DAYS OF DEFEAT AND VICTORY.

• Author: Sachs, Jeffrey D.
• Position: Review

DAYS OF DEFEAT AND VICTORY By Yegor Gaidar University of Washington Press, $30.00

YEGOR GAIDAR'S Days of Deflat and Victory IS A unique chronicle of the first five years of Russia's post-Communist Revolution. Through Gaidar, we again ride the whirlwind, experiencing the drama of the failed Communist putsch of August 1991, the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the launch of radical economic reforms in early 1992, the violent confrontation with the Supreme Soviet in the Fall of 1993, and a myriad of other pivotal events up to Yeltsin's re-election victory in 1996. We could have no better guide. Not only was Gaidar the intellectual leader of many of Russia's political and economic reforms during this period, but he was also one of the few pivotal actors.

From November 1991, Gaidar served as Yeltsin's chief economic advisor and as deputy prime minister. During the second half of 1992, until his ouster by the hostile Supreme Soviet in December, Gaidar was acting prime minister. He returned to Government briefly in late 1993. For the remaining period of these memoirs, Gaidar was a leader of democratic Russian politics, a member of the Duma, as well as a continuing key advisor to the Russian Government and President Yeltsin.

Gaidar's re-telling reminds us of his lucidity, boldness, and persistence. We are also reminded of the shameless naivete or cynicism of many of Gaidar's critics, both in Russia and the United States, who argue to this day that Russia's tumultuous decade was the result of misjudged economic reform ideas championed by Gaidar (and outside economists such as myself). Finally, we are reminded, implicitly, if we care to reflect on it, how much the United States lost by hardly lifting a finger to help Gaidar and his reform compatriots during the harrowing first years of their struggle.

This book is an instant antidote to those such as outgoing World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz who somehow confuse Russia's revolution with an academic seminar. Stiglitz leads a group of American academics who think that Russia's reforms suffered mainly because Gaidar and other advocates of "shock therapy" somehow forgot that market economies are based on institutions and laws, and not just on textbook pictures of supply and demand. Duh! Readers of Gaidar's memoirs will quickly learn that Russia's reform struggle was not mainly about the niceties of sequencing market reforms. The real issues were elemental and urgent. Would there be...