Stalinism: The Use of Propaganda by Joseph Stalin

The Stalin Years

The Stalin years lasted from 1924 to 1953. This was an era that was marked by command economy characterized by extensive Five-Year Plans, economic collectivization and rapid industrialization. The era survived a disrupted agricultural sector and widespread famine, literally fueled by the support of the Great Purge or Reign of Terror. Stalin propaganda aimed at the removal or extermination of corruption or treachery, concepts redefined by Stalin himself. Stalin used military might to deal with opposition. He designed labor camps for those convicted of treachery or exiled and deported persecuted ethnic minorities to Siberia. The Stalin years supported the 1939 non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany and the invasion of the Baltics, Poland, Finland, Bessarabia and Bukovina. The two decades also witnessed the Soviet agreement with the Allies and Axis defeat. Stalin used the might of Allied victory due to Soviet invasion of East Germany, to install communist governments in Eastern Europe. The 'Iron Curtain' lasted all through the period of antagonism, popularly referred to as the Cold War.

Base of Stalin Propaganda

Stalin propaganda rested on the tripod of media control, a fostered personality cult and a claimed legacy. Most of this propaganda was the result of experiences during his childhood and youth that exposed him to plaguing gang warfare, poverty and street brawls. He was largely influenced by Vladimir Lenin and became a Marxist revolutionary himself. At a young age he began organizing demonstrations and strikes, partisan activities, ransom kidnappings and counterfeiting operations. He was exiled twice, once in 1908 and then again in 1911. During the October Revolution, in 1917, Stalin played a prominent role by supporting the plan to overthrow the provisional government and helping Lenin to evade capture. The Russian Civil War experience through 1917 - 1919, formulated much of the Stalin propaganda that surfaced after Lenin's death. Stalin's hardline and highly centralist policies helped him to rise to the post of General Secretary in 1922 and form a firm anti-Trotsky base, after Lenin's political tenure. Stalin was at all times heady with the intoxication of power, ambition and politics. Stalin propaganda focused on central control of the economy and collectivization of agriculture. He capitalized on the ban on factionalism and proclaimed dictatorship by 1928.

Stalinism

Stalinism or Stalinization refers to the influence of Josef Stalin over the Russian people and economy. Stalinism capitalized on the scope and power of a special secret police and several intelligence agencies. Stalin generated intelligence networks across Europe, the Rote Kappelle spy ring, to further communist political propaganda and support communist actions. He believed in and imposed state-sanctioned violence to integrate public activities. Stalin used the strength of the Communist International Movement to ensure pro-Soviet and Stalin support. He generated a cult of personality around Lenin and himself. Towns and villages were renamed after him, institutions were set up in his honor, grandiloquent titles were adopted and an attempt was made to rewrite Soviet history, highlighting Stalin as the hero of the Russian Revolution. Stalin even included his name in the Soviet national anthem. Stalinism or Stalinization of Russia made the leader the focus of fine arts and fawning devotion. Stalin relished self-praise and the cult that grew around him.

Life in Russia under Stalin

Russia under Stalin's rule witnessed the progress and efficiency possible with systematic planning, alongside a political purge that spared none. The Moscow Trials were used to get rid of anti-Soviet activities and counterrevolutionary crime behind the clauses of the Article 58 legal code. A vicious cycle of persecution, abuse, torturous interrogation and deportation was the very base of troika. He targeted foreign ethnicities and executed them. He hid behind propaganda material such as rewritten texts and photographs, forged Soviet archives, a series of deportations based on fraudulent pretexts and the policy of separatism. On the flip side, Stalinism's forced collectivization of agriculture worked well for the starving Russians. Mechanized farms brought peasantry under direct political control and initiated many social changes. Rapid collectivization of agriculture resulted in equally rapid industrialization. Construction projects and manufacturing processes generated employment. Stalin's Five-Year plans modernized the otherwise backward Soviet economy. The development of new products increased the scale and efficiency of domestic and international trade.