Stop Yeltsin: could the USSR be preserved?
Boris Yeltsin came to the big policies in the wake of criticism of the current government. Back in 1987, he publicly criticized the Politburo, after which Mikhail Gorbachev directly told him that he would not let him into politics anymore. However, having ridden the ridge of the struggle against the privileges of the Soviet elite, on June 12, 1991, Yeltsin became president of the Russian Federation, part of the USSR. Six months later, the great power will not become what it is quite rightly accepted to blame two people - Yeltsin and Gorbachev, the first “collapsed”, and the second “allowed”. But what if a person like Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin never existed in Russian politics? Would the Soviet Union exist to this day or not? Opinions on this subject are polar.
The results of the reign of Yeltsin and his liberal team of reformers are evaluated differently, mostly negatively. A superpower was destroyed from within, a ban on state ideology was introduced into the Yeltsin constitution, implying, of course, communist ideology. The world has ceased to be bipolar, since the socialist alternative system to capitalism has disappeared, the results of which in the form of periodic world crises and military reprisals of the USA together with NATO against weaker states have been observed for more than a quarter of a century.
Boris Nikolayevich’s slogan about “sovereignty” gave rise to serious separatist sentiments within the Russian Federation, which led to two bloody wars in Chechnya and the emergence of terrorism with a “Caucasian face”. Privatization of state property organized by the Yeltsin team under the direction of A.B. Chubais, robbed the country and spawned oligarchs, whose evil influence on Russia exists to this day. The special cynicism of Yeltsin, who came under the slogan of the struggle against the privileges of the Soviet elites, manifested itself in the appearance of a narrow circle of his relatives and friends, nicknamed the "Family" in the media. The “reforms” carried out by his team devastated many ordinary Russians and caused massive unemployment. "Dashing 90s" gave the opportunity to appear a huge number of bandits and racketeers. The negative consequences of Yeltsin’s rule can be described for quite some time. But the main complaint against him is “a gathering of three together in Belovezhskaya Pushcha”.
Was there a chance to stop this man?
On August 19, 1991, the so-called “coup” took place in the country. The State Emergency Committee declared the need to prevent the transformation of a single USSR into an amorphous CIS, while maintaining the territorial integrity of the state. The Committee had many representatives of law enforcement agencies, so there were chances of preserving the country. But the population has already been poisoned by fairy tales about the fact that everything will be “like in the West”, 150 varieties of sausages will appear in stores, and everyone will switch to foreign cars. The political elites in the union republics were determined to exit, because they were well aware that they would take over all state property in the event of independence. As a result, the fooled people wanted both the USSR and “democracy” and did not support the GKChP, which the Yeltsin team turned into “putschists” as winners.
But if the GKChP prevailed? The Committee would have faced the question: to preserve socialism and continue to move towards building communism or to turn on the path of Western capitalism. If the first option were chosen, then the USSR could well have existed to this day, but if it were led by a man of scale I.V. Stalin. If the State Emergency Committee, having gained power, chose a market model, then they would most likely have become oligarchs, dividing enterprises and oil rigs among themselves, as the writer Yulia Latynina believes.
The late Boris Nemtsov, who now claims that Russia would fall apart without Yeltsin and his distribution of sovereignty to the regions, echoes her:
The opposite opinion is shared by writer Alexander Prokhanov:
Prokhanov believes that if the USSR had been preserved, he would have gradually moved into the market channel, but without painful reforms. Its development would be swift, since all resources would remain undivided: industrial, scientific, military and cultural.
It should be noted that the persons classified as “Family” are still in favor to this day. So, Yeltsin’s son-in-law, Valentin Yumashev, is an adviser to President Putin. Oleg Deripaska, known as an oligarch close to the Kremlin, was married to Yumashev's daughter Polina for a long time. Yeltsin’s other son-in-law, Valery Okulov, worked as Deputy Minister of Transport, and until 2017 he headed the Aeroflot company. Friend of “Family” Roman Abramovich is one of the richest people in Russia, but recently changed his citizenship to Israeli. And the main "privatizer" of the Yeltsin era and the fighter against communism, A.B. Chubais heads the state corporation RosNANO.
