The August Coup

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The August 1991 Coup was a time of a struggle between communism and democracy. This was a very important moment in Russian history. The future of Russia depended on the victor of this battle. The people of the USSR took a stand for their freedom.

Gorbachev, after he became general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, decided to make serious political reforms. He later described the Communist Party as a party "which ruled in the name of the people without obtaining the authority to do so from the people themselves." He introduced a policy, perestroika which contained glasnost. His goal was to turn the nation toward democratic development. The majority of the people in the country supported his plans. They had a dream that their country would become just like other free countries. Under communist laws, no one could start a private business. There was no free press. The media was under total control by censors. When perestroika and glasnost gave people opportunities to make money on their own and allowed free press, all this changed. Something new appeared, and that was questioning and criticism of the government. Now people were free to do so.

One other major new policy was the permitting of the creation of other parties than the Communist Party, which was the sole party under the old regime. The people of the country took this very positively. The elite of the Communist Party did not support this. They were not used to being criticized. They didn't want to lose their power to the people. However, the changes in the Russian society and government continued. People could now vote freely for the first time. The Republics of the USSR had their own local presidents and parliaments. Boris Yeltsin was elected President of the Russian Federation, the largest republic in the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev and his supporters decided that they must go further to promote democracy. The prepared a treaty that would give the republics of the Soviet Union more power. Not all government and party leaders agreed with these changes. Many of them believed that even limited independence of the republics would bring about the crash of the strong country. That is why the opposition born at the very top of the government at Gorbachev's level. The opposition decided to take action. The treaty was to be signed on 20^th. Right before that day, the opponents started a coup d'etat. The vice president of the USSR, Gennady Yanayev, the prime minister of the USSR, Valentin Pavlov, the Defense Minister, Dmitry Yazov, the interior minister of the USSR, Boris Pugo, the head of the KGB, Vladimir Kriuchkov, and others decided to take the matter into their own hands.

On the 18th of August they isolated Gorbachev, who was vacationing in Crimea, from all means of communication and transport. On the next day they called themselves the State Committee for the State of Emergency and announced that Gorbachev was sick and unable to hold his position in office, which meant, by the constitution, that Yanayev would be empowered as president. Their speech was broadcast all over the Soviet media. All scheduled programming was blocked, and what was left was Swan Lake being played instead of news bulletins. The only things that were announced were those things accepted by the Committee.

They thought they had everything in their control. They had the whole military. Why? Because they had the Defense Minister. They had the whole KGB. Why? They had the head of the KGB. They had the government in their control. Why? Well, they had Gorbachev isolated and Yanayev empowered. It seemed that they were destined to win. They weren't right about that. Why? They didn't, as usual, count the people as an important force. The committee thought that a group of people would be enough to win. And that is the biggest reason why they didn't win. They should have known that the perestroika changed the people. It was the people who were devoted to freedom and would do anything to earn it who stopped the coup.

Boris Yeltsin and the parliament of the Russian Federation fiercely opposed the coup. In the time that the tanks and soldiers were entering Moscow, Yeltsin and other leaders of the Russian Federation appealed to the citizens of Russia*, declaring the "decisions and resolutions of the [Emergency] Committee invalid." It became obvious that the coup leaders would try to take over the Russian White House - the Parliament building. Thousands of Muscovites went to defend the Russian White House. They stood in front of the tanks unarmed but with their bodies around the Russian White House. The people constructed barricades. But the soldiers were following their orders not knowing the reason that they were sent for. Even the babushkas on the streets talked to the soldiers and tried to convince them not to fight against their own people. Later, some soldiers switched sides. On the highest level of military rank, there were also people who did not support the coup. All around in Moscow, leaflets appeared with anti-coup messages. The radio station "The Echo of Moscow" continuously broadcasted what was happening in Moscow. News came from other cities that the coup was not supported by the people.

The coup began to fall apart. The coup leaders thought they would succeed if they stormed the White House. The tanks sent by the coup leaders started to break through the barricades. Then the people formed their own barricades with their bodies. And then appeared the first victims. The situation was in a critical state from the 20th night to the 21st. It was obvious that if the coup leaders didn't succeed on the last night, the coup would fail.

More and more people gathered at the White House, including my father**. The people made it clear that if the coup leaders wanted to succeed, they would have to spill the blood of their fellow citizens. The army stopped following the coup leaders' commands. In the morning, it was clear that the coup failed.

The coup leaders' flew to Crimea to tell Gorbachev that they were sorry. Another airplane sent by the Russian Government had people that were supposed to relieve Gorbachev from his arrest.

The people took a stand for their freedom. And won.

The unexpected result of the coup was that the Union Treaty was not signed, and only four months later the Soviet Union was dissolved.  Participation by members of the USSR government in the putsch discredited the central authority in the eyes of the people.  Many citizens, however, were unhappy with this result.  Even now many Russians argue that if the USSR stayed together as a country, it would have been better off.

*Complete text of the document can be found on the Appeal page.

**I conducted an interview with my father which can be located at the Interview page.