Cult of personality

Soviet poster in Azerbaijani language featuring Stalin, 1938

A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader, is the veneration of a leader, portraying him or her as an idealized, heroic figure. It typically occurs in a totalitarian or authoritarian government which has control over access to information and without a strong civil society with institutions that are not controlled by the state. The creation of a cult of personality uses the instruments of state power to control the message using mass media, propaganda, spectacle, the arts, patriotism, and government-organized demonstrations and rallies to burnish the reputation of the leader through unquestioning flattery and praise.

A cult of personality is similar to apotheosis, except that it is established by modern social engineering techniques, usually by the state or the party in one-party states and dominant-party states.

Background

Augustus of Prima Porta, First century C.E.

1859 carte de visite of Napoleon III by Disdéri, which popularized the carte-de-visite format

Throughout human history, monarchs and other heads of state were frequently treated with enormous reverence and they were also thought to be endowed with super-human qualities. Ancient Egypt, Imperial Japan, the Inca, the Aztecs, Tibet, Siam (now Thailand), and the Roman Empire are especially noted for their redefinition of monarchs as "god-kings." The Imperial cult of ancient Rome identified emperors and some members of their families with the divinely sanctioned authority (auctoritas) of the Roman State.

The term "cult of personality" probably appeared in English around 1800–1850, along with the French and German versions of the term. At first, it had no political connotations, but was instead closely related to the Romanticist "cult of genius." The first political use of the phrase appeared in a letter from Karl Marx to German political worker Wilhelm Blos dated November 10, 1877:

Neither of us cares a straw of popularity. Let me cite one proof of this: such was my aversion to the personality cult [orig. Personenkultus] that at the time of the International, when plagued by numerous moves ... to accord me public honor, I never allowed one of these to enter the domain of publicity ...

Ho Chi Minh statue in front of the City Hall of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon) in Vietnam

Characteristics

There are various views about what constitutes a cult of personality in a leader. Historian Jan Plamper wrote that modern-day personality cults display five characteristics that set them apart from "their predecessors": The cults are secular and "anchored in popular sovereignty"; their objects are all males; they target the entire population, not only the well-to-do or just the ruling class; they use mass media; they exist where the mass media can be controlled enough to inhibit the introduction of "rival cults."

In his 2013 paper, "What is character and why it really does matter," Thomas A. Wright claimed,

"The cult of personality phenomenon refers to the idealized, even god-like, public image of an individual consciously shaped and molded through constant propaganda and media exposure. As a result, one is able to manipulate others based entirely on the influence of public personality ... the cult of personality perspective focuses on the often shallow, external images that many public figures cultivate to create an idealized and heroic image."

Adrian Teodor Popan defined a cult of personality as a "quantitatively exaggerated and qualitatively extravagant public demonstration of praise of the leader." He also identified three causal "necessary, but not sufficient, structural conditions, and a path-dependent chain of events which, together, lead to the cult formation: a particular combination of patrimonialism and clientelism, lack of dissidence, and systematic falsification pervading the society's culture."

One underlying characteristic, explains John Pittman, is the nature of the cult of personalities to be a patriarch. The idea of the cult of personalities that coincides with the Marxist movements gains popular footing among the men in power with the idea that they would be the "fathers of the people." By the end of the 1920s, the male features of the cults became more extreme. Pittman identifies that these features became roles including the "formal role for a [male] 'great leader' as a cultural focus of the apparatus of the regime: reliance on top-down 'administrative measures': and a pyramidal structure of authority" which was created by a single ideal.

The role of mass media

The mass media have played an instrumental role in forging national leaders' cults of personality. The modern cult of personality has arisen in large part due to how the leader is presented through the media. The modern cult of personality developed alongside the media. The twentieth century brought technological advancements that made it possible for regimes to package propaganda in the form of radio broadcasts, films, and later content on the internet. In societies where governments are capable of isolating citizens from the outside world and creating a monopoly of information that citizens have access to, it is much easier to foster a cult of personality.

Writing in 2013, Thomas A. Wright observed that "[i]t is becoming evident that the charismatic leader, especially in politics, has increasingly become the product of media and self-exposure."

