On this day, January 2, 1992, a comprehensive economic modernization of the administrative and economic system of the USSR, called the “Gaidar reforms,” began in Russia. The reform began with price liberalization, which later began to be called “shock therapy” and the main brainchild of Yegor Timurovich Gaidar.

By that time, Russia was approaching with a baggage of long-standing economic and social problems. Due to widespread shortages, authorities had to introduce food and commodity coupons, ration gasoline consumption, and allow spontaneous markets and private trade.

The situation in the country was aggravated by political disintegration, the collapse of economic ties, the growth of local separatism and the emergence of a large number of “hot spots”.

The complexity of the ongoing reforms lay in the fact that they had to be carried out simultaneously in many directions at once - in the economic and legal sphere, in the social and government sphere, in business and the military-industrial complex. At the same time, internal gold and foreign exchange reserves were almost completely exhausted, and the external debt (which the new Russia fully assumed) amounted to about $170 billion.

In the autumn of the same 1992, voucher privatization of state property began, which was firmly associated with the name of another Russian reformer - Anatoly Chubais. The population was issued privatization checks with a face value of 10 thousand rubles, which could be sold or exchanged for shares of privatized enterprises.

Now, two decades after the start of radical economic reforms in our country, we can point out its shortcomings and obvious mistakes. It is worth mentioning that in the same 1992, inflation was 2700%, that is, prices increased 27 times.

During that period, many people lost their jobs and personal savings, and became hostage to months of salary delays. It was especially difficult for pensioners, disabled people, residents of single-industry towns and citizens who suddenly became foreigners in the former Soviet republics.

Gaidar, like a lightning rod, took on all the accumulated discontent, irritation against the authorities and social injustice. Few people wanted to delve into the intricacies of economic reform and the fact that price liberalization was inevitable. Moreover, no one paid attention to the fact that the government of reformers was then headed by President Yeltsin himself, and Yegor Gaidar was only a deputy prime minister.

Years later, E. Gaidar continued to evaluate his modernization program positively, regretting only that he had to make many compromises that interfered with dynamic movement forward.

In 1992, the implementation of the program for Russia's transition to a market economy began under the leadership of the government, headed by Boris Yeltsin (combining this position with the presidency until June 1992), and most importantly, the Deputy President for Economic Policy (then First Deputy and Acting Prime Minister) Yegor Gaidar. In December 1992, Gaidar, under fire of criticism, was dismissed and replaced by Viktor Chernomyrdin. But the basis of the economic system he created in 1992 has survived to this day.

Economic and ideological justification for reforms

The economic crisis in the USSR began in the late 1980s. At the same time, projects to transfer the Soviet economy onto capitalist lines began to be proposed as a way out of the crisis. This included not only the abandonment of the state production plan and the transition to market pricing, but also the privatization of many public sector enterprises. Stagnation in the public sector in the early 1990s became obvious, although there is still no clear opinion about its reasons: were they purely economic or also political.

Opportunities for private entrepreneurship appeared under M. S. Gorbachev. Some attribute the economic difficulties of the last years of the USSR to the fact that state enterprises began to sell their products through the private sector, which, without producing anything, began to receive speculative profits. Inflation increased markedly in the last two years of Gorbachev's rule, and the standard of living of the majority of the population fell. At the same time, the first legal Soviet millionaires appeared. [C-BLOCK]

Gaidar’s reforms generally continued the line that had emerged under Gorbachev, only they were radical and proceeded at an accelerated pace. At that time, there was a discussion in society and in political circles about how to carry out the clearly overdue transformations. The most famous program (alternative to Gaidar’s) for the transition to capitalism was the famous “500 days”, prepared by a team of economists under the leadership of academician Stanislav Shatalin and Grigory Yavlinsky and proposed to the leadership of the USSR under Gorbachev in 1990. This project was supported by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikolai Ryzhkov and approved in September 1990. However, its implementation was never started due to political reasons. In addition to the fact that “500 days” provided for implementation on the scale of the entire Soviet Union, the last leadership of the USSR clearly lacked the political will to implement unusual plans. Since August 1991, Yeltsin set a course for the Russian Federation to secede from the USSR, and they never returned to the “500 days” project.

