Editing Cult of personality (section)

===Soviet Union===
{{Main|Stalin's cult of personality|Stalinism}}{{Multiple image
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| image1            = KitayStalinLenin.jpg
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| footer            = [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s cult of personality is part & parcel of [[Communist states|Communist-ruled states]]. From left to right are – 1) Chinese stamp issued in 1954 by the [[PRC]] commemorating a sculpture of Lenin & Stalin created by Soviet sculptors Veniamin Pinchuk & Robert Taurit unveiled in 1949 at [[Nizhny Novgorod|Gorky]], 2) statue of Lenin at a public park in [[Hanoi]], 3) a monument dedicated to Lenin in [[Havana]] & 4) statue of Lenin in [[Kolkata]] installed in 1970 by the [[CPI(M)]], an alliance member of the [[Second Mukherjee ministry|then state government]] and would later form the [[Left Front (West Bengal)|world's longest ruling democratically elected Communist government]]
}}
The first cult of personality to take shape in the USSR was that of [[Vladimir Lenin]]. Up until the [[dissolution of the USSR]] in 1991, Lenin's portrait and quotes were a ubiquitous part of the culture. However, during his lifetime, Lenin vehemently denounced any effort to build a cult of personality, as (in his eyes) the cult of personality was antithetical to Marxism.<ref name="Tucker">{{Cite journal |last=Tucker |first=Robert |date=1979 |title=The Rise of Stalin's Personality Cult |url =http://bclearningnetwork.com/LOR/media/hist12/Reading/Stalin.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=The American Historical Review |volume =84 |issue =2 |pages =347–366 |doi =10.2307/1855137 |jstor =1855137 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20210227131726/http://bclearningnetwork.com/LOR/media/hist12/Reading/Stalin.pdf |archive-date =February 27, 2021 |access-date =February 17, 2018}}</ref> Despite this, members of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]] used Lenin's image as the all-knowing revolutionary who would liberate the [[proletariat]]. Lenin attempted to take action against this; however it was halted after Lenin was nearly assassinated in August 1918. His health would only further decline as he suffered numerous severe strokes, with the worst in May 1922 and March 1923. In this state Lenin would lose the ability to walk and speak. During this time the Bolshevik Party began to promote the accomplishments of Lenin as the basis for a cult of personality, using him as an image of morality and of revolutionary ideas.<ref name="Pittman">{{Cite journal |last=Pittman |first=John |date=2017 |title=Thoughts on the "Cult of Personality" in Communist History |url =https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/siso.2017.81.4.533?journalCode=siso |journal =The Russian Revolution One Century Later |volume=81 |issue=4 |pages=533–547 |doi =10.1521/siso.2017.81.4.533 |via=[[Guilford Press Periodicals]]}}</ref>

[[File:Poster of Azerbaijan 1938. Stalin, Lenin.jpg|thumb|upright|Propaganda poster of Lenin and Stalin]]

After Vladimir Lenin's death in 1924 and the exile of [[Leon Trotsky]] in 1928, [[Joseph Stalin]] came to embody the [[Soviet Union]]. Once Lenin's cult of personality had grown, creating enough influence, Stalin integrated Lenin's ideals into his own cult.<ref name="Tucker" /> Unlike other cults of personalities, the Lenin and Stalin cults were not created to give the leaders power, they were created to give power and validation to the Communist Party. Stalin initially spoke out against the cult and other outrageous and false claims centered around him. However Stalin's attitude began to shift in favor of the cult in the 1930s, and he began to encourage it following the [[Great Purge]] of 1936 to 1938.<ref name="Pisch">{{Cite book |last=Pisch |first=Anita |title=The Personality Cult of Stalin in Soviet Posters, 1929–1953 |publisher=ANU Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1760460624 |location =Australia |pages =87–190}}</ref> Seldom did Stalin object to state actions that furthered his cult of personality, however he did oppose some initiatives from Soviet propagandists. When [[Nikolai Yezhov]] proposed to rename [[Moscow]] to {{translit | ru | Stalinodar}}, which translates as "gift of Stalin", Stalin objected.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kotkin|first=Stephen|date=1995|title=Review of Stalinist Terror: New Perspectives|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/131639|journal=The Russian Review|volume=54|issue=4|pages=635–637|doi=10.2307/131639|jstor=131639|issn=0036-0341}}</ref> To merge the Lenin and Stalin cults together, Stalin changed aspects of Lenin's life in the public's eye in order to place himself in power. This kept the two cults in a line that showed that both Lenin and Stalin had the same ideas and that Stalin was the rightful successor of Lenin, leading the USSR in the fashion Lenin would have done.<ref name="Tucker" />

[[File:Poster of Azerbaijan 1938. Constitutions.jpg|thumb|Soviet poster in the [[Azerbaijani language]] featuring [[Stalin]], 1938|left|275x275px]]

In December 1929, Stalin celebrated his 50th birthday, which featured prominently in the [[Soviet press]].{{sfn|Gill|1980}} The media used positive adjectives like, "Great", "Beloved", "Bold", "Wise", "Inspirer", and "Genius" to describe him.{{sfn|Gunther|1936|pp=516–517, 530–532, 534–535}} Similarly, speeches that were given by people to the peasants described Stalin as "Our Best Collective Farm Worker", "Our [[Udarnik|Shockworker]], Our Best of Best", and "Our Darling, Our Guiding Star".{{sfn|Gunther|1936|pp=516–517, 530–532, 534–535}} By 1934, under Stalin's full control of the country, [[socialist realism]] became the endorsed method of art and literature.<ref name="Pisch" /> Even under the communist regime, the Stalin cult of personality portrayed Stalin's leadership as patriarchy under the features laid out during Khrushchev's [[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences | 1956 speech]].<ref name="Pittman" /> After 1936, the Soviet press described Stalin as the "Father of Nations".<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2017 |title=Joseph Stalin's Cult Of Personality |url =https://historycollection.com/joseph-stalin-cult-personality/ |website=History Collection}}</ref>

One key element of [[Soviet propaganda]] was interaction between Stalin and the children of the Soviet Union. He was often photographed with children of different ethnic backgrounds of the Soviet Union and was often photographed giving gifts to children. In 1935 the phrase, "Thank You, Dear Comrade Stalin, for a Happy Childhood!" started to appear above doorways at nurseries, orphanages, and schools; children also chanted this slogan at festivals.{{sfn|Kelly|2005|pp=206–207}} Another key element of Soviet propaganda was imagery of Stalin and Lenin. In many posters, Stalin and Lenin were placed together to show their camaraderie and that their ideals were one. Throughout the 1930s, posters with both images were used as a way to bring the nation and the military together under the policies of the Communist Party during [[World War II]], with the idea of Lenin as the father of the revolutionary ideas and Stalin as the disciple who would fulfill the communist ideals.<ref name="Pisch" /> Stalin was also portrayed in numerous films produced by [[Mosfilm]], which remained a Soviet-led company until the fall of the Soviet Union.