Due Date June 1 Here you will find all the lecture notes: PERESTROIKA, GLASNOST, AND GORBACHEV What I want you to know: Mikhail Gorbachev is remembered in Soviet history as the man that nailed the first nail in the coffin of Soviet Socialism. His ideas for reform of the Soviet Union’s economy and society were radical in the mid-’80s. He felt that he could somehow improve the Soviet Union and revive its ailing economy. He had no idea that what he started would end the Soviet Union instead of saving it. I. Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev Born March 2, 1931, in Privolnye in Southern Russia Became a Party Boss in the Stavropol krai and by 1985 had become General Secretary of the CPSU 1986, influenced by Yuri Andropov’s attempts at reform, Gorbachev began his period of political openness (Glasnost’) and economic “Perestroika” (restructuring) intended to modernize the USSR and “democratization” the Soviet Government 1990: Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his reform efforts. 1991: Removed from office in the August Coup and replaced by Boris Yeltsin. Today, Gorbachev gives many speeches worldwide and is very busy with humanitarian groups. He founded the Green Cross an international organization that is concerned about preserving the Earth’s environment. He still lives in Moscow. II. GLASNOST’ 1986 Gorbachev un-cuffed the press and no longer censored & punished journalists for openly criticizing the government, economy, and political officials. Dissidents were released from prison. Andrei Sakharov, a prominent Physicist who was arrested on the streets of Moscow and deported to Gorky for protesting the Soviet’s involvement in Afghanistan, was released in 1986. Banned literature, art, and music were legalized again. Solzhenitsen’s “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, Akhamatova, Pasternak. Now the Soviets could again enjoy the fruits of their famous artists. Peaceful protests were allowed in the streets. (Tatars in Red Square). Religion became tolerated again and believers were no longer persecuted. History, crimes, and mistakes of the Government were revealed. (Stalin, nuclear testing, accidents) So much was being revealed that in 1988, the school history exams were canceled because the Soviet people were only then learning the “real” history. Chernobyl accident became a watershed. Four days went by before the Soviets admitted to their neighbors that there had been an accident. After that, the Soviets came clean and kept the rest of the world informed about it. The facts were coming out and the Soviets were demanding more and more. The press began openly printing, with names, negative information re: Govt. etc. III. PERESTROIKA= “RESTRUCTURING” Gorbachev wanted to revive the sagging Soviet rate of industrial and agricultural output with a two-pronged approach: 1. Psychological: needed to improve worker discipline. Number one problem: Alcoholism Began a major crackdown on alcohol. The sale o ...

1. Due Date June 1
Here you will find all the lecture notes:
PERESTROIKA, GLASNOST, AND GORBACHEV
What I want you to know: Mikhail Gorbachev is remembered in
Soviet history as the man that nailed the first nail in the coffin
of Soviet Socialism. His ideas for reform of the Soviet Union’s
economy and society were radical in the mid-’80s. He felt that
he could somehow improve the Soviet Union and revive its
ailing economy. He had no idea that what he started would end
the Soviet Union instead of saving it.
I. Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev
Born March 2, 1931, in Privolnye in Southern Russia
Became a Party Boss in the Stavropol krai and by 1985 had
become General Secretary of the CPSU
1986, influenced by Yuri Andropov’s attempts at reform,
Gorbachev began his period of political openness (Glasnost’)
and economic “Perestroika” (restructuring) intended to
modernize the USSR and “democratization” the Soviet
Government
1990: Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his reform efforts.
1991: Removed from office in the August Coup and replaced by
Boris Yeltsin.
Today, Gorbachev gives many speeches worldwide and is very
busy with humanitarian groups. He founded the Green Cross an
international organization that is concerned about preserving the
Earth’s environment. He still lives in Moscow.
II. GLASNOST’
1986 Gorbachev un-cuffed the press and no longer censored &
punished journalists for openly criticizing the government,
economy, and political officials.
Dissidents were released from prison. Andrei Sakharov, a
prominent Physicist who was arrested on the streets of Moscow
and deported to Gorky for protesting the Soviet’s involvement

2. in Afghanistan, was released in 1986.
Banned literature, art, and music were legalized again.
Solzhenitsen’s “A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”,
Akhamatova, Pasternak. Now the Soviets could again enjoy the
fruits of their famous artists.
Peaceful protests were allowed in the streets. (Tatars in Red
Square).
Religion became tolerated again and believers were no longer
persecuted.
History, crimes, and mistakes of the Government were
revealed. (Stalin, nuclear testing, accidents) So much was being
revealed that in 1988, the school history exams were canceled
because the Soviet people were only then learning the “real”
history.
Chernobyl accident became a watershed. Four days went by
before the Soviets admitted to their neighbors that there had
been an accident. After that, the Soviets came clean and kept
the rest of the world informed about it.
The facts were coming out and the Soviets were demanding
more and more. The press began openly printing, with names,
negative information re: Govt. etc.
III. PERESTROIKA= “RESTRUCTURING”
Gorbachev wanted to revive the sagging Soviet rate of industrial
and agricultural output with a two-pronged approach:
1. Psychological: needed to improve worker discipline.
Number one problem: Alcoholism Began a major crackdown on
alcohol. The sale of alcohol was banned before 2. The number
of outlets sharply curtailed.
Personally visited towns/factories urging people to work harder,
warning that if they did not do better their country would suffer.
Gorbachev appeared in remote areas that no Soviet leader or
Tsar had ever visited.
2. Economic Reform: Goal diminished role of administrative
decision making.
a. Sharply curtailed role of GOSPLAN
b. Transferred economic decision making to the enterprise

3. -had to self-finance & make a profit a failure=bankruptcy
-could choose what they would produce
-could independently import/export without the Ministry
of Foreign Trade.
-For greater loyalty in the workplace, workers
could now elect managers and foremen by secret ballot.
-Small private business was allowed again.
-Joint ventures with the right to have foreign ownership
(49% max.). President and CEO had to be Soviet citizens.
Results:
Cooperatives, kiosks, and open markets boomed, and services
and foreign consumer goods appeared.
Ex: JV’s McDonalds & Pizza Hut
Problems:
Stigma on the financially successful
If industries sell a product at “market price”, who could afford
it?
Pensioners
Housing
IV. DEMOKRATIZATION
*The immediate cause for the fall of the Soviet Union.
A. 1989: Congress of Peoples’ Deputies (a new
representative organ) was created and filled by competitive
elections. 2/3 via local elections in territorial constituencies.
1/3 Reps of “public organizations”. Allowed representatives
from the CPSU but also high-caliber deputies from creative &
scientific unions. Example: Academy of Sciences (Andrei
Sakharov)
1. Inner body-smaller “Supreme Soviet” met constantly.
*Surprise! The real debate took place and political leaders could
be called to account for actions. BIG!!!!
*Beginnings of new political coalitions and parties. Although,
87.8% of first deputies were members of the CPSU.
B. 1990-Each republic was allowed to elect and set up its
own parliaments.
C. Gorbachev became the first elected president in 1990.

