Your favourite Russian Rulers?

Originally posted by demon STALIN! he's a true communist..

Actually pal,he is also known as a mass murderer and compared to Hitler sometimes..i would choose Trotchki over Stalin to be a ruler maybe

My vote goes to IRON FELIX by some also called BLOODY FELIX. - whose name was Feliks Dzierzynski. He was a polish aristocrate who created Che-Ka and Gulag system. After his death Che-ka was renamed to NKVD and later to KGB.

The reason why he is my favourite is that as long as he lived Stalin couldnt be sure how much power he has because Dzierzynski was limiting it. The secret services which Dzierzynski created were completelly loyal to him and there was even one accident when Dzierzynski in anger left the politbiuro and Stalin looked like was really frightened. In 1921 Dzerzhinsky was appointed as People's Commissar for Transport but still he remained in control of CHEKA and in 1922 he transformed it into the State Political Administration (GPU).

Altough it must be said that Dzierzynski was a real revolutionist and was free from any ambitions. He cooperated with Stalin and never tried to take power. On the other hand i think that Stalin has really respected him. After his death in 1926 Stalin named one of the squares in Moscow with his name.

For sure none of polish commanders or rulers is responsible for the death of so many russians as Dzierzynski is. The strange thing is that for many Russians he is still a hero. In 1989 or 1990 Russian people collapsed his statue but 8 years later it was rebuild and today is - where was for most of century, at Lubianki square in Moscow near the old KGB headquaters and prisons.

Affcourse he was nothing more but bloody monster and massmurderer. As aristocrate he was just more intelligent and sophisticated than brutal Stalin.

More:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Edmundovich_Dzerzhinskiy

Oh well, ppl, cancel that Stalin thing, it was carelessly done by me

I would agree on Genghis.  Peter the Great. 

Going a little farther back, Im the most fond of Vladimir I. His baptism brought Russia more into the mainstream and gave the Russian(Kieven) people a sense of unity and from Russian Orthodoxy came Some of the most beautifull Icons ever created. Although his final decision wasn't made with the most pious of intentions, it is quite fascinating how he went about making it.

I would also say Peter (Piotr) I.

Demon, Stalin wasn't Russian, he was a Georgian living in the Soviet Union.

Nikita Khrushchev

Gorbachev

Putin