Horror movies and Weird Tales magazine have given us some beautiful, spooky and unnerving works of art. But if you really want a dose of scary brilliance? Check out the posters that warned people of the evils of Communism. These are scarier, and more beautiful, than pretty much any horror art you've seen.


British Conservative Party posters, 1909


(via Gyroscopic Inventing)

What bolshevism brings to the people, a Russian anti-Communist poster from 1918

(via Wikimedia Commons)

Bolshevism brings war, unemployment and famine, a German poster from 1918


(via Wikimedia Commons)

Germany's ideal future under the leadership of the Bolsheviks, 1919


(via Wikimedia Commons)

A French book titled This is What the Bolshevist will Bring to Europe, published in 1934 or 1935


(via Ptak Science Books)

Do you want to live in the shadow of him?, A Norwegian anti-communist poster


(via Ayay)

Bolshevism Unmasked, WWII


(via Reddit)

Is this tomorrow?, a cover of a propaganda comic book, 1947


(via Wikimedia Commons)

Civilization or barbarism – Don't you still understand?, a Dutch poster from the 1940s


(via Reddit)

Look behind the mask! Communism is death, 1950s


(via University of Houston)

Caucasian Dance: Stalin, having stuck the knife in Hungary, Romania and China, turns to France, surrounded by the French communists Duclos and Thorez, anti-communist poster by the 'Paix et Liberte' movement, 1951


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Protect us!, election poster of CDU, 1953


(via Wikimedia Commons)

Is Your Washroom Breeding Bolsheviks?, a Scot towel advert


(via Reddit)

Sure I want to fight Communism – but how?


(via Denge Denge)

Stalin as a peace protector, by the French anti-communist group Paix et Liberté, 1951


(via Designer Daily)

Communism wears a false face. The hard, vicious face of Communism hides behind a mask of peace, an advertising of Bohn Aluminum & Brass Corporation, by Robert Tohm, 1952


(via James Vaughan)

More ads for Bohn by Robert Tohm in 1951 and 1952



(via James Vaughan)

In case the Communists should conquer, our women would be helpless beneath the boots of the Asiatic Russians, 1953


(via James Vaughan)

Communism and Christianity, by Canadair in 1955


(via Canada's Pursuit of Prosperity and Search for Security)

The Red Iceberg, a comic book that warns children of the dangers of communism, printed by the anti-communist Catholic Cathechetical Guild in 1960


(via CUNY)

"My dear son, I am so sort you are going to have to live under Communism.", a Freedom Foundation ad from 1961


(via The Society Pages)

"Look what the Russians are building, just 40 miles from the U.S.A. As an American, you should look into it.", an ad from Expo 67 in Montreal, 1967


(via The CDR)