The Fall of the USSR, Pt II | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[music] Welcome to Stuff You Should. Know, a production of iHeart Radio. [music]. >> Hey, [music] and welcome to the podcast. Hey, Chuck, you ended the last one. You. want to start this one? >> Hey, welcome to the podcast. I'm Charles. W. [music] Chuck Bryant. To my left is. Josh Clark. >> Uh Jerry's here in spirit and uh in. reality this time. So, this is part two. of the fall of the Soviet Union.

>> Bravo. >> I hate I hated doing that, by the way. >> Oh, you did? >> Yeah. This feels like Robin putting on. Batman's outfit or something. [laughter]. >> This is very strange. >> How do you know it's not Robin who. announces the podcast. >> or whatever? Batman putting on Robin's. outfit. Although, I heard he did that on. the side as a kink. >> He did, but who hasn't who among us. hasn't dressed up like Robin from. Batman? >> That's true. or Josh Clark from Stuff. You Should Know, >> which is one and the same. >> Yeah, I dress up like you.

>> You do? >> Yeah. Shirts and cute sweatshirts. >> I I have to say you're um you have. stepped up your style game lately and. it's it's nice. >> Hey, thanks. >> Your traveling outfits are. >> Well, I was always into clothes growing. up and then uh I I wore t-shirts and. cargo shorts for 25 years and then. remembered uh hey, I like fashion. So, I. got back. >> You brought it You brought it back. >> Yeah. >> You're basically the Tom Ford of the. podcasting world.

>> All right. So, where we left off, uh, December 8th, 1991, the USSR is formally. dissolved by decree by the leaders of. Russia, Ukraine, and Bellarus. No one knows what's going to happen next. with Russia. We've kind of covered the. satellite states and the Soviet states. themselves and what happened there, but. everyone was sort of like, "All right, well, Russia's still there and like, what the heck is going to happen?" And. who rolls into town but Boris Yelston. with a bottle of Stolley in his hand.

>> Yeah. [laughter] And another one in his. belly. >> Yeah, for sure. >> So, um Boris Yeltson was the first. president of Russia. Um which is kind of. confusing because we said that um. Gorbachoff was the president of the. USSR, but remember Russia and the USSR. were not one and the same. So for a. little while there, Russia itself had. pretty much two presidents at the same. time for a couple of months while. Gorbachoff was still in power and while. Yeltson who had been popularly elected.

in June of 1991. um while he was like I'm president of. Russia. So there was a um what you could. call a bit of a a power struggle. And. despite that, uh, it wasn't until a. 3-day coup was mounted, and they didn't. plan for 3 days. They didn't know how. long it was going to go on. It just. turned out to be a three-day coup, I. guess, is what I'm trying to say. >> It wasn't until that was mounted against. Gorbachev, that his power was eroded. enough to take his position away and for.

Yeltson to take over and take Russia. straight into the hands of the West, the. open arms of the West. And ironically, that coup was by hardliners who wanted. to keep uh who wanted to save communism. and the USSR, but instead they they. managed to remove the power from the one. guy who conceivably could have still. helped that happen and gave it to the. guy who was diametrically opposed to.

making that happen, Yeltson. >> Yeah. Yeah. And it was it ended up being. a failed coup technically uh but it had. the result of um finally sort of getting. Gorbachef out of power. So in a way it. kind of worked but it was technically a. failed coup. Uh what happened was uh you. know Gorbachef came came in with all. these big sweeping reforms and so the. conservative elites uh that he had. previously worked with were terrified. obviously. >> uh because their their existence.

depended on the Soviet Union being the. Soviet Union, right? >> So they were like Gorbachev is a. traitor. Uh in 1991 they put him under. house arrest uh while he was on vacation. in uh Crimea and they sent tanks in to. Moscow. uh and took control of the. government. They didn't they didn't. storm the parliament building, but they. they lined up outside the Parliament. building and then they made uh a mistake. in that um they let Boris Yeltson I keep. saying Yelston uh Yeltson get on one of. those tanks and address the people and.

this is a time where they had not jam. the TV signals coming from outside the. Soviet Union. So all of these so Soviets. all of a sudden are watching this unfold. on the BBC or CNN and they're seeing. this this Yeltson guy sitting on top of. a tank talking to them. >> Yeah. Basically saying like look at what. the communists are doing. They send in. tanks to take over your government. Can. you believe someone would do that? And. it was not a good look for the the.

