When Boris Yeltsin graduated from the Ural Polytechnic Institute, he was offered the position of a foreman in the construction of industrial facilities. However, he refused, deciding to "feel everything with his own hands." I set myself the task of mastering 12 construction specialties in a year - one every month - and fulfilled my plan …
Boris Yeltsin was a versatile person. He received the professions of a bricklayer, concrete worker, carpenter, joiner, plasterer, dump truck driver. Yeltsin's phenomenon, apparently, was that he constantly needed to take new heights. The years of Yeltsin's rule cannot be called calm. But he also has merits that cannot be taken away. So, it was he who, in May 1999, brought to power the "dark horse" of Vladimir Putin, who at that time was not yet a public leader.
Construction Department Secretary
Yeltsin's party career began in 1968 as head of the construction department of the Sverdlovsk regional party committee. In the late 1960s - early 1970s, industrial and civil construction in Sverdlovsk was on the rise. Every year, over half a million "squares" of housing were rented out, mines were built, new factory workshops were built, under Yeltsin, they began to design the metro.
He tirelessly inspects construction sites. Eternal rush to hand over objects for the holidays - this is the element of Yeltsin, who himself is looking for the most difficult areas of work in order to bring them out of the breakthrough later. Yeltsin is already 37. He is healthy as a bull, athletic, full of energy. From morning to evening, he wanders about construction sites, knows how to find a common language with foremen and ordinary workers, knows how to set the heat on negligent subcontractors. Everything is on the verge of a foul, since the proud Yeltsin has a significant drawback - rudeness with his subordinates, often turning into outright rudeness. The obkom driver recalled that Yeltsin could drop his wife Naina Iosifovna out of the car outside the city in any bad weather and at any time of the day, if she allowed herself to make an "irreverent" remark to her husband about excessive libations. Meek Naina had to get home on foot or by hitchhiking. Everything in the family was subordinated to the interests of the head of the family. In the evening, Naina Iosifovna met him, took off her shoes, slipped on soft slippers and led him to the already set table.
In 1975, at the suggestion of the first secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional committee, Yakov Ryabov, Yeltsin was appointed one of the secretaries of the regional committee. When Ryabov was taken to Moscow, he managed to do the impossible: he convinced Brezhnev that it would be better to find Yeltsin's candidacy for the vacant position of the owner of Sverdlovsk.
In the future, Boris Nikolayevich did not even remember the role of Ryabov in his promotion, believing that everything happened only thanks to his talents. Back in 1968, Yeltsin miraculously managed to slip through the KGB sieve. Someone decided "not to notice" that he came from a family of repressed people: grandfather is a kulak, father is an enemy of the people.
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Yeltsin shouldered the honorable burden of the first secretary of the regional committee at the age of 45. He had neither experience nor special knowledge, but he had fantastic ambitions and insane efficiency.
Former employees of the regional committee say that Yeltsin was completely unfamiliar with democratic principles of leadership. He recognized only his own will, and it was impossible to convince him. He still demanded from people what he did himself, and this applied to everything.
The doctor of the Sverdlovsk special hospital recalls that she could not persuade him not to go to Talitsa with a sore leg for the morning milking. It was necessary to leave at three in the morning. Yeltsin's answer was laconic and rude: “You don't understand. I'll come, and there are not milking cows, their udders are in shit, and the milkmaids are drunk. I’ll disperse them all, and you don’t have to meddle in this area for a month”.
Boris Nikolaevich loved to support the myth of a stern but just leader among the people. Along with expressiveness and impulsiveness, he often used subtle calculation.
The price of public opinion
For example, in Sverdlovsk there was a shortage of fresh vegetables and fruits, and there were not enough collective farm markets. Residents of one of the districts often wrote complaints to the regional committee, demanding to build a market. As a result, the decision to build the market was made, but Yeltsin did not immediately sign the paper, but postponed it indefinitely. A few months later, having arrived at a meeting with the residents of this area, he began to ask about problems and requests. He listened attentively to the audience and right on the spot, “meeting the wishes of the workers,” signed a decision prepared in advance to build a market.
Yeltsin was one of the first in the country to appreciate the strength of public opinion. He appeared on weekly live broadcasts on local television, answering studio calls. I put things in order right there, on the air. This was perhaps the most popular program in the field, because what could be more interesting than a public flogging of the authorities.
The years of Yeltsin's rule were marked by many campaigns in Sverdlovsk. So, he was almost the first in the USSR to begin to build MZhK (youth housing estates), introduced the concept of "collective responsibility", when the whole team was deprived of bonuses for absenteeism or other serious violation of one employee.
After Yeltsin, the residents of Sverdlovsk were left with new urban areas - South-West and Kirovsky, dozens of objects and buildings. Yeltsin invariably attributed all the successes of the region to his own account, although workers were driven from all over the region to the construction in order to meet the tight deadlines.
In the same period, Boris Nikolaevich began to kiss the bottle more and more often. In the late 1970s, Yeltsin could have a glass of vodka for lunch or dinner. And in moments of special emotional disposition, he could show his subordinates a "double-barreled gun" when he poured vodka from two bottles simultaneously into his wide-open mouth. In 1982, he had his first heart attack, and had to refuse demonstration performances …
In memory of Nicholas II
In Sverdlovsk, in the basement of the Ipatiev House, on the night of July 16-17, 1918, the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II was shot with his family and servants.
The authorities were alarmed by the fact that on the day of the death of the royal family, people, approaching the house, were crossing themselves and lighting candles. These actions were called "morbid interest" in the KGB reports and were qualified as "anti-Soviet demonstrations."
Andropov turned to the Politburo with a proposal to demolish the Ipatiev mansion. This decision was sent to Sverdlovsk in 1975. However, the mansion under the first secretary of the regional committee Ryabov was not demolished. There were rumors that Ryabov wanted to keep him and even connected Brezhnev to this. Representatives of the All-Union Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments also opposed the demolition of the house.
The mansion was demolished in 1977 by the executive Yeltsin, who needed to earn points in front of Moscow. In a couple of days, nothing remained of the old building. Experienced in hardware games, Yeltsin managed to "present a gift" and report to Moscow on the implementation of the already forgotten resolution. They say that Boris Nikolaevich really wanted to go to Moscow and could not miss such a chance. His zeal was noticed and appreciated.
In August 2000, Nicholas II and his family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as "Royal Passion-bearers." On July 16, 2003, on the site of the former home of Ipatiev, the Church on the Blood was built. President Yeltsin was unable to attend the ceremony of its consecration.
Hidden epidemic
In 1979, an anthrax epidemic broke out in Sverdlovsk. Despite numerous deaths and the official status of the diagnosis "anthrax", it was not allowed to be included in the death certificates of citizens.
Standard records were different: acute respiratory infections, pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia, poisoning with an unknown poison, sepsis, heart attack, and others.
A couple of weeks later, mass vaccination of the population began, and it is still unknown what kind of vaccine was, what was the composition. Some people became disabled, some died.
Until now, no one knows the exact number of victims of this tragedy: the official figure is 64 people, according to other sources, more than 100 people died. Environmentalists are convinced that it was not anthrax that was to blame, but the leakage of "research materials" from a secret laboratory. Historians consider Yeltsin to be guilty of this tragedy, who did not take the necessary measures, did not prevent the tragedy, hiding the whole truth from the residents.
Irina SMIRNOVA