In this chapter some of the symbols and archetypes associated with Stalin in propaganda posters will be explored. The Party’s propaganda apparatus tightly controlled the use of his image and his persona drew on emblems of leadership and sacred imagery from both the Russian and the European past, from newly forged Bolshevik symbols, and on universal archetypes. Stalin existed as a symbol for such concrete entities as the Bolshevik Party and the state, but also for more abstract concepts like communist progress, Bolshevik values and vision, and peace. Stalin, however, is a construct produced by a large group of people for mass consumption with specific goals in mind. Indeed, we are all ‘constructs’ in terms of our perceived and performed identities in society.

People just can’t seem to appreciate how happy their lives are.Īndrei Stepanovich Arzhilovsky (ex-prisoner, executed by firing squad, 5 September 1937) 2ĭepending on your point of view, Stalin may or not be like a fairytale sycamore tree, but this metaphor, from a panegyric by Kazakh poet Dzhambul, serves to illuminate a central tenet of this book: that ‘Stalin’, as he appeared in Soviet posters, was a construct. There was a fight in a line at the factory people were hurt and a couple of policemen showed up. Stalin is like a fairytale sycamore tree - Stalin as a symbol

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