The Fall of the Soviet System

1989:
First democratic election in the USSR
Economic recession starts
Emergence of democratic opposition
Fall of communist regimes in Eastern Europe
1990:
Democratic elections in the 15 Soviet republics
Republics push for sovereignty
Gorbachev’s desperate attempts to maintain control
The Soviet Constitution is amended to strip the Communist Party of its core role in the state
Gorbachev is elected President of the USSR
1991:
Escalation of conflict between conservatives and democratic reformers
The August coup resulting in the paralysis of the Soviet state
Dissolution of the Soviet Union

1989-1991
Two historic changes
The Soviet Communist Party lost power after 74 years; transition to capitalism began
The Soviet Union was replaced by 15 new independent states
Democratization – launched by Communist Party leadership to revitalize the Soviet Union - destroyed the USSR
Failure of economic reforms
The Stalinist legacy of the Communists was not forgotten – and it undermined the authority of the Communist Party
Extreme centralization of power in a multiethnic state generated pressures for greater autonomy by its constituent units – Union Republics, and smaller units within the Republics

Gorbachev undertook a radical attempt to revive the Soviet system through democratic and market reforms
His goal was not capitalism, but democratic market socialism
He did not intend to dismantle the Soviet Union – he wanted to revitalize it by means of democracy and economic reforms

The Soviet system was subjected to a test
And it failed it
Why?
Why did the economy go into a crisis as a result of market reforms – instead of booming?
Monopoly power in every sector of the economy
Dominance of the military-industrial complex
New market operators: exchange vs.production
Bureaucracy’s determination to control the market forces – either by suppressing them or by using them in their own interests
The logic of emerging bureau-capitalism

How to counteract it?
The Chinese model:
The CP keeps a tight reign over the state, practices market authoritarianism
This option requires:
A strong authoritarian political culture
A disciplined and obedient bureaucracy
In the Soviet Union:
Authoritarian political culture was decayed, desire for democratization was rising
The bureaucracy was corrupt, self-serving, and falling out of control
The only remaining option:
Open up the political system for popular participation and mobilize the people in support of reform

Democratizing the state
Restore the original democratic power of the Soviets
Enable the citizens to take control of the state through democratic procedures
Are the bureaucrats willing to give up power?
Are the people ready to take power?
NO and NO
Emergence of a political spectrum (conservatives, liberals, democrats, fascists)
Policy deadlocks

The territorial axis
The 1990 elections empower regional bureaucracies
Nationalism becomes their natural vehicle
The unexpected surge of nationalism
A natural component of democratization
Demand for devolution of power:
to Union Republics,
to regions within Republics,
to cities,
to boroughs and villages,
etc.
The rise of identity politics
Clashes over territory, distribution of resources
The Union Government is seen by everyone as a target

Boris Yeltsin was born in 1931 in the village of Butka, Southern Urals, grandson of a dispossessed and deported rich peasant

As a teenager, had a reputation of a rowdy

A construction engineering student

University graduate

1970s: local Party official supervising construction sites

1987: Moscow Party boss, riding a bus

Jack Matlock, US Ambassador to Moscow, 1987-1991:
“I think he could have kept Yeltsin on the team a lot longer. Undoubtedly at some point Yeltsin, given the chance, would have tried to challenge him, but the best way to head that off would be to use him at least as long as you could and keep him on the team. Instead he opted, fairly early on in the game, to force him out. This left Yeltsin with no option, if he was to get political power, than taking Gorbachev on.
http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/Matlock/matlock-con6.html

1989: Newly elected MP Alexei Kazannik yielded his parliament seat to Yeltsin

Decisive turn:
March 1990 parliamentary elections in Russia and the other Union Republics
Yeltsin and his supporters run on a populist-democratic platform and win control of the Russian parliament (Supreme Soviet of Russia)
The Russian Supreme Soviet becomes a vehicle for Yeltsin’s struggle to reduce the power of the Federal Government and launch radical reforms
Yeltsin makes alliances with like-minded forces in other Union Republics
Republics move to adopt Declarations of Sovereignty

Gorbachev’s maneouvers
He is stuck between conservatives, on one side, and radical reformers, on the other
September 1990: “500 Days”
A coherent program of rapid planned transition to a market economy
Wide autonomy for Union Republics
A chance to save the Union through radical reforms
Yeltsin’s parliament endorses it and proposes it to the Union parliament
Gorbachev is inclined to support it
Fierce opposition from conservatives forces him to adopt a compromise plan

Economist Grigory Yavlinsky, main author of “500 Days”

Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov

Vice President Gennady Yanaev

KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov

January 1991: Vilnius, Lithuania

Moscow democrats rally in support of Lithuania

Spring 1991
Shocked at the bloodshed in Vilnius, and seeing a wave of protests against the attempted crackdown, Gorbachev moves to make an alliance with Yeltsin
Yeltsin runs for President of Russia

1991: Yeltsin campaigning

June 1991: Russia’s President-Elect

“Two bears in the same lair”: USSR President Gorbachev and Russia’s President Yeltsin

A new Union Treaty
Worked out by Gorbachev’s and Yeltsin’s teams in summer of 1991
To be signed at the end of August 1991

Top hardliners plotting: Defence Minister Yazov and KGB Chairman Kryuchkov

The August 1991 coup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--XPj3dKYRA

Leaders of the August 1991 coup present themselves at a Moscow press conference

August, 1991: Barricades in front of the Russian Parliament building

The military desert the coup and join protesters

Russians celebrating the defeat of the August coup

Freed from house arrest in Crimea, Gorbachev returns to Moscow

After the coup, Gorbachev was rapidly losing power to Boris Yeltsin

December 8, 1991: the three men who dissolved the Soviet Union, left to right: Presidents Kravchuk of Ukraine, Shushkevich of Belarus, Yeltsin of Russia

Resignation of the Soviet Union’s first and last President