Purpose of the Cult

Statue of Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad, who is revered as their Al-Abad (Immortal Leader) by followers of Syrian Ba'athism

Often, a single leader became associated with this revolutionary transformation and came to be treated as a benevolent "guide" for the nation without whom the claimed transformation to a better future could not occur. Generally, this has been the justification for personality cults that arose in totalitarian societies, such as those of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Kim Il Sung, Mao Zedong and Hafez al-Assad.

Admiration for Mao Zedong has remained widespread in China in spite of somewhat general knowledge of his actions. In December 2013, a Global Times poll revealed that over 85% of Chinese viewed Mao's achievements as outweighing his mistakes.

Jan Plamper argues while Napoleon III made some innovations in France, it was Benito Mussolini in Italy in the 1920s who originated the model of dictator-as-cult-figure that was emulated by Hitler, Stalin and the others, using the propaganda powers of a totalitarian state.

Pierre du Bois de Dunilac argues that the Stalin cult was elaborately constructed to legitimize his rule. Many deliberate distortions and falsehoods were used. The Kremlin refused access to archival records that might reveal the truth, and key documents were destroyed. Photographs were altered and documents were invented. People who knew Stalin were forced to provide "official" accounts to meet the ideological demands of the cult, especially as Stalin himself presented it in 1938 in Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), which became the official history.

Historian David L. Hoffmann states "The Stalin cult was a central element of Stalinism, and as such it was one of the most salient features of Soviet rule ... Many scholars of Stalinism cite the cult as integral to Stalin's power or as evidence of Stalin's megalomania."

In Latin America, Cas Mudde and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser link the "cult of the leader" to the concept of the caudillo, a strong leader "who exercises a power that is independent of any office and free of any constraint." These populist strongmen are portrayed as "masculine and potentially violent" and enhance their authority through the use of the cult of personality. Mudde and Kaltwasser trace the linkage back to Juan Perón of Argentina.

States and systems with personality cults

Soviet Union

Propaganda poster of Lenin and Stalin

The first cult of personality to take shape in the USSR was Vladimir Lenin. Up until the dissolution of the USSR, Lenin's portrait and statues, as well as quotes were a ubiquitous part of the culture, even though Lenin vehemently denounced it as antithetical to Marxism. Despite this, members of the Communist Party further used Lenin's image as the all knowing revolutionary who would liberate the proletariat. Lenin's effort to address his cult was halted by an assassination attempt in August 1918. His health would only further decline as he suffered numerous severe strokes with the worst in May 1922 and March 1923. In this state Lenin would lose the ability to walk and speak. During this period the Communist Party, concerned for its legitimacy, began to promote the accomplishments of Lenin, using him as an image of morality and revolutionary ideas.

After Vladimir Lenin's death in 1924 and the exile of Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin used his position as General Secretary of the Communist Party to place men loyal to him into prominent positions, paving his way to power. Stalin used Lenin's cult of personality, attaching himself to Lenin. Even though Lenin, in his famous "Last Testament" had warned against Stalin taking his mantle, Stalin skillfully used the media, movies, and his position as General Secretary of the Party to make himself Lenin's successor. Unlike other cults of personalities, the Lenin and Stalin cults were not created to give the leaders power, but to legitimize the power they already had and to validate the role of the Communist Party. Like Lenin, Stalin initially spoke out against the cult and other outrageous and false claims centered around him. However Stalin's attitude began to shift in favor of the cult in the 1930s and he began to encourage it following the Great Purges. Seldom did Stalin object to state actions that furthered his cult of personality, however he did oppose some initiatives from Soviet propagandists. When Nikolai Yezhov proposed to rename Moscow to "Stalinodar," which translates to "gift of Stalin," Stalin objected. To connect his legacy with Lenin's Stalin changed aspects of Lenin's life in the public's eye in order to make himself seem like Lenin's natural successor.

