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Final Outline
Purpose: To discuss whether having a central leader or a cult of personality in control
leads to a negative, suppressed society like in George Orwell’s book 1984.
Thesis: That having a cult of personality in control does not always lead to a negative,
suppressed society.
Audience: The online community of English 103
I.
What is a cult of personality
A) Definition of a cult of personality
B) Who came up with the term
C) Examples though history
II.
Adolph Hitler
A) Growing Up
B) How came into power
C) Example of his cult of personality
III.
Fidel Castro
A) Growing Up
B) Rise to power
C) Example of his cult of personality
IV.
The book 1984
A) Discussion of the cult of personality in the book
B) Similarities between the book and real life ones
The term personality cult or cult of personality generally means a single leader
ruling a nation enforcing his or her beliefs on the nation and is generally a bad term for
those ruling the state. The country becomes more a totalitarian state meaning that “Which
a citizen is totally subject to a governing authority in all aspects of day-to-day life…It
involves constant indoctrination achieved by propaganda to erase any potential for
dissent by anyone, including most especially the agents of government.” (Totalitarian) I
believe this is not always a bad thing and can help the country more than the government
that was in control. This term came around in the 1950s and was first used by Nikita
Khrushchev at the Twentieth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in
1956, and was used to describe Joseph Stalin’s rule at the time. (Nikita Khrushchev)
This is what they had in the book 1984 by George Orwell. In the book, the cult of
personality was Big Brother and they pretty much controlled every aspect of the citizen’s
lives. From the TV they watched, to what they think and they monitored it all. This was
to keep from there being a rise up in political motivation. Big Brother was the name of
the personality cult and they had their own laws and rules just like the real world does
now and has in the past. Over centuries of world history there has been numerous cults of
personalities. From way back in the Mayans and Aztecs to Hitler and Stalin to the
modern day cults like Kim Jong II and Fidel Castro there have been many totalitarian
leaders. These cults often start out of political revolution and distress in the country.
These people prey on people and give them false promises to gain confidence and get
into power. Once in power they form groups and factions and as soon as another faction
tries to rise up they squash it. The leaders typically put posters or monuments all over the
country saying slogans like “Big Brother is watching you.” like in the book 1984. This is
to maintain order and obedience. They create vast stories about how they were born to
make them appear god like. No one ends up questioning it because if they do they are
given an unfair trial and sent to prison or even put to death. They only allow certain
things to be printed and nothing that says anything negative about them. If anyone writes
or speaks against the leader, they are squashed quickly like in the book. The leaders of
the cult typically do not say their cults are bad and that they are nothing more then groups
of people showing love for one leader. Being in a Totalitarian state does not mean a cult
of personality exists. They can be ruled by a single leader but show no signs of a cult.
Once the central leader dies in a cult of personality, the cult tends to die along with the
leader. The country then tends to go into renaming everything and bringing books back
that where originally banned. Not all of the things a cult of personality does are bad
things; they do some good things to help their nation to achieve better things.
You can really start from back in early history to find cults of personality. Some
people even say that the early Egyptians displayed some characteristics of a cult of
personality. The way they believed in pharaohs and the way pharaohs controlled every
aspect of their life. They built monuments like the pyramids and temples to their chosen
pharaohs which is a characteristic. Pyramids like the Gaza and others are like the modern
day statues dictated to their chosen ruler. As you move along in the time line, more cults
appear and disappear. The Hellenistic Greeks can also be considered a cult of
personality. The Hellenistic Greeks were the people who took over Greece and adapted
many ways of lives and ways of living the same way the Greeks lead theirs. Again they
built many buildings and statues to their chosen king who was supposed to be the closest
thing to god. There was really not a really big dominant cult of personality before World
War I. The installment or the idea of a cult of personality came around after Joseph
Stalin. There are some of big ones of the years like Stalin, Mao Zedong, Hitler, and
many more. There some that still exists today in modern times like Fidel Castro, Kim
Jongs II, and even Saddam Hussein. The guy who really brought in all to the forefront
and helped discover the term is Joseph Stalin. Before him was Adolph Hitler who helped
start World War II and was a major cause of World War II. He was the first big cult of
personality and really did the most the damage as one. Hitler grew up in Austria-Hungary
and went to school at Realschule and wanted to become an artist. His father wanted him
to take a civil service job. As of the result of feuding, Adolph did poorly in school for the
first year and continued to do poorly thereafter. During this time, Hitler began to form
his political views: a strong sense of German nationalism, the beginnings of antiSemitism, and distaste for the ruling family and political structure of Austria-Hungary.