4. Elected by Congress of People’s deputies. The next election
was to be nationwide and open.
D. Boris N. Yeltsin became the first directly elected
President of Russia in June 1991
*Ended badly for Gorbachev. While on holiday in Crimea, the
hardline Soviet leaders barricaded themselves in the White
House and attempted to take over the Soviet Union again and
turn back all reforms in August 1991. Yeltsin eventually
overthrew them, and Gorbachev resigned.
YELTSIN AND THE COUP
THE PLAYERS IN THE COUP
I. THE DEFENDERS OF DEMOCRACY:
Mikhail Gorbachev: President of USSR/General Secretary of
CPS Under house arrest in Foros.
Boris Yeltsin: President of the Russian Federation/Leader of the
Defenders of Democracy. In Moscow
The President’s Men:
Alexander Rutskoi: V.P. Russia
Konstantin Kobets: Defense Minister of Russia
Alexander Korzhakov: Yeltsin’s chief bodyguard
Sergei Kovalyov: Deputy
Boris Nemtsov: Deputy
Sergei Yevdikimov: Commander of tanks in
Tamansky
100,000+ Moscow patriots
II. THE PLOTTERS/MEMBERS OF THE STATE COMMITTEE
FOR THE EMERGENCY:
Gennadi Kryuchkov: KGB Chairman/Leader
Dmitri Yazov: Defense Minister USSR
Oleg Shenin: Communist Party Secretary
Oleg Baklanov: Politburo Member; defense industry chief
Valentin Pavlov: Prime Minister
Victor Boldin: Gorbachev’s Chief of Staff
Gennadi Yanaev: Soviet V.P.

5. Boris Pugo: Interior Minstry
Anatoli Lukyanov: Chairman of Supreme Soviet; Gorbachev’s
best friend.
BORIS YELTSIN CHRONOLOGY
December 1985 Yeltsin was elected the first secretary of
the Moscow city party committee.
February 1986 Yeltsin elected a candidate member of
the politburo.
October 1987 Yeltsin criticizes perestroika and
Gorbachev’s rule at a central committee plenum and falls from
favor.
November 1987 Yeltsin was severely censured and
removed as the first secretary of Moscow.
February 1988 Yeltsin was removed from the politburo
and appointed first deputy chairman of State Construction Trust.
Member of Central Committee of the Party
March 1989 Yeltsin was elected by Moscow to the
USSR Congress of People’s Deputies, the Soviet legislature.
March 1990 Yeltsin was elected by Sverdlovsk as
deputy to the Russian Congress of People’s Deputies, the
national legislature of the Republic of Russia.
May 1990 Yeltsin was elected chairman (speaker)
of the Russian Supreme Soviet (standing parliament).
June 1990 Russian Congress adopts a Declaration
on the Sovereignty of Russia.
July 1990 Yeltsin quits the Communist party at its
28th Congress.
August 1990 500-Day Program for economic reform
is drafted but later rejected by Gorbachev.
January 1991 Soviet troops seize the Vilnius
television station, killing fourteen. Yeltsin flies to Tallinn and
signs a Treaty of cooperation with Baltic republics.
February 1991 Yeltsin calls on television for
Gorbachev’s resignation.
March 1991 Popular referendum shows majority

6. support for the preservation of a renewed Soviet Union but also
for the popular election of a Russian president.
April 1991 Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and heads of eight
other Union republics sign the Novo-Ogaryova Agrova, which
initiates negotiations to replace the Soviet Union with a loose
confederation.
June 1991 Yeltsin was elected president (and Alexander
Rutskoi VP) of Russia in a landslide.
August 1991 Reactionary security ministers and their
colleagues attempt to depose Gorbachev and take power.
Yeltsin leads the resistance to the coup from the Russian White
House.
October 1991 Yeltsin becomes prime minister of the
new Russian government and delegated economic reform.
Gennady Burbulis and Yegor Gaidar. Supreme Soviet grants
Yeltsin extraordinary powers of Rule by decree.
November 1991 Yeltsin issues a decree banning the
Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
December 1991 Yeltsin and the leaders of Belarus and
Ukraine sign the Beloverzshy Agreement, effectively dissolving
the Soviet Union and creating the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) in its place.
December 1991 Gorbachev resigns and hands over the “nuclear
button” and the general secretary’s secret archives to Yeltsin.
At the Kremlin, the Soviet flag is replaced by the Russian flag.
March 1993 Yeltsin drafted a decree on the
emergency rule, but the constitutional court declares it
unconstitutional.
March 1993 A parliamentary motion to impeach
Yeltsin narrowly fails to receive the necessary majority.
April 1993 Yeltsin receives a clear vote of
confidence for himself and his reform policies in a national
referendum.
September 1993 Yeltsin decrees the dissolution of the
Russian parliament, but rebel deputies led by Rutskoi and
Speaker Khasbulatov refuse to leave the White House.

7. October 1993 Yeltsin orders security ministries to
suppress the rebellion of the parliament and its supporters. The
official death toll after the storming of the White House is more
than a hundred.
December 1993 Elections are held for the new
parliament, called the Federal Assembly, consisting of the State
Duma and Council of Federation, Gaidar’s party, Russia’s
Choice, does poorly, and extremist Vladimir Zhirinovsky gains
a quarter of the vote. A new Russian Constitution is approved.
BORIS YELTSIN 1991-1999
What I want you to know: A man with a strong personality but
no experience with democracy is good to lead a revolution but
dangerous as a builder of democratic institutions.
I. Post-Coup
A. Vacuum at the Political Center
1. KGB: 5 Generals-including Kryuchkov in prison, 29 to-
ranking officers fired, and 13 officially admonished.
2. Military: Defense Minister Dimitry Yazov & top General
Valantin Varreninikov=prison. 8 deputy Defense Ministers, 7
Commanders of Military Districts of the Army and Navy are
sacked.
3. CPSU: Deeply compromised by supporting the coup. The
majority of Secretariat, Central Committee, 2/3 of regional
party organizations, and 70% of local Soviets supported the
State Committee of the State of Emergency.
*Since the leadership of the S.U. had been decapitated. The
former Soviet Republics turned to their own governments for
leadership and the S.U. broke apart within 4 months.
-All Republics declared independence.
-All Government bodies of SU suspended
-Former power of SU ended up in the Russian
Republic.
B. Gorbachev & Yeltsin: The Final Act
1. Gorbachev finally accepted defeat on Dec 25, 1991.

8. 2. Y & G met 8 times in the meanwhile.
a. Yeltsin insisted that G not make any decisions without
his consent.
*G just could not change his ways. He did not understand that
everything was different now.
3. A transitional Government was created giving the powers
of the USSR Congress of People’s Deputies to a Council of
Heads of State. A body made up of the President of the USSR
and the leaders of the Union Republics.
4. Yeltsin recognized that the Union of Sovereign States
would never come together as planned and began working on an
alternative plan. The Beloveshky Agreement of December 1991
created the CIS and effectively removed Gorbachev from power.
5. Recognizing defeat, G submitted his compensation
package that included a healthy pension indexed to inflation, a
presidential apartment, dacha, car and driver, and a foundation
(A large, fully equipped building) in the center of Moscow.
Yeltsin met all his demands.
*Dec 24, 1991, Gorbachev passed the “Nuclear Button” to
Yeltsin, and it was over: the Soviet Union was dead.
II. The First Russian Republic
. A. Bad Choices from the Beginning
1. Yeltsin wanted to have continuity in his new government.
*He believed that though new, young, bold people were needed,
he felt it was possible to use some of the work-experienced
executives, organizers, and leaders to stay in the Gov’t.
2. His focus was on improving the economy quickly; not
restructuring the government.
3. He decided to keep the parliamentar y system that
Gorbachev had chosen. Reelections for the legislature would
wait. (Fatal mistake!)
4. He also kept the state structure of the Soviet Union in
place. Said in his memoirs: “It would have been disastrous to
destroy the Government administration of such a large state.”
B. Dyarchy or Dual-Power
1. Gorbachev had chosen not to revise the Soviet