Soviet party. Um and not only did it. make the party look bad, it made Yelin. look really good. So remember, he'd. already been popularly elected, but. there was a power struggle between him. and Gorbachoff going on. Uh when the. coup was overrun, the leaders were. jailed. Um Gorbachoff managed to come. back to Moscow, but now he came back and. like his authority had been directly. challenged and even though the coup had. failed, it had had a huge impact on. removing his legitimacy while at the.

same time boosting Yeltson's legitimacy. And so it Gorbachev was like it's clear. I'm I can't hold power any longer. So he. very very peacefully to his great credit. very peacefully handed over power and. did away with any any office that he. held that somebody else could have come. along and and filled and tried to. challenge Yeltson. He made sure that. there would be no further political.

chaos as much as he could manage. >> Yeah. He was like, "I'm not president of. the USSR anymore." And in fact, there is. no president of the USSR. That office. that I created no longer exists. >> Uh, and technically everybody, I'm the. only guy to have ever done that. So, just, you know, keep that in your back. pocket. Uh, and he said, "Here's the. nuclear codes, uh, Boris. Uh, please. take care of those. uh any communists. that are in public office um well there. is no communist party so you're not even.

a valid member of that uh party cuz. there is none. So you're not you're not. even if you were elected uh because. there's no such thing then you're you're. out of your your seat and uh Russia is. now the Russian Federation. >> Yeah. I was I didn't see what happened. to those people. Was it just like oh I. guess I'm an independent all of a sudden. not by choice or if they were like. >> I guess I can't hold this office. anymore. Who knows? But like that was. just one small component of the sweeping. political changes that took place over.

the course of a few days. I think the. whole thing really kicked off on. December 25th, 1991. And by the turn of. 1992 was basically over. I mean, Russia. became the Russian Federation. And that. same anti-communist. spirit of uh renewal and revolution and. and um like change, the winds of change, you could even almost call it, had swept. through Russia itself.

>> Yeah. They were immediately no longer a. superpower. Uh all that national. identity, you know, we talked about some. of this stuff in part one with promise. of more. Uh, and that's right now. because for [clears throat]. for a lot of the people in Russia, >> um, it was like, uh, the fall of. communism was a great thing, but for a. lot of others, >> um, that was, you know, the Soviet man, what's was labeled, and it was, I guess, a pjorative term, but, uh, homo, uh, Sovieticus, that was just sort of the.

the average Soviet uh, man who is, you. know, probably works in a factory and. has lived his whole life with this uh, ideology, this communist ideology and. independent thought like which they you. know a lot of them voluntarily sort of. bought into this thing. And so once that. identity was removed and there was a. vacuum in its wake uh it was they were. um unmed and did like everything they. knew was gone and they didn't know what.

to do. >> Yeah. like the the the patriotic of the. USSR like everyday citizens. consider themselves one part of this. larger collective the Soviet experiment. >> and that was their identity that's what. a lot of like the way they thought came. from basically like you were saying. >> um and so when you pull that out from. underneath somebody especially when it. happens suddenly and essentially without. warning it just comes out of nowhere. like It's it's really hard to put.

yourself in that position like. >> how would you handle that kind of thing. you know and certainly there were plenty. of people who we'll see who um who were. rejoiced at this change they were glad. communism went away but there were a lot. of people who were not happy that. communism had gone away or that the. Soviet Union had gone away. >> Yeah for sure uh you know religion. helped fill a little of that void. the. recovered uh Russian orthodoxy uh became.

a little more popular uh to help fill. this moral vacuum that was left in its. wake. Uh but there was a guy in Dresden. at the time uh he was a a KGB lieutenant. colonel in his villa in Dresston, Germany. Uh and this was before. reunification. This was in 1990. Just. sort of a mid-level officer. >> Mhm. who as far as you know criticism of. the USSR and the Soviet way was very. prideful and very much defended it and. got really mad apparently had a super.

short views when it was criticized. Uh. his name was Vladimir Putin and he saw. everything that was going on around and. there's a quote from him that kind of. sums it up. He said nothing different. was proposed. That's what hurt is they. just dropped everything and went away. M. >> so you know he sensed this vacuum and uh. you know over here in the United States. like it it felt like um not felt like it. it kind of was a victory like we won the. Cold War is over their experiment failed. democracy wins you know.

