This painting is a replica of the propaganda poster by artist Lazar Markovich Lissitzky, better known as El Lissitzky, "the man through whose exertions the new Russian ideas became generally understood in Western Europe". In the poster, the intrusive red wedge symbolizes the Bolsheviks, who are penetrating and defeating their opponents, the White movement, during the Russian Civil War. It is an example of Constructivism.
The image became popular in the West when Lissitzky moved to Germany in 1921. It is considered symbolic of the Russian Civil War in Western publications.