Personality Cults
Date @November 11, 2022
Topic Society
Leader Lenin Stalin
Type Classwork
Cult of Stalin:Much more extensive than the Cult of Lenin.
Purpose of the cult:
- Served a specific political purpose.
- Firstly, emphasises Stalin’s legitimacy to take ownership over the Communist Party.
- Stalin was fit to rule because he was carrying on Lenin’s work.
- Cult created a figure that the Soviet citizens could trust and respect.
- Dissatisfaction with certain aspects of Soviet life could be blamed on local leaders
whilst Stalin could be trusted with control to creating a better Russia.
Myth of Two Leaders:
- Stalin’s cult was supported by the myth of two leaders.
- Myth led Soviet people to believe that the October revolution, victory in the Civil War
and the foundations of the USSR had been masterminded by the duumvirate between
Stalin and Lenin.
- Myth required Soviet history to be rewritten to place Stalin at the centre of events and
remove Trotsky and other leaders from the image.
- Achieve by:
- Publication in 1938 of two histories of the Communist Party. Both of which edited by
Stalin.
- Socialist Realist paintings which were created to show Stalin and Lenin working
closely together.
- Altering photos, removed Trotsky out of images of him with Lenin.
Lenin’s heir:
- Cult of Stalin implied that Stalin was continuing the works of Lenin.
- Painters used techniques to show that Stalin was Lenin’s true heir.
Personality Cults 1
Date @November 11, 2022
Topic Society
Leader Lenin Stalin
Type Classwork
Cult of Stalin:Much more extensive than the Cult of Lenin.
Purpose of the cult:
- Served a specific political purpose.
- Firstly, emphasises Stalin’s legitimacy to take ownership over the Communist Party.
- Stalin was fit to rule because he was carrying on Lenin’s work.
- Cult created a figure that the Soviet citizens could trust and respect.
- Dissatisfaction with certain aspects of Soviet life could be blamed on local leaders
whilst Stalin could be trusted with control to creating a better Russia.
Myth of Two Leaders:
- Stalin’s cult was supported by the myth of two leaders.
- Myth led Soviet people to believe that the October revolution, victory in the Civil War
and the foundations of the USSR had been masterminded by the duumvirate between
Stalin and Lenin.
- Myth required Soviet history to be rewritten to place Stalin at the centre of events and
remove Trotsky and other leaders from the image.
- Achieve by:
- Publication in 1938 of two histories of the Communist Party. Both of which edited by
Stalin.
- Socialist Realist paintings which were created to show Stalin and Lenin working
closely together.
- Altering photos, removed Trotsky out of images of him with Lenin.
Lenin’s heir:
- Cult of Stalin implied that Stalin was continuing the works of Lenin.
- Painters used techniques to show that Stalin was Lenin’s true heir.
Personality Cults 1