>> Oh yeah for sure. The problem was is. that the West wasn't like we're going to. help. We want to dig in here. We want to. help you like rebuild. we want you to be. uh a great nation and you know a great. partner to Europe and the rest of the. west and the rest of the world. Um, and. one of the reasons why the United States. didn't react like that at a really, really crucial time, which was 1991, 1992, was that President George HW Bush, who was a cold warrior, if there ever.

was one, >> oh, yeah. >> Was leading the United States. And I saw. it described, I think it was on a a site. called History Guild, which is. magnificent, by the way, that he folded. his arms and turned his back. It was. basically like, good luck. We're glad. you you fell over, but we're not going. to help you. We hate you. >> We've hated you for decades now. Um, so. we're not really going to step in and. and help you rebuild. Just figure out. how to do it yourself. And that had that. gone differently,

who knows what Russia would be like. right now. Who knows? We have no idea. It could be worse. It could have been. better. It could be it could have played. out exactly the same. But the fact that. the West only helped in the most like. specific economic terms and didn't in. like a spirit of friendship and. cooperation really step in and basically. basically the United States was a sore. loser of the Cold War. >> Yeah. And I feel like most of that was. sort of aimed at Russia specifically.

because. >> I I don't know how much they financially. helped the former Russian states and. satellite states and things like that, but. >> um it it seems like the just the spirit. of it all was more aimed directly at. Russia and like hey these other. countries are finally out from under. your grip so like good for them, >> right? Exactly. Um, I think we failed to. say in the first episode, but Kyle. helped us out with this. Our man in. Great Britain or the UK or England even.

>> Yeah. Yeah. He provided the basis and. then when we started digging in, we were. like, there's a lot more to this that we. need to to double up. And then you you. finished the job, buddy, in grand. fashion. >> Thank you. Um, so he found a a movie. called Goodbye Lenon from 2003. It's a. German film and it's a parody of this. time where it's about a man who um tries. to keep he tries to shield his mother, his East German mother from finding out. that communism has collapsed.

>> Yeah. >> And I guess it's probably hilarious. I I. got to go see that one cuz I love a good. German comedy like anybody else, you. know. >> Yeah, I should see that, too. So, let's. take a break and we'll talk a little bit. about um sort of the economics of this. all in Russia right after this. >> [music]. [music].

[music]. >> All right. So, we promised talk of uh. economics and finances and the the the. new Russia or I guess the Russian. Federation. Um, Gorbachef at least was. trying to instill like a gradual reform, which is kind of funny now looking back. because there's nothing gradual about. it. No. >> But Boris uh Yeltson was like he really. wanted to to hit the gas economically. So he embraced this economist name uh. I'm going to pronounce it Jaor Gdar or.

Gdar. I'm not sure how it's pronounced. G- AI D. But he um along with some. Harvard economists that were like, "Yeah, yeah, do this." Uh he had an idea. called shock therapy, which was uh kind. of crazy when you look back at like that. this was the idea. Uh because like I. said, you can't just flick a switch. overnight and be like, "All right, we're. a free market now." They had no. infrastructure for that, no history of. doing that or what that looked like. They didn't know how how to manage that.

And so out of nowhere, all of a sudden. they said, "All right, um, Rush is open, everybody." They flipped the sign and. the window around and said, "We're. open.". >> Yeah. Um, yeah. So, here's here's. basically how it worked. Um, there were. several points. This is just a few of. them, and this is just such a back of. the envelope sketch of this whole thing, but. >> right, >> some of the high points were um, remember the ruble was not recognized. internationally. The Soviet ruble. wasn't. Well, now we had the Russian.

ruble and to become uh recognized as. currency on the international market, it. couldn't be artificially propped up by. the government any longer. Had to. basically sink or swim on its own. Yeah. >> You know, with maybe a little bit of. monkeying like everybody does, but not. 100% monkeying with it. So, that was a. big one, right? >> That's right. >> Yeah, that was a big one. Uh they needed. cash, like immediate inflow of cash. So, uh they couldn't like take their time to. ramp up stuff like that just by saying. they're open. So, the state-owned.

businesses, uh, we talked about them. being privatized, uh, which meant they. were available for the rest of the world. to invest in. >> Uh, they removed the tariffs on foreign. imports, so like trade could flow. And. the West did step up. I don't know. Did. the United States contribute at all to. this? >> Yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. The. very narrowly and economically, okay, >> it in basically in exchange for whatever. it was asking for, the United States. helped in that respect. It wasn't like. any magnanimous way is what I was trying.

to say. >> Uh it was about $20 billion of the West. in emergency loans just like an infusion. of cash just to keep them from. completely collapsing. >> Yeah. And I didn't see how much of that. actually came through but that was the. proposal. Right. >> Right. >> So this is all like major highlevel. macroeconomic stuff. um to get more on. the micro level, what they came up with. was a voucher program. And they. basically said, "Hey, here is a voucher. for a bunch of shares or say 10 shares.