Like most German people at this time living in Hungary, he considered himself a German
above anything else. His father died in 1903 and really changed Adolph’s life for good.
Without a male figure in his life, Adolph turned away from school and spent his days
dreaming and playing. He left school for good with the equivalent of a ninth grade
education. His mother died shortly thereafter and thus leaving Adolph alone. Drifting
around for a while, Adolph finally had to live in a homeless shelter. This is where Hitler
was first exposed to radical political beliefs and was later a foundation on which he built
his ideas from. A man named Lanz von Liebenfels taught Adolph about the Aryan race
and about how they are above everyone else. He failed to register for the draft so he fled
Austria and went to Munich, Germany. When WWI begins in 1914, he volunteered to do
duty and received many awards for his bravery throughout the whole war. While in a
hospital for a war related injury, he started to blame the Jews for Germany’s lost during
the war. After this, he decided to enter politics to save the country. He went back to
Munich after the war and was given the job of political speaker by the military and given
special training to speak in front of returning soldiers. During his time speaking, he was
allowed to view some of the racist groups coming up following the war. One of these
groups were “Changing its name to the National Socialist German Workers Party,
Informally, members called it the Nazi Party.” (Victor 59) In this group, Adolph found a
niche as the party speaker and found many of their views to be the same as his. Adolph
was discharged from the military a few years later and became the group’s full-time
leader and speaker. He started to charge people to come to speeches and thus raised a lot
of money for the German Workers. This was the beginning of a cult of personality
following Adolph’s rise to the top in the group. One good example of this is finding a
way to put down those who oppose you and he did this. This is what leaders of cults of
personality often do. They find some way to put down any opposition to stay in power.
Hitler did this by sometimes threatening opposition or sometimes threatening to leave the
group if they did not do what he said. They needed him to stay because he was there most
money making leader and was their best recruit. Hitler obtained enough support to have
him chosen as Führer or absolute leader of the party in 1921. Hitler appealed to a wide
variety of people because of his sincerity but still determined speaking style. He found
out a lot of people supported his beliefs and distain for the other races besides Germans.
Hitler believed that a dictatorship was the only way to save Germany. Over the years his
views didn’t change very much and more and more Germans continued to follow his
beliefs. They passed an enabling act which allowed Hitler and his party to make laws
without the legislative approval. Soon everything was being controlled by Hitler and his
Nazi party. They controlled media, airwaves, and cultural activities. This is another
example of a cult of personality. When the leader gets into power, they control media and
such and turn it to what they like and see fit. Hitler did this in media and cultural events.
Anytime anyone went against this, they would be sent to concentration camps. This is
what the leaders of a cult of personality do; they kill or imprison anyone who against
their beliefs. By the summer of 1933, the party was in complete control. Boys and girls
where introduced to the party’s thoughts and ideas at a very early age. One of the first
things done was the controlling of the population and to make sure only those deemed
noble by the standards set where to reproduce. “In 1927, he proposed that newborns with
physical or mental defects be killed.” (Victor 171) A law was passed to sterilize men
who where not the noble Aryan blood. Once again an example of controlling and
bending society to the rules and conduct of the way the leader wants. Thus the
personality half because he is trying to make society the way he wants and trying to make
it according to his personality. Over the years, more laws where made to continue with
making the land his own and the exact way he saw and wanted it to be. Laws against
Jews and what they can do continued as Hitler saw them an inferior race. “From this time
on, his intentions involved more than the Jews of Germany and Austria-they involved all
the Jews of Europe. In his mind the war and Jews were inseparably connected.” (Lukacs
187) This again is forcing his views upon the society that he rules and soon the society
starts to accept the belief because they don’t want to be prosecuted. Fear is a main
component of a cult of personality. With fear in the people you rule, it makes them easier
to control and quiets down the resistance to the ruling party. This is one the reason I
believe Hitler started World War II was because his ego got in the way and he wanted to
rule Europe and force them all to believe his beliefs. An ego and a cult of personality go
hand in hand, the ruler is so confident in their ways and beliefs that they will always
come out on top because they believe themselves to be better than everyone else.
