Was It Strategically Wise For Zakharova To Suggest Poland Owes Its Revival To Lenin?

By Andrew Korybko

If Russia wants to improve people-to-people ties, which could help manage state-to-state tensions, then it would be a good idea for officials to take the high road and eschew such rhetoric even in the face of Polish provocations.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova posted a lengthy explanation on Telegram last month about why she believes that Lenin was responsible for Poland’s revival and survival. This was in response to Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski mockingly claiming that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban “earned his Order of Lenin”. The gist of her post was that Lenin’s Bolsheviks recognized Polish independence and his Soviet successors supported the Polish People’s Army in World War II.

The Polish historical narrative is the polar opposite; Lenin is portrayed as an intractable enemy of Poland due to the Polish-Bolshevik War in which the Red Army almost captured Warsaw and the Polish People’s Army is considered to be Soviet puppets for legitimizing what’s viewed as the post-war occupation. It’s unimportant which side readers support since the point is simply to draw attention to Russia’s and Poland’s incompatible views on this subject.

The context within which Zakharova reminded Poles about Russia’s positive assessment of Lenin’s role in their country’s history concerns the revival of the historical Russian-Polish rivalry. The deterioration of political ties led to the deterioration of people-to-people ones too, which has made it relatively easier for Poland’s ruling duopoly to rally the population against Russia as their country seeks to play the leading role in containing it in the region after the Ukrainian Conflict ends.

Accordingly, “Poland Will Play A Central Role In Advancing The US’ National Security Strategy In Europe”, thus bestowing outsized importance upon it in the reformed European security architecture that Trump and Putin are negotiating. Russian-Polish relations are therefore expected to remain tense for the foreseeable future, but it’s arguably in Russia’s interests to counteract perceptions among Poles of it being a threatening or immoral actor, ergo the significance of soft power and people-to-people ties.

Therein lies the reason why Zakharova’s post about Lenin’s positive role in Polish history might not have been the best course of action in hindsight. Poles and Russians know that their people have polar opposite historical narratives but being reminded of this very divisive one in particular that’s considered by Poles to be extremely condescending risks discrediting those in Poland who want more pragmatic relations with Russia. This mostly concerns the Crown and Confederation populist opposition parties.

A recent poll placed their parties at third and fourth place with 11.18% and 10.67% support respectively, thus equating to over a fifth of Polish voters. Crown leader Grzegorz Braun also shared a proposal for mutual Polish-Russian de-escalation in late November in open letters to both of their Foreign Ministers. If these political trends remain on track till fall 2027’s next parliamentary elections, then Crown and Confederation could form a coalition government with the conservative Law & Justice party (31.21%).

Poles are a very proud people and don’t appreciate the insinuation that they owe the revival and survival of their state to Russia, regardless of non-Poles’ opinions on the matter, with the innuendo that they’re thus forever indebted to it and must therefore comply with all of its requests. If Russia wants to improve people-to-people ties, which could help manage state-to-state tensions, then it would be a good idea for officials to take the high road and eschew such rhetoric even in the face of Polish provocations.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Voice of East.

Categories: Analysis, Geopolitics, International Affairs

Tags: Bolsheviks, Europe, Geopolitics, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Soviet Union