Stalin had a huge tomb built for Lenin on Red Square. This monument to Lenin, for which people would line up for hours to pay homage to, would symbolically become Stalin's stage for his own spectacles of leader worship. There existed a genuine reverence for Lenin. To succeed the Father of the Revolution, Stalin would either have to dismantle Lenin's mystique (as Khrushchev would do of Stalin's legend) or build up Lenin's popularity and place himself next to Lenin as "Comrades in Arms."
The problem for Stalin is that he and Lenin never were "Comrades in Arms." A new visual reality had to be constructed showing Stalin at Lenin's side during the revolution. Photos published in the 1930s of Stalin at Lenin's bedside (meant to give the impression that Stalin had been selected by Lenin as an heir) in 1921-22 were doctored.
Stalin not only manipulated reality to gain legitimacy vis-½-vis Lenin, but he also had photos doctored, or staged events, to put him close to the people. The loving father Stalin fills the role of the Tsarist father figure.
This father figure acts to protect the people. The show trials of the 1930s
and the paintings of Stalin on the front during the war (in reality,
Stalin's military prowess was abysmal) served to bolster Stalin's mystique as
protector of the masses. Paintings of Stalin on the front:
Stalin visits an injured
soldier
Stalin gives military
advise
The complexity of Stalin's visual stature is that while he was portrayed as
a man of the people, at the same time he is idolized as a deity. During
the celebration of the 13th anniversary of the revolution, a portrait of
Stalin was connected to an airplane and flown above the amassed crowd.
Stalin constructed a public persona that placed himself as untouchable.
An integral part of Stalin's image was his public demeanor. This was
displayed during his public addresses and rallies. The (somewhat)
spontaneous rallies following the revolution were completely gone by the
1930s. In Stalin's Soviet Union, everything was scripted to fit his version
of reality. In these grandiose spectacles, the line between spectator and
participant blurred. The choreographed human mass served to worship Stalin
much more than the achievements of socialism. A few examples of Stalin's
rallies:
Stalin and a child on a poster
in a parade
Posters of Stalin in a parade
A crowd hoists a statue of
Stalin
Stalin delivers a speech
The day to day visual imagery of Stalin was probably the most important
aspect in constructing his myth. The fact that Stalin could be a Georgian
peasant (power derived from the people: principles of Socialism), a father
figure (power derived as a protector: a replacement for the Tsar), and a
deity (power derived from God: a replacement for the Orthodox church) all at
once served to create the powerful "Cult of Stalin."
Stalin in Literature 
Stalin in Film 
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