Tin Tin in the Land of the Soviets

 

FRENCH TITLE

Tintin au pays des Soviets

SERIALISATION

Tintin au Pays des Soviets (Tintin the Land of the Soviets) was Tin Tin's  inaugural adventure. It was  serialised in Le Petit Vigntieme from January 10, 1929 to May 8, 1930. 

Tintin au Pays des Soviets 
Le Petit Vigntieme

The publication of the first ever Tin Tin album was announced Le Petit Vigntieme 18th June 1930.

Tintin au Pays des Soviets

Tintin au Pays des Soviets

CONTEXT

In 1917 the Russian Revolution saw the toppling of Tsar Nicholas II and the establishment of a socialist government under the control of the Bolsheviks. The  Bolsheviks formed it's self into the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After a civil where the monarchist White Russians were defeated by the Communist Red Russians. Stalin assumed power of the Soviet Union in April 1922. The country became a dictatorship and not a workers utopia as was portrayed to the outside world.

Soviet Red Paradise

The reality was Russia was in famine. Collective farms had failed and any grain produced was being exported to give an illusion of sucess. The five year plan for industry created inefficiencies and failures. To portray the success of the Soviet Union, Stalin invited left wing intellectuals and reporters from the West to visit show factories and farms to showcase the achievements of the socialist soviet system. Russia's booming economy was an illusion of Soviet propaganda promulgated to the west.

Stalin's OGPU (the intelligence and state security service and secret police of the Soviet Union) enforced communist doctrine and ensured there were no dissenters to the regime. They also controlled the press and what was to be reported in west. They did not want the western press reporting the true conditions "in the land of the Soviets"

Tintin in the Land of the Soviets sees Tin Tin, a reporter with the Le Petit Vigntieme, together with his canine faithful companion Milou, is sent to the Land of the Soviets to report on the policies of Joseph Stalin's Communist government. 

Tin Tin and Milou departing for the Soviet Union

SYNOPSIS

Tin Tin the bourgeois reporter is targeted by the OGPU throughout the adventure. They firstly implicate him in an explosion on a train for which he is arrested in Berlin. Escaping, he reaches the Soviet Union by by motor bike, car and stowing away on a train overcoming various mishaps on the way.

On reaching the Soviet Union he witnesses the sham presentation of the efficient Soviet industry "how the Soviets fool the poor idiots who still believe in a "Red Paradise".

Soviet portrayal of the the factories to western visitors

Soviet factories reality

He witnesses the co-coercion that keeps the communist party in power as the the elected representatives of the people.

Soviet Coercive elections

He eventually arrives in Moscow.

There he sees abandoned children queuing for bread ("another of the evils of Russia today") and discovers that the little wheat that is available is being exported for foreign propaganda purposes

Moscow children queuing for bread

Soviet seizure of wheat for foreign propaganda purposes

"Comrades.... we are short of wheat ! The little we have is needed for our foreign propaganda ! We simply must find some otherwise we face famine ! The only solution is to organise an expedition against the kulaks, the rich peasants, and force them at gun point to gives us thier corn. I have spoken !

Through many attempts to stop him, with imminent danger of arrest and torture, or death, Tin Tin and Snowy prevail through many improbable escapes from the OGPU. 

Soviet OGPU attempt to arrest Tin Tin

Tin Tin's escapes

Tin Tin's escapes - German Police

Tin Tin's escapes -  Bolsheviks

About to be attacked by a Polar Bear, the bear finds Tin Tin's vodka, and becomes inebriated, once again Tin Tin escapes.

Tin Tin's escapes -  Polar Bear

Tin Tin joins the Red Army to prevent the seizure of grain from the peasants. 

The Soviet propaganda, the activities of the OGPU, suppression of democracy and the exporting of grain to give an illusion of the sucess of communism whilst people starved are historically accurate. 

Escaping to Berlin through more improbable escapes, he uncovers a Bolshevik plot blow up the capital cities of Europe with dynamite, thus avoiding that catastrophe. 

He eventually returns to Brussels to a hero's welcome. 

