State Committee for the State of Emergency. Appeal from the State Committee for a State of Emergency (GKChP) to the Soviet people Appeal to the Soviet people

Question: “The other day, the Russian media, with a series of publications, celebrated one significant date closely related to Gorbachev’s perestroika - the so-called “August putsch” (GKChP). If possible, explain what this State Emergency Committee actually was, whether its participants wanted to preserve the USSR and socialism, or whether they were provocateurs who ensured the victory of Yeltsin and the democrats.”

RP's answer: In the current year 2016, we are indeed celebrating many important and very bitter dates associated with Perestroika - the final stage bourgeois counter-revolution in the USSR, which destroyed Soviet socialism, as a result of which the first proletarian state in world history was destroyed, which had achieved colossal successes and greatest victories in all areas of public life. One of these dates is the State Emergency Committee or, as the propagandists of the victorious counter-revolution prefer to call it, the “August putsch”, “coup d’état”, etc.

Such names are “putsch”, “coup d’etat”, etc. - are given, of course, not by chance. Ideologists of the bourgeoisie generally actively use lexical forgeries, trying to pass off white as black, and black as white. The purpose of such substitutions is clear - at all costs to whitewash the anti-people policy of the imperialist bourgeoisie, to justify and hide its meanness and betrayal, to shift the blame of the bourgeoisie onto its victims, accusing them of its own crimes. There are thousands of examples of this. And one of them is the State Emergency Committee.

The chronicle of the events of August 18-22, 1991 related to the State Emergency Committee is described in detail in many bourgeois sources. Let us briefly repeat the most important things.

The State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR (GKChP) was formed on August 18, 1991. The next day, August 19, 1991, the State Emergency Committee made a series of statements and appeals to the citizens of the USSR in all Soviet official media, in which they announced that in order to restore order in the country, he was taking full power into his own hands. On Soviet television, the documents of the State Emergency Committee were read out by announcers in the evening program “Vremya”.

Here are the texts of these documents (italics - L.S.):

"Statement of the Soviet leadership:

Due to health reasons, it was impossible for Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev to fulfill the duties of the President of the USSR and the transfer, in accordance with Article 127/7 of the USSR Constitution, of the powers of the President of the USSR to the Vice President of the USSR Gennady Ivanovich Yanaev.

In order to overcome the deep and comprehensive crisis, political, interethnic and civil confrontation, chaos and anarchy that threaten the life and safety of citizens of the Soviet Union, the sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom and independence of our state.

Based on the results of the national referendum on the preservation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, guided by the vital interests of the peoples of our Motherland, all Soviet people

WE DECLARE:

In accordance with Article 127/3 of the USSR Constitution and Article 2 of the USSR Law on the legal regime of a state of emergency and meeting the demands of broad sections of the population about the need to take the most decisive measures to prevent society from sliding into a national catastrophe, to ensure law and order, introduce a state of emergency in certain areas of the USSR for a period of 6 months, from 4 o'clock Moscow time from August 19, 1991.
Establish that throughout the entire territory of the USSR the Constitution of the USSR and the Laws of the USSR have unconditional supremacy.
To govern the country and effectively implement the state of emergency, create the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR (GKChP USSR) with the following composition:

Baklanov- First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council;

Kryuchkov- Chairman of the KGB of the USSR;

Pavlov- Prime Minister of the USSR;

Pugo- Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR;

Starodubtsev- Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR;

Tizyakov- President of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial, Construction, Transport and Communications Facilities of the USSR;

Yazov- Minister of Defense of the USSR;

Yanaev- Acting President of the USSR.

Establish that decisions of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR are binding for strict execution by all government and administrative bodies, officials and citizens throughout the territory of the USSR.

"Appeal
to the Soviet people

Compatriots!
Citizens of the Soviet Union!

In a difficult, critical hour for the fate of the Fatherland and our peoples, we turn to you!

A mortal danger looms over our great Motherland! The policy of reforms launched on the initiative of M.S. Gorbachev, conceived as a means of ensuring the dynamic development of the country and democratization of public life, has reached a dead end for a number of reasons. The initial enthusiasm and hopes were replaced by unbelief, apathy and despair. The authorities at all levels have lost the trust of the population. Politics has crowded out concern for the fate of the Fatherland and the citizen from public life. Evil mockery of all state institutions is being instilled. The country has essentially become ungovernable.

Taking advantage of the freedoms provided, trampling on the newly emerged shoots of democracy, extremist forces emerged that set a course for the liquidation of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the state, and the seizure of power at any cost. The results of the national referendum on the unity of the Fatherland have been trampled. Cynical speculation on national feelings is just a screen for satisfying ambitions. Neither the present troubles of their peoples nor their tomorrows bother political adventurers. By creating a climate of moral and political terror and trying to hide behind the shield of popular trust, they forget that the ties they condemned and severed were established on the basis of much broader popular support, which has also passed the test of centuries of history. Today, those who are essentially leading the cause of the overthrow of the constitutional order must answer to their mothers and fathers for the deaths of many hundreds of victims of interethnic conflicts. They are responsible for the crippled fates of more than half a million refugees. Because of them, tens of millions of Soviet people, who only yesterday lived in a single family, lost peace and joy in life, and today find themselves outcasts in their own home. What the social system should be like must be decided by the people, and they are trying to deprive them of this right.

Instead of caring about the safety and well-being of every citizen and the entire society, often the people in whose hands the power is, use it in interests alien to the people, as a means of unprincipled self-affirmation. Streams of words, mountains of statements and promises only emphasize the poverty and wretchedness of practical affairs. Inflation of power, more terrible than any other, destroys our state and society. Every citizen feels growing uncertainty about the future and deep anxiety for the future of their children.

