Number 10: Vladimir Putin Grew up in a Communal Apartment
Putin grew up very poor with three entire families in an apartment in St. Petersburg. Russin President even remembers hunting rats in his apartment stairwell.
Number 9: Siege of Leningrad
Vladimir Putin’s mother survived the siege of Leningrad. From 1941 to 1944 German troops siege Leningrad aiming to starve the cities inhabitants. Putin’s mother survived the siege, however, 1 million others died. Putin’s older brother was amongst them.
Number 8: 'Real Proletarian'
Vladimir’s father was a real proletarian. Putin’s childhood friend, Sergei Roldulgin, said Putin’s father loved his son but always found some fault in him. He was always afraid to seem too indulgent. As a result, Putin
Russia has a great history with many different kinds of rulers, some good as well as bad. All of Russia’s leaders have had an impact on Russia today for the better or for the worse. The people who ruled Russia during wartime have had a great effect on its economy in addition to the conditions of its citizens.
Joseph Stalin grew up in a very strict household. His mother was very religious. His father was an alcoholic that was very abusive. Once Stalin even attempted to run away from his home and his father beat him so hard he went into a coma and almost died. This may explain why Stalin as an adult
It is plausible to suggest that Joseph Stalin was essentially a Red Tsar. Whilst Stalin was committed to communism, his ideology and authoritarian reign was reminiscent of the Tsarist autocratic rule that proceeded him. For nearly six centuries Russia was ruled under a Tsarist autocratic government until it was overthrown during the 1917 revolution that led to the introduction of the first communist government in Russia and the leadership of Joseph Stalin. During his reign, Stalin enacted a ‘cult of personality’ in which he was worshipped as a god-like being similar to that of the autocratic Tsars who ruled before him. Likewise, there were immense similarities in the social structures and quality of life for Russia’s people under the reign of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and Joseph Stalin. There is considerable evidence therefore to support the idea that Joseph Stalin was essentially a Red Tsar.
1) Putin's personal background had a large affect on the quality of democracy and governance in Russia. Putin is Russia's president, and is currently serving his third term. Putin comes from a KGB bureaucratic background, yet he governs with tsarist techniques (Roskin 240). Putin's KGB background has a large role in how he governs Russia, since this military service is extremely classified. According to Roskin, he is cold, secretive, as well as a control freak.
Putin is former KGB and he has deep Soviet ties as well as ideology. Russia is a one party dominant state. Putin utilizes his power in order to keep his people in check and assert his dominance. The annexation of Crimea in 2014 was a great show of his power to everyone in the world. Russia occupies Crimea but they have vitrually no power, this is another example of Russia assymetrical federalism. Putin and the Kremlin have been known to take out most people who oppose them. For example Anna Politkovskaya a journalist who was suddenly killed because she was speaking out against the government. Another example is Alexey Navalny who is a political activist and he often times gets arrested right before an organized protest takes place. Vedzhie Kashka is just another example of the tyrant that Vladimir Putin
Lenin grew up in a middle class family but was never fond of the political party and the class system. Having a Marxist political belief system, Lenin wanted the government to own and control everything. After taking control of the Soviet Union, Lenin wanted supreme power for himself and the government, with hopes to make all of the citizens’ equal. Throughout his reign, the Soviet Union was crowded with war, disease, and destruction. His idea of a perfect communist society was anything but
While in his exile Vladimir Lenin had voraciously consumed the writings of Marx; reading Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ The Communist Manifesto truly inspired Lenin. He realised that there was only one way to seize the means of production from the bourgeoisie: revolution. Tension had been building between Romanovs and the people of their country since the February Revolution where protesters outside of the winter palace were massacred by Tsar Nicholas II’s Imperial Guard (“Vladimir Lenin” 18). Lenin rose through the ranks of the Communist party until he split off into his own faction: the Bolsheviks. A scapegoat was provided for Lenin’s Bolshevik revolution in that successfully ousted and executed Tsar Nicholas II and the rest of the royal family. From there Lenin seized the means of production from the bourgeoisie and put them into the able hands of the proletarians and successfully established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). To me Vladimir Lenin was a role model because he inspired so many people to revolution, fought for the proletarians, and established a union that would go on to become a global
