Control - Cults Of Personality Flashcards
Which leaders intentionally made a cult of personality?
Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev
What is a Cult of Personality?
Adoration of and individual through art and popular culture to increase ones personal power or status.
Which two politburo members accused Stalin of creating a cult of personality?
- Trotsky: accused of betraying the dictatorship of the proletariat, in creating a personal dictatorship
- Khrushchev: in 1956 secret speech
Cult of Lenin
Lenin never intended to have a cult.
- against Marxism
- fabricated by Stalin to legitimise his own power
- portrayed as THE ‘hero of the revolution’
- images of Lenin in Newspapers, cinemas, statues
- embalmed body, put in red square mausoeum
1924 renamed Tsaritsyn as LENINGRAD
WHY did Stalin create a cult around Lenin
- to legitimise his own power
- to advance his position in the power struggle
Features of Stalins COP
- links to Lenin
- reinforce the PERSONAL dictatorship
How did Stalin introduce the CULT
- promoted self as Lenin’s ‘closest colleague’/‘saviour of the revolution’
- Trotsky removed from all photos
- 1924 phrases like ‘Stalin is the Lenin of today’
- 1925 Tsaritsyn renamed Stalingrad
VOHZD
THE BOSS
Images of Stalin
- airbrushed
- 5 year plan successes: Ryan Hydro Electric Complex (1935)
- Stalin + kids = father figure
- military uniform during WWII, saviour of russia
Rewriting history:
- biography by GF.Alexandrov shows him as ‘good son’/‘family man’ - in reality calls his mum ‘old whore’ + only saw her 3 times in 40 years
- 1938 - the History of the All-Union Communist Party = the ‘Short Course’ - saving the revolution + huge prominent role within policy making after Lenin’s death promoted and fabricated
Titles Stalin gave himself:
- brilliant genius of humanity
- gardener of human happiness
Broadcasting the word of Stalin
- records made of his speeches, distributes quickly
Films of propaganda, for cult of Stalin:
- highlighted prominent role in events
- Mikhail Gilovani plays Stalin
- fabricated prominent role in 1950 ‘The Fall of Berlin’’ film
‘Saviour of socialism and mother Russia’
Stalin
Why wasn’t Stalin recongnised?
IRL he was short, pockmarked and getting old
In statues his height was exaggerated to Tsar Alexander III’s, airbrushed in propaganda photos and portraits.
What did Khrushchev think about Stalins CoP?
He condemned it in his Secret Speech (20th party congress -1956)!
Criticised its glorification of Stalin which contrasted the suffering he put the soviet people in.
Why was criticising the cult used for Khrushchev?
- Supported de-stalinisation policies
- plus gave advantages for starting his OWN cult
Why was making a Cult of personality useful for Khrushchev?
- made him stand out as more important than Malenkov in the power struggle after Stalin died
- suited leadership (more personal - meeting citizens)
Examples of Khrushchev cult:
- pictures with collective farmers (photo ops)
- books, articles, posters
- more publicity after appointment of son in law to Isvestiya
- radio, cinema and TV for self-publicity (more desperate as more failures!)
Scale of Khrushchev cult compared to Stalin
Smaller, less ‘obvious’
But one of the reasons for his dismissal.
Why was cult of personality useful for Brezhnev?
After 1964 he wanted to emerge as FIRST AMONGST EQUALS in the power struggle after Khrushchevs dismissal (vs.Kosygin and Podgorny)
Key feature of Brezhnevs cult
Gave Brezhnev power, which he never exercised to bring change.
Examples of Brezhnev’s cult
- gave himself over 100 awards (eg: Lenin prize for literature)
- exaggerated role in WWII in memoirs
- more practical role as health declined - appearance of leadership
Advantages of a cult for the party:
- one person is the focus of loyalty and party loyalty (especially during hard times like 5YPs)
- cult = human face for socialism, easier to get behind (easier to understand for poorly educated)
- filled the gap of the Tsars and Religion
