The personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters, 1929-1953: archetypes, inventions and fabrications

Abstract

Although the literature on Stalinist propaganda is enormous, there has been no dedicated study on the marketing of Stalin’s personality cult in posters during the Stalinist period. This thesis is an attempt to fill this lacuna. From 1929 till 1953, the retouched image of Iosif Stalin became a central symbol in Soviet propaganda across all artistic and cultural genres. Images of an omniscient Stalin appeared in the media of Socialist Realist painting, statuary, monumental architecture, friezes, banners, and posters. Stalin was lauded in poetry, theatre, film and song; oaths were sworn to him; thanksgiving ceremonies were held to honour him; and millions of Soviet soldiers in the Great Patriotic War ran into battle with his name on their lips. The ‘Stalin’ who was celebrated in propaganda bore but scant resemblance to the man Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili whose humble origins, criminal past, penchant for violent solutions and unprepossessing appearance made him an unlikely recipient of uncritical charismatic adulation. The Bolsheviks needed a wise, nurturing and authoritative figure to embody their revolutionary vision and to legitimate their hold on power. The persona of ‘Stalin’ arose through a process which involved both the deliberate manufacture of a charismatic leader through propaganda, and the wish-fulfilling projections by an unnerved, de-stabilised and largely uneducated, illiterate and superstitious population of a sage guide through troubled times. This leader would come to embody the sacred and archetypal qualities of the Father of the nation, the great Warrior and military strategist, the wise Teacher and the Saviour of the land. Stalin’s image in propaganda posters became a symbol of Bolshevik values and the personification of a revolutionary new type of society. Transforming a leader into a symbol which embodies an ideological vision is a key tactic in mobilising a population to identify as a cohesive whole, to strive for common goals and to behave in prescribed ways. Show more