The sculpture of ordinary people marching under the slogan 'We Demand Peace,' {1951} by Vera Mukhina {1889-1953} and her team continues to strike a real resonance all around the World. Its special significance is all the more relevant when there is a danger that the traumatized victims of war often retreat into reticence.
The sculpture, created during the Korean War where the sculptor herself urged a full ceasefire, conveys an urgent message at a time when the world is increasingly afflicted with horrendous conflict.
On the 9th of May, Russians commemorate the Day of Victory. During the few weeks up to this event, practically every shop, café, and building displays a poster titled 'Celebrate the Day of Victory.' On huge billboards which line the Leningradsky Avenue there are usually old photos of soldiers leaping off T-34 tanks or embracing local women of liberated villages. School children are asked to read out poems rendering homage to the fallen, paint posters, and even put on military uniforms and participate in parades. All this culminates in the magnificent military parade on Red Square where soldiers and veterans are addressed by the President. Old and new Russians squadrons in perfect formation fly over the city while the sky is later lit up by a firework display in the evening.
However, this time the parade appears more subdued. In contrast to previous years, I have not witnessed any great rehearsals of planes flying above our home. It has become difficult to spot any huge billboards commemorating this day. The number of billboards appealing for soldiers to join up is far more conspicuous.
Despite the passage of many years, the scars from this war linger on. The losses of this war were so staggering it numbs you. The Russian author Vasily Grossman stated that it was the duty of all survivors to recognize all the victims of war as individuals and not as nameless people who fall into caricatured categories. According to figures as many as 26 million people lost their lives in the Soviet Union {2/3 of them were civilians} and 18 million were wounded. In many Russian villages, no soldiers at all returned. Villages were turned into places of old men, women, and young children.
Even today if you travel around Russia you can't help noticing a demographic imbalance where the number of women largely outnumber the men. {See pages 455 to 457 of “The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia,” by Orlando Figes, 2008, London and New York: Penguin Books.}
The material losses were also devastating. As many as 70,000 villages and 32,000 factories were destroyed. As many as 20 million people were left homeless. Many of the homeless continued to live in the ruins, basements, and dugouts well into the 1950's. One of the points made against Stalin by Krushchev's speech was that he did little to aid the homeless.
Given the traumatic impact of this war, it is only natural and normal that many people who endured it don't want to speak about the past. War veterans don't like to be interviewed or to speak about such events. They are reticent. If they do speak, they might speak about it using vague phrases without going into the most intricate details. This somber silence is not confined to Russia. You come across it in Britain also.
Practically none of my family told me anything about the story of my Uncle Alan who was in the British army stranded in Dunkirk in 1940 as the German army closed in on them. For many years indeed, my questions went unanswered until one uncle told me how he was stuck on the beach at Dunkirk while German Stuka dive bombers were stalking them. Every time a Stuka dived to drop a bomb they had to get down. After one strike they all got down. When my uncle called over to his comrades none of them got up. They all lay mute. All of them had been killed. He was shocked. However, he did not lose his presence of mind. Instead, seeing a distant ship far away from the shore, he decided to swim to it. {He had been a great athlete before the war.} By the time he reached this British ship he was very exhausted. I think he died of cancer after smoking so much. My late mother once told me “If you had been through what he had experienced you would be a great smoker.”
The famous sculptor Vera Mukhina well understood the horrors of war. She had served as a nurse during the First World War and was also a veteran of the Great Patriotic War. She was taken back by the devastation she had witnessed while travelling around the front. So she strove as an artist to not only express the horrors of war but actively campaign for the peaceful resolution of any conflict. Her sculpture, 'We demand Peace,' now stands in the Park of Sculpture just outside the second Tretyakov Gallery within the vicinity of Gorky Park. The title of the sculpture 'We demand Peace' was not just some empty and abstract phrase. It was a call for a full ceasefire to end the Korean war {1950-53}. However, the call can be construed as demanding a full and lasting ceasefire in any part of the world. It is a plea to pause, put down your guns, and attentively listen to often disagreeable and different voices.
It is worth noting that this sculpture was not warmly received. This is because the figures did not seem heroic and meet the usual way of portraying those who participated in war. Russian soldiers were usually depicted as being superhuman heroes who were without weaknesses and indefatigable. Such figures were portrayed as fearless. You often come across people in Russia who tell you a real man should suffer in silence and never complain or make a fuss about his pain. They should try and emulate the man depicted by Yevgeni Vuchetich {1908-1974} called 'Fight to the Death.' It depicts a strong, sturdy and determined soldier holding a gun ready to die. This represents the ideal hero. This very monument lies next to 'We Demand Peace.'