“Whatever the deeper source of Hitler’s hatreds, he projected them outward, in the
service of his extreme nationalism and racism.” (Lukacs 127) This is him forcing his
nation to believe and hate whoever he did thus forcing his beliefs onto the people. Being
a good speaker is a key part to a cult of personality and the ability to sell propaganda. In
English 102, you learned the types of propaganda and how they are used to get people
emotionally charged against a cause. Hitler did this very well and used several types of
propaganda in his speeches to get the war and the need to fight across to the people.
“And above all we must acknowlege that our success could not have been attained if we
were not backed up by the united front of the whole people.” this is a line from one of
Hitler speeches and in it he uses the bandwagon technique. (Muller) He says everyone is
doing it and backing the cause so you should too. Hitler used many types of propaganda
in his speeches and this is just one example but all were used to get more people behind
him and his causes. Posters often played a big part in the propaganda used by the Nazi
party, Posters with Hitler having a blinding light behind him where often used and where
the most popular because it depicted him as being close to god. Posters where often hung
throughout town and they were a constant reminder that he was right and you should
follow his lead. Cults of personality often want a constant reminder to his or hers
subjects to having control over them and they are right and next to god. In the book 1984
by George Orwell, Big Brother used the same technique of propaganda. They hung
posters throughout the city saying “Big Brother is watching you.” and these posters
where used to instill fear, another trait of a cult of personality. Cult of personality leaders
often prey on fear whether they cause it or it helps them get into power. Hitler did both
as the government of Germany was doing poor and people were getting worried. Hitler
saw this and offered solutions and the people bought it. Once in power Hitler used fear to
keep the power and get his views out.
Moving through the years, there were
several more cults of personality. Today there is still some left but one that has survived
throughout the years has been Fidel Castro’s cult of personality. He said he does not
have one and some say that he does. He has done many great things for Cuba but also
has hurt it in some ways. “Fidel Castro doesn't encourage this cult of personality.” said
the BBC but in some ways his ruling is still a cult of personality. (Castro: The Great
Survivor) Maybe not on as many levels as Hitler, there are still some key facts that all
support he is running a cult of personality. Castro’s life begins on an estate owned by his
father who was a semi rich man because he helped transport sugar from one place to
another. Angel, Castro’s father, instilled hard work and persistence in all his children as
he used it in every day life. He went to school and soon excelled in his studies. He was
sent to a better higher learning school run by French nuns. At the school, he was a trouble
maker and soon his father sent him to another school where he learned about self
discipline and continued his studies. It was here that he first saw the way American
soldiers where treating Cubans. They were treating them as lesser people and it was then
that he began to get his ideas about America and its politics. In 1940, Castro competed
with other elite students for academic and social recognition. Castro learned Cuban
history and begin to idealize his hero José Martí, the father of Cuban independence from
Spain. Castro also developed his athletic and oratory skills. In 1945, Castro entered the
Havana Law School and soon took up politics and joined some political gangs. He often
took part in violence between his gang and other gangs. Castro's political ideals grew as
he was committed to overthrowing President Ramón Grau San Martín of the Auténtico
Party who had allowed corruption to grow in business and politics. (Microsoft Encarta)
Growing warier of university politics, he soon joined the party of Cuban people. Their
principles included “building a strong sense of national identity among Cubans, opposing
the influence of powerful foreign nations in Cuba's affairs, supporting social justice,
establishing economic independence for Cuba, and evenly distributing the nation's wealth
through government control of natural and economic resources.” (Microsoft Encarta)
Castro held these values very high and soon involved himself in some very important
activities that would later help him. In 1947, he joined the Caribbean legion and tried to
overthrow the dictator of the Dominican Republic. He soon failed and returned back
home to Cuba to focus on his second goal of defeating the Auténtico party. It was here
that Castro found his respect. He soon gave great speeches and organized political
people very well. This brought him respect of his fellow people and also some power at
the time. In 1948, Castro went to Bogota and attended a conference by the Argentine
president. It was here with the help of a friend he handed out pamphlets condemning the
United States influence on Latin America. A few days later the Columbian liberal leader
was assassinated. Following this, the students rioted in the streets. Castro was blamed
for starting the riots but was later found to only have watched. His handouts were used as
evidence saying he was a communist. It was also here that his thoughts on politics
changed. He saw a man die who tried to changed the government by using the
democratic means and he failed so Castro knew he had to think of some other ways to
