Perhaps Yeltsin's Presidency Was Underappreciated

April 24, 2007 — -- Boris Yeltsin was the most despised politician in today's Russia.

All he could muster in a recent popularity poll was 2 percent. He was the man who effectively put an end to the Soviet superstate, who took away socialist security and replaced it with wild capitalism and corruption.

During his term in office, the average Russian's per capita income fell by 75 percent. People had to stand in line and literally fight for a loaf of bread.

Most painful, though, he deprived Russians of their sense of pride.

As one Duma deputy bellowed from the parliamentary rostrum at the time, "We are nothing now! The world is no longer afraid of us!"

And this is the point. That was President Yeltsin's greatest achievement. He struggled to turn Russia around and worked hard to transform it into a predictable, democratic state in tune with modern, post-Cold War times. No longer did the world need to face up to that mysterious, threatening nuclear power, and interest was turned elsewhere -- toward investment in the Russian market.

Without Yeltsin, would we see a prosperous new Russia that once again is an international player, where the Moscow stock exchange is hot, where Moscow city streets can compete with Las Vegas' in terms of voltage put to spectacular lighting effect? Most likely not.

Hard Times but Strong Spirit

For a good few years under Yeltsin, Russians had to tighten their belts; basics were difficult to get hold of. Bread and potatoes were the staple diet.

But there was spirit! There was excitement and anticipation of better times. Russians could tune in to an independent TV station and get impartial news, or read and learn about the outside world and, given the funds, actually go and see the world. (Thought only as a dream back then, many Russians can afford it now.)

It was a heady time of democratic freedoms, despite the everyday hardships, and many Russians loved the new era of self-expression.

Yeltsin made it happen.

Many, on the other hand, conditioned by their Soviet upbringing, couldn't bear the thought of their superpower state (which the whole world feared) disintegrating and given up for grabs to capitalists. They couldn't bear to watch the game shows on their TVs and hear the rock music pumping out of market stalls selling decadent lipstick and, God forbid, imported jeans.

Yeltsin Polarized Russian Society

In Soviet times you had to be enterprising and sometimes even "bend the law" to make a respectable living, and maybe run a market stall. Many at the time, mostly young men in the provinces, saw a chance and brought their Soviet upbringing to good use. They diverted trains with precious natural resources. Through "good contacts," they bought sought-after Russian-made Lada cars straight from the factory and sold them for double the price on the now legal open market. Fortunes were made overnight.

After some years of clever trading and investment, some were found by the roadside riddled with bullets. Others made it and are now the so-called oligarchs -- people who, for better or worse, co-run today's Russia.

Yeltsin allowed this to happen. In his defense, could Yeltsin at the time have predicted that these new entrepreneurs would get out of hand? Was their activity that very much different from what was happening in the United States only three or four generations back?

During his presidential tenure, everything was up for grabs. Capitalism and enterprise were "good." Soviet law, still in place in the early '90s, never foresaw the eventuality of a free economy. Most of what the future oligarchs were doing at the time was within the legal framework.

Yeltsin's government favored the new liberal economy, and it would have taken extra-human foresight to predict that using Russia's mostly natural wealth would soon make these people powerful enough to have a say in state affairs.

Soon, Yeltsin found himself surrounded by these so-called oligarchs. Men with the power only money can buy.

But the outside influence on Russian government was nothing new. Vast and diverse as Russia is since czarist times, rulers had to reckon with powerful princes and local warlords. Today's oligarchs are not that different.

Every culture and country has its own traditions and ways of securing stability. The oligarchs fit into the picture of contemporary Russia like a missing bit of a jigsaw.

Yes, Yeltsin turned a blind eye to the emergence of oligarchs, but he worked within Russian tradition and the principles of newfound capitalism.

A Longtime Communist

Many of the most pro-Western and reformist rulers in Eastern Europe had been members of communist parties. For most of his life, Yeltsin also was a communist.

He climbed the ladder of party hierarchy from the bottom to the very top. Having inside knowledge, he dismantled the intricate communist apparatus thoroughly.

Yeltsin took Russia onto a new path. It was a tedious and unspectacular process, but during all his years in office he managed to incapacitate the Soviet structure to the degree that now the country could never go back to its old ways, at least in economic terms.

