Cult of personality: Encyclopedia - Cult of personality

Cult of personality

Cult of personality is a term for what is perceived to be excessive adulation of a single living leader, especially a head of state. The term was coined by the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev in his 1956 "Secret Speech" denouncing Joseph Stalin to the 20th Party Congress. The phenomenon that Khrushchev described, however, is much older.

A cult of personality differs from charismatic authority in that it has a negative connotation by definition, and is thus a pejorative term. It also differs from general hero worship in that it is specifically built around political leaders. However, the term cult of personality is often applied by analogy to refer to adulation of non-political leaders.

Cult of personality - History

Throughout history there have always been leaders who have fostered adulation. For much of premodern times, absolute monarchies were the dominant form of government, and 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, and thus criticism of any leader was interpreted not only as treason but also as blasphemy.

Many leaders of the Roman Empire and Hellenistic Greece displayed features of today's cults of personality, as did Imperial China, with ancient Egypt especially noted for elevating monarchs to the status of god-kings.

By the 20th century, many nations (particularly in the West) began to move towards democracy. Yet at the same time, the 20th century saw the rise of new political regimes that strongly opposed democracy (e.g. fascism), and other regimes that declared themselves democratic in their rhetoric but were seen as dictatorial in practice (e.g. communist states). Modern technology such as the mass media allowed 20th century dictatorships to disseminate much greater quantities of propaganda than had been possible in the past. Before the invention of photography, sound recording and film, the majority of a country's population would never see their ruler's face or hear his voice.

The criticism of personality cults often focuses on the regimes of Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. During the peak of their reigns both these leaders appeared as god-like omniscient rulers, destined to rule their nation for all eternity. Government orders prescribed the hanging of their portraits in every home or public building, and many artists and poets were instructed to produce only works that glorified the leader.

The most famous fictional cult of personality is probably that of Big Brother in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. The character was possibly based on Britain's Earl Kitchener although more likely based on Stalin.

Cult of personality - Characteristics

Personality cults usually characterize totalitarian, authoritarian, or one-party states, especially those with a strong revolutionary consciousness. The reputation of a single leader, often characterized as the "liberator" or "savior" of the people, elevates that leader to a near-divine level.

A personality cult is also characterized with many images and representations of a leader in public places, including statues, billboards, posters, signs, paintings, and vast murals. In many cases the leader is portrayed in various types of garb (indicating many roles) and in heroic positions. This is meant to emphasize the greatness and wisdom of the leader. The leader's slogans and other quotes cover massive spaces, and books containing the leader's speeches and writings fill up bookstores, libraries, and schools. The level of flattery can reach heights which may appear absurd to outsiders.

Personality cults aim to make the leader and the state seem synonymous, so it becomes impossible to comprehend the existence of one without the other. It also helps justify the often harsh rule of a dictatorship, and propaganda leads the citizens into believing that the leader operates as a kind and just ruler. In addition, cults of personality often arise out of an effort to quash opposition within a ruling elite, and help leaders to crush their political opponents.

To justify personality cults, leaders sometimes try to present themselves as personally humble and modest and characterize their vast personality cults as spontaneous shows of popular support and affection.

Cults of personality can collapse very quickly after the ousting or death of the leader. In some cases, the leader formerly the subject of a cult of personality becomes vilified after his death, especially after a violent overthrow. A massive effort of renaming and image-removal may take place.

The term "personality cult" does not generally refer to showing respect for the dead (such as historic national founders like Vladimir Lenin or George Washington), nor does it refer to honoring symbolic leaders who have no real power. The latter often occurs with constitutional monarchies, such as that of Thailand, in which the king or queen's image is respectfully displayed in many public places, but convention or law forbids them from converting this respect into real political power.

Cults of personality do not appear universal among all authoritarian societies. A few of the world's most oppressive regimes have in fact exhibited little to no worship of the leader. The Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia and the theocratic Taliban government of Afghanistan lacked many of the trappings of cults of personality, and the leaders in these regimes remained almost anonymous. In these cases, the lack of a cult of personality seems partly motivated by the desire to project an image of a faceless but omniscient and omnipresent state. In other cases, such as the post-Mao People's Republic of China, authorities frown upon the establishment of a cult of personality for fear it may upset the balance of power between the leaders within the political elite.

The cult of the personality in a state as described above seems similar to the functioning of person-centered leadership in some cults. When the followers accept the charismatic authority of a person (e.g. a guru, or saint, or avatar) then this personality cult can take strong forms. Sometimes, cults or new religious movements defend this practice by comparing their living leader to mainstream religions like Christianity in which Jesus was venerated when he was still alive, or to the Ishta-Deva (chosen deity) principle in Hinduism.

Cult of personality - Examples

• Akhenaten of Ancient Egypt
• Idi Amin of Uganda, "Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea" and "Conqueror of the British Empire"
• Yasser Arafat of Palestine
• Bashar al-Assad of Syria
• Hafez al-Assad of Syria
• Mustafa Kemal of Turkey, "Atatürk"
• Siad Barre of Somalia
• Nicolae Ceauşescu of Romania, "Genius of the Carpathians": established a personality cult in connection with his Juche-inspired program of systematization
• Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo [1]
• Adolf Hitler of Germany, "Der Führer": organized spectacular rallies in Nuremburg for his annual party speeches
• Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam
• Enver Hoxha of Albania
• Saddam Hussein of Iraq, "Hero-President": Between segments Iraqi television featured music videos singing Saddam's praises.
• Kim Il-sung of North Korea, "Great Leader": appointed "Eternal President" upon his death
• Kim Jong-il of North Korea, "Dear Leader": according to an announcement from state television, he "came down from heaven"; reportedly skeptical of the praise he receives
• Augusto B. Leguía of Peru, the "small giant of America"
• Mao Zedong of China: during the Cultural Revolution, all published works, including scientific papers, had a quote from Mao, always highlighted in boldface or red.
• Mobutu of Zaire, "the fearless warrior who because of his inflexible will to win, moves from victory to victory, leaving fire in his wake."
• Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe
• Rafael Trujillo of Dominican Republic
• Benito Mussolini of Italy, "Il Duce"
• Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt
• Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan, "Türkmenbaşy": criticizes the extent of his personality cult and allegedly blames it on "toadying" by government officials.
• Eva Peron of Argentina
• Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya, "Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution"
• Mátyás Rákosi of Hungary
• Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union: inspired the term
• Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia

See also

• anax
• apotheosis
• charisma
• charismatic authority
• dictator
• emperor
• god-king
• high king
• King of Kings
• monarch
• political religion

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Cult of personality", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki