Stalinist Rule and Its Communication Practices: An Overview

Abstract

In the present article, I will attempt to outline the communicative aspectof Stalin’s dictatorship and pose for discussion a number of conclusionsI reached while writing my dissertation (Erren 2008). Throughout thetext, the concepts of “social relationship”, “power”, and “domination” [Herrschaft] will be based on the classical definitions of Max Weber. Following Niklas Luhmann, I will furthermore presuppose that socialrelationships, power, and domination can be established only by means of communication, while stressing the fact that under Stalin the latter largely took place in the context of a “public of physically presentindividuals”.