In December 1929, Stalin celebrated his 50th birthday. This was a watershed moment in the Soviet press. The Soviet press used positive adjectives like "Great," "Beloved," "Bold," "Wise," "Inspirer," and "Genius" to describe him. Similarly, speeches that were given by people to the peasants described Stalin as "Our Best Collective Farm Worker," "Our Shockworker, Our Best of Best," and "Our Darling, Our Guiding Star." By 1934, under Stalin's full control of the country, socialist realism became the endorsed method of art and literature, presenting an idealized version of reality. Even under the communist regime, the Stalin cult of personality portrayed Stalin's leadership as patriarchy, as Khrushchev would later note in his famous speech to the 20th Party Congress. After 1936, the Soviet press described Stalin as the "Father of Nations."

One key element of Soviet propaganda was interactions between Stalin and the children of the Soviet Union. He was often photographed with children of different ethnic backgrounds of the Soviet Union and was often photographed giving gifts to children. In 1935 the phrase, "Thank You, Dear Comrade Stalin, for a Happy Childhood!" started to appear above doorways at nurseries, orphanages, and schools; children also chanted this slogan at festivals. Another key element of Soviet propaganda was imagery of Stalin and Lenin. In many posters, Stalin and Lenin were placed together to show their camaraderie and that their ideals were one. Throughout the 1930s, posters with both images were used as a way to bring the nation and the military together under the policies of the Communist Party during World War II, with the idea of Lenin as the father of the revolutionary ideas and Stalin as the disciple who would fulfill the communist ideals. Stalin was also portrayed in numerous films produced by Mosfilm, which remained a Soviet mouthpiece until the fall of the Soviet Union.

Fascist Italy

"Kids, you have to love Benito Mussolini. He always works for the good of the Fatherland and the Italian people. You have heard this many times, from your dad, mom, or teacher: If Italy is now far more powerful than before, we owe it to Him." (1936 textbook)

The regime promoted a lavish cult of personality centered on the figure of Benito Mussolini. Mussolini was portrayed as the embodiment of Italian Fascism. He was said to incarnate the new fascist Übermensch, promoting an aesthetic of Machismo that attributed to him quasi-divine capacities. Mussolini was styled by other Italian fascists as Il Duce ("The Leader"). Since Mussolini was represented as an almost omniscient leader, a common saying in Italy during Mussolini's rule was "The Duce is always right" (Italian: Il Duce ha sempre ragione). Mussolini became a unifying force in Italy in order for ordinary Italians to put their difference to one side with local officials. The personality cult surrounding Mussolini became a way for him to justify his personal rule and to enable social and political integration.

Mussolini's military service in World War I and survival of failed assassination attempts were used to convey a mysterious aura around him. Fascist propaganda stated that Mussolini's body had been pierced by shrapnel just like St. Sebastian had been pierced by arrows, but that Mussolini had survived this ordeal. Mussolini was also compared to St. Francis of Assisi, who had, like Mussolini, "suffered and sacrificed himself for others."

The press were given instructions on what and what not to write about Mussolini. Mussolini himself authorized which photographs of him were allowed to be published and rejected any photographs which made him appear weak or less prominent than he wanted to be portrayed as in a particular group.

Italy's war against Ethiopia (1935–37) was portrayed in propaganda as a revival of the Roman Empire, with Mussolini as the first Roman emperor Augustus. To improve his own image, as well as the image of Fascism in the Arab world, Mussolini declared himself to be the "Protector of Islam" during an official visit to Libya in 1937.

At various times after 1922, Mussolini personally took over the ministries of the interior, foreign affairs, colonies, corporations, defense, and public works. Sometimes he held as many as seven departments simultaneously, as well as the premiership. He was also head of the all-powerful Fascist Party and the armed local fascist militia, the MVSN or "Blackshirts," who terrorized incipient resistance in the cities and provinces. He would later form the OVRA, an institutionalized secret police that carried official state support. In this way he succeeded in keeping power in his own hands and preventing the emergence of any rival.

Mussolini also portrayed himself as a valiant sportsman and a skilled musician. All teachers in schools and universities had to swear an oath to defend the fascist regime. Newspaper editors were all personally chosen by Mussolini, and only those in possession of a certificate of approval from the Fascist Party could practice journalism. These certificates were issued in secret so Mussolini could skillfully create the illusion of a "free press." The trade unions were also deprived of any independence and were integrated into what was called the "corporative" system. The aim, inspired by medieval guilds and never completely achieved, was to place all Italians in various professional organizations or corporations, all under clandestine governmental control.

