29.3 The Collapse of the Soviet Union

Mikhail Gorbachev resigns Dec. 25, 1991 Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia

In a sudden, dramatic, and historic turn of events, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was temporarily ousted by conservative Communist hardliners. The initially bloodless coup – often referred to by the German word, putsch – took place in the early hours of August 19, 1991, while Gorbachev was on vacation in the Crimea. To demonstrate its authority, the new government ordered columns of Soviet army tanks and armored personnel carriers into the streets of Moscow. The coup leaders, an eight-man junta calling themselves the State Emergency Committee, justified their actions on the fabrication that Gorbachev was ill and unable to carry out his duties as president. Their responsibility to the nation, they announced, was to preserve law and order.

The State Emergency Committee was headed by Soviet Vice President, Gennady Yanayev, a little-known career Communist whom Gorbachev had elevated to office in December 1990. The coup leaders issued a series of decrees placing the news media under government control, prohibiting public demonstrations, and calling for Soviet citizens to surrender all private firearms. They made, however, no effort to enforce the decrees. It soon became evident that, other than removing Gorbachev, they had no overall plan of action or sense of vision for the future.

From his headquarters in Moscow, Russian President Boris Yeltsin immediately denounced the coup as illegal and demanded proof that Gorbachev was indeed ill. Joining Yeltsin in defiance of the junta were other leaders of the Russian government. Yeltsin called upon the Soviet people to show their support for Gorbachev through a general strike. In Moscow, thousands of sympathetic Russians gathered outside the “White House” (the Russian capital building) and began erecting barricades as a defense against attack should the coup leaders try to seize Yeltsin.

International reaction was of both stunned anger and concern. President Bush called the situation "disturbing" and stated his expectation that the coup leaders would honor the USSR's international commitments. All American agreements for economic and technical assistance to the USSR were put on hold. The twelve member nations of the European Community condemned the coup and voted to suspend all economic and technical assistance to the USSR. In the Eastern European nations formerly under Soviet domination there was concern for the new Soviet government's intentions for the some 400,000 Soviet troops that had yet to be evacuated from Eastern Europe. Czechoslovakian President Vaclav Havel warned of a massive influx of Soviet refugees.

It was speculated that the timing of the coup was intended to prevent the signing of a new Union Treaty. The Union Treaty would reorganize power in the USSR to give more sovereignty to the constituent republics. Demonstrating its intent to prevent the breakup of the Soviet Union, the junta placed the Baltic republics under military control. In Estonia and Latvia television stations and port facilities were occupied and closed, and troops moved into Kaunas and Vilnius, Lithuania's largest cities. In defiance, the parliaments of Estonia and Latvia both declared immediate independence from the Soviet Union.

During the night of August 20-21, a rather half-hearted attempt was made by military personnel to break through the barricades outside of the White House. Several civilians were killed, and it was expected that the move was the start of a major offensive against the defiant Yeltsin. No attack materialized, however, and the morning of the 21st showed that the coup had come unraveled and was collapsing. The tanks were withdrawn from Moscow. Yeltsin dispatched a delegation to fly to the Crimea to meet with Gorbachev. In a confused swirl of events, the junta leadership broke down. Several of the coup leaders, intending to meet with Gorbachev, commandeered a plane and flew to the Crimea but were arrested on arrival.

Clearly, the coup had collapsed. The remaining junta leaders were arrested. Those among Gorbachev's allies in the Soviet leadership who had quietly removed themselves from the coup events reemerged from their isolation to the questions and contempt of Yeltsin and the general the populace. Finding its nerve, the national Supreme Soviet rescinded the Emergency Committee's decrees, declared that Gorbachev was restored as President, and ordered the prosecution of those responsible for the coup.

Abroad, the failure of the coup was hailed by President Bush and other Western leaders as proof that the Soviet people were committed to continued democratic reform. Always cautious, however, Bush expressed reservations regarding expanded US economic assistance for the USSR. The nations that had suspended their aid to the USSR restored normal relations.

Freed, a visibly strained Gorbachev flew back to Moscow, where on the morning of August 22nd, he was greeted by politely supportive crowds. Gorbachev's welcome, however, paled in comparison to the wildly enthusiastic demonstration of popular support that greeted Boris Yeltsin outside of the White House.

The Soviet President was not returning to conditions he had known before going on vacation. Before him lay monumental tasks. He had to find a new coterie of loyal officials capable of holding public confidence and moving the USSR on to continued reform. He also had the unenviable task of reconciling himself with Yeltsin whom he blandly commended through a public statement of gratitude for saving the nation from the conspirators. He also faced the dilemma of reconciling the Soviet leadership with the constituent republics, now agitated, angry, and restless in face of the evident breakdown of leadership in face of the failed coup. He had to restore his credibility as a leader by effectively dealing with those who were responsible for or acquiesced in the failed coup.