change the government in Cuba. Upon returning to Cuba, he threw himself into the
presidential race in Cuba. The two candidates running for president of Cuba were Carlos
Prio Socarrás from the Auténtico party and Eddy Chibás, the leader of the Ortodoxo
party. Castro believed the elections were rigged by the United States. As a result, he
formed his own party called Radical Action Orthodox Wing. The party supported Chibas
in the election. Despite all the efforts, Castro’s party still lost the election. Chibas
committed suicide in 1951. Following this, Castro planned on running for the leader of
the party but General Fulgencio Batista staged a bloodless coup d'etat and established a
dictatorship. Castro soon realized his party was not going to win anything by the voting
process so he soon supported an armed revolution. Following these sudden feelings,
Castro started to join more military groups. Most the groups intended on overthrowing
the government by means of force not by political means. The then president of Cuba
saw the violence start to go up so he organized several secret people that started
questioning people and also using threatening interviews to obtain information. On July
26, 1953, Castro and about a hundred of his followers attacked a military base guarded by
one-thousand trained soldiers. The plan was to take it over and use the radio tower to
send word out about the revolution. The plan failed badly. About half of the followers
were tortured, killed or captured. The attack did have one unexpected result which was
that even in failing they gained sympathy and respect of the people. Castro and his
fellow revolutionaries stood trial from August to October in 1953. At his trial, Fidel gave
one of his most famous speeches in which he attacked the president of Cuba and accused
him of stealing money from resources and also the violation of the 1940 constitution
which did not allow torture and killing to keep power in Cuba. The speech given by
Castro became known as “History Will Absolve Me”. Castro was found guilty and was
sentenced to 15 years in prison. He ended up serving less than two. In prison, he read
books on philosophy and military strategy. This allowed him to strengthen his will and
determination to change Cuba’s government. In 1954, Batista ran for president again but
no one ran against him because they wanted to protest the political state. The violence
continued against Batista which he met with even more violence. In 1954, Batista was so
confident with his power he granted amnesty to all political prisoners at the time
including Castro. In 1955, Castro left for Mexico where he joined forces with other
revolutionaries and they planned on how to take over Cuba and how to get Batista out of
office. In 1956, he made his first attack on Batista which was seemly successful. Castro
and his followers found help from the citizens and they gave him shelter and food
because of this Castro vowed if he took over he would give land back to the people and
also decent heath care and education. Castro’s troops were bombed by a United States
plane while on a mountain pass, as a result the bombing strengthened Castro’s dissent for
United States’ politics and how they get involved in foreign affairs. Castro was gaining
power and land. On January 1, 1959, Batista fled Cuba leaving it without a leader or
acting government. Castro stepped up and claimed Cuba for himself and his rebels.
Thousands of Cubans pledged themselves to Castro without really knowing what they
were getting themselves into. While in office for the first nine months, Castro passed
1500 laws about various things. One of the most important things he passed were a law
breaking up large property and United States owned land and giving it back to the poor.
In 1961, Castro declared the elections old and out of date and declared Cuba a socialist
nation. This is the first real example of his cult of personality. No more elections mean
that no one else is in charge. He was forcing his thoughts and feelings on to people
without considering them. Acting as sole leader and giving the people no other choice
for leader is the first example of a totalitarian state in which the leader chooses the
government. Castro developed a new theory called New Man Theory in which people
would no longer work for profit but for the better of the country. The state controlled the
press and neighborhood watch groups checked for ideological purity. Here is another
example of controlling your citizens. Not giving people the freedom of press and
controlling what they say is another example of a cult of personality. In the cult, the
leader chooses what is said in the press and monitors it for people against the leadership
and this is what Castro did. Also having neighborhood watch groups for checking purity
is kind of like the secret police in 1984. These people made sure everyone was following
the rules and if you did not you where going to be punished. Over the years and up to
modern times, Castro is still in power. Despite numerous attempts on his life by United
States agencies, he is still alive and doing ok. He did do some good like helping
education for a vast majority of Cubans and also provided numerous health care and
medical needs to the citizens of Cuba. Castro has however been to known to hold secret
killings and assassinations of political revolutionaries himself. So the verdict is still out
on whether Castro has a cult of personality. To me, he does in that he controls the
citizen’s lives and doesn’t hold elections. The odd thing is he also helps the health care
and education of the citizens so in some ways he is a mild version of a cult of personality.