in um each of these stateowned. enterprises. We're going to privatize. them. They're going to start selling. this stuff on the world market and we're. going to distribute these vouchers. equally among I think like 95% of the. Soviet citizenry." I didn't see why the. other 5% had to sit out, but basically. everybody got shares in all of these. amazingly soon to be wealthy um. companies. >> And just to be clear, it wasn't like, you know, when they were making TVs, it. was like our oil industry and our steel.

industry, like big big stuff. >> Yeah. And so the point was that they. could benefit directly from from this. new amped up, juiced up Russian economy. that was about to explode. Yeah, >> none of this went at all well. The shock. therapy went so poorly that a lot of. Russians at the time and probably still. today believe that it was deliberately. inflicted by the West to keep the USSR. hobbled so that it couldn't possibly. come back.

>> Yeah. Was it like the these Harvard. economists and stuff were was that the. deal? >> Yeah, they were they were very much um. in league with Jerger Gar. >> Okay. >> For sure. Well, what this led to was. hyperinflation uh because their currency. was like completely devalued and a lot. of Russians like I mean I don't know the. number but I feel like a majority of the. average Russians life saving um just. went away basically overnight. Uh we've.

talked about the the hyperinflation. Was. it a whole episode on hyperinflation? >> Yeah. And I know we've talked about it. many times but we did we did something I. think just on it. Yeah. >> Yeah. But it was it was one of the worst. cases of hyperinflation like in world. history. Uh consumer goods went like uh. up in price by like 400%. Uh these. state-owned businesses and we kind of. touched on this in part one, but they it. was an inside job. They were being paged. from the inside. >> by these ministers who had overseen them. as part of the Soviet Union. And these.

vouchers, you know, a lot of the. citizens were just like this is. >> I'm going to trade it for bread. Like. this means nothing. >> Exactly. And they did. Um, so there were. people out there who were like, "Sure, I've got some bread. Here, have some. bread. Give me your vouchers." And they. started getting their hands on as many. vouchers as they possibly could because. those vouchers were eventually uh able. to be traded for shares, right? They. weren't shares themselves quite yet. because things had to be organized a.

little more. So people ran around. collecting these vouchers and as a. result when those shares started coming. out on the market um and parts of these. companies these actually industries were. being auctioned off it they ended up in. the hands of just a few people who had. managed to collect a bunch of vouchers. concentrate this stuff and then they got. together and said I got a bunch of. vouchers you have a bunch of vouchers. let's come together form a cartel and. we'll actually take over this oil. company using these vouchers right and.

those people became what we now call the. uh Russian oligarchs who did not exist. before this. It just did not exist. And. now all of a sudden there were. eyepoppingly wealthy people who just. emerged out of the the ashes suddenly. growing in size exponentially just like. Apache chief. >> That's right. like you know you hear. that that term a lot now Russian uh. oligarchs and if you if you were always.

like what the heck is that even that. this is where it comes from. Uh the real. big like what what sent that over the. top was this loans for shares. privatization. uh situation uh because they feared that. uh if they had a communist victory in. 1996. uh that that would be a bad a bad deal. to to all of a sudden reverse course on. what had been happening. And so the. government said, "All right, all you new. oligarchs, these super rich people, um, we got a deal for you. Uh, we'll loan.

you shares in our 12 biggest state-owned. businesses in exchange for like quick. cash now." Uh, ended up being about $800. million, essentially sort of allowing. them to buy pieces of like oil companies. and stuff like that. >> Yeah. And they were loans like you said, these these shares are controlling. interests, but they never gave them back. essentially. So the government sold it. Like you said, these were oil giants, um. metal producers, um all like this is.

where it really got consolidated. Before. they were using vouchers and stuff, now. it was like they were they were buying. directly from the government. They they. went to the wholesaler, right? And um. Putin was one of those those oligarchs. He had made some he started to make cash. I think flipping um real estate in St. Petersburg in the very early 90s and. then um started a bank and then by the. time this fire sale went on in 1996.

he um managed to secure a controlling. stake in a nickel mining company um by. loaning $170 million to the government. >> Yeah. I mean, I don't think anyone knows. how much money he has today, right? >> No. >> Isn't that kind of a mystery? >> We talked about it in our book. >> Yeah, that's right. Will there ever be a. trillionaire? >> I don't know. Will there? [laughter]. >> So, uh, these oligarchs were uh were and. are greedy because they were like that.