On August 23, events took another extraordinary turn. Over live national television Gorbachev met publicly with Yeltsin in an animated session of the Russian parliament. The two leaders agreed to share power on a relatively equal basis. Each was empowered to assume the other's office in the event of an emergency. Gorbachev affirmed Yeltsin's decrees that earlier (prior to the coup) had banned the Communist Party from carrying on its political work within government offices, the army, and the security police inside the Russian Federation. Then, in a move seen calculated to put Gorbachev on the defensive, Yeltsin accused the Communist Party of "criminal" activities and called for the Party's abolition. Gorbachev, himself General Secretary of the national Communist Party, appealed to the Russian legislators not to sanction a "witch hunt" that would punish rank and file Communists for the crimes of a few of the Party's leaders. Socialism, he indicated, was a valid philosophy that people in a democratic society should be permitted to hold and advocate. (Gorbachev earlier in the summer had called for the Communist Party to undertake significant philosophical reform and move from Marxist-Leninism to social democracy.) It was clear from the catcalls and jeers from the parliamentary delegates that they were not in sympathy with Gorbachev's position.

Following the meeting with Gorbachev, Yeltsin ordered the Russian headquarters and Moscow offices of the Party closed and publication several Party newspapers, including its national newspaper Pravda, suspended. Party offices were ordered sealed and its telephone lines disconnected pending investigation of the Party's role in the attempted coup. With its leadership in disarray, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union seemed on the verge of collapse.

A wave of popular anti-Communist outrage, indignation, and anger swept through the Soviet Union. In the Baltic republics, the Communist Party was outlawed, its offices were closed, and statues of Lenin were removed from their pedestals. Communist officials were reported fleeing from the Baltics. Party activities were restricted in Moldavia and Kirghizia. The presidents of the Central Asian republics Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan resigned from the national Party leadership. Throughout the country the Party was in disgrace.

In symbolic expressions of the rapid change sweeping the country, the traditional white, red, and blue flag of pre-revolutionary czarist Russia replaced the Communist hammer and sickle red banner in the Russian parliament and over the Russian offices in the Kremlin. The statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the KGB, was removed from the front of the KGB's national headquarters in Moscow. For over seventy years the KGB had been symbolic of the repressive intimidation characteristic of communist totalitarianism. Millions had died through its brutal exercise of power, and other millions experienced the horrors of internment in its prison labor camps as it used systematic terror to enforce the will of the state.

The Communist Party suffered a massively devastating blow on August 24 when Gorbachev, seeking to distance himself from its disgrace, announced his resignation as the Party's General Secretary. He called upon the Party's Central Committee to dissolve itself and issued an executive decree ordering all Party property and assets throughout the country placed under control of the national Supreme Soviet. All Communist Party political activity and organizations in the national government, the military, and KGB were prohibited. Gorbachev's decree also disbanded the Party's national organization stating that the republic, regional, and local party groups were to "decide their own fate."

The question of preserving the political unity of the Soviet Union became more acute when Ukraine announced (August 24) its intention to become independent. The Ukrainian parliament stated that it intended to withdraw from the USSR, pending a referendum on independence to be held in December. With a population of over 50 million people, Ukraine was the USSR's second largest republic. Agriculturally rich, it was also the traditional "breadbasket" of the USSR and a major source of Soviet industrial resources. The announcement from Ukraine was eventually followed by declarations of independence from Belarus (Byelorussia), Moldova (Moldavia), Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Kirghizia. Tadzhikistan's parliament did not declare independence but reasserted its sovereignty proclaiming itself to be the Republic of Tadzhikistan.

Boris Yeltsin, in a television interview on August 25, stated that he envisioned a future Soviet Union based on a loose confederation of nine member republics. Yeltsin indicated willingness to concede the independence of six republics – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Georgia, and Armenia – in creating the new union. Yeltsin's proposal would create a Soviet Union much like the European Community, an international organization of sovereign nations cooperating in matters of economics, defense, and foreign policy. Yeltsin did indicate that such a new union would be absolutely dependent upon membership by both Russia and Ukraine. Yeltsin's plan would, of course, make Russia the dominant state in the new union.

Gorbachev, hoping to prevent further disintegration of the nation, made an impassioned and angry speech before the Supreme Soviet threatening to resign if some form of union were not achieved. Without there being a union of sovereign republics, he said, there would be anarchy at a time of grave economic crisis. Gorbachev's remarks were seen as a warning to the other republics that they would be better off in a renewed union under his leadership than alone in confronting a powerfully independent Russia.

Yet while Gorbachev made his plea, Yeltsin sent an official Russian delegation to Ukraine to negotiate a treaty between the two republics. In the treaty, announced on August 29, Russia and Ukraine recognized each other's independence and formed a military and economic alliance. Thus, the two republics whose combined population was two-thirds that of the Soviet Union, acted as if Gorbachev and the USSR did not exist. Other republics were invited to join the alliance, and it was soon announced (August 30) that Kazakhstan had voted to join.