9. Constitution of 1978 and simply grafted the strong executive
presidency onto the two-tiered parliamentary system.
a. This led to a constant and ongoing power struggle between
the executive and legislative branches.
*Big Problem: Parliament enjoyed extensive powers under the
existing Constitution and was dominated by conservative
groups, was able to block the executive’s ideas about
constitutional reform, and undermined the government’s
economic reform program.
2. Yeltsin and the Russian Federation adapted this same
system and it led to civil war by 1993.
C. Congress out of Control
1. By 1993, the Congress of People’s Deputies, using its
power to amend the Constitution, had introduced 320 changes to
the country’s Basic Law aimed at strengthening the Congress
and weakening the Presidency.
2. Inexperienced with Democracy, the need to form
coalitions, cooperate with other gov’t branches, and the need to
be responsible to the people they represent, Yeltsin and
Parliament (under the leadership of Ruslan Khasbulatov) began
a bitter battle to the end.
3. Nov/Dec 1991: Yeltsin tried to ban the Communist party,
but it was overturned by the Constitutional Court. Because of
this, a deputy called on the Constitutional Court to remove
Yeltsin for numerous infringements on the Constitution.
a. Motion failed but the idea kept coming up.
4. To try to appease Congress, Yeltsin replaced Egor Gaidar
(a strong economic reformer and acting Prime Minister) with a
centrist candidate, Victor Chernomyrdin.
5. March ’93-Congress stripped Yeltsin of his right of
emergency powers that allowed him to issue decrees having
equal force with laws adopted by Parliament (given in Nov
1991).
6. April ’93: Yeltsin (fed-up with Congress) decided to
appeal to the Russian public for a vote of confidence.
*58% expressed confidence in Y

10. *53% expressed confidence in the gov’t social-economic
policies.
*2/3 in favor of holding early elections for a new Parliament.
D. October Civil War 1993
1. On September 21st, Yeltsin decided that the Parliament
needed to be dissolved, so he could start fresh. New elections
Dec 12
2. Predictably, the Constitutional Court announced Yeltsin’s
decree unconstitutional and offered grounds for removal
3. Sept 22, Supreme Soviet made V.P. Rutskoi acting
President of Russia.
a. Rutskoi names acting defense minister and acting
security minister.
4. Oct 3-Rutskoi assembled at the White House a force
consisting of:
-3 battalions of Moscow reservists
-100 Spetsnaz soldiers (special forces)
-former police operatives
-volunteer detachment of Cossaks
-representatives of the ultra-left communist youth group.
-a well-trained neo-Nazi unit of storm-troopers.
*Mass rallies were organized by 3 pm 5-10,000 people swarmed
the White House.
5. Oct 4-Yeltsin forces assaulted the White House and
crushed the rebellion.
-145 people killed
-733 wounded
E. Results
1. Elections are held for the new Parliament in December.
2. Yeltsin becomes an increasingly paranoid, harsher, and
more brutal leader. He begins to distance himself from the
“Democrats”.
*Surrounds himself with trusted confidants “The Family”
*Lives under special “mini-KGB” protection.
III. The Second Russian Republic
A. Parliamentary Elections Dec ‘93

11. 1. Voters approved a new draft Constitution that embodied a
strong presidency.
2. New Duma disappointing for Yeltsin. Dominated by
leftists=anti-reformers.
B. Invasion of Chechnya
1. Dec 1994-Russia invaded Chechnya to intimidate former
Soviet Republics in the Caspian region and to warn off the west
and its oil companies from working there.
*Prompted by Sept ’94 agreement. Azerbaijan signed 3
landmark offshore oil deals worth $8 billion with western oil
companies.
2. At first, the invasion was popular with elite Russians who
were becoming increasingly imperialist about the “near abroad”.
Soon, the war and the human loss for Russians made it
increasingly unpopular. It still is a big problem for Putin today.
C. Corruption
1. Tycoons like Boris Berezovskii and other Oligarchs began
manipulating Yeltsin via his daughter, Tatiana Diachenko.
=Wealthy became wealthier, and all become above the law.
2. Rule of law could not or would not be established under
Yeltsin.
*Rule of Law: Based on the praise of rules. What we in the
West live by. Rules, rather than being seen as prisons, or
impediments to developing rich and supportive communities,
are seen as the conditions for freedom and diversity because
they limit, with the force of law, those that seek to limit others.
3. Yeltsin gets involved in various corrupt practices.
a. Eliminate the economic enemy of “Family Members”:
*Vladimir Gusinskii, media mogul and banking magnate is
picked for a “hit” by Yeltsin’s “Presidential Security Service”.
Dec. 2, 1994, narrowly escaping death, Gusinskii flees abroad
for safety.
b. Restoration of Chechnya
*Secret Decree No 86: Earmarked $6.6 billion from the federal
budget to reconstruct Chechnya. It never made it there.
According to the Russian press, it ended up lining the pockets

12. of Yeltsin and his friends.
4. June ’96: Presidential Elections. Yeltsin is elected for a
second term by narrowly defeating Communist Party leader
Gennadi Zhuganov.
D. Soft State
1. Absence of rule of law and legal culture.
Thomas Remington, a Political Scientist described Yeltsin’s
Russia as:
“Yeltsin’s Russia today displays all the pathologies of a
soft state: the government cannot ensure the policy is carried
out, or even guarantee the timely payment of wages to
employees; announcements about new state agencies and
progress are made and soon forgotten, and a crisis in law
enforcement is manifested by the enormous rise in organized
crime, deep government corruption, and lax fiscal control.”
2. The Russian citizens saw Yeltsin’s soft state as failing to
provide basic protection according to a poll conducted in early
1999.
3. In a nationwide poll in 1999. Answer to the question: Is
the country heading in the right direction?
*6% said yes
*71% said the wrong direction
*13% said not moving at all
IV. What went Right?
A. Glasnost continued
B. Democratic Elections: state and local dumas, regional
Governors=healthy decentralization of control
C. Rise in strong, pro-democracy reform parties. Ex:
Yabloko, United Russia
*Against this background, Vladimir Putin became Yeltsin’s
candidate for June 2000 elections. Yeltsin resigned early (Dec
1999) and Putin won the election in March 2000.
Some information about political parties in the early Russian
Regime appears below.
Excerpt from: The Russian Way; Zita Dabars and Lillia
Vokhmina, 2nd Edition. Pp 60-64.

13. POLITICS & PARTIES
It was in 1989 that the first contested elections in the
Soviet Union in over 70 years took place. Gorbachev decided
that the seats for the Congress of People’s Deputies of the
Soviet Union should have competing candidates. For the first
time, ordinary citizens became politically involved. In the
process, many challenged the Communist Party officials. The
physicist Andrei Sakharov was one of the deputies elected; he
played a significant role when the Congress convened in May
1989. A political transformation took place as factions
mushroomed.
At the Twenty-Eighth Communist Party Congress in
July 1990, Gorbachev tried to maneuver between the right and
left factions and satisfied neither. Toward the end of the
Congress, Boris Yeltsin publicly announced his resignation
from the Communist Party. This action was repeated the
following day by St. Peterburg’s Mayor Anatoly Sobchak and
Moscow’s Mayor Gavriil Popov. Other important leaders soon
followed suit.
The failed coup of August 1991 against Gorbachev by
the hardliners signaled the end of the Communist Party as it had
existed for over 75 years. The party split up into opposition
factions which became separate parties. In December 1991 the
Soviet Union was officially dissolved. Power passed to Boris
Yeltsin. In June 1991, he was the first person to run in
nationwide elections for President of Russia. He won with 60%
of the popular vote. The dramatic events of September-October
1993, when Yeltsin’s forces overwhelmed his opponents at the
Communist-dominated Parliament, led to a proliferation of
political parties.
In 1994 there were over 60 political parties registered
with the Ministry of Justice in Russia; in 199 they numbered
over 100. Parties, which some in the West would not call
parties but voter blocs or political movements, are constantly
changing; they mature, merge, split, or dissolve. Having no
previous experience with a multiparty system, Russia is just

