Boris Yeltsin: The First Russian President #sponsored

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Russia's complex history has many faces

that embody different ideas of leadership from royalty to dictatorship to democracy

and its current state.

For centuries, it has transformed to become the country it is today.

Still, the Russia we know now is the product of Mikail Gorbachoff

and Beris Yelten.

Gorbachev was one of many who set the USSR's collapse in motion.

Yeltson was the first popularly elected president in the nation's 1,000-year history.

He grew up in Russia and despite its part in the overall Soviet Union,

felt more allegiance to his home Russia than to the USSR as a whole.

This belief would guide him and his efforts.

Despite his love of country,

Yeltson's story is one of exceptional highs and the lowest possible lows.

The revolutionary Yeltson attempted to fix Russia,

but many might agree

that his legacy along with Gorbachev's came with a cost everyone is still paying

for.

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Born on February 1st, 1931 in the Russian village of Bhutka, Baris Nikolovich,

Yelten was born in the Soviet Union, which was still in its infancy.

And yeah, apparently it's pronounced Baris, not Boris.

Uh, I don't know.

That's pronunciation guides for you.

Fun stuff.

Yeltson was born to his mother, Clavia Vasiliva Stargina, who Baris was close to,

and his father Nikolai, who Yeltson said beat him, his siblings,

and his mother constantly.

By the time of his birth, Joseph Stalin had already risen to power,

and Yeltson's family experienced firsthand the brutal tactics of his regime

and its early efforts to establish the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,

or the USSR.

Stalin was a ruthless leader.

One of his earliest efforts was to industrialize the emerging nation through mass rural

collectivization,

or simply collectivization and decolization.

Collectivization ran for over a decade, but was most intense between 1929 and 1933.

It focused on transforming the agricultural aspects of the developing Soviet system by forcing

farmers to surrender their farms to the state

and join a collective state-owned cooperative agriculture enterprise called the Kolkos.

In Stalin's words, this was about liquidating the Kulaks

as a class with Kulaks referring to prosperous peasants.

To further collectivization, an enforcement campaign came about known

as decolacization which was designed to repress Kulaks.

It resulted in millions of Kulaks and their families being deported, arrested or executed.

Decolacization can also be seen as the start of the Gulag,

which was forced labor camps.

They were introduced during Vladimir Lenin's rule

but proliferated under Stalin

as he made them a significant pillar of his efforts to boost industrialization by

any means necessary.

Ignite Yeltson Baris's grandfather was a farm owner.

In 1930 he was accused of being a kulak

which led to his

and his wife's deportation to the Eural Mountains region in 1934.

He died a few years later.

While Bareris had not known his grandfather since he was a child during Ignite's

final years,

this was a communist scar he carried with him throughout his life.

Despite keeping their farm under the Kulkos,

his family was among the millions who suffered during the infamous 1932 to 1933

famine.

His father was arrested in 1934 for antis-siet agitation

and worked 3 years in a gulag.

During this period, friends took Baris

and his mother in after being ejected from their home.

In a calmer period, things began to improve to some extent.

In 1937, the Yeltsons welcomed their second child, Mikail.

And in 1944, they welcomed their third child, Valentina.

As a young man, Baris was far from a model student.

He constantly found himself in trouble, excluded from class for being a distraction,

and wasn't getting good grades.

Yeltson was also a lover of dangerous fun,

which led to an incident where he and his friends attempted to, you know,

disassemble a grenade.

Comment below if you've done something incredibly stupid in your youth

that should have resulted in your death.

To no parents surprise anywhere, the grenade went off while they were handling it,

causing Yeltson to lose most of his left thumb and index finger.

His academic performance improved throughout the years,

especially as he developed a passion for sports in secondary school.

In September 1949, he went on to Europolytenic Institute

or UPI where he studied industrial

and civil engineering and learned German.

He had to drop out briefly in 1952 due to roheatic fever and tonsillitis.

During his university years, he met and fell in love with Na Lasifna Garin.

The years before joining the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

or CPSU were spent in construction.

