1.3 Personality Cults of Stalin, Krushchev & Brezhnev

Question 1

cult of personality (2)

Answer 1

• the adoration of an individual through the use of art and popular culture
• used as a method of enhancing the status of a leader and creating a sense of loyalty to them

Question 2

why was a cult of personality used? (2)

Answer 2

• to detach individual leaders from the collective leadership exercised in theory by the politburo
• because individual leaders wanted to raise thier power and status above that of their colleagues, it became a useful tool.

Question 3

Lenin’s personality cult (3)

Answer 3

• as soon as Lenin was buried he was being called the ‘hero of the revolution’
• newspapers, statues and cinemas all contained images of Lenin, in order to motivate the population to immitate his commitment to the Revolution
• Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in 1924 in honour of his achievements for the revolution

Question 4

the cult of Stalin (2)

Answer 4

• it linked him to lenin to highlight his loyalty to the Lenin legacy during his struggle for power in the 1920s
• it reinforced Stalin’s personal dictatorship in the 1930s

Question 5

what were some key features of the cult of Stalin? (6)

Answer 5

• links between Lenin and Stalin were highlighted, even where none existed. Stalin was portrayed as Lenin’s closest colleague, a hero of the civil war and the saviour of the revolution (‘Stalin is the Lenin of today’)
• the town of Tsaritsyn was renamed Stalingrad in 1925
• in the 1930s, images of Stalin that gave the imporession of the all-present, all-knowing leader reinforced his power
• paintings identified Stalin with the achievemtns of the Five-Year Plans as well as pictures of stalin with children to emphasize his role as a father figure (children looking up to their hero)
• poetry was also used, such as the ‘Song about Stalin’
• statues of Stalin were erected in most cities and towns

Question 6

how were posters and images of Stalin used? (4)

Answer 6

• posters of Stalin in military uniform were common during WW2
• images of Stalin in front of masses of Soviet troops, conveyed the message that Stalin was the defender of Mother Russia
• propoganda posters highlighted Stalin as a man of the people, with images of him with workers and peasants
• Stalin was also presented as a down-to-earth , happy man with plain clothes and a pipe

Question 7

How was Stalin’s childhood and early life changed and why? (3)

Answer 7

• in official biographies, Stalin’s early life was embellished and often invented
• his family home was turned into a shrine
• a happy family was invented with Stalin portrayed as the devoted son, despite the fact that he only saw his mother three times in forty years

Question 8

The cult of Krushchev (7)

Answer 8

• despite condemning Stalin for his use of a personality cult in his Secret Speech in 1956, he would end up making one as well
• having a cult allowed Krushchev to be seen as the more important party leader when power had originally been shared with Mavenkov
• it also suited his style of leadership, as he personally met Soviet Citizens much more often than Stalin and these meetings were good photo opportunities
• his publicity increased when he appointed his son-in-law as editor of Isvertiya
• he made use of radio, cinema and television for self-publicity
• the devlopment of a cult party reflected his egotistical personality
• his cult was never on the scale of Stalin’s, but it was important enought to be one of the stated reasons for his dismissal in 1964

Question 9

why did Krushchev criticize Stalin’s use of a personallity cult?

Answer 9

• he criticized the glorification of the leader at the expense of the role played by the Soviet people

Question 10

The cult of Brezhnev (4)

Answer 10

• his personality cult was less a method of securing power and more a substitution for real power
• one of the key reasons for Brezhnev’s popularity as leader was his reluctance to use his power to bring about change
  the cult gave him the symbols of power without having to excercise it
• he was awarded many, many medals, which created a somewhat ridiculous aspect of his cult, but it did not affect his popularity
• during the last six years of his life, he was clinically dead after a series of strokes and heart attacks, the cult provided the appearance of leadership to the Soviet people

Question 11

What are the advantages of the cult for the Party? (3)

Answer 11

• it was useful to have one person as a focus for unity and loyalty
• it provided a human face for socialism, which was still a pretty abstract concept to many poorly educated Russians
• the cult filled a gap resulting from the severe restrictions on religious worship