Changes à la Russe: Vladimir Putin and Echoes From the Past
By SERGE SCHMEMANN
New York Times
There are chilling echoes of the Soviet past in Russia’s current political game: President Vladimir Putin’s secretive style; his K.G.B. background; the enormous, autocratic power he wields; and if there’s a power struggle going on in the Kremlin (Mr. Putin’s term ends early next year), no outsider has been let in on it.
Anyone who followed the serial transitions of the final act of the Soviet Union — Brezhnev-Andropov-Chernenko-Gorbachev — must also be struck by the differences. No Soviet leader ever left office voluntarily. Most simply died, and the two who did not — Nikita Khrushchev and Mikhail Gorbachev — were forced out. The older the leaders got in the post-Khrushchev era, the more collective and ritualized their leadership became. The increasingly frequent state funerals followed an identical script: from the designated mourners filing under the black-draped chandeliers of the Hall of Columns to the phrasing of the commentaries.
If there is a precedent, it is from the more recent past when Boris Yeltsin handpicked an obscure loyalist, Vladimir Putin, to succeed him. That only covers the passing of the keys to the president’s office. Mr. Yeltsin was happily out the door as soon as Mr. Putin walked in, while Mr. Putin plans only to change the sign on his door, from president to prime minister.
Where “Soviet” does apply is in how Russians are watching the changes at the top. For that, it’s useful to roll back to Stalin’s death in 1953. In those days, most Russians had known nothing in their lives other than the terror, the war and the all-embracing personality cult of the Brilliant Genius of Humanity. So thoroughly was Stalin identified with every Soviet’s worst fears and greatest hopes, that the announcement of his death set off a great panic. Millions of bewildered and frightened people rushed into the streets; untold hundreds were crushed to death. Then came the shock of Khrushchev’s campaign to debunk Stalin.
(Continued here.)
New York Times
There are chilling echoes of the Soviet past in Russia’s current political game: President Vladimir Putin’s secretive style; his K.G.B. background; the enormous, autocratic power he wields; and if there’s a power struggle going on in the Kremlin (Mr. Putin’s term ends early next year), no outsider has been let in on it.
Anyone who followed the serial transitions of the final act of the Soviet Union — Brezhnev-Andropov-Chernenko-Gorbachev — must also be struck by the differences. No Soviet leader ever left office voluntarily. Most simply died, and the two who did not — Nikita Khrushchev and Mikhail Gorbachev — were forced out. The older the leaders got in the post-Khrushchev era, the more collective and ritualized their leadership became. The increasingly frequent state funerals followed an identical script: from the designated mourners filing under the black-draped chandeliers of the Hall of Columns to the phrasing of the commentaries.
If there is a precedent, it is from the more recent past when Boris Yeltsin handpicked an obscure loyalist, Vladimir Putin, to succeed him. That only covers the passing of the keys to the president’s office. Mr. Yeltsin was happily out the door as soon as Mr. Putin walked in, while Mr. Putin plans only to change the sign on his door, from president to prime minister.
Where “Soviet” does apply is in how Russians are watching the changes at the top. For that, it’s useful to roll back to Stalin’s death in 1953. In those days, most Russians had known nothing in their lives other than the terror, the war and the all-embracing personality cult of the Brilliant Genius of Humanity. So thoroughly was Stalin identified with every Soviet’s worst fears and greatest hopes, that the announcement of his death set off a great panic. Millions of bewildered and frightened people rushed into the streets; untold hundreds were crushed to death. Then came the shock of Khrushchev’s campaign to debunk Stalin.
(Continued here.)
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