against the COVID-19.

Music

• The logo and the name was used by a socialist music and arts organisation in the UK, Red Wedge, which campaigned against the Thatcher government in the lead up to the 1987 general election.

• Franz Ferdinand used the image as inspiration for the cover of their single "This Fire".

• English doom metal band Witchfinder General employ the red wedge motif in the artwork accompanying their 1982 EP Soviet Invasion, and The Wake used the artwork for their twelve-inch single "Something Outside" in 1983.

• A similar simplified version (rotated 1/4 turn clockwise) was used by the German post-punk band Mekanik Destruktiw Komandoh (MDK) for their 1983 12" single "Berlin", released on the sixth international label.

Fiction and games

• Lissitzky's Revenge is a game based on Lissitzky's propaganda posters from 1919. It was developed in 2015 and uses paper-cuts as a medium. In the game "you play as the red wedge and must recreate its violent assault on the white circle to complete each level".

• In the science-fiction TV series Farscape, the Peacekeeper faction uses a simplified version of the poster as their logo.

• Belarusian football team FC Vitebsk released a kit featuring the image in 2020.

News and non-fiction

• Searchlight (magazine) use the red wedge in their current logo.

• The People's history of Australia podcast uses a logo with a red wedge attacking a white map of Australia.

Political logos

• Several German-speaking Marxist organizations are using a simplified version of the poster for their logo, among them the German/Austrian/Swiss section of the International Marxist Tendency ("Der Funke") and "Gruppen gegen Kapital und Nation".

• Anti-Fascist Action in the United Kingdom used the symbol in badges in the 80s, the one example showed the pointed red shape smashing a black swastika.

• The Network of Communists (RdC, ) is a communist political movement network, founded in Bologna, Italy on 13 September 1998.

• NIKA () was started in Germany in response to the rise of Germany's far-right party, the AfD ().

• ()

• Revolutionary Left () in Spain used a red wedge in their first logo.

Gallery of modern use

| File: Logo rete dei comunisti.jpg | Network of Communists | File: IzquierdaRevolucionarialogoantiguo.jpg | First logo of Revolutionary Left, Spain (Izquierda Revolucionaria) | File: Logo of the Organisation of Communist Internationalists.svg |

| File: 15.05.2021 - AfD Landesparteitag Niedersachsen (Braunschweig) (51181534584).jpg | Protest against Alternative for Germany (AfD), Braunschweig, Lower Saxony in 2021. | File: 15.05.2021 - AfD Landesparteitag Niedersachsen (Braunschweig) (51180058232).jpg | -- The same protest. NIKA used a similar banner in 2017 that said "crash the party". | File: Protest against an AfD meeting in the Zitadelle Spandau 04.jpg | NIKA logo on a banner (lower right corner) in Spandau in 2018, .

Notes

References

Sources

References

1. (1999). "Malevich, Lissitzky, and the culture of the future". The Structurist.
2. Скобелев Андрей Владиславович (Skobelev, Andrey Vladislavovich). (2012). ""Много неясного в странной стране..." III. Материалы к комментированию избранных произведений В. С. Высоцкого. Литературоведение". Эхо.
3. Размолодин, М. Л.. (2013). "Русский вопрос в идеологии черной сотни: монография". Нюанс.
4. Klier, John D.. (2005). "Antisemitism: a historical encyclopedia of prejudice and persecution". [[ABC-CLIO]].
5. Lissitzky-Küppers 1992: 331, quoted after: Apter-Gabriel 1988: 118 cited in {{harvtxt. Kamczycki. 2013
6. (2017). "Spomenici iz razdoblja socijalizma u Hrvatskoj – prijedlog tipologije". Sveučilište u Zadru.
7. "Beim nächsten Werbeblock hau ich dir eine rein!".
8. "Sergey Bugaev-Afrika".
9. (2021-09-07). "Авангардные плакаты с красным клином зовут новосибирцев на вакцинацию".
10. "The Mandem Need You: Can Grime4Corbyn succeed where Red Wedge failed?".
11. (2017-06-06). "06.06.17 (Words by: Tom Watson) "I'm a socialist, which means my glass is half full. I'm encouraged by the young people being mobilised." – Billy Bragg "The mandem need you." – Novelist".
12. "The Mandem Need You: Can Grime4Corbyn succeed where Red Wedge failed?".
13. (2020-05-20). "F2 — Franz Ferdinand". Band Logo Juke Box.
14. "• The Design Appropriations of Punk and the New Wave".
15. (2000). "Farscape: the Illustrated Companion". Titan Books.
16. "Belarusian football team releases new kit inspired by avant-garde artwork".
17. https://www.peopleshistory.com.au/ "People's History of Australia is a podcast and blog looking at Australian history from the perspective of ordinary people fighting together for a better life. While most of the history we get taught focuses on the deeds of the great and powerful, we want to turn this upside down, and amplify those moments when ordinary people across Australia have made history – by coming together, overcoming the barriers and divisions that keep us isolated and atomised, and struggling collectively for justice."
18. "Der Funke".
19. "Gruppen gegen Kapital und Nation".
20. "Have Antifa members used an inverted red triangle as a symbol?".
21. "Nasce la Rete dei Comunisti".
22. "German far-right AfD party elects new leader backed by radical wing, By Joseph Nasr, 1 December 2019 3:26 AM GMT+10, Updated 30 November 2019". Reuters.
23. (1 December 2019). "German far-right AfD party elects new leader backed by radical wing". [[Reuters]].