The XXth Century Political History of Russia: lecture materials

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PREFACE

INTRODUCTION. Theme 1. THE STUDY OF MODERN RUSSIAN HISTORY: MAIN CHARACTERISTICS AND TRENDS

Theme 2. RUSSIA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY: ITS SELF-IMAGE, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION, AND CONTRADICTIONS OF ITS DEVELOPMENT

Theme 3. FESTIVAL OF THE OPPRESSED OR SOCIAL DISEASE? THE NATURE OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS

Theme 4. EMERGENCY MEASURES AND THE «EXTREME EMERGENCY REGIME» IN THE SOVIET REPUBLIC AND OTHER STATE FORMATIONS ON THE TERRITORY OF RUSSIA, 1918‒1920

Theme 5. FROM «WAR COMMUNISM» TO THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY: CONTRADICTIONS OF THE NEP

Theme 6. NEP DOWNSIZING AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE POLICY OF EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES INTO A PERMANENT SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

Theme 7. THE 1930S: CRISES, REFORMS, REPRESSIONS

Theme 8. THE HIERARCHY OF THE GREAT TERROR

Theme 9. ILLUSIONS AND AWAKENING OF THE GENERATION OF 1930S

Theme 10. THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR 1941‒1945: MAIN EVENTS AND POPULAR MOOD IN THE UNOCCUPIED SOVIET UNION

Theme 11. THE PEOPLE AND PROBLEMS OF THE POST-WAR ERA

Theme 12. THE KHRUSHCHEV’S THAW AND ITS REVERSE SIDE

Theme 13. SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES: FROM REFORMS TO STAGNATION

Theme 14. THE 1980S: THE SPACE OF POWER AND A SEARCH FOR NEW WAYS OF HISTORICAL PROGRESS

Theme 15. AUGUST PUTSCH OF 1991 AND THE TERMIDOR OF YELTSIN

CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA. WITH WHAT DOES RUSSIA ENTER THE NEW MILLENNIUM?. Theme 16. THE REALM OF POWER UNDER VLADIMIR PUTIN

Theme 17. REFORMS AND THE HIERARCHY OF NATIONAL PROJECTS

Theme 18. LOCATING OF THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD OF 1917 IN RUSSIAN HISTORICAL MEMORY

Theme 19. THE GREAT VICTORY OF 1945 IN HISTORICAL MEMORY

Theme 20. TWENTIETH-CENTURY RUSSIAN UTOPIAS: ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE FUTURE AS IMAGINED BY THE STATE AND DESIRED BY THE INTELLIGENTSIA

MAIN EVENTS, DATES AND GLOSSARY

SELECTED BIOGRAPHIES

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Theme 15.
AUGUST PUTSCH OF 1991 AND THE TERMIDOR OF YELTSIN

Today information about these events is too fresh in our minds to be complete. It is still too early for sociological analysis, and we don’t pretend to know the whole truth.

Therefore, we begin with a general analysis of the situation in August, 1991. Our initial thesis is that this was the most critical moment in the struggle for power between two forces. On the one hand, there were the diehards of the party and the state bureaucracies defending their positions, which were already undermined. On the other hand, there were numerous representatives of the new bourgeoisie. Everybody expected a clash. The people, divided by this struggle, saw a glimmer of hope when in June and July 1991 Gorbachev and Yeltsin took important steps toward an agreement. There seemed to be a way out of the dire straits. Ten Republics agreed to establish a new Union of Sovereign States. But these events served as a call to arms for extremists of both wings.

The party and the state bureaucracies, disagreeing with Gorbachev’s perestroika, tried to use the difficult situation in the country and the resentment of the people. There was a sharp decline in Gorbachev’s popularity. The party and the state bureaucracies wanted to remove Gorbachev from power and reinstate the former order. They were ready to do anything in order to achieve their goal, but were stopped by the resistance of all democrats in the country. Gorbachev, who had been taken prisoner, showed his determination and personal courage under the pressure of ultimatums. He rejected all demands of the conspirators. There is no doubt that the firm position of Yeltsin, the Russian Parliament, and the Government played the decisive role in defeating the plotters.

Now let us consider the nature of this coup. The events occurred within a short space of time, but for sociological analysis they raise rather complex problems.

The first concerns what happened. Was it a coup or only an attempt at a coup? The subject is still under discussion. What is the criterion by which we distinguish between a coup and an attempted coup? Power is the critical criterion. If real power changes hands as the result of a struggle between different political and social forces, we have a real coup. In our case, it was not a simple change of leadership. It was not an attempted coup. It was an actual coup, when the party and state bureaucracies removed Gorbachev from power. They had a temporary victory. Their next adversary was the Russian President Yeltsin. They tried to crush the Russian Government, failed and were made to retreat. The coup thus failed, because the conspirators had not managed to get power away from the Russian Government.

The second problem is: how does the coup correlate with the USSR constitution? It was the key question both for our country and for foreign countries. Two approaches clashed. The first claimed that the events were an anti-constitutional coup d’etat because the establishment of the State Emergency Committee was illegal. That was Yeltsin’s position. The second evaluation of events did not define the August events as a coup, but as an emergency. That was the position of the Emergency Committee itself, as it needed to prove that its creation and actions were constitutional.

История Bordyugov G., Devyatov S., Kotelenet E. The XXth Century Political History of Russia: lecture materials

История Bordyugov G., Devyatov S., Kotelenet E. The XXth Century Political History of Russia: lecture materials

The XXth Century Political History of Russia presents lecture materials for academics working with undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students as well as researchers of Russian history.<br /> The chapters are an unusual insight into the Russian past, which makes the readers think, analyze and also reconsider some events of the Russian history. It is an exciting blend of stories of the past and future trends, allowing to make forecasts and predictions.

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