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| Ivan not so terrible? Cult of strongman leader sees tsar's popularity rise in Russia | Ivan not so terrible? Cult of strongman leader sees tsar's popularity rise in Russia |
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| Ivan the Terrible is regarded as one of the cruellest rulers in Russia’s long history: a bloodthirsty and paranoid tyrant who killed his own son. Even during tsarist times no monuments were built to him. | Ivan the Terrible is regarded as one of the cruellest rulers in Russia’s long history: a bloodthirsty and paranoid tyrant who killed his own son. Even during tsarist times no monuments were built to him. |
| Now, however, the figure of the 16th-century tsar is having something of a renaissance, prompting a debate that is as much about contemporary Russian politics as it is setting the historical record straight. | Now, however, the figure of the 16th-century tsar is having something of a renaissance, prompting a debate that is as much about contemporary Russian politics as it is setting the historical record straight. |
| Last week, the first ever monument to Ivan was unveiled in Oryol, about 200 miles south-west of Moscow, ostensibly to mark 450 years since he founded the town in 1566. Next month, a second monument is due in the town of Alexandrov. The legacy of one of Russia’s most controversial rulers has suddenly become a hot topic in newspaper opinion pages and on prime-time chatshows. | Last week, the first ever monument to Ivan was unveiled in Oryol, about 200 miles south-west of Moscow, ostensibly to mark 450 years since he founded the town in 1566. Next month, a second monument is due in the town of Alexandrov. The legacy of one of Russia’s most controversial rulers has suddenly become a hot topic in newspaper opinion pages and on prime-time chatshows. |
| The Oryol monument is eight metres high and features the tsar on horseback, holding a cross aloft in his right hand, sword in his left. | The Oryol monument is eight metres high and features the tsar on horseback, holding a cross aloft in his right hand, sword in his left. |
| Oryol’s governor, Vadim Potomsky, the project’s main cheerleader, said Ivan’s bad reputation was partly down to a foreign plot to smear his name. “He was a great Russian tsar, the first real tsar. People present him as a tyrant and psychological deviant. But if you take European leaders of his period, they were many times more bloodthirsty, but in Europe they have monuments, and nobody minds.” | Oryol’s governor, Vadim Potomsky, the project’s main cheerleader, said Ivan’s bad reputation was partly down to a foreign plot to smear his name. “He was a great Russian tsar, the first real tsar. People present him as a tyrant and psychological deviant. But if you take European leaders of his period, they were many times more bloodthirsty, but in Europe they have monuments, and nobody minds.” |
| Ivan had seven wives and a fiery temperament; many have suggested he was mentally unstable. He is believed to have killed his own son; the event was immortalised in Ilya Repin’s well-known 19th-century painting of a wild-eyed Ivan cradling his bloodied son in his arms. | Ivan had seven wives and a fiery temperament; many have suggested he was mentally unstable. He is believed to have killed his own son; the event was immortalised in Ilya Repin’s well-known 19th-century painting of a wild-eyed Ivan cradling his bloodied son in his arms. |
| His domestic rule saw Russia almost double its territory and population, and was marked by the founding of the oprichnina, a 1,000-strong private army personally loyal to the tsar. Its members wore all-black uniforms, and rode horses adorned with a severed dog’s head and a broom, signifying that they would first bite Ivan’s enemies and then sweep them away. | His domestic rule saw Russia almost double its territory and population, and was marked by the founding of the oprichnina, a 1,000-strong private army personally loyal to the tsar. Its members wore all-black uniforms, and rode horses adorned with a severed dog’s head and a broom, signifying that they would first bite Ivan’s enemies and then sweep them away. |
| However, there are few original documents remaining from the period, so while it is clear there was much bloodshed, different people have painted their own interpretations on to the faint sketch provided by the historical record. For some, he was a violent and unstable lunatic, while for others he was a tough leader responding to the difficult challenges of statehood in a ruthless yet effective way. | However, there are few original documents remaining from the period, so while it is clear there was much bloodshed, different people have painted their own interpretations on to the faint sketch provided by the historical record. For some, he was a violent and unstable lunatic, while for others he was a tough leader responding to the difficult challenges of statehood in a ruthless yet effective way. |
| The last time Ivan was in vogue was during Joseph Stalin’s rule. The Soviet leader saw Ivan as something of an idol; during his reign the oprichnina was rebranded as a progressive form of struggle with the aristocracy, and a key element in the construction of a strong Russian state. Stalin personally edited Soviet history books to ensure Ivan’s reign was portrayed positively, and discussed the image of the tsar with film director Sergei Eisenstein, who shot a two-part biopic. When Stalin died, positive interpretations of Ivan again went out of fashion, until now. | The last time Ivan was in vogue was during Joseph Stalin’s rule. The Soviet leader saw Ivan as something of an idol; during his reign the oprichnina was rebranded as a progressive form of struggle with the aristocracy, and a key element in the construction of a strong Russian state. Stalin personally edited Soviet history books to ensure Ivan’s reign was portrayed positively, and discussed the image of the tsar with film director Sergei Eisenstein, who shot a two-part biopic. When Stalin died, positive interpretations of Ivan again went out of fashion, until now. |
