Original 1980s Soviet Anti-Nuclear Propaganda Poster – "Defend Peace on Earth!" – 55 × 74 cm / 21.7 × 29.1 in

A striking and historically charged piece of late-Soviet graphic art — an original 1980s propaganda poster produced during the height of the Cold War nuclear standoff, bearing the slogan “ОТСТОЯТЬ МИР НА ЗЕМЛЕ!” (“Defend Peace on Earth!”) and issued by the Soviet state publishing house Plakat.

The composition centres on a bold circular globe motif partitioned by a geometric red grid, into which a photomontage of international peace demonstrations has been embedded — protest marches, peace signs, and anti-war rallies captured from across the world. Visible within the collage are multi-lingual activist placards in German, English, and French, including the slogan “Im Namen des Lebens — verbietet die Neutronenbombe!” (“In the name of life — ban the neutron bomb!”) — a direct reference to the mass European anti-nuclear movement of the early 1980s triggered by NATO’s deployment of neutron warheads. This poster belongs to the wave of Soviet peace propaganda that intensified following Yuri Andropov’s 1983 address to the nation, in which he warned of the catastrophic consequences of American missile deployments in Western Europe and called on the Soviet people — and the world — to actively defend peace. State publishing houses responded with a surge of plakat output directed at both domestic and international audiences, framing the USSR as the defender of global peace against Western militarism. The design is a textbook example of late-Soviet plakat graphic language: bold monochrome photomontage locked into a geometric red frame, projecting global solidarity through the visual vocabulary of the international peace movement. An authentic document of one of the defining political anxieties of the twentieth century.

Authenticity

100% Guaranteed Original Vintage Poster — not a modern reprint or reproduction.

Artist: Plakat Editorial Board — anonymous editorial collective / specialized photomontage workshop within the Plakat state publishing house, USSR. In Soviet graphic production, large-scale multi-photo collages of this type were routinely catalogued under a group credit rather than a single signature artist.
Slogan: “ОТСТОЯТЬ МИР НА ЗЕМЛЕ!” (“Defend Peace on Earth!”)
Decade: 1980s
Publisher: Plakat, USSR
Origin: USSR (Soviet Union)
Size: 55 × 74 cm (22 × 29″) — standard large Soviet format
Medium: Offset lithograph on paper

Condition

Overall: Good (Vintage Grade B / B-)

Wear: The poster bears clear signs of its historical age and storage. A pronounced horizontal fold crease runs across the exact centre of the sheet; the reverse shows a period tan paper tape strip applied along this fold to reinforce a partial split. On the front, the graphic along the fold line shows visible micro-tears, paper fibre stress, and localised ink loss revealing the white paper beneath the red print. The lower left margin has noticeable wrinkling, soft creasing, and minor edge fraying near the slogan text block, with small nicks and pinholes along the leftmost edge.

Details: Paper remains structurally sound and supple throughout. Colours retain good saturation. The poster is highly suitable for professional preservation framing or archival linen-backing.

This is an authentic vintage item. Please review the high-resolution photographs for a full and accurate representation. What you see is what you receive.

Shipping & Packaging

We handle historic paper with the utmost care to ensure it arrives immaculate.

Handling: Dispatched within 1–3 business days from our studio
Packaging: Rolled in acid-free tissue paper and shipped in a heavy-duty reinforced mailing tube — no folding, no creasing, no edge damage
Tracking: Fully tracked from our studio to your door
Standard delivery: Registered post (BH Pošta), arriving in 1–4 weeks
Express delivery: DHL Express available at checkout — delivery in 2–5 business days

International buyers are responsible for any applicable customs fees or import taxes.

Framing

Professional custom framing is available for this piece upon request. Contact us before checkout to discuss options and tailored pricing.