Large sums of money were spent on highly visible public works and on international prestige projects. These included as the Blue Riband ocean liner SS Rex; setting aeronautical records with the world's fastest seaplane, the Macchi M.C.72; and the transatlantic flying boat cruise of Italo Balbo, which was greeted with much fanfare in the United States when it landed in Chicago in 1933.

Nazi Germany

Adolf Hitler at the Nuremberg Rally in 1936

Starting in the 1920s, during the early years of the Nazi Party, Nazi propaganda began to depict the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as a demagogue figure who was the almighty defender and savior of Germany. After the end of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, the German people were left in turmoil under the Weimar Republic, struggling under the weight of war reparations and inflation. According to Nazi propaganda, only Hitler could save them and restore Germany's greatness, which in turn gave rise to the "Führer-cult." During the five election campaigns in 1932, the Nazi newspaper Völkischer Beobachter portrayed Hitler as a man who had a mass movement united behind him, a man with one mission - to save Germany as the "Leader of the coming Germany." The Night of the Long Knives in 1934 – after which Hitler referred to himself as being single-handedly "responsible for the fate of the German people" – also helped to reinforce the myth that Hitler was the sole protector of the Volksgemeinschaft, the ethnic community of the German people.

Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels cultivated an image of Hitler as a "heroic genius." The myth also gave rise to the saying and concept, "If only the Führer knew." Germans thought that problems which they ascribed to the Nazi hierarchy would not have occurred if Hitler had been aware of the situation; thus Nazi bureaucrats were blamed, and Hitler escaped criticism.

According to British historian Ian Kershaw, The "Hitler Myth": Image and Reality in the Third Reich in 1987: {{blockquote|Hitler stood for at least some things they [German people] admired, and for many had become the symbol and embodiment of the national revival which the Third Reich had in many respects been perceived to accomplish.

During the early 1930s, the myth was given credence due to Hitler's perceived ability to revive the German economy during the Great Depression. However, Albert Speer wrote that by 1939, the myth was under threat and the Nazis had to organize cheering crowds to turn up to events. Speer wrote:

The shift in the mood of the population, the drooping morale which began to be felt throughout Germany in 1939, was evident in the necessity to organize cheering crowds where two years earlier Hitler had been able to count on spontaneity. What is more, he himself had meanwhile moved away from the admiring masses. He tended to be angry and impatient more often than in the past when, as still occasionally happened, a crowd on Wilhelmsplatz began clamoring for him to appear. Two years before he had often stepped out on the "historic balcony." Now he sometimes snapped at his adjutants when they came to him with the request that he show himself: "Stop bothering me with that!"

The myth helped to unite the German people during World War II, especially against the Soviet Union and the Western Allies. During Hitler's early victories against Poland and Western Europe the myth was at its peak, but when it became obvious to most Germans that the war was lost, the myth was exposed and Hitler's popularity declined.

A report is given in the little Bavarian town of Markt Schellenberg on March 11, 1945:

When the leader of the Wehrmacht unit at the end of his speech called for a Sieg Heil for the Führer, it was returned neither by the Wehrmacht present, nor by the Volkssturm, nor by the spectators of the civilian population who had turned up. This silence of the masses ... probably reflects better than anything else, the attitudes of the population.

Argentina

"Shaper of the New Great Argentina" (poster 1947)

Juan Perón, who was elected three times as President of Argentina, and his second wife, Eva "Evita" Perón, were immensely popular among many of the Argentine people, and to this day they are still considered icons by the leading Justicialist Party. They are still iconic figures by followers of the Peronist Party. Perón followers lauded his efforts to eliminate poverty and to dignify labor. In contrast, academics and detractors often considered him a demagogue and a dictator. Perón sympathized with the Axis powers when he was a colonel and Minister of War and even served as a diplomatic envoy to Fascist Italy. During his regime he kept close ties with Francoist Spain. He ferociously persecuted dissents and potential political rivals, as political arrests were common during his first two terms. He eroded the republican principles of the country as a way to stay in power and forced statewide censorship on most media. Following his election, he built a personality cult around both himself and his wife so pervasive it is still a part of Argentina's current political life.

