Yeltsin (Edexcel A-Level History): Revision Notes

Yeltsin

Introduction

Boris Yeltsin played a pivotal role in the collapse of the Soviet Union between 1985 and 1991. Historians have examined different aspects of his contribution, identifying several ways in which he helped to dismantle the USSR. Yeltsin's significance lies not only in his political actions but also in his ability to capitalise on popular discontent, champion nationalism, and ultimately outmanoeuvre Gorbachev to establish an independent Russia.

Yeltsin's background and early career

Boris Yeltsin (1931–2007) served as the first President of the Russian Federation following the Soviet Union's collapse. He joined the Communist Party in the early 1960s and rose through its ranks during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1985, Gorbachev appointed him to the Central Committee, recognising his potential as a reformer.

Between 1985 and 1987, Yeltsin enthusiastically supported Gorbachev's reform programme. He became leader of the Moscow Communist Party, where he gained popularity by tackling Party corruption and challenging the privileges enjoyed by senior officials. Gorbachev also elevated him to the Politburo. However, by 1987, Yeltsin had become frustrated with what he perceived as the slow pace of reform and resigned from the Politburo in protest.

Yeltsin as popular radical (1986–1989)

During a period when Gorbachev was becoming increasingly cautious and unpopular, Yeltsin emerged as a popular radical voice calling for more extensive reforms. His public attacks on the Party establishment helped to expose its internal divisions and erode its authority.

Twenty-Seventh Party Congress (1986)

At the Twenty-Seventh Party Congress in 1986, Yeltsin made a bold statement by publicly denouncing the privileges enjoyed by senior Party leaders. He argued for a renewed emphasis on equality and called for multi-candidate elections to all Party positions. This stance resonated with ordinary Soviet citizens who resented the elite's special status, as well as with middle and lower-ranking Party officials who saw elections as an opportunity to advance their careers.

Exposing factionalism (1987)

In 1987, Yeltsin continued his radical campaign by publicly attacking Communist officials who opposed Gorbachev's reforms. By doing so, he exposed the factionalism that existed within the Party, thereby damaging its carefully cultivated image of unity.

As punishment for this challenge to Party unity, Gorbachev dismissed Yeltsin as leader of the Moscow Communist Party.

Nineteenth Party Conference (1988)

At the Nineteenth Party Conference in 1988, Yeltsin launched another televised attack on Party conservatives. This speech, broadcast to millions of Soviet viewers, further highlighted the deep ideological splits within the Communist Party leadership.

Electoral success (1989)

Yeltsin's attacks on the Party establishment between 1986 and 1988 made him extremely popular with Soviet citizens who despised the privileges of senior officials. His advocacy for multi-candidate elections also attracted support from middle and lower-ranking Party members seeking career advancement. This popularity translated into electoral success: during the 1989 Soviet elections, Yeltsin won a landslide victory in Moscow, securing an impressive 89 per cent of the vote.

Following this victory, Yeltsin became one of the founders and the leader of the Inter-regional Deputies' Group, which functioned as an opposition political party within the new parliament. From this point forward, Yeltsin established himself as Gorbachev's leading opponent, providing a focal point for those seeking more radical change.

Yeltsin in 1990: the turning point

Yeltsin's actions throughout 1990 significantly accelerated the Soviet Union's disintegration.

Chair of the Russian Congress

Elections to soviets took place across all Soviet republics during 1990. In May, Yeltsin was elected Chair of the Russian Congress of People's Deputies, Russia's new parliament. This position gave him an institutional power base from which to challenge Soviet authority.

Declaration of Russian sovereignty

In June 1990, just one month after Yeltsin became Chair, the Russian Congress declared Russia's sovereignty. In practical terms, this declaration meant that Russian laws would take precedence over Soviet laws. Whilst the Baltic republics had already declared themselves sovereign, Russia's declaration carried far greater significance because Russia contained approximately 75 per cent of the Union's population.

Resignation from the Communist Party

In July 1990, Yeltsin publicly resigned from the Communist Party in a highly dramatic fashion. This resignation significantly weakened support for the Party, as it symbolised a rejection of the Party by one of its most prominent members. Yeltsin's resignation formed part of a mass exodus from the Party: during 1990, Party membership plummeted from 19.2 million to 16.5 million members. Party popularity amongst the Soviet population also collapsed to a mere 18.8 per cent.

Growing popularity

Throughout 1990, Yeltsin's popularity increased as Gorbachev's policies appeared increasingly unsuccessful and confused. By June, opinion polls showed that Yeltsin had become more popular than Gorbachev amongst Russian voters. From 1990 onwards, Gorbachev adopted a more cautious approach to reform, whereas Yeltsin clearly and consistently advocated for market reform and democracy. Russian people viewed Yeltsin as one of them – someone who understood their problems and knew how to solve them. In contrast, they increasingly saw Gorbachev as distant and out of touch with the country's difficulties.

Yeltsin and nationalism

Yeltsin's attitude towards nationalism proved to be another significant factor in the Soviet Union's collapse. He actively encouraged both Russian nationalism and the independence movements of non-Russian republics, using nationalism as a tool to outmanoeuvre Gorbachev and consolidate his own power.

Embracing Russian nationalism

His election as Chair of the Russian Congress symbolised the growth of Russian nationalism, as this position enabled him to speak on behalf of the Russian nation. Becoming Chair was therefore central to the process that culminated in the declaration of Russian sovereignty.

Election as Russian President

To consolidate his power base in Russia, Yeltsin stood for election as Russian President. His election to this position in June 1991 carried enormous significance: it gave him the democratic legitimacy to speak and act on behalf of Russia. Moreover, it granted him a governmental status that rivalled Gorbachev's. From this point, Gorbachev had to accept a secondary role within Russia and was forced to begin renegotiating the relationships between the republics.

Encouraging other republics' independence

Yeltsin did not limit his nationalist agenda to Russia alone. During the summer of 1990, he visited several Soviet republics, advising their leaders to "take as much sovereignty as you can swallow". This encouragement of regional independence movements directly threatened the Soviet Union's integrity.

In 1991, Yeltsin supported the Baltic states' declarations of independence from the Soviet Union. He publicly condemned the actions of Soviet troops in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, when they violently suppressed pro-independence protests. Gorbachev criticised Yeltsin for encouraging a 'parade of sovereignties' that threatened the Soviet Union's survival, but Yeltsin's support for nationalist movements continued regardless.

Yeltsin and the new elite

Division within the Party

According to this interpretation, Gorbachev's Communist Party was never truly united. Instead, significant divisions existed between senior and lower-level Party members. Senior Communists generally wanted to preserve the Soviet Union because their status and power depended on the Communist Party and the Soviet system. Lower-ranking officials, however, viewed Gorbachev's reforms as an opportunity to improve their positions. Some Communist officials joined nationalist movements or purchased state-owned factories during the early 1990s privatisation to advance their careers and protect their power and privileges.

Champion of lower-ranking officials

Yeltsin had championed lower-ranking Party officials since the mid-1980s. Indeed, one reason for his dismissal as Moscow Party Leader in 1987 was his decision to remove established Party officials and replace them with younger members. Gorbachev criticised this as a dangerous policy of "instability of cadres".

Emergence of a counter-elite

Yeltsin's rise to power, and the growing dominance of Russia over the Soviet Union, led to the emergence of a new elite at the expense of the old Soviet elite. The statistics are revealing: of the 230 people who served as ministers under Gorbachev from 1985 to 1991, only nine remained at the top level of Yeltsin's government after the coup.

From this perspective, Yeltsin's power base consisted primarily of former Party officials and government officials rather than people associated with the Soviet Union's new democratic institutions.

Yeltsin, the coup and counter-coup

Yeltsin's handling of the August 1991 coup attempt proved decisive in the Soviet Union's destruction. His response to the coup transformed Soviet politics and accelerated the Union's collapse.

Transformation of strategy

Successful response to the coup

Yeltsin's strategy for dealing with the coup proved extremely effective. He publicly denounced the coup as unconstitutional and demanded Gorbachev's return as President. However, simultaneously, he encouraged popular uprisings against the Communist Party. Across Russia, statues of Lenin were demolished, often with the assistance of Russia's security services.

Yeltsin's response to the coup effectively constituted a counter-coup. He ordered the suspension of the Communist Party and the closure of Communist Party newspapers, including Pravda. He surrounded the Communist Party headquarters with armed police. This counter-coup proved devastatingly effective, essentially destroying the Communist Party's power in Russia.

Dismantling the Communist Party

In the weeks following the coup, Yeltsin aggressively moved to break up the Communist Party:

• At the end of August, the Communist Party was suspended across the entire Soviet Union
• In early November, Yeltsin banned the Party in Russia and seized all of its money and property
• Yeltsin published extensive evidence of Party corruption obtained from Communist Party files
• In November, Yeltsin announced that Russia was taking control of the Soviet oil and gold industries

Slow consolidation

After the coup was crushed, Yeltsin moved surprisingly slowly to consolidate his position. He lacked a clear plan for building democracy in Russia or replacing the Soviet Union. Notably, after the coup's defeat, Yeltsin went on holiday to consider his options rather than immediately introducing reforms or demanding the Union's dissolution.

Yeltsin and the Union's end

A final perspective on Yeltsin suggests that he was crucial to the Soviet Union's demise because he could have saved it but chose not to. From this viewpoint, Gorbachev simply lacked the authority to revive negotiations for creating a new Union after the coup. Yeltsin, however, was more popular than ever and therefore could have attempted to revive the Union. Instead of supporting Gorbachev's negotiations, Yeltsin backed the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Abandoning the Union

Russia was more economically developed than most other republics, and without having to support them, Yeltsin assumed economic reconstruction would proceed more quickly and easily. Similarly, he believed he had a better chance of establishing democracy on a national scale than across the whole Union. In this sense, he chose to build Russia rather than save the Union.

The Ukraine referendum and the CIS

Yeltsin only reached this decision in December 1991, after the people of Ukraine voted to leave the Union in a referendum. Immediately following the referendum, Yeltsin organised a secret meeting with the leaders of Ukraine and Belorussia. The three leaders agreed to support the CIS, thereby destroying Gorbachev's plan for a new Union treaty. Following the meeting, Yeltsin persuaded the leaders of the Soviet military to abandon the Soviet Union and form a new Russian army.

Historical interpretations of Yeltsin's role

Historians have debated Yeltsin's significance in the Soviet Union's fall, with different scholars emphasising various aspects of his contribution.

Peter Kenez's interpretation

Kenez highlights several key aspects of Yeltsin's role:

• His conflicts with conservative Communists, which increased his popularity
• His creation of the Russian presidency as a power base
• His establishment of contacts with other republics and his tolerant view of nationalist aspirations
• His public condemnation of Soviet violence in Vilnius in January 1991

George W. Breslauer's interpretation

Breslauer emphasises that whilst earlier Soviet leaders' actions (such as Khrushchev's reformism or Brezhnev's conservatism) had precedents in Soviet history, Gorbachev's decision to transform the system and Yeltsin's decision to destroy and replace the Leninist system "were unprecedented acts by political leaders of the system itself." He argues that "one cannot explain these choices without reference to these leaders' personalities and beliefs."

Comparing the interpretations

Whilst Kenez clearly argues that Yeltsin's actions in 1991 led to the collapse, emphasising his particular importance, Breslauer takes a more balanced view, suggesting that both Gorbachev and Yeltsin were crucial. However, Breslauer still acknowledges Yeltsin's unprecedented decision to destroy the system entirely, highlighting the personal agency and individual choices that shaped these historical events.

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