The Art historian Natalie P. told me “'The contrast between the two works of sculpture is striking. In the former you see a strong muscular superhero who is so extraordinary. He is fearless. He is like a demigod. But in the 'We Demand Peace' work we see ordinary people who express more human emotions and are very vulnerable and fragile. Here you see a more realistic depiction of people.” We see a former German soldier who is blind and without an arm giving a salute, a Russian soldier, an African revolutionary, and some Chinese peasants and soldiers. The sculpture by Mukhina is the most disquieting and disturbing. It shows an upset Korean woman carrying her dead baby in front of her. It is perhaps reminiscent of Picasso's painting Guernica {1937} which also shows a screaming woman holding her dead baby {as many as 16000 lives were lost when the German air force bombed the city during the Spanish Civil War.} The woman heading the march is launching a dove as a symbol of peace. Critics who claim that this work reflects old cliches or is just propaganda miss the point. In contrast to many works of art, this one remains not only a poignant but a very sincere work. Vera Mukhina wanted to turn this into an open-air exhibit which could be mobile enough to be shown to as many people as possible. She genuinely believed that art could play a role in making the world a more humane place. For Mukhina, this project was more than just a work of art. It was a kind of vision and manifesto for peace. She wanted it to be shown all over the world. Unfortunately, this was not to be. Instead, the artwork was confined to a gallery, rarely shown and it was even badly damaged and needed urgent restoration work. The authorities even considered melting the work into scrap metal!
It was only in 2013 that it was taken out of the Tretyakov Gallery to be exhibited in the open air.
It is only fair to say that this work was not just the work of Mukhina but a whole team of young sculptors. The young sculptors dreaded working with such a brilliant artist. She represented a legend in the art world. She had been behind a huge sculpture called the 'Worker and the Collective farmer,' as well as other works. They need not have been anxious. Mukhina turned out to be very easy-going, helpful, and supportive of the artists.
Mukhina was responsible for sculpting the women holding a dead baby, Zinaida Ivanova made the figures denoting the Russian and Chinese people, Nina Zelenskai created the war veteran, Sergei Kozakov depicted the African fighter and Alexander Sergeyev made the woman launching the dove.
The depiction of the invalid was of striking significance. There were an estimated 2.75 million surviving invalids left from the Great Patriotic War. According to the historian Catherine Merridale, there was a great shortage of doctors, nurses, and prosthetic limbs. She stated, “Young men who had lost their legs were forced to trundle around on their homemade carts and maimed beggars became a common sight in Russian towns.” She writes further that disabled people were viewed as a nuisance and embarrassment. “Instead of gratitude, Ivans like this could meet resentful silence.” They were often cruelly referred to as 'Samovars' {Russian kettles for boiling tea}. {For more on this, see page 314 of Catherine Merridale's “Ivan's War: The Red Army 1939-1945,” 2005, London: Faber and Faber}. Interviews with many surviving Russian war veterans indicated that their fear of surviving the war as a badly-maimed invalid was greater than death.
A Russian artist Svetlana Wilson told me how she had encountered invalids maimed by the conflict in Ukraine. While travelling on the metro she told me “I came across a man who had no legs and was on clutches. He was in full uniform just standing next to me as all the seats were taken. When a seat was freely available he tapped me on the shoulder to indicate it was free so I might sit down. I felt very upset about this.” She also came across one injured man who was wearing medals dropping into a supermarket to buy a bottle of vodka as well as a little food for a snack.
Perhaps one of the reasons for the initially poor reception to Mukhina's work was the sculpture depicting an invalid. Many invalids were not allowed to participate in parades, and they were even banished from some towns and villages.
Why peace is so important cannot be taken for granted. I think the last words concerning the welcome of any peace or ceasefire should go to a war veteran. The late Alexander Levin poignantly described the end of the war with Germany. He recalled, “It was like a day in paradise. We ended the war while staying in one of Goebbel's castles in the Austrian Alps. I recall how beautiful everything was. The fruit trees were all white and blooming. Then we heard what was a horrible explosion or eruption of thunder as if a bomb was going off. We thought we were being attacked by partisans. We jumped out of the windows and took up positions ready to shoot. But there were no partisans. Then we saw that people were throwing up their hats in the air and saying, 'It is our victory day and we are alive.' I can never forget the sky. It was clear, crisp, and transparent. Everything looked beautiful. It was as if we were with God in paradise.' {The late veteran Alexander Levin spoke to one of our journalists who reported from Kishinev in Moldova. The full interview can still be read in Second City Teachers issue dated August 5, 2018 by Oksana Chebotareva}.
Muskina’s sculpture indeed serves as a reminder of the scars of war—and of the beauty of peace. The sculpture, created during the Korean War where the sculptor herself urged a full ceasefire, announces a strong message at a time when the world is increasingly afflicted with horrendous conflict.
The resilience of the human spirit is strong indeed!