In the Western corporate media, the years of Boris Yeltsin are often described in tumultuous or chaotic terms, yet they insist that he was a courageous leader mired in the failings of his own society and struggling personally to live up to his potential. They say that he was trying to bring democracy to a country, Russia, that was struggling under the weight of a totalitarian past and a moribund bureaucratic regime. Yet what they don’t tell you is that he reversed many of the political and civil reforms under Gorbachev, fatally undermined Glasnost (or “openness”), and auctioned and gave away state assets to those who had the best connections and the best bribes. This was all done under the auspices of the United States government, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, and there is a devastating picture to paint of Western hypocrisy all down the line and downright immiseration of the Russian people.
Upon assuming leadership in Russia, Boris Yeltsin embarked primarily on a path of economic market liberalization. His policies were not mainly concerned with improving the lives of the Russian people, nor were they aimed at giving them more rights and freedoms. His main objective was to destroy the Soviet structures and the Communist Party, both of which posed an obstacle to his maintenance of political power. This can be seen in his insistence upon selling off companies and assets owned by the Soviet state to the highest bidder or the most well-connected. His actions thereby benefited mostly those who were already doing well under the system he was supposedly attacking. Some people proposed that the assets and workplaces be put under the ownership of the people who actually labored, but Yeltsin decided the best thing to do was to give those who already had money and power under the system even more money and power. These people became the oligarchs, and without competing Soviet centers of power, they became the lifeblood of all Russian power.
The legislative assemblies of Russia opposed these plans and designs, knowing what a devastating effect they could have upon the Russian people. Both Communists and right-wing populists opposed them both in the Supreme Soviet and the assembly of deputies, with opposition to selling off state assets and eliminating public services. Opponents of Yeltsin formed the largest coalition in those legislative chambers. When it became clear that Yeltsin was pursuing policies regardless of what the other branches of government wanted, the Supreme Soviet with the support of the assembly of deputies formed their own government.
Appalled by this act of insubordination, Yeltsin sent troops to confront this replacement government in their building of origin and confronted the soldiers who defected to them. On the order of Yeltsin, tanks fired upon the “White House,” the headquarters of the Russian legislative bodies, killing over a hundred opponents of Yeltsin by official counts or over a thousand by other reports. Whatever perspective on January 6 you have, this is that multiplied by orders of magnitude.
The Russian parliament building, or “White House,” burning after Yeltsin’s tanks and troops fired upon it. Was it democracy up in flames?
Yeltsin subsequently arrested the leaders of the replacement government, including the Russian Vice President. When the Russian Supreme Court ruled that what Yeltsin had done was illegal, Yeltsin arrested the judge who ruled against him.
In order to prevent further organization against him, Yeltsin banned opposition parties, newspapers, and media organizations. While he was pursuing these “reforms,” some officials in the US state department under President Clinton worried that Yeltsin was creating a presidency without effective checks and balances. An apparent pal of Yeltsin, President Clinton was reported never to have mentioned a word to Yeltsin against these measures. He was allowing Western creditors and investors to profit from the gains of Russian oligarchs too, after all.
Presidents Yeltsin and Clinton paling around together, laughing while Russia suffered in economic and political misery.
After President Putin came to power, he ensured that the oligarchs couldn’t sell off state assets, improved public services, and enacted taxes that couldn’t be evaded by corrupt businesspeople. Sometimes President Yeltsin receives over ninety percent disapproval in Russian opinion polls. He is often seen as the worst leader in Russian history. Why is Putin therefore given no sympathy when it comes to his pursuit of the Russian public good?
After reading all of this, it is clear to see how the Western corporate media and Western political leaders want you to believe that President Putin tricked Yeltsin into giving away the last hope of Russian democracy. Democracy didn’t die with Yeltsin. Yeltsin strangled it.
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