The power crisis had a catastrophic impact on the economy. Chaotic, spontaneous slide towards the market caused an explosion of egoism - regional, departmental, group and personal. The war of laws and the encouragement of centrifugal tendencies resulted in the destruction of a single national economic mechanism that had been developing for decades. The result was a sharp drop in the standard of living of the vast majority of Soviet people, and the flourishing of speculation and the shadow economy. It’s high time to tell people the truth: if urgent measures are not taken to stabilize the economy, then in the very near future famine and a new round of impoverishment are inevitable, from which it is one step away from mass manifestations of spontaneous discontent with devastating consequences.

Only irresponsible people can hope for some help from abroad. No amount of handouts will solve our problems; salvation is in our own hands. The time has come to measure the authority of each person or organization by its real contribution to the restoration and development of the national economy.

For many years, from all sides we have been hearing incantations about commitment to the interests of the individual, concern for his rights, and social security. In reality, the person found himself humiliated, denied real rights and opportunities, and driven to despair. Before our eyes, all democratic institutions created by the people's will are losing their weight and authority. This is the result of purposeful actions of those who, grossly flouting the Basic Law of the USSR, are actually committing an anti-constitutional coup and are reaching for an unbridled personal dictatorship. Prefectures, city halls and other illegal structures are increasingly replacing the Soviets elected by the people.

There is an attack on workers' rights. The rights to work, education, health care, housing, and recreation are called into question.

Even the basic personal safety of people is increasingly under threat. Crime is growing rapidly, organized and politicized. The country is plunging into the abyss of violence and lawlessness. Never in the history of the country has propaganda of sex and violence been on such a scale, endangering the lives and health of future generations. Millions of people are demanding action against the octopus of crime and gross immorality.

The deepening destabilization of the political and economic situation in the Soviet Union is undermining our position in the world. In some places, notes of revanchism were heard, and demands were being made to revise the borders. There are even voices about the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the possibility of establishing international trusteeship over individual objects and regions of the country. This is the sad reality. Just yesterday, a Soviet person who found himself abroad felt like a citizen of an influential and respected state. Nowadays he is often a second-class foreigner, whose treatment carries the stamp of disdain or sympathy.

The pride and honor of the Soviet people must be restored in full.

The State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR is fully aware of the depth of the crisis that has struck the country, it accepts responsibility for the fate of the Motherland and is determined to take the most serious measures to bring the state and society out of the crisis as quickly as possible.

We promise to hold a broad national discussion of the draft new Union Treaty. Everyone will have the right and opportunity, in a calm atmosphere, to comprehend this most important act and make a decision on it, because the fate of numerous peoples of our great Motherland will depend on what the Union becomes.

We will clear the streets of our cities from criminal elements and put an end to the tyranny of the plunderers of people's property.

While we remain committed to strengthening and protecting individual rights, we will focus on protecting the interests of the broadest segments of the population, those hit hardest by inflation, industrial disruption, corruption and crime.

Our first priority will be to solve food and housing problems. All available forces will be mobilized to meet these most pressing needs of the people.

We call on the workers, peasants, labor intelligentsia, and all Soviet people to restore labor discipline and order as soon as possible, raise the level of production, and then move forward decisively. Our lives and the future of our children and grandchildren, the fate of the Fatherland depend on this.

We are a peace-loving country and will strictly comply with all our obligations. We have no claims against anyone. We want to live with everyone in peace and friendship, but we firmly declare that no one will ever be allowed to encroach on our sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. Any attempts to speak with our country in the language of dictatorship, no matter who they come from, will be resolutely suppressed.

Our multinational people have lived for centuries filled with pride in their Motherland; we were not ashamed of our patriotic feelings and consider it natural and legitimate to raise the current and future generations of citizens of our great power in this spirit.

To fail to act at this critical hour for the fate of the Fatherland means to take on heavy responsibility for tragic, truly unpredictable consequences. Everyone who cherishes our Motherland, who wants to live and work in an atmosphere of calm and confidence, who does not accept the continuation of bloody interethnic conflicts, who sees their Fatherland in the future as independent and prosperous, must make the only right choice. We call on all true patriots and people of good will to put an end to the current time of troubles.

We call on all citizens of the Soviet Union to realize their duty to the Motherland and provide full support to the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR and efforts to bring the country out of the crisis.

Constructive proposals from socio-political organizations, labor collectives and citizens will be gratefully accepted as a manifestation of their patriotic readiness to actively participate in the restoration of age-old friendship in a single family of fraternal peoples and the revival of the Fatherland.”

"Resolution No. 1
State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR

In order to protect the vital interests of the peoples and citizens of the USSR, the independence and territorial integrity of the country, restore law and order, stabilize the situation, overcome a severe crisis, prevent chaos, anarchy and fratricidal civil war, the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR decides:

All authorities and management bodies of the USSR, union and autonomous republics, territories, regions, cities, districts, towns and villages must ensure strict compliance with the state of emergency regime in accordance with the Law of the USSR “On the legal regime of emergency situations and resolutions of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR. In cases of failure to ensure the implementation of this regime, the powers of the relevant authorities and management are suspended, and the implementation of their functions is entrusted to persons specially authorized by the State Emergency Committee of the USSR.
Immediately disband the structures of power and control, paramilitary formations operating contrary to the Constitution of the USSR and the laws of the USSR.
Consider henceforth invalid laws and decisions of government and administrative bodies that contradict the Constitution of the USSR and the laws of the USSR.
Suspend the activities of political parties, public organizations and mass movements that impede the normalization of the situation.
Due to the fact that the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR temporarily takes over the functions of the USSR Security Council, the activities of the latter are suspended.
Citizens, institutions and organizations must immediately hand over all types of firearms, ammunition, explosives, military equipment and equipment that are illegally in their possession. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB and the Ministry of Defense of the USSR must ensure strict compliance with this requirement. In cases of refusal, they must be forcibly confiscated, with violators subject to strict criminal and administrative liability.
The Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB and the Ministry of Defense of the USSR organize effective interaction between law enforcement agencies and the Armed Forces to ensure the protection of public order and the security of the state, society and citizens in accordance with the USSR Law “On the Legal Regime of a State of Emergency” and the resolutions of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR.
Holding rallies, street processions, demonstrations, and strikes is not allowed.
If necessary, introduce a curfew, patrol the territory, carry out inspections, and take measures to strengthen the border and customs regime.
Take control and, if necessary, protect the most important government and economic facilities, as well as life support systems.
Resolutely suppress the spread of inflammatory rumors, actions that provoke violations of law and order and incitement of ethnic hatred, disobedience to officials enforcing the state of emergency.

