Introduction

Under perestroika, various forces served to propel the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (RSFSR) and its people into demanding republican and national institutions. Glasnost fostered the creation of moderate Russian social and political organizations, while also allowing ultra-nationalist groups such as Pamyat to emerge. It also allowed for the expression of national assertiveness in the other Union republics, which because it sometimes assumed anti-Russian forms, created a situation where Russians outside and inside the RSFSR began to feel ill at ease. The events surrounding Yeltsin’s emergence into the forefront of the political arena in 1990 changed the balance of power in the Soviet state—between the Communist Party and society, and between Gorbachev and his supporters. The idea of perestroika has found a home in the hearts of thousands and thousands of fellow countrymen working for the good of the country in the harsh conditions of the north.