Yeltsin and the collapse of the USSR

popular radical

Yeltsin emerged as a popular radial at the very time when G was becoming increasingly unpopular and conservative

• yeltsin had a reputation fot attacking the corruption and privileges of the party

• He publicly attacked communists who opposed reform

• He campaigned in the 1989 elections for radical reform and won 90% of the vote in Moscow

• following his victory in the election he used his democratic mandate to criticise G and the communist party

• He helped form the IRDG in this sense he formed an organised opposition group within the congress of peoples deputies

yeltsin an the party

Yeltsin damaged the authority of the party by resigning from the communist party in july 1990 Yeltsin had been a popular member of the party and therefore when he left the party’s popularity declined indeed Yeltsin’s resignation was part of a mass exodus from the party during 1990 party membership dropped from 20m to 16m and party popularity dropped to a mere 18.8%

Gorbachev’s rival

by 1990 Yeltsin was Gs most high profile and popular opponent in June 1990 opinion polls showed that Yeltsin set out a rival and more radical programme to G Y presented himself as a rival leader who could lead a non communist government

Yeltsin and nationalism

Yeltsin was also significant because he advocated nationalism. by emphasising the rights and autonomy of Russia Yeltsin weakened the USSR.

Yeltsin also supported the growth of nationalism in other soviet republics during the summer of 1990 he visited several soviet republics advising their leaders to take as much sovereignty as you can swallow in 1991 Y supported the Baltic states declarations of independence from the USSR in so doing he supported the creation of nationalist governments that rivalled and undermined the USSR

rival powerbase

G consistently weakened his own power base. Y in contrast established a new powerbase through winning elections to the Russian parliament and the Russian presidency

Yeltsin had a democratic legitimacy as he had been elected G had never stood for an election and therefore the soviet people increasingly believed that Gs power was illegitimate

Yeltsin and the coup

Yeltsin also played a significant role in the destruction of the USSR due to his handling of the coup

• Yeltsin became the centre of opposition to the coup

• he used the coup as a pretext to ban the communist party in Russia

• he seized communist party assets undermining the party’s ability to control the union

• Yeltsin emerged from the coup as a hero whereas Gs reputation was further damaged

Yeltsin and the union

following the coup Yeltsin organised a secret meeting with the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus. the three leaders agreed to destroy Gs new union treaty by forming the CIS

following the meeting he persuaded the leader of the soviet military to abandon the USSR and form a new russia army. without an army G had no wau of holding the union together

conclusion

clearly Yeltsin played a key role i the last phase of the collapse of the USSR but there is considerable debate over the extent to which he, over G caused the collapse of the union