Communist Art?

When I was in high school I was an exchange student in Germany for three and a half weeks. The area that I was sent to was part of the old East Block. During the time I was there I was horribly homesick and I felt like no one could understand what I was going through. I experienced terrible culture shock that only my move to Pittsburgh has been able to rival since. I was sixteen and in a country that was completely and utterly alien to me. It all seemed culturally backwards to me. There is only so much that high school German can prepare or NOT prepare you for.

But what I now wish I had paid attention to was the Communist art that I saw there. I want to go back to that I can contemplate them more deeply.

The purpose of Communist displays of art is to motivate the people, however, the images portrayed are usually of strong societies where people are working happily and have plenty to eat. These are often complete and utter lies.

I like Communist art for its irony.

Honestly I've been doing a lot of thinking about oppressive totalitarian regimes lately with the death of Kim Jong Il. I was hoping that things would start to change in that country with the move of power to his son, Kim Jong Un, but unfortunately, it seems that things will be staying the same for a while. I may not see the end of totalitarianism in North Korea in my lifetime and this worries me.