| “Everything people think they know is not really true; if you look at the facts you get a very different picture,” Potomsky said, during an interview in his office in Oryol. His lament has been somewhat undermined by his public claim earlier this year that Ivan’s son had in fact died not at his father’s hand, but during a journey between Moscow and St Petersburg. The latter city was not founded until more than a century after Ivan’s death. | “Everything people think they know is not really true; if you look at the facts you get a very different picture,” Potomsky said, during an interview in his office in Oryol. His lament has been somewhat undermined by his public claim earlier this year that Ivan’s son had in fact died not at his father’s hand, but during a journey between Moscow and St Petersburg. The latter city was not founded until more than a century after Ivan’s death. |
| If one thing is clear in the vigorous nationwide discussion sparked by the Oryol monument, it is that the figure of the 16th-century tsar is merely a cipher for various contemporary concerns. A chatshow on prime-time state television devoted to the monument descended into shouty arguments about what kind of ruler Russia needs today. | If one thing is clear in the vigorous nationwide discussion sparked by the Oryol monument, it is that the figure of the 16th-century tsar is merely a cipher for various contemporary concerns. A chatshow on prime-time state television devoted to the monument descended into shouty arguments about what kind of ruler Russia needs today. |
| “This is a monument to the aspirations of how our current leadership wants to be able to rule the country, without any checks or balances,” said liberal politician Leonid Gozman. | “This is a monument to the aspirations of how our current leadership wants to be able to rule the country, without any checks or balances,” said liberal politician Leonid Gozman. |
| Alexander Prokhanov, a nationalist writer and one of the main backers of the monument, shouted back that strong leaders have coincided with a strong state in Russian history: “Weak leaders have ruined our country. Alexander II freed the serfs and they came to the city and caused a revolution. Nicholas II was a weak tsar and look what happened. Gorbachev was weak and as a result a great state collapsed.” | Alexander Prokhanov, a nationalist writer and one of the main backers of the monument, shouted back that strong leaders have coincided with a strong state in Russian history: “Weak leaders have ruined our country. Alexander II freed the serfs and they came to the city and caused a revolution. Nicholas II was a weak tsar and look what happened. Gorbachev was weak and as a result a great state collapsed.” |
| Oryol’s Ivan is not the only monument causing controversy in Russia at the moment. A 17-metre monument to Vladimir the Great, the 10th-century prince of Kiev who adopted Orthodox Christianity, is due to be unveiled outside the Kremlin in the coming weeks. Given the Kremlin’s current occupant is also named Vladimir, there is a clear contemporary resonance to that monument as well. | Oryol’s Ivan is not the only monument causing controversy in Russia at the moment. A 17-metre monument to Vladimir the Great, the 10th-century prince of Kiev who adopted Orthodox Christianity, is due to be unveiled outside the Kremlin in the coming weeks. Given the Kremlin’s current occupant is also named Vladimir, there is a clear contemporary resonance to that monument as well. |
| In Oryol, a small band of activists has been vocally opposed to the Ivan monument. “It’s idiocy and madness,” said Anna Dulevskaya, who works at the local theatre and has taken part in protests for several months. Yuri Malyutin, an 80-year-old former physics teacher and local MP, is taking the city authorities to court over the monument, which he said is “a disgrace and a mockery of the town’s historical heritage”. | |
| For the local governor, Ivan is merely one in a long line of strong Russian leaders to admire. Potomsky’s wood-panelled office is decorated with an oil painting of Vladimir Putin and a gilded bust of Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Cheka, which went on to become the KGB. Potomsky said each era needed its own strong leader, whether it be Ivan the Terrible, Stalin or Putin, and that Russia was only strong when it had a strong leader. | For the local governor, Ivan is merely one in a long line of strong Russian leaders to admire. Potomsky’s wood-panelled office is decorated with an oil painting of Vladimir Putin and a gilded bust of Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Cheka, which went on to become the KGB. Potomsky said each era needed its own strong leader, whether it be Ivan the Terrible, Stalin or Putin, and that Russia was only strong when it had a strong leader. |
| “Look at the size of that country,” he said, gesticulating towards a map of Russia on his office wall. “How else would you rule it? Trying to do it calmly and tolerantly is never going to work. We need a strong leader. And people here respect strong authority. They don’t fear it, they respect it. Remember how Russia was treated 15 years ago? Nobody asked us anything. And now thanks to Putin we have recovered our position in the world.” | “Look at the size of that country,” he said, gesticulating towards a map of Russia on his office wall. “How else would you rule it? Trying to do it calmly and tolerantly is never going to work. We need a strong leader. And people here respect strong authority. They don’t fear it, they respect it. Remember how Russia was treated 15 years ago? Nobody asked us anything. And now thanks to Putin we have recovered our position in the world.” |