He rose through the ranks and was an effective leader,

encountering problems emblematic of the USSR, such as theft, vandalism, irregular building supplies,

employee alcoholism, and lack of motivation.

He successfully confronted these issues head-on, which brought him greater attention.

For the next decade, Yeltson led an everyday life.

He married Garina in September 1956 and would have two daughters by 1960.

With the new decade came a change,

though. 29-year-old Yeltson was about to enter the Communist Party

as a probationary member,

breaking with nearly three decades of political ambivalence.

Throughout his early years, Yeltson was not as politically active as most.

He was a member of the commissal during his childhood,

which was an organization focused on Marxist Lenin communist education, or indoctrination,

if you will.

But overall, he avoided politics almost as much as possible.

Yeltson's aversion to politics ended at the dawn of the 60s.

His reasons for joining the CPSU are varied.

He sometimes stated that it was about career progression and job security.

However, in some instances, Yeltson noted a level of sincerity in joining the party,

such as a belief in the ideals of a socialist society.

After joining the party,

his career in construction continued

and he spent the next several years gaining promotions

and focusing on the construction of residential homes.

He eventually got a job in the department of construction

and his family moved into a nicer,

much larger apartment.

Over time, Yeltson received various Communist Party awards

and eventually he was one of five up secretaries who were governing bodies for

regions.

In the role, he again focused on construction

and the forestry industries for about 15 years until 1976.

Yeltson continued working, making connections

and advancing in his career until his mentor

and other party members nominated Yeltson

as the first secretary of the sphere oblast.

First secretary Yeltson was effective.

He worked hard to improve the region in terms of consumer welfare, infrastructure, housing,

transportation, and more.

He was also involved in the civil military collegium

and was awarded the rank of colonel in 1978.

By 1981, Yeltson became a member of the Communist Party's central committee,

which was the highest pillar of the CPSU, directing all party and governmental activity.

Yeltson played the part expected of Communist Party members.

He conformed to the ideology

and went along with the cult of personality awarded to General Secretary Leonid Breiff,

even though Yeltson detested him from the moment he met him in 1976

when he was being confirmed

as first secretary.

However, during the late 70s and early 80s,

Yeltson became more critical of the USSR.

He would be far more vocal than most in his party about things plaguing

the nation to the annoyance of communist party figures.

In particular, he took issue with Russia's position within the USSR,

believing it lacked the autonomy of many other Soviet states.

Yeltson was also looking at Russia first.

He never really seemed to think much about the other Soviet republics the way

he did about Russia itself.

While Moscow was in Russia, it was almost like a state within a state.

It was the heartbeat of all decision-making for the USSR,

including Russia at large.

And this didn't work in his view.

Yeltson wasn't the only person who believed in reforming the USSR.

And this is where it all really started to take off with the ascension

of Mikail Gorbachoff to the post of general secretary in March 1985.

Yeltson and Gorbachev's relationship might be one of the most important in recent Russian

history.

The two started as colleagues,

but became bitter rivals over the course of a few years.

Both were reformers at their core,

but over time it became clear

that their visions didn't align enough for them to find support in one another.

One significant difference between the two was what they fought for.

At first, Yeltson, like Gorbachev, fought for communist reform.

Over time, however, Yeltson felt the USSR no longer served its intended purpose

and transformed from a communist reformer to a democratic revolutionary.

In 1987, their relationship disintegrated after a pullet bureau meeting.

By now, Yeltson had been the first secretary of the Moscow City Party committee

for 2 years,

and his dissatisfaction with Gorbachev, the slow pace of reforms,

and the quality of life of the elites was becoming more potent.

The September 12th, 1987 meeting was one to discuss a speech Gorbachoff would give

in observance of the October Revolution anniversary celebrations.

The meeting was full of arguments, disagreements,

and many attacks from Yeltson by party members and vice versa.

Fed up, Yeltson drafted a resignation letter

as first secretary upon returning to his office.

Nobody had ever voluntarily resigned from a position of power.

So this was a big deal

because he'd received no answer from Gorbachev by the eve of the October Revolution

anniversary.

And after suffering through Gorbachov's self- congratulatory speech praising the reforms and progress,

Yeltson took the opportunity given to party members to make a speech of his

own.

