4 ms·

Straight from the horse's mouth: > In Yeltsin’s own autobiography, he wrote about the experience at Randall’s, which shattered his view of communism

• lolinder 4y ago
  That's not straight from the horse's mouth, you left off the attribution (emphasis added): > In Yeltsin’s own autobiography, he wrote about the experience at Randall’s, which shattered his view of communism, according to pundits. From that paragraph it sounds like "pundits" are the ones saying it shattered his view of communism, not the autobiography itself. (Edit: to be fair, that sentence is a really awkward attribution sandwich, so I can see how it might have confused.)
  • maxerickson 4y ago
    He wrote "When I saw those shelves crammed with hundreds, thousands of cans, cartons and goods of every possible sort, for the first time I felt quite frankly sick with despair for the Soviet people. That such a potentially super-rich country as ours has been brought to a state of such poverty! It is terrible to think of it." Pundits aren't super far out over their skis. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6kh3dw/ive_heard_that_yeltsin_was_famously_shocked_by/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6kh3dw/ive_h... https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/bayarea/news/article/When-Boris-Yeltsin-went-grocery-shopping-in-Clear-5759129.php https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/bayarea/news/article/When...
• alamortsubite 4y ago
  Yes, that's my point. Yeltsin's view may have been shattered, but the USSR was soon to be toast, either way.
• MomoXenosaga 4y ago
  Fascinating how Deng Xiaoping had the exact same epiphany visiting Singapore.