Le Petit Vingtième
announces Tin Tins return

Tin Tins return to Brussels

 

Tin Tins triumphal return to Brussels

CHARACTERS

Tin Tin

Snowy

Land of the Soviets
Tin Tin and Snowy

LOCATIONS

BRUSSELS - Tin Tin's workplace

BERLIN - Travel to and from Brussels

MOSCOW - Tin Tin reporting

LINKS

Official Site

Tintin in the Land of the Soviets — Tintin.com

Tin Tin Wiki

Tintin in the Land of the Soviets | Tintin Wiki | Fandom

Wikipedia

Wikipedia - Tin in the Land of the Soviets

Tin Tin Passion

Les différentes éditions des albums (tintinpassion.net)

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Tin Tin in the Land of the Soviets

Тинтин в стране Советов

Tin Tin in the Land of the Soviets
Тинтин в стране Советов

TINTINOMANIA - Pour tous les passionnés de Tintin et de Hergé

TINTINOMAINIA

For all lovers of Tin Tin and Hergé

TINTINOMANIA - Pour tous les passionnés de Tintin et de Hergé

Hergé

Hergé

Hergé, first created Tin Tin in 1929 in Le Petit Vingtième, a publication for young people. Tin Tin would endure through many adventures till 1976 when  Hergé produced his last album. Indeed Tin Tin would prevail and with many followers worldwide.  

Hergé's fictional adventures of Tin Tin and Milou as they travelled the globe were portrayed within the framework of actual international events. In doing so he portrayed them in a context of his own social and political views, influenced by those he worked with. 

In 1929 Belgium was a young nation, it was only formed in 1830. It had become a colonial nation during the 'Scramble for Africa' as European countries vied for possessions around the world. It had endured the horrors of the First World War, being invaded and occupied by the Germans from 1914-1918. Post War One saw the great depression of the 1930'sand the rise of Fascism.

 Hergé's own views during the 1920's / 1930's were right wing, which was not unusual in the Belgian middle class of that time. Patriotism, catholicism, strict morality were the prevailing influences. 

Views consistent with Norbert Wallez,  a preist and editor of Le Vingtième Siècle, a catholic and conservative newspaper where Hergé was employed.  Pro catholic and pro fascist views which would be reflected in Le Petit Vingtième which Norbert Wallez asked Hergé to create which was launched 1st November 1928. Tin Tin being first serialised in the Le Petit Vingtième edition of the 4th of January 1929.

Norbert Wallez and Hergé 1931

It would be published from 1929 to 1940 during a period when fascism emerges, which many of the Belgian middle class supported including Hergé.

Le Petit Vingtième June 1934
Mussolini and Hitler

When Hitler invaded Belgium in May 1940, Hergé and his family fled to France. They returned to  Brussels on 30th June to find that all of the Belgian press was under German control and Le Petit Vingtième closed down. He found employment with Belgium's largest  daily newspaper Le Soir which was controlled by the Germans.  

After the liberation of Belgium in September 1944, Le Soir, including Hergé, were accused of collaboration with the Nazis. They were sacked and the newspaper place under the control of allied forces.

Hergé expressed his views;

[During the occupation] I worked, just like a miner, a tram driver or baker! But, while one found it normal for an engineer to operate a train, members of the press were labelled as 'traitors'.

Hergé[124] Farr, Michael (2001). Tintin: The Complete Companion. London: John Murray. ISBN 978-0-7195-5522-0. p. 118.

His opinion on Fascism had changed; 

I admit that I believed myself that the future of the West could depend on the New Order. For many people democracy had proven deceptive, and the New Order brought fresh hope. In Catholic circles such views were widely held. Given everything that happened, it was naturally a terrible error to have believed even for an instant in the New Order.

Peeters, Benoît (1989). Tintin and the World of Hergé. London: Methuen Children's Books. ISBN 978-0-416-14882-4.  pp. 117.

Those changing  opinions would be reflected in Tin Tin as Hergé reflected upon his earliest work;

“The fact is that while I was growing up, I was being fed the prejudices of the bourgeois society that surrounded me. It’s true that Soviets and Congo were youthful sins. I’m not rejecting them. However, if I were to do it again, they would be different.” 

Indeed Hergé did do things differently. Earlier works that were serialised in  Le Petit Vingtième and Le Soir were redrawn in later publications of albums to reflect the changing social and political views. 

 A scene depicted in Tin Tin in the Congo portrays Tin Tin teaching a class of children in a school. In the original version published in 1930, Tin Tin tells the pupils "My dear friends, today I'm going to talk to you about your fatherland: Belgium!" . 