Establish control over the media, entrusting its implementation to a specially created body under the State Emergency Committee of the USSR.
Government and management bodies, heads of institutions and enterprises, take measures to improve organization, establish order and discipline in all spheres of society. Ensure the normal functioning of enterprises in all sectors of the national economy, strict implementation of measures to preserve and restore for the period of stabilization of vertical and horizontal connections between economic entities throughout the USSR, failure to meet established production volumes, supplies of raw materials, materials and components.
Establish and maintain a regime of strict economy of material, technical and foreign exchange resources, develop and implement specific measures to combat mismanagement and squandering of people's wealth.
Resolutely fight the shadow economy, inevitably apply criminal and administrative measures for cases of corruption, theft, speculation, concealment of goods from sale, mismanagement and other offenses in the economic sphere.
To create favorable conditions for increasing the real contribution of all types of business activities carried out in accordance with the laws of the USSR to the economic potential of the country and meeting the urgent needs of the population.

Consider permanent work in government and management structures to be incompatible with engaging in entrepreneurial activity.
The Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR, within a week, should carry out an inventory of all available food resources and essential industrial goods, report to the people what the country has, and take strict control over their safety and distribution.
Abolish any restrictions that impede the movement of food and consumer goods across the territory of the USSR, as well as material resources for their production, and strictly monitor compliance with this order.
Particular attention should be paid to the priority supply of preschool children's institutions, orphanages, schools, secondary specialized and higher educational institutions, hospitals, as well as pensioners and the disabled.
Within a week, make proposals to streamline, freeze and reduce prices for certain types of industrial and food products, primarily for children, services to the population and public catering, as well as increasing wages, pensions, benefits and compensation payments to various categories of citizens.
Within two weeks, develop measures to streamline the salaries of managers at all levels of state, public, cooperative and other institutions, organizations and enterprises.

Considering the critical situation with harvesting and the threat of famine, take emergency measures to organize the procurement, storage and processing of agricultural products. Provide village workers with the maximum possible assistance with equipment, spare parts, fuels and lubricants, etc. Immediately organize the dispatch of workers and employees of enterprises and organizations, students and military personnel to the village in the quantities necessary to save the harvest.
Within a week, the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR should develop a resolution providing for the provision in 1991-1992 of all willing urban residents with land plots for gardening in the amount of up to 0.15 hectares.
The Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR must, within two weeks, complete planning of urgent measures to bring the country's fuel and energy complex out of the crisis and prepare for winter.
Within a month, prepare and report to the people real measures for 1992 to radically improve housing construction and the provision of housing to the population.
Within six months, develop a specific program for the accelerated development of state, cooperative and individual housing construction for a five-year period.

Oblige government authorities at the center and locally to give priority attention to the social needs of the population. Find opportunities to significantly improve free medical care and public education.”

"DECREE
Acting President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
On the introduction of a state of emergency in the city of Moscow

In connection with the aggravation of the situation in Moscow, the capital of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, caused by the failure to comply with the resolution of the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR No. 1 of August 19, 1991, attempts to organize rallies, street processions and demonstrations, facts of incitement to unrest, in the interests of protection and safety of citizens in accordance with Article 127/3 of the Constitution of the USSR, I decree:

Declare a state of emergency in Moscow from August 19, 1991.
The commandant of the city of Moscow is to appoint the commander of the troops of the Moscow Military District, Colonel General N.V. Kalinin, who is vested with the rights to issue binding orders regulating the issues of maintaining the state of emergency.

Acting
President of the USSR
G. YANAEV.
Moscow Kremlin.
August 19, 1991"

"RESOLUTION No. 2
State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR
On the release of central, Moscow city and regional newspapers

Temporarily limit the list of central, Moscow city and regional socio-political publications to the following newspapers: “Trud”, “Rabochaya Tribuna”, “Izvestia”, “Pravda”, “Krasnaya Zvezda”, “Soviet Russia”, “Moskovskaya Pravda”, “ Lenin's Banner", "Rural Life".
The resumption of publication of other central, Moscow city and regional newspapers and socio-political publications will be decided by a specially created body of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR.

"Statement
State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR

Already the first day of the state of emergency in certain areas of the USSR showed that people breathed a sigh of relief.

No serious incidents were noted anywhere. The State Emergency Committee of the USSR receives numerous appeals from citizens in support of the measures being taken to bring the country out of a severe crisis. The first reaction from abroad to events in our country is also characterized by a certain understanding, because the worst imaginable development scenario, which worries foreign countries the most, is chaos and anarchy in our nuclear country. Of course, both within our society and abroad, mistrust and fears are being expressed in connection with the introduction of a state of emergency. Well, they have a basis: after all, in recent years, unfortunately, very often real affairs in our state have had nothing in common with the declared goals. The hopes of the people were repeatedly deceived. This time we will do everything to ensure that the activities of the Soviet leadership deserve trust.

Most of the union and autonomous republics of our Motherland support the measures taken due to the exceptionally acute situation. The peoples understand that the State Emergency Committee of the USSR in no way intends to infringe on their constitutional sovereign rights.

