Investor Presentaiton
his biography of Stalin, Sebag Montifore includes an amusing story of Stalin actually making
Kaganovich remove his beard and helping him do so at a family dinner. 192
193
Kaganovich was not only important to Stalin, but in the public as well. Rees notes that
Kaganovich had a ‘cult' following, though it was much smaller and more modest than Stalin's.
Anita Pisch also indicates this by stating "Stalin may have been the 'man of steel,' but Lazar
Kaganovich, who was the people's commissar for transport and was responsible for building the
Moscow Metro, also had a cult following and was known as 'Iron Lazar' and 'Iron
Commissar."194 Simon Sebag Montifore also notes how “Kaganovich was celebrated ... and in
"195
thousands of pictures at parades." Kaganovich even had songs and poems written about him.
One that is highlighted in the interview So Spoke Kaganovich states "With this song we meet the
People's Commissar, Dear Commissar of the Way! ... The sun is spreading, Kaganovich smiles
at the song - Stalin's People's Commissar!"196 This song is more general, but many are about his
work in construction of the Moscow Metro. One Yiddish song actually praises Molotov and
Kaganovich after denouncing religious leaders. It states “Down with the priest, Down with the
rabbi, I elect comrade Molotov To be my deputy. We are happy, We are full, Comrade
192 Ibid, 41.
193
Rees, Iron Lazar, 159.
194 Anita Pisch, The Personality Cult of Stalin in Soviet Posters, 1929-1953: Archetypes, Inventions and
Fabrications: Archetypes, Inventions and Fabrications, (Canberra, Australia: The Australian National University
Press, 2016), 75.
195 Sebag Montefiore, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, 165.
196 Chuev, Tak govoril Kaganovich, 15.
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