Tin Tin colonial attitudes
Instructing Congolese children about the Fatherland

A portrayal  consistent with the prevailing nationalistic / imperialistic attitudes in Belgium in 1930.  

1930' Belgian colonialism viewpoint

Attitudes on imperialism which would change as a result of being under occupation,  a "colony in the Nazi Empire", for four years.

In a colour version published in 1946 Hergé redrew the scene as Tin Tin teaching maths. A portrayal  consistent with more modern thoughts on nationalism / imperialism.

Tin Tin in Congo - 1930 version ... 1946 redrawn version

In October 1950 Le Journal Tin Tin (Tin Tin Magazine) announced  it would be subtitled  Le Journal des Jeunes De 7 a 77 ans (The Magazine for the Youth from 7 to 77.). 

With such a wide age range from those aged 77 who would have grown up in Belgium's colonial era, those who had fought through one or two world wars, and those aged 7 now growing up in an emerging Europe, the social and political views must have been wide ranging, and indeed conflicting. 

Hergé created a world wide phenomenon with his adventures of Tin Tin over a period of nearly 50 years. To do so meant keeping Tin Tin popular and that would have meant changing and adapting to an ever changing world. It means that what was acceptable in 1930, may not be acceptable in later years or to day. It meant adapting to what ever was acceptable to the Germans during the occupation of Belgium.

Hergé modernised and redrew some of his earlier work, which to me reflects he was never driven by a particular dogma. He adapted to the prevailing needs to bring Tin Tins Adventures for for the Youth from 7 to 77.

Tin Tin
 Le Journal des Jeunes De 7 a 77 ans
The Magazine for the Youth from 7 to 77

TV Series - Hergé's Adventures of Tin Tin

 Hergé's Adventures of Tin Tin was an animated television series based upon the Belgian cartoonists popular comic books.

There were seven series, which consisted of five minute episodes, which were produced from 1957 to 1964 by Belvision and Tele-Hachette. They were dubbed in English and shown on the BBC. The first episode was aired on the BBC was aired in 1962.

Each 5 minute episode would commence with the opening words "Hergé's Adventures of Tin Tin". 

Hergé's Adventures of Tin Tin

At the begging there was a resume of the what had happened previously and end with Tin Tin or one of his compatriots in a predicament, encouraging viewing of the next installment.

Hergé's Adventures of Tin Tin

The seven series were based upon eight of Hergé's stories. Destination Mood and Explorers on the Moon were combined into a single story for tv.

Hergé's Adventures of Tin Tin 

Destination Moon

Explorers on the Moon

The Crab with the Golden Claws

The Secret of the Unicorn

Red Rackham's Treasure

The Shooting Star

The Black Island

The Calculus Affair

Destination Moon

Crab with the Golden Claws

Secret of the Unicorn

Red Rackham's Treasure

Shooting Star

Calculus Affair

Hergé's Adventures of Tin Tin

' Hergé's Adventures of Tin Tin' the television would announce, heralding excitement to see what heroic actions the intrepid Belgian reporter would undertake during the episode.

Each 5 minute episode would give a resume of the what had happened previously and end with Tin Tin or one of his compatriots in a predicament, encouraging viewing of the next installment.

With his trusted dog Snowy, Tin Tin would set off to solve a mystery.

Along the way he would inevitably come across the seafaring alcoholic Captain Haddock. The bungling Thompson Twins would be also investigating the same mystery. Then there would be the inevitable assistance from Professor Calculus and an Italian opera singer Bianca Castafore.

Professor Calculus | Captain Haddock | Thompson Twins
Tin Tin | Snowy | Bianca Castafore

When I viewed Tin Tin as a young boy man had yet to go to the moon, yet there we saw Tin Tin blasting off in a rocket destined for the moon. The titles of the books and the illustrations on their covers were places one would have never thought one would end up; Russia, America, Egypt, China, Morocco, Sydney and perhaps there will be a few more to add to the list.

Working in Brussels one would look at the newsstands at the airport all  prominently displaying Tin Tin books and memorabilia. The many hours sitting in the airport and the resultant air journey an opportunity to read some the books of the adventures I had seen on the television.

And now a full set of of the Adventures of Tin Tin is the opportunity to rekindle an interest from decades ago.