9 leaders since 1916. Tell us what you think

This post first appeared on Russia Insider

Very popular Russian blogger with a pen name Fritz Moiseevich Morgen invited his readers to name best Russian leader of the past hundred years. This is more than a traditional poll where users click a button and rate their preferences. It is your opinion that matters! By translating and publishing this post RI invites its readers to share their opinion in our comments section

Here’s a simple list for you to look through the candidates. I crossed out Andropov, Chernenko and others who failed to demonstrate their political skills:

1. Nicholas II (ruled for 23 years: 1894 - 1917)

Pros: of noble birth, sincere patriot.

Cons: failed to fight liberal opposition, let the empire collapse.

2. Vladimir Lenin (ruled for 7 years: 1917 - 1924)

Pros: took the power when nobody else had the courage to do so. Established minimal order in the country with his steady hand, kept Russia from further collapse.

Cons: an active member of the revolutions, indirectly responsible for the events in 1917.

Had poor health and that’s because of this couldn’t properly rule the country.

3. Joseph Stalin (ruled for 29 years: 1924 - 1953)

Pros: won the Great Patriotic War. Considerably extended our territory. Recovered the economy devastated by wars and revolutions. Created Russia's atom bomb.

Cons: from 1917 together with Vladimir Lenin became an active enemy of the Russian Empire.



4. Nikita Khrushchev (ruled for 11 years: 1953 - 1964)

Pros: he launched the first space flight manned by Yuri Gagarin.

Cons: aggravated the Soviet economy's problems and imbalances.

5. Leonid Brezhnev (ruled for 19 years: 1964 - 1983)

Pros: boost Russian citizens’ standard of living to a relatively high level for the first time in the 1000 year history of Russia

Cons: was seriously ill during the second half of his term, did not continue the economic reforms put forward and started under Khrushchev.

6. Mikhail Gorbachev (ruled for 6 years: 1985 - 1991)

Pros: finally decided to carry out the reforms everyone had been already talking about.

Cons. trusted too implicitly our Western friends and partners and, with their help brought the great country to collapse.

7. Boris Yeltsin (ruled for 8 years: 1991 - 1999)

Pros: implemented a range of important though extremely painful changes. Against all odds managed to choose his successor who then saved the country.

Cons: sunk into hard drinking and allowed rampant corruption, didn’t put up any forcible resistance against the Western advisors and pro-Western oligarchs.

8. Vladimir Putin (rules by the time for 15 or 11 years depending on how you count)

Pros: stopped the Chechen War, carried out a range of urgently needed changes, recovered the GDP and living standards which had declined drastically during Yeltsin’s reign, put Russia back as a superpower.

Cons: restored the country slower than it’s expected.

9. Dmitri Medvedev (ruled for 4 years)

Pros: didn’t make any serious mistakes.

Cons: trusted too much the pro-Western wing of our elites.

You can choose up to three variants