Russia’s Elections

The Toronto Sun (12/21/95)

      "They're the same old Reds."

      "Moscow ‑ Many of the West's best Kremlinologists have deluded themselves about Boris Yeltsin's government since the day he became the president of all the Russias four years ago ...

       "Some of the same western experts are now insisting the Communist Party of Russia is more benign than the Communist Party of the Soviet Union used to be. This is once again blind, wishful thinking.

       "Under the outwardly affable Gennadi Zyaganov, the born‑again Communists still believe the state should own every large enterprise and every piece of rural land. They speak openly of recreating the Soviet Union, albeit voluntarily, whatever that means. They demand that the entire world treat Rus­sia as the political and military equal of the United States.

       "The Russian population is split in three roughly equal parts. About a third of the country favors old‑style social­ism (communism). Another third has its heart set on Zhirinovsky's rabid form of nationalism. The rest support economic reforms. But most of these liberals are deeply suspicious of President Yeltsin and his prime minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin and the perversion of capitalism they have fostered …

       "Communism, fascism or capitalism designed for swindlers and political insiders. It isn't much of a choice."

Return to
Table of Contents