Boris Yeltsin, the first President of the Russian Federation, died yesterday aged 76. Rather than start from scratch, I’ll begin this post with quotes from the best obituaries I’ve seen so far. First up, Not PC:
Yeltsin brought a measure of political freedom, for a time, but economic freedom and fuller supermarkets proved somewhat more difficult, proving again the adage that a good revolutionary leader will very rarely have the qualities needed to be a good peacetime leader.
He was however the first leader of Russia who didn’t die in office, who resigned before he either died of it or was assassinated. Handing over to KGB chief Putin was not his finest hour — standing atop a tank in front of the Russian ‘White House’ to face down communist counter-revolution: that was Yeltsin’s finest hour, and it was a defining moment in history for which he will be fondly remembered.
Exactly. Yeltsin’s speech atop a tank – seen about halfway through the above video – was a defining moment in the collapse of the Soviet Union. And that collapse marked the end of not just the Cold War, but the Long War of the 20th century. It heralded the first opportunity for freedom in Russia. Yeltsin will be remembered as the first post-Soviet leader, not as the man who handed power to Putin.
However, that final transfer of power, unprecedented in Russian history, is what Passport identifies as Yeltsin’s legacy:
“I have often heard it said that Yeltsin would cling to power by any means possible and would never give it up. That’s a lie … This is very important for Russia. We are creating a most important precedent for a civilized, voluntary transfer of power, power from one president of Russia to another, elected anew. But I have nonetheless made a different decision. I am leaving. I am leaving before the end of my term.”
Farewell, Boris. May Russians remember your words in 2008.
Curzon of Coming Anarchy highlights the mixed aspects of Yeltsin’s rule, and also credits Boris with introducing the pithy soundbite to Russian politics.
Yeltsin brought enormous political change and the introduction of liberal democracy, but the collapse of the USSR saw enormous political, economic and social problems, not to mention widespread corruption, a dramatic decline in the income of average Russians and a decline in life expectancy, and was succeeded by a president with less than liberal views.
Yet as one reporter reminded readers, Yeltsin was the first elected president of Russia because he was the first Soviet politician to discover the sound bite…
Boris Yeltsin: A defiant legacy
Boris Yeltsin was one of those men who stood at the crossroads of history. He attempted to transform Russia into a democracy, but despite his best efforts the economy collapsed and assets were grabbed by organized crime and corrupt “oligarchs”. He kept power: even in the face of massive street protests and a rebellion by the legislature in 1993. This YouTube video shows thousands of Communist rioters overpowering police and flooding the Russian White House. In response – after negotiating for the sympathies of the armed forces – Yeltsin shelled Parliament, killing hundreds of rebels and nearly destroying the building.
Perhaps this incident sums up Yeltsin’s presidency. He successfully prevented collapse, but at great cost, and only by undermining the institutions and long-term welfare of his country. He fought separatism in Chechnya a year later – bombing a Russian city almost to the ground before losing thousands of soldiers in the rubble-strewn streets that remained. Neither side won a decisive victory. Russian territorial integrity remained, but its legitimacy was tainted. Russia’s once-great empire had collapsed, and Yeltsin may have only managed to delay the inevitable disintegration of the motherland itself.
But we can still see him standing on that tank, shouting defiantly at those who would have returned Russia to the Soviets…
It’s unfortunate that Yeltsin is largely remembered for both his alcoholism and his “too rapid” collapse of the communist regime.
Perhaps Mikhail Gorbachev captured his life best when he referred to him as a man “on whose shoulders are both great deeds for the country and serious errors.”
Left by subadei on April 25th, 2007