wasn't even enough. they were like, "You. know what? How we can make more money is. instead of um having these big great. industries like uh like helping out uh. mother Russia and the Russian. Federation, we can actually strip these. companies of their raw materials and. sell them for more money on these. international markets." And so that made. them even richer. And then what that did. was that that really created a a wealth. gap like they had never seen before. because all of a sudden factories are.

closing and entire towns and villages. that were built around this central. factory uh went into ruin and uh the the. safety net was gone and like their their. unemployment rate and their uh was just. just like unbelievable. It was like 22%. in 1998. >> Mhm. 40% of the population was um under. the poverty line in 1995. Just eyepopping statistics. Um because. these oligarchs were allowed to.

basically um piler the entire Russian. economy for themselves. Um they carved. out the middle class is another way to. put it. And so like when they figured. out like we don't need to make stuff at. home. we can sell that stuff for we can. just sell the raw materials on the. market and make more money. Yeah. So. many people were put out of work. And. then bear in mind there used to be a. safety net like the Soviet Union was. colluji. I I heard a joke where um like.

an old Soviet joke that uh we pretend to. work and the government pretends to pay. us. That's just kind of how things went. But you still had child care. You still. had health care. you still had a free. education. Like it might not have been. very good, but the government was still. doing what it could to deliver that. stuff. Right after that, like you said, that safety net was just gone and people. were just unmed in a drift. And it was. like, good luck. You're going to have to.

go figure out what to do yourself. because now this is a capitalist. economy. >> Yeah, for sure. Uh I think I mentioned. in part one like they um they slowed the. rate of having children just because. they couldn't afford it. I think by the. end of the '90s there were 3.7 million. fewer children in Russia than in 1990. So in the course of a decade uh and. alcoholism was, you know, it's it's. always been obviously a a thing in. Russia with the the free flowing of. vodka. But um after this it was really.

really bad. Um heavy drinking accounted. for two of every five deaths among. Russian working age men in the '9s. >> And their their life expectancy changed. Like if you can like literally change a. life expectancy over a decade uh then. something terrible has gone wrong. I. think the male life expectancy went from. 64 uh to 57 over the course of three. years between 1991 and 1994. >> because again these you know the Soviet. man out of work no uh ideals that they.

had grown up knowing and like believing. in all of a sudden stripped. So they. they drank themselves to death. Yeah, the um I said earlier that a lot of. Russians still believe or probably still. believe they definitely did at the time. that the West inflicted shock therapy. upon them on purpose. Um, I've also seen. the shock therapy as being labeled as. responsible for um, somebody like Putin. to be able to come along and get the.

kind of support as a autocratic. nostalgist basically um, in very much. the same way that Hitler was able to. rise to power because of the deeply. punitive um, >> like measures in the Treaty of. Versailles that just punished Germany, made Germany really unhappy with the. rest of the world And so somebody came. along and said, "I'm going to restore. Germany to its former glory." That's how. Hitler came to power. Putin came along. and said, "I'm going to restore um.

Russia to its former glory." And so he. got support as an autocrat as well. And. it's just it's always interesting to me. that that you can find so many different. streams of like events and goings on and. just different decisions that can lead. to such consequential actions. >> Yeah. >> That it's like I was thinking about it. It's like um nothing is black and white. and even fewer things are one-sided. And.

that's a good example of that. >> Yeah, for sure. Uh so the decade that. was the 1990s over there uh in ' 91 you. know we mentioned that uh Yeltson was. elected as the president of the Russian. Federation or actually I guess before. that he was president of Russia now the. official elected president of the. Russian Federation. >> right. >> and he was a uh you know he stood up to. a corrupt system so he was very popular. um you know there wasn't a uh a.

revolution in Russia like happened. elsewhere in uh Eastern Europe. >> Um they, you know, elsewhere the. political elites were replaced. That. didn't happen here. >> Um they didn't massively distribute or. redistribute wealth and power like a lot. of the the people from the um. nomenclatur. they took care of them and they stayed. in that that sort of um it was an elite. status but it wasn't like the oligarchs. It was it was now billionaires compared.

to working stiffs, whereas before it was. more like sort of upper management. versus working stiff. >> Yeah. And so Yes. So these these people, the Soviet elite just were like, "Oh, we're not communists anymore, but we're. still going to stay elite, I guess." And. so, um, >> Right. [laughter]. >> Right. Yeah. Wink wink nudge nudge. Um, and so though George HW Bush turned his. back on Russia, Clinton turned around. and was like, "Hey guys, let's get it. on. We love you, Yelton." Um, he.

