Boris Yeltsin
"We don't appreciate what we have until it's gone.
Freedom is like that. It's like air.
When you have it you don't notice." Boris Yeltsin
Yeltsin, Boris Nikolayevich, president of Russia, elected shortly before the breakup of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991. Yeltsin, who was elected to a second term 1996, is a central figure in the transition away from communism in the former USSR and has dominated Russian politics in the last decade.
Early Life
	In 1930, Ignaty Yeltsin, a well-off peasant of Butka village was declared "kulak". His mill and other valuables were seized by the state. Rumors have it that Ignaty either fled the village, or was sent to internal northern exile. 1931,
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In 1977, Boris was ordered by the Kremlin to destroy the Ipatyev House, where the last tsar, Nicholas 2 was executed with his family, and the hose was demolished over night and the site was paved over with asphalt. In April 1985, Boris moved to Moscow, where he was elected the First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee. This position elevated him to the status of an alternate member of the Politburo of the Central Committee. This period of Boris's life is remembered by the citizens of Moscow, because of the renovation of Arbat (a historical street in downtown Moscow). Boris sharply criticized the Secretariat of the central committee, for it's slow pace of reforms at the plenary meting of the central committee, in 1987. As a result, Boris lost his position in the Moscow committee and in the Politburo. He was hospitalized with heart trouble when the KGB, on the order of Mikhail Gorbachev, made him leave the hospital and escorted him to a plenary meeting of the Moscow city committee, where he was "sacked". The next year, Boris was appointed first Vice Chairman of the state Committee on Construction (an obvious demotion).
Yeltsin the Democrat
	March 1989 became the turning point in Boris's career. He was elected to Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR from Moscow electoral district number 1, in the first multi-candidate parliamentary elections in the entire history of the USSR. One of the more popular
One week after this occurrence, Khruschev took over control of the Communist party from Malenkov. He then proceeded to arrest Beria, head of the secret police, and execute him along with six of his aides. By this time he was the acknowledged head of the Communist party. He quickly rose to the position of Premier when, in 1956 he forced Malenkov to resign from the position. Following this he delivered a compelling speech to the people denouncing many of Stalin's actions. He expelled all of his remaining rivals in June of 1957. The four main rivals, Molotov, Malenkov, Kaganovich, and Shepilov, were not executed as a responsible action to exhibit Khruschev's compassion and responsibility in an effort to boost public support. As a result of this political campaign based on responsibility and compassion, he freed many political prisoners and urged peaceful coexistence with the West. This process of solidifying his leadership took a long time and was a great risk to him and his people because of the past popularity and support of Stalin and his ways.
Moreover, while things were getting out of control in the Soviet Union, one nation that can illustrate how the Soviet Union finally collapsed is Russia. Things were like as it is when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power following the death of Konstantin Cherenko in 1985. Gorbachev used the policy of Glasnot, or “openness to freedom of
In the year 1019 a small region in Eastern Europe (present day Moscow), would be settled by a local population and
Nikita Khrushchev also referred to as Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was a significant historical leader in history, especially in the cold war. He had a great impact during the cold war because he did many so much improvements and progress for the Soviet Union nation. Nikita Khrushchev job during the cold war, was he led the Soviet Union, he aided the Soviets also known as the U.S.S.R. Also, he served as a premier. Khrushchev was born in a small Russian village named kalinovka on the day April 15, 1984. He worked as a pipefitter, this was before he went into politics as he was a young man. He first worked with the communist party around 1918, and then eventually became better and took over as the leader of the Soviet Union.
Review Guide- Chapter 18: Timeline- 1533-1584: Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) 1604-1613: Time of Troubles 1613-1917: Romanov dynasty 1689-1725: Peter the Great 1703: Founding of St. Petersburg 1762-1796:
Former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev presided over the disintegration of a country based on an uncompromising ideological dogma, the unlikely inheritor of Marxist/Leninist communist philosophy. The Soviet Union’s unwieldy economic superstructure left it vulnerable to Ronald Reagan’s aggressive economic/military policy, an approach based on the belief that a military build-up would force the Soviets to spend to keep pace, an effective strategy because it pushed the Soviet economy over the edge into ruin. The subsequent implosion ended communist domination in Eastern Europe and opened the way for democratic elements that radically altered the political landscape in Moscow. When the Soviet Union officially came to an end in 1993, it briefly recalled the end of tsarist rule in 1917, with the potential for the kind of chaos and violence that turned the Russian Revolution into a bloodbath. President Boris Yeltsin used the military to disband parliament but his call for new elections moved the country toward a more open, democratic form of government. Lacking any real background in representative government, Russia ultimately proved incapable of fulfilling the promise of democratic government and descended into a form of anarchy riddled by increasingly strong criminal elements. In recent years, the rise of Boris Putin, a new strongman in Moscow, helped restore a sense of order and allowed the resurgence of communist elements. The government that now holds power, and which
Throughout the 20th century many books have been written about the fall of the Romanov Empire in Russia. It was a dynasty that had been in power for over three hundred year and ends with the last Romanov family being murdered. Tsar Nicholas and his family have been made famous through the many movies and books that tell of their tragedy. Over the past 80 years the Romanov story has become legend, like a fairy tale; but in this fairy tale one man stands out. This man, Rasputin, although he was not royalty, was close to the family and had a hand in its downfall.
