Soviet Youth Festival Jazzy Matchbox Labels

1957 International Youth Festival, Moscow 1957

I love the bold graphic quality of this matchbox label set. The contrast in colours and the block of cyrillic type balancing the comical caricatures that look like letters of the alphabet. Lovely stuff!

1957 International Youth Festival, Moscow 1957

1957 International Youth Festival—was held in Moscow from July 29 to August 11, 1957 and was the first such festival held in the USSR. Organized by the Komsomol at the request of Khrushchev’s Kremlin, the festival was intended to refute Western claims that the Soviet Union remained the repressive and isolated state it had been under Stalin. In Socialist Fun: Youth, Consumption, and State-Sponsored Popular Culture in the Soviet Union, 1945-1970, Gleb Tsipursky writes that “policy makers aspired to create a positive image among foreign audiences, both among the visitors themselves and in foreign press organs, through Soviet commitment to values such as internationalism, openness, youthhood, peace, and global unity.”

The Paper Depository

 

1957 International Youth Festival, Moscow 19571957 International Youth Festival, Moscow 19571957 International Youth Festival, Moscow 19571957 International Youth Festival, Moscow 19571957 International Youth Festival, Moscow 19571957 International Youth Festival, Moscow 19571957 International Youth Festival, Moscow 19571957 International Youth Festival, Moscow 1957

There are 17 in this set. See other vintage pieces by The Paper Depository on Flickr.

Previously matchbox covers from the 50’s and 60’s posted here.