Industry and Agriculture chess set

The Industry and Agriculture chess set, also known as Industrialization and Collectivization or simply as City and Country, was made at the Dmitrov Porcelain Factory in 1934, based on drawings by E. Tripolskaya (1881–1958), the factory's employee in the early 1930s. A reflection of a time of profound economic change in the USSR, the set became a lateer landmark of “propaganda porcelain”. Old representations of chess pieces are ancient history. Black pawns are now light bulbs symbolizing electrification, while the white ones are bags of potassium fertilizers; rooks are distillation columns and silos; knights are utility poles and collective farm tractor wheels; bishops are the Labor and Defense Council towers surrounded by young pioneers frozen in welcoming salute. The representation of the former king and queen is particularly interesting — they are replaced with original triangular stelae adorned with different images on each face. The kings were replaced with the images of tractor and combine drivers, a steelworker and a technician; the queens — with those of field and farm workers, a machine operator and a laboratory aid, all wearing red scarves instead of crowns.