Boris Yeltsin Was A Hero Of Democracy (For About Eight Seconds In 1992)
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In August 1991, a clique of Soviet hardliners staged a coup d’état against leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his allies in the Politburo. As tanks rolled through Moscow, and with Gorbachev confined to his dacha and unable to communicate with the world, a stunning figure erupted onto the stage to take control of the military and roll back the plotters’ attack.
His name was Boris Yeltsin, President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and in short order he had convinced the army to back down and arrest the hardliners.
Gorbachev did soon return to power, but almost immediately ceded authority to Yeltsin, who pushed the Communist Party to basically outlaw itself and dissolve the Soviet Union. Shortly after that, the heroic defender of democracy oversaw the empaneling of the Russian Duma as an effective parliament and check on executive power.
It seemed that a miracle had been worked – the grim fortress of world communism had fully embraced representative democracy, and the Cold War was over at last. It was perhaps the most hopeful moment of the century, and the world had Boris Yeltsin to thank for it.
What happened next might have been the biggest betrayal of the century. Facing crisis, and trusting Yeltsin to protect the people’s interests, the Duma voted temporary emergency power to their president to manage the transition out of communism.
After the 18-month emergency measure expired, in 1993, Yeltsin demanded an indefinite extension of power, which the Duma refused. Yeltsin responded by sending the tanks back into the streets, this time to shell the parliament building.
When the Russian Supreme Court ruled against him, Yeltsin tried to add more seats to stack the court with his cronies. When that failed, Yeltsin just ignored the law and ruled by decree anyway.
Under his reign, which saw him “reelected” in 1996 despite an eight-percent approval rating, Russia’s treasury was plundered, its currency went into freefall, and essential services were cut for tens of millions of citizens.
Virtually all of the country’s wealth – including more oil than Saudi Arabia has – was auctioned off to Yeltsin supporters for pennies on the dollar, and what began as a hopeful transition to democracy turned into a dystopian kleptocracy run by gangsters and currency speculators.
Vladimir Putin, Yeltsin’s handpicked successor, now rules Russia as a de facto Tsar, and relations with the West are as bad as they’ve ever been.
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