05.02.21 Stalin’s Death: How did Stalin rule in his final years influence the future of the USSR ?
Key Word: Presidium
The renamed Politburo in 1952. It was now directly chosen/ nominated by Stalin rather than elected.
Why do you think Stalin has gained a reputation for being little more than a Red Tsar?
- He went above the Party and no longer depended on it - Lenin and the other Tsars counted
on his ministers to help him with his rule, but Stalin believed he didn’t need them - greater
personal control
- The increased use of terror used for very minimal reasons - eg being purged for knowing
about a crime, without even committing it
- Previous leaders attempted reforms but Stalin didn’t listen to what the people wanted
Task 1: The renewal of the Cult of Personality
The portrayal of Stalin as “the world’s greatest living genius” (Waller, pg. 201) often ran counter to
the reality of Stalin the individual in the final years of his rule. Use page 201 (and your background
knowledge) to fill out this table
What was Stalin’s ‘real’ behaviour What image of him was cultivated What methods were used to
like toward the end of his life? by his ‘cult of personality’? enhance Stalin’s reputation?
- His behaviour became - Given a god-like status and - Propaganda was used to do
increasingly irrational - portrayed as the world’s this - his image as a god-like
many argue that a stroke greatest living genius (the figure was shown in
changed him, while others idea that he knew about newspapers, books, films
believed his personality everything and everyone) etc
traits became even older - Giant portrait of Stalin
with age suspended in the sky on his
- This didn’t stop him being 70th birthday to praise him
glorified as a leader - Many villages were
- He also became quite weak changed to be named after
in the last year of his life him eg Stalingrad
- Monuments of him
appeared all over the USSR
- Rewrote history to make
himself seem even greater -
built up a huge cult of
personality
- Even succumbed to his own
propaganda - eg during his
reclusive period, people
would tell him what they
believed he wanted to hear
rather than the truth
EXT: Do you agree with Karina Pipiya (a modern Russian sociologist) who argues that Stalin’s ENTIRE
reputation is ‘based on myth’?
Task 2: The Immediate aftermath of Stalin’s death.
Key Word: Presidium
The renamed Politburo in 1952. It was now directly chosen/ nominated by Stalin rather than elected.
Why do you think Stalin has gained a reputation for being little more than a Red Tsar?
- He went above the Party and no longer depended on it - Lenin and the other Tsars counted
on his ministers to help him with his rule, but Stalin believed he didn’t need them - greater
personal control
- The increased use of terror used for very minimal reasons - eg being purged for knowing
about a crime, without even committing it
- Previous leaders attempted reforms but Stalin didn’t listen to what the people wanted
Task 1: The renewal of the Cult of Personality
The portrayal of Stalin as “the world’s greatest living genius” (Waller, pg. 201) often ran counter to
the reality of Stalin the individual in the final years of his rule. Use page 201 (and your background
knowledge) to fill out this table
What was Stalin’s ‘real’ behaviour What image of him was cultivated What methods were used to
like toward the end of his life? by his ‘cult of personality’? enhance Stalin’s reputation?
- His behaviour became - Given a god-like status and - Propaganda was used to do
increasingly irrational - portrayed as the world’s this - his image as a god-like
many argue that a stroke greatest living genius (the figure was shown in
changed him, while others idea that he knew about newspapers, books, films
believed his personality everything and everyone) etc
traits became even older - Giant portrait of Stalin
with age suspended in the sky on his
- This didn’t stop him being 70th birthday to praise him
glorified as a leader - Many villages were
- He also became quite weak changed to be named after
in the last year of his life him eg Stalingrad
- Monuments of him
appeared all over the USSR
- Rewrote history to make
himself seem even greater -
built up a huge cult of
personality
- Even succumbed to his own
propaganda - eg during his
reclusive period, people
would tell him what they
believed he wanted to hear
rather than the truth
EXT: Do you agree with Karina Pipiya (a modern Russian sociologist) who argues that Stalin’s ENTIRE
reputation is ‘based on myth’?
Task 2: The Immediate aftermath of Stalin’s death.