He managed to buy time and fend off the then still strong Communist Party until a free economy took root. Most Russians have embraced economic liberalism to the degree that now makes it unthinkable that Russia could ever turn back the clock.

This is probably Yeltsin's greatest achievement.

A Spoiled Superpower?

Yeltsin inherited the legacy of the Soviet Union, complete with all the trappings of a superpower obsessed with "spheres of influence" and having a "major say" in world affairs. The country's weakness during Yeltsin's time took away all that, and Russia ceased to be a world power.

This is something for which Russians will never forgive Yeltsin. They will never accept the fact that they had to trade in their "world fears us" status for their Western lifestyle, as much as they enjoy it. They want both.

For the foreseeable future, Russians will remember Yeltsin as the spoiler of a superpower.

Being no longer a citizen of a superpower may hurt. But there was a tradeoff: Yeltsin helped bring world media attention to Russia.

Unfortunately, few Russians today appreciate how much Yeltsin had done for the image of their country.

Rather, most will remember his public image, which took many hits in Russia's evolving media.

Too Many Drinks, Politically Incorrect

On more than one occasion he may have had a drink or two too many, but the press was interested. And sometimes he may have been on the wrong side of political correctness -- but he lived and functioned in '90s Russia, where the concept of political correctness was foreign!

Again, cameras were rolling and he made news.

Boris Yeltsin gave Russia a human face -- sometimes with puffy eyes and swollen features from too much drink -- but human all the same. He cracked jokes on the spur of the moment, and his humor never had the telltale signs of being engineered by image-makers.

Sometimes they turned into gaffes -- but what could be better bait for the media?

Russia got the world's attention. Ridiculed or not, there was an underlying sympathy for this man.

Yeltsin was, finally, a Russian leader who was human -- flesh and blood.

Maintaining Foreign Ties

Gaffes on Yeltsin's foreign visits were the norm, but he still enjoyed very good and friendly relations with President Clinton and, closer to home, most European leaders. He also managed to maintain unconfrontational ties with most of Russia's neighbors.

Many of his Russian critics dismiss Yeltsin for not standing up to the West and for allowing Russia to slip into military weakness. He may have neglected foreign policy in the old-school military sense, but he managed to make Russia a trustworthy partner in the world economy -- something that today's Russia is capitalizing on.

There are more questions to be asked and more doubts to be raised about his term in office. He managed people rather poorly and surrounded himself with associates who were there for the privileges and not for the country. He turned a blind eye to corruption, presumably accepting that it was an old-standing, intrinsic Russian phenomenon. He did little about the soaring crime rate and never got around to implementing a true legal system.

But after after more than 70 years of totalitarian rule, he managed to redirect the course of Russia's development. In practical terms, this meant uprooting a mentality more than two generations old. No mean feat.

Changing the Political Culture

Most importantly, however, Yeltsin managed to peacefully dismantle an oppressive political system in a vast, multinational country with nuclear weapons. He set up pluralism and democracy, freedom of speech and private ownership among people oblivious to democratic tradition. He broke new ground and opened Russia to the world. It is easy to criticize him in hindsight, but no one before him had ever done that.

Russia went through a difficult time during most of Yeltsin's term in office. Today, few Russians see a link between the price they paid back then and the dividends they now reap.

As time goes by, fewer Russians associate their current prosperity with President Boris Yeltsin. Fewer still miss the civic liberties and independent media that he gave them and that today are sacrificed for the sake of a centralized, almost Soviet-style state.

On the eve of the new millennium, Yeltsin passed the country to his successor, Vladimir Putin. It was a typical Yeltsin surprise -- he asked Russians to forgive him for all his mistakes. Then he retreated from politics and went to live at his country home. After bypass surgery in 1996 and a history of heart ailments, he was visibly relieved to cast off the responsibility. He could often be seen at tennis tournaments, but no longer in politics.

Most revolutions devour their children, only for them to go down in history two or three generations later. Many who were respected abroad were slighted at home. In spite of his public missteps, at least some Russians believe Boris Yeltsin will eventually be remembered as the man who sowed the seeds of democracy on post-Soviet territory -- remembered and possibly even respected -- even in his homeland.