Table Of ContentThe personality cult of Stalin in Soviet posters,
1929 – 1953: Archetypes, inventions and fabrications.
Volume 1.
Anita Elizabeth Pisch.
Australian National University
July 14, 2014.
A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The
Australian National University.
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Declaration
This is to certify that
i. The thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD;
ii. Due acknowledgment has been made in the text to all other material used;
iii. The thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of footnotes,
tables, charts, bibliographies and appendices.
Signed
____________________________________________________________________
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Acknowledgments
I would like to gratefully acknowledge the expert guidance and support from my thesis
supervisor, Professor Sasha Grishin, throughout the three years of my research, as well
as from the other members of my supervisory panel, Dr. Andrew Montana and Dr.
Kevin Windle. Dr. Windle assisted with some of the translations of the ‘curlier’ Russian
captions and Dr. Kirill Nourzhanov assisted with the translation of the Uzbek poster
captions. Thanks are also due to Dr. Zoja Bojic and to Margaret Travers.
The staff of the Graphics Department at the Russian State Library in Moscow were very
helpful and hospitable during my two fieldwork visits, and I would particularly like to
thank Dr. Liubov Rodionova for facilitating both my fieldwork visits to the library, the
legendary Nina Baburina for her assistance in targeting folders with Stalin posters, and
Dr. Svetlana Artamonova for her assistance in gaining access to other relevant library
holdings and her willingness to answer my queries and discuss various aspects of my
research. Dr. Olga Litvinova was extremely helpful at the Museum of Contemporary
History in Moscow, granting me access to all posters in the collection which contain an
image of Stalin. Svetlana Khrodakovskaia was happy to discuss with me the poster
collection at the Museum of Political History in St. Petersburg.
Dr. Liudmila Riabova of the History Department at the St. Petersburg State University
provided assistance by facilitating my participation in the ‘Russia’s Statehood: The
Authorities and Society across the Twentieth Century,’ conference at which I was able
to present some of my research findings and discuss them with scholars from a
number of academic disciplines. I am particularly indebted to Svetlana Petrova for her
assistance in the presentation of my conference paper. I am also grateful to Dr. Tatiana
Tabolina of the Russian Academy of Sciences for her interest in and encouragement of
my research and for her feedback.
I thank the dedicated librarians at the NGA Research Library, the ANU libraries, the
National Library of Australia and the Baillieu Library of the University of Melbourne. I
would like to particularly thank staff at the Chifley Library at the Australian National
University for answering my queries concerning interlibrary loans and for assisting me
to access a wide variety of materials that have proved invaluable to my research.
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I am grateful to my fellow postgraduate students in Art History at the ANU for their
helpful comments and critiques of oral presentations of my research at our regular
workshop gatherings and for providing a wonderful milieu in which to work.
No prolonged project is possible without the support of family and friends. Sputi Piosik
has been unwavering in his friendship and merry spirit. My long-suffering family have
put up with my bouts of irritability and anxiety and offered constant support and love.
My mother is, as always, my rock, and, along with David, Theresa and Alana, have
never faltered in their belief in me. My father, the first in our family to receive a PhD,
was always a role model of scholarly courage and sadly passed away before I
completed my research. I know he was delighted I was undertaking my PhD.
Dedication
This is dedicated to my parents, Lesley Eller and Dr. Miklos Pisch, with love and
gratitude for all their love and support throughout my life. Thanks for making it seem
like doing a PhD was the most natural thing in the world.
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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.
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List of illustrations
Fig. 1.1 Ten Commandments of the Proletarian /Artist: Unidentified / Year: c.1920 /
Dimensions: 60 x 90cm / Location:
http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/bryumer/view/941916?page=0
Fig. 1.2 Pavlik Morozov /Artist: O. Korovin /Year: 1952 / Location: Russian State Library
Fig: 2.1 Komsomol political education system mid-Volga organisation V.L.K.S.M for
1930-31 / Artist: Unidentified / Year: 1930 / Place of publication: Samara / Dimensions:
28 x 75 cm / Edition: 5,000 / Location: Russian State Library
Fig. 2.2. Under the Lenin banner for socialist construction / Artist: Gustav Klutsis /
Year: 1930 / Location: Victoria E. Bonnell, Iconography of Power: Soviet Political
st
Posters under Lenin and Stalin, 1 ed., Berkeley, University of California Press, 1998,
Plate 4.11.
