Russia- Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Lenin

While Vladimir Putin has moved farther away from Marxist ideology over the years, Vladimir Lenin had remained a Communist during his entire time as President of Russia. As said in the post below, Putin had moved Russia closer to a democracy by encouraging not only small businesses, but large corporations as well. Lenin, because he was a Communist, brought all aspects of life, especially the economy, under government control. “Government-accountable leaders” were appointed to head separate enterprises of the Russian economy, ultimately giving the government total control. Even though both of these past Russian Presidents implemented drastically different rules, they both were very well received by the Russian population of their time. Lenin was able to take control of Russia right after the Russian Revolution, and with the promises of the good that Communism would bring, the general public excitingly accepted Lenin. American journalist John Reed describes Lenin undisguised in public for the first time being received by “a thundering wave of cheers.” Even though Lenin enacted much more Communist laws compared to Putin, they were both extremely popular among the Russian civilians during their time in office, showing how Russians stress an importance of nationalism by supporting their leader.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin

Russia- Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin was the former President of Russia, generally well accepted by the Russian population. Currently, he is the Prime Minister of Russia because he was not able to run for a third consecutive term for the Presidency; however it is very possible that he will decide to run for office again in the next election, where it will be legal. According to a source cited at Wikipedia, Putin is “credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing the rule of law.” Russians have experienced a large amount of distrust towards their government as of lately, mainly because the country’s transition towards more Democratic ideals hasn’t proved to be beneficial to the average Russian. By bringing stability to the nation, it’s no doubt that Putin would be well accepted. During his time as President, Putin has called for many reforms dealing with many different sectors of Russia. Looking at the Russian economy, Putin was able to allow for a “real gains of an average 7% per year” along with growths in other sectors of the economy. Overall, Putin has advocated more liberal economic policies, a giant step towards Democracy and away from Communism. In particular, Putin had introduced a flat tax rate of 13%, which, compared to the United States, is very low. To help give businesses incentives to expand and innovate, the corporate rate of tax is now 24%, down from 35%. Wikipedia states that with the help of Putin’s legislation, “overall tax burden is lower in Russia than in most European countries,” displaying an eminent move away from Russian Communism experienced under Lenin and Stalin. While Putin certainly is not a perfect President and is rightfully criticized with certain issues, the Russian people have shown that they approve Putin and what he brought to Russia.



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