In acknowledgment of the new realities within the USSR, numerous nations announced their intention to recognize the independence of the Baltic republics. On August 27, the European Community joined with Canada, Japan, and other countries in establishing diplomatic relations with the break-away republics. The US recognized Baltic independence on September 2. In further tacit approval of Baltic independence, Gorbachev indicated that the USSR would not veto Baltic application for admission to the United Nations.

In a speech before the final session of the Congress of People’s Deputies (Sept. 2), Gorbachev announced that he and the leaders of ten republics had agreed to a new Union Treaty. To be called the Union of Sovereign States, the proposed new union would be a loose confederation of states under a new temporary national government. This interim government would be responsible for defense and foreign affairs and would exercise power until a new constitution was drafted and approved. In presenting the new union plan to the Congress, Gorbachev was joined by Yeltsin, who assured the deputies that Russia did not seek political advantage over the other republics. The Congress was then dissolved. This was the last time the highest central legislative body of the USSR would ever meet.

Unbeknownst to Gorbachev, the new union would prove to be as hollow as was his leadership. On December 8, 1991, without Gorbachev's prior knowledge, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus declared the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). They proclaimed the Soviet Union dissolved and invited the other twelve former Soviet states to join the CIS.

Later in December the leaders of the five Central Asian republics met and declared their intention to join the CIS. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Moldavia (now renamed Moldova) also would become members. Only Georgia and the Baltic states remained outside the CIS by the end of the year. Yeltsin met with the leadership of the Soviet military and secured acceptance of the CIS as well as assurances that the military would support the political changes taking place.

The formation of the CIS raised the question of the legal status of the former Soviet Union. Gorbachev had, in effect, been shunted aside by the new political reality. Disappointed, disillusioned, and politically isolated, Gorbachev announced his resignation from the presidency on December 25. His announcement was carried by live television and had a worldwide audience. At its end, cameras focused on the Soviet flag flying above the Kremlin. It was solemnly lowered and replaced by the Russian flag. A few days later the Supreme Soviet (the former all-union national legislature) quietly voted itself out of existence. With these official acts, the Soviet Union, after 74 years, ceased to exist.

Of great concern to both the CIS members and the world outside was the control of the former Soviet nuclear arsenal of nuclear weapons. CIS members initially agreed that there would be joint control of strategic forces (such as bombers and missiles), but that each member state could have its own conventional armed forces. That national interests would take precedence over cooperation was evident, however, when Yeltsin ordered units of the Soviet navy based in Ukraine to sail to Russian ports. The US was assured that the thousands of nuclear weapons would remain under central control and that Russia and the other CIS members would honor all international treaties on the limitation and reduction of nuclear arms. That would prove not to be the case. Fears of a powerful Russia dependent upon Ukrainian foodstuffs caused Ukraine's government to insist on retaining units of the fleet and control of strategic nuclear missiles within its territory. Ukraine's independence would, thus, be guaranteed.

Likewise, of great concern was the continuing deterioration of economic conditions throughout the former Soviet Union. Faced with chronic shortages of food, fuel, and medical supplies, the CIS members were initially unable to agree on a common strategy for relief and continued economic reform. All, however, pledged themselves to the creation of a free market economy based on private enterprise and the operation of market forces.

In Russia, in early January 1992, Yeltsin's government ordered the lifting of all state subsidies on foodstuffs and other goods and services. The purpose was to end the long-time Stalinist command economy’s restrictions on productivity and distribution. The expectation was that by freeing prices to respond to market forces of supply and demand, producers would be encouraged to increase both the quantity and quality of their goods and services. The results, as anticipated, were instant and stunning increases in food prices, sometimes by 500%. What was hoped for was that outrage and anger, caused by the initial hardships, would wear off as the economy responded to new incentives for greater production and market efficiency. Economic realists feared a breakdown of social order as hungry and angry Russians put bread above the niceties of economic philosophy. Finding themselves at the mercy of their economic dependence on Russia (a long-term legacy of the old Soviet system), the other states announced similar policies ending subsidies. Thus, the new order in the former Soviet Union was one of both uneasy birth and an unpredictable future.

Yeltsin would serve as Russia’s President until the end of 1999. As President, he would oversee the adoption of a new constitution, suppress an attempted coup by conservative elements in the Russian Parliament in 1993, order the brutal military suppression of a separatist rebellion in Chechnya (which would lead to a prolonged and bloody struggle), win reelection in 1996, and survive a severe heart attack. His later years in office would see increased exercise of arbitrary power in response to discontent with failed economic policies. He resigned the presidency in a surprise announcement at midnight on December 31, 1999. In his speech he apologized for his failures and named Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as Acting President. Boris Yeltsin died in 2007.

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Illustrations: Gorbachev "The Soviet Union’s Final Hours", History Channel Website History.com

Yeltsin "Boris Yeltsin", Wikiquote Website

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Sources for the Collapse of the Soviet Union are listed at the end of Section 29.1.