personality cult

The communist leader Joseph Stalin, who forged the Soviet Union into a major 20th century power. His ruthless political purges removed all internal opposition and by the mid-1930s his leadership was undisputed.

Practice by which a leader is elevated to a pre-eminent status through a propaganda campaign. In the USSR, the cult of personality was developed by Joseph Stalin in the 1930s. Later, both Mao Zedong in China and Kim Il Sung in North Korea used similar techniques to reinforce their leadership and power. Current leaders who developed personality cults include Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Saparmurad Niyazov in Turkmenistan.

The Soviet promotion of the individual was in marked contrast to the primacy of the masses espoused in the 1920s. Stalin's image was portrayed everywhere; factories, streets, and a city were named after him. He was able to take credit for the regime's successes without taking responsibility for the failures. In some respects, this system echoed the semidivine cult status of Russian tsars in the 19th century.