Cult of Personality

Cult of Personality

1. Propaganda

   • Pictures+posters labelling him a hero everywhere
   • 500,000 photos of Lenin+Stalin as friends chatting in 1932
     • Lenin was popular
   • Stalin statues,squares, and avenues in every town

2. Speeches

   • Powerful
   • Patriotic
   • Communism was "always working well"

3. Education

   • Children studied him in history
   • Taught he was a hero
   • expected to join 'Young Pioneers' (boy scout group that loved stalin)

4. Religion

   • Banned religion
     • Encouraged to worship Stalin
   • Churches closed, priests imprisoned

5. Re-wrote history

   • Said he played in a big part of the communist victory in the October revolution of 1917

6. Culture and arts

   • Poets+musicians praised him
   • WW2: featured in national anthem
   • Everything monitored by NKVD
   • Stalin prize and Stalin peace prizes were made
   • Looked for pro-Stalin artists to make their mark