Russian Communist Party Uses Vaping Devices to Recruit New Members (Photos)
Moscow is becoming increasingly Leninized.
A poster and leaflet campaign for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation ahead of the parliamentary elections features a young Bolshevik leader in jeans, carrying a laptop bag.
It is part of the party’s latest revolution. For years, the shrinking refuge of pensioners nostalgic for the Soviet past, the proletarian party has tried to revamp its image to attract younger voters. Other campaign materials feature Joseph Stalin with a vaping device and Karl Marx in a leather jacket, declaring: “I’ll be back.”
“We need to speak in a language modern voters understand, one that reflects the times we live in,” said Igor Petrygin-Rodionov, the artist behind the remake images. “The proletariat is no longer just someone with a hammer; it can also be a computer programmer.”
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is giving Lenin, Marx and Stalin (from top clockwise) a makeover ahead of the September 18 parliamentary elections. A young Lenin stands before the Winter Palace with the words “Shall we take it?”; leather-bag Marx promises his return; and vaping Stalin orders, “Transform yourselves, comrades!”
