Sunday, 10 July 2016

Red All Over

1977: 60th Anniversary of the October Revolution
I thought I would find a lot of red in the stamps of Russia so that is where I turned for this week's Sunday Stamp theme, and I wasn't disappointed for these first stamps were very red indeed.  The first shows the cruiser Aurora which in 1917 was moored in St Petersburg for major repairs.  The crew joined the Bolshevik Revolution and the shot fired from the forecastle signaled the start of the assault on the Winter Palace and so started the October Revolution.
Perhaps the pen is mightier than the sword for this stamp shows a page from the Izvestia newspaper (first published in 1917), a book by Brezhnev (leader of the Soviet Union from 1964-1982) and a crowd.  From the 60th Anniversary of the October Revolution we travel to
1978: 61st Anniversary of the October Revolution
the 61st anniversary, not quite as red, apart from the flag.
Another famous Russian newspaper appears swooping across this commemorative sheet, Pravda.  Established in 1903 it became the mouthpiece of the Soviet Communist Party but this sheet also shows lots of other publications because it commemorates the 60th Anniversary of 'Soyuzpechati', the state newspaper distribution service. Looking at the map of Russia on the globe I can only wonder at the enormous task that must have been in those early years, of course the communication satellite made thing a whole lot easier. I don't know the significance of the flower, which to my eyes looks like a carnation, but the Russians are great flower givers and lovers of flowers.
1978: Moscow Flowers
This is a set called Moscow Flowers, a place where the flower shops are open 24 hours a day.  The stamps show the tulip 'Bolshoi Theatre' and the rose 'Moscow Morning'
Next is the dahlia 'Red Star' and the gladiolus 'Moscovite'
A white flower has sneaked in, happily it is on a red background.  The iris is called Il'ich's Anniversary.    I didn't know whether this referred to Lenin or Tchaikovsky, both of whose middle name was Ilich, but managed to google the building and its the Lenin Central Museum.

An entry to Sunday Stamps II theme - Red - be well red and visit See It on A Postcard

6 comments:

FinnBadger said...

Russia certainly knows how to design a patriotic stamp. They are gorgeous. And I'm glad you have also gone with a few that are not 100% red - makes me feel better about my choices today.

VioletSky said...

Russia certainly does love the colour red, doesn't it?
And they do like to commemorate their anniversaries!
I didn't know that they also loved their flowers so much.

Ana said...

This is red all over indeed! Those October Revolution stamps are stunning! I like that kind of velvetish feeling on them.

viridian said...

Thank you for showing the whole commemorative sheet, that is really special. I love the first very red ones too.

Brazilian Philately said...

Russian stamps: beautiful yesterday e today.

Bob Scotney said...

Sorry for being so late in commenting. Funnily enough most of my Russian stamps are not as red as these,