In his response, he laid waste to the party and Gorbachoff,

criticizing almost everything and everyone.

Anticipating his removal from his roles to be more dramatic,

Yeltson suffered a heart attack

and was hospitalized for two days before being called into work by Gorbachev.

Yeltson left the ICU prematurely,

still reeling from the heavy sedation

and suffered through a meeting in

which members of the party attacked him.

For Gorbachoff, who encouraged debate and free exchange of ideas,

Yeltson noted it bore a striking resemblance to Stalinist show trials used to discredit

and destroy political opposition.

In a speech, Gorbachev stated

that Yeltson's comments were politically immature

and extremely confused and contradictory.

For his part, Yeltson took some responsibility for certain things,

particularly his overall attitude to certain members

and didn't simply believe he was right

and that everyone was wrong.

But the whole situation was unnecessarily cruel and set a fire in Yeltson.

Ultimately, Yeltson was replaced

as first secretary and put into a lower position in government,

but still in Moscow, which surprised him.

He was, however, removed from policy decisions

and from accessing the higher ranks of the party.

It was exile, just not as extreme as Yelten believed it would be.

Gorbachev clipped Yeltson's wings

and allowed the party to devour one of its own to discredit him further.

Yeltson remained in the party despite all the challenges it came with,

but that would eventually cease, too.

His health, both physical and mental,

suffered for nearly two years following the events of his resignation.

He'd been deeply affected by it all, struggling to sleep,

having chronic headaches filled with self-doubt and criticism,

and feeling the sting of betrayal and a deep sense of isolation.

He used the term political corpse.

It was the creation of the Congress of People's Duties,

existing alongside the USSR Supreme Soviet body with a citizen-elected body

that somewhat revived him.

He went out and campaigned for office.

And despite the efforts of other members of the party to prevent his win,

he won in a landslide.

With this, he began creating a base

and building an opposition program to the status quo.

Gorbachev attempted to make a friend of Yelson again,

but Yeltson was in no way interested,

and they'd spend years going back and forth attacking one another.

In 1991, Yeltson ran to become president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

following Russia becoming a sovereign state in June 1990.

At the same time,

tensions within the USSR between the Central Government

and the Soviet Republics were getting worse,

and fears that these republics would attempt to leave the Union were growing.

Gorbachoff was looking to keep the USSR intact,

but others in the party felt it was all slipping away.

So, they decided to take matters into their own hands.

The collapse of the USSR may have been happening slowly for years,

but it was only a few days into August 1991

when things escalated to the Soviet Union's crescendo.

A coup was launched on Monday, August 19th, when a group of lawmakers,

KGB members, and the vice president collectively known

as the gang of eight detained Gorbachev in his holiday home in Crimea

and declared a state of emergency.

For the sake of brevity,

we're going to summarize this as best as we can.

The coup lasted about 3 days and while Gorbachoff was detained,

Yeltson led a resistance in Russia, organizing protests, strikes,

and rallying the Russian people against the forces attempting to carry out the coup.

The failure to arrest Yeltson was a mistake

that cost the gang of eight massively.

Yeltson made winning far more difficult thanks to his popularity

and ability to get Russians to fight back against the communist leadership he now

deemed a corrupt failure.

The coup failed following overwhelming evidence

that they were floundering

and Gorbachev returned and attempted to keep the USSR in one piece.

But the damage was done.

The Supreme Soviet of the USSR suspended CPSU activity throughout the Union following Gorbachov's

resignation as general secretary.

Following the dramatic turn of events, the dismantling of the union gained momentum.

By November 1991, Ukraine, Bellarus, Muldova, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Tajikhstan,

and Armenia had all declared or had voted on independence.

Only three republics had not.

Russia, Usbekiststan, and Kazakhstan.

On December 8th, the Bellvia Accords were signed,

which formerly declared the end of the USSR with all its member nations now

being fully independent.

Gorbachev resigned from his post as president of the Soviet Union on December 25th,

1991, handing control over to Yelten.

After decades of fighting, Yelten had what he wanted, a free Russia.

The question became, what would he do with it?