14. learning how to deal with them. At this point, the parties are
small and weak, and their allegiance is centered on a political
leader more than a philosophy.
The parties can be divided into three groups and various
subgroups. The three main groups may be called “democrats”,
“communists”, and “nationalists”. The latter groups have
similar philosophies and are joined in a Union of Patriotic
Strength. The communist-oriented parties want to see Russia
become a superpower with a state-run, planned economy,
following Marxist principles. Some desire the restoration of the
Soviet Union, at least of its Slavic part. Some denounce the
Bolshevik heritage. They invoke “socialism with a human face”
and an economy that is largely state-dominated but with some
small allowance for private enterprise.
Nationalist parties share a common view of Russia as a
superpower, with Russians as the dominant ethnic group. They
believe that Russia has its own unique destiny apart from the
Western world. Their economic platforms, however, differ.
Some advocate political pluralism and a mixed market economy,
while others want to bring back the monarchy, orthodoxy, and a
state-run economy. Nationalist parties are often backed by
paramilitary structures led by former “black berets” and Afghan
war veterans. In the parliamentary elections of December 1993,
the misnamed Liberal Democratic Party, with Vladimir
Zhirinovsky at its head, received 23 percent of the vote.
Zhirinovsky has proclaimed his desire to see Russia become a
colonial power and to regain the former territories of the
Russian tsarist empire, including Poland, Finland and the three
Baltic States, and even Alaska. At the end of the 1990s,
Zhirinovsky’s popularity fell to one-fourth of its former level.
In the 2000 elections, his party received only with difficulty the
5 percent vote essential for a party’s deputies to enter the
Duma.
There are about 30 democratically oriented parties. The
most important of them, as represented in the Duma, are
“Yabloko”, Fatherland-All Russia, and the Union of Right-Wing

15. Forces. These parties are pro-Western in favor of a free-market
economy and represent young, progressively minded
professionals, small business owners, and entrepreneurs.
The resurgence of the communist and nationalist parties
and the votes that they received in the December 1993
parliamentary elections came as a shocking surprise to many
who had expected the reformist parties to win. This resurgence
may have been a response to economic difficulties: as inflation
skyrocketed, many Russians lost faith in the reformers who
were pushing for a free-market economy. National pride was
also a factor, as the country lost its international clout and
superpower status. The military became dissatisfied; it no
longer enjoyed its preeminent position and was forced to absorb
units from Eastern Europe and the former republics into already
crowded quarters. The rural population of Russia’s vast
countryside, traditionally conservative, saw no reason to switch
and vote for the new reformist groups.
For the December 1999 parliamentary elections, the
Kremlin created in the fall of 1999 a pro-government party
referred to as the Unity Party. It became the party to support
the candidacy of Vladimir Putin for president; every prime
minister before him had a similar power base. This party was
formed not for ideological reasons, but to create a pro-
government, pro-presidential bloc in the Duma. By supporting
President Putin, the party would benefit.
One of the most important steps taken by this group was
the reorganization of the upper house of parliament, the
Federation Council. Putin wanted to deprive regional governors
of their seas, saying they should attend to their duties in their
regions. In the Yeltsin era, these governors ran their regions as
personal fiefdoms and often flouted federal laws. In place
federal of the democratically elected governors, the country is
divided into seven federal districts, which are controlled by
district governors appointed by the president. They are less
powerful than the elected regional governors were, and they are
responsible to the president. The central government has been

16. strengthened, and the seats in the Federation Council are now
filled by members elected by regional legislatures.
Russians hope that the new president can improve
conditions in Russia, but many are wary of him, assigning him
the “dark” or “black” horse. The fact that he was a KGB
operative in Dresden in then-Communist East Germany from
1984-1990 and in 1998-1999 headed this agency worries many.
“Once you have been a KGB agent you continue to think like a
KGB agent”, they say. Most people felt that in 2000 there was
no viable alternative for president. Almost all political parties
support Putin in the early 2000s, some primarily because he is
not like his predecessor, Yeltsin, who had squandered the
goodwill that the Russian people felt toward him when he
emerged as the hero of the new Russia in August 1991. Tired of
and disenchanted with Yeltsin toward the end of his presidency,
they are hoping that Putin, with his youth, decisiveness,
pragmatism, and reputation for being well-organized and not
scarred by corruption, will bring about a better future for the
people and their will be progress and a lessening of smothering
bureaucracy and corruption. Above all, Russians hope Putin
will bring the war in Chechnya to an end. Some worry about his
lack of support of free media, as evidenced in his battles with
the gutsy Vladimir Gusinsky. Gusinsky was jailed at one point
for embezzlement, but many believe that his sin, in the
government’s view, was a heading an independent media group
that served as a center of resistance to Putin’s political
machine. In April 2001, NTV was taken over by Gazprom, the
magazine’s entire staff was fired, and the newspaper was shut
down.
It is important to emphasize that Russia has a
presidential form of government with virtually all authority
vested in the president, who sits above the three branches of
power: Executive (the government headed by the Prime Minister
at the pleasure of the president), Legislative (the Duma, which
can be disbanded by the president, and the Federation Council,
which can be overruled by the Duma), and Judicial (which has

17. no tradition of being fair and independent). With the
introduction of the Federal Districts, the presidential control
over the provinces got stronger, and there is speculation that the
regional governors, though popularly elected, could become
vulnerable to firing by the president.
Study Guide Questions
General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev
1. Who is Mikhail Gorbachev?
2. What is Perestroika?
3. What is Glasnost?
4. What is Demokratizatsia?
5. When was the first contested election in the Soviet Union?
6. What were the psychological incentives (two) that Gorbachev
used to boost Soviet production?
7. What was Gorbachev's main priority for Perestroika when
launched in June 1987?
8. Name three features of Perestroika.
9. What results must Gorbachev produce to succeed? (4)
The Coup
1. Why wasn't Gorbachev surprised there was a coup? Give 3
reasons.
2. Why was the Army upset with the reforms?
3. Why do you think the Communist party hindered Gorbachev’s
reforms? Why do you think he did not get rid of the party?
4. How did Gorbachev punish Yeltsin for criticizing his
reforms?
5. In the end, what caused Gorbachev and Yeltsin to resolve

18. their differences?
6. What is the Union of Sovereign States?
7. What happened to Gorbachev during the coup?
8. What did Yeltsin do during the coup? (3)
9. How did the people of Moscow show support for Yeltsin
during the coup?
10. What happened to the plotters after the coup?
Yeltsin
1. After the coup, why was there a vacuum at the political
center? What did the republic do?
2. What finally removed Gorbachev from power?
3. Which of Yeltsin’s initial decisions about his new
government became fatal to the 1st Russian Republic?
4. What is a Dyarchy? Why did it cause so much trouble
between Yeltsin and Parliament?
5. Why was there another civil war in October 1993?
6. Why wasn’t Yeltsin happy with his new parliament in
December 1993?
7. Why did Russia go into Chechnya?
8. Why do people say that Yeltsin was corrupt?
9. What is the Rule of Law?
10. Who did Yeltsin compete within the ’96 Presidential
Elections? Why is that a worry for reform-minded democrats?
11. Name two indicators of Russia’s soft state.
12. How do Russians view the Yeltsin era today?
Discussion:
Watch the attached video about the collapse the Soviet Union
and read the lecture notes provided in this unit. Do some
personal research on the topic. Answer the question: What are
your impressions of the August Coup and the collapse of the
Soviet Union? Report on your impressions on what you
learned and include your source website strings and pictures.
Provide valid links for all of your sources.

