12axes-testTake the test
Boris Yeltsin
Historical figureRussia1931-2007

Boris Yeltsin

President of Russia (1991-1999) · Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1990-1991)

First elected president of Russia, who faced down the 1991 coup and ended the Soviet Union, pushed through harsh market reforms, and used force in 1993 and in Chechnya.

Compare yourself See the 12 scores
Profile on 12 axes9 of 12 documented
ECONOMYSTATESOCIETYWORLDOwnershipMarketsWelfareAuthoritySecurityStructureMoralityReligionTechnologyCultureTradeForeign
Where they stood

Boris Yeltsin, axis by axis

  1. 01Ownership+50
    PublicPrivate
  2. 02Markets+60
    PlannedFree
  3. 03Welfare+30
    SharedSelf-reliant

    Ended price subsidies, and under him pensions and wages often went unpaid. Scored toward self-reliance because of what his policies did, not because of a stated principle.

  4. 04Authority+60
    DemocraticStrong leader

    Won contested elections in 1991 and 1996 and left office after a peaceful vote in 1999. But he dissolved parliament by decree in 1993, had it shelled, and set up a constitution with a very strong presidency.

  5. 05Security+50
    LibertyOrder
  6. 06Structure+35
    LocalCentral

    In 1990-1991 he backed the republics' sovereignty against the Soviet centre. As Russian president he used force to keep Chechnya inside the federation.

  7. 07MoralityNo clear record
    ProgressiveTraditional

    Few recorded positions on social or moral questions, so this axis, along with technology and culture, is left null.

  8. 08Religion+10
    SecularReligious
  9. 09TechnologyNo clear record
    EmbraceCaution
  10. 10CultureNo clear record
    MulticulturalNational identity
  11. 11Trade-30
    GlobalProtected
  12. 12Foreign policy-20
    CooperationStrength

    Agreed with Washington that the Cold War was finished and relied on IMF loans. He still opposed NATO's 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia.

3 axes have no clear record, so matching leaves them out.

Who was Boris Yeltsin?

Boris Yeltsin grew up in a poor rural family in the Ural region and trained as a construction engineer. He climbed the Communist Party ranks in Sverdlovsk, and Mikhail Gorbachev moved him to Moscow in 1985. He fell out with the Soviet leadership, and he left the party in 1990. In 1991 Russians elected him president, and he resisted the hardline coup that August. That December he signed the agreement that broke up the USSR. He won a second term in 1996 despite poor health and stepped down on 31 December 1999, handing power to Vladimir Putin.

Political views

  • Banned the Communist Party of Russia after the failed hardline coup of August 1991.Source: theguardian.com
  • Freed prices in January 1992 as the start of a fast move to a market economy. Inflation that year ran to roughly 2,000 percent.Source: theguardian.com
  • Ran voucher privatization from 1992, then the 1995 loans-for-shares auctions, which left major companies with a small group of owners.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  • Dissolved the Supreme Soviet by decree in September 1993. A new constitution that gave the president far greater power won approval in December.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  • Sent troops into Chechnya in December 1994 to crush its separatist government.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  • Signed a 1992 declaration with George H. W. Bush that the Cold War was over, and preferred a Europe-wide security system to expanding NATO.Source: en.wikipedia.org

Legacy

Admirers say Yeltsin stopped the 1991 coup, ended communist rule in Russia without a civil war and allowed real elections. Critics stress what his rule cost ordinary people. The economy shrank sharply in the 1990s, millions fell into poverty, and privatization created a few very rich oligarchs before the 1998 default. They also point to the shelling of parliament in 1993, which left 147 dead by the official count, and to the First Chechen War, which killed tens of thousands of civilians. By the time he resigned, few Russians approved of him.

How close are you to Boris Yeltsin?

Take the 12 Axes test and see which historical figure is your political twin, axis by axis.

Take the test

Boris Yeltsin: questions

Was Boris Yeltsin a communist?

He was a Communist Party member from 1961 and rose to senior posts. He quit the party in July 1990 and later led the fight against Soviet hardliners and the end of communist rule in Russia.

What was Yeltsin's shock therapy?

It was his fast switch to a market economy in 1992. Prices were freed and state firms were privatized. Inflation soared, many people lost their savings, and a small group of oligarchs grew rich.

Why did Yeltsin attack the parliament in 1993?

He and parliament were locked in a power struggle. He dissolved it by decree, deputies refused to leave, and in October tanks shelled the White House. The official death toll was 147.

Sources

Portrait: Борис Николаевич Ельцин-1 (cropped) (cropped).jpg by Presidential Press and Information Office, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and converted to grayscale by 12axes-test.com.