Cult of personality 147116 226177030 2008-07-17T04:38:12Z 207.6.159.171 /* Purpose */ [[Image:Stalin1.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Joseph Stalin]], Absolute dictator of the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953, is often credited with possesing the most extensive personality cult of all time.]] {{Otheruses4|the political institution|the song by the band Living Colour|Cult of Personality (song)}} A '''cult of personality''' or '''personality cult''' arises when a country's leader uses [[mass media]] to create a heroic public image through unquestioning flattery and praise. Cults of personality are often found in [[dictatorship]]s but can be found in some [[democracy|democracies]] as well. A cult of personality is similar to general [[apotheosis|hero worship]] except that it is created specifically for political leaders. However, the term may be applied by analogy to refer to adulation of non-political leaders. ==Background== Throughout [[history]], monarchs were almost always held in enormous reverence. Through the principle of the [[divine right of kings]], rulers were said to hold office by the will of [[God]]. [[Imperial China]] (see [[Mandate of Heaven]]), [[ancient Egypt]], [[Japan]], the [[Inca]], the [[Aztecs]], [[Tibet]], and the [[Roman Empire]] (see [[imperial cult]]) are especially noted for redefining monarchs as [[god-king]]s. The resurgence of ancient Greek democratic ideas in [[Europe]] and [[North America]] in the 18th and 19th centuries made it increasingly difficult for monarchs to preserve this aura. However, the subsequent development of [[photography]], [[sound recording]], [[film]] and [[mass production]], as well as [[public education]] and techniques used in commercial [[advertising]], enabled political leaders to project a positive image like never before. It was with these circumstances in the 20th century that the best-known personality cults arose. <!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:Stalincult.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Billboard of [[Joseph Stalin]]. Stalin was the subject of a [[List of places named after Stalin|massive campaign]] to rename locations in his honor.]] --> ==Purpose== Generally, personality cults are most common in regimes with [[totalitarian]] systems of government, that seek to radically alter or transform society according to [[revolutionary]] new ideas. Often, a single leader becomes associated with this revolutionary transformation, and he becomes treated as a benevolent "guide" for the nation, without whom the transformation to a better future cannot occur. This has been generally the justification for personality cults that arose in totalitarian societies of the 20th century, such as those of [[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Joseph Stalin]]. Not all dictatorships foster personality cults, however, and some leaders may actively seek to minimize their own public adulation. Similarly in the regime of [[Pol Pot]] in [[Cambodia]], the image of Pol Pot himself was rarely seen. Not all cults of personality are found in dictatorships, either. [[Lenin]]'s person is often considered to be the subject of a cult of personality, despite the fact that it was completely cultivated by the Soviet people, and totally against his will. Likewise, in [[Cuba]], there are no public pictures of longtime leader [[Fidel Castro]], but images of [[Che Guevara]] are ubiquitous and cultivated by the Cuban government. ==Examples from totalitarian regimes== [[Image:Spanish peseta coin with Franco 1963.gif|thumb|right|200px|[[1963]] [[Spanish peseta]] coin with the image of [[Francisco Franco]],''[[Caudillo]] [[Spain under Franco|de España]], [[By the grace of God|por la gracia de Dios]]'']] <!-- Please include sources making specific claims of a personality cult for any new entries. --> The criticism of personality cults often focuses on the regimes of [[Mussolini]], [[Hitler]], [[Stalin]], [[Mao Zedong|Mao]], Nicolae Ceaușescu|Ceaușescu]], [[Saddam Hussein]], [[Kim Il-sung]] and his son [[Kim Jong-il]]. During the peak of their reigns, these leaders were presented as god-like and infallible. Their portraits were hung in homes and public buildings, and artists and poets were instructed legally to produce only works that glorified the leader and their political movements. Other undemocratic leaders with such cults include leaders such as [[Eva Peron]] of [[Argentina]] and her husband [[Juan Peron|Juan]]. The term ''cult of personality'' comes from [[Karl Marx]]'s critique of the "cult of the individual" - expressed in a letter to German political worker, Wilhelm Bloss. In that, Marx states thus: <blockquote>From my antipathy to any cult of the individual, I never made public during the existence of the [1st] International the numerous addresses from various countries which recognized my merits and which annoyed me... [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]] and I first joined the secret society of Communists on the condition that everything making for superstitious worship of authority would be deleted from its statute.</blockquote> [[Nikita Khrushchev]] recalled Marx's criticism in his 1956 "[[On the Personality Cult and its Consequences|Secret Speech]]" denouncing Stalin to the [[20th Party Congress]]: <blockquote>Comrades, the cult of the individual acquired such monstrous size chiefly because Stalin himself, using all conceivable methods, supported the glorification of his own person. . . . One of the most characteristic examples of Stalin's self-glorification and of his lack of even elementary modesty is the edition of his Short Biography, which was published in 1948.<ref>{{cite web | title = The Cult of the Individual | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/greatspeeches/story/0,,2060198,00. | accessdate = 2007-05-24 }}</ref>.