Political developments and change (1985–1991)

List political developments

• Rise of Yeltsin

• nationalist movements

• New Union Treaty

• August 1991 Coup

• Collapse of the USSR

• End of communism

Describe rise of Yeltsin

• Once an ally of Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin emerged as a radical reformer.

• In May 1990, he was elected Chairman of the Russian Congress of People’s Deputies,

• openly challenging CPSU authority

• positioning himself as the leader of democratic opposition.

Describe nationalist movements

• Glasnost fuelled independence drives across the republics.

• Lithuania declared independence in March 1990

  • followed by Latvia and Estonia.

• By 1991, nine republics had declared sovereignty

  • threatening the cohesion of the USSR.

Describe New Union Treaty

New Union Treaty (1991):

• Gorbachev attempted to preserve the USSR as a looser federation with greater republican autonomy.

• Hardliners in the CPSU and KGB opposed it

  • seeing it as the path to disintegration.

Describe the August 1991 coup

August 1991 Coup:

• Conservative elements launched a coup to depose Gorbachev.

• The putsch collapsed within three days

  • largely due to Yeltsin’s defiance,

• but it fatally undermined Gorbachev’s authority

• discredited the CPSU.

Describe the collapse of the USSR

Collapse of the USSR (Dec 1991):

• On 8 Dec, Yeltsin, Kravchuk (Ukraine), and Shushkevich (Belarus) signed the Belavezha Accords,

  • formally dissolving the USSR

  • creating the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

• On 25 Dec 1991, Gorbachev resigned as President of the Soviet Union.

Describe the end of communism 

• The CPSU was banned in Russia,

• one-party rule ended.

• The Soviet system was dismantled,

• replaced by the Russian Federation under Yeltsin

  • marking the end of communist rule in Europe’s largest state.

Evaluate political developments 

Political change in the late 1980s and early 1990s was driven by a power struggle between Gorbachev and Yeltsin, fuelled by nationalist demands and a collapsing economy.

Gorbachev’s reforms unintentionally empowered separatists and reformers, while the failed 1991 coup destroyed the Party’s legitimacy.

The Soviet Union dissolved not through foreign defeat but through internal fragmentation and loss of faith in communism