Tintin in the Land of the Soviets

(Jrt)

Tintin in the Land of the Soviets
Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (The Adventures of Tintin see "Little Twentieth" the countries of the Soviets, Hergé, 1930, Belgium) is the first album of comic adventures of Tintin, published originally in black and white between January 10, 1929 and 1930 in the pages of Petit Twentieth supplement of the newspaper The Twentieth Century.

Synopsis
At the time of the USSR Stalin, the Belgian reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy are sent to Moscow by the newspaper Le Petit Vingtième. A secret agent trying to prevent Soviet Tintin to complete its report is aboard the same train as they do. As the train passes through Germany, he detonated to kill Tintin. Tintin and Snowy escape death, but the reporter is accused of the bombing and is locked. He nevertheless managed to escape from prison, thanks to disguise it flew at a guard, and continues its journey to the USSR. When it comes with a Stolbsty Milou, it is immediately tracked by the Guépéou ...

The following reveals key moments of intrigue.

By making a tour in the city, he realizes that the leaders are forcing people to communism. When he returned, new attempts to arrest crashed into him. Upon his arrival in Moscow, he was arrested again and try to torture him, but he managed to escape through a diving suit and swimming in the river, before fighting again against agents. Tintin noted that Moscow has become a "quagmire infect." He also realizes that communism has been raging in the city and only the Communists manage to lift themselves out of poverty. Tintin engaged in the Soviet army, to better understand the maneuvers he understands that the army will remove the wheat koulaks (rich peasants). Tintin managed to save the wheat but is sentenced to death. In escaping, it is sinking into the polar regions in Russia, where the Guépéou chased. The adventures follow (a haunted house, a secret lair, Tintin plane that flies, comes at a German airfield, was acquired by the Guépéou, is finally saved by Milou). When they arrive in Berlin, a man Guépéou seeks to chloroformer, but Tintin managed to stop doing so. When try again to return to Russia, its superb car slips and falls into a train that runs our heroes to Brussels, where they are welcomed as heroes.

Sheet

* Author: Hergé
* Publisher: Le Petit Twentieth (1930), then Casterman (from 1981)
* Locations: Belgium, Germany, Soviet Union
* Time: 1929-1930

Characters

* Tintin (first appearance)
* Milou (first appearance)

The other characters are secondary. Many are anonymous. Among the few affublés a common surname, it should be noted:

* Dimitrieff Solowztenxopztzki (appears on page 53, with his colleague, it seeks to sink the boat Tintin)
* Lulitzosoff (appears on page 93; Tintin capture it, but it becomes available).
* Rodrobertine is the name of an aviator confused with Tintin (disguised as an aviator to escape).

Citations

* An officer of Guépéou dreaming of capturing Tintin: "I will be decorated with the order of" sickle aluminum stretched! "
* Tintin: "In this beautiful city qu'était Moscow is what the Soviets were a quagmire infect! "
* Tintin: "So while the people died of hunger, huge quantities of wheat go abroad to certify the so-called wealth of the Soviet paradise. "
* A German policeman: "This document tells us that man is a bolcheviste and his intention to blow up the dynamite all the capitals of Europe. "
* Tintin: "Another wounds of Russia today, these bands of abandoned children, vagabondant in cities and rural areas, live by theft and begging. "
* Snowy: "Poor kids. "
* Snowy: "I do t'abandonnerai ever, oh Tintin."

A pamphlet against the Bolshevik system
On 10 January 1929, Hergé created, commissioned by the abbot Wallez, owner of The Twentieth Century, the character of Tintin for Youth Supplement Le Petit Vingtième. At that time, there was anti-Communist obsession very important and it did not seem too bad the leaders of the newspaper to their young readers aware of the reality of Bolshevism.

It is the abbot Norbert Wallez, director of the Twentieth Century, which had the idea to invent a character who can show the young Belgians the situation in the USSR. It entrust this project to Hergé, editor of the Petit Vingtième. Thus was born Tintin.

The abbot Wallez, politically very right, is counting on this "report" to denounce the evils of communism. Thus, Hergé plays with the so-called healthy economic union: the hero Tintin visiting a factory realizes that it is in fact a simple decor. He also discovers that does not distribute bread to young children who are not communists, and that the Government diverts crop farmers for propaganda purposes abroad. There is also a scene where three communist address a gathering of people to carry out a "vote" among a list communism and a non-communist list. The three communist ask those who are for the non-Communist to raise their hands, while shining their revolvers into the crowd. Person n'osant raise their hands, the Communist list is therefore elected unanimously.

