Today, many with a shudder recall the dashing 90s, when millions of people were forced to experience all the hardships of the transition period from socialism to capitalism. One of the key figures in the political arena of that time was Yegor Gaidar. Although 5 years have passed since the death of this politician, disputes over the economic reforms carried out according to the plan developed by him still do not subside.
Yegor Gaidar: biography, nationality of parents
The surname of this politician in the former USSR was known to every schoolchild, since millions of Soviet children were brought up on the example of the heroes of books written by his grandfather, Arkady Golikov. During the Civil War, he fought in the ranks of the Red Army, and while serving in Khakassia, he got the nickname Gaidar. Later, the writer took him as a surname, which then passed to his son from his second marriage with Leah Lazarevna Solomyanskaya - Timur, and then to his grandson. Thus, the father of Yegor Gaidaris Russian only on his father's side, and on his mother's side he has Jewish roots.
Timur Arkadyevich was born in 1926 and devoted his entire life to the Soviet Navy, rising to the rank of Rear Admiral. In parallel with this, he received a second higher education at the Faculty of Journalism of the VPA named after. Lenin, and after completing his military career, he worked as a correspondent for the Pravda newspaper abroad. In 1955, he married the daughter of the famous Russian writer P. Bazhov, Ariadna Pavlovna, and in 1956 they had a son, Yegor Gaidar, whose biography, nationality and political activities are described below.
Childhood
Yegor Timurovich Gaidar (biography, the nationality of his parents you already know) was born in Moscow. As already mentioned, he was the grandson of two famous writers. As for the nationality of the politician, he considered himself Russian.
Egor ended up in Cuba at an early age, where his father was sent as a correspondent for the Pravda newspaper. There he met Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, who visited the house where Yegor Gaidar's family lived.
In 1966, the boy was taken to Yugoslavia, where he became acquainted with literature banned in the USSR, and also discovered the true, unperverted meaning of the economic works of Marx and Engels.
In 1971, the family returned to the capital, and Yegor Gaidar began to attend school number 152, which he graduated with a gold medal 2 years later. Entering the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University, the young man began to study the issues of planning in the field of industry, and after receivingred diploma continued to improve his knowledge in graduate school.
Career and scientific activity in the pre-perestroika period
In 1980, Gaidar Yegor Timurovich defended his Ph. D. thesis on the mechanisms of cost accounting, joined the CPSU, of which he remained until the August putsch of 1991, and was assigned to the Research Institute for System Research.
There he began to work as part of a group of young scientists headed by the famous Soviet economist Stanislav Shatalin. Soon Gaidar and his colleagues, engaged in a comparative analysis of economic transformations in the countries of the socialist camp, formed a firm conviction in the need for fundamental reforms in the USSR.
In the same period, the scientist met Anatoly Chubais, and a circle of like-minded people formed around them, united by the desire for changes in the economic sphere.
In 1986, Yegor Gaidar, as part of a group led by Shatalin, was transferred to work at the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and in the scientific community, as a result of the policy of glasnost announced by Gorbachev, it became possible to discuss issues related to preparations for the transition to market relations.
Journalism work
Gaidar's ideas of economic liberalization could have remained unknown to the general public if the scientist had not accepted the offer to become deputy editor of the Kommunist magazine, and a little later - head of the economic department of the newspaper"Truth". During this period of his activity, he actively promotes the idea of reducing budget spending on areas that do not bring tangible benefits. At the same time, at the initial stage of his activity as a journalist, Gaidar was a supporter of gradual reforms that could be carried out within the framework of the existing Soviet system.
Work as Acting Chairman of the Government of the RSFSR
On the famous August night of 1991, Yegor Gaidar participated in the defense of the White House. There he met the State Secretary of the RSFSR G. Burbulis. The latter persuaded B. Yeltsin to entrust the development of a program of economic reforms to the Gaidar group. In October 1991, it was presented at the 5th Congress of People's Deputies and received the approval of the delegates. A few days later, Gaidar Yegor Timurovich was appointed deputy chairman of the government of the RSFSR, in charge of the economic bloc, and on June 15, 1992, he became acting prime minister of the Russian Federation. He remained in this post until December 15, 1992 and played a key role in the creation of many state institutions of the Russian Federation, such as the tax and banking systems, customs, the financial market and a number of others. At the same time, today Gaidar's critics blame him for the negative consequences of the reforms: the depreciation of the population's savings, hyperinflation, a decline in production, a sharp decline in the average standard of living, and an increase in income differentiation.
Political and parliamentary crises of 1993
Yegor Gaidar, whose biography mentions not onlyups and downs, did not receive the support of the deputies of the 7th Congress of People's Deputies on the issue of his appointment as chairman of the government of the country. This refusal to approve a politician for one of the most important positions in the state, along with a number of other reasons, led to the beginning of a political crisis.
From December 1992 to September 1993, Yegor Gaidar was engaged in scientific work. In addition, he advised the President of the Russian Federation on economic policy issues. The politician was one of the key figures during the constitutional crisis of 1993, a few days before which he was appointed deputy chairman of the Chernomyrdin government. It was he who addressed the Muscovites on television and urged them to gather near the building of the Moscow City Council. As a result, on the night of September 22, barricades appeared on Tverskaya, and by the morning the White House was stormed, ending in victory for Yeltsin's supporters.
