Interesting. On a somewhat related note, the technique of film editing has been heavily influenced by early Russian artists; Lev Kuleshov discovered that audiences' perception of what occurred in identical segments of footage was heavily influenced by the context in which it was viewed.
Stalin later suppressed the output of these early filmmakers, objecting to the idea of formalism (but was happy to have his propaganda people indirectly employ the technique to political ends).
The book "The Commissar Vanishes" presents bunch of before-and-after photographs in which various of Stalin's associates and henchmen are removed from photos after they become persona non grata. Some examples:
The first photo above shows an eerie example: So many of the commissars have been removed from the official history, that Stalin is alone in the photo.
Stalin later suppressed the output of these early filmmakers, objecting to the idea of formalism (but was happy to have his propaganda people indirectly employ the technique to political ends).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuleshov_Experiment