Yeltsin, who loved decisive action, was clearly impressed by Gaidar’s willingness to carry out large-scale economic modernization, stopping at nothing. Before his appointment to the government, Yegor Gaidar headed the economic block in the leading publications of the CPSU - the Kommunist magazine and the Pravda newspaper. Back in the 1980s, he formed a critical attitude towards the economic teachings of Marx and the activities of his Soviet followers. But his acquaintance with alternative economic theories was narrow (it could not have been otherwise under Soviet conditions) and selective. In particular, opponents subsequently pointed out to him that he compiled his program according to the recipes of one American economist, Milton Friedman, known for his monetarist concept, which by the early 1990s had already become archaic. Gaidar continued to blindly follow this theory.

Key reforms and their features

The basis of the reforms were: free market pricing, privatization of the public sector, abolition of the state monopoly on foreign trade and the fight against the state budget deficit by saving on social spending. The key point was the liberalization of commodity prices, announced on January 2, 1992. As a result, in one month average retail prices soared by 345%, and annual inflation amounted to 2500%. Retail turnover fell by half over the year, which clearly showed a decrease in the purchasing power of most of the population.

On June 11, 1992, the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation adopted a state privatization program. According to it, small enterprises could be sold into private hands, and large ones could be transformed into open joint-stock companies. At the same time, so-called vouchers were introduced, which every citizen of the Russian Federation could purchase from the state for 25 rubles, at the rate of one voucher per person. The voucher had its nominal value fixed - 10,000 rubles, i.e. that share of federal property that fell on one citizen. Vouchers were promoted as an opportunity for every citizen to participate in the privatization of state property. In reality, these financial documents have become a type of stock that is freely traded on the stock market. Their real market value was negligible, and most citizens simply sold them off. And speculators immediately appeared and began to buy them from the population in huge quantities. Several thousand vouchers in one hand already represented a real amount for which one could buy a stake in the enterprise.

Gaidar's innovations marked the beginning of the formation of a large private sector in the Russian economy, the creation of large corporations with mixed public-private capital, sharp social stratification and the formation of a class of business oligarchs closely associated with government agencies and government orders. In short, these reforms laid the foundation for the socio-economic system of modern Russia.

Positive and negative ratings

Rector of RANEPA Vladimir Mau believes that in disputes about the meaning of the economic model proposed by Gaidar, the parties mainly start from two unprovable judgments: Gaidar destroyed the economy and robbed the people, or the economy was destroyed by the communists before Gaidar, and he built it again. It is clear that such discussions will lead nowhere and will only stop when this economic model itself, for some reason, ceases to be a reality.

Specific complaints against Gaidar relate to what happened under him and after him, throughout the 1990s, to the real drop in production (by 45% per decade), as well as to the fact that the middle class, which was declared to be the main interested in reforms, never emerged under Gaidar . On the contrary, the majority of those who, based on their income, could have been classified in this class in late Soviet times and formed its basis in market conditions, during the period of Gaidar’s reforms slipped into the category of paupers. Historian Yu. P. Bokarev believes that Gaidar’s reform had such consequences because it did not take into account the realities of modern post-industrial society and did not set as its goal the transition to it, but was inspired by ideas drawn from the books of economists of the old industrial era. The free privatization of apartments cannot be credited to Gaidar, due to the fact that the law on this was adopted by the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation back in June 1991.

Yeltsin's decree of January 29, 1992 on complete freedom of trade softened the negative social consequences of Gaidar's reforms. Citizens who could barely make ends meet were given the opportunity to feed themselves and their families during those difficult years by selling part of their property.

In November 1991, young economist Yegor Gaidar was appointed Deputy Chairman of the RSFSR Government for Economic Policy and Minister of Economy and Finance. A close group of like-minded people formed in and around the government, which determined the course of the economic reforms being carried out. Later they began to call it “Gaidar’s team”. The core of the group was Alexander Shokhin, Petr Aven, Alexey Golovkov, Anatoly Chubais, Andrey Nechaev.