19. Due June 8
Fixing the Economy
What I want you to know: The Russian economy has been
through some tough times, but it is on the upswing and it will
not be long before we see Russian products competing in our
own marketplace.
I.Background
Definitions:
Command Economy = Managed economy (Planners). Prices are
set artificially. Often, they are not close to the price for that
product in a market economy.
Market Economy=Prices are determined by the natural
interaction of supply and demand in the market. Prices are
equal to real value. The Soviet economy was a command
economy. The concentration of labor and resources was in
heavy industry (especially in the military-industrial sector).
Sacrifices were in consumer goods. Soviet consumers had to
deal with shoddy products and shortages. The sectors of
agriculture, transport, and service were ignored.
II. Gorbachev’s Perestroika.
There was a gradual but controlled move towards a market
economy.
A. June 1987: Law on State Enterprises
-Was designed to move enterprises to full-cost accounting
over a two-year period. Began the process of rolling back the
frontiers of the State by starting to dismantle the huge planning
Bureaucracy.
B. May 1988: Law on Cooperatives
-Removed restrictions on cooperative economic
activity (stopped in 1929) and opened the door to privatization.

20. *Gorbachev’s reforms were efficient at demolishing the
command economy but failed to put a viable alternative in its
place.
III.Yeltsin Era: “Let the good times roll!”
At the end of the Gorbachev era, many elements of the
command economy were still evident, including state subsidy of
many enterprises, controlled prices, a centralized supply
system, etc. With the break-up of the Soviet Union, Yeltsin felt
free to pursue a policy of radical economic reform.
A. “Shock Therapy”
This was a sudden and rapid move towards a market
economy. It was supposed that although it would be painful, it
was better to get it over with quickly than do it slowly.
January 1992:
1. Prices freed.
2. Government subsidies to industry were cut back.
3. Full autonomy and financial accountability to state-owned
enterprises.
4. To soften the blow to the people, the Russian government
maintained a commitment to a program of social welfare to help
the needy.
5. To force monetary stability, Yeltsin’s government pursued a
policy of trying to balance the budget.
6. Opening the economy to the world market would promote
competition, inward investment, and efficiency.
B. Privatization continued during this period. There was a
move to privatize services, the retail sector, and the
establishment of joint-ventures with foreign ownership. State-
owned housing, farming, and eventually the industrial sector
was privatized.
1. In October of 1992, the government approved two plans
for privatizing state-owned industry:
a. Managers, directors, and employees got shares of their
firms.
b. Vouchers were distributed to the population which
represented their nominal share of the state-owned

21. industry. Vouchers could be used to buy shares or simply sold
for cash.
c. Results
1. By the end of 1993, 2/3 of the 14,500 firms picked for
privatization had been transformed into joint-stock companies
owned mainly by their workers.
2. It is estimated that by the end of 1995, 73% of the
industrial assets had been transferred to private hands.
3. The Government continued to control key sectors.
*By purchasing and accumulating vouchers is how many people
got fantastically rich in Russia. Most of the average people had
no idea what the worth of their vouchers really had if
accumulated and cashed in or purchased ownership of industry.
**Former officials, directors of factories, and former
communist officials used their positions to acquire shares in
their factories dishonestly.
C. Costs
1. 1989-1996 GDP fell by 60% with a greater decline in
industrial output.
2. There was widespread tax evasion, corruption, and tax
fraud, and that severely hampered the government’s
indebtedness (recall, IMF loans in the early ’90s).
3. Because of the failing economy, politically people chose
Communists and Nationalists in the Duma elections of ’93
& ‘95 over democratic, reform-minded candidates.
4. By September 1997, unemployment had risen to 9% of
the workforce (65 million Russians). This resulted in delayed
payment, payments-in-kind, multiple jobs, unofficial or illegal
commercial deals, and growing one’s own food at the dacha.
*It is estimated that only about 10% of the population
experienced a real increase in income between1991-96. Recall
Oligarchs and New Russians. The rest lost out.
D. Financial Crisis of August 1998
On August 17th, 1998, the Russian Government announced

22. the devaluation of the Ruble and a 90-day moratorium on the
payment of external debts by commercial banks. The
Government was bankrupt.
Results:
1. Ruble fell to half its value.
2. Prices of food changed hourly.
3. Inflation soared.
4. People and Enterprises scrambled to get their money
out of the banks. Most failed and their savings and accounts
were wiped out in the suspension of the banks.
5. Belief in the future of the Government and economic
reforms disappeared. The Government was dissolved within the
week.
6. The emerging middle-class was destroyed.
7. Many said that the crisis was worse than our Great
Depression.
*Silver Lining: As a result of this crisis, many say that it was
the death of the speculative economy based on quick mega-
profits and financial manipulations. It was replaced by a real
producing economy with professional managers quickly
replacing the poorly educated newly rich Russians with bad
manners. It was the beginning of a new era in the Russian
Economy.
THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY REVISITED IN 2003
What I want you to know: The Russian economy is in a growth
mode. The Government has set high goals and is determined to
reach them. Essential laws protecting property rights and
worries about the aftermath of the wealth redistribution of the
early 90s have overshadowed Putin’s Governments efforts.
I. After the August Crisis
Professional political managers came to power. The Left and
radicals became less popular.
Results:
=This means that society no longer entertains the illusion
that somebody else, and not the people themselves, can quickly

23. change their lives for the better.
=People learned to count on themselves to improve their lives.
=Irreversible market reforms are the result
1. Statistics:
A. The middle-class has grown to up to 25% in cities.
B. People are trusting the banks again. Over twice as much has
been deposited in banks over pre-crisis amounts.
1998=$2.9 Billion
2003=$7 Billion
C. Consumer spending is up in travel, auto purchases, home
improvement, electronics, and furniture.
D. By June 2002, real cash incomes had exceeded August 1998
pre-crisis levels by 5.4%. Wages in June 2002 were 18.7%
higher than wages in 1998.
Managing Russia After the Crisis
09 October 2009
By Odd Per Brekk
The international crisis dealt a severe blow to the Russian
economy. The lower oil prices and reversal of international
capital flow to emerging markets hit the country hard because
the shocks struck just as the economy was on a steep upturn and
Russia’s dependence on oil made it particularly vulnerable.
As a result, economic activity fell precipitously. Faced with this
challenging turn of events, the government mounted an
economic policy response that was swift and unprecedented in
its scale and contents. The banking pressures were addressed
through large-scale liquidity injections and rescue of problem
banks, while fiscal policy became expansionary. At first, the
Central Bank allowed gradual exchange-rate depreciation into
early 2009, drawing on its foreign reserves to moderate the
pace. This allowed banks and corporations to bolster their
foreign exchange positions and brought the ruble in line with
the new fundamentals implied by lower oil prices.
Looking forward, the global economy suggests a slow recovery
as it will be facing deleveraging, corporate restructuring, and

24. slow job growth. Similarly, Russia cannot expect a rapid return
of high oil prices or large capital inflows. We should therefore
foresee a fairly modest recovery in Russia combined with a
weaker balance of payments than in recent years.
This sobering outlook has important implications for the
country’s economic strategy. Clearly, the government’s
response over the last year has helped preserve stability, which
is a prerequisite for the resumption of growth. In fact, since
mid-2009, there have been signs of economic stabilization. But
large challenges remain. The central goal will be to turn the
tentative signs of a rebound into lasting economic growth while
preserving the stabilization gains. In this regard, Russia faces
delicate trade-offs, as well as room for improving the boost to
economic growth, both in the short and longer-term.
Consider first the short-term policy priorities. Ensuring a
healthy banking system will be critical for the resumption of
credit supply. This underscores the need for a proactive and
comprehensive strategy so that banks have the capacity to lend
once the economy recovers. Key elements of this strategy
should include mandatory stress tests of major banks to obtain
better assessments of their viability. These tests should, above
all, reveal whether banks have adequate capital or have the
ability to raise more capital if needed, either from private
sources or from the envisaged bank recapitalization by public
funds.
Turning to budget policy, the cautious fiscal policy of the past
has left Russia with a low public debt level and sizable buffers,
creating “fiscal space” for relaxation. But the size of the
relaxation should not be so large as to undermine the quality of
public spending. Moreover, the use of the Reserve Fund for
budgetary financing is effectively the same as printing money
for this purpose, and this could easily threaten the stability of
the ruble. The good news is that with a better composition of
the fiscal stimulus, Russia could achieve the same boost to
domestic demand with lower fiscal deficits. To this end, the

25. fiscal stimulus should enhance social safety nets and
infrastructure projects. Also, the government should keep in
mind longer-term fiscal policy objectives. Emphasizing self-
reversing spending categories now would allow more flexibility
in budget policies later. The more convincing the medium-term
fiscal plans are, the stronger the fiscal boost will be today.
On the monetary policy side, the Central Bank is facing a
balancing act. Inflation is coming down and may undershoot the
target this year. But at the same time, the ruble remains
vulnerable to swings in oil prices, banks are still liquid, and the
fiscal expansion may renew pressures. On balance, however, the
gradual relaxation of monetary policy envisaged by the Central
Bank would seem appropriate. But there is clearly a need for
careful implementation to avoid instability while keeping an eye
on capital flows, the exchange rate, and depositor confidence.
Looking beyond the crisis, there is broad consensus on the need
for Russia to achieve economic diversification. This would hel p
Russia realize its economic potential and also make the country
less vulnerable to the vagaries of financial and commodity
markets. Diversifying would not necessarily mean an increase in
hi-tech industries but could equally well involve such sectors as
light industry and tourism. To achieve real diversification,
however, Russia will need significant investment.
The reform agenda is well-known. The most important priorities
are a rollback of state control, easing of entry for new firms,
reforms of the public sector, strengthening anti-corruption
efforts, and gaining accession to the World Trade Organization.
While the commentary on Russia’s medium-term policies tends
to focus on these structural reforms, we should not lose sight of
the macroeconomic foundations for balanced economic growth.
Both medium-term government budget policy and monetary
policy will play critical roles in how Russia recovers. As for
medium-term budget policies, the central issue is how the
country over time would best benefit from its natural resource
wealth. One option would be to conservatively aim for a public
spending level consistent with the income that the government

26. will derive from petroleum over the long haul. Taking the 2009
budget as the starting point, this would require considerable
restraint in government spending once the economy recovers,
while at the same time underlining moving forward with deep
and comprehensive public sector reforms. Other options toward
fiscal viability entail large fiscal adjustments. Whichever option
is pursued, conservative fiscal policies will preserve Russia’s
competitiveness and limit “Dutch disease” by avoiding
excessive reliance on natural resources.
The second important condition for achieving sustained growth
is to anchor inflation at a low and stable level. This can be
achieved through higher domestic savings and investment. To
this end, formal inflation targeting must become a goal of the
government. The Central Bank has been making progress on the
technical preparations for formal inflation targeting.
Encouraging recent examples include increased exchange-rate
flexibility and more public statements explaining interest rate
decisions.
Russia must now concentrate its efforts on how to foster
sustained growth. For the near term, the governme nt’s strategy
on the banking and budget sides should aim to facilitate early
recovery and protect stability. Russia has vast economic
potential, and unleashing it will require a deliberate and broad
economic strategy that encompasses sound macroeconomic
policies and structural reforms.
Odd Per Brekk is senior resident representative at the
International Monetary Fund in Moscow.

27. STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS
Fixing the Russian Economy
1. What is the Command Economy?
2. What is the Market Economy?
3. Describe the Soviet Economy (3).
4. Describe two major reforms from the Perestroika era.
5. What did Perestroika do to the economy?
6. What was Shock Therapy? (3)
7. What is a voucher?
8. Name the two ways that State industry was privatized in
October 1992.
9. What were the results of this privatization?
10. What did most people do with their vouchers?
11. How did the former bosses get a big piece of Russia?
12. Name two costs of the efforts at fixing the Russian
economy?
13. How did the Russians survive this period?
14. What happened on August 17th, 1998?
15. What were the results of this crisis?
16. Why do the Russians say that the August Crisis has a silver
lining?
Economy Revisited
1. Why is it important that after the crisis the government began
to be run by professional political managers?
2. Name 3 positive things that happened as a result of the
August 1998 Crisis.

28. From the CIA World Factbook: Russia:
1. What is the estimated GDP per capita (per person) last year?
2. What is the Russian currency?
3. What are Russia's primary export commodities?
4. What is the number one import commodity?
From "Managing Russia After the Crisis"
1. Why does Odd Per Brekk suggest that the Russian economy
will recover slowly after the 2009 world economic crisis?
From the 2021 OECD Economic Forecast for Russia
1. According to the OECD, is Russia's GDP expected to grow
(+) in 2021?
The Prompt
1. The Women: Read this excerpt below of an economic case
study of three women and their lives right at the time of
economic transition from planned to free-market.
State your thoughts on the following:
· What would you have done to survive during this time?
· How do you think this could have been prevented? Do you
think it could have been prevented?
· How can Russia become a "Rule of Law" nation?
In the discussion please post your thoughts on how these
women lived and the economic choices that they had to make.
One student discovered this economic tool to help her
understand the value of the ruble and purchasing power from
1997 to the present. If you like numbers, please visit: The
inflation Tool
WOMEN & SURVIVAL
Excerpts from a study done by Michael Buraway, Pavel Krotov,
and Tatyana Lytkina; “Domestic Involution: How Women
Organize Survival in a North Russian City”. Found in: Victoria
E. Bonnell and George W. Breslauer, eds., Russia in the New
Century: Stability or Disorder (Boulder: Westview Press, 2001).
Background Notes: This study was done in a small arctic town
called Syktyvkar in the Komi Republic. There are two factori es
focused on-the city’s garment factory (Red October) and its

29. furniture factory (Polar). The interviews were conducted in
1994-95 and then the subjects were re-interviewed in 1998-
1999. The portions taken are verbatim from the text.
Marina: For a Roof over One’s Head
The stereotypic Soviet citizen often has been described as a
dependent, bereft of initiative, passive in the face of adversity,
helpless without state handouts, and jealous of those who enrich
themselves. At first sight, Marina looked as though she fit the
stereotype. When we interviewed her in 1995, she was still
working at Polar, hanging on in the hope of early retirement (at
the age of 45), to which she would be entitled based on her
hazardous work. But she was denied this because her registered
job classification was not designated as hazardous. Still, she
didn’t leave even though by 1995, wages had been irregular and
falling for two years and most workers had already left. She
complained a lot about all the stealing that was taking pl ace at
the enterprise, both by workers and by managers. She recently
had turned down a job in retail since such work-so she said-was
immoral.
At the age of 47, in February 1998, Marina was laid off. She
received 1,500 rubles in kind (a divan), half of the six months’
liquidation wages owed her by the law. At the time of our
second interview (April 1999), she was still waiting for the
remaining 1,500 rubles. When the six months were up, she
registered at the Employment Agency in search of work but so
far had found none. “Who wants to employ a pensioner,” she
says, “when there are so many young people looking for work?”
So she depends on monthly unemployment compensation of 375
rubles (75 percent of her regular wages-the amount provided for
by law, for the first three months of unemployment) in food,
and another 310 rubles in medical assistance for her son, who
has chronic asthma and gastritis.
Marina lives with her second husband, who also worked at Polar
until wages became irregular. He quit in 1993 for a
construction company job, which also failed to meet his
expectations, after which he took a job caring for the Municipal

