Russian Revolutionary Postcards

Guest: Tobie Mathew is a writer and historian specializing in Russian graphic art and propaganda. He has previously lived in Almaty, Kiev, and Moscow, where he spent three years working as a journalist for The Associated Press. He is the author of Greetings From The Barricades: Revolutionary Postcards in Imperial Russia published by Four Corners Books. Music: Siny, “Straight out of the Basement.” If you like these transcripts and want to read more, then support them by becoming a patron of the SRB Podcast. This abridged version of the interview has been edited for clarity. You have this beautiful and very interesting book, Greetings from the Barricades: Revolutionary Postcards in Imperial Russia. It gives a history of revolutionary postcards and their place in the revolutionary movement, and particularly in the 1905 Revolution. How did you come upon these postcards, and what struck you about them? It was a complete coincidence in that I started learning Russian at school way back in the mid-1990s. On one of my very first trips to Russia after having started learning Russian literally for only a couple of months, I went out to St. Petersburg. Like most tourists during that period, I came across various markets selling mostly old Soviet uniforms and that sort of thing. And one day I came across some postcards, and I knew these were obviously revolutionary cards, but I wasn’t quite sure what date they were from, so I bought them. When I came back on subsequent visits, I came across some more, and suddenly after a few years, I had 20 of them. I had the start of a collection. And I thought it was probably about time to find out a little bit more about them. I started reading up, and lo and behold, discovered this whole new arena that had been studied or looked at particularly by collectors. There doesn’t seem to have been much academic interest during the Soviet period. It was really people who started collecting them in the 1960s. Having read these articles, which were only in Russian, I then started trying to actively search them out. The great advantage was that I was collecting in the early 2000s when eBay really became a thing, and I started to come across better examples. Ones in better condition, and in colored imagery. I then started a concerted effort to track down dealers and go to Russia to really find where these things were. And so I built up a relatively sizable collection of them, all the while trying to find out as much as I possibly could about them. Fast forward a few years. I ended up moving to Moscow. I studied at a Russian university, and I think, like many people, certainly in the UK, on leaving university had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do. I went back home, and after a couple of months, I thought, “What am I going to do?” So, I went out to Russia, started working as a journalist for BBC, and then actually got a job with the Associated Press. Being there gave me the opportunity to track these things down, and I also started meeting museum professionals and people who really knew what they were. About 10 years ago, I thought maybe I might be able to write a book. A naïve thought, but of course, as soon as you start doing the research, you realize what a daunting task it is. And I was amazed how much there is in the archives on postcards. But what was really a complete coincidence ended up being … Let’s call it by what it is, it became a bit of an obsession. What is the history of the postcard in Russia? When did they begin to be used in Russia? This is the extraordinary thing, and I completely share your wonder in discoverin...