КУЛЬТ ЛИЧНОСТИ

Cult of the Individual

Unquestioning deference to the authority of a statesman or public figure, an exaggerated evaluation of his actual merits, fetishistic worship of the name of a historic personage. Cult of the Individual is theoretically based on an idealistic interpretation of history, according to which the course of history is determined by the desires, the will of great men (soldiers, heroes, outstanding ideologists, etc.), rather than by objective laws or the activity of the masses. The role of outstanding personalities in history is transformed into an absolute by the various schools of idealistic philosophy (see Voluntarism, Carlyle, Young Hegelians, Narodism).

Marxism views the role of the individual, the leader, as closely linked with the objective course of class struggle, the history-making activity of the masses. The experience of no matter how great a leader cannot be substituted for the collective experience of millions. Cult of the Individual is completely alien to Marxism-Leninism, which is by its very nature the ideology of the millions and millions of working people who are transforming capitalist society into a communist society.

It is for this reason that the CPSU continues so relentlessly to expose the Cult of the Individual which reigned during Stalin's life and did so much harm to the theory and practice of socialism. The cult of Stalin could not change the nature of socialism, but, nevertheless, it most seriously retarded the development of Soviet society. The struggle of the CPSU against the cult of Stalin and its consequences facilitated the restoration and further development of the Leninist principles and norms of the activities of the Party and Soviet government as well as the further development of socialist democracy.

The Communist Party considers that the theory and practice of Cult of the Individual obstructs the proper education of the masses, acts as a brake on their initiative, weakens men's sense of responsibility for the common cause (socialist revolution, building of communism), and is detrimental to the development of communist ideology. In the practical field, the Cult of the Individual undermines the democratic principles of the Communist Parties and socialist society. Success in the struggle against the Cult of the Individual within both socialist society and the Communist Parties requires the fullest possible development of democracy and the Leninist principles of government and Party activities.