Catalogue Number
NMLH.2001.15.10
Object Name
Poster
Title
'Comrades In Arms'
Place
Russia, Soviet Union, USSR, UK, Britain
People
Winston Churchill, Josef Stalin
Events
Second World War
Date
1944
Creator(s)
H.M.Stationery Office: J. Weiner Ltd
Description
Photographs of Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin, above them are their respective national flags, below them on a blue background 'Comrades in Arms'.
This central part of a billboard size Second World War era poster, entitled 'Comrades In Arms', depicts Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin as united in their wartime efforts against the Axis powers. The personalities of these two men were polar opposites, as were their forms of government. Churchill was from an English aristocratic family and was a parliamentarian, while Stalin was the son of a poor Georgian shoemaker, and his form of government, Communist in origin, was a dictatorship.
Churchill and Stalin joined forces following Nazi Germany's invasion of Russia on June 22nd, 1941. This poster was probably produced in 1944 and by Churchill's War cabinet. The poster illustrates the extent to which communism was acceptable during the war, while Russia and Britain were allies against Hitler. Communists even campaigned for Conservative candidates in wartime by-elections.
