Who are the politicians? These are persons engaged in political activities at a professional level. They hold tremendous power in their hands. Many of them fall into this field by accident or due to certain circumstances. Such figures over time begin to occupy a certain niche in the management of the country. However, there are people who are politicians from God. They are endowed with a special set of personal characteristics, as well as charisma, which is why the masses themselves choose them as their leaders, entrust their fates to their hands and are ready to follow them to the end. Further in the article, we will give several lists that will include the political figures of Russia who have gone down in history.
XVI-XVII centuries
Until the 16th century, Russia was fragmented between the princes, and each of them can be safely called the political and state leader of his time. In addition, the country has been under the yoke of foreign invaders for quite some time. At the beginning of the 17th century, personalities emerged from the people who decided to raise the people to fight the "invaders." And so, the leaders of these national liberation movements are the first political figures of Russia. We give the names of some of them.
- Kuzma Minin. Unfortunately, there is no exact date of his birth in the annals, but this was in the second half of the 16th century. He is a national hero and organizer of the national liberation struggle.
- Prince Dmitry Pozharsky (1578–1642) - Minin's associate in the organization of the Zemstvo militia. A monument to these two figures flaunts on Red Square.
- But the leader of the Peasant War of 1670–1671, Stepan Razin (1630–1671), the Cossack chieftain raised the masses of the people against tsarist rule. Here is an example of a medieval Russian oppositionist.
Politicians of the 19th century Russia
During the reign of Peter the Great, his daughter Elizabeth and nieces Anna Ioannovna, as well as Catherine the Great and her son Paul the First, many outstanding figures appeared in the state. All these political figures of Russia have contributed to the development of their country.
The first in the list of the most significant persons, perhaps, should be the name of Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov. Being one of the largest military leaders in the country, he did not lose a single battle.
Prince Dmitry Golitsyn (1734–1803), a well-known diplomat and scientist, defended Russia's interests in France and the Netherlands. He made friends with the French enlightenment, for example with Voltaire.
Favorites of Catherine II
It's no secret that Catherine the Great came to power as a result of a palace coup. One of its organizers was the associate of the future empress - Alexei Orlov (1737–1807). In addition to him, during the reign of this queen there were other political figures of Russia, who became such thanks to the favor of the ruler of the state. Their names are: Grigory Potemkin, Sergey Saltykov, Mikhail Miloradovich, Grigory Orlov, Alexander Ermolov, Alexander Lanskoy, Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov, Peter Zavodovsky and others. It is difficult to list all the favorites of Catherine II, but almost all of them had some kind of influence on politics countries in a certain period of time.
First revolutionaries
During the reign of the aforementioned queen, one of the most enlightened minds of that time was Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev (1749–1802). He was ahead of his time with progressive and revolutionary thinking, advocating the abolition of serfdom in the country. The followers of his ideas were: the Russian revolutionary Nikolai Ogarev (1813–1877), the poet and publicist, as well as his closest friend Herzen and Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876) —a theoretician of anarchism who was a participant in the French, German, and Czech revolutions of 1848–1849..
Their “opponent” can be called Alexei Arakcheev (1769–1834) - the all-powerful temporary worker of Tsar Alexander I.
In the list of outstanding political figures of the 19th century, one cannot help but name Sergei Witte (1849–1915). His contribution to the development of the state cannot be compared with anything. It can be said that thanks to his innovative ideas, the country has made a big leap forward.
The beginning of the 20th century (pre-revolutionary period)
With the advent of the twentieth century, many parties entered the political arena in Russia: the Mensheviks, Bolsheviks, Octobrists, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Social Democrats, Narodniks, etc. Naturally, the leaders of each of them can be safely added to the list of “Political Figures of Russia of the 20th Century (beginning)"
Among them, the most prominent personality was Georgy Plekhanov (1856–1918) - one of the leaders of Menshevism. During the years of the revolution of 1905-1907. He led an active struggle against the tactics and strategies of the Bolsheviks. Alexander Kerensky (1881–1970), who is known for being elected head of the interim government after the bourgeois revolution, was a Social Revolutionary in his political views. Another prominent Russian politician was Pavel Milyukov (1859–1943). He was chairman of the KDPR, which was one of the leading liberal monarchist parties in the country. Pyotr Stolypin, a large landowner and politician, also belonged to ardent monarchists. Admiral Kolchak (1873–1920) - commander of the Black Sea Fleet during the First World War in the post-revolutionary period stood out for counter-revolutionary views. The same can be said of Baron Wrangel (1878–1928) and Anton Denikin. During the war years, they ruled the White Guard Army. But in the south of Russia, the counter-revolutionary forces were controlled by Nestor Makhno (1889–1934), or, as the people called him, Old Man Makhno. On his account is not one terrorist action. He adjoined the party of anarchists.
