Lenin: The Most Significant Russian Leader
Within the period 1894-2005, Lenin has been the most significant leader of Russia and the USSR. How valid is this statement?
It can be argued that Lenin was the most significant leader of Russia and the USSR due to his revolutionary ideas, such as the implementation of socialist reforms, his New Economic Policy in 1921 and the transformation of the Bolshevik faction to the Communist Part of the Soviet Union leading to a huge Marxist-Leninist movement in the USSR. However, when assessing the ‘significance’ of a leader, it’s crucial that four main themes are taken into account, these being – economics, foreign policy, social change and leadership ability. It can be argued that other leaders of Russia and the USSR have been more ‘significant’ in these areas such as Gorbachev and his foreign policy – including his unorthodox approach to the West which incorporated his “New Thinking” slogan for a policy based on ‘shared moral and ethical principles to solve global problems’1 instead of Lenin’s isolationist approach. The actions of other leaders across these themes have had considerable effects of Russia and the USSR and therefore one can infer from this that Lenin was therefore not the most significant leader of Russia and the USSR.
Foreign policy was essential in the first phase of Lenin’s premiership. Despite Pipes’ view that Lenin ‘never believed that the revolution could be confined to Russia’2, it can be argued that Lenin opted for an ‘isolationist’ approach which lasted up till 1940 and the Russo-Finnish War, and this seems more likely because of the fact that the Soviet Union had been ostracised by the rest of the world and had to opt for ‘isolationist policy’ as they had been isolated entirely by other nations which was clearly displayed when the Soviet Union wasn’t granted permission to join the United Nations. It appears that Lenin was solely responding to crisis with his foreign policy, using foreign policy as a form of crisis management to defend
It can be argued that Lenin was the most significant leader of Russia and the USSR due to his revolutionary ideas, such as the implementation of socialist reforms, his New Economic Policy in 1921 and the transformation of the Bolshevik faction to the Communist Part of the Soviet Union leading to a huge Marxist-Leninist movement in the USSR. However, when assessing the ‘significance’ of a leader, it’s crucial that four main themes are taken into account, these being – economics, foreign policy, social change and leadership ability. It can be argued that other leaders of Russia and the USSR have been more ‘significant’ in these areas such as Gorbachev and his foreign policy – including his unorthodox approach to the West which incorporated his “New Thinking” slogan for a policy based on ‘shared moral and ethical principles to solve global problems’1 instead of Lenin’s isolationist approach. The actions of other leaders across these themes have had considerable effects of Russia and the USSR and therefore one can infer from this that Lenin was therefore not the most significant leader of Russia and the USSR.
Foreign policy was essential in the first phase of Lenin’s premiership. Despite Pipes’ view that Lenin ‘never believed that the revolution could be confined to Russia’2, it can be argued that Lenin opted for an ‘isolationist’ approach which lasted up till 1940 and the Russo-Finnish War, and this seems more likely because of the fact that the Soviet Union had been ostracised by the rest of the world and had to opt for ‘isolationist policy’ as they had been isolated entirely by other nations which was clearly displayed when the Soviet Union wasn’t granted permission to join the United Nations. It appears that Lenin was solely responding to crisis with his foreign policy, using foreign policy as a form of crisis management to defend