European University Institute Library

The invisible shining, the cult of Mátyás Rákosi in Stalinist Hungary, 1945-1956, Balázs Apor

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

contains biographical information

platesillustrations

index present

non fiction

The invisible shining

bibliography

974567414

Balázs Apor

the cult of Mátyás Rákosi in Stalinist Hungary, 1945-1956

This book offers a detailed analysis of the construction, reception and eventual decline of the cult of the Hungarian Communist Party Secretary, Mátyás Rákosi, one of the most striking examples of orchestrated adulation in the Soviet bloc. While his cult never approached the magnitude of that of Stalin, Rákosi?s ambition to outshine the other ?best disciples? and become the best of the best was manifest in his diligence in promoting a Soviet-type following in Hungary. The main argument of Balázs Apor is that the cult of personality is not just a curious aspect of communist dictatorship, it is an essential element of it.0The monograph is primarily concerned with techniques and methods of cult construction, as well as the role various institutions played in the creation of mythical representations of political figures. Separate chapters present visual and non-visual methods of cult construction.0The author engages with a wider international literature on Stalinist cults in an impressive manner. Apor uses the case of Rákosi to explore how personality cults are created, how such cults are perceived, and how they are eventually unmade. The book addresses the success?generally questionable?of such projects, as well as their uncomfortable legacies.--, Provided by Publisher

Introduction: The Stalinist leader cult : origins, interpretations, and functions -- Part I. The construction of the cult -- The chronology of cult construction (1925-1953) -- The institutions and agents of cult construction -- "The biography is a very serious issue" : the role of biographies in constructing the Rákosi cult -- "He was created by a thousand years" : nationalism and the leader cult -- "Comrade Rákosi lives with us" : the visual and the spatial aspects of the Rákosi cult -- Part II. Responses to the cult's expansion -- "Love for Comrade Rákosi has become deeper" : the communicative influence of the cult -- "Death to Uncle Rákosi!" : negative perceptions of the cult -- Ignorance is bliss : popular indifference and the shortcomings of communist propaganda -- Part III. The dismantling of the cult -- The "new course" and the decay of the Rákosi cult, 1953-1956 -- The collapse of the Rákosi cult