Letters to the Editor
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The More Things Change . . .
What makes you think things were any different under communism? If one ended up on the wrong side of the party, life was no picnic. In the "worker's paradise", I for years could not find a permanent job because I refused to join the komsomol. Destruction was much more subtle under communism. You were surrounded by snitches until you made a mistake and were arrested. I had friends who left my city, moving to small villages in other republics where they would not be hunted. No bombs, but you could lose your apartment, your car, your job, your children would not get a place in any school. You would be called in for questioning and beaten.
Is it better to be dead or live in fear?
There is no evidence Yeltsin personally profited from privatization. His daughter and son in law did. The oligarchs were not Yeltsin's "drinking buddies" but they did have unfettered access to him.
Yes, Yeltsin made mistakes. But he didn't make them alone. Lots of advisors, still active in Russian politics, devloped these policies. Even Western advisors had a hand in rapid privatiztion of the economy, and made millions on the Russian stock market. Also, during most of Yeltsin's presidency, he was fighting communists in the Duma, who wanted to recreate the USSR.