During Perón's regime, schools were forced to read Evita's biography La Razón de mi Vida, union and government jobs were only given to those who could prove themselves to be a fervent Peronist, newspapers were censored and television and radio networks were nationalized. Only state media was allowed. He often showed contempt for any opponents, regularly characterizing them as traitors and agents of foreign powers. Those who did not fall in line or were perceived as a threat to Perón's political power were subject to losing their jobs, threats, violence and harassment. Perón dismissed over 20,000 university professors and faculty members from all major public education institutions. Universities were then intervened, the faculty was pressured to get in line and those who resisted were blacklisted, dismissed or exiled. Numerous prominent cultural and intellectual figures were imprisoned. Thousands of artists, scientists, writers and academics left the country, migrated to North America or Europe. Union leaders and political rivals were arrested and tortured for years and were only released after Perón was deposed.

China

Statue of Mao Zedong in China

Mao Zedong's cult of personality was a prominent part of Chairman Mao Zedong's rule over the People's Republic of China from his rise in 1949 until his death in 1976. Mass media, propaganda and a series of other techniques were used by the state to elevate Mao Zedong's status to that of an infallible heroic leader, who could stand up against The West, and guide China to become a beacon of Communism.

Mao Zedong himself recognized the need for personality cult, blaming the fall of Khrushchev on the lack of such cult. During the period of Cultural Revolution, Mao's personality cult soared to an unprecedented height, and he took advantage of it to mobilize the masses and attack his political opponents such as Liu Shaoqi, then Chairman of the People's Republic of China. Mao, like Lenin and Stalin, publicly criticized the personality cult which was formed around him while benefitting from it.

Mao's face was firmly established on the front page of People's Daily, where a column of his quotes was also printed every day. Mao's Selected Works were later printed in even greater circulation; the number of his portraits (1.2 billion) was more than the inhabitants in China. Then the Chairman Mao badges began to appear; in total, about 4.8 billion were manufactured. Every Chinese citizen was presented with the Little Red Book – a selection of quotes from Mao. It was prescribed to be carried everywhere and displayed at all public events, and citizens were expected to quote the contents of the book daily.

After the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping and others launched the "Boluan Fanzheng" program which invalidated the Cultural Revolution and abandoned (and forbade) the use of a personality cult Introduced in 1982, Article 10 of the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party "forbids all forms of personality cult." However, since Xi Jinping succeeded as the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, the cult of personality has been promoted again in China.

Syria

Portraits of Hafez al-Assad in Syrian buildings, 1992

Mural depicting Bassel al-Assad, Hafez al-Assad and Bashar al-Assad in Maaloula town

Syria's Hafez al-Assad, a Ba'athist officer who seized power through a coup d'etat in 1970, established a pervasive cult of personality to maintain his dictatorship. As soon as he took over power, Ba'ath party loyalists designated him as "Al-Abad"; an Arabic terminology with deep religious dimensions. Linguistically, ''Al-Abad'' means "forever, infinite and immortality" and religious clerics use this term in relation to Divine Attributes. By designating Assad as "Al-Abad," Syrian Ba'ath Movement ideologically elevated Hafez al-Assad as an "Immortal," "God-like figure" who is supposed to represent the state as well as the Syrian nation itself. Another meaning of Al-Abad is "permanent," which is used in state propaganda to denote the perpetual status quo of an "eternal political order" created by Hafez al-Assad, who continues to live in Assadist ideology. The term's verbal form "Abada" means "to commit genocide" including "symbolical; performative side of violence." This dimension has been weaponized by the Assad regime to monopolize violence against alleged dissidents and justify state-terrorism, including genocidal acts of mass murder like the Hama Massacre, Qamishli Massacre and other massacres of the Syrian civil war.