To create Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, Hergé has not had the opportunity to visit the country in which Tintin was sent, or to draw on a wealth of documentation. All the elements contained in this episode were provided by Moscow without sails, written by Joseph Douillet, former consul of Belgium in Russia, in Rostov-on-Don. In his book, Douillet attack strongly communism and the Soviet Government; Tintin in the Land of the Soviets is somehow setting comic Moscow without sails, which was its main source documentary.

The documentary sources limited
Herge has never been in the USSR, it draws its information mainly in the book Moscow without sails written by Joseph Douillet, former consul of Belgium in the USSR. The copies of entire passages, for example a scene where communists are elected by threatening voters with their revolvers (page 33). Here is a quote from the book Douillet:

"The communist comrade Oubiykone (outgoing chairman of the executive committee) gave a speech. Here are the terms in which it apostropha the crowd: "Three lists are present: one is that of the Communist Party. Let those who oppose this list raise their hands!" At the same time, Oubiykone and his four colleagues out their revolvers and désignèrent the crowd of peasants, the weapon threatening the fist. Oubiykone continued: "Who was against this list? Person? I declare that the list Communist pass unanimously. It is therefore unnecessary to vote for the other two." "

Other citation Douillet who clearly inspired Hergé:

"In a village where there were ten schools, it survived under the Soviet regime a high school: mixed. The Communists meet indeed, with a premeditated immoral, the two sexes in schools. "

Later, Hergé tell that he knew of the USSR that what we said in its midst who was the petty bourgeoisie Brussels. As for Tintin au Congo, he will then have as little documented and have fulfilled these adventures pictures of the time. Later, he will seek to avoid such errors in producing a work of considerable documentation for each story.

"I was employed in a newspaper and there was above me the editor, and above the editor, there was the reporter. And the reporter, was the great traveller, when there were cruising yellow, where there were all those who traveled the world as Kessel. So I wanted to make Tintin a newspaper reporter that he too would travel. And on his first voyage, the thing that seemed most important at the time was this country that we reached echoes terrifying and often contradictory, it was the Soviet Russia."

The first work of Herge
In creating this story that Hergé has learned to make the BD. Tintin, at the beginning of history, no fine and has the air of a big lourdaud scout, but in the end, it looks much more the character that we know. However, the technique of dialogue integrated into the design is far from being the best. In some ways, these 138 boards have allowed Hergé everything an apprenticeship.

Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, originally published before the war to 5 000 copies, was the only album not to be taken over by Casterman, according to the will of Hergé. The album became quickly found and collectors were obviously willing to pay dearly for having a copy. Also, counterfeits they saw the day. It was not until 1973 that the album was found republished in the form of a volume of the Archives Herge. In 1981, to counter new pirated versions, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets was reissued in the form of a genuine facsimile. For 70 years of Tintin, Casterman, with the permission of the Herge Foundation, published Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, always in black and white in the same form as other albums, against the will of Herge who wanted the Tintin first album remains outside the actual series.

A "pirate" colour is still circulating.

A hero still rough
The character of Tintin was brand new, drawing refined during the adventure. "Houppette" hero "is not always the same form. Although it is in black and white, this album has allowed Hergé preparing its design. The character of Tintin is not yet fully defined. It is one of three albums where you can see Tintin drunk (the others being The Broken Ear and The Crab with the Golden Pliers). However, it is already generous: it invites a beggar to dinner with him (the beggar will prove to be an agent of Guépéou disguised).

An episodic style
Because the type of publication (two pages per week), adventure resembles a series of gags or mini-ups, interspersed with denunciations of Soviet totalitarianism. At the end of each second board, Tintin is regularly threatening to maintain the suspense. Each week, the work of Herge Tintin is to get out of the danger which threatens or to invent something new.

Anecdotes
On May 8, 1930, when the adventure was finally released in Petit Vingtième, the newspaper announced the return of Tintin at the Gare du Nord in Brussels and hired someone to play the role of Tintin. A crowd rushed immediately to the station, demonstrating the success of the work of Herge. The scene was also included in the album.

Read also The Adventures of Tintin and Snowy

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