Word: yeltsin
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Gorbachev will portray a yes vote in the referendum as evidence that Yeltsin is defying the will of the people by obstructing the Union treaty. Though conservative deputies have forced a vote of confidence in the Russian parliament for March 28 to threaten Yeltsin's hold on the chairmanship, his position will be greatly strengthened if Yeltsin becomes an elected president. The stalemate could then be prolonged. Yeltsin, however, has limited administrative and no police power and cannot enforce Russian laws on radical economic reform, for example, if they conflict with the Supreme Soviet's legislation...
...Ideally, Yeltsin would like to see the Soviet President and his Cabinet cede power to the Federation Council, a policymaking body that includes the leaders of all 15 constituent republics, though some of them are boycotting it. To force out the powerholders, who uniformly despise him, Yeltsin may be thinking of something like Czechoslovakia's "velvet revolution," street demonstrations fueled by an overwhelming wave of people power. But no matter how great his popularity, even Yeltsin will be hard put to mobilize the Russian masses in large enough numbers. They are mostly anti-Gorbachev and antigovernment, but their political inertia...
Even worse, the fledgling democrats cannot seem to pull themselves together. Yeltsin last week urged the splintered, squabbling opposition factions to form a single, pro-democracy party. But Yuri Afanasyev, a leader of the liberal Inter-Regional Group of Deputies in the Parliament, opposed the idea. Putting everyone into the same party, he argued, was a Bolshevik approach. "It is better for us to agree on something fundamental," he said, "rather than join something anonymous and faceless...
...Yeltsin has positioned himself in the role Gorbachev formerly played so well: supporter of the common folk. When thousands of coal miners went on strike in 1989, Gorbachev associated himself with their fight against management and emerged as a hero to the working class. Miners are striking in parts of the Ukraine and Siberia once again, but their leaders have turned to Yeltsin. Last week the Russian leader met with strike coordinators, who declared their full support for Yeltsin's political position and "readiness to support it with all possible nonviolent methods." Most miners are asking for higher wages...
...Boris Yeltsin didn't often speak with journalists, and when he did it was obvious he couldn't stand...