Assad's cult of personality functions as a psychological tool for the totalitarian regime; which attempts to claim to the Syrian society that the Assadist system shall continue ruling eternally, forever, with no end.

North Korea

North Korean poster featuring Kim Il-Sung

The cult of personality which surrounds North Korea's ruling family, the Kim family, has existed for decades and it can be found in many aspects of North Korean culture.

According to Dae-Sook Suh, the cult of personality surrounding the Kim family requires total loyalty and subjugation to the Kim family and establishes the country as a one-man dictatorship through successive generations. The 1972 constitution of North Korea incorporates the ideas of Kim Il Sung as the only guiding principle of the state and his activities as the only cultural heritage of the people. According to New Focus International, the cult of personality, particularly surrounding Kim Il Sung, has been crucial for legitimizing the family's hereditary succession, and Park Yong-soo said in the Australian Journal of International Affairs that the "prestige of the Suryong (Great Leader) has been given the highest priority over everything else in North Korea."

Although not acknowledged by the North Korean government, many defectors and Western visitors state there are often stiff penalties for those who criticize or do not show "proper" respect for the regime. The personality cult began soon after Kim Il Sung took power in 1948, and was greatly expanded after his death in 1994.

The personality cult had its beginnings as early as 1949, with the appearance of the first statues of Kim Il Sung. The veneration of Kim Il Sung came into full effect following a mass purge in 1953. In 1967, Kim Jong Il was appointed to the state propaganda and information department, where he began to focus his energy on developing the veneration of his father. It was around this time that the title Suryong ('Great Leader') came into habitual usage. However, Kim Il Sung had begun calling himself "Great Leader" as early as 1949.

According to official biographies, Kim Il Sung came from a long lineage of leaders and official North Korean modern history focuses on his life and activities. He is credited with almost single-handedly defeating the Japanese at the end of the occupation of Korea (ignoring Soviet and American efforts) and with rebuilding the nation after the Korean War. Over the course of his life he was granted titles of esteem such as "Sun", "Great Chairman", "Heavenly Leader" and many others, as well as awards like the "Double Hero Gold Medal." These titles and awards were often self-given and the practice would be repeated by his son. The Korean Central News Agency (the official government news agency) continually reported on the titles and perceived affection granted to Kim Il Sung by world leaders including Mao Zedong of China, Fidel Castro of Cuba and Jimmy Carter of the United States. The pervasiveness and the extreme nature of North Korea's personality cult surpasses those of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. The cult is also marked by the intensity of the people's feelings for and devotion to their leaders, and the key role played by a Confucianized ideology of familism both in maintaining the cult and thereby in sustaining the regime itself. The North Korean cult of personality is a large part of Juche and totalitarianism.

All major publications (newspapers, textbooks etc.) were to include "words of instruction" from Kim Il Sung. Additionally, his name must be written as a single word in one line, it may not be split into two parts if there is a page break or the line of text runs out of room (for example: Kim Il Sung, not Kim Il...Sung).

North Korean children were taught in school that they were fed, clothed and nurtured in all aspects by the "grace of the Chairman." The larger elementary schools in the country have a room set aside for lectures that deal specifically with Kim Il Sung (known as the Kim Il Sung Research Institute). These rooms are well taken care of, are built of high quality materials, and have a model of his birthplace in Mangyongdae. The size of the images of him which adorned public buildings are regulated to be in proportion to the size of the building on which they hang. His place of birth has also become a place of pilgrimage.

See also

• Charismatic authority
• Communism
• Dictatorship
• Fascism
• Leninism
• Maoism
• Narcissism
• Nazism
• Trotskyism