Gaidar entered the government when the economic situation in the country was catastrophic. The budget deficit approached 30% of gross national product.

According to the data cited by the famous economist Evgeny Yasin in his book “Russian Economy: Origins and Panorama of Market Reforms,” the country experienced a reduction in the population’s consumption of food in almost all of its main types. Sales of sausage, which was a kind of symbol of prosperity in Soviet “developed socialism,” decreased by 24% in 1991 (from 1835 to 1393 thousand tons). The same figure for dairy products was 41% (from 21.5 to 12.7 million tons). If inventory in retail trade (at the end of the year) in days of turnover in 1985 was 93 days, then in 1990 this figure dropped to 44, and in 1991 - to 39 days.

The threat of famine loomed. By the end of 1991, the norms for food distribution on cards in most regions were: sugar - 1 kg per person per month, meat products - 0.5 kg (with bones), animal butter - 0.2 kg. Part of the food came in the form of humanitarian aid from Western countries.

While the demand for food grains was 5 million tons per month in January 1992, there were 3 million tons of resources available. According to calculations by Roskhleboproduct, the grain import deficit amounted to 17.35 million tons. The situation was complicated by the fact that foreign exchange reserves were practically exhausted.

At the end of November 1991, Gaidar outlined a plan for the government's priority actions to stabilize the economic situation: by releasing prices and wages while simultaneously pursuing a tough financial policy, stabilize the economy and restore its manageability on a market basis.

It was possible to begin implementing the planned reforms only at the beginning of 1992.

From January 2, prices for the vast majority of goods (with the exception of bread, milk, alcohol, as well as utilities, transport and energy) were freed, and regulated ones were increased. A 28 percent value added tax has been introduced.

In addition to price liberalization, restrictions on imports were temporarily lifted and a zero import tariff was established. It was free imports that played a catalytic role in the development of private market trade in early 1992.

On January 29, 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the Decree “On Free Trade”. In accordance with this decree, enterprises, regardless of their form of ownership, and citizens were given the right to carry out trade, intermediary and purchasing activities without special permits. The exception was the trade in weapons, explosives, poisonous and radioactive substances, drugs, medicines, etc. All this led to the gradual saturation of the consumer market and an increase in inventories in retail trade.

At the same time, the country's economy has experienced such negative phenomena as a crisis of mutual non-payments by enterprises, a cash shortage that caused acute social tension, a decrease in tax revenues to the budget, and inflation.

In his speeches on the eve of liberalization, Gaidar spoke about the upcoming initial increase in prices by 200-300%. In fact, in January 1992 their growth compared to the previous month was 352%.

At the end of February, a new government program was announced; An official memorandum on the economic strategy of the Russian leadership was sent to the International Monetary Fund, which included tough measures to limit the budget deficit and free up energy prices.

In April 1992, at the VI Congress of People's Deputies of Russia, the government's economic policy was sharply criticized. On April 11, the Congress adopted a Resolution “On the Progress of Economic Reform in the Russian Federation”, in which: it noted a number of problems in the economy: a decline in production, the destruction of economic ties, a decline in the standard of living of the population, growing social tension, lack of cash; invited the President of Russia to make significant adjustments to the tactics and methods of implementing economic reform, taking into account comments and suggestions.

On April 13, Gaidar announced the resignation of the government, citing the fact that the resolution adopted at the Congress on the progress of reforms actually meant the deputies’ disagreement with the economic course pursued by the government, and the additional budget expenditures it envisaged would not allow this course to be implemented without catastrophic consequences for the economy.

In this situation, a compromise was found: the congress adopted a Declaration of Support for Economic Reforms, in which the norms of the adopted Resolution on the progress of economic reform were softened.

After the VI Congress, the “Medium-Term Economic Concept of the Government” began to be developed, which provided for a reduction in the share of regulated prices and volumes of government procurement, the deployment of mass privatization, and bringing energy prices to global levels only within 2 years.

