Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- List of abbreviations and archive references
- Glossary and notes on the text
- Introduction
- PART I ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
- PART II POLITICS AND TERROR
- PART III THE LEADER CULT
- 9 The leader cult in official discourse
- 10 Affirmative representations of the leader and leader cult
- 11 Negative representations of the leader and leader cult
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
11 - Negative representations of the leader and leader cult
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- Acknowledgements
- Chronology
- List of abbreviations and archive references
- Glossary and notes on the text
- Introduction
- PART I ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
- PART II POLITICS AND TERROR
- PART III THE LEADER CULT
- 9 The leader cult in official discourse
- 10 Affirmative representations of the leader and leader cult
- 11 Negative representations of the leader and leader cult
- Conclusion
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Although the official cult discourse was employed on certain occasions, it was also ignored, misinterpreted, rejected, criticised, and subverted in various ways. Its messages did not always get through, or did so in a distorted form, either because of the inefficacy of the agitprop, or because people deliberately chose to ignore or misinterpret it. However, there were individuals who were only too well aware of the cult's omnipresence, and criticised it directly, or attacked it in other ways, which included subverting its gravity and sense of hierarchy and permanence. Some people also proposed alternative leaders, although it is significant that the language in which these proposals were couched was very reminiscent of that of the official cult, which suggests that the propaganda of the cult itself probably conformed with popular ideas about the nature of leadership; as in the cases cited elsewhere in this study, it was often simply the failure of the reality to live up to the claims of the propaganda which generated hostility.
INDIFFERENCE TO AND MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE CULT
Until the mid-1930s, a number of people were still unaware of the existence or roles of the vozhdi. In 1933, even party members were expelled from the party for ignorance about the biographies of the leaders. For example, during a purge at the Leningrad Historical-Linguistic Institute, one party member described Stalin as ‘President of the STO [Sovet truda i oborony – Council of Labour and Defence]’, and was unable to answer the question ‘Who is Kirov?’
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Popular Opinion in Stalin's RussiaTerror, Propaganda and Dissent, 1934–1941, pp. 168 - 182Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997