personailty cults Flashcards
how was cult of Stalin used
linked him to Lenin to highlight his loyalty to the Lenin legacy during his claim to power in 1920’s
as he gained power personality cult was then used to reinforce his personal dictatorship
key features of Stalin’s personality cult
Stalin was presented as Lenin’s closest colleague, a hero of the civil war and the savour of the revolution (removed opponents from Photos)
1925 named city after himself Stalingrad
slogan “Stalin is the Lenin of today”
images of Stalin used to reinforce power
Vozhd (the boss)
pictures of Stalin with children showed he was a father figure
posters of Stalin in military uniform was common during ww2 presenting him as defender of mother Russia
titles such as “brilliant genius of humanity”
statues of Stalin to show stature
was Stalin’s cult emphasised
yes but it had some merit as after ww2 soviet citizens respected him as their leader
shown as gulag prisoners mourned his death
Cult of Khrushchev
he undermined Stalin’s personality cult (hypocritically)
but he used to gain power (like stalin) so he was seen as the more important leader in his power struggle with Malenkov
he personally met with soviet citizens and photos were taken with him in collective farms
hired his son in law as editor of popular newspaper ( reflecting his ego)
used media to self publicise due to policy failures
displayed a disciple of Lenin
not used on the scale of Stalin as pubic didn’t respect him as much
Brezhnev
first among equals approach in power struggle to substitute for real power
cult gave him symbol of power
awarded him self lots of medal e.g. prize for literature for memoir during ww2
cult lead to ridicule
cult provided the appearance of leadership as he was clinically dead by 1975
shown as a military hero
peace hero e.g. détente negotiations
and true man of the people
what are cult of personalities
used to reinforce the power of an individual leader and detach them from party to replace religion.
conclusion on whether cults were different
aim of cult was to achieve definition only difference was scale and methods e.g. Stalin
