Capturing Stalinism: Photography, Reality, Manipulation, and Control in Stalin's USSR

Abstract

During Stalin’s rule, the Soviet state, in pursuit of its own survival, sought total control over the lives of its citizens. Many of the methods of pursuing this control have been well explored, particularly the violent repression of any real or perceived dissent. More insidious, however, was the state’s attempts at control through the rewriting of reality. Under Stalinism, thousands of photographs were manipulated, defaced, or partially destroyed, both by the state, and by civilians themselves. Doing so was an act of survival for both parties, but it also contributed to a reality crisis within the USSR. Photographic collections in archives today contain a number of images of denounced individuals who have been painstakingly, fearfully removed from portraits. On their own, these images reveal a society that was in constant paranoia about the presence of certain individuals in photographs. When examined as a pattern, these manipulated photographs suggest that the existence of Stalin’s regime hinged on a contorted relationship to reality itself. This thesis argues that the practice of manipulating and defacing photos was part of a cycle of performance between the state and the people. Through this cycle, multiple, contradictory, simultaneous realities were created, and upheld, by both sides. Understanding this contorted reality is key to understanding what existence was like during Stalinism.