The Red Corner
A festive room or part of it with propagandist aims furnished with communist attributes
The red corner (in Russian красный угол; красный – nice, clean, red) initially meant a sacred corner or an altar in an Orthodox Russian home. In that part of the house the place of honour belonged to the icon and possibly some other furnishings, e.g. a table and chairs. Various items were brought here to be revered. People sat there during religious festivities or on special occasions. The Soviet ideology adopted this tradition and after Lenin’s death in 1924, small sacred places, the so-called Lenin’s corners were set up according to the party’s instructions, in offices, factories and villages all over the Soviet Union. The compulsory furnishings of a red corner included a picture of Lenin and decorations made of red fabric. There could additionally be pictures of other party and state leaders, ideologically inspired art (paintings, sculptures, busts), propagandist posters and a hall of fame. This was also a place for displaying pennants given as prizes, propagandist literature and newspapers and for organising ideologically festive events, such as giving loyalty oaths, conferring awards, accepting children as Young October Children or pioneers, etc. In the course of Sovietization, red corners became compulsory also in Estonian institutions.
