Things were unstable and had recently been violent. What was needed was that the people believe that things will get better. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
Stamps are a slightly idealized version of how a country sees itself. That is why I love them. This stamp could only be Russian. The hunting trophy looks fierce and noble, and the shirtless man, strong brave and going places. Not many places would portray things this way. Former American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently remarked about when similar shirtless pictures of Russian President Putin with a tiger, that it was a sign that the Russian President was insane. She always marketed herself as a Soviet expert, but Dr. Rice’s expertise apparently did not extend far enough to realize that this was a known Russian pose. As with most people, perhaps she would benefit from taking up stamp collecting.
The stamp today is issue A44, a 40 Ruble stamp issued by the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic on August 10th, 1921. It was a single stamp issue claiming the new Russia triumphant. The next year Russia was subsumed into the USSR. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.90 mint. A used version of the same stamp is worth $160. As can be seen from the already high denomination on the stamp, the Soviets had not yet gotten a handle on inflation. There are overstamped versions of this stamp from the same year with a 5000 Ruble denomination. They are worth much less used.
The Soviets took over from the Kerensky regime in October 1917. At the time it was hoped that the Communist Revolution would quickly engulf the world. For a time the Soviet regime in Russia had no official name and little foreign recognition. Opponents of the regime proposed Sovdepedia, mocking the many workers deputies. Instead the ruling Council of Peoples Commissars came up with the clunky above title.
The Council had a Civil War with Czarist White forces, land reform and many wars with neighbors to deal with. The whole class system of Russia was being upended with assets taken from the previous landowning classes. This quickly resulted in food shortages as few were tending the crops. The peasant class was then divided into the poor and the less poor and the less poor Kulaks were targeted for hording food. The Council of Peoples Commissars contained Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, and even a female, Alexandra Kollonta. With so many goals, and little time to show results, it is not surprising that many of the Commissars were short lived. Lenin and a few others died of natural causes, but most were executed during Stalin’s purges. Alexandra Kollonta was an exception, she was allowed to go abroad and serve in Scandinavia as a diplomat. She foresaw marriage being replaced in Russia with free love and children raising to be heavily involved with the state. This never quite happened and she held her tongue during the time of the purges, that had taken her ex husband and several ex lovers. Her ideas were pioneering among later feminists.
In 1922, the Soviet Union came together in 1922 under a government modeled on the Russian Soviet Federated Peoples Republic. In 1946, Council of Ministers was refashioned as the Council of Deputies.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast our hero on todays stamp. He can see a bright future, if he could only figure out for us on how to get there. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.