30. Parks. Again, he didn’t last six months before turning to
unemployment. That was in 1994. Now he is working for the
Ministry of Internal Affairs as a joiner. He receives 300 rubles
a month, more or less regularly, but again only in kind--a bus
pass, food. The latest insult was 100 rubles worth of so-called
Humanitarian Aid, which was, as Marina described it, only fit
for their dogs. He used to do odd jobs on dachas, building
stairs or bathhouses, but as Marina asked rhetorically, “Who has
the money to pay for such work nowadays?”
Marina and her husband have two children, a daughter of 16 and
a son of 15. Marina frequently mentions her son’s disability,
which often keeps him out of school. She is proud of her
daughter’s outstanding academic accomplishments and is hoping
that through connections she may somehow go on to the
university. These accomplishments are even more amazing,
given their deplorable housing conditions. The four of them
live in one room of a ramshackle, frame cottage: Marina’s
sister, who receives the minimum unemployment benefit of 130
rubles, lives with her young daughter in a smaller, adjoining
room. It is difficult to comprehend how the six of them can
exist together in this tiny, dark, dank space. They heat their
room with a small store, carry water from an outside wall, and
use an outhouse.
Marina and her first husband inherited this cottage—originally,
a duplex—from its owner. When they divorced, they split it
equally. Her ex-husband sold his half, which lies abandoned
and demolished; but Marina and her family refuse to evacuate
the other half. The land has been granted to a developer who is
eager to erect a new apartment building on this prime real estate
near the center of town. But Marina won’t budge. By law, her
cottage cannot be demolished until all registered there have
been re-housed. At the time of the first interview, she had
already turned down a modern two-room apartment, holding out
for the three rooms to which she was entitled. Since then, she
has been offered a two-room apartment in a frame building, and
most recently, space in a hostel. As the offerings of the city

31. council have become less attractive, she has become even more
determined to hold out for her three-room fantasy, knowing that
until she gets her way, she is denying some private developer
sumptuous profits.
Their only other source of sustenance is their dacha, bought
some 15 years ago, soon after they married. Until 1992, they
used to raise chickens and pigs there but stopped because they
didn’t have the money for feed. At the first interview, they
were still growing vegetables at the dacha; but by the second
interview, Marina was complaining that almost everything they
grew was stolen. In the realm of dacha production, as in their
income and their housing conditions, their life has progressively
deteriorated.
Marina considers herself a troublemaker. At Polar, she
protested the ubiquitous stealing as well as her job
classification. She has waged a protracted war against the
municipality for many years, in the vain hope of improving her
deplorable housing circumstance. Bereft of material and skill
assets inherited from the past, cut off from redistributive
networks, she is reliant on the state for the little income she
receives. But she is hardly passive.
Tanya: Working the Kinship Network
While Marina plays her citizenship assets—
unemployment benefits, sick benefits, and housing rights—for
all they are worth, Tanya works on her social assets, and her
diverse kin networks, to keep herself afloat.
Tanya is effectively a single mother. At the age of 44,
she shares a one-and-a-half-room apartment in a frame building
with her daughter (20) and son (23). At the time of the first
interview (1995), she still worked at Red October, but only
intermittently because of her asthma and weak heart. Her pay,
200 rubles a month was about half that of her coworkers; and
during the previous year, she had seen only 70 rubles a month in
cash, having received the rest in kind, at the factory shop. She
finally left her job in 1997 because of poor health. She now
lives on her disability pension of 400 rubles. She used to do

32. some sewing on the side, but stopped, fearing that the tax
inspectors would discover this activity and take away her
pension.
Tanya’s first husband died by drowning. She shed no
tears over it since he was an inveterate drinker and used to beat
her. Her second husband was Bulgarian, a member of Komi’s
Bulgarian colony. When communism ended, he returned home
to Bulgaria and soon began to send Tanya money. She had even
spent six months with him there. At the time of the first
interview, she wanted to join him permanently with her
daughter; later, she wanted to divorce him. Her life was in
Komi, with her two children.
Tanya’s son was wounded while serving in Chechnya.
At the time of the first interview, he had recently returned, a
changed person from the gentle boy she knew. When his
drinking sprees made him abusive and violent, his sister and
mother had to leave the apartment. He had been irregularly
employed as an electrician, but he rarely saw any wages. Three
years later, with tears welling in her eyes, she told us that a
year earlier he’d been imprisoned for petty crimes. Tanya’s
daughter in contrast—even though she too had found no
permanent work-brought smiles on her face. The daughter was
about to deliver a baby. Its father was a policeman with no
desire to marry her. They hoped he would at least pay child
support.
So how does Tanya get by? Her parents in the village
nearby help with food (vegetables and sometimes meat). Her
mother can sometimes offer her money since she runs a
successful practice in homeopathic medicine. Tanya’s eldest
sister also helps her with clothes, and in an emergency, with
money. As a social worker she doesn’t earn much, but her
husband had a lucrative job as a plumber in a meat processing
plant until he had a heart attack and died the previous year, at
48. Tanya’s other sister, also older than her, used to work at
Red October but is now employed at a kindergarten. She can’t
help Tanya materially, but they have always shared their

33. sorrows and delights.
Since the first interview, Tanya’s relationship with her
mother-in-law during her first marriage had taken a new turn.
As a grandmother to Tanya’s children, she had always helped in
small ways. She was of German descent, and like so many of
Komi’s ethnic Germans, she had reconnected with her kin. She
was now living with her brother in Berlin but continued to visit
Komi, as she was employed in German automobile export. She
proposed that Tanya marry her other son, the younger brother of
Tanya’s first husband and that together with her daughter they
move to Berlin. Tanya smiles whimsically at the thought,
concluding once more that her future is here in Syktyvkar, close
to her own family.
Tanya is not working. Having inherited little from the
past other than her sickness, she gets by on minimal support
from the state and assistance from her close-knit family
(parents, sisters, and mother-in-law). She is the center and
beneficiary of a redistributive kinship network. Resignation
mixes with the fantasy of escape, as she contemplates her
future; but the security of family ties wins the day.
Natasha: The Two-Earner Household
When we first interviewed Natasha in 1995, both she
and her husband were receiving unemployment compensation, at
75 percent of their wages. Today, unemployment compensation
is set at the so-called minimum wage of 87 rubles a month,
except for those who lose their jobs through liquidation or
restructuring. Any job would pay better than that, so we were
not surprised to learn at our second interview that Natasha had
found herself new employment.
Natasha began her work career in 1970, at the age of
16, in what was then a small furniture shop and later became a
modern factory of Polar. She worked there for 24 years. When
wages became irregular and work stoppages more frequent in
1994, she quit her job. As a worker in the hazardous lacquer
shop, she might have retired if she had stayed another four
years; but instead, she opted for unemployment compensation

34. for two months, and then found a temporary job as a painter,
though her husband’s sister. When this job ended, she again
was left unemployed. Her husband, 43 years old, had worked as
a carpenter in a local construction company until pay became
irregular, whereupon he too left his job for one in the
municipality—thanks, again to his sister. Like his wife, he only
lasted a few months before returning to the construction
industry. Again, pay became so irregular that he left for
unemployment, which together with his disability pension came
to 500 rubles. At the time of the first interview, they were both
on unemployment, bringing in less than 1,00 rubles for a family
of four—themselves and their 11-year-old twin daughters.
Their income, therefore, was on a par with the poorest of our
respondents; but their living conditions, as we shall see, were
much better.
Their elder son, age 23, was living in a room in a hostel
with his wife and child. He worked as a chauffeur or an
enterprise director, which meant that he could use the car for
private purposes. Natasha’s daughter, age 21 used to work at
Red October and was living with her family in a two-room
apartment (inherited from her husband’s parents). Natasha
would like to help her daughter, but she can’t even afford to
feed, clothe, and buy school supplies for her two younger girls.
The only plus in her circumstances is the modern, three-room
apartment she received through the municipal queue for large
families. They have a plot of land where they grow potatoes,
but they have no dacha. They sometimes take the children to
Natasha’s parents’ village, where Natasha grows some food, and
where her 74-year-old mother helps by knitting clothes for
them.
When we returned in July 1997, both husband and wife
were employed: she, as a cook in a canteen, and he, with the
Municipal Parks. She received a low wage of 350 rubles, with
an occasional bonus of 100 or 150 rubles. His wage was much
higher, at 800 rubles, but he rarely saw more than 200 rubles,
with some of the difference being made up in food. Natasha