</blockquote> <blockquote>This book is an expression of the most dissolute flattery, an example of making a man into a godhead, of transforming him into an infallible sage, "the greatest leader," "sublime strategist of all times and nations." Finally no other words could be found with which to lift Stalin up to the heavens.</blockquote> <blockquote>We need not give here examples of the loathsome adulation filling this book. All we need to add is that they all were approved and edited by Stalin personally and some of them were added in his own handwriting to the draft text of the book.</blockquote> [[Image:Eva peron presente.JPG|402px|left|thumb|[[Evita]], at that time perhaps the most powerful person in [[Latin America]], is seen here with the loyal supporters who gave her such broad power.]] Journalist [[Bradley Martin]] documented the personality cults of [[North Korea]]'s father-son leadership, "Eternal (formerly Great) Leader" [[Kim Il-sung]] and "Great (formerly Dear) Leader" [[Kim Jong-il]].<ref name="LovingCare">Bradley K. Martin. ''Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty''. ISBN 0-312-32322-0</ref> While visiting North Korea in 1979 he noted that nearly all music, art, and sculpture that he observed glorified "Great Leader" Kim Il-sung, whose personality cult was then being extended to his son, "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il.<ref name="LovingCare">The younger Kim's pictures were then ubiquitous and his abilities were described as superhuman.</ref> Kim Il-sung rejected the notion that he had created a cult around himself and accused those who suggested so of "[[Political faction|factionalism]]."<ref name="LovingCare" /> A US religious freedom investigation confirmed Martin's observation that North Korean schoolchildren learn to thank Kim Il-sung for all blessings as part of the cult.<ref>{{cite web | title = Thank You Father Kim-Il-Sung| url = http://www.uscirf.gov/countries/region/east_asia/northkorea/NKwitnesses.pdf | accessdate = 2007-12-09 }}</ref></blockquote> Former President [[Saparmurat Niyazov]] of [[Turkmenistan]] is another oft-cited cultivator of a cult of personality.<ref>Government of the United States of America. March 2002. ''Report on Turkmenistan.'' Available on-line at http://www.ciaonet.org/</ref><ref>International Crisis Group. July 2003. ''Central Asia: Islam and the State.'' ICG Asia Report No. 59. Available on-line at http://www.crisisgroup.org/</ref><ref>Shikhmuradov, Boris. May 2002. ''Security and Conflict in Central Asia and the Caspian Region.'' International Security Program, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University. Available on-line at http://www.ciaonet.org/</ref> Niyazov simultaneously cut funding to and partially disassembled the education system in the name of 'reform,' while injecting ideological indoctrination into it by requiring all schools to take his own book, the [[Ruhnama]], as its primary text.<ref>International Crisis Group. July 2003. ''Central Asia: Islam and the State.'' ICG Asia Report No. 59. Available on-line at http://www.crisisgroup.org/</ref><ref>Soucek, Svat. 2000. ''A History of Inner Asia.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref> During Niyazov's rule there was no freedom of the press nor was there freedom of speech. This further meant that opposition to Niyazov was strictly forbidden and "major opposition figures have been imprisoned, institutionalized, deported, or have fled the country, and their family members are routinely harassed by the authorities."<ref>Government of the United States of America. March 2002. ''Report on Turkmenistan.'' Available on-line at http://www.ciaonet.org/</ref> Additionally, a silhouette of Niyazov was placed on the screen of all television broadcasts<ref>Eurasianet. 2007. ''The Personality Cult Lives On, Residents Take It In Stride.'' Available on-line at http://www.eurasianet.org/</ref> and statues and pictures of him were 'erected everywhere.'<ref>BBC. December 2006. ''Obituary: Saparmurat Niyazov.''Available on-line at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6199021.stm</ref>. For these, and other reasons, the US Government has gone on to claim that by the time he died, "Niyazov’s personality cult...had reached the dimensions of a state-imposed religion."<ref>United States Commission on International Freedom. 2007. ''Turkmenistan: Ending the Personality Cult.'' Available on-line at http://www.uscirf.gov/mediaroom/press/2007/january/20070103Turkmenistan.html</ref>. University of Chicago professor [[Lisa Wedeen]]'s book, "Ambiguities of Domination" documents the cult of personality which surrounded late Syrian President [[Hafez al-Assad]]. Numerous examples of his glorification are made throughout the book, such as displays of love and adoration for the "leader" put on at the opening ceremonies of the [[1987 Mediterranean Games]] in [[Lattakia]], [[Syria]]. ==References== <!-- ---------------------------------------------------------- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for a discussion of different citation methods and how to generate footnotes using the <ref>, </ref> and <reference /> tags ----------------------------------------------------------- --> {{reflist}} ==See also== *[[Anax]] *[[Apotheosis]] *[[Big Brother (Nineteen Eighty-Four)|Big Brother]] *[[Charisma]] *[[Charismatic authority]] *[[Cult of Personality (song)]] *[[Dictator]] *[[Emperor]] *[[God-King]] *[[High King]] *[[King of Kings]] *[[Monarch]] *[[Propaganda]] {{cults}} [[Category:Cults]] {{Link FA|fi}} [[bg:Култ към личността]] [[cs:Kult osobnosti]] [[da:Personkult]] [[de:Personenkult]] [[es:Culto a la personalidad]] [[eo:Kulto al personeco]] [[fr:Culte de la personnalité]] [[hr:Kult ličnosti]] [[it:Culto della personalità]] [[he:פולחן אישיות]] [[lt:Asmenybės kultas]] [[hu:Személyi kultusz]] [[nl:Persoonsverheerlijking]] [[ja:個人崇拝]] [[pl:Kult jednostki]] [[pt:Culto da personalidade]] [[ro:Cultul personalităţii]] [[ru:Культ личности]] [[sk:Kult osobnosti]] [[fi:Henkilöpalvonta (politiikka)]] [[sv:Personkult]] [[zh:个人崇拜]]