Yeltsin was the first time he set foot on American soil, and when he walked into the supermarket on the outskirts of New York City, Yeltsin would not have imagined that the life of Americans would be so rich, and it was too great a blow to him, and Yeltsin broke out of control in the car because he felt that the faith he had held on to since childhood had completely collapsed at this moment.
The collapse of faith made Yeltsin despair of the socialist path pursued by the Soviet Union, and he couldn't help but ask himself: "Is what we are insisting on really right?"
When Yeltsin's driver told Seryosha what had happened in Yeltsin on the road, Seryosha did not know how to persuade him.
As the de facto head of the Soviet Union's foreign trade, combined with the experience of two lifetimes, Seryosha had an understanding of the societies on both sides of the Iron Curtain.
The material abundance of capitalism is indeed worthy of the envy of the people of the socialist world, but Americans themselves have their own troubles, because of the popularization of personal credit transactions, almost every American is working for the bank, and most Americans are burdened with all kinds of debts, once they lose their ability to work or lose their jobs, then the banks will mercilessly deprive them of their houses and cars, and turn them into proletarians completely.
Such a thing was simply unthinkable in the USSR.
Seryosha told the driver not to mention it to anyone after listening to the driver's report.
The next day, Seryosha arranged for his men to continue to take care of Yeltsin's next trip, and Seryosha left New York under the pretext of attending a meeting and left for Boston.
In the following days, Yeltsin, with the support of the Center for Soviet Studies at Harvard University in the United States, began his own inspection trip, which was almost the end of the year, and in a few days it was Christian Christmas.
But when it comes to your most anticipated Christmas item, it's an Iridium-enabled satellite phone.
In New York's Times Square, Yeltsin was again speechless when he learned that it was a mobile phone that could support wireless access in Europe and the Americas.
A few years ago, for the honor of the Soviet Union, Brezhnev had built a wireless communication network Altai in Moscow, but due to the lack of financial investment and the high price of car phones, the Altai system soon fell into a situation where no one cared about it.
When Yeltsin was secretary of the municipal party committee, in order to save finances, he removed this project from the government budget, and now he sees that the American people have begun to use satellite telephones, which makes Yeltsin's heart ache again.
Under Yeltsin's questioning, the inviter leaked a little information to Yeltsin.
That is, the cost of this visit was provided by Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco company, who heard that many Marlboro brand cigarettes were smuggled into the Soviet Union to be sold as high-end cigarettes, and the news of the establishment of a joint venture automobile factory between Volkswagen and the Soviet government seemed to indicate that the Soviet Union's restrictions on foreign investment began to loosen, so Philip Morris wanted to consult Yeltsin about the possibility of Marlboro cigarettes entering the Soviet market directly.
Although Yeltsin had already fallen out with Gorbachev, Yeltsin still consciously upheld the dignity of the Soviet Union in front of the Americans.
In response to Philip Morris's consultation, Yeltsin explained in detail the openness of the Soviet Union's economic reform to foreign investment, and he assured that after Philip Morris entered the Soviet market, he would receive preferential treatment in terms of taxation and policy, and as long as Philip Morris abides by the laws of the Soviet Union, they can get completely equal treatment with Soviet enterprises.
Unbeknownst to Yeltsin, his rivalry with Gorbachev had made him widely known among Soviet scholars in the United States.
When the news spread that Yeltsin had accepted the invitation from Philip Morris, more and more institutes and organizations for the study of the Soviet Union extended invitations to Yeltsin.
And companies like Philip Morris, whose products had already entered the Soviet market, had some expectations for Yeltsin's visit to the United States, hoping that the Soviet Union's economic reforms would open the door to them.
So in the following days, Kraft Foods and McDonald's also invited Yeltsin to visit and inspect, Yeltsin was surprised by the enthusiasm of American companies, originally thought that his visit to the United States would end soon, but now it seems that this is not the case.
Because there were so many invitations, Yeltsin had to apply to the Soviet embassy for an extension of his return home, and after getting approval from home, Yeltsin accepted these invitations and began to continue his trip to the United States.
After leaving New York, Yeltsin moved to Chicago, where Kraft Foods is headquartered.
Yeltsin saw thousands of products in Kraft Foods' showrooms, and a large number of them were still on sale.
Yeltsin focused on asking questions about the origin, production, and sales of some of the best-selling biscuits, coffee, and other products.
He was very concerned about these issues and listened very carefully, and Yeltsin was not as depressed as he was at home.
He seems to feel that he can contribute to his country even if he does not hold a leadership position.
That is, to learn from the advanced economic systems of the United States and introduce them to the bureaucracy of the Soviet Union.
With this attitude in mind, Yeltsin became more attentive to the activities of inspection and visits.
At his request, Yeltsin also made a special trip to Texas, a major agricultural state in the United States, to inspect the planting and animal husbandry here.
Texas has the highest livestock industry among any state in the United States.
The trip to Texas gave Yeltsin the opportunity to be at the forefront of agricultural production in the United States, and Yeltsin also visited collective farms when he was in China, where people tried every means to live in the cities, completely different from the leisurely farm life in the United States.
By the end of Yeltsin's month-long trip to the United States, Seryosha had already returned to the Soviet Union ahead of schedule.
Before leaving the United States, Yeltsin had a telephone conversation with Seryosha, and he hoped that after returning to China, he would open a column in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper to introduce the economic situation in the United States.
Seryosha was glad that Yeltsin had reinvigorated himself, and as for Yeltsin's suggestion that several American companies he had inspected would want to invest in the Soviet Union, Seryosha also agreed to consult Gorbachev. t1706231537: