Personality Cults (Edexcel A-Level History): Revision Notes

Personality Cults

Introduction to personality cults in Soviet Russia

Between 1918 and 1924, the Soviet media created a cult around Lenin's personality. This helped build public trust in Lenin and gave Soviet leaders throughout the 1920s a way to justify their actions by appealing to Lenin's legacy. The cult helped keep the Soviet government stable during uncertain times.

When Stalin emerged as leader, he developed his own personality cult that presented him as a "second Lenin" or "the Lenin of today". This cult served a similar purpose: media techniques transformed Stalin into the face of the regime, someone the Soviet people could have complete faith in. Propaganda portrayed Stalin as an all-powerful, infallible, almost god-like figure – described as the Soviet people's "leader, teacher and friend".

After Stalin's death, de-Stalinisation led to a rejection of Stalin's cult of personality. However, both Khrushchev and Brezhnev developed their own personality cults. These post-1953 cults were much smaller in scale. Khrushchev's cult suffered from his policy failures, whilst Brezhnev's cult inspired cynicism rather than respect.

The cult of Stalin

Stalin's personality cult was far more extensive than Lenin's cult had been. It required elaborate techniques to rewrite the past and make it fit with the myth being created around Stalin.

The purpose of the cult

Stalin's cult served specific political purposes, just as Lenin's had done. It had several key functions:

Establishing legitimacy: The cult emphasised that Stalin was the rightful leader of the Party. It argued he was fit to rule because he was continuing Lenin's work and because he was portrayed as a heroic genius.

Creating trust: The cult created a figure that Soviet citizens could trust, respect and even worship. This helped maintain loyalty to the regime.

Deflecting blame: Dissatisfaction with daily life could be blamed on local leaders, whilst citizens were encouraged to trust Stalin to create a better future. This protected Stalin from criticism whilst allowing him to take credit for successes.

The Myth of Two Leaders

Stalin's cult was closely connected to what became known as the Myth of Two Leaders. This myth persuaded Soviet people to believe that the October Revolution, victory in the Civil War, and the foundation of the Soviet Union had all been masterminded by a duumvirate (partnership) consisting of Lenin and Stalin working together.

Creating this myth required Soviet history to be extensively rewritten. Stalin needed to be placed at the centre of events, whilst Trotsky and other leaders had to be removed from the story. This was achieved through several methods:

• Publication of new histories: In 1938, two histories of the Communist Party were published, both edited by Stalin himself
• Socialist Realist paintings: Artists created paintings showing Stalin working closely alongside Lenin
• Altering photographs: Trotsky and other former leaders were physically removed from photographs with Lenin

Lenin's heir

Beyond recreating the past, Stalin's cult also implied that Stalin was continuing along the path created by Lenin. Painters used various techniques to demonstrate that Stalin was Lenin's true heir:

• Grigory Shegal's painting Leader, Teacher, Friend showed Stalin standing immediately in front of a bust of Lenin
• Gustav Klutsis' photomontages used a different approach, showing a row of figures running from Marx, through Lenin to Stalin. This implied that Stalin was the latest figure in a tradition of revolutionary leaders

The vozhd

The cult transformed Stalin into an infallible and celebrated figure. He was routinely referred to as "the vozhd", which simply means "leader". This term is significant because, unlike titles such as President or Prime Minister, vozhd has no legal significance. Whilst the powers of a President or Prime Minister are limited by law, the powers of the vozhd appeared to have no obvious limit.

Pravda and other Communist newspapers praised the vozhd's wisdom daily. Stalin's birthday became a national celebration with parades across the country.

Generalissimo

The Stalin Cult changed significantly following the Second World War. From 1945 onwards, Stalin's role as Generalissimo (war leader) became the focus of much Soviet propaganda. Whilst Stalin personally preferred the title Marshal to Generalissimo, both titles reflected an increasing emphasis on Stalin as a military figure.

Before the Second World War, Stalin had been presented as a revolutionary and a thinker. However, as Generalissimo, he was presented as a military genius, as the man who defeated Hitler and saved the nation.

This change in presentation was accompanied by a change in how Stalin was depicted visually. Up until 1945, Stalin tended to be pictured wearing blue-grey or green military tops. However, in his final years he was typically painted wearing a white uniform. Stalin designed this uniform himself, and the military rank of Generalissimo was created specifically for him.

The cult of impersonality

Khrushchev described Stalin's cult as a "cult of personality". However, Stalin's biographer Robert Service argues it is better understood as a Cult of Impersonality. Service argues that the cult revealed very little about Stalin's actual history and character. Rather, the Stalin Cult centred on the successes of the Soviet regime. Stalin was regularly photographed with heroes of the Soviet air force and Russian explorers who had returned from the North and South Poles. In this sense, the Stalin Cult associated Stalin with the heroic achievements of the regime, rather than focusing on Stalin as an individual person.

Cults of personality under Khrushchev

After Stalin's death, personality cults became less grand affairs. Khrushchev criticised Stalin's cult, but established two cults of his own.

Revival of the cult of Lenin

First, Khrushchev revived the cult of Lenin. However, this version differed from the 1930s cult. Whereas the cult of Lenin in the 1930s had focused on Lenin's death, the cult of Lenin in the 1950s was based on the slogan "Lenin lives!"

Under Khrushchev, Lenin was depicted as fun, approachable, humane – a person who loved children and family and lived a simple life. In many ways, Khrushchev's Lenin resembled Khrushchev himself.

Khrushchev's own personality cult

By 1958, Khrushchev had developed a personality cult of his own. According to Soviet propaganda, Khrushchev was:

• A disciple of Lenin who was completing the journey that Lenin had started
• Responsible for new successes such as the Soviet space programme and rising harvests in the Virgin Lands
• A respected statesman who negotiated with the US President as an equal
• A hero of the Second World War
• An authority on literature, art, science, industry and agriculture
• The great reformer who was perfecting the Soviet system

Problems with Khrushchev's cult

The Khrushchev Cult became increasingly problematic in the early 1960s. Several factors damaged his credibility:

• By associating himself so strongly with the success of the Virgin Lands Scheme, he was seriously damaged when it failed
• His claim to expertise became less believable following the disastrous results of his Corn Campaign
• His embarrassing foreign policy climbdowns and his failure to deliver on his wildly optimistic promises about out-producing the USA led to a collapse in confidence in Khrushchev's fitness to govern

The cult of Brezhnev

Brezhnev's personality cult was a shadow of Stalin's. Brezhnev adopted a cult of personality for pragmatic (practical) reasons rather than ideological ones. By 1964, a cult of the leader had become an established feature of Soviet politics. Brezhnev decided to adopt a leadership cult to consolidate his position and help stabilise the regime.

Four key aspects of Brezhnev's cult

According to Soviet propaganda, Brezhnev was ideally suited to rule because he was:

A great Leninist: Brezhnev had not known Lenin personally, but he claimed to be continuing the work started by Lenin, particularly working for world peace

A military hero: Brezhnev attempted to present himself as a military leader. Official publications stressed his military prowess in the Second World War. He was promoted to the position of Marshal of the Red Army and received 60 medals

Dedicated to ensuring world peace: Brezhnev emphasised his foreign policy successes in developing détente (relaxation of tensions) with the USA

A true man of the people: Brezhnev's biographies told of his humble origins and how he worked as an engineer in the steel industry

Building the image

Brezhnev constructed his image through a series of public festivals marking important anniversaries, such as:

• The fiftieth anniversary of the October Revolution in 1967
• The twentieth and thirtieth anniversaries of victory in the Second World War in 1965 and 1975
• Brezhnev's major birthdays

Speeches by Brezhnev dominated these occasions, and photographs of the leader were an important part of press coverage of the celebrations.

Why Brezhnev's cult was counterproductive

However, the Brezhnev Cult proved counterproductive. Rather than inspiring loyalty, it generated mockery:

• Brezhnev was mocked for his claims to greatness
• Veterans of the Second World War resented the inflation of Brezhnev's role in the war
• Young people, aware of the size of the Soviet military, were not taken in by his claims to be an advocate of peace
• The lavish and luxurious lifestyle of Brezhnev's family undercut the claims that he was a man of the people

Conclusion: the evolution of personality cults

In the early years of the regime, the cult of Lenin had been an important factor in winning and retaining power. Whilst the Lenin Cult had helped the Party control the Soviet Union, the Stalin Cult helped Stalin gain control of the Party and the country. In this sense, the cult of Stalin was a method of creating and sustaining personal rule.

Later cults were much less impressive. Stalin had ensured that the gap between the myth and reality was never exposed. Khrushchev was caught out by claiming credit for policies that later became public failures. Brezhnev's Cult was implausible from the beginning.