Agitprop poster by Vladimir Mayakovsky.

Agitprop is a slang word applied to any form of mass media, such as a television program or film, that tries to influence opinion for political, commercial or other ends, especially if it aims to convince people through agitating their minds with highly emotional language of problems in present-day society or politics (which may or may not exist if analysed in an unbiased manner). Agitprop sometimes although not always uses indirect methods to reach its goal, such as conveying a political message via a television drama that's marketed as a form of entertainment rather than political education, for example. Image File history File links Rostaposter_mayakowski. ... Image File history File links Rostaposter_mayakowski. ... Portrait of Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский) (July 7 (O.S.) = July 19 (N.S.), 1893 - April 14, 1930) was among the foremost representatives for the poetic futurism of early 20th century Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union. ... Mass media is a term used to denote, as a class, that section of the media specifically conceived and designed to reach a very large audience (typically at least as large as the whole population of a nation state). ... Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed. ... Politics is the process and method of decision-making for groups of human beings. ... Commerce is the trading of something of value between two entities. ...

Most people today see "agitprop" as a contraction of agitational propaganda. The term originated in Communist Russia, where the term was a shortened form of отдел агитации и пропаганды (otdel agitatsii i propagandy), i.e., Department for Agitation and Propaganda, which was part of the Central and regional committees of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The department was later renamed to Ideological Department. Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Russian: Коммунисти́ческая Па́ртия Сове́тского Сою́за = КПСС) was the name used by the successors of the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party from 1952 to 1991, but the wording Communist Party was present in the partys name since 1918 when the Bolsheviks became the All...

The term propaganda in the Russian language doesn't bear any of the negative connotations that it carries in the English language. It simply means "dissemination of ideas". In the case of Agitprop, the ideas to be disseminated were those of communism, including explanations of the policy of the Communist Party and the Soviet State. In other contexts, propaganda could mean dissemination of any kind of beneficial knowledge, e.g., of new methods in agriculture. "Agitation" meant urging people to do what Soviet leaders expected them to do; again, at various levels. In other words, propaganda was supposed to act on the mind, while agitation acted on emotions, although both usually went together, thus giving rise to the cliché "propaganda and agitation". North Korean propaganda showing a soldier destroying the United States Capitol building. ... Russian (Russian: русский язык, russkiy yazyk, (help· info)) is the most widely spoken language of Eurasia and the most widespread of the Slavic languages. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... A cliché (from French origin) originally was a printing term for a semi-permanently assembled piece of type which could easily be inserted into the document being printed (see Block printing). ...

In the western world, agitprop has a negative connotation. In the United Kingdom during the 1980s, for examine, socialist elements of the poltical scene were often accused of using agitprop to convey an extreme left-wing message via television programmes, theatre and even children's books. However, in a more general sense, a television cartoon might be described as 'agitprop' if it could be interpreted as a marketing ploy to sell toys. 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ... A display of Roman toys, including several that would be familiar to children today: a doll, dice, rattles, and toy dishes for playing house. ...

The term is rarely used in the modern Russian language, apart from references to the genuine Agitprop organization.