>> he's a lovable guy. >> He is. He's He's got big cheeks. He's. like smiling all the time. And the. reason why is cuz he was drunk. constantly. >> Yeah. No, but I remember at the time. though, it was like this isn't what like. the old Soviet style. like this is a big. teddy bear like you said who's smiling. all the time and he wants he seemed to. be very uh western friendly. >> and uh he was also well partially. because the alcoholism someone who I. think Bill Clinton and people in the.

west knew that they could kind of. control. >> Yes. So he was a party animal like. there's no two ways around it. Um there. was uh there's this one um thing you can. look up on YouTube where uh German. Chancellor Helmet Cole came to visit. Russia after uh the Soviet Union. dissolved and um it's a state visit. They're standing there watching a a. Russian military parade go by and all of. a sudden Yelson just is moved to grab. the baton from the military band. conductor and he starts conducting the.

band too but like almost cartoonishly. >> larger than life. He's blowing kisses at. people and it's like when you watch it. you're like he's pretty drunk right now. and this is like an official state thing. and this was not unusual for him. >> Oh for sure. There was another famous. story where when he uh was on an. official state visit, one of the first. ones I think it might have been the. first one to the United States. Uh he. was all of a sudden turned loose in the. US and he was like this is fantastic. So, the Secret Service allegedly found.

him uh out trying to hail a cab in DC on. Pennsylvania Avenue in his underwear so. he drunk so he could go get a pizza. >> Mhm. >> And the Secret Service reigns him in and. they're like, "Boris, buddy, we'll get. you a pizza." Like, "Come back inside.". >> Yeah. And that's not a legend like that. happened. >> Oh, yeah. >> So, a lot of people like So, yes, he was. a lovable teddy bear. He certainly look. that way. But and a lot of people point. to Putin as the as the person who.

started autocratic rule or brought. autocracy. >> Yeah. >> to Russia. Um. >> back to Russia. >> Yeah. As like he's the guy. And if you. dial back history a few years um to. 1993, you can see very clearly that. Boris Yeltson was the one who kicked it. off again. um he because of his antics, because of. the just general chaos of the transition. out of the Soviet economy that he. presided over or just failed to preside.

over. >> Yeah. >> All of these oligarchs first starting to. get super rich off of the government and. off of what supposed to belong to the. people. He got very unpopular as we'll. see. Um I think at one point before he. left office, his approval rating was 6%. >> Yeah, it was in the tank. And I assume. that that was with a margin of error. plus or minus 6%. >> Right. [laughter]. Nobody liked him. >> So um he was impeached by the. legitimately elected parliament and he.

didn't like that very much. >> No, he dissolved parliament or tried to. uh as a result of that and parliament. was like no we're not dissolving. So he. had the military come in and shell. parliament. >> Mhm. uh which was uh I mean if you want. to talk about an autocratic move I mean. that's certainly it uh but you know it. was spun well I don't know about spun. but in the west it was viewed as more of. a like hey Clinton's like look at this. guy like he's a hero of democracy like.

he's shelling communist parliament like. that's how much he hates communism. >> right exactly that's how useful he was. to the west that that they were just. like they just tried to save him anyway. they could he managed to hang on to. power that shares shares for voucher. scheme, the great shares for voucher. scheme in 96 that was designed to help. Yeltson stay into power. He was so hated. that the communists were probably going. to sweep the elections that year. >> And so, um, I think Kyle put it that.

people felt cheated twice by Gorbachev. first and then Yelten afterward. So, there was a not a lot of, um, happiness. in Russia in the 1990s. They say we take. our second break and come back and wrap. it up. Let's do it. [music].

[music]. >> Okay, Chuck. Uh, wrap it up. I'll take. it. >> Do you remember that? So good though. >> Easy to listen to and fun. >> Who was that? The uh. >> Fabulous Thunderbirds. >> Yeah, Fabulous Thunderbirds. Jimmy Von. Was it Jimmy in that one? Oh, >> brother. I don't know. >> Yeah, I think it was Stevie Rayvon's. brother. Jimmy. >> Oh, Jimmy Vaughn. I thought you were. talking about Jimmy Leon. Simon Leon's.