The appeal signed on the morning of August 19 of this year by the leaders of the RSFSR B. Yeltsin, I. Silaev and R. Khasbulatov was dissonant at this critical moment, when national consent was required. It is kept in a confrontational spirit. This appeal also contains direct incitement to illegal actions, which is incompatible with the state of emergency established by law.

The State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR, showing patience and desire for constructive cooperation, considers it possible to limit this time to a warning against irresponsible, unreasonable steps. Once again, ambition has prevailed in the Russian leadership, but the people are waiting for such adjustments to be made to policy that would meet the fundamental interests of Russians.

We would like to emphasize once again that throughout the entire territory of the USSR, from now on, the principle of the supremacy of the USSR Constitution and the laws of the USSR has been restored. We assure you that our practice, in contrast to empty promises that have set teeth on edge, will be unconditionally supported by the implementation of the decisions taken.”

What conclusions can be drawn from the presented documents?

Conclusion 1. From the “Statement of the Soviet Leadership” it is clearly visible that the representation in the State Emergency Committee was more than serious - the Committee included all the security forces, the heads of all security ministries and committees. Moreover, all members of the State Emergency Committee (except Tizyakov) were also members of the CPSU Central Committee, i.e. were members of the country's highest political body. If we add to the members of the State Emergency Committee and their active supporters (persons who were subsequently brought to criminal liability along with the State Emergency Committee members for an attempted “coup d’etat”), then the team turns out to be extremely powerful, taking into account the structures that are subordinate to these people, and is quite capable of bringing more than just order to the country , but ideal order.

Ageev Geniy Evgenievich

Akhromeev Sergey Fedorovich- Marshal of the Soviet Union, adviser to the President of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev on military affairs.

Boldin Valery Iva novich - head of the General Department of the CPSU Central Committee, head of the Office of the President of the USSR.

Varennikov Valentin Iva novich - Army General, Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR.

Generalov Vyacheslav Vladimirovich- Major General, head of security at Gorbachev’s residence in Foros

Lukyanov Anatoly Ivanovich- Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR; his address was broadcast on TV and radio along with the main documents of the State Emergency Committee.

Medvedev Vladimir Timofeevich- Major General, head of Gorbachev’s security.

Shenin Oleg Semyonovich- Member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

Prokofiev Yuri Anatolievich- Member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, 1st Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU.

Kalinin Nikolay Vasilievich- Colonel General, Commander of the Moscow Military District, military commandant from the State Emergency Committee in Moscow.

Kruchina Nikolay Efimovich- Administrator of the CPSU Central Committee.

Grushko Viktor Fedorovich- Colonel General, First Deputy Chairman of the KGB of the USSR.

Kuptsov Valentin Alexandrovich- 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the RSFSR, Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, Head of the Department of the CPSU Central Committee for work with socio-political organizations.

In this list of “accomplices of the State Emergency Committee,” as Yeltsin’s investigation later called them, we also see not only military personnel, but also people from the highest echelon of state and party power in the USSR, including from the narrowest circle of the latter - the Politburo. That is, the members and active supporters of the State Emergency Committee are far from being random people, but are well aware of the situation in the country, understanding where everything is heading - towards the destruction of the USSR and the existing socio-economic system in the country.

Conclusion 2. The first document of the State Emergency Committee, “Statement of the Soviet Leadership,” immediately refutes all the accusations brought against the State Emergency Committee by the radical bourgeois counter-revolution (Yeltsinists) of the “illegality” and “unconstitutionality” of the actions of the State Emergency Committee. It clearly states on the basis of which laws of the USSR this Committee acted. This historical fact cannot be refuted by demagogic retouching, which, for example, the “omniscient” Wikipedia resorts to when talking about the State Emergency Committee:

“The State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR (GKChP) is a self-proclaimed government body in the USSR that existed from August 18 to 21, 1991. It was formed from the first statesmen and officials of the Soviet government who opposed the reforms of Perestroika carried out by USSR President M.S. Gorbachev and the creation of a confederal Union of Sovereign States instead of the Soviet Union, which only 9 of the 15 union republics planned to enter.”

Here the words “illegal” or “anti-constitutional” are not used, but the word “self-proclaimed” actually has the same meaning, focusing on the supposedly subjective will of those individuals who were included in the Committee, and completely ignoring the fact that:

firstly, a state of emergency for any country is always an extreme situation in which the best form of state power that ensures the preservation of the country and the existing system is not broad democracy, but just the opposite - authoritarian methods of management, including to ensure the future this broadest democracy in practice;

and secondly, the State Emergency Committee was created in accordance with current legislation of the USSR, the highest body of which - the Supreme Soviet of the USSR - did not declare the termination of the Union Treaty and the liquidation of the USSR, and, consequently, all union legal norms retained their strength throughout the USSR, including the USSR Law on the legal regime of a state of emergency N 1407-1 of 04/03/1990.

The bourgeois government and its singers are now trying to prove the “illegality” of the State Emergency Committee, referring to the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR, adopted on June 12, 1990 by the First Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR, according to which the laws of the union state were no longer valid on the territory of the RSFSR. However, this “argument” is not worth a damn, since by August 1991, the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1978 continued to be in force in “independent and sovereign” Russia (the new constitution of “independent”, i.e. already bourgeois, Russia was adopted only in 1993 .), although changes were made during the years of Perestroika, they in no way affected the priority of the laws of the republic over the union legislation. This means that on the territory of Russia the laws of the USSR and the RSFSR continued to operate fully, and its leadership was obliged fulfill them. Indeed, the actions of Yeltsin and the company were illegal and unconstitutional, refusing to obey the decisions of a completely legal and competent union body - the State Emergency Committee.

