This stamp, issued October 5, 1971, features a bust of Karl Marx and commemorates the unveiling on October 9 of the Karl Marx memorial* at Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz). [That’s a lot of Karl Marx’s!] Although a relatively large stamp, it’s dwarfed by the memorial statue that served as a model. The head is about 23 feet tall, and the monument with its pedestal stands over 43 feet and weighs approximately 40 tons. Behind the bust of Marx and pedestal a bronze wall is inscribed with words from the Communist Manifesto, “Workers of the world, in German, Russian, French and English.
Chemnitz had been renamed Karl-Marz-Stadt in 1953, and the statue was meant to be a defining symbol of the socialist city. The city has reverted to its historical name of Chemnitz and is the third largest city in the German state of Saxony. It was the European Capital of Culture in 2025.
The monumental bronze head was designed by Soviet sculptor Lev Kerbel and was cast at the Monumentskulptura art foundry in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). It consisted of 95 pieces which were transported to Karl-Marx-Stadt and assembled there.
The bust was rendered in Soviet realism (socialist realism) style, the official state-approved art style in the Soviet Union from 1932 to the late 1980s. The socialist realism style was approved by the First Congress of Soviet Writers in 1934 after which independent artist groups were shut down and creative output tightly controlled. Socialist realism in art was meant to educate the proletariat and promote communist values.
Though I don’t agree with social realist values I’m drawn to some of the artwork because of its bold rendering of subjects. Many stamps of Soviet block countries were produced in this style and sold inexpensively in large quantities to stamp dealers around the world to generate foreign currency for their respective countries. The dealers in turn assembled packets (above) which were sold at very low prices to collectors. As a boy I purchased many of these packets for 25 cents. Today the stamps have little value to collectors because of the large quantities issued and because the main reason for their production was not for postal use. However, I still find many of the stamps attractive and interesting because of the artistic style and historical messaging they convey.
The cover shown here with the single Karl Marx stamp was mailed from Leipzig in East Germany to an address in Bremen in West Germany. This required 35 Phennig in postage, the international rate for letters up to 20 grams in weight. Mail from East to West Germany was considered international mail at that time.
This second cover mailed from Dresden in East Germany to Canada is also franked with the Karl Marx stamp plus three additional stamps: a set of two featuring the artwork of Fritz Cremer (1906-1993) who was primarily known as a sculptor. Cremer was considered a key figure in the art and cultural politics of East Germany. This stamp set features artwork from the Cremer’s Buchenwald Zyklus (Buchenwald Cycle) expressing themes of resistance and human suffering and commemorates the 20th anniversary of the International Federation of Resistance Fighters (Fédération Internationale des Résistants). The fourth stamp features the Coat of Arms of the USSR and marks the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Union. The value of the four stamps, 100 Phennig, overpayed the international rate by 5 Phennig. The overpayment may have resulted from the sender wanting to use these stamps in correspondence because the sender was a stamp collector or the recipient in Canada was a stamp collector (maybe both) or it may have simply been a matter of using stamps the sender had on hand.
- Photograph of Karl Mark Memorial by Robert Steffens and used here through Wikimedia Commons license.
