Eternal Russia

Yeltsin, Gorbachev, and the Mirage of Democracy

Jonathan Steele

    Acknowledgments

    Introduction

    Part One: A Special Society

    1. First Shoots of a Civil Society

    2. The Leaders' Legacy

    3. The Roots of Failure

    4. A Very Russian Coup

    Part Two: The Fall of Communism

    5. Challenge to the Party

    SURRENDER AT THE POLLS

    6. The Failure of Reform

    THE PARTY IS OVER

    Part Three: End of Empire

    7. The Imperial Rings

    FAREWELL, AFGHANISTAN

    EASTERN EUROPE

    8. The Soviet Disunion

    THE BALTICS BREAK LOOSE

    UKRAINE DEPARTS

    9. Russia v. the USSR; Yeltsin v. Gorbachev

    THE FINAL DAYS

    THE RUSSIAN IDEA

    Part Four: Towards New Institutions

    10. Parliament, Soviet-style

    11. Lure of the Strong Hand

    12. Big Shock, Little Therapy

    DOWN ON THE FARM

    MINERS AND UNIONS

    13. Nationalism at a Low Level

    14. A Law-based State

    15. The "New Russia"

    16. October 1993

    Conclusion

    Notes

    Select Bibliography

    Index

  • Cover: Eternal Russia

Jonathan Steele was Moscow bureau chief for The Guardian[UK] until the spring of 1994. He was named International Reporter of the Year in the British Press Awards in 1981 and in 1991. He also won the London Press Club's Scoop of the Year Award for being the only British or American reporter to get to Gorbachev's prison villa in the Crimea during the 1991 coup.