The results of the reign of Yeltsin and his liberal team of reformers are evaluated differently, mostly negatively. A superpower was destroyed from within, a ban on state ideology was introduced into the Yeltsin constitution, implying, of course, communist ideology. The world has ceased to be bipolar, since the socialist alternative system to capitalism has disappeared, the results of which in the form of periodic world crises and military reprisals of the USA together with NATO against weaker states have been observed for more than a quarter of a century.
Boris Nikolayevich’s slogan about “sovereignty” gave rise to serious separatist sentiments within the Russian Federation, which led to two bloody wars in Chechnya and the emergence of terrorism with a “Caucasian face”. Privatization of state property organized by the Yeltsin team under the direction of A.B. Chubais, robbed the country and spawned oligarchs, whose evil influence on Russia exists to this day. The special cynicism of Yeltsin, who came under the slogan of the struggle against the privileges of the Soviet elites, manifested itself in the appearance of a narrow circle of his relatives and friends, nicknamed the "Family" in the media. The “reforms” carried out by his team devastated many ordinary Russians and caused massive unemployment. "Dashing 90s" gave the opportunity to appear a huge number of bandits and racketeers. The negative consequences of Yeltsin’s rule can be described for quite some time. But the main complaint against him is “a gathering of three together in Belovezhskaya Pushcha”.
Was there a chance to stop this man?
On August 19, 1991, the so-called “coup” took place in the country. The State Emergency Committee declared the need to prevent the transformation of a single USSR into an amorphous CIS, while maintaining the territorial integrity of the state. The Committee had many representatives of law enforcement agencies, so there were chances of preserving the country. But the population has already been poisoned by fairy tales about the fact that everything will be “like in the West”, 150 varieties of sausages will appear in stores, and everyone will switch to foreign cars. The political elites in the union republics were determined to exit, because they were well aware that they would take over all state property in the event of independence. As a result, the fooled people wanted both the USSR and “democracy” and did not support the GKChP, which the Yeltsin team turned into “putschists” as winners.
But if the GKChP prevailed? The Committee would have faced the question: to preserve socialism and continue to move towards building communism or to turn on the path of Western capitalism. If the first option were chosen, then the USSR could well have existed to this day, but if it were led by a man of scale I.V. Stalin. If the State Emergency Committee, having gained power, chose a market model, then they would most likely have become oligarchs, dividing enterprises and oil rigs among themselves, as the writer Yulia Latynina believes.
The late Boris Nemtsov, who now claims that Russia would fall apart without Yeltsin and his distribution of sovereignty to the regions, echoes her:
It seems to me that if Gorbachev did not have Yeltsin, he would have to invent him.
The opposite opinion is shared by writer Alexander Prokhanov:
If there were no Yeltsin, we would have a variant of China. But China would now be half as weak as we are.
Prokhanov believes that if the USSR had been preserved, he would have gradually moved into the market channel, but without painful reforms. Its development would be swift, since all resources would remain undivided: industrial, scientific, military and cultural.
It should be noted that the persons classified as “Family” are still in favor to this day. So, Yeltsin’s son-in-law, Valentin Yumashev, is an adviser to President Putin. Oleg Deripaska, known as an oligarch close to the Kremlin, was married to Yumashev's daughter Polina for a long time. Yeltsin’s other son-in-law, Valery Okulov, worked as Deputy Minister of Transport, and until 2017 he headed the Aeroflot company. Friend of “Family” Roman Abramovich is one of the richest people in Russia, but recently changed his citizenship to Israeli. And the main "privatizer" of the Yeltsin era and the fighter against communism, A.B. Chubais heads the state corporation RosNANO.
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