"Marshal Josef Stalin" Tim, 1942

Catalogue ref: INF 3/78

A portrait of Marshal Josef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union and commander in chief of the Soviet military in the Second World War. With the signing of the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939, few outside the Communist Party supported the Soviet Union. After 12 July 1941, when Germany invaded the USSR, opinions changed. The new Anglo-Soviet alliance was enthusiastically received. Britain was no longer alone. Pictures of Stalin began to be displayed alongside those of Roosevelt and Churchill in factories and other public places. Munitions factories held ‘tanks for Russia' weeks, where the entire week's output was dedicated to the Soviet effort.