Development of the Stalin Cult

Question 1

what year was Stalin’s 50th birthday which ignited the cult of personality?

Answer 1

December 1929

Question 2

What were produced to glorify Stalin’s rule as the ‘mighty leader’ and ‘father of the nation’? (4)

Answer 2

Paintings, poems, posters and sculptures

Question 3

Between what years was the Stalin cult fully stablished?

Answer 3

1933-1939

Question 4

Until when did the Stalin cult really reach its height?

Answer 4

after the Second World War

Question 5

What was published as the main historical textbook for all educational institutions in 1938?

Answer 5

the History of the All-Union Communist Party

or ‘short course’

Question 6

What year was the History of the All-Union Communist Party or ‘short course’ published for all educational institutions?

Answer 6

in 1938

Question 7

In the ‘History of All-Union Communist Party’ or “short course” 1938 which was published for all educational institutions, what was Stalin said to have had a major role in?

Answer 7

in the October/November revolution and subsequent Civil War

Question 8

How was Trotsky and old Bolsheviks portrayed as in the History of the All Union Communist Party or ‘short course’ which was published in 1938 for all educational institutions?

Answer 8

as enemies of the people and assigned minor roles

Question 9

How did Stalin manipulate photos to show him as the favoured man to succeeded Lenin?

Answer 9

they doctored photos to remove Stalin’s enemies

Question 10

How many copies did the History of the All Union Communist Party or ‘short course’ made by 1948?

Answer 10

34 million copies

Question 11

What did the adulation Stalin received show, even though it was manufactured?

Answer 11

it reflected the sale and strength of support that he acquired within the Soviet Union

Question 12

What did the real sense of emotional attachment to Stalin reflect?

Answer 12

this reflected the tradition of loyalty to the leader just as the peasantry had once shown unwavering loyalty to their Tsar

Question 13

What did peasants and workers create in their own homes which is similar to how some may worship saints in tsarist times?

Answer 13

they would have their own red corner of the great leaders

Question 14

In 1956 who succeeded Stalin?

Answer 14

Nikita Khrushchev

Question 15

What did Nikita Khrushchev say happened when Stalin read a pre-publication version of the official Short Biography of his own life?

Answer 15

he insisted that it be revised to praise his qualities and achievements even more

Question 16

Although a traditionalist, what did Lenin encourage in the 1920’s?

Answer 16

the freedom of expression

Question 17

What was the circumstances under which Lenin encouraged the freedom of expression in the 1920’s?

Answer 17

provided that art was not used to express counter-revolutionary sentiments

Question 18

What happened to the creativity of the 1920’s under Stalin?

Answer 18

it gave way to conformity in the 1930’s

Question 19

from what year did all writers have to belong to the “Union of Soviet Writers” and all artists to the “Union of Artists”?

Answer 19

1932

Question 20

What did the various Unions of Soviet writers, artists and fill makers etc exert control over?

Answer 20

over what was created and who was allowed to create

Question 21

What was individual expression deemed as?

Answer 21

politically suspect

Question 22

What did the new norms demand of the Unions of music, artistry and writing ?

Answer 22

they demanded adherence to the doctrine of ‘socialist realism’

Question 23

What did the new norms which demanded adherence to the doctrine of ‘socialist realism’ mean for the Union of music, artists and writing?

Answer 23

that they were not allowed to represent Soviet life exactly as it was as the time, but what it might become in the future

Question 24

What did citizens learn as a result from the new norms imposed upon literature?

Answer 24

they learnt that the ‘march for Communism’ was inevitable

Question 25

What was the role of Zhdanov?

Answer 25

it was to direct cultural policy

Question 26

What were works of literature expected to glorify?

Answer 26

the working man

Question 27

What was a popular novel with a message of happy endings?

Answer 27

How the Steel was Tempered

Question 28

What type of culture was promoted?

Answer 28

folk culture

Question 29

museums of what were set up to praise the arts and crafts of peasants?

Answer 29

museums of folklore

Question 30

What were mosaic designs, marble patterned floors and stained glass windows designed to inspire?

Answer 30

to inspire pride and reverence

Question 31

What was the grandest design of all but was never completed?

Answer 31

a ‘Palace of the Soviets’, intended to be the tallest building in the world and topped with a gigantic statute of Lenin

Question 32

pictures of what reinforced the socialist message of Stalin’s collectivisation and industrial policies?

Answer 32

pictures of happy, productive workers

Question 33

How was economic change romanticised by propaganda?

Answer 33

to emphasise the glories of the new socialist society in which all workers dreams were coming true

Question 34

How was Stalin;s state the first attempt to create a new type of humanity?

Answer 34

through transmitting social and political values in the hope of affecting people’s thinking, emotions and behaviour

Question 35

What became a propagandist theme?

Answer 35

the ‘worker hero’

Question 36

Where did young men who accomplished heroic endeavours appear on the front of more often than Stalin from 1937-1938?

Answer 36

on the front of the Pravda

Question 37

In what 2 years did young men who had accomplished heroic endeavours appear on the front of the Pravda more often than Stalin himself?

Answer 37

1937-1938

Question 38

What % of female factory workers were described as ‘norm breaking’?

Answer 38

25%

Question 39

As well as ‘norm breaking’ how else were women glorified?

Answer 39

those who had large families as ‘mother heroines’

Question 40

What did Vera Mukina produced for the World Trade Fair in 1937?

Answer 40

a massive stainless steel sculpture of two figures with a sickle and a hammer raised over their heads in workers solidarity

Question 41

What were 2 sections in the Pravda newspaper which highlighted Soviet success?

Answer 41

there were 2 sections, a ‘With us’ which presented stories of new factories and ‘With them’ which exposed the hardships in the West

Question 42

Why were cheap books produced in bulk?

Answer 42

in order to help an increasingly literate pop;nation lap up propaganda stories of other citizens

Question 43

What was produced for the illiterate portion of the population? (3)

Answer 43

wall posters and films and radios

Question 44

not only was Stalin glorified as a person, but his pronouncements and policies were regarded as what?

Answer 44

godlike

Question 45

What would happen to intellectuals and artists who did not conform to ‘socialist realism/?

Answer 45

they were banned from working and could be imprisoned, exiled or disposed