In fact, under pressure from deputies and directors of state-owned enterprises, financial policy has become less stringent. Combined with the seasonality of some economic processes, which is significant for Russia, the unsettled financial relations with the CIS countries, which led to the simultaneous functioning of many ruble issuing centers, and the lack of control of the government of the Central Bank of Russia, this led to the end of the period of relative financial stability and the development of a new inflationary spiral at the end of the summer - early autumn 1992.

In the fall, the government was again criticized with demands to restore price regulation and increase direct government intervention in processes occurring in the national economy.

In December 1992, the VII Congress of People's Deputies did not approve Yegor Gaidar as chairman of the Council of Ministers. After Viktor Chernomyrdin was confirmed as head of government, Gaidar was dismissed.

The activities of Yegor Gaidar are assessed ambiguously. On the one hand, his price reform in January 1992, which actually meant the abandonment of state regulation of prices for most goods, including essential goods, made it possible to almost instantly replenish store shelves that had been completely empty in previous years. However, while maintaining the population's income unchanged, this led to a catastrophic drop in living standards.

Reformers managed to reduce the state budget deficit and transfer the Soviet planned economy to a free market, but the side effects of their actions were hyperinflation and economic crisis.

Experts are still debating whether it was the reforms of Gaidar and his supporters or the decades of ineffective Soviet rule that preceded them that caused the collapse of the Russian economy in the early 1990s.

The material was prepared based on open sources

Additional sources:

Economy in transition. Essays on the economic policy of post-communist Russia 1991-1997 / Ed. E. T. Gaidar, pp. 91-93.

E. Yasin. Russian economy: origins and panorama of market reforms. Lecture course. - M.: State University Higher School of Economics, 2002.

Russian Economic Reform. Crossing the Threshold of Structural Change. World Bank, 1992.

In November 1991, young economist Yegor Gaidar was appointed Deputy Chairman of the RSFSR Government for Economic Policy and Minister of Economy and Finance. A close group of like-minded people formed in and around the government, which determined the course of the economic reforms being carried out. Later they began to call it “Gaidar’s team”. The core of the group was Alexander Shokhin, Petr Aven, Alexey Golovkov, Anatoly Chubais, Andrey Nechaev.

Gaidar entered the government when the economic situation in the country was catastrophic. The budget deficit approached 30% of gross national product.

According to the data cited by the famous economist Evgeny Yasin in his book “Russian Economy: Origins and Panorama of Market Reforms,” the country experienced a reduction in the population’s consumption of food in almost all of its main types. Sales of sausage, which was a kind of symbol of prosperity in Soviet “developed socialism,” decreased by 24% in 1991 (from 1835 to 1393 thousand tons). The same figure for dairy products was 41% (from 21.5 to 12.7 million tons). If inventory in retail trade (at the end of the year) in days of turnover in 1985 was 93 days, then in 1990 this figure dropped to 44, and in 1991 - to 39 days.

The threat of famine loomed. By the end of 1991, the norms for food distribution on cards in most regions were: sugar - 1 kg per person per month, meat products - 0.5 kg (with bones), animal butter - 0.2 kg. Part of the food came in the form of humanitarian aid from Western countries.

While the demand for food grains was 5 million tons per month in January 1992, there were 3 million tons of resources available. According to calculations by Roskhleboproduct, the grain import deficit amounted to 17.35 million tons. The situation was complicated by the fact that foreign exchange reserves were practically exhausted.

At the end of November 1991, Gaidar outlined a plan for the government's priority actions to stabilize the economic situation: by releasing prices and wages while simultaneously pursuing a tough financial policy, stabilize the economy and restore its manageability on a market basis.

It was possible to begin implementing the planned reforms only at the beginning of 1992.

From January 2, prices for the vast majority of goods (with the exception of bread, milk, alcohol, as well as utilities, transport and energy) were freed, and regulated ones were increased. A 28 percent value added tax has been introduced.

