Book: The Struggle for Russia

Introduction
Boris Yeltsin presents a forceful memoir and political defense of the break with Soviet rule, arguing that radical change was the only path to rescue Russia from economic collapse and political stagnation. The narrative combines personal recollection with policy justification, portraying a nation at a crossroads and a leader who chose confrontation with entrenched interests rather than gradual compromise.

Diagnosis of the Soviet System
Yeltsin portrays the Soviet state as profoundly decayed: pervasive corruption, rigid central planning, and a leadership class detached from popular needs. He emphasizes how economic mismanagement produced shortages, a collapsing industrial base, and a moral crisis in public life, arguing that years of incremental reform had failed to address systemic rot. For Yeltsin, these ills justified sweeping institutional and economic change.

Rise to Power and the 1991 Crisis
The narrative traces Yeltsin's ascent from regional party apparatchik to the first popularly elected president of the Russian Federation, emphasizing grassroots energy and popular dissatisfaction with the Communist Party. His account of the August 1991 coup depicts a decisive confrontation: Yeltsin casts himself as the defender of democratic choice, standing against a hard-line attempt to reverse reform. That episode, he insists, was a turning point that made the Soviet Union's dissolution inevitable.

Economic Reforms and "Shock Therapy"
Yeltsin defends the rapid economic liberalization pursued after 1991, price liberalization, privatization, and removal of state controls, as necessary to dismantle command-economy distortions. He acknowledges the severe social dislocations, hyperinflation, falling living standards, and loss of social guarantees, but frames those hardships as temporary pain required to create a market economy. Yeltsin insists that delaying reform would have prolonged inefficiency and corruption, whereas decisive measures opened space for private initiative and integration with global markets.

Political Struggles and the 1993 Crisis
Confrontations with residual Communist power and conservative regional elites recur as a central theme. Yeltsin defends his use of presidential authority when faced with a recalcitrant legislature that he accuses of undermining reform and clinging to Soviet-era privileges. He offers a contentious justification for the 1993 constitutional showdown, presenting forceful action as an extreme response to an existential threat to democratic and economic transformation.

Relations with the West and National Sovereignty
Yeltsin frames foreign policy as a balancing act: welcoming Western investment and political support while asserting Russian sovereignty and national interests. He portrays engagement with Western institutions as a route to modernization but resists any perception of subservience. At the same time, Yeltsin stresses that Western partners needed to respect Russia's complex transition and the sensitivities of rapid reform.

Legacy and Final Reflections
Throughout the narrative, Yeltsin insists that the upheaval of the early 1990s, though costly, was indispensable to end authoritarian rule and open Russia to market and democratic institutions. He accepts that mistakes were made and that outcomes were imperfect but maintains that the fundamental choice, stagnation under renewed Communist control or bold transformation, was clear. The memoir closes with an appeal to judge the era by its long-term potential for freedom and economic renewal rather than by the immediate pain of transition.