https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1941/11/07.htm
Stalin and Hitler and many
tyrannical leaders were able to gain their power through excellent speech
delivering skills. Their power in speaking and persuasive language allowed
numerous countries to believe in things that are looked at as atrocious today. Stalin
committed acts that are unspeakable against his people and was still able to control
his power and his country. The key to any political speech are literary devices
that each are able to have a certain persuasive effect on the audience. By
heavily antagonizing opposing countries and connecting with the army in order
to empower them, Stalin demonstrates what is needed to be able to be a powerful
leader.
The text that I will be analyzing is Stalin’s Speech at the Red Army Parade on the Red Square Moscow on November 7th, 1941. The target audience is stated in the first minute of Stalin’s speech as Stalin says,“Comrades, men of the red army and the red navy, commanders and political instructors, working men and working women, collective farmers-men and women, workers in the intellectual professions…”. With this, it is clear that Stalin is targeting all of Russia. With that being said, the majority of the audience members are men of the Red Army. By addressing them as “working men and women” or as “workers in the intellectual profession”, Stalin is saying that they are more than just men in the army. He is showing them that he knows that they have other professions and other lives. This automatically attracts the target audience and allows Stalin to be the good ethical character. This further allows for the speech to be more persuasive. Stalin is aiming to persuade the men to fight and not give up against the German army. He empowers the men and degrades the German army throughout the entire speech.
The speech is meant to congratulate the
men on the 24th anniversary of the Great October Socialist
Revolution. It begins with expressing Stalin’s deep worry for the war and says
what The Soviet Union has lost as a result of the war: “We have temporarily
lost a number of regions, the enemy has appeared at the gates of Leningrad and
Moscow”. After that, an empowering message starts as Stalin explains how the
army has risen and fought successfully against the Germans. He begins to recall
old events such as in 1918 where the Soviet Union was being controlled by the
enemy and continues to explain how the Soviet Union, “recovered all lost
territory, and achieved victory”. Again, this makes the army and the people of
the Soviet Union view themselves as indestructible and inexhaustible, something
that would have helped them win the war. Stalin continues to boost up the egos
of the army by explaining how the country is currently in the best economic
position it has ever been and how the entire country supports and fights for
the Red Army. Throughout this entire process, Stalin continues to antagonize
and demonize the “Hitlerite Germany”. According to Stalin, “Germany is
bleeding, her reserves of man power are giving out, the spirit of indignation is
spreading…” The speech ends with the idea that the “entire world” is looking at
the Soviet Union as the force that can defeat the enemy and bring peace and
justice into the world.
The speech is clearly very biased
and attempts to antagonize the German people to a very large extent. There are many
personal pronouns such as, “Our reserves of man power...” Stalin makes an
attempt to connect with the audience through the use of personal pronouns and
show that he is not different than them. He also makes a personal connection with
the audience in the first paragraph by addressing each one of them personally.
This hooks the audience and also would persuade them even more because they
feel a connection with him. There are also several instances of hypophoras such
as, “And what happened? We routed the interventionists, recovered all our lost
territory, and achieved victory”. The use of a hypophora would allow the
audience to formulate their own question for a second and then have it be
directly answered. Because Stalin needed absolute control all the time, he used
hypophoras often and answered his own questions directly after in order for the
audience to not have an opportunity to formulate their own thoughts and rather
just agree with him. Stalin also uses an expletive when saying, “Our entire
country, all the peoples of our country, support our Army and navy”. This
emphasizes that every single person who is a part of the country must support
the red army because he said so. There is also a use of an eponym when saying, “Hitlerite
Germany”. Because Hitler is known to be a horrible person, the use of “Hitler”
to describe Germany makes Germany seem horrible and demonizing. He generalizes
one person from a country to the entire country and makes Germany further
hated. Towards the end of the speech, an anaphora is used when repeating “German
Invaders”. Again by repeating this phrase, the idea that Germans are invaders
is further emphasized and stays in the audiences mind. The use of all of these
rhetorical devices is meant to do one thing: to antagonize the German people
and to make the Soviets hate Germany and love the rule of the Soviets. Although
Stalin goes down in history as one of the cruelest leaders, his speeches and
persuasive abilities allowed him to climb up to power.
Although Stalin is believed to be an intimidating and tyrannical
ruler, the speech shows the opposite. The tone of the speech is friendly and
encouraging. Stalin makes an attempt to connect with the army and not to
intimidate them. His welcoming and hopeful attitude further persuades them to
do everything that he would want. The atmosphere is relaxed and the speech
makes everyone empowered. The purpose of the speech is to lift people’s moods
and self-esteems up. While watching the video, it is clear that everyone in the
audience is encouraged and empowered and there is no sense of fear. Stalin
speaks in a calm and encouraging way, something that allowed him to be such a
successful leader.
