The account connects deference to Stalin with older habits of appealing to a ruler in the capital. Ordinary people sent him petitions, and secretaries directed local officials to address the requests. Some replies were written in his own hand and survived as copies in the archives. A letter to a Leningrad family combines an apology for delay with financial contributions and a photograph requested by the children. These acts of apparent personal attention supported the image of a ruler concerned with individual people.
Notable Point · 3:04:02-3:04:58
Petitions and Stalin's image as a caring ruler
Replies to personal petitions let Stalin appear to intervene directly in ordinary lives while local officials handled the requests.