Another argument of the defenders of the position of “illegality” of the State Emergency Committee is that the members of the Committee allegedly themselves violated the law they were referring to - the USSR Law on the legal regime of a state of emergency N 1407-1 of 04/03/1990 and in particular, Article 2 of this Law, since they announced in their “Statement” that the current President of the USSR Gorbachev could not fulfill the duties of the President of the USSR “for health reasons” and therefore the duties of the President of the USSR were forced to be performed by the Vice President, although, they say, in fact Gorbachev was alive and well . That this is a forgery, which makes all the actions of the State Emergency Committee members devoid of any legal basis.

But these objections are built on a very flimsy basis. Here the bourgeoisie uses its old method of fighting against opponents - when it suits it, it finds fault with the form, discarding the content. (At the same time, in other cases, if this corresponds to its interests, it acts in exactly the opposite way: it does not give a penny about the form that interferes with it, emphasizing the content. During the same Perestroika, the counter-revolution countless times simply discarded the Soviet laws (form) that interfered with it and , no matter what, pursued its line towards the restoration of capitalism in the USSR (contents).) Gorbachev’s medical report was not publicly announced, but this does not mean that his health was all right - this is an open question. At least during Perestroika, persistent rumors circulated around the country that he had mental problems, and there could well have been good grounds for these rumors. Indeed, both at that time and now, many years later, from the standpoint of the bourgeois consciousness, which is most and above all concerned about its own personal gain, it is very difficult to understand what could have guided a man who so carefully and intensively chopped the branch on which sat. And what a bitch! Didn't expect this to happen? But then this is, at best, a political naivety of such an extreme degree that only adds doubts regarding Gorbachev. (We here in no way want to replace the Marxist theory of class struggle with bourgeois-idealistic theories of psychologism, we simply remind our readers that under the dictatorship of the proletariat, the bourgeois counter-revolution, deprived of the support of the working masses, always used people with flaws for their dirty and vile purposes and vices. Yeltsin's flaw is well known. Gorbachev's flaw could have been just that.) In general, the members of the Emergency Committee could well have had reason to doubt the adequacy of the first person of the union state.

Further, neither in the USSR nor in the RSFSR there were laws that would have given anyone the right to destroy the country and its socio-economic system. But the latter, as we know, was done purposefully by the leadership of the USSR and the RSFSR, and first of all, by the party leadership, under the leadership of M.S. Gorbachev and B.N. Yeltsin, which can only be qualified as high treason according to the Criminal Code of the USSR (in the Stalinist Criminal Code - which reflects the essence of the matter much more accurately) is simply impossible. The bourgeoisie, trying to shield itself as a class, always strives to cast a shadow over the fence - in the phenomena and events that are occurring or have occurred, it always strives to hide its class interest and replace it with the subjective will of specific individuals. This is especially evident in relation to its main historical crime - the destruction of the USSR and Soviet socialism. Here, its learned lackeys - bourgeois historians, analysts and journalists - in their numerous writings constantly shift all responsibility for the destruction of a great country onto the shoulders of individual historical figures, contrasting Yeltsin with Gorbachev, Putin with Yeltsin. It is strongly pretended that they are all opponents and pursue different goals. However, all of these are by no means ideological and political opponents. On the contrary, Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Putin are one field of berries, they all reflect the class interests of the imperialist bourgeoisie, and the policy of each subsequent one is a logical and natural continuation of the policy of the previous one. They all pursued (and are pursuing!) the same global goal - the destruction of socialism in the USSR and the division of the country, the restoration of capitalism and the complete subordination of the former Soviet economy to world capital with all the colonial “charms” that directly follow from this for the working masses: complete lack of rights, extreme exploitation, half-starvation, unemployment, police terror, rampant corruption, etc. There were, of course, some contradictions between these political figures, but these were not inter-class contradictions, but intraclass- within the bourgeois class. It was a primitive competitive struggle for a personal place under the “capitalist sun”, and nothing more. Not one of them is about the working people - about workers, peasants, intelligentsia, office workers, i.e. I did not think about those who alone can be understood as the people, and did not intend to think and is not going to think about them. Everyone had the same task - to overthrow the political power of the working class, destroy the hated public property that does not allow capitalism to develop, achieve political and economic dominance in society of the bourgeois class and maintain it with all their might, not forgetting about their loved one, grabbing for themselves a hearty piece of the former national wealth .

And the last thing regarding the “illegality” and “unconstitutionality” of the State Emergency Committee. In world history didn't exist another constitution, according to which state institutions would be prohibited from suppressing anti-state activities of their own or foreign citizens aimed at destroying the country, removing the ruling class from political power and overthrowing the existing socio-economic system in the country. Exactly the opposite - every state obliged by all means to maintain the political dominance of the social class for the sake of which it was created and which it serves. This means that government officials vested with high powers, according to their official position, must and are obliged to do everything to preserve the country, the existing socio-economic system and the political power of the class that built this state. “Do everything” means really doing everything, regardless of any laws. Laws just processing“on paper” the will of the ruling class. But this will of the class, before it is formalized “on paper”, must already exist and express themselves to the fullest extent, including in order for this class to gain its dominance. That is why V.I. Lenin said that the highest right is revolutionary right, this is the will of the victorious revolutionary people. Hence, “do everything” means, inter alia: forming an authoritarian governing body that will assume full state power in the country, introduce a state of emergency or even martial law on the territory of the country or in certain areas of it, if the situation requires it, and use violence in relation to persons and forces threatening the security of society and the state, in such forms and to the extent that will be necessary to ensure that the threat to the existence of the country and its socio-economic system passes. The essence of any state is the dictatorship of the ruling class, and in critical moments, if anyone questions the dominance of this class, the state, in the person of its officials obliged to apply this dictatorship in full.

From this follows the exact opposite of what the bourgeois counter-revolutionaries reproach the State Emergency Committee for: if this Committee had not been created and had not tried to restore order in the country, then such inaction that would be exactly what it would be anti-state and anti-constitutional activities! This would truly be a crime for which these (and others!) senior officials of the USSR would have to answer to the fullest extent of Soviet laws.