Fig. 2.3. With the banner of Lenin we were victorious in the battle for the October
revolution… / Artist: Viktor Deni / Year: 1931 / Publisher: Izogiz / Place of publication:
Moscow, Leningrad / Dimensions: 52 x 72 cm / Edition: 20,000 / Location:
http://www.redavantgarde.com/ru/shop/goods-2956.html
Fig. 2.4. Shock work at the machine is combined with the study of Marxist-Leninist
theory / Artist: Rumiantsev / Year: 1931 / Publisher: Izogiz / Place of publication:
Moscow / Dimensions: 85 x 58 cm / Edition: 40,000 / Location: Hoover Institution
Archives
Fig. 2.5. October to the world / Artist: Gustav Klutsis / Year: 1932 / Dimensions: 44.5 x
31cm / Location:
http://www.artpoisk.info/artist/klucis_gustav_gustavovich_1895/k_mirovomu_oktyab
ryu
Fig. 2.6. With the banner of Lenin… / Artist: Viktor Deni / Year: 1933 / Publisher: Izogiz
/ Place of publication: Moscow / Dimensions: 77 x 109cm / Edition: 60,000 / Location:
Russian State Library
Fig. 2.7. With the banner of Lenin… / Artist: Gustav Klutsis / Year: 1933 / Publisher:
Izogiz / Dimensions: 62 x 88 cm / Edition: 300,000 / Location: Russian State Library
6
Fig. 2.8. With the banner of Lenin… / Artist: Iraklii Toidze / Year: 1933 / Publisher:
Izogiz / Place of publication: Moscow, Leningrad / Dimensions: 62 x 94 cm (edition of
300); 82 x 110 cm (edition of 1000) / Edition: 300 and 1,000. / Location: Russian State
Library.
Fig 2.9. The Soviet constitution is the only truly democratic constitution in the world
/ Artist: Efim Pernikov / Year: 1937 / Publisher: Izogiz / Place of publication: Moscow,
Leningrad / Dimensions: 53 x 67 cm / Location:
http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/9742755
Fig. 2.10. Long live the great Party of Lenin-Stalin - leader and organiser of the
victorious building of socialism! / Artist: Stenberg / Year: 1937 / Location: Museum of
Contemporary History
Fig. 2.11. Long live the First of May! / Artist: Galina Shubina / Year: 1937 / Publisher:
Izogiz / Place of publication: Moscow / Dimensions: 37 x 24.5cm / Location:
http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/9742756
Fig. 2.12. I am pleased and happy to know how our people fought… / Artist: Iraklii
Toidze / Year: 1937 / Publisher: Izogiz / Place of publication: Moscow, Leningrad /
Dimensions: 140 x 86 cm / Edition: 200,000 / Location:
http://www.redavantgarde.com/ru/shop/goods-4429.html
Fig. 2.13. Chronicle of the arrests, exiles and escapes of Comrade Stalin / Artist:
Unidentified / Year: 1938 / Location: Russian State Library
Fig. 2.14. Be as the great Lenin was. / Artist: Vasilii Elkin / Year: 1938 / Publisher: Izogiz
/ Place of publication: Moscow, Leningrad / Dimensions: 60 x 94 cm / Edition: 100,000
/ Location: Russian State Library
Fig. 2.15. Be as the great Lenin was. / Artist: A.I. Madorskii / Year: 1938 / Edition:
15,000 / Location: Russian State Library
Fig. 2.16. Be as the great Lenin was. / Artist: A.I. Madorskii / Year: 1939 / Dimensions:
60 x 90cm / Edition: 20,000 / Location: Russian State Library
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Fig. 2.17. Departing from us…. / Artist: Vladimir Kaidalov / Year: 1940 / Publisher:
UzFimgiz / Place of publication: Tashkent / Dimensions: 60 x 92 cm / Edition: 7,000 /
Location: Russian State Library
Fig. 2.18. Under the banner of Lenin, under the leadership of Stalin - forward to new
victories! / Artist: Petr Golub / Year: 1945 / Publisher: Iskusstvo / Dimensions: 85.5 x
61cm / Edition: 200,000 / Location: Museum of Contemporary History
Fig. 2.19. 1918 1943 Long live the 25th anniversary of the Leninist-Stalinist Komsomol
/ Artist: Vladimir Serov / Year: 1943 / Publisher: Iskusstvo / Place of publication:
Leningrad / Dimensions: 70 x 52 cm / Edition: 5,000 / Location:
http://www.redavantgarde.com/ru/shop/goods-2809.html
Fig. 2.20. The banner of Lenin…. / Artist: L. Stenberg / Year: 1949 / Publisher: Iskusstvo
/ Place of publication: Moscow, Leningrad / Dimensions: 85 x 56.5 cm / Edition:
100,000. Another edition of 100,000 was issued in 1951. / Location: Russian State
Library
Fig. 2.21. We move further, forward towards Communism. I. V. Stalin / Artist: Boris
Belopol’skii / Year: 1950 / Dimensions: 105 x 68.5 cm / Edition: 500,000 / Location:
http://softsalo.com/sovet_45_poli/poli_47.html
Fig. 2.22. 26 years without Lenin, but still on Lenin’s path. / Artist: Mytnikov / Year:
1950 / Publisher: Izdanie Rostizo / Place of publication: Rostov-Don / Edition: 15,000 /
Location: Russian State Library
Fig. 2.23. In the name of communism / Artist: Viktor Govorkov / Year: 1951 /
Publisher: Iskusstvo / Place of publication: Moscow / Dimensions: 86 x 97cm / Edition:
600,000 / Location: Russian State Library
Fig. 2.24. Glory to the great leaders of October / Artist: Naum Karpovskii / Year: 1951
/ Publisher: Iskusstvo / Place of publication: Moscow / Dimensions: 64.5 x 87.5 cm /
Edition: 100,000 / Location: Museum of Contemporary History
Fig. 2.25. Glory to Lenin, glory to Stalin, glory to great October / Artist: V. Reshetnikov
/ Year: 1952 / Publisher: Latgosizdat / Edition: 3,000 / Location: Museum of
Contemporary History
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Fig. 2.26. Long live the great, united Party of Lenin - Stalin / Artist: Unidentified /
Year: 1952 / Location:
http://ostaline.su/staliniana/posters/view.html?node=42411&letter=867&sort=names
&card=37974
Fig. 2.27. Raise higher the banner of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin! / Artist: Gustav
Klutsis / Year: 1933 / Edition: 50,000 and then an edition of 30,000. In 1936 an edition
of 250,000 was released / Location: Victoria E..Bonnell, Iconography of Power: Soviet
st
Political Posters under Lenin and Stalin, 1 ed., Berkeley, University of California Press,
1998, p. 158.
