Lebed's Lusty Leviathan

by Alexander Wilson

The subtitle of General Alexander Lebed’s autobiography My Life and My Country is “By the Man Who Would Lead Russia.” One need look no further than that simple phrase to find both the the importance of, and the flaw in, this fascinating and informative work. Lebed is a leading candidate for the Russian Presidency, and his book is infused with hints as to what his policies would be were he elected.

Any reader concerned with the future of East-West relations must be profoundly interested in the beliefs of the man who may soon be Russia’s supreme authority. Yet in his position lies the major flaw in the work, for Lebed tells his story in a manner that bares no resemblance to objectivity. Instead, the general often seems to stake his claim to leadership on the basis of old-fashioned Russian machismo — his tale includes an endless enumeration of inferiors thrown out of windows, emenies defeated, and witless superiors outsmarted.

To say that Lebed admits to no errors or defects would be untrue; his hot temper and inability to succeed as either a bureaucrat or a politician are themes throughout his narrative. Yet he presents himself in the best conceivable light throughout, making repeated references to his sense of honor, his bravery, and his scrupulous honesty. Aside from this trait in his writing, however, Lebed presents an extraordinary story, and describes the flaws in the current circumstances of Russia with an insight lacking in most works on the subject.

Lebed’s life, which is covered in far more detail than his country in his book, is a remarkable one, and he tells it well regardless of his tendency towards self-congratulation. Lebed is wise enough not to fall into the pervasive biographer’s trap of describing his childhood in droning detail. The reader is spared moving stories of the abusive, alcoholic father, the mother suffering in silence, and the beagle tragically slain by a run-away tractor. Lebed makes the realization, increasingly rare among autobiographers, that his readers just don’t care about his family life and hometown.

Thankfully, his early years are dealt with in short order, and he moves on rapidly to the relevant issues in his life. His triumph over repeated rejections from Air Force academies for medical reasons is truly inspiring, and his training period is depicted in a comprehensive manner. By focusing on the personal relationships he had with teachers, other cadets, and, later on, his own soldiers and fellow officers, he brings to life a career that might well have been as dull as most military biographies.

Fights with fellow officers at all-night drinking bouts and confrontations with political officers show the lighter side of life in the Red Army while at the same time Lebed draws insightful comparisons between Afghanistan and Vietnam. Stories drawn from decades of military service told in a down-to-earth style lighten the often monotonous details of his career.

From the roads of Afghanistan, to keeping the peace in Azerbaijan, to battling the rebels in Chechnya, Lebed never lets the narrative grow boring, interspersing amusing anecdotes and social commentary in equal measure. Perhaps the most intriguing example of the latter is his analysis, of the decline of morale in the Russian military. This topic is not one that is familiar to most Westerners, and it is of crucial importance coming from the pen of a man with concrete plans to reverse this trend.

Also of interest is the story of his role in the 1991 attempted coup d’etat by disaffected members of the military and intelligence communities during which Lebed recieved orders from both Boris Yeltsin and from the leaders of the coup. Lebed tells the tale of those contradictory orders, most of which he obeyed in complete ignorance of the actual situation, and pulls no punches in accusing both sides of everything from incompetence to insanity.

While Lebed often seems incapable of giving the dates of events, his story is told in a completely chronological manner, and remains easy to follow. The eventful life he has led is enjoyable in and of itself, and his telling of it is compelling and highly personal. What distinguishes it from a multitude of other military memoirs, however, are his opinions of the politics of both the Soviet Union and the current Russian Republic.

Given the power he may soon wield in his country, his ideas have an unusual relevance. The last quarter of My Life and My Country is dedicated to a discussion of the current political, social, and economic issues facing Russia today. This section is, for all intents and purposes, a campaign document, informing the Russian people of the platform on which he hopes to be elected in the year 2000.

Those readers who hope to learn his plans for Russia are likely to be disappointed however, for Lebed does not discuss much more than the nature of the problems. The solutions, he informs us, will have to wait for another day; and apparently another book. As he writes, “That is a topic for a separate, serious discussion.”

What he does say, however, is intriguing. The necessity for a strong, respected, and self-assured military figure highly in his plans for the future. He also calls for closer ties with the former Soviet Republics while stating, not entirely convincingly, that military conquest will never be an option.

Lebed also discusses the current economic program and rejects its refusal to compromise in its own rapid Westernization. While he is not against capitalism per se, and certainly has nothing good to say about the neo-Communist Party, he violently attacks such pro-Western reformers as former Chief of the Presidential Administration Anatoly Chubais, and the high tax rates they have instituted. He places the problem squarely at the feet of the Yeltsin administration which he claims is setting up its own financial oligarchy while declaring war on corruption.

Most ominous of all are certain of his statements about the West. While for the most part he speaks optimistically about East-West relations, there are occasions when he speaks in prophetical manner about future conflict: “No country should completely defeat another. Yes, the Cold War is over and the West was victorious.

This is an indisputable fact. But if the fruits of this victory are not used productively, if our national honor continues to be degraded, German history could repeat itself in Russia. In 1918 Germany was crushed. Fifteen years later, Germany was again in uniform and had rearmed.”

My Life and My Country is fundamentally a self-serving political document. But that does not detract from either the entertaining story that is told, nor from the importance of understanding a man who may well determine America’s foreign relations in the next century. This book must be taken with a grain of salt, but it is worthy of being taken.