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Armstrong, Charles K. The North Korean Revolution, 1945–1950. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0801468797
• Barmé, Geremie. Shades of Mao : the posthumous cult of the great leader. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1996. ISBN 0585269017
• Becker, Jasper. Rogue Regime: Kim Jong Il and the Looming Threat of North Korea. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 978-0195170443
• Bosworth, Richard J. B. Mussolini's Italy: Life Under the Dictatorship, 1915–1945. New York, NY: Penguin Adult, 2006. ISBN 978-0141012919
• Bosworth, Richard J. B. Mussolini. London, U.K.: A&C Black, 2014. ISBN 978-1849660242
• Brendon, Piers. The Dark Valley. New York, NY: Random House, 2016. ISBN 978-1446496329
• Cha, John. Exit Emperor Kim Jong-il. Cincinnati, OH: Abbott Press, 2012. ISBN 978-1458202161
• Chang, Jung, and Jon Halliday. Mao: the unknown story. London, U.K.: Vintage, 2007. ISBN 9780099507376
• Demick, Barbara. "Nothing to Envy Excerpt," Nothingtoenvy.com. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
• Eddin, Eylaf Bader. "Al-Abad: On the Ongoing," Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication (15) (November 8, 2022): 367-372. Retrieved September 25, 2023.
• Falasca-Zamponi, Simonetta. Fascist Spectacle: The Aesthetics of Power in Mussolini's Italy. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0520226777
• Forer, Ben. "North Korea Reportedly Punishing Insincere Mourners," ABC News, January 12, 2012. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
• Gallo, Max. Mussolini's Italy: Twenty Years of the Fascist Era. London, U.K. and New York, NY: Macmillan, 1973. ISBN 978-1121188198
• Gill, Graeme. "The Soviet Leader Cult: Reflections on the Structure of Leadership in the Soviet Union," British Journal of Political Science 10(167) (1980): 167–186.
• Gunther, John. Inside Europe. New York, NY: Harper & Brothers, 1936.
• Hamilton, Alastair. Appeal of Fascism. New York, NY: Harper Mass Market Paperbacks, 1973. ISBN 978-0380010257
• Hoffmann, David L. "The Stalin Cult," The Historian 75(4) (2013): 909.
• Huang, Zheping. "Xi Jinping could now rule China for life—just what Deng Xiaoping tried to prevent," Quartz, February 26, 2018. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
• Hunter, Helen-Louise. Kim Il-song's North Korea. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999. ISBN 978-0275962968
• Ke, Lin, Xu Tao, and Wu Xujun. 歷史的真實: 毛澤東身邊工作人員的證言 (The True Life of Mao Zedong: Eyewitness Accounts by Mao's Staff). Hong Kong, CH: Liwen Chubanshe, 1995. ISBN 978-9577090980
• Kelly, Catriona. "Riding the Magic Carpet: Children and Leader Cult in the Stalin Era," The Slavic and East European Journal 49(2) (2005): 199–224.
• Kershaw, Ian. The 'Hitler Myth'. Image and Reality in the Third Reich. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0192802064
• Kershaw, Ian. Hitler 1936–1945: Nemesis. New York, NY: Penguin Books Limited, 2001., ISBN 978-0141925813
• Keith, Ronald C. "Review: History, Contradiction, and the Apotheosis of Mao Zedong," China Review International 11(1) (2004): 1–8. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
• Lamb, Jeanette. "Joseph Stalin's Cult Of Personality," History Collection, March 21, 2017. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
• Leese, Daniel. "Mao Zedong as a Historical Personality," in The Cambridge History of Communism: Volume 2: The Socialist Camp and World Power 1941–1960s, volume 2 eds. Norman Naimark, et. al. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2017. ISBN 978-1107590014
• Lim, Jae-Cheon. Kim Jong-il's Leadership of North Korea. London, U.K.: Routledge, 2008. ISBN 978-0203884720
• Luqiu, Luwei Rose. "The Reappearance of the Cult of Personality in China," East Asia 33(4) (December 1, 2016): 289–307.
• Marquis, Christopher, and Kenyan Qiao. Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2022. ISBN 978-0300268836
• Maslov, N.N. "Short Course of the History of the All-Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) – An Encyclopedia of Stalin's Personality Cult," Soviet Studies in History 28(3) (1989): 41–68.
• Mudde, Cas, and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. Populism: A Very Short Introduction. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2017. ISBN 978-0190234874
• Park, Yong-Soo. "The political economy of economic reform in North Korea," Australian Journal of International Affairs 63(4) (2009): 542. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
• Pittman, John. "Thoughts on the 'Cult of Personality' in Communist History," The Russian Revolution One Century Later 81(4) (2017): 533–547. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
• Plamper, Jan. The Stalin Cult: A Study in the Alchemy of Power. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0300169522
• Popan, Adrian Teodor. The ABC of Sycophancy: Structural Conditions for the Emergence of Dictators' Cults of Personality. Austin, TX: University of Texas at Austin, 2015. Retrieved September 25, 2023.
• Shoe, Yong-ho, Peter H. Lee, and Wm. Theodore de Barry (eds.). Sources of Korean Tradition: Vol. 2: From the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Centuries. Chichester, NY: Columbia University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0231120319
• Speer, Albert. Inside The Third Reich. London, U.K.: Orion, 2009. ISBN 978-1842127353
• Strong, Carol, and Matt Killingsworth. "Stalin the Charismatic Leader?: Explaining the 'Cult of Personality' as a legitimation technique," Politics, Religion & Ideology 12(4) (2011): 391–411.
• Suh, Dae-Sook. Kim Il-Sung: The North Korean Leader. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1988. ISBN 978-0231065733
• Williams, Manuela. Mussolini's Propaganda Abroad: Subversion in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, 1935–1940. London, U.K.: Taylor & Francis, 2006. ISBN 978-0203004777
• Williamson, Lucy. "Delving into North Korea's mystical cult of personality," BBC News, December 27, 2011. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
• Wright, Thomas A., and Tyler L Lauer. "What is character and why it really does matter," Fordham University: Business Faculty Publications (2) (2013): 29. Retrieved September 25, 2023.