It soon turned out that Gaidar and Chernomyrdin had fundamental differences on the most important issues of the country's economic policy, so Yegor Timurovich submitted his resignation, having previously explained the motives for his action in a letter to the president.
Further activities
From December 1993 to the end of 1995, Gaidar was a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. In parallel with this, he headed the Democratic Choice of Russia party. During the Chechen war, the politician Yegor Gaidar opposed the fighting and called on Boris Yeltsin to refuse to run for the next presidential term. However, afterpublication of a plan for the peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in Chechnya, the party he leads supported the incumbent head of state.
In 1999, the Union of Right Forces bloc was formed. Gaidar's party also entered it. In the elections held in December this year, he was elected to the State Duma of the third convocation. During his work in the highest legislative body of the country, Gaidar participated in the development of the Budget and Tax Codes.
Death of a politician
In the last years of his life, Yegor Gaidar had certain he alth problems. In particular, in 2006, he lost consciousness during a public speech in Ireland, was taken to the intensive care unit of one of the local hospitals and stayed there for several days. Since this event took place the day after A. Litvinenko was reported to have been poisoned with polonium, there were rumors in the press that Gaidar was also the victim of an assassination attempt. An investigation was carried out, but no sign of poison was found.
Yegor Gaidar's death occurred on December 16, 2009 in his house, located in the village of Uspensky near Moscow. The famous scientist-economist at that time was only 53 years old. The children of Yegor Gaidar, in particular his daughter Maria, reported that their father had died of a heart attack. As for the doctors, they named the separation of a blood clot as the reason.
The funeral of the politician took place at the Novodevichy cemetery. Yegor Gaidar's wife and other members of his family did not want to disclose their date, so the burial took place without the presence of outsiders.
Private life
The first time Yegor Gaidar married quite early, at the age of 22. Irina Smirnova, whom the politician met at the age of 10, became the chosen one of the 5th year excellent student of the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University. As Yegor Gaidar himself later admitted, his personal life during his postgraduate studies and in the first years of work at the Research Institute of System Research did not develop. Therefore, even though he had two children in his first marriage, after the birth of his daughter, he began to think about divorce.
Some time later, Gaidar entered into a second marriage with Maria Strugatskaya. Thus, the politician became related to the famous Soviet science fiction writer Arkady Strugatsky, who became his father-in-law, and to the famous sinologist Ilya Oshanin, who was the grandfather of his wife. The second family of Yegor Gaidar lasted until his death, and in this marriage he had a son.
Children of Yegor Gaidar
As already mentioned, the politician had two children from his first marriage: a son and a daughter. After her parents divorced, the girl stayed with her mother, while her brother, Peter, Irina Smirnova agreed to leave her husband's parents, who doted on him.
In addition, the second wife of Yegor Gaidar, who had a son from a previous relationship, gave birth to another boy in her second marriage. This happened in 1990, and the child was named Pavel. He is the grandson of Arkady Strugatsky and the great-grandson of Arkady Gaidar and Pavel Bazhov.
Thus, the politician has only three natural children and one adopted child.
Maria Gaidar
Of all the children of politics, at the moment, the daughter from her first marriage, Maria Gaidar, attracts the greatest interest in herself. After her parents divorced at the age of 3, the girl stayed with her mother, who soon remarried. When Masha was in the third grade, the family moved to Bolivia. Before the trip, the girl's surname was changed, and she became Smirnova. After 5 years, Maria, together with her mother and stepfather, returned to Moscow and began to attend a special school with a Spanish bias. She regained her surname Gaidar only at the age of 22, after graduating from the Academy of National Economy.
Having received a law degree, the girl changed several professions, having worked as a teacher, manager and planning expert, and then Yegor Gaidar's daughter tried herself as a presenter on the O2TV channel, and since 2008 - on the Ekho Moskvy radio station.
In parallel with this, Maria Yegorovna was actively involved in political activities and since 2006 has been a member of the Presidium of the Union of Right Forces. She always adhered to oppositional views and repeatedly became a participant in rallies and marches organized by opponents of the country's current authorities.
On March 26, 2009, the daughter of Yegor Gaidar became the youngest vice-governor of the Russian Federation, but in 2011 she announced her resignation due to her desire to continue her education in the United States, at the School of Public Administration. JFK at Harvard.
After returning from the States, Maria worked for some time in the government of Moscow, and then was nominated for deputies of the Moscow City Duma, but was not registered by the electoral committee in view of the discovery of violations indocuments. This decision was appealed in court, but the latter upheld it.
In the summer of 2015, M. Gaidar was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Odessa Regional Administration on the recommendation of Mikhail Saakashvili, and a little later she renounced Russian citizenship.
The most important scientific works
Yegor Gaidar, whose biography you now know, no doubt played an important role in the recent history of our country. Its assessment has yet to be given to our descendants, however, one cannot detract from the merits of this politician as a scientist, many of whose ideas were confirmed after his death.
Among the most interesting scientific works of Yegor Gaidar are:
- the book "The State and Evolution", dedicated to the relationship of power and property in the Russian state;
- the work "Anomalies of Economic Growth", which examines the causes of the collapse of the socialist economy;
- article "On the reform of global financial institutions", etc.
At the moment, the work "The Fall of the Empire", written in 2006, is of particular interest. There, Gaidar predicted the possibility of a crisis that could arise due to fluctuations in oil prices.