brother. >> All right. So, I knew we'd get a few. laughs in here, you know. >> Mhm. >> Uh, all right. So, uh, where are we? Here we are. uh with uh Yeltson, he had. banned the Communist Party. Uh that was. challenged and that resulted in a 1992. uh trial that was televised and it was. buil as like the big Russian Nuremberg. trial and it was basically like hey. we're going to reckon with our past as a. party because of all the crimes. committed under the name of communism uh.

against the people. >> Uh the the sort of hitch to this. Nuremberg was that there were no actual. defendants. It was just sort of a sort. of a show it seems like. Um like they. didn't actually prosecute individuals. It was just sort of demonstrating the. history of criminality of communism. >> Yeah. Like they put Soviet communism. itself on trial, not the people who. perpetrated it. >> And so that's a really good um that's.

good evidence of what you were saying. earlier that the the nomenclatures. just stopped being party members but. stayed elite. they were still pulling. the levers of power. So, of course, they're not going [clears throat] to let. themselves be prosecuted, but they know. that the again, the winds of change are. moving against communism, so they're. going to go along with the show trial. >> It's also really good evidence of just. how strong the um those levers of power. remained in Russia. Like the KGB, it was.

still around. It just changed its name. to the FSB, the Federal Security. Service. And there was um a uh I think a. a member of the Supreme Soviet. parliament who suggested a lustration. bill. Lustration is where you identify. and remove public officials who are. tainted from their association with the. former regime. That um member of. parliament was assassinated in 1998. So. there wasn't a lot of mood among the. elites to really actually have some sort. of reckoning, which again that in and of.

itself might have helped steer Russia in. a different uh direction, but the people. who had been in charge were still. basically in charge. Outside of um. Russia, there were there were um it was. a lot easier to do that kind of thing. because they could blame Russia, right? >> Yeah. saying like, you know, we we were. under the thumb of communism as a state, so it was a lot easier to sort of rally. people around this idea that they were. free. >> uh and had a new way forward. Uh Yeltson.

tried, you know, he tried to pull some. other levers that weren't like huge. economic reforms or whatever that were. just like, hey, let me uh let me read. the imperial and let me replace the. Soviet anthem. Uh and these are all. really divisive moves. Um I think he was. trying to sort of he attempted to close. the linen mausoleum and replace. revolution day. So he was trying to say. like hey let's move forward and like. this past is is haunting us. But it was.

a really divided thing because after. this pretty horrible decade of chaos and. like financial ruin, the the I feel like. sort of the broad view of your average. Russian was like things were better. before and they started pining for the. old days and there was a nostalgia that. came around uh you know for that old. national anthem that Putin reverted in. 2000. >> and that's when Putin like uh I mean I. think he really believed it but I think. he also really saw an opening there to.

come in and be like, I'm your guy. You. you miss the old days. Just wait. >> Exactly. Um I saw there was a Russian. joke from the time that said the worst. part of communism is postcommunism, >> right? >> And yeah, so Putin came along and was. like, "Hey, I'm going to bring Russia. back, baby. Just, you know, trust me.". He was appointed um prime minister under. Yelten. He was the fourth prime minister. under Yeltson in 17 months. So Yeltson.

was not doing very well by this time. This is like the very end of the 90s. And one of the first things that Putin. did was just pound Chetchna which was. trying to break away from Russia itself. And I guess Russia had had quite enough. of breaking away for one century. And um. they just punished Cheshna under Putin. He decided that he was going to make an. example of them. And there were a lot of. atrocities and it was just really bad.

But in Russia itself, they were like, "Oo, we like this guy. He gets stuff. done. He takes no guff from anybody.". And that helped support his um. ascendancy to the presidency uh in 1999. when Yeltson suddenly out of nowhere was. like, "I'm not president anymore. This. guy is.". >> Yeah. And once he was president, he was. like he started to reign in some of. those market freedoms that had been. installed. he was like, you know, these. this uh this freedom of press thing. isn't so great after all. Uh so by 2010,

most of that private media was once. again owned by the government. >> Um he did kind of [clears throat]. >> uh reign in the oligarchs. Um but you. know, not completely obviously. Uh I get. the feeling it was he was sort of. picking and choosing maybe. So it it. seemed like he was. >> Is that accurate? >> The impression I have is that he brought. them all to heal. He basically made a. deal saying like you guys can have free. reign on your respective industries but. you have to stay out of politics. That's. my industry.