One good example of this is he his willing to take the children of Chernobyl in and giving
them free health care and nursing for as long as they need it. (Coltman 275) This is an
example of caring about human emotions which is a sign that most cults of personality do
not show. “But Castro made the rules, and he could give himself the pleasure of ignoring
them.” (Coltman 225) “Still, he remains in control of the government apparatus, which
refuses to tolerate political or social dissent.” (Leonard 85) “A collapsed economy and
empty social programs have strained the national will” (Leonard 86) This shows signs of
change that may come as more and more poor people want a change to help them live
better. The weird thing is he fought so hard against a sort of cult of personality only to
exhibit many of the traits from a cult of personality from a closed political system to
propaganda being used to control people. All in all there are several examples that
support both ways; he does not have a cult of personality and others saying he does.
The most famous fictionally cult of personality is Big Brother in the book 1984 by
George Orwell. This “Big Brother” as it was called was a cult of personality taken to the
most extreme. The state that Orwell wrote about was a complete dictatorship and
totalitarian state and Big Brother is in charge of every aspect of the citizens lives. In a
cult of personality, the ruler does control most aspects of the people’s lives but not all. In
1984, they control all and posters and TVs are always watching them. In real life, it is
more about secret police and the information they gather on one individual. Big Brother
is in some ways just an image presented by the party and is used to control and influence
the thoughts of the people. Some people say that the Big Brother in the book is modeled
after Joseph Stalin. The face of Big Brother and the monitoring from the screens are all
examples of propaganda being used to reinforce their rule. In normal cults of personality,
posters and television are used to reinforce the concept of almighty rule. The thought
police in the book could represent the secret police used by both Stalin and Hitler. They
both informed the ruling party of defectors and rebels and then the party would put down
the rebel against the ruling party. "The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We
are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or
luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power... Power is not a means, it is an
end... The object of power is power." (Orwell 1984) This quote from O'Brien in 1984 is
what in my opinion a cult of personality is all about. The leader just wants power and
means to end the government that is ruling. Once they have the power they want more.
The wealth and the happiness all come from controlling people. Hitler and Castro all
wanted government change but once they got into power they did very little to change it.
Thus, I have come to the conclusion a central leader or a cult of personality is not a good
thing for the country or state. A central leader means his thoughts and feelings are all
forced onto the people he or she is ruling. With the freedom to challenge government
comes change and change is generally a good thing. A cult of personality relies on fear
and the use of propaganda to control and intimidate his subjects. Castro is about the only
exception to the rule. He helped educate and medicate most of Cuba as it was not before.
Castro does however control and oppresses other aspects of life. There are no elections
and the economy is failing and poverty is rampant. Big Brother is the most extreme
version of a cult of personality. Every aspect of a cult of personality is exemplified from
propaganda of media and posters to watch every movement of as so there are not any
defectors. Over centuries, cults of personality have come and gone but they are generally
terrible for the citizens.
Bibliography
1. Castro: The great survivor. 19 Oct. 2000. BBC News. 26 Nov. 2004.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/244974.stm>
2. Coltman Leycester. The Real Fidel Castro. New Haven: Yale University Press,
2003.
3. Nikita Khrushchev. 28 Nov 2004. 9 Dec. 2004.
< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev>
4. Leonard M. Thomas. Castro and the Cuban Revolution. WestPort: Greenword
Press, 1999.
5. Lukacs John. The Hitler of History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.
6. Totalitarian. 2004. Farlex, Inc. 25 Nov. 2004.
<http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/totalitarian>
7. Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99. CD-Rom. 1999.
8. Muller H. On National Socialism and World Relations. Calvin College. 26 Nov.
2004.
<http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/hitler1.htm>
9. Orwell George. 1984. New York: New American Library, 1977.
10. Victor George. Hitler The Pathology of Evil. Washington: Brassey’s, 1998