Before moving to the U.S. in 1994, Oleg Atbashian lived in Ukraine where he sometimes worked as a propaganda artist for the old Soviet Union, creating agitprop posters for the local Party Committee in a small town. During that time, Oleg says he "witnessed the transition of Republics of the Soviet Union from corrupt socialism to corrupt kleptocracy."
When he arrived in the U.S., Atbashian was puzzled by the "level of delusional affection for all things Left among the 'liberal' intellectual elites who take America's exclusive well-being for granted."
At that time Oleg dismissed this "delusional affection" as silly and of little consequence. Then 9/11 happened. Oleg witnessed that day from the base of the Twin Towers. "I'm still haunted by the horror I came to be a witness of," says Atbashian. "The subsequent blame-America attitude among the intellectual trend-setters enraged me; 'liberalism' no longer seemed laughable. It was dangerous suicidal madness that had to be confronted. I took up political activism."
Oleg's activism blossomed into the satirical street-theater group, "Communists for Kerry." Atbashian says that, "Communists for Kerry was started in July, 2004 as a six-member satirical group with the stated goals of helping George W. Bush get re-elected and having a lot of fun in the process. I was the group's writer, graphic artist, and webmaster. The project exceeded our expectations. Our last street theater event on Union Square in New York featured over 30 volunteers in communist costumes; many more people joined us online from all over the USA. We even had a sister group in Australia, and people wearing CFK shirts at a rally in Paris, France."
With The People’s Cube, Oleg is hoping to turn it into a nation-wide community web portal of spontaneous political humor and parody for conservatives, libertarians, objectivists, and anyone who supports and celebrates America's freedoms, individual rights, and capitalism."
He currently writes for The People's Cube under the pseudonym "Red Square."