changes occurred throughout eastern Europe through a series of peaceful revolutions. The world then asked whether the Soviets would follow their satellites. New political alliances produced new tensions until Russia was declared independent and withdrew from the Soviet Union.
Observers note that Russia has been moving toward a market economy, though they wonder if the people will continue on this road. Official Russian statistics indicate that there has been a decline in production in state-run industries, but there has also been a rise in private-sector activities. The standard of living has improved in Moscow and St. Petersburg for most people, but life has worsened for those who are old and on a pension.
Since the time of the failed coup attempt in 1991, the Russian economy has been in a transition to a Western-style capitalist country. This only partially identifies the goal, since there are several different types of Western capitalist country. Each of the Western models is sufficiently similar, though, that the path taken by the Russian socialist system will be clearly in a new direction. Russia has a market economy and has included capitalist-style behavior for as much as 25 percent of all economic activity in the pre-reform USSR, some of which was even legal. The legal portion was dominated by col
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