On February 2nd, 1992,

Boris Yeltson and then President George Bush declared a formal end to the Cold

War.

Domestically, two major things were starting to happen in Russia.

The first was the start of Yeltson's economic reforms

which began on January 2nd through the liberalization of foreign trade,

currency, and pricing.

Yeltson implemented shock therapy in the Russian economy,

which would begin the process of privatization and the transition to a market economy.

This came with dire consequences as inflation soared 2,000%.

Russian people's savings were wiped out

and the country struggled with immense hardship for the everyday Russian citizen.

To try to combat these negative effects,

Yeltson instituted another policy known as macroeconomic stabilization,

which meant raising interest rates to high levels with the intention

that it would restrict credit

and tighten money.

The government was also working to bring government spending

and revenue under control with new

or raised taxes and a pullback of subsidies

and welfare spending.

During this period, Russia's GDP fell by 50%.

Unemployment ballooned.

Many Russians were plunged into poverty.

Hyperinflation ran rampant and various sectors of the economy were decimated.

Part of the transition to a market economy involved privatizing various industries once owned

and operated by the USSR.

The speed at which these changes were being made it unlikely

that many consider the consequences of such a hasty decision.

The push for privatization led to a select group of wealthy citizens taking over

the nation's most valuable industries

and amassing immense wealth at the expense of the everyday Russian.

You might know these people as the oligarchs and rightfully so.

Most people hate them. 1992 also saw a constitutional crisis beginning to form.

At this point, the Supreme Soviet still existed.

And considering the USSR no longer existed,

having a body of legislatures with heavy ties to a now dead system of

governance and still very much communist at heart didn't help Yeltson's democratic push.

Unfortunately, his response didn't help his democratic image either.

The constitutional crisis was partly a result of the economic crisis and protracted depression.

As unemployment soared along with prices and shortages,

Yeltson's plan began losing support in Parliament.

The main points of contention were the scope

and scale of Yeltson's economic reform

as well as the distribution of power between the legislative

and executive branches of government.

Yeltson had been bypassing the legislature at every turn through presidential decrees similar to

executive orders and this led to the legislature seeking to strip him of such

powers.

Yeltson would eventually dissolve the legislature with the legislature calling the move unconstitutional

and attempting to impeach him

as a result.

He ultimately survived the effort before he dissolved the communist dominated legislature in September

1993.

Things turned violent in October when violent clashes broke out in Moscow.

Eventually, Yeltson ordered a military takeover of parliament

and during this 147 people died

and an estimated 400 were wounded.

Yeltson won, but at what cost?

Following the collapse, Russia was given a chance on the global stage to be

a bigger part of the global order.

For the majority of Yeltson's time in office,

relations between Russia and the US were improving.

In particular, Yeltson got along with then President Bill Clinton.

Their relationship was always considered rather odd

and resulted in numerous incidents where Yeltson didn't come out on top,

including one during the pair's first meetings in September 1994,

where Yeltson got drunk

and later that night wandered the streets of Washington outside Blair House in his

underwear looking for pizza.

This happened again the following year.

His drinking was a constant cause for embarrassment as he'd miss meetings,

slur his words during speeches,

and compromise himself abroad. 1994 would bring about Yeltson's decision to invade Chetchna.

His decision to invade the Autonomous Region,

formerly a part of the USSR was

because Yelten was concerned

that it would lead to the fragmentation of Russia

if other regions with separatist tendencies,

decided to follow suit.

By December 1994, Russian troops invaded.

But the operation which lasted two years was a disaster from start to finish.

The invasion was a military failure with the troops unprepared

and ill equipped to face the heavy resistance.

At home there was a public backlash to the war

which was racking up high casualties

and a growing humanitarian disaster.

By 1996, the war had raged on for two years with no real progress

made on either side,

resulting in a stalemate,

forcing Yeltson to give in and sign a peace treaty between the two,

granting Chetchna de facto independence.

Halfway through the war, which was hurting Yeltson's popularity,

Yeltson had a major challenge at home.

Re-election.

Yeltson come 1996 wasn't the same person who descended to power during the waning

years of the USSR

and from its ashes.

