Last week read those harrowing accounts of collectivization in the countryside. We talked about how the account was 40 years removed from the sight of trauma; however, I think we ended up a little divided on if that family ended up having a decent life. Today, we got another account of the collectivization process; this time written in 1947. This is an overwhelmingly positive depiction of the success stories possible in the Soviet Union. However, we also read the stats report that argued in favor of the bleakness which grew in the 1930s Soviet Union. Below is a quote that I found completely bonkers in the Angelina text:
“My faith, and the faith of all our people, was not in vain. Stalin saved my little daughter and millions of other children in the USSR-and, believe me, not just in the USSR but in America, too-from the vicious enemy of humanity” (321).
What are we supposed think about all this information? Does this just play into Stalin’s cult of personality? Can these comments be sincere?
I also pointed out a similar quote in my post, but there are several examples I noticed throughout the piece. I don’t want to say that Angelina did not experience any degree of success, I definitely think she did, but there has to be more to the story. My thinking is that she could not have gotten something like this approved without making Stalin a hero. Angelina became a symbol of Soviet success in the countryside, and that meant there were expectations for the way she interacted with the public.