Conclusion 3. The justification for the need to form the Committee and most of the measures planned by the State Emergency Committee are correct and fair, they do not raise any objections. There really was no other way out in the current situation in the country, when counter-revolutionary revelry had been condoned for quite a long time. Only tough rule could save the country and the social system. dictatorship of the proletariat, capable of destroying even the slightest manifestations of bourgeois counter-revolution. The State Emergency Committee was supposed to become one of its most important organs (but not the only organ!). And with his statement and appeals to the Soviet people he instilled hope that can be such a body.

Therefore, the Committee and its announced actions were fully supported by the majority of regions of the country. The leaders of the territories and regions made their statements on local television on the same day. (“The Statement of the State Committee on the State of Emergency in the USSR” correctly reflects what is happening in the country.) The Soviet people, tired of the perestroika mess, reacted quite favorably to the declarations of the State Emergency Committee - Gorbachev was already hated by everyone, however, for different reasons. It’s clear why the Soviet people—the workers and collective farmers—hated Tagged (this was the nickname given to Gorbachev during Perestroika). The radical part of the counter-revolution hated him for the exact opposite - for the fact that he hesitated, was too ceremonious with this “scoop”. Yeltsin seemed to perestroika liberals and democrats to be a more decisive figure, capable of crushing and trampling everything that came under his feet. (They were not mistaken; this is exactly what he did later. But this does not mean that Gorbachev was better. Each of them played their role in this tragic performance.)

One more thing follows from the documents of the State Emergency Committee: output - No. 4, for some, perhaps unexpected: the State Emergency Committee, despite its beautiful statements, not able to was to fulfill the tasks set by him - to preserve the country and its social system; State Emergency Committee couldn't become one of the organs of the dictatorship of the proletariat, and therefore his defeat was natural.

To understand why, let's look again at the chronology of events.

By order of the USSR Minister of Defense D.T. Yazov, on August 18, 1991, troops and military equipment in the amount of hundreds of tanks, armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles were brought into Moscow. Yeltsin was blocked at his dacha in the Moscow region by the Alpha special group. Gorbachev - at his dacha in Foros, Crimea.

On the evening of August 19, 1991, members of the State Emergency Committee gave a press conference on the central television of the USSR.

And then quite strange things began to happen, which today they are trying to explain in different ways. One of the most common versions is that all this was a deliberate provocation. True, by whom it was initiated is not entirely clear; opinions here already differ - some are talking about Gorbachev, and some are talking about his political “opponent” Yeltsin.

The State Emergency Committee had considerable, if not colossal, military forces - all the power structures of the huge Soviet country were at its disposal. It would seem that the members of the State Emergency Committee have all the trump cards - nothing prevented them from putting into practice everything that they declared. Do not consider Yeltsin’s reluctance to obey the orders of the Committee and brazenly declared on the evening of August 19, 1991 in his Address that the State Emergency Committee is a “right-wing reactionary, anti-constitutional coup” a serious obstacle: “On the night of August 18-19, 1991, the legally elected president of the country was removed from power. Whatever the reasons for justifying this removal, we are dealing with a right-wing reactionary, anti-constitutional coup.”!

The last phrase is indicative - it is purely in the style of the bourgeoisie. Absolutization to the point of absurdity, if it is profitable! The reason could also have been Gorbachev’s betrayal (in fact, this is exactly what took place). According to Yeltsin, it turns out that in this case his removal from the post of president of the country is unacceptable. But then, excuse me, what about your bourgeois democracy, the voice and will of the people? Ah, this is all a piece of writing for naive simpletons! Well, that’s what they would say honestly...

Yeltsin with his total lies can be completely understood - what else could he do but move from a sore head to a healthy one? You can’t accuse yourself of unconstitutional crimes! This lackey of world capital, like Gorbachev, jumped out of his skin, trying to please the imperialists. But he could not oppose anything more serious than lies to the State Emergency Committee. The Committee had only to lift a finger, and there would not even be a wet spot left from this scoundrel with all his pro-American camarilla. It is no coincidence that Yeltsin had already set his sights on the US Embassy (many of his former comrades recall how he fought in hysterics and called the Americans, demanding that they hide him at their place).

However, the State Emergency Committee did not lift a finger. He did something that no one expected of him.

On the morning of August 21, after a night clash with Yeltsin’s supporters in Moscow, during which the liberoids, in order to warm up their metropolitan like-minded people, made the sacred sacrifice traditional for the “color revolution” (this technology was later repeated in Kiev in 2014 with the “heavenly hundred”, shot by their own during Euromaidan), USSR Minister of Defense D.T. Yazov gives the order to withdraw all military units from Moscow to places of permanent deployment. At the same time, members of the State Emergency Committee at their meeting decided to send a delegation to Foros to see M. S. Gorbachev. A few hours later, having learned that Gorbachev refused to accept the State Emergency Committee, Vice-President of the USSR G. Yanaev... signs a decree declaring the State Emergency Committee dissolved and all its decisions invalid!

So, they took it themselves and retreated, they retreated. Simply put, they surrendered to the mercy of the counter-revolution, which was insignificant both in strength and in number!

On August 22, Gorbachev returned from Foros to Moscow. Members of the dissolved State Emergency Committee and their active supporters were arrested and placed in a prison with the poetic name “Sailor’s Silence” (it later became a household name; the decorative nature of the investigation and trial was obvious to everyone in the country). On May 6, 1994, the trial of the GKChPists was completed. None of them were convicted. An amnesty was extended to all defendants. The only army general who did not accept the amnesty, V.I. Varennikov, was completely acquitted on August 11, 1994 “for lack of corpus delicti.” (So much for the “anti-constitutional putsch”! The counter-revolutionaries themselves, with their justification, proved that the guilt of the GKChPists was sucked out of thin air!)