Fig. 2.28. Long Live the great invincible banner of Marx, Engels, Lenin / Artist: Nikolai
Dolgorukov / Year: 1934 / Dimensions: 163.5 x 56 cm / Location: Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey. Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum.
Fig. 2.29. Long live the great and invincible banner of Marx-Engels-Lenin! (I. Stalin) /
Artist: G. Mirzoev / Year: 1937 / Place of publication: Tbilisi / Edition: 3,000 / Location:
http://www.eremeevs.com/index.php?lotid=277316
Fig. 2.30. Long live the great invincible banner of Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin! / Artists:
Vladislav Pravdin and Zoia Pravdina / Year: 1938 / Publisher: Iskusstvo / Place of
publication: Moscow, Leningrad / Dimensions: 62 x 94 cm / Edition: 100,000 /
Location: Russian State Library
Fig. 2.31. The train is going from the station of socialism to the station of
communism / Artist: Pavel Sokolov-Skalia / Year: 1939 / Publisher: Transzheldorizdat /
Place of publication: Moscow / Dimensions: 104 x 70 cm / Edition: 10,000 / Location:
http://www.redavantgarde.com/ru/shop/goods-4988.html
Fig. 2.32. Long live the great invincible banner of Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin! Long live
Leninism! / Artist: Unidentified / Year: 1940 / Edition: 6,000 / Location: Russian State
Library
Fig. 2.33. Long live the great invincible banner of Marx-Engels- Lenin-Stalin! / Artists:
Nikolai Denisov and Nina Vatolina / Year: 1941 / Publisher: Iskusstvo / Place of
publication: Moscow, Leningrad / Edition: 100,000 / Location: Russian State Library
9
Fig. 2.34. Glory to great Stalin! / Artist: Vladimir Kaidalov / Year: 1949 / Publisher:
Gosizdat / Place of publication: Tashkent / Edition: 5,000 / Location: Russian State
Library
Fig. 2.35. But there is one branch of science… / Artist: Bainazar Al’menov / Year: 1951
/ Publisher: Tatgosizdat / Place of publication: Kazan / Edition: 13,000 / Location:
Russian State Library
Fig. 2.36. Long live the great invincible banner of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin / Artist:
A. Kossov / Year: 1953 / Publisher: Iskusstvo / Place of publication: Moscow /
Dimensions: 66 x 92 cm / Edition: 500,000 / Location:
http://www.redavantgarde.com/shop/goods-3615.html
Fig. 2.37. Under the banner of Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin, under the guidance of the
Communist party - forward, to victory of communism! / Artist: Boris Belopol’skii /
Year: 1955 / Dimensions: 54.5 x 87 cm / Location: Plakat No.134,
http://ostaline.su/staliniana/posters/view.html?node=42411&letter=874&sort=names
&card=38013
Fig. 2.38. Long Live the Bolshevik Party, the Lenin-Stalin Party, the vanguard of the
Soviet people forged in battle, the inspiration and organiser of our victories! / Artist:
Vladislav Pravdin / Year: 1950 / Publisher: Iskusstvo / Place of publication: Moscow,
Leningrad / Dimensions: 64.5 x 87.5 cm / Edition: 1,000,000 / Location: Museum of
Contemporary History
Fig. 3.1. Thank you Comrade Stalin for our happy life! / Artist: Nikolai Zhukov / Year:
1940 / Publisher: Iskusstvo / Place of publication: Moscow, Leningrad / Dimensions: 62
x 92 cm / Edition: 100,000 / Location: Russian State Library
Fig. 3.2. Stalin’s kindness illuminates the future of our children! / Artist: Iraklii Toidze
/ Year: 1947 / Publisher: Iskusstvo / Place of Publication: Moscow, Leningrad /
Dimensions: 61 x 43 cm / Location: Russian State Library
Fig. 3.3. Stalin is the wisest of all people… / Artist: Vartan Arakelov / Year: 1939 /
Publisher: Iskusstvo / Place of publication: Moscow, Leningrad / Edition: 75,000 /
Location: Russian State Library
