Understanding Gorbachev: Diverse Perspectives

Russian Political Parties and the `Bosses'

“…ll Of course, the expulsion of Communists from elite positions was hardly compatible with the political strategy of Gorbachev. As General Secretary of the CPSU, he made it fairly plain that it was not the intention of his party to give up control over the state (see Breslauer, 1990). This, in fact, provided democratic activists and their major organization, the 'Democratic Russia' movement (DRM), with a strong incentive to back Yeltsin in his rise to the Russian presidency.…”