Further reading

• Apor, Balázs, Jan C. Behrends, Polly Jones and E.A. Rees (eds.). The Leader Cult in Communist Dictatorships: Stalin and the Eastern Bloc. London, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. ISBN 1403934436
• Cohen, Yves. "The cult of number one in an age of leaders," Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 8(3)(2007): 597–634. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
• Dikötter, Frank. Dictators: The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century. London, U.K.: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020. ISBN 978-1526626981
• Gill, Graeme. "Personality cult, political culture and party structure," Studies in Comparative Communism 17(2) (1984): 111–121.
• Melograni, Piero. "The Cult of the Duce in Mussolini's Italy,"] Journal of Contemporary History 11(4) (1976): 221–237.
• Morgan, Kevin. International Communism and the Cult of the Individual Leaders, Tribunes and Martyrs under Lenin and Stalin. London, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. ISBN 978-1349953370
• Paltiel, Jeremy. "The Cult of Personality: Some Comparative Reflections on Political Culture in Leninist Regimes," Studies in Comparative Communism 16(1–2) (1983): 49–64.
• Petrone, Karen. "Cult of Personality" in Encyclopedia of Russian History volume 1, edited by James R. Millar. New York, NY: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004. ISBN 978-0028656946
• Polese, Abel and Slavomir Horák, "A tale of two presidents: personality cult and symbolic nation-building in Turkmenistan," Nationalities Papers 43(3) (2015): 457–478.
• Rutland, P. "Cult of Personality," in The Encyclopedia of Political Science, volume 1, edited by George Thomas Kurian. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2011. ISBN 978-1608712434
• Vassilev, Rossen. "Cult of Personality," in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences edited by William A. Darity Jr. New York, NY: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. ISBN 978-0028659657

External links

All links retrieved January 11, 2024.

• Why Dictators Love Kitsch by Eric Gibson, The Wall Street Journal, August 10, 2009.
• "Mao's achievements 'outweigh' mistakes: poll," al-Jazeera, December 23, 2013.
• "Record of Conversation from [Chairman Mao Zedong's Meeting with [Edgar] Snow,"] Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, December 18, 1970.
• "Nehru's India," Mint, May 24, 2014.
• "We have just witnessed a coup in North Korea," New Focus International, December 27, 2013.
• "Humankind Awards Many Titles to Kim Il Sung," Korean Central News Agency, April 3, 2012.
• "The Bewildering Cult of Kim," New Focus International, May 27, 2013.

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Cult of personality  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Cult of personality"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.