In addition to price liberalization, restrictions on imports were temporarily lifted and a zero import tariff was established. It was free imports that played a catalytic role in the development of private market trade in early 1992.

On January 29, 1992, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the Decree “On Free Trade”. In accordance with this decree, enterprises, regardless of their form of ownership, and citizens were given the right to carry out trade, intermediary and purchasing activities without special permits. The exception was the trade in weapons, explosives, poisonous and radioactive substances, drugs, medicines, etc. All this led to the gradual saturation of the consumer market and an increase in inventories in retail trade.

At the same time, the country's economy has experienced such negative phenomena as a crisis of mutual non-payments by enterprises, a cash shortage that caused acute social tension, a decrease in tax revenues to the budget, and inflation.

In his speeches on the eve of liberalization, Gaidar spoke about the upcoming initial increase in prices by 200-300%. In fact, in January 1992 their growth compared to the previous month was 352%.

At the end of February, a new government program was announced; An official memorandum on the economic strategy of the Russian leadership was sent to the International Monetary Fund, which included tough measures to limit the budget deficit and free up energy prices.

In April 1992, at the VI Congress of People's Deputies of Russia, the government's economic policy was sharply criticized. On April 11, the Congress adopted a Resolution “On the Progress of Economic Reform in the Russian Federation”, in which: it noted a number of problems in the economy: a decline in production, the destruction of economic ties, a decline in the standard of living of the population, growing social tension, lack of cash; invited the President of Russia to make significant adjustments to the tactics and methods of implementing economic reform, taking into account comments and suggestions.

On April 13, Gaidar announced the resignation of the government, citing the fact that the resolution adopted at the Congress on the progress of reforms actually meant the deputies’ disagreement with the economic course pursued by the government, and the additional budget expenditures it envisaged would not allow this course to be implemented without catastrophic consequences for the economy.

In this situation, a compromise was found: the congress adopted a Declaration of Support for Economic Reforms, in which the norms of the adopted Resolution on the progress of economic reform were softened.

After the VI Congress, the “Medium-Term Economic Concept of the Government” began to be developed, which provided for a reduction in the share of regulated prices and volumes of government procurement, the deployment of mass privatization, and bringing energy prices to global levels only within 2 years.

In fact, under pressure from deputies and directors of state-owned enterprises, financial policy has become less stringent. Combined with the seasonality of some economic processes, which is significant for Russia, the unsettled financial relations with the CIS countries, which led to the simultaneous functioning of many ruble issuing centers, and the lack of control of the government of the Central Bank of Russia, this led to the end of the period of relative financial stability and the development of a new inflationary spiral at the end of the summer - early autumn 1992.

In the fall, the government was again criticized with demands to restore price regulation and increase direct government intervention in processes occurring in the national economy.

In December 1992, the VII Congress of People's Deputies did not approve Yegor Gaidar as chairman of the Council of Ministers. After Viktor Chernomyrdin was confirmed as head of government, Gaidar was dismissed.

The activities of Yegor Gaidar are assessed ambiguously. On the one hand, his price reform in January 1992, which actually meant the abandonment of state regulation of prices for most goods, including essential goods, made it possible to almost instantly replenish store shelves that had been completely empty in previous years. However, while maintaining the population's income unchanged, this led to a catastrophic drop in living standards.

Reformers managed to reduce the state budget deficit and transfer the Soviet planned economy to a free market, but the side effects of their actions were hyperinflation and economic crisis.

Experts are still debating whether it was the reforms of Gaidar and his supporters or the decades of ineffective Soviet rule that preceded them that caused the collapse of the Russian economy in the early 1990s.

The material was prepared based on open sources

Additional sources:

Economy in transition. Essays on the economic policy of post-communist Russia 1991-1997 / Ed. E. T. Gaidar, pp. 91-93.

E. Yasin. Russian economy: origins and panorama of market reforms. Lecture course. - M.: State University Higher School of Economics, 2002.

Russian Economic Reform. Crossing the Threshold of Structural Change. World Bank, 1992.

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