It’s weird to think that thirty years have passed since then. A generation has since grown up in the former Soviet Union as well. And the gigantic empire fell apart so that its most important and powerful constituent – Russia – remained vast. This was particularly shocking to those who grew up under Soviet communism, or similar regimes behind the iron curtain, like me. Generations have lived their lives in the knowledge that this is the best economic and political system for which there is no alternative, the pinnacle of development, where the state takes care of every citizen from cradle to grave. But the machinery did not go on. It ran out of fuel. And then it happened. It turned out that the red giant was just an illusion. Well, it’s not the red giant the previous post was about, but an inevitable result of man made disaster.
The old Soviet cadres had no luck with the Mikhail Gorbachev, who was elected party secretary in 1985. The new leader began energetically and cleverly to reform the Soviet system, however, he soon had to realize that the system itself was unreformable. Gorbachev tactically and step by step built the network of his own cadres, but the insoluble contradictions between the representatives of the old and the new thinking soon became apparent. It was neither about reform, nor competence, but the power was at the stake.
Gorbachev made it clear from the first moment that the country could no longer exist in the old way. He was enthusiastic communist, who really believed that the system can be saved. However, the contradictions between ideas and reality were already so obvious that it could not have given the appearance of a functioning society through either propaganda or oppression. Those who had a little sense of reality could have no illusions. The Soviet system (communism, socialism, or name it as you want) has been proved unviable.
To understand the situation, we must definitely think about how shocked this recognition was for the citizens of the Soviet Union. As I have already implied, several generations have grown up believing that this system is superior, invincible, the best of any system. In belief that being a Soviet citizen is a privilege. For this country, for this system, millions gave their lives in the Great Patriotic War. The emotional attachment of Soviet citizens to the communist regime seemed solid. Of course, people weren’t stupid, they have seen what they had to see, but they weren’t forced to pick up onto their shoulders the Bolshevism by foreign invaders. Most of them experienced the failure of the system as a national failure, and this proved to be a decisive factor on the emotional side.
Just stop here, and think of it. Imagine you’re living under communist regime and you perceive that your life is worth not too much. You can’t choose your job, your neighbors, you have no say in anything, including making decisions about your own life. You can’t go where you want. Everything is pre-planned and decided in behalf of you. You are treated like a child who has no goals. But there’s something about this bleak emptied stagnation that gives you hope to make you feel great. You are a citizen of a strongest nation and live in the best society in the world for which your parents and grandparents gave their lives. The nation that sent man into space rules half the world and has nuclear weapons. Suddenly you start to feel like someone. You are a superman, a member of the superior race. And you finally find, because you have to find a new meaning of your life in this illusion of greatness. And now even this illusion is taken away from you. All that is left for you is the bleak reality and the hopeless misery. We need to understand what an emotional and psychological shock this was to the average Soviet. They did not experience this as liberation like the other Eastern Europeans they occupied.
However, emotion is not a political category. The survival of the system was an existential and power issue for the people of the old guard, what made them ‘someones’ in some senses. The last gesture of the regime born of a lie was also a lie, because the announcement read on state radio and television at dawn on August 19, 1991, from the first word to the last, was a typical communist lie: “Gorbachev became incapable of dealing with his affairs due to his shaky state of health. He is retiring for medical treatment, and handed over power to Soviet Vice President Gennady Janayev and the State Commission for Emergency Situations.” This self-nominated plenum has ordered a state of emergency for half a year (which at least wasn’t a lie). In retrospect, the entire Soviet state system was a single constant state of emergency.
The timing of the coup seemed perfect: the new federal treaty of the Soviet republics would have entered into force the next day, which radically transformed the structure of the Soviet Union – exactly that empire, what was controlled centrally from Moscow so far, would have turned into a true voluntary federation. However, the strategically and economically key Baltic Member States immediately saw the long desired opportunity to withdraw. After all, they would not have voluntarily joined the federation of states that had been trying to Russianize them with full force. The last hour of the Soviet Union seemed to be approaching, and the coupists, who, without exception, were beneficiaries of the previous power structure, wanted to avoid this at all costs.
The “fraternal” tanks marched for the last time. 360 armored vehicles were commanded in the center of Moscow, which is a serious force. But even the most serious force is useless without clear command and soldiers determined to act. And that’s exactly what happened there then. Since the communists who ruled on behalf of the people for seventy years left out the people and soldiers ( came from the people) from calculation.
Of course, they were used to not asking the people about anything. They just take note of the decisions made over their heads, and the few who are dissatisfied can be silenced with ease. However, the power of people who finally feel like a real political factor has manifested itself in a completely shocking way in those days. It was already a generation of Perestroika and Glasnost, whose members were aware of both their rights and duties. They exactly knew that a coup, whatever it would be, could not be justified even under Soviet law. They stood for Gorbachev and the new strongman Boris Yeltsin. And the soldier can no longer be fooled with tales of “rebellion of fascist counter-revolutionist dogs”. They saw exactly who they were facing. And there, especially among the Russians, since the Great Patriotic War, the emotional connection has been so strong and the mutual trust was so deep between soldiers and civilians has been unprecedented anywhere in the world. It is astonishing how detached these hard-line communists are from the reality of the Russian people and how much they did not understand what can be seen well from abroad either, at this crucial moment in the gigantic country.
Over the cold power and cynical political intrigues at those days, a suppressed but profound sense of national solidarity has triumphed. History has crossed over to those who did not understand it, and the changes swept away those who denied the need. The coup failed, and the ruling party found itself with no country. The Soviet Union formally existed for another four months. During this time the member states declared their independence one after another. The Baltic states had already declared independence in the days following the failed coup.
At the beginning of December that year, an agreement was reached on the formation of a community of independent states, which at the time meant only three more countries, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus. Back in the year, December 26, 1991, the Soviet parliament last met, which by its last decision dissolved itself, and with effect from 31 December, declared the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
We have come to the conclusion the regime had to fall because the lack of economic reforms. In fact the oppressive economic system perpetuated even in the Gorbachev era, as result the declining life standard and shortage of goods boosted. The Perestroika and Glasnost meant only political reform. Citizens were free to express their dissatisfaction, without having to face any retorsion. This and the deteriorating economic situation created an explosive mix that the system could no longer survive. From the very beginning, the political system was based on terror. In China, for instance, the opposite happened. There, they abandoned the Soviet-type planned economy, but were not allowed to go out of political repression. There was no dialogue and no publicity. As a result, China is a communist country to this day.
The “eternal union of the liberated peoples” has reached the average age of a European man. From a historical perspective, USSR has existed for a negligible time, but for many — very many — even that time was too much.
Wishing you all a happy holiday, and restful, enriching remainder of your 2021. See you in 2022!
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