Consolidation and maintenance: Stalin's charisma and propaganda Notes

Consolidation and Maintenance: Charisma and Propaganda

The Cult of Personality

1. Stalin’s cult of personality was deliberately constructed by the Communist Party.
2. Campaign began around his 50th birthday (1929), with Pravda leading the effort.
3. Stalin was portrayed as the “faithful disciple” of Lenin.
4. The slogan “Stalin is the Lenin of today” became widespread.
5. This ideological link between Stalin and Lenin was strategically crafted during his 1920s consolidation of power.
6. 1930s crises (collectivisation, First Five-Year Plan, purges) intensified the cult of personality.
7. Propaganda deified Stalin as visionary genius, cultural expert, and father of the nation.
8. His image dominated public spaces: posters, schools, factories, and statues across the USSR.
9. Media hailed him as the “Shining Sun of Humanity” and “Universal Genius,” portraying him as semi-divine.
10. The cult was state-driven, not grassroots, equating Stalin’s thought with Marxism-Leninism and creating Stalinism.
11. Archival manipulation: Photos of purged allies were altered to erase them from memory.
12. Party narrative framed Soviet history as a straight line: Marx → Lenin → Stalin.

Stalin’s Cult of Personality: Propaganda, Power, and Legitimacy

1. 1930s cult of personality: Stalin depicted as “father of the nation” and mastermind of all Soviet successes.
2. Propaganda saturation: portraits in schools, factories, offices, and homes.
3. Fitzpatrick: the cult blurred boundaries between individual and state, a core feature of Stalinism.
4. Top-down control: orchestrated by the Party to enforce loyalty.
5. Impact: devotion often stemmed from fear, but the cult was crucial in legitimizing Stalin’s rule.