He was diminished as his popularity continued to nose dive due to the economic

situation and the disastrous war in Cheschna.

It was largely believed he wouldn't be reelected president in the coming election.

By this point, many of Yeltson's health issues were also coming to light

and catching up with him.

Throughout his tenure, Yeltson had suffered numerous heart attacks, three happening in 1995 alone,

and other health rellated issues.

This made many question if he was even up for the job of governing.

Regardless, he managed to win 53% of the vote to everyone's shock.

The election was contentious with many believing there had been heavy manipulation

as well as the obvious reliance on the oligarchs Yeltson used to fund his

campaign.

All of this only further hurt his credibility.

Starting in 1997, Russia's economy began stabilizing

and seeing modest signs of improvement

and growth.

At the same time,

it was becoming increasingly clear to many

that the privatization of the state had led to the rise of the oligarchs

who were profiting at the expense of Russia.

Then, just as the Russian economy seemed to be improving despite the oligarch situation,

the 1998 financial crash happened

and undid much of the gains made in previous years.

The crash was the result of the nation defaulting on its debts,

leading to a collapse of the ruble.

Yelson's time in power was coming to an end.

Similar to US presidents,

Russia at that time limited presidents to only two terms in office.

By the waning years of his presidency,

many were shocked by the Yeltson they saw seemingly frail and disoriented,

potentially lacking the cognitive ability he once possessed.

His drinking habits had exacerbated his health issues, and it was showing.

Another albatross that hung on Yeltson was the lingering accusations of corruption he'd faced

throughout the years.

He'd been accused of playing favorites

when it came to the privatization of various industries.

He did this by selling them for next to nothing

and handing over everything in return for political support.

This included the loan for shares program

which saw some of Russia's most important

and profitable businesses like oil

and gas and various other minerals privatized.

The program allowed oligarchs to loan money to the government in exchange for shares

in these vital industries.

In 1999, on the way out, Yeltson pardoned himself and his family,

who'd also been accused of involvement in government corruption.

Yeltson was no longer seen as the liberator and the revolutionary.

Perhaps he was seen more as an unintentional agent of chaos, ambitious,

but without a plan.

His time in power wouldn't see the dawn of the century.

It was sunset on the presidency of Baris Yelten.

Life after the presidency was mostly out of the spotlight for Yeltson.

In rare moments, he did make a statement or two,

often criticizing Putin for turning back the clock on progress.

For example, in December of 2000,

he criticized Putin for reintroducing the Soviet era national anthem.

In 2004, alongside Gorbachoff,

the two criticized Putin's decision to replace regional governor elections

and have them appointed by the president instead.

But for the most part,

Yeltson's final years were instead marred by continued health struggles.

In 2001, he was hospitalized for six weeks due to pneumonia.

And in September 2005,

he had a hip operation after he broke his femur from a fall.

On April 23rd, 2007,

Baris Yeltson died at the age of 76 due to congestive heart failure.

He was buried on April 25th in Moscow.

There are a lot of ways to pick apart what Yeltson did to transition

from the USSR to an independent country effectively,

but it can't be forgotten that he did bring democracy to Russia.

Unfortunately, even then, he damaged his own legacy by putting into power someone who

never believed in a democratic Russia

and saw the fall of the USSR

as a deeply personal event.

Of course, it's highly unlikely Yeltson saw this in Putin

when he handed over power to the younger prime minister.

Enigmatic, flawed, hero, villain, leader, drunk, revolutionary,

Yeltson was all of these things and more.

There are so many ways to capture his important part in Russian history.

Maybe the person who summed it up best, though,

was Yeltson himself in his farewell address.

I want to ask you for your forgiveness

because many of our hopes have not come true

because what we thought would be easy turned out to be painfully difficult.

I ask you to forgive me for not fulfilling some hopes of those people

who believed we would be able to jump from a gray,

stagnating, totalitarian past into a bright, rich, and civilized future in one go.

I myself believed in this,

but it could not be done in one fell swoop.

In some respects, I was too naive.

I have done everything I could.

You deserve happiness and peace.

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