Abbreviations
Acknowledgments

Introduction
The Stalinist Leader Cult: Origins, Interpretations and Functions
The Stalinist Leader Cult in Postwar Eastern Europe
The Stalinist Leader Cult in Hungary
A Note on Terminology

PART I. The Construction Of The Cult
1 The Chronology of Cult Construction (1925–1953
Rákosi and the Hungarian Communists: The Road to Power
Cultic Traditions and Modern Personality Cults in Hungary
The “Hero of the Comintern”: The Origins of the Rákosi Cult
The Cult in the Party (1945–1947)
The Legitimization Offensive (1948–1949
The Full-Blown Cult (1949–1953

2 The Institutions and Agents of Cult Construction
Institutions of Cult-Building
The Agents of the Cult
Rákosi and the Rákosi Cult

3 “The Biography is a Very Serious Issue”: The Role of Biographies in Constructing the Rákosi Cult
Biographies and Stalinist Political Culture
The Biographies of Rákosi
The Official Biography
The Biographical Narrative
Behind the Constructed Façade

4 “He Was Created by a Thousand Years”: Nationalism and the Leader Cult
Nationalism and Communism
Stalin, the Mini-Stalins, and National Traditions
Rákosi, the Ultimate Freedom Fighter

5 “Comrade Rákosi Lives with Us”: The Visual and the Spatial Aspects of the Rákosi Cult
Rákosi, the “Sacred Center”
Visualizing the Leader
The Spatial Allocation of Rákosi’s Images
Signposts of Progress: Renamings

PART II. Responses To The Cult’s Expansion
6 “Love for Comrade Rákosi Has Become Deeper”: The Communicative Influence of the Cult
Popular Opinion and the Stalinist “Source Lens
The Popularity of the Leader
The Elections of 1949
The “Rákosi Constitution
“For Rákosi, thanks; for Rajk, the gallows
“Even the Air Changes”: Narratives of Rákosi’s Words
“Comrade Rákosi, Listen to My Problems as If You Were My Father”: Letters to the Leader

7 “Death to Uncle Rákosi!” Negative Perceptions of the Cult
Critiques and Iconoclasts
Jokes and Political Rumors

8 Ignorance is Bliss: Popular Indifference and the Shortcomings of Communist Propaganda
The Cult’s Audience
The Cult’s Agents
The Rákosi Cult: Circulation and Responses

PART III. The Dismantling of the Cult
9 The “New Course” and the Decay of the Rákosi Cult, 1953–1956
The Death of Stalin and the Rákosi Cult
Cult Criticism in 1953–1956

10 The Collapse of the Rákosi Cult
The Twentieth Congress and the “Secret Speech”
“We Were Surprised by the Twentieth Congress”: The Effects of the “Secret Speech” on the Rákosi Cult
“It Hurts to See Comrade Rákosi Leave Like This”: Rákosi’s Abdication and the Uprising of 1956
“We Should Not Let Even the Illusion of the Personality Cult Appear”: Denouncing the Cult in the Kádár Era
From Politics to History
The “Withering Away” of the Rákosi Cult

Conclusion
Bibliography
Index