Stalin by Stalin: 1935–1937

A documentary directed by Nino Kirtadze.

Synopsis

Whereas Stalin imposes on the USSR exces­sive tri­als, arbi­trary arrests, rough purges and forced exiles, “the people’s lit­tle father“ speaks to the Soviet nation with long speeches about the Soviet Con­sti­tu­tion (1936) named “Stalin’s Con­sti­tu­tion“, the elec­tions and the democ­racy (1937) and the Stakhanovism (1935). We have found in the Russ­ian archives, the com­plete ver­sions of these speeches. More than a sim­ple his­tor­i­cal tes­ti­mony, these addresses as well as the way they are filmed showed us the strength and the wheels of the Stal­in­ist pro­pa­ganda. They are also a begin­ning of the expla­na­tion of a nation’s fancy for its chief.