Boris Yeltsin

Boris Yeltsin.

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was born on February 1st 1931 in Sverdlovsk Russia, now known as Yekaterinburg. His parents were Nikolai and Klovdiya Yeltsin, his father worked in construction and in 1934 was convicted of anti-soviet agitation and spent 3 years in the gulags. Boris Yeltsin was well educated and graduated from both Puskin high school and the Urals Polytechnic Institute with a major in constructing. Despite blowing off two fingers with a live grenade in his youth Boris was a master craftsman. In 1955 his first year in the construction business he mastered numerous skills for example stonemasonry, carpentry, glazing, driving and plastering. This achievement itself gained Boris a promotion. He became foreman and worked on numerous jobs in the Urals. In 1956 Boris Yeltsin married Naina Girina, a former student he knew in college. They had two daughters Yelena and Tatiana born in 1957 and 1959 respectively. After holding down various high profile jobs such as chief engineer he joined the communist party of the Soviet Union [C.P.S.U] in 1961. By 1969 he was made chief of housing and construction in the Sverdlovsk region. He rose through the ranks and in 1976 was elected First Secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional committee for the C.P.S.U. In 1977 Yeltsin received an order from the Kremlin to destroy Ipatyev house, this is the historical building were the last Tsar of Russia was killed by Bolsheviks. Yeltsin demolished the house overnight; in the morning every brick had been removed and placed in the city dump, even the ones from the foundations.

In 1985 Boris moved to Moscow by Gorbachev’s request. Were he took the role of first sectary of Moscow city for the C.P.S.U. This promotion allowed him to be a member of the politburo, but in 1987 Boris openly criticized the sectary of the C.P.S.U for slow reforms. As a result Boris lost his position in the party and in the politburo. Around this time Boris was also suffering from heart conditions and was hospitalized. On the order of Gorbachev KGB agents made Yeltsin leave the hospital to attend a meeting of the committee whereby he was ousted out of the party. Despite all this Yeltsin was appointed vice chairman of the state committee on construction.

In 1989 Boris was appointed Congress of Peoples Deputies of the U.S.S.R. He was also elected public speaker of the Supreme Soviets of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialists Republics in May 1990 {R.S.F.S.R}. By this time Yeltsin was known to be outspoken about Mikhail Gorbachev and other communist hardliners. In 1991 Yeltsin even called for President Gorbachev’s resignation, in a live public television broadcast. Also in June 1991 Yeltsin was appointed President of the Democratic elections, and to make peace Gorbachev was there to congratulate Boris on his triumph.

After the August coup Gorbachev resigned on the 24th Dec 1991. Yeltsin took over government and installed a man called Yegar Gaidar to be his Prime Minister, who in turn started to introduce one of the most ambitious economic reforms in Russian history. In included things like liberalization of prices and private businesses and also private ownership of land. The reform was soon in danger because of Yeltsin’s pure incompetence and his activities with the pro-inflation forces. After this was discovered the party held a referendum which was held on April 13 1995. Voters expressed their confidence in Yeltsin and to add to that 52% still had faith in his reforms. Other people such as Khasbulatov and Rutskoi were not so happy and had armed supporters storm the Mayors office and T.V station ostankino. The very next day troops loyal to Yeltsin fought there way into the building and arrested the main leaders of the coup including Khasbulatov and Rutskoi. On Dec 12 1993 the party held another referendum and the state Duma granted amnesty to all leaders of the 1991 and the 1993 coups.

Yeltsin’s reforms were still not going to plan, there was serious organized crime, unemployment had risen, Living standards had dropped and one third of the population was living in poverty. Plus the education, health and police was not receiving the correct funding and so could not operate at there optimum. Around the same time in 1994 President Yeltsin sent Russian troops into Chechnya to suppress the Chechen fight for independence. Thousands of innocent people were killed and many more people became refugees, because of this Yeltsin’s popularity fell to an all time low of just 6%.

In 1995 Yeltsin suffered two major heart attacks, yet despite his ill health and low ratings he wanted to run for President for a further 4 years. His claim for this second presidency run was that he wanted to fulfil his economic reforms. He had hoped that the Chechen war would be over by time elections come around. He went public and said “ They are sending 18 year old kids with no experience to fight against professionals” He demanded Chechen leaders Dzhokhov Dudayev, Salman Raduyev and Shamil Basayev be caught and shot. Yeltsin also criticized the Defence minister Pavel Grachev