Did Stalin denounce the cult of personality surrounding him?

“I must say in all conscience, comrades, that I do not deserve a good half of the flattering things that have been said here about me. I am, it appears, a hero of the October Revolution, the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet, the leader of the Communist International, a legendary warrior-knight and all the rest of it. This is absurd, comrades, and quite unnecessary exaggeration. It is the sort of thing that is usually said at the graveside of a departed revolutionary. But I have no intention of dying yet. I really was, and still am, one of the pupils of the advanced workers of the Tiflis railway workshops”.

(J. V. Stalin: ‘Works’, Volume 8; Moscow; 1954; p. 182)

–

“And what is Stalin? Stalin is only a minor figure”.

(J. V. Stalin: ‘Works’. Volume 10; Moscow; Moscow; 1954; p. 177).

–

“Your congratulations and greetings I place to the credit of the great Party of the working class which bore me and reared me in its own image and likeness. And just because I place them to the credit of our glorious Leninist Party, I make bold to tender you my Bolshevik thanks”.

(J. V. Stalin: ‘Works’, Volume 12; Moscow; 1955; p. 146).

–

“There are some who think that the article ‘Dizzy with Success was the result of Stalin’s personal initiative. That, of course, is nonsense. It is not in order that personal initiative in a matter like this be taken by anyone, whoever he might be, that we have a Central Committee”.

(J. V. Stalin: ‘Works’, ibid.; p. 218).

–

“You speak of your devotion’ to me… I would advise you to discard the ‘principle’ of devotion to persons. It is not the Bolshevik way. Be devoted to the working class, its Party, its state. That is a fine and useful thing. But do not confuse it with devotion to persons, this vain and useless bauble of weak-minded intellectuals”.

(J. V. Stalin: ‘Works’, Volume 13; Moscow; 1955; p. 20)

–

“As for myself, I am just a pupil of Lenin’s, and the aim of my life is to be a worthy pupil of his…

Marxism does not deny at all the role played by outstanding individuals or that history is made by people. But… great people are worth anything at all only to the extent that they are able correctly to understand these conditions, to understand how to change them. If they fail to understand these conditions and want to alter them according to the promptings of their imagination, they will find themselves in the situation of Don Quixote.

Individual persons cannot decide. Decisions of individuals are always, or nearly always, one-sided decisions… In every collective body, there are people whose opinion must be reckoned with. …From the experience of three revolutions we know that out of every 100 decisions taken by individual persons without being tested and corrected collectively, approximately 90 are one-sided…

Never under any circumstances would our workers now tolerate power in the hands of one person. With us personages of the greatest authority are reduced to nonentities, become mere ciphers, as soon as the masses of the workers lose confidence in them”.

(J.V. Stalin: ibid.; p. 107-08, 109, 113).

–

“I have received your letter ceding me your second Order as a reward for my work. I thank you very much for your warm words and comradely present. I know what you are depriving yourself of in my favour and appreciate your sentiments. Nevertheless, I cannot accept your second Order. I cannot and must not accept it, not only because it can only belong to you, as you alone have earned it, but also because I have been amply rewarded as it is by the attention and respect of comrades and, consequently, have no right to rob you.

Orders were instituted not for those who are well known as it is, but mainly for heroic people who are little known and who need to be made known to all.

Besides, I must tell you that I already have two Orders. 'That is more than one needs, I assure you.”

(J. V. Stalin: ibid.; p. 241).

–

“Robins: I consider it a great honour to have an opportunity of paying you a visit.

Stalin: There is nothing particular in that. You are exaggerating.

Robins: What is most interesting to me is that throughout Russia

I have found the names Lenin-Stalin, Lenin-Stalin, Lenin-Stalin, linked together.

Stalin: That, too, is an exaggeration. How can I be compared to Lenin?”