35. said they were much better off on unemployment, but when that
ran out, they had to find jobs. They were desperately short of
cash to pay for their children’s needs.
We interviewed Natasha again in May 1999 and
discovered that they were still in the same jobs. She was
earning wages and bonuses of between 600 and 800 rubles a
month as well as subsidized meals. He was still receiving
between 800 and 1,000 rubles, on paper. Wages were usually
paid in kind (food and housing maintenance). But in summer
there was work on the side, which could bring in 50 rubles a
day, plus a meal. On top of this, her husband was receiving a
disability pension of 300 rubles a month. They were still
having difficulty making ends meet, and Natasha was making
plans for her teenage daughters to go to a technical college,
where they would learn catering.
In comparison with the three interviewees, Natasha had
inherited more from the old regime. She had an extensive
network of kin in town and country as well as a modern, three-
room apartment. At the time of the second interview, Natasha’s
son was trying to exchange the three-room apartment for a two-
room apartment for his parents and a separate, single-room
apartment for his family. He hoped to then combine this with
his hostel room in order to obtain a two-room apartment. But
the plan came to naught. Even a seemingly nonfungible asset
such as an apartment can be traded in, and the proceeds
distributed among family members. Although she appears to be
better off than Marina, Tanya, and Sveta, Natasha and her
husband struggle daily to meet their family’s basic needs.
Due June 8
What I want you to know: I want you to understand the basic
political system of Russia.
I. Basic System: Semi-Presidential Federation
President
The Head of State represents Russia abroad and at home.

36. Elected every 6 years
Can serve 2 consecutive terms. June 2020 Constitutional
referendum erased Putin's previous terms and resets his term
limits to potentially 2036.
Appoints and nominates the Prime Minister (Head of
Government).
Can issue decrees that have the power of law unless they
contradict federal laws.
Can disband Duma
Commander-and-Chief of the armed forces
2. Executive Branch
Chief of State: Vladimir Putin
Head of Government: Mikhail Mishustin
The Cabinet: The "Government" is the premier, his deputies,
and ministers, all appointed by the president. The Duma also
confirms the nomination of the premier.
3. The Federal Assembly-Parliament or Legislative Branch
Bicameral=Federation Council & State Duma
The Federal Assembly forms committees and commissions
to resolve issues and is empowered to pass laws.
4. The Judicial Branch
Three types of courts:
The courts of general jurisdiction (including military courts)
are subordinated to the Supreme Court The municipal court is
the lowest adjudicating body in the general court system. It
serves each city or rural district and hears more than 90 percent
of all civil and criminal cases. The next level of courts of
general jurisdiction is the regional courts. At the highest level
is the Supreme Court. Decisions of the lower trial courts can
generally be appealed only to the immediately superior court.
The arbitration court system under the High Court of
Arbitration courts is in practice specialized courts that resolve
property and commercial disputes between economic agents.
The highest level of the court resolving economic disputes is
the High Court of Arbitration.

37. The Constitutional Court (as well as constitutional courts in
several federal entities) The Constitutional Court is empowered
to rule on whether or not laws or presidential decrees are
constitutional. If it finds that a law is unconstitutional, the law
becomes unenforceable and governmental agencies are barred
from implementing it. The judges of the Constitutional Court,
the Supreme Court, and the Higher Arbitration Court are
appointed by the parliament’s upper house, the Federation
Council
5. Federal Administration
89 administrative units that are divided into republics,
territories, regions, cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, Jewish
Autonomous, and other autonomous regions.46 provinces
(oblasti, singular - oblast), 21 republics (respubliki, singular -
respublika), 4 autonomous okrugs (avtonomnyye okrugi,
singular - avtonomnyy okrug), 9 krays (kraya, singular - kray),
2 federal cities (goroda, singular - gorod), and 1 autonomous
oblast (avtonomnaya oblast')
Russian republics were created on broadly ethnic lines
Republics have constitutions, parliaments, and governments
that can pass their own laws so far as they don’t contradict
Russian law.
Territories may pass their own charters and other legislative
acts. Set local taxes and maintain public order and legal affairs
The trend recently is to grant greater powers of government
to these administrative units and to reduce central government
interference in local government.
Putin wanted a mechanism of central control of the
provinces=Institution of Presidential Representatives 7 Federal
administrative provinces. President appoints each personally.
Each has a staff of 100 Each unit assumes and coordinates
authority over officials from many other federal agencies that
set up branches in the federal capitals. Examples: Ministry of
Justice, Tax Police, FSB
* Purpose: To have agents of the central state who would
remain unswervingly loyal to directives from Moscow. They

38. could be removed if they failed to bring provincial legislation in
line with federal law.
* In the past, Governors ran their regions like personal
kingdoms and flouted federal law. Now there is more control
over them.
II. The Party System
Has beginnings in Perestroika era. Many political organizations
and movements began during this era and created the foundation
for a multi-party system.
After the fall of communism, political parties were allowed
again.
1994-60 political parties
1999-over 100
2003-23
2018-64 registered parties, only 4 hold representation in
Russia's national legislature.
The main parties are: A Just Russia [Sergey MIRONOV, Civic
Platform or CP [Rifat SHAYKHUTDINOV], Communist Party
of the Russian Federation or CPRF [Gennadiy ZYUGANOV],
Liberal Democratic Party of Russia or LDPR
[VladimirZHIRINOVSKIY], Rodina [Aleksei ZHURAVLYOV],
United Russia [Dmitriy MEDVEDEV]
3. Four types of Political Parties
Communists: Want to see Russia become a Superpower with a
state-run planned economy, following Marxist principles. Some
desire restoration of the Soviet Union. Some invoke
“socialism with a human face”.
Nationalists: Russia as a Superpower. Russians are the
dominant ethnic group. Various views on the market economy
and political pluralism. Often backed by paramilitary structures
led by former “black berets” and Afghan war vets.
*In 1993, Vladimir Zhirinovsky”s party received 23% of the
votes for parliament. He openly proclaims that Russia should
become a colonial power and regain its former territories of the
tsarist regime including Poland, Finland, and Alaska. In the

39. 2000 elections, he received 2.7% of the vote.
c. Democrats: They are pro-Western and in favor of a free-
market economy. These groups represent young, progressively
minded professionals, small business owners, and entrepreneurs.
d. Pro-Government Party (President’s Party) United Russia:
Putin began a tradition of gathering his power base and giving it
party status. This party is not formed for ideological reasons,
but to create a pro-government, pro-presidential bloc in the
Duma. Putin is not a member of this party officially.
III. Who is in power?
President-Vladimir Putin
Prime Minister-Mikhail Mishustin
Study Guide Questions
1. How many years does the President serve? How many terms?
2. What is the Prime Minister’s position?
3. Name the two parts of the Russian Legislature.
4. What is the Institution of Presidential Representatives? Why
was it created?
5. Who hand-picked Dmitri Medvedev as the new Russian
President?
6. What are two political parties that have influence in Russian
politics besides United Russia?
7. What is the party “United Russia”?
8. When are the next parliamentary elections? (go on the
Internet to find this)
9. When are the next presidential elections? (go on the Internet

40. to find this)
10. Who are the President and Prime Minister of Russia?