I went to the website of a local radio station last night to check the weather forecast and was somewhat startled to see an advertisement for a performance of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. But what shocked me wasn’t the music, but rather the use of the Soviet hammer and sickle, which represents a regime that murdered nearly 62 million people between 1917 and 1987.
Is the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra really oblivious to the monstrous nature of Soviet Communism? Would they feature a swastika in an ad for concert featuring the music of a German composer who produced works in 1938? I hope not, just like I can’t imagine an architecture exhibit on the work of Albert Speer featuring a swastika (other than in a way designed to connote evil). Nothing positive should be associated with horrid regimes such as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Perhaps I’m reading too much into a simple ad. And perhaps I’m so nauseated by vacuous college kids inadvertently celebrating butchery by wearing Che t-shirts that I’m overly sensitive. And maybe there’s even a benign explanation for using the hammer and sickle in this specific case, though I can’t imagine what that might be.
International Liberty 
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[…] So perhaps now you understand why I get so upset when people in the west glorify communist thugs such as Che Guevara, or use the Soviet hammer and sickle as a cutesy marketing gimmick. […]
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I am planning to do a PHD researching the use (and misuse) of soviet iconography in the west. any other examples of soviet propaganda images being used in the USA?
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[…] Soviet iconography, swastika — edgeofthesandbox @ 9:17 pm Dan Mitchell asks, “Does Using the Soviet hammer and sickle in an ad mean the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is morally ba…“ He explains: I went to the website of a local radio station last night to check the […]
You are not conducting blood libel against them, are you?
I also find it puzzling that the communists are basically given a pass. If anyone were to use a swastika for anything, they would be (rightly) condemned. Yet the communists have killed far more in shear numbers, but no one so much as notices.
I think you are reading too much into it. A number of art venues in Chicago are doing a retrospective on Soviet art and culture right now. It involves a lot of Shostakovich and Prokofiev, including atonal works that nearly got the composers shot, propaganda posters, book illustrations, architecture and theatrical works. I don’t see any great commie nostalgia involved. Its also interesting that most of the works cited are from before 1950. It is obvious that the last 39 years of the USSR produced nothing of artistic value.
This could be justified by saying that Shostakovich wrote under a Soviet regime and was, largely, a loyal Soviet artist (well, he had to be – that is not a criticism). Cutting out the hammer and sickle would be like purging Tom Sawyer of the “n” word. You cannot change history by changing words you don’t like. And yes, I think a programme about Albert Speer will have to feature the swastika. Richard Strauss is a bit trickier.
I wonder if they’ll use a particular, ahem, political symbol if they do any pieces by Richard Strauss.