Cult of personality Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Soviet Union=== {{Main article|Stalin's cult of personality|Stalinism}} [[File:Poster of Azerbaijan 1938. Stalin, Lenin.jpg|thumb|upright|Propaganda poster of Lenin and Stalin]] The first cult of personality to take shape in the USSR was Vladimir Lenin. Up until the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|dissolution of the USSR]], Lenin's portrait and quotes were a ubiquitous part of the culture. However, during his lifetime, Lenin vehemently denounced any effort to build a cult of personality as in his eyes the cult of personality was antithetical to Marxism.<ref name="Tucker">{{Cite journal |last=Tucker |first=Robert |date=1979 |title=The Rise of Stalin's Personality Cult |url=http://bclearningnetwork.com/LOR/media/hist12/Reading/Stalin.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=84 |issue=2 |pages=347β366 |doi=10.2307/1855137 |jstor=1855137 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227131726/http://bclearningnetwork.com/LOR/media/hist12/Reading/Stalin.pdf |archive-date=February 27, 2021 |access-date=February 17, 2018}}</ref> Despite this, members of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]] further used Lenin's image as the all-knowing revolutionary who would liberate the [[proletariat]]. Lenin attempted to take action against this; however it was halted as Lenin was nearly assassinated in August 1918. His health would only further decline as he suffered numerous severe strokes with the worst in May 1922 and March 1923. In this state Lenin would lose the ability to walk and speak. It was during this time that the Communist Party began to promote the accomplishments of Lenin as the basis for his cult of personality, using him as an image of morality and revolutionary ideas.<ref name="Pittman">{{Cite journal |last=Pittman |first=John |date=2017 |title=Thoughts on the "Cult of Personality" in Communist History |url=https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/siso.2017.81.4.533?journalCode=siso |journal=The Russian Revolution One Century Later |volume=81 |issue=4 |pages=533β547 |doi=10.1521/siso.2017.81.4.533 |via=[[Guilford Press Periodicals]]}}</ref> After [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s death in 1924 and the exile of [[Leon Trotsky]], [[Joseph Stalin]] came to embody the [[Soviet Union]]. Once Lenin's cult of personality had risen in power, creating enough influence, Stalin integrated his ideals into his own cult.<ref name="Tucker" /> Unlike other cults of personalities, the Lenin and Stalin cults were not created to give the leaders power, they were created to give power and validation to the Communist Party. Stalin initially spoke out against the cult and other outrageous and false claims centered around him. However Stalin's attitude began to shift in favor of the cult in the 1930s and he began to encourage it following the [[Great Purge]].<ref name="Pisch">{{Cite book |last=Pisch |first=Anita |title=The Personality Cult of Stalin in Soviet Posters, 1929β1953 |publisher=ANU Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1760460624 |location=Australia |pages=87β190}}</ref> Seldom did Stalin object to state actions that furthered his cult of personality, however he did oppose some initiatives from Soviet propagandists. When [[Nikolai Yezhov]] proposed to rename [[Moscow]] to "Stalinodar", which translates to "gift of Stalin", Stalin objected.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kotkin|first=Stephen|date=1995|title=Review of Stalinist Terror: New Perspectives|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/131639|journal=The Russian Review|volume=54|issue=4|pages=635β637|doi=10.2307/131639|jstor=131639|issn=0036-0341}}</ref> To merge the idea of the Lenin and Stalin cults together, Stalin changed aspects of Lenin's life in the public's eye in order to place himself in power. This kept the two cults in a line that showed that both Lenin and Stalin had the same ideas and that Stalin was the rightful successor of Lenin, leading the USSR in the fashion Lenin would have.<ref name="Tucker" /> [[File:Poster of Azerbaijan 1938. Constitutions.jpg|thumb|Soviet poster in the [[Azerbaijani language]] featuring [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]], 1938|left|275x275px]] In December 1929, Stalin celebrated his 50th birthday which made Stalin become a prominent feature in the Soviet press.{{sfn|Gill|1980}} The [[Printed media in the Soviet Union|Soviet press]] used positive adjectives like, "Great", "Beloved", "Bold", "Wise", "Inspirer", and "Genius" to describe him.{{sfn|Gunther|1936|pp=516β517, 530β532, 534β535}} Similarly, speeches that were given by people to the peasants described Stalin as "Our Best Collective Farm Worker", "Our [[Udarnik|Shockworker]], Our Best of Best", and "Our Darling, Our Guiding Star".{{sfn|Gunther|1936|pp=516β517, 530β532, 534β535}} By 1934, under Stalin's full control of the country, [[socialist realism]] became the endorsed method of art and literature.<ref name="Pisch" /> Even under the communist regime, the Stalin cult of personality portrayed Stalin's leadership as patriarchy under the features laid out during Khrushchev's speech.<ref name="Pittman" /> After 1936, the Soviet press described Stalin as the "Father of Nations".<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2017 |title=Joseph Stalin's Cult Of Personality |url=https://historycollection.com/joseph-stalin-cult-personality/ |website=History Collection}}</ref> One key element of [[Propaganda in the Soviet Union|Soviet propaganda]] was interactions between Stalin and the children of the Soviet Union. He was often photographed with children of different ethnic backgrounds of the Soviet Union and was often photographed giving gifts to children. In 1935 the phrase, "Thank You, Dear Comrade Stalin, for a Happy Childhood!" started to appear above doorways at nurseries, orphanages, and schools; children also chanted this slogan at festivals.{{sfn|Kelly|2005|pp=206β207}} Another key element of Soviet propaganda was imagery of Stalin and Lenin. In many posters, Stalin and Lenin were placed together to show their camaraderie and that their ideals were one. Throughout the 1930s, posters with both images were used as a way to bring the nation and the military together under the policies of the Communist Party during [[World War II]], with the idea of Lenin as the father of the revolutionary ideas and Stalin as the disciple who would fulfill the communist ideals.<ref name="Pisch" /> Stalin was also portrayed in numerous films produced by [[Mosfilm]], which remained a Soviet-led company until the fall of the Soviet Union. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page