But much more important result a failed attempt to restore order in the country - it was he who later became the main reason why many people in our country consider the State Emergency Committee a deliberate provocation initiated by the “architects of Perestroika” themselves, and primarily by Gorbachev and Yeltsin. Immediately after the self-dissolution of the State Emergency Committee and the arrest of its members, the CPSU was actually banned in the country, and the bodies of the union state power began to be rapidly liquidated.

On August 23, 1991, at an emergency session of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, Yeltsin signed a decree “On the suspension of the activities of the Communist Party of the RSFSR” due to the fact that it supported the coup attempt. In fact it was ban of the CPSU, since the Communist Party of the RSFSR constituted the overwhelming part of the CPSU. At the same time, in Moscow, the triumphant counter-revolution seized all party buildings and property, including the Central Committee and the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU.

These openly fascist actions, which actually deprived the working class of the dying USSR of their political organization, the only one capable of organizing the working people of the country to repel the insolent opposition, fully supported Gorbachev, General Secretary of the CPSU, announced his resignation from the post of General Secretary on August 24 and who called on the party to dissolve itself!(Later, in his numerous memoirs, he did not hide his hatred of the proletarian party, which raised him to such a high post in the country.)

On November 6, 1991, the activities of the CPSU were completely banned. Politically, this meant that power had completely passed from the hands of the working class of the USSR into the hands of the bourgeoisie - both its own, newly-minted one, formed during the years of Perestroika, and, of course, the Western one, which could now do whatever came into its head in the Soviet country. This means that the victorious bourgeoisie no longer had anything to be ashamed of, and it did what it always did after its victory - it tried to disarm its irreconcilable class enemy - the working class, in order to prevent it from putting up serious resistance. (It turns out to be a curious “pluralism” and “democracy”, isn’t it? This is how the bourgeoisie actually understands political freedom - as freedom for her and only for her, but in no case for everyone, and most importantly - not for the overwhelming majority of the country's population - the working masses. It’s a shame that few people paid attention to it back then.)

A day later, on August 25, 1991, Gorbachev dispersed the main executive body of the USSR - he liquidated the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR. A week later, the legislative bodies of the USSR - the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR and the Supreme Soviet of the USSR - were also destroyed. On September 2, USSR President Gorbachev and the top leaders of 10 union republics announced the termination of the USSR Constitution (and therefore all union legislation). At the same time, the highest body of the Soviet country, the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, at its V Congress (extraordinary), held from September 2 to 5, 1991 under pressure from the President of the USSR, announced its self-dissolution - it ceased its activities and the activities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, i.e. liquidated the highest bodies of state power in the USSR. The USSR was virtually destroyed- the union structures of power and control ceased to exist, the union laws were no longer in effect, the All-Union Party - the leading and directing political force of Soviet society - no longer existed. (And Gorbachev later swore and swore in his memoirs and speeches that he wanted to preserve the Union...)

The fact that it all happened so quickly - literally in a matter of days! — and gives grounds to some of our citizens, including many representatives of leftist forces, to assume that the whole idea with the State Emergency Committee was initially a deliberate provocation. It is impossible to regard it differently, as they think, - after all, if it were not for the State Emergency Committee, then what has taken so long - many decades! - world capital sought, it would not have happened so rapidly.

In our opinion, the opposite is true. This extraordinary swiftness was caused by the extreme fear of the counter-revolution, whose fate during the days of the State Emergency Committee literally hung in the balance. The chances of success of the bourgeois counter-revolution in the USSR were insignificant, which was subsequently admitted more than once by well-informed officials of the leading Western countries of the world, including the United States. Therefore, it is not surprising that, having barely recovered from fear, the perestroika counter forces in the USSR hastened to deal with those who frightened them so terribly and who, by their mere existence, already posed a considerable threat. And these are not private individuals, not members of the State Emergency Committee, this is the most terrible enemy of each and every bourgeoisie - working class political party, communists who alone are capable to raise the entire proletarian class into battle, which no force in the world can resist. That is why the first blow of the counter-revolution is the real putschists! — he fell in line with the party, with the CPSU. Even in this half-decayed form, having long forgotten why and for what it exists, this party, by the very fact of its existence, by the memory of it, once militant, revolutionary, of the Soviet people, was dangerous to the counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie, which had barely achieved the desired power. An indirect confirmation of this is one interesting piece of evidence published recently on a popular Russian Internet resource:

“In response to the “democratic” rallies, in the fall of 1989, the Leningrad party leadership dared to organize its own rally, which turned out to be unexpectedly massive. How, they say, Gorbachev, dissatisfied with the counter-rally, yelled at the 1st Secretary of the Regional Committee Gidaspov, who ordered to stop the “arbitrariness.”

Many conclusions can be drawn from this small fact, and they are the most important.

The so-called “democratic” (read: counter-revolutionary, bourgeois) rallies were initiated in the USSR by the highest party leadership of the CPSU, including Gorbachev himself.
Worker rallies in support of socialism were in fact strictly prohibited, which ensured, among other things, the external dominance of supporters of Perestroika, people who shared market-perestroika ideas, which, as we are now told, allegedly covered the entire country.
The party, despite the fact that it was catastrophically losing the trust of the Soviet people, nevertheless was still capable organize the working masses to seriously resist the counter-revolution.

This last one - organized working masses, and even together with the country’s armed forces (security forces subordinate to members of the State Emergency Committee) the counter-revolution was scared to death, and therefore, as soon as it had a chance, it immediately rushed to destroy the most terrible weapon of the proletariat - its political party.