Socialism offered an ‘ideal’ and classless society in which the state controlled everything, yet the people utilized the practice of controlling politics. He formed a highly centralized government, which was furthered to totalitarian goals by his successor, Joseph Stalin. Stalin focused on military and industrial gains which, by his death in 1953, had “crippled the Soviet state” because his successors could not make any reforms without undermining the CPSU—the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (367). A heavy reliance on secret police and a militarized economy was already in place when Mikhail Gorbachev came on the scene. He was elected General Secretary of the CPSU in 1985 when the USSR was in middle of continually diminishing economic productivity; it became stagnant. With his powers as secretary, he saw room for reform to change the USSR drastically. He planned to do this through instituting glastnost, or openness, in society, which he believed would ameliorate levels of corruption. Corruption was a detriment to democratization, which he believed would heal the economy. He brought back the first contested elections in many years. With democratic procedures in place, Gorbachev lost his power to Yeltsin. Notwithstanding the amended constitution, Yeltsin took liberty to control parliament to “cope with the country’s economic problems” (369). Yeltsin’s successor was chosen as Vladimir Putin who has severely radicalized the
Chubais was the most integral person in pushing the Russian privatization movement and constructing the semblance of a market which Russia soon had. However, this hodgepodge market was far from stable and tainted with corruption and confusion. Chubais did succeed in his most important goal, ensuring that the Communist Party did not regain power in Russia. Although he was successful with his political goal of ensuring that the Communist Party did not have a rebirth in Russia, a mixture of lackluster and hollow economic reform along with the reelection of Yeltsin in 1996 paved the way for the emergence of the Russian oligarchs.
Looking to restructure their communist economy to an economy with capitalist principles, the policy proposed reducing the direct involvement of the Communist Party in the country’s governance as well. However, marginal increases in the production of consumer goods and a failure to significantly improve standards of living fueled dissent. Furthermore, the underwhelming performance of this transitional system facilitated blowback by conservatives who wanted the communist model to return as well as the liberals who wanted to move even further from communism models. In the end, such unpopularity debilitated both Gorbachev and the USSR as a whole, paving the way for the collapse of Gorbachev’s administration and the USSR, a failed coup, and ultimately Boris Yeltsin’s rise to
President Putin came into office on December 31, 1999 then as acting President of Russia, as President Yeltsin announced his resignation. He then won the vote with 53 percent of the vote. (Vladimir Putin, n.d.)
Malenkov’s post was then given to Bulganin who had little influence. Khrushchev had become the most important figure within the collective leadership. (A Country Study)
Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1922-1953, when he died. He was responsible for one of the most notable and devastating genocides, the Great Purge. His vicious reign took the lives of around 20-60 million people by his rigid and cruel treatment. Through his exploitation of the lower class and his manipulative abuse of power, Stalin created one of the worst examples of leadership in history. It takes an interesting character to be able to execute the cruelties displayed in his regime and the traits that Stalin developed into his cult of personality were likely acquired as a child and adolescent.
The Russia of today is not that of the past; Russia throughout history has encountered countless changes in regards to the type of governmental powers they have possessed. Previously, Russia was known as the Russian Empire, being categorized as an unlimited government in which leaders have all the power. “Alexander the Terrible” is considered the original Czar—emperor of Russia; the ruling of Czars ended during the Russian Revolution which followed with the interaction in World War I. Thus, leading to the exoneration of Nicholas II in 1917. Following the involvement of World War I, what was known as the Russian Empire evolved into the Bolshevik party which finally became the Soviet Union. Vladimir Lenin was the leader of this transition
Reforms and ethnic problems helped the Soviet Union collapse in 1991. What was the next move to help Russia be a major power in the world? Boris Yeltsin led Russia through most of the decade promoting something known as democracy and better living conditions than the Soviet Union. There were some failures along with success, however once Yeltsin was too old for the job he found a successor. Hence, Yeltsin passed the presidency on to Putin; the promotion of democracy was severely limited by an authoritarian leader wanting more power.