Under Joseph Stalin...

Joseph Stalin’s dictatorship was characterized by an ideological transformation of Communism and increasing paranoia. He operated by creating his own myth and terrorizing his followers into submission. Stalin was very adamant about pointing out the enemies of the state such as Jews, capitalists, and intellectuals. Joseph Stalin had limited education in his background, and this is why an anti-intellectual stance pervades much of the Soviet ideology of this age. His usage of negative inspiration created fear and promoted a tense paranoid feeling during his dictatorship. He brought a return to pre-revolutionary nationalism to the nation and brought back ancient themes and symbols. He wanted to return Soviet Russia to the glamour the Tsarist state embraced. He even went as far as to borrow church iconography (while damning religion) for his own purposes.

Although Stalin used fear during his reign, his rise to power was not characterized by this. Rather, after the Civil war, this side of his character was brought out. His colleagues recognized this violent ruthlessness shortly thereafter and he was criticized, particularly by Trotsky, as being the gravedigger of the revolution. Stalin would later punish Trotsky and depict him as an enemy of the state. In Stalin’s mind, betrayal was everyone else’s fault, not his and he perverted the ideology of the founders by creating his own system and then lied to cover the facts. Even his close collaborators were under suspicion, and much adulation from them was needed to placate his paranoid suspicions. Stalin sought to destroy anyone who saw him through anything but his self-perpetuated image. Through paranoia, Stalin created his enemies, and the terror that was felt can be seen through propaganda of this age. He built up an image of himself that was simplistic and made people feel close to him. Soviet Propaganda always separates Stalin from the party so that any mistakes made would not be blamed on him (Lewin, 224). Despite the extreme promotion of Stalin’s image, he remained suspicious and paranoid as ever and massive purges in the 1930s were done of those suspected of being opponents. This “great purge” supposedly symbolized fair justice although real evidence was never present to base a conviction on. These trials were against Stalin’s enemies (certainly fabricated by his paranoid imagination). These trials worked in conjugation with the secret police who eliminated institutions suspected of being threats to the party. These institutions were not only in the media but in education and government. The result of the great purge was that millions of people were sent to forced labor camps. Several million died in boot camps, and many others were shot down after crude show trials. The media, of course, denied the occurrence of this, even after its end in 1939 (Cole, 739).

Propaganda during the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin was focused on both justifying this dictatorship through praising Stalin’s image and opposing groups that were considered menacing to Soviet ideology (Cole, 737). One group that Stalin felt it was necessary to undermine was that of Trotsky and his supporters which were depicted as being against the values of the Soviet state. Writers of propaganda were expected to criticize these groups but not Stalin or those in power. Instead, only positive things could be said about them, and writers were only allowed to focus on advances the soviets had made (Cole, 738).One image of his greatness is found below. The print reads,

"Under the sign of Lenin we prevailed in the struggles for the October revolution. Under the sign of Lenin we achieved significant success in the struggle to build socialism. With this same sign we will bring about the proletarian revolution throughout the world. Cheers to Leninism!
- I. Stalin "



This poster mentions all the glorious accomplishments of Leninism, but says nothing of Stalinist achievement. Rather, the reader is left to infer that Stalin is continuing the progress begun by Lenin. However, we know that Stalin perverted the Soviet ideology established by Lenin. This poster, therefore, attempts to draw parallels between Stalin and Lenin by saying that Stalin is continuing Lenin's good work. This poster was obviously then used to convince those dubious about Stalinist changes and ideology.



This image reads, "Under the leadership of Great Stalin - forward to Communism!" This image encourages the Russian people that great things lay in the future. This image of a great future is a common one in soviet propaganda. These images were supposed to make the Russian people longsuffering and patient of their troubles, knowing that they were going towards a greater good.



This image reads, "Following the great Stalin forward to Communism!" This image is similar to the previous one in the way that it depicts a wonderful future, emphasizing the role of Stalin in this process. These images greatly emphasized the role of Stalin and emphasized his greatness.


This image reads, "Captain Stalin leads us from victory to victory!" again emphasizing Stalin's role. This poster is from the post-WWII era, complimenting the victory to Stalin's foresight and leadership.

Although Bolshevik propaganda has often been compared to Nazi propaganda, the Bolsheviks, unlike the Nazis, were not interested in ‘brainwashing’ people; rather, they merely isolated the Russian people from opposing ideas. Also unlike the Nazis, the Bolsheviks were truly interested in educating the Russian people and did not try to hide the fact that they were influencing them through propaganda (Kenez, 10).

the entrance of cinema