Development of the Stalin cult Flashcards
Falsification of history
1938 ‘The history of the all-union communist party’ published as a textbook for all educational institutions, Stalin had a major role in revolution and civil war, Trotsky and allies ‘enemies of the people’. Photographs doctored to remove enemies from records and show him on side of Lenin, book had sold 34 million copies by 1948.
Peasant response to Stalin cult
Actual emotional attachment to him similar to the Tsar, creation of ‘red corners’ dedicated to him in their homes.
Control of arts in the 1930s
From 1932 all writers had to belong to ‘union of soviet writers, artist had to join similar union, individual expression was politically suspect.
Socialist realism define
‘historically concrete representation of reality in its revolutionary development’, had to show what life was moving towards not what it currently was, highlighting the inevitable ‘march to communism’.
Frame of reference for writers
Laid down by Zhdanov in 1934 at first congress of the union of soviet writers, glorify the working man and communities working together, popular novel ‘how the steel was tempered’ happy endings.
What kind of culture promoted
Interest in 19th century from the peasant class, return to classical composers like Tchaikovsky, landscape art revived, especially if involving socialist industry, folk culture emphasised and museums of folklore set up, portraying a ‘national culture’, supposedly about national heritage but lots Stalinist invention.
Moscows transformation
Epitomised socialist realist architecture, monumental e.g. Lenin’s shrine, 1935 5 red stars replaced the eagles on the Kremlin, new metro opened 1935, plans for the tallest building in the world topped by statue of Lenin.
Example of propaganda in Pravda
Ran a series called ‘with us’ and ‘with them’ comparing advancement with the ‘hardships’ in the west.
Women in soviet propaganda
25% of stakhanovite heroes were women, ‘mother-heroines’ also glorified, 1937 at world trade fair massive statue of ‘worker and kolkhoz woman’.
The model for children to follow
Probably fictitious Pavlik Morozov, 13 year old who denounced his own father and was murdered by his grandfather, subject of readings, songs, plays etc., and six biographies.
Literacy in population and propaganda
Increasingly literate meant cheap books produced in bulk of stories of soviet explorers and aviators, combined with posters, films, and radios with speakers in communal locations for illiterate.
