Propaganda, censorship and cult of personality

Question 1

How was Stalin positioned in propaganda posters?

Answer 1

From 1933 onwards: tended to be the only person in the top half, standing above everyone else

Question 2

What colours were used in Stalinist propaganda posters, and why?

Answer 2

Red - the colour of Communism

White - the colour of purity (used when with children)

Question 3

Why was Lenin not depicted with children in posters, but Stalin was?

Answer 3

Lenin didn’t like children. Stalin wanted to be presented as the father of the nation

Question 4

How did the use of other individuals in propaganda posters change over time?

Answer 4

Early 1930s: Stalin presented alongside Lenin (and Marx) to demonstrate continuity.
From 1933 onwards: Stalin takes centre stage, Lenin drifts away.

Stalin also continued to be presented with ordinary workers, peasants and women, to appear as a benefactor.

Question 5

How did the purpose of propaganda posters change over time?

Answer 5

Initially based on promoting policy (collectivisation, Five-Year Plans)
Eventually used to promote the cult of personality (Stalin as a demi-god)

Question 6

How was Stalin presented in propaganda posters as superior and apart?

Answer 6

His image was in propaganda posters, but not as a person - rather as a statue, or as a poster, to be worshipped

Question 7

Give two other ways in which Stalin was presented as the successor to Lenin in the 1920s

Answer 7

• Presented the oration at Lenin’s funeral
• “Stalin is the Lenin of today” became a commonly used phrase
• Tsaritsyn (significant Civil War battleground) renamed Stalingrad, 1925

Question 8

Identify and describe the three main ways how Stalin was presented through the cult of personality

Answer 8

1) Stalin as benefactor - helping workers, soldiers, women and young people succeed
2) Stalin as defender of the people - as “uncle” Joe or as father of the nation, helping against misfortunes
3) Stalin as charismatic leader - superhuman abilities and wisdom, appearing as an icon or demi-god

Question 9

What were the names of the two main newspapers in Stalin’s rule?

Answer 9

Pravda, Izvestiya

Question 10

What were Stalin’s ‘Kremlin meetings with the people’?

Answer 10

Reports in Soviet media of Stalin meeting Stakhanovites, the widows of Red Army heroes etc. - heavily stage-managed rituals

Question 11

Did posters or newspapers reach a wider audience and why?

Answer 11

Posters - Pravda was predominantly aimed at Party members, not normally accessed by many ordinary Russians

Question 12

Give two examples of events that were celebrated annually in the Soviet Union

Answer 12

May Day - 1 May - international day of socialism

Stalin’s birthday in December

Question 13

How would Stalin’s birthday be celebrated?

Answer 13

Day-long parades with marching troops, rolling tanks, dancing children and applauding workers, with Stalin overlooking Lenin’s tomb

Question 14

What happened to schools in 1935?

Answer 14

Centralised under the People’s Commissariat for Education rather than run locally

Question 15

Give three examples of how schools helped control young Russians

Answer 15

All children had to attend school between the ages of 5 and 15

All schools followed the same curriculum and used the same state-approved textbooks

All children sat the same exams, run by the Commissariat for Education

All schools had homework and uniforms, including girls tying their hair in pigtails

Question 16

What was the purpose of a Stalinist education, for most young people?

Answer 16

To prepare young people to get a job in the industrial economy

Question 17

What phrase began to appear in 1936 over the doorways of nurseries and schools, or chanted by children?

Answer 17

“Thank You Dear Comrade Stalin for a Happy Childhood!”

Question 18

How could teachers undermine the cult of personality?

Answer 18

Deliberately teaching it ineptly so their students lacked the most basic facts

Question 19

How did children undermine the cult of personality?

Answer 19

Drew swastikas on their exercise books, set up anti-Soviet secret societies, defaced portraits of Stalin

Question 20

What was Komsomol and who could join it?

Answer 20

The youth organisation of the Party, controlled by the Central Committee from 1926

For those aged between 14 and 28

Question 21

Give three examples of things members of Komsomol would do

Answer 21

Swear oaths of allegiance to Stalin and the Party

Take part in organised marching, singing, gymnastics and sport

Inform on other members who criticised their leaders

Helped build Magnitogorsk

Take part in May Day parades and Stalin’s birthday celebrations

Disrupt plays if they were formalist

Question 22

How did membership of Komsomol change between 1927 and 1940?

Answer 22

Increased from 2 million to 10 million

Question 23

What was formalism and how was it different to socialist realism?

Answer 23

Formalism = anything too modern, avant-garde, Western, complicated or narrow

Socialist Realism = anything which educated workers in the spirit of Communism and was easy for them to understand

Question 24

What types of art were banned in Stalin’s Russia?

Answer 24

Geometric, avant-garde art (“agitprop art”)

Question 25

What organisation did Russian authors have to join in 1932? Did all of them join?

Answer 25

Union of Soviet Writers

No - some (like Boris Pasternak) gave up serious writing instead

Question 26

Who previewed films before they were released to the public?

Answer 26

Stalin himself

Question 27

What types of music were banned in the 1930s?

Answer 27

Jazz, anything with complicated techniques

Question 28

What types of music were promoted in 1930s Russia?

Answer 28

Folk songs

Any music that was joyous, positive, patriotic (in a major key)

Question 29

What was the Short Course?

Answer 29

A new History of the Communist Party published in 1938, that promoted Stalin’s role in the October Revolution and reduced Trotsky and Bukharin’s roles

Question 30

How many copies of the Short Course had been sold in Russia by 1948?

Answer 30

34 million

Question 31

Why did Shostakovich come under criticism from Pravda in 1936?

Answer 31

Stalin attended his avant-garde opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and walked out halfway through - Pravda criticised it as “muddle instead of music” and called Shostakovich “an enemy of the people”

Question 32

How were Stakhanov’s achievements used as propaganda?

Answer 32

Stakhanov was used as a ‘model’ worker for others to follow - those who did were given rewards, like red carpets and holidays in Moscow

Question 33

Give three examples of football teams used to promote socialism in Stalin’s Russia

Answer 33

CSKA Moscow (the army team)
Spartak Moscow (the trade union team)
Dynamo Moscow (the police team)
Torpedo Moscow (the car factory team)
Lokomotiv Moscow (the railway workers' team)

Question 34

Who was New Soviet Man?

Answer 34

The concept of the ideal Soviet citizen: hardworking, law-abiding, moral and supportive of the Party