Soviet Artists Envision a Communist Utopia in Outer Space

Sovi­et artists had been toil­ing for years on a cre­ative, col­lec­tive future vision by the time David Bowie got around to launch­ing Major Tom into out­er space.

As Vincze Mik­lós reports on io9, their efforts extend­ed the hope of a “work­er’s Utopia on Earth” to des­ti­na­tions in the solar sys­tem.

In 1965, film­mak­er Pavel Klushant­sev’s Stantsi­ia “Luna” (Sta­tion Moon) treat­ed chil­dren to a high­ly sat­is­fy­ing vision of the lunar sur­face as a bustling con­struc­tion site.

Work­ers, hell. It’s not hard to imag­ine Andrei Sokolov, whose paint­ings were exhib­it­ed aboard the Mir sta­tion, pro­duc­ing high qual­i­ty ren­der­ings for Mad Men’s Don Drap­er to show high-rolling Mar­t­ian clients.

And pop sci­ence mag Tekhni­ka Molodezhi (“Tech­nol­o­gy for the Youth”) pro­mot­ed the space race with pages of intrigu­ing four-col­or images. The doll­house-like cross sec­tion (above) of a com­mu­nal res­i­dence below the moon’s crust is prac­ti­cal­ly scream­ing Wes Ander­son’s name.

Those who’ve nev­er had much stom­ach for the Jet­sons’ prim­i­tive aes­thet­ic might find this lush Sovi­et vision much eas­i­er to swal­low.

More images can be found at io9.

Relat­ed Con­tent:

“Glo­ry to the Con­querors of the Uni­verse!”: Pro­pa­gan­da Posters from the Sovi­et Space Race (1958–1963)

Watch Dzi­ga Vertov’s Unset­tling Sovi­et Toys: The First Sovi­et Ani­mat­ed Movie Ever (1924)

Enjoy 15+ Hours of the Weird and Won­der­ful World of Post Sovi­et Russ­ian Ani­ma­tion

“Moon Hoax Not”: Short Film Explains Why It Was Impos­si­ble to Fake the Moon Land­ing

Ayun Hal­l­i­day is the author of sev­en books, and cre­ator of the award win­ning East Vil­lage Inky zine.  Fol­low her @AyunHalliday