Source C shows the people “eager” to have Stalin congratulate them – this shows a good impression of Stalin, an impression where he looks as if he’s being loved by the Russian people. This may also be a propaganda photograph, where Stalin is trying to tell everyone that he cares about people and that he’s “nice”.
Source A is different from Sources B and C; it shows negativity about Stalin and is different from the other two. Sources B and C are very similar to each other, as it is showing good impressions of Stalin – or Stalin wanting the public to think he’s good.
2. Using Source D: Does the source provide any useful evidence about Stalin?
Source D is “written by Stalin in 1945” so straight away we expect something biased and propaganda-like. However we cannot say this is useless because it is biased, it still quotes Stalin and shows what kind of person he was. In this source, we can see how Stalin is trying to make people think he is a “nice” leader who care about people’s lives. However historically, we know that this is not true- according to the deaths of millions of Russian people and his well known “corrupt” policies. On the other hand, this also shows that there was a reason Stalin decided to write this, it might have been the reason that he had hidden enemies or his “fame” had cooled and made him feel insecure and wanted the more, and secure attention from the public. Stalin was more than capable of lying to his people just to get more heads turned to him when he’s making a point. At the end of the source, it says “It seems to me that the lack of concern our leaders show towards the people is the same as the attitude I met in far-off Siberia” this historically, we can match up with Stalin’s attitude to his people.
Stalin is trying to plant an image of a good person because he wants to be known as the kind leader who cares about his people, just another way of gaining popularity (mostly from those who are ignorant of the real Stalin) This source provides a useful evidence that Stalin would do anything, such as lying, to make him look good by comparing with other “evil” made-up characters.
3. Using sources E and F: Which of these two sources is the more reliable?
Both the sources are from when Stalin was still alive. Source E is from a speech by a writer in 1935 and Source F is spoken by Bukharin in 1929; also, they do not particularly differ greatly in time.
First of all, when looking at source E, we straight away see it is 100% propaganda. The part, “the speech was published in Pravada, the paper of the communist party” shows it is likely to be a speech of the writer, directed by the government- for propaganda reasons. From historical facts, we know that nothing in the text is true about Stalin. However we see Stalin has managed to make he look like a God, this shows an example “Cult of personality”.
Source F shows Bukharin showing his negative feelings towards Stalin and criticizing his evil “policy”. This is after he “fell into disgrace in 1929” so this is reliable in terms of Bukharin now being an “enemy” of Stalin and having his own freedom of expressing his point of view. However there is a possibility of being exaggerated because he is talking with hatred – “He is a narrow-minded, malicious man, no, not a man, but a devil”
Between the two sources, source F is more reliable for those words come out from Bukharin’s pure mind, without any force on his back. However source E is surely affected by a greater force and an example of how Stalin controlled ideas.