<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>During the 20<sup>th</sup> century, authoritarian regimes willingly embraced sport as a vivid arena for demonstrating their superiority. Prior research on postage stamps issued by such regimes revealed certain patterns associated with periods of aggressive internal and external rhetoric, whereby postage stamps served as a channel for government propaganda. In the current study, we looked at sports, military, and national identity stamps. Applying the social-semiotic method, we first examined the messages sports stamps have conveyed in Soviet Union and Russia. Then, the quantitative paradigm was employed to evaluate the trends in the issuance of propagandistic stamps by post-WW2 USSR and Russia. Finally, we expanded the scope by looking at stamp issuance in Germany, Italy, and USSR in pre-WW2 and WW2 years. This heavily militaristic “landscape” was used mainly as a basis for comparison with the issuance policy of Putin’s Russia. The results shed light on some striking similarities across the different countries and periods. These findings are discussed in the context of the recent geopolitical situation.</p>
</abstract>

During the 20th century, authoritarian regimes willingly embraced sport as a vivid arena for demonstrating their superiority. Prior research on postage stamps issued by such regimes revealed certain patterns associated with periods of aggressive internal and external rhetoric, whereby postage stamps served as a channel for government propaganda. In the current study, we looked at sports, military, and national identity stamps. Applying the social-semiotic method, we first examined the messages sports stamps have conveyed in Soviet Union and Russia. Then, the quantitative paradigm was employed to evaluate the trends in the issuance of propagandistic stamps by post-WW2 USSR and Russia. Finally, we expanded the scope by looking at stamp issuance in Germany, Italy, and USSR in pre-WW2 and WW2 years. This heavily militaristic “landscape” was used mainly as a basis for comparison with the issuance policy of Putin’s Russia. The results shed light on some striking similarities across the different countries and periods. These findings are discussed in the context of the recent geopolitical situation.

Stamps Don’t Lie: Sports, Military, and National Identity Postage Stamps As a Mirror of Aggressive Soviet and Russian Propaganda

Physical Culture and Sport. Studies and Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

During the 20th century, authoritarian regimes willingly embraced sport as a vivid arena for demonstrating their superiority. Prior research on postage stamps...

Stamps Don’t Lie: Sports, Military, and National Identity Postage Stamps As a Mirror of Aggressive Soviet and Russian Propaganda

Published Online: Jul 09, 2024

Page range: -

Received: Mar 25, 2024

Accepted: May 13, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pcssr-2024-0024

Keywords
Postage stamps, Russia, authoritarian regime, propaganda, Cold War

© 2024 Felix Lebed et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Stamps Don’t Lie: Sports, Military, and National Identity Postage Stamps As a Mirror of Aggressive Soviet and Russian Propaganda

Published Online: Jul 09, 2024

Page range: -

Received: Mar 25, 2024

Accepted: May 13, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pcssr-2024-0024

KeywordsPostage stamps, Russia, authoritarian regime, propaganda, Cold War

© 2024 Felix Lebed et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Postage stamps, Russia, authoritarian regime, propaganda, Cold War