On November 7, 1919, the first image was snapped of the Soviet leadership celebrating the second anniversary of the October Revolution.  After Trotsky and his allies fell from power, a number of figures were removed from the image, including Trotsky, originally standing on the left of Lenin.

Soviet Photo Manipulation -- Lenin and Trotsky

During the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, a number of pictures were taken of successful fighters celebrating their victories. The background of the original image includes a store that says in Russian, “Watches, gold and silver”.  In the second photo, the image was then changed to read, “Struggle for your rights”, and flag that was a solid color before,  was changed to read, “Down with the monarchy – long live the Republic!”.

Soviet Photo Manipulation of 1917

Another revealing example of Soviet photo manipulation was in the case of Nikolai Yezhov, the head of the  NKVD,  seen on the left of  Stalin in the first photo,  but was edited out of the image after his execution in 1940, as shown in the second photo.