>> Oh okay. >> And they complied and one of them. didn't. Male Kodorovski. basically was like no I'm going to. generate a bunch of political power and. try to remove Putin. He got jailed. His. whole asset stripped. The state took. over his oil company. And the rest of. the oligarchs are like oh this guy's. quite serious. We better listen. And. then from those group or that group, Putin started to develop favorites and. all that. That's my impression of it. >> Yeah, that sounds about right. Uh and. the great thing is I know that there are.

people that are real students of this. stuff and I can't wait to get some. listener mails on this. Uh but you know. things started to turn around. financially too because they had uh some. some booming oil expert uh exports. happening uh and experts and that you. know all of a sudden the your average. living standard was going up. Um it. seems like the sort of just the chaos of. the '9s uh started to to wayne and. things started to get a little bit. better enough to to you know for people. to get behind Putin. And he was like,

"Yeah, I'm restoring Russia in our in. our place in the world. Like, get behind. me.". >> Yeah. I mean, because the '9s were. shameful to the to the average Russian. Like, they did not feel good about what. they had just gone through. And now. there was a guy who was saying he was. going to end it all. And he did. I mean, in a in a lot of ways. I mean, he. inherited a an economy that was just had. just started to get back on course. So. under Putin and what his 26y year reign. if you count when he was the the um.

prime minister to medv's puppet. >> um yeah 26 years uh like Russia. definitely came back financially and. their quality of living increased and he. you know he did a lot of stuff that he. said he was going to do. Um yet it's. still Putin. >> I mean he keeps winning those elections. though right? >> Yeah. Fair and square. Those are all. legit. >> And so, yeah, that brings us to today, Chuck.

>> Yeah. I mean, is that it? Are we done? >> I think we're done. You did fantastic. >> You did, too, man. I really am super. psyched about this one because this is. one of those that I knew so little about. because again, it was the end of high. school and early college for me. >> and those those were days where I just. wasn't paying attention and I was uh you. know, I I was trying to score Pixie. tickets. It was kind of like if this part of. history were an iced sugar cookie. As. kids, we had just kind of nibbled the. sugar cookie part and now we just bit. into the the first bite of icing and.

consume the whole cookie and we're just. in sugar heaven right now. >> Yeah, agreed. [music] I enjoyed these. >> Yeah, that's a better way to put it. Uh. Chuck just laughed, so I think we should. end this episode, this two-part episode, and say it's time for listener mail. Uh, this is about our episode on the UK, our shorty. Uh, hey guys. And um, this. isn't, don't worry, this isn't like. completely [music] scalding us. >> Okay, good. >> Hey guys, listening to the episode and I.

thought uh, and I was thinking I bet. they'll do it and you did. Guys, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern. Ireland, no Cornwall. >> Got about Cornwall. >> The thing come up in our research. I know you guys will see things uh. official website saying Cornwall is a. county in England but for one it is a. duchy which is a different thing. >> You got to pass on the left hand side. >> Secondly, Cornwall is a Celtic nation. guys like Scotland, Wales and Ireland. including Northern Ireland. And finally,

the UK government formally recognized. the Cornish as a national minority under. the Council of Europe's Framework. Convention for the Protection of. National Minorities, granting them the. same status as the Scots, Welsh, and. Irish. >> Wow. No, we did not come across that at. all. >> I know. Uh guys, Cornwall has its own. language. Uh Kernowick, I think, is how. it's pronounced. >> No, but it's closely related to Welsh. and barely distinguishable from. [clears throat]. >> uh Breton. Yes, Britany is a Celtic.

nation, too, guys. It has its own flag, uh, St. Piran's flag, which is or. Pirens, I'm not sure how you pronounce. it, which is a white cross and a black. background, and there are strong calls. to establish the Cornish assembly, >> similar to the other Celtic nations in. the UK. I hope you give this a mention. to correct the record. Uh, I love your. respectful [music] and open approach to. what you do, guys, so I figured you'd be. interested. Uh, and then he posts this. uh, Colonel Beast Viken, which is. Cornwall forever. And I [music] don't.

think he's talking about the game hen. No. >> And this is from G. >> Thanks, G. That was brand new info for. us, and we appreciate it big time. Um, I've always wanted to go to Cornwall. because they have a witchcraft museum. there that I've always wanted to see. >> Nice. So, I'll see you eventually, G. I'll let you know when I'm there and we. can go to the witchcraft museum. Uh, if. you want to be like G and give us some. brand new information we had never heard. before and didn't run across in our. research, we love that kind of stuff.

You can wrap it up, spank it on the. bottom, and send it off to stuffodcast@. [music]. iheartradio.com. [music]. Stuff you should know is a production of. iheartradio. For more podcasts, iHeart. Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple. Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your. favorite [music] shows.