In a state that is in the process of reinventing itself, the leader cult becomes the means by which new rituals and traditions are instituted, employing symbols to bring consensus and a sense of shared identity in societies beset by latent conflict or indifference to the dominant ideology. Leader cults are closely tied to the founding myths of new states. Leader cults are part of the general process whereby the new power is symbolised and celebrated - in flags, hymns and anthems, medals, awards, prizes, stamps and coins, in the renaming of towns, streets and institutions. The cult is ubiquitous and aspires to universality of belief with the aim of integrating the masses into a ‘community of believers’. The leader cult attempts to create a point of reference for an entire belief system, centred on one man who embodies the doctrine. States that are beset by turmoil, economic failure, social conflict or war invariably respond to these threats by seeking to strengthen the symbolic legitimation of the leadership. The State is a mythical divinity which, like God, has the right and might to lay a totalitarian claim on its subjects to impose upon them a new philosophy, a new faith to organise the thinking and conscience of its children … It is not anonymous, not abstract, but gifted with personal qualities, with a mass-consciousness, a mass-will and a personal mass-responsibility for the whole world … This personifying tendency of the myth finds its strongest expression in the mysterious personal relationship of millions with a leader … The leader … is the personified nation, a superman, a messiah, a saviour. Writing in 1936, Swiss theologian Adolf Keller observed that, in contemporary authoritarian societies, the state itself had become a myth, and was increasingly depicted as possessing personal, and often divine, characteristics that came to be embodied in the symbolic persona of the leader: In this chapter some of the symbols and archetypes associated with Stalin in propaganda posters will be explored. The Party’s propaganda apparatus tightly controlled the use of his image and his persona drew on emblems of leadership and sacred imagery from both the Russian and the European past, from newly forged Bolshevik symbols, and on universal archetypes. Stalin existed as a symbol for such concrete entities as the Bolshevik Party and the state, but also for more abstract concepts like communist progress, Bolshevik values and vision, and peace. Stalin, however, is a construct produced by a large group of people for mass consumption with specific goals in mind. Indeed, we are all ‘constructs’ in terms of our perceived and performed identities in society. People just can’t seem to appreciate how happy their lives are.Īndrei Stepanovich Arzhilovsky (ex-prisoner, executed by firing squad, 5 September 1937) 2ĭepending on your point of view, Stalin may or not be like a fairytale sycamore tree, but this metaphor, from a panegyric by Kazakh poet Dzhambul, serves to illuminate a central tenet of this book: that ‘Stalin’, as he appeared in Soviet posters, was a construct. There was a fight in a line at the factory people were hurt and a couple of policemen showed up. Stalin is like a fairytale sycamore tree - Stalin as a symbol
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