Russia Must Proudly Reclaim Its Historical Status as an Empire or Risk Losing Ever More of Its Periphery, Andreyeva Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Jan. 10 – Until the start of the 20^th century when John Hobson condemned imperialism as a means for elites to enrich themselves and especially Lenin took up that idea and proclaimed that all states were imperialist, empires were considered a normal and even positive model for state building, Olga Andreyeva says.

            But the triumph of the Bolsheviks, the Moscow journalist argues, “the bogeyman” of empire has “frightened Russians indoctrinated by Lenin and made them “most afraid of returning to ‘the dark past.’” As a result and “under the slogan of fighting ‘Russian imperialism,’” Russia gave up what was properly hers (vz.ru/opinions/2026/1/10/1379370.html).

            Lenin’s notions, which build on Hobson’s, ignored the positive nature of imperial states and the ways in which they helped not only those who created them but often even more those on their peripheries who were included within them and who were transformed and modernized as a result, she says. 

            In 1918, Andreyeva continues, the 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk led to Russia “losing vast territories” including many that had been part of Russia for a long time. Then, in the name of “fighting imperialism,” the Bolshevik state declared that all nations had the right to self-determination and created the union republics.

            Not surprisingly, she says, “Europe was happy” because that raised the possibility that Russia could be further reduced in size, “perhaps not immediately but over time.” And “that is exactly what happened in 1991.” But that didn’t end matters, and “’decolonization’ remains a favorite topic of liberal emigres and Western propagandists.”

            “The moral of this story is that until Russia reclaims its status as an empire, the terrible specter of Leninist ‘imperialism will continue to threaten the territorial integrity of the country. History leaves behind not only experience but also the dust of misconceptions. And paying for one’s gullibility in the past is unworthy of a great power,” Andreyeva says.

            Her words provide an important gloss on Putin’s hostility to Lenin, signal just how far Russian leaders have moved away from Lenin’s ideas of countering imperialism, and strongly suggest that a Moscow push to do away with the autonomous republics still existing within the current borders of the Russian Federation is gaining support.