Stalin - Cult of Personality

JOSEPH STALIN – CULT OF PERSONALITY

Image as a leader

1.      Closely linked to Lenin, seen as a key figure of the revolution, and portrayed as a great writer and political theorist.

a.       Stalin constantly stressed that “We are all pupils of Lenin” to maintain an image of modesty.

b.      He was portrayed as a political theorist for “material dialectics”, grouping him together with Marx, Engels, and Lenin.

2.      Stalin was portrayed repeatedly as a “simple leader” that represented the masses.

a.       In his 1937 speech, Stalin said he was an “unimpressive fellow” and needed “to learn to work from the masses, from the middle people”.

3.      Stalin’s achievements were stressed in propaganda.

a.       Stalin’s fiftieth birthday in December 1929 marked the beginning of a national day of celebration.

b.      In 1934 “history education at Soviet schools began to be accused of suffering from abstractness and omitting the role of living ‘personalities’… like the titanic figure of Stalin”. (from Erik Van Ree,  Political Thought of Joseph Stalin. 2002)

4.      Stalin was iconized and portrayed as a god-like leader.

a.       He was called “the great leader”, “creator of our happiness”, “father of the people” and “genius of our epoch”. (from David G. Williamson, The Age of the Dictators. 2007)

Education

5.      In school, children were taught that Stalin was the provider of all great things.

a.       10 years of education was now required for all children

b.      Textbooks, tests and exams were written by the State

6.      The number of students enrolled in school increased from 12 million in 1929 to 35 million in 1940.

a.       Stalin was not interested in providing education to promote the idea of intellectualism, it was merely an opportunity to further drive Stalinist principles into the minds of the Soviet youth.

7.      The literacy rate for individuals over 9 years increased from 51% in 1929 to 88% in 1940.

The new working class

8.      Stalin introduced piece-work in 1931, so workers would be paid solely for what they produced.

a.       This was an attack against ‘egalitarianism’ (equality in wages) and the control that shock brigades had over working conditions and pay rates.

b.      The purpose was to use individuals as examples and motivate workers to increase production through their own hard efforts.

9.      During the night of August 30 1935, Aleksei Stakhanov cut 102 tons of coal in the Donbass coalfields, which was 14 times the normal yield.

a.       Stakhanov was used as an example for other workers in propaganda campaigns in order to impose a more efficient system of production.

b.      “Stakhanovites”, ordinary workers who followed Stakhanov’s example, were given privileges, including: extra rations, consumer goods, better housing and in some cases, cars.

Religion

10.  Stalin introduced piece-work in 1931, so workers would be paid solely for what they produced.

a.       This was an attack against ‘egalitarianism’ (equality in wages) and the control that shock brigades had over working conditions and pay rates.

11.  An attack on religion occurred in 1928, where the Russian Orthodox Church was the main target.

a.       Stalin continued and enhanced Lenin’s demonization of the church, since he believed that religion was an insult to the collective needs of the masses.

b.      During WWII, Stalin ceased the attack on the Church and used it to gather support from the people for the war effort, and promote Russian nationalism to unify the citizenry.

c.       By 1953, 25 000 churches reopened.

Arts and culture

12.  “Soviet realism” was reflected in all literature, science, and arts. Art now depicted and celebrated the work of ordinary Russian peasants and factory workers.

a.       “Above all, the arts had to be optimistic” (from Robert Service, A history of Modern Russia, 2003.)

b.      Maxim Gorsky was a key figure in establishing the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers in 1934.

                                                  i.      Under Stalin’s directions, they could ban or censor any work that did not meet his standards.

c.       Artists who did not comply with Soviet Realism were persecuted.

                                                  i.      Writer, Alexander Solzhenstyn was placed in the Gulags.

Historiography

The Great Terror by: Robert Conquest 1968

13.  “In the final stages of the "cult of personality," he was built up with the most astonishing adulation as a genius not only in politics, but also in strategy, the sciences, style, philosophy, and almost every field.”

14.  “His picture looked down from every hoarding; his bust was carried by Soviet alpinists to the top of every Soviet peak.”

15.  “The histories were, of course, rewritten to make his role in the Revolution a decisive one.”

The Russian Revolution by: Sheila Fitzpatrick 2008

16.  “The cult of Stalin began in earnest at the end of 1929 with the celebration of his fiftieth birthday.”

17.  “distortion of reality and manipulation of statistics”

18.  The 1920s: “This was the time in which the closed frontiers, sieged mentality and cultural isolation that were to be characteristic of the Soviet Union under Stalin period were firmly established.”

19.  “The people grew thinner as the state grew strong.”