Encyclopedia of Russian History

With Gorbachev’s selection as President of the USSR in March 1990, Yakovlev was named to Gorbachev’s advisory council and retired from his positions as Secretary of the Central Committee and member of the Politburo in mid-1990. Increasingly disillusioned with the Communist Party, in mid-1991 he helped to form an alternative, rival political movement, publicly repudiated Marxism, and resigned as Gorbachev’s advisor. In August 1991 he quit the Communist Party and warned of an impending coup against the President. See also: CENTRAL COMMITTEE; GORBACHEV, MIKHAIL SERGEYEVICH; LIGACHEV, YEGOR KUZMICH; PERE-STROIKA

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Harris, Jonathan. (1990). “The Public Politics of Alek-sandr Nikolaevich Yakovlev, 1983-1989.” The Carl Beck Papers in Russian and East European Studies. Pittsburgh, PA: Center for Russian and East European Studies. Yakovlev, Alexander. (1993). The Fate of Marxism in Russia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

JONATHAN HARRIS

YALTA CONFERENCE

The Yalta Conference was the second wartime summit meeting between U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Mnister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin. It met from February 4 through February 11, 1945, in the Crimean city of Yalta. A mood of optimism prevailed at the conference because German armies were in retreat throughout Europe and victory was assured. The principal agenda item was Germany. Although there were sharp policy differences be1698 tween the three parties, the Yalta Conference reached agreement on most issues, and the Big Three came away convinced that allied unity had been preserved.

Germany, it was agreed, would be divided into three zones of occupation (a fourth zone was carved out of the British and American zones for France). Occupation policy would be made by a Four Power Allied Control Commission to be located in Berlin. Reparations were to be extracted from Germany, with the details to be determined by an Allied Reparations Commission in Moscow. Nazism and German militarism were to be extinguished, and war criminals were to be justly and swiftly punished. Josef Stalin and Winston Churchill are shown laughing in the conference room of Livadia Palace, during the Yalta Conference. ASSOCIATED PRESS. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RUSSIAN HISTORY

Poland proved to be an intractable problem. Churchill and Roosevelt sought unsuccessfully to persuade Stalin to recognize the London-based government in exile, but he continued to support the government installed by the Soviet Union in Lublin. At most, the Western leaders secured from Stalin a commitment to free and unfettered elections as soon as possible. No decisions were reached re

YALTA CONFERENCE

The “Big Three” at Yalta in February 1945: Winston Churchill, a gravely ill Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Josef Stalin. COURTESY OF THE RARE BOOKS AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DIVISION, THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS garding Poland’s postwar boundaries, although it was understood that the eastern boundary would be the Curzon line. As to the liberated countries in Eastern Europe, the conferees pledged in a Declaration on Liberated Europe to respect “the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live.”

A secret protocol stipulated that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan within three months after Germany’s surrender. As compensation, Russia’s losses to Japan resulting from the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 and 1905 would be restored. These included southern Sakhalin, adjacent islands, and the Kuril Islands. The Soviet Union also received the lease of Port Arthur, internationalization of the port of Dairen, and partial control over the Chinese Eastern and South Manchurian railroads as concessions. Regarding the United Nations, it was agreed that a United Nations conference would be held in the United States on April 25, 1945. The United States and Britain agreed to accept Ukraine and Be-lorussia as original members, thus giving the Soviet Union three votes in the General Assembly. Also, important provisions related to the voting rules of the Security Council were formulated, including a provision for the veto power of the five permanent members.

Because Stalin ultimately succeeded in imposing communist regimes on the peoples of Eastern Europe, some critics have accused Roosevelt of “selling out” Eastern Europe. However, the consensus of scholarly opinion is that the superior military position of the Red Army at the end of the war virtually guaranteed Soviet predominance, regardless of the decisions made at Yalta.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RUSSIAN HISTORY

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YANAYEV, GENNADY IVANOVICH

See also: POTSDAM CONFERENCE; WORLD WAR II

BIBLIOGRAPHY