Soviet leaders
These famous Russian politicians have been considered heroes for the whole 73 years. Legends were formed about their lives, novels were written, their names were cities, factories and schools, Komsomol and pioneer detachments. These are the leaders of the Bolsheviks, and later on of the Communist Party of the USSR.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (Ulyanov). Born in 1870, died in 1924 as a result of a terrorist act. Scientist, revolutionary, famous politician. After the October Revolution, he was recognized as the leader of the peoples that were part of the USSR - a country created on his recommendation.
Companion of Lenin and one of the prominent Bolshevik revolutionaries was Mikhail Kalinin (1875–1946). In 1923, he was elected chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviet Union.
Iron Felix is the famous Dzerzhinsky security officer, whose cruelty has been heard recently by many. He was one of the most ideological revolutionaries, although he came from a noble family. Almost from the very first days of the creation of the USSR, he began to rule the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs.
Leon Trotsky (real name Bronstein) is also an outstanding revolutionary of the Soviet Union. However, after the death of Lenin, he began to criticize the Soviet leadership, especially Stalin, for which he was expelled from the country. After long wanderings in Europe, he settled in Mexico, where he began to write a book about Joseph Dzhugashvili, the new leader of the Soviet people. It was Stalin who ordered the liquidation of Trotsky. He died in 1940 as a result of an assassination attempt.
General Secretaries of the CPSU Central Committee
Who can be more famous in the Land of Soviets than political figures of the USSR and Russia (after the collapse of the Union). Among them, the leading secretaries of the pariah occupy a leading position. Below is a complete list of them.
-
Joseph V. Stalin (Dzhugashvili). He headed the post of leader of the Communist Party after the death of Lenin. Today, his name is associated with the brutal repression of more than two million innocent Soviet citizens, and the pathological suspiciousness of the Soviet leader was to blame for all this.
- Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971). Since 1953, he was elected first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. With the beginning of his reign, a period of "thaw" began. Many repressed citizens in the camps were released and rehabilitated. However, he was remembered by the world due to his eccentric trick in the UN assembly hall, hitting the podium with his boot.
- Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982). His era was marked by the flourishing of corruption and bribery.
- Yuri Andropov (1914-1984). This seemingly quiet and unremarkable man, before becoming the first secretary of the Communist Party, led the KGB of the USSR, which testifies to his remarkable mind and special training. After the death of Brezhnev, he was appointed to the post of first secretary of the Communist Party of the country. However, he did not stay at this post for that long, only 2 years.
- The next secretary of the Central Committee, Konstantin Chernenko, also briefly led the Communist Party of the USSR, only a year. Few people today can remember his activities.
- And finally, the last general secretary of the CPSU Central Committee is Mikhail Gorbachev. He also became the first president of the Soviet Union. The attitude towards him among the people was ambiguous. Perestroika, glasnost, the collapse of the USSR, inter-regional conflicts, the collapse of the commonwealth of the Warsaw Treaty countries, the fall of the Berlin Wall, etc. are associated with his name.
Politicians of modern Russia
At the top of this list, of course, are the names of people who were at the origins of the creation of the new Russian state. And the first among them is Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin. He was a communist leader in the past, but he also became the leader of an independent Russian state and the first popularly elected president of the Russian Federation. In 2000, for health reasons, he was forced to resign.
After Yeltsin left the political arena, his duties were temporarily entrusted to the unknown young Petersburger V. Putin. However, today no political figures of Russia of the 21st century can compete with him in popularity among the people. He was twice elected president of the great power and at the end of the second term handed over the reins to his compatriot Dmitry Medvedev, while taking the post of prime minister. However, after the first term, Medvedev returned the “presidential rod” to Putin, and he himself took the prime minister’s chair. In a word, Vladimir Vladimirovich took the post of president of the largest state in the world for the third time.
Leaders of political parties in the Russian Federation
Like at the end of the 19th century, in the 90s of the 20th century, many political parties appeared in the Russian state, among which the largest are United Russia, Yabloko, the Liberal Democratic Party, the Communist Party, and others. Their leaders are respectively V. Putin and D. Medvedev, G. Yavlinsky, V. Zhirinovsky, G. Zyuganov.
