The “Putsch”

19-22 August 1991

Events Leading to August 1991

• June 6, 1989, Tien-an-men massacre in China

• September – December 1989 “Velvet” revolutions in GDR, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria

• Breakup of the Soviet bloc in East Europe and reunification of Germany on October 30, 1990.

Inside the USSR: democratic vs. authoritarian forces

• 15 March 1990 Gorbachev is elected president of the USSR by the Congress of People’s Deputies (not by popular vote).

• May 1990 Gorbachev’s rival Boris Eltsin elected by popular vote Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR.

• 12 June 1990 Russian Federation (RSFSR) declared its sovereignty and primacy of its laws over the Soviet Union’s – a threat to cohesion of USSR

• In the course of 1990 Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia and Georgia declare themselves independent

The Conspiracy

• December 1990 Eduard Shevardnadze steps down as Foreign Minister – sign that the soft line is over: “Dictatorship is coming.”

• 11 December 1990 Vladimir Kriuchkov, chairman of the KGB,begins moves to change the direction away from reform.

• Kriuchkov joined by: Dmitry Yazov, Defence Minister; Boris Pugo, Minister of Internal Affairs; Valentin Pavlov, Prime Minister; Gennady Yanaev, Vice-President; and others.

The Vilnius Action

• 8-9 January 1991 Soviet special forces sent to Lithuania.• 10 January 1991 Gorbachev broadcasts a demand to

Lithuania to respect the constitution of the USSR.• 11-12 January 1991

Soviet troops surround key buildings in Vilnius.• 13 January TV tower surrounded by tanks and

broadcasting disrupted.• Large crowds gather around the Parliament building;

Soviet forces back off.

Lessons of Vilnius

• As in Eastern Europe in 1989 (GDR, Czechoslovakia, Romania), tanks are not enough.

• Strong leader able to rally people: Vitautas Landsbergis.

• Importance of controlling TV to keep people informed.

• Soviet troops unwilling to shoot at unarmed civilians.

Boris Eltsin vs Mikhail Gorbachev

• March 1991 a referendum is called by Gorbachev in most republics asking whether the people want a new Soviet Union (78% for). In the RSFSR there is an additional question: do you want the President of the RSFSR to be elected by universal suffrage.

• 12 June 1991 Eltsin is elected President of the RSFSR with 57% of the vote. He is the first freely elected leader in Russian history, acquiring enormous legitimacy.

• Gorbachev, elected only by the members of the Supreme Soviet of the disintegrating USSR, is outmanoeuvred.

The conspiracy hatches…

• August 4, 1991 Gorbachev flies to dacha in Crimea on vacation.

• August 20 – day set to sign new Union treaty giving more powers to republics

• The power ministers and Communist hardliners devise a coup, to be called the State Committee for the Emergency Situation (GKChP).

August 19, 1991

• 6:00 a.m. Declaration of seizure of power by GKChP and state of emergency in parts of the USSR.

• Tanks ordered into Moscow; TV stations cut off. • Eltsin drives to the White House – seat of Parliament of

Russian Federation – declares GKChP illegal.• Commander of tank forces declares his loyalty to the

RSFSR; Eltsin climbs onto tank and makes his declaration.

• Gorbachev held incommunicado in Foros, Crimea.• Members of GKChP hold evening news conference.

The Emergency State Committee

August 20, 1991

• Barricades around the White House• Support for Eltsin pours in from regions, other republics.• Aleksiy II, patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church,

expresses his support for Eltsin, and calls for no blood to be spilled.

• Eltsin plans resistance: back up government if the White House is taken and he is arrested or killed.

• Kriuchkov, Pugo, and Yazov decide to send troops to take White House.

• Just after midnight three protesters killed in class with tanks blocked in tunnel.

August 21, 1991

• Coup leaders lose heart, give up the fight. • Kriuchkov phones Eltsin.• Troops refuse to fire, begin to withdraw at 8 a.m.• Some members of GKChP fly to Crimea;

Gorbachev refuses to see them.• Eltsin sends vice-president of Russian

Federation Aleksandr Rutskoi to Crimea to bring back Gorbachev.

August 22 – 24, 1991

• Gorbachev returns to Moscow.

• Members of GKChP arrested.

• Blue red and white flag becomes the flag of the Russian federation.

• Statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky removed.

• August 24 Gorbachev resigns as General Secretary of the CPSU.

The Coalition in the “White House”

• Democratic forces of the intelligentsia who sought personal liberty of the individual, parliamentary democracy

• Economic libertarians who wanted a dismantling of socialism and privatization

• Russian nationalists who wanted out of the USSR

September - December

• Independence of Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania recognized.• Subsequently republics declare their independence,

beginning with Ukraine on August 24th.• Gorbachev tries to revive the USSR in some form,

unsuccessfully.• December 8th Eltsin, Leonid Kravchuk (Ukraine) and

Stanislav Shushkevich (Belarus) create the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Minsk.

• December 25th, 1991 Gorbachev resigns as President of the USSR, the red flag is pulled down, and the USSR is history.

Immediate causes of the break-up of the USSR

• Economic crisis because of the inefficacy of the Soviet “command-administrative” system, confused reforms

• The break-up of the Soviet bloc deals a hammer-blow to Soviet prestige and provides a model for the further disintegration of the USSR itself.

• Nationalism replaces Communism as the new ideology and paves the way for the independence of the constituent republics of the USSR.

• The Communist Party does not have the authority to put down dissidence and halt the disintegration

Why did the Soviet Union collapse?

The Transfer of Power

• Gorbachev’s belief in the rule of law, respect for human rights and democracy.

• He headed a party and country based on dictatorship.

• He shifts the political power to the elected Congresses in the Federal level and the republics, leaving the Party (and himself) powerless.

The Decentralization of Power

• In the USSR all power had been centred in Moscow through the Communist Party.

• By allowing freely elected Congresses (parliaments) and freely elected presidents in the republics, G. paved the way for fifteen different power centres.

• Republican leaders (including Eltsin) acquired legitimacy through the ballot box.

Economic reforms: Not far enough?

His economic reforms were half-measures:

• the creation of cooperatives (private businesses) and private banks made some fantastically wealthy;

•the rest relied on subsidized goods in short supply.

•Too much money chasing too few goods led to inflation.

The Transfer of Wealth

• Many Communists running factories and businesses realized they could take them over.

• Overnight “Red Directors” become owners of huge chunks of the economy.

• It was more profitable to become an independent business owner than to stay in the Party.

• De facto privatization: grab while you can.

Loss of Prestige

• The USSR lost enormous prestige from the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc.

• Gorbachev’s reforms created economic chaos, empty shelves, a debased currency.

• Glasnost meant that people could openly complain and express their contempt for the Party.

• The lack of centralized power and rules and laws brought a criminalization of society.

Questions to consider

• Could Gorbachev’s reforms have succeeded and the USSR been saved?

• Would the USSR have collapsed without Gorbachev, i.e., with a different leader?

• Was Eltsin’s seizure of power from Gorbachev legitimate, or a coup d’état?

• Could the Putsch have led to a civil war?• Was the collapse of the USSR a good or a bad thing?