Ever since the beginning, Russia was ruled by a central authority. This authority was known as the Tsar. Russia was a very large country and that made it difficult for everyone to thrive. Leaders did not care for most of the country, only for high ranking government officials. The position of Tsar was usually given to the first son of the current leader, it varied because some Tsar did not have children. Unfair and strict rule of the Tsar was strongly hated by many of the citizens of Russia. People of Russia were not equal with each other and a majority of them were very poor and could not afford food. Economy was struggling due to the lack of true leadership, and citizens were treated harshly and change was bound to happen. Lenin and Stalin
On December 18, 1878 Josef Stalin was born. His family lived in a town named Gori “Georgia” in Russia. Stalin’s childhood was very rough, unstable and his living situation was poor. Stalin was the only child and was not taken care of properly. Stalin’s father was abusive and an alcoholic. His father’s occupation was a cobbler (shoemaker). Stalin’s mother was a laundress. As for Stalin though, he suffered cruel and verbal abuse from other children. During his childhood he dreamed of gaining respect and greatness. When Stalin was a teen, Stalin’s mother imagined him as a priest. Stalin was given a scholarship to attend the Georgian Orthodox Church, which did not last long because he was kicked out. After that, Stalin chose to be an underground political agitator, who was known to rebel and have strikes. Stalin later joined the Bolshevik party. The Bolshevik party caused Stalin to commit crimes such as kidnapping, extortion and
They even had privileges such as, “their own ‘ZiL Lanes,` to make sure the most important politicians were never late for meetings” (Did Soviet Government Officials Live in Luxury). On the other hand, the common people lived in packed apartment buildings and had subpar food, clothing, and
He believes that the Russians are weary from war, and the shine of communism has worn off, and most of the grassroots support for communism is not from Russia, but from other countries. He also believes that Communism is misguided, and has a mixture of good and bad people, with motives varying from misguided to evil.
He is just a good, religious, simple-minded Russian. –Tsar Nicholas II (Russian). Grigori Rasputin was that and more. Rasputin was a lot of different things to a lot of people. To the Tsarina Alexandra, Rasputin was a healer and a dear friend. To some of the nobles, he was a threat and should be killed. Despite having different opinions of Rasputin, everyone agreed that he could work miracles. The Czar’s son, Alexei, is proof of one these miracles. Besides preforming healing miracles, he also had influence in the court of the Tsar (Grigory). Rasputin
On March 2nd of 1931, Mikhail Gorbachev was born unto a Russian-Ukrainian peasant family in the village of Privolnoye, Russia. He grew up in a time of political unrest, and when he was a young boy, his maternal grandfather was arrested during the Great Purge. Pantelei Gopkalo was one of over a million Russian people who were arrested and tortured as suspected enemies of Stalinist Russia. Luckily, he spent only 14 months detained and was not executed, but the trauma of this event weighed on Mikhail. His family was, otherwise, by no means well off, but his father, Sergei Gorbachev, operated various farm machinery for a living, until the summer of 1941, when the Nazis invaded the USSR.
First of all, Putin had a very unique background. Masha Gessen, Russian and American journalist, author, translator and activist who has been an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, claims that ¨Putinś leadership resulted from his experience as a street thug¨ (Gessen 1). Putin was not interested in school or the idea of success. When he was growing up, he always found himself in fistfights. He would fight anyone who disrespected him in any way shape or form, such as scratching them, biting them, and even ripping their hair off. Putin began looking for a place where he could learn skills to complete his will to fight. He found Sambo, which is a Soviet martial art. Sambo had changed his life from a