(J. V. Stalin: ibid.; p. 267)

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“I am absolutely against the publication of 'Stories of the Childhood of Stalin’. The book abounds with a mass of inexactitudes of fact, of alterations, of exaggerations and of unmerited praise. But… the important thing resides in the fact that the book has a tendency to engrave on the minds of Soviet children (and people in general) the personality cult of leaders, of infallible heroes. This is dangerous and detrimental. The theory of 'heroes’ and the 'crowd’ is not a Bolshevik, but a Social-Revolutionary (i.e. Anarchist) theory. I suggest we burn this book”.

(J. V. Stalin: ibid.; p. 327).

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“The ear is pained too by the sound of the dithyrambs in the Stalin’s honour - it is simply embarrassing to read.”

(“Answer to Comrade Razin”, Works Vol. 16).

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Dimitrov’s Diary:

“Dimitrov: [Proposes toast with fulsome praise of Stalin, ending with the words] There can be no speaking of Lenin without linking him with Stalin!

Stalin: I respect Comrade Dimitrov very much. We are friends and will remain friends. But I must disagree with him. He has even expressed himself here in an un-Marxist fashion. What the victory of the cause requires is the correct conditions, and then leaders will always be found.

(p.66; Novemmber 7, 1937)

Dimitrov:… This is a collective work, with Com[rade] Man[uilsky] as chief editor.

Stalin (regarding the passage in the appeal praising Stalin, especially:

“Long live our Stalin! Stalin means peace! Stalin means Communism! Stalin is our victory!”)

- Manuilsky is a toady!

He was a Trotskyite! We criticised him for keeping quiet and not speaking out when the purges of Trotskyite bandits were going on, and now he has started toadying! There is something suspicious here.

- That article of his is Pravda - “Stalin and the World Communist Movement” - is hamrful and provocative.

J.V. [Stalin] would not allow “under the banner of Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin” to remain in the appeal, but insisted on simply “Marx-Engels-Lenin.” (pp. 104-105, April 26 1939)

[Stalin denying permission for an exhibition about him in honour of his 55th birthday, December 1934]

“… on a letter from the All-Union Society of Old Bolsheviks, in which it was proposed to conduct a campaign of propaganda dedicated to his 55th birthday, he wrote the following resolution: 'I am opposed, since such undertakings lead to the strengthening of a 'cult of personality’ which is harmful and incompatible with the spirit of our sparty.”

(Rogovin, 1937, Chapter 41, citing Voprosy Istorii KPSS. No. 3, 1990, p. 104)

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[Stalin refused Hero of the Soviet Union (May 1945)]

“On the day after the parade, by order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR J.V. Stalin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Malenkov took the initiative in this affair, but Stalin refused this high honour and even spoke sharply with Kalinin,who had signed the order: “I”, he said, “took no part in military actions, did no heroic deeds; I am only a leader.”

(V.F. Alliluev, 'Chronicle of a family’“ Alliluev - Stalin. Moscow, 1995, p. 195)

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”… A conversation followed concerning the awarding to Stalin of the Hero of the Soviet Union after the war. Stalin said that he did not fit the criteria of Hero of the Sovet Union, which was awarded only for the demonstration of personal courage.

'I did not demonstrate such courage’ - said Stalin. And he did not accept the Star. They only drew him with his star in portraits. When he died, the leader of the awards section gave him the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. They pinned it on a pillow and carried it at the funeral.’

Stalin wore only one little star: Hero of Socialist Labour - added Molotov.”

(Felix Chuev, p.140; Conversations with Molotov. From the Diary of F.Chuev. Moscow, 1994, p. 254.)

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“It is manifestly irksome to Stalin to be worshipped as he is, and from time to time he makes fun of it… Of all the men I know who have power, Stalin is the most unpretentious. I spoke frankly to him about the vulgar and excessive cult made of him, and he replied with equal candour… He thinks it is possible even that 'wreckers’ may be behind it in an attempt to discredit him.”

(L. Feuchtwanger: Moscow 1937; London; 1937; p.93, 94-95)