Farewell to a Maverick

Boris Yeltsin, 1931-2007 

Sadly, the majority of Russians reviled Boris Yeltsin the same way they have come to dislike Mikhail Gorbachev. Both commissar-liberators opened floodgates of reform and suffered years of ignominy by way of gratitude.

Of course, each leader had many faults, but such hatred is as unjust as it is misplaced. The fact is that Russians can now openly bad-mouth Gorbachev and Yeltsin (and Putin and the Russian State), precisely because of what these men and their advisors set in motion.

By way of a eulogy for Yeltsin, we offer a few trenchant observations we collected in the days after his death, April 23, 2007.

“History will be kind to my friend Boris.”

Former President Bill Clinton 

“The ability to take mockery is a good gauge of a person’s measure. The ability to refrain from meddling in things one doesn’t understand, even when one can, is another. Yeltsin scored uniquely high on both counts.”

Victor Sonkin

The Moscow Times

“Successions were hardly smooth even under the tsars, with quite a few legitimate claimants to the throne (or even those already sitting on it by right) strangled, drowned, stabbed, or forced to retire into monasteries. Heirs apparent were particularly unfortunate in the Soviet era: not one ever managed to consolidate power, eventually yielding to those whom the previous ruler had never intended to install. Lenin never wished for Stalin to succeed him; Stalin would not have wanted Khrushchev; Khrushchev, overthrown in a coup, did not anoint Brezhnev; Brezhnev did not approve of Andropov; nor Andropov of Chernenko; and not Chernenko of Gorbachev.”

Leon Aron

American Enterprise Institute

“My husband was a remarkable person... life with him was never boring.”

Natalya Yeltsin 

“One may admire or revile Yeltsin, but he was a genius in politics. He relied on his instincts like an animal, not on analysis of situations. Yeltsin fits perfectly Aristotle’s definition of man as a political animal... His era was ugly but it was not boring. He was hated, but also admired at times. His weaknesses – irresponsibility, sloth, and alcoholism – were in public view and could not but inspire sympathy since half of his countrymen were like him. He was truly a popular president in that he embodied the shortcomings of the people. And Russians appreciated it: they fell in love, which changed later to intimate and deeply personal hate.”

Boris Kagarlitsky

Transitions Online