As for the destruction of the USSR, this became a logical continuation of the destruction of the CPSU. What did world capital have to fear now if the main force of the USSR - its Communist Party - was destroyed? The counter-revolution never planned to preserve the USSR, such a powerful proletarian country! Look, for the sake of interest, at the materials of well-known trials of the counter-revolutionaries in the mid-30s, for example, “Court report on the case of the anti-Soviet Trotskyist center,” NKJU of the USSR, Legal Publishing House, 1937, p. 13. There the counter-revolutionaries themselves admit this . Gorbachev, Yeltsin and company during Perestroika actually did what those “innocently repressed by the bloody tyrant Stalin” sought to do. And it’s quite clear why they did it:

Firstly, the world bourgeoisie, to whose tune they danced, is not its own enemy. She learned the main law of war long ago - “Divide and conquer!” The proletariat, united in one large restored bourgeois state, which has a great revolutionary history and until recently lived under a completely different, order of magnitude freer, social system that did not know the exploitation of man by man, posed an enormous danger to world capital. But divided into parts, it became much weaker and less capable of powerful resistance.

And, secondly, competition under capitalism has not been abolished. It was not only the Americans who killed the USSR - every serious capitalist country had a hand in this matter, which was most important for the world bourgeoisie, and accordingly, each sought to get its piece of the pie from the division of Soviet national property.

It is clear that given such serious reasons, there was no chance for the existence of a bourgeois state within the USSR.

Another argument of supporters of the “provocation theory” is the indecisiveness and inconsistency of the State Emergency Committee, which started so beautifully and failed to continue so beautifully. This point of view was well stated by one of the commentators of the next article about the State Emergency Committee on the liberal resource (we present his entry with some of our literary corrections):

“August 19, 1991, morning. I heard about the State Emergency Committee from a neighbor in the country. The most important question: What's wrong with Yeltsin? If you are arrested, then the State Emergency Committee is serious; if not, then it is a comedy...

I turn on “Foreign Radio Voices” and am amazed! Enemy radio voices are not jammed and even Moscow news offices are not closed. Airports are also not closed, everyone who is not too lazy gives interviews and moves freely back and forth... During the day I communicate with the military on the street - they “don’t know” why they were sent here... There is no propaganda from the outside on the radio and on the TV box State Emergency Committee. On the contrary, in the evening on TV, since Yeltsin is a helpless speaker, he was only shown “on a tank”, and his “Address” was read out by an announcer...

I called the City Committee of the CPSU, they answered: “Sit down, guys, and don’t rock the boat, this is a provocation.” In the evening I received a call from the “Moscow branch of the White House”, that is, from the “Supreme Council”. We discussed the situation, I told them that the State Emergency Committee was behaving “like the Decembrists” - having an absolute chance of success, they were “draining” themselves.

Well, what was striking at the “press conference of the State Emergency Committee” was not even the “trembling hands”, but the fact that the “Gekachepists” were making excuses like a student who had not learned his lesson... They were making excuses before Gorbachev and currying favor with Yeltsin!...”

Yes, that's exactly what happened. The State Emergency Committee loudly said “A”, but did not say “B”. They didn’t even finish finishing their “A”, that is, actually implement all the measures they announced! Are you scared? Hardly. Most of them were military men who had seen everything. There were a lot of those who fought in the Great Patriotic War - you can’t scare them. So what happened? And what happened was they were confused! They didn’t know where to shoot, who to pursue - they didn't know who the enemy was!

Tell me, how can this be? And it's very simple. To fight well, you need to know the battlefield perfectly, know who your enemy is and where he is hiding. But when this knowledge is not there, when you see that everything is bad, but you don’t understand at all what the reason is and who, in fact, is to blame for everything, nothing can be done. All that remains is to abandon the battle, from any resistance to an unknown enemy, to “wash your hands” (which is what the State Emergency Committee did).

The Committee actually had all material possibilities for complete victory over the counter-revolution - well-trained people who know how to fight, excellent weapons, an organizational system, etc. There was only one thing missing, and, as it turned out, the most important thing - political vector. And without him they became powerless. This political vector could have been given by the State Emergency Committee only political party - CPSU. And she was in a half-dead and completely incapacitated state due to the direct betrayal of some of her top leaders that had eaten her to the core.

The fact is that any state power cannot be the power of any specific individuals acting at their own discretion. State power is Always the power of any social class. Specific persons in power only reflect the will of this class (see what Marxism says). That is, the members of the State Emergency Committee had to clearly and clearly understand the will which one exactly class they express. But they did not have this understanding. They stood up for “the Soviet people in general”, for “Soviet workers in general”, although these Soviet workers had already been divided by that time (1991 - the 7th year of Perestroika!) into different classes with directly opposing class interests. Could correct and correctly guide the members of the State Emergency Committee only the party that always indicated the direction of action to the state and security structures in the USSR, and then it was a “matter of technology,” that is, the task of specialists to solve the task assigned to them. But someone had to set this task first! That is why the delegates from the State Emergency Committee went to Gorbachev to receive this political leadership, which would show them the direction in which they should “fire”!

None of the members of the Emergency Committee, despite the fact that among them there were many members of the Central Committee and even members of the Politburo, could take on this political leadership. Everyone nodded at each other, and everyone was equally politically ignorant. Khrushchev's revisionism did its dirty deed - it ate the party to the core, changing its former revolutionary ideology beyond recognition. A direct consequence of revisionism is the total lack of scientific political knowledge in the country - both among the masses, among ordinary communists, among economic leaders, and among social scientists, and most importantly - among the highest party and state echelons.

Here is an interesting piece of evidence from one of the sources we have already cited above:

“...None of my familiar party workers in conversations ever mentioned the “founders of Marxism-Leninism.” By the end of the 1980s. The Lenin cult has significantly fizzled out, being squeezed out into the ghetto of ritual political meetings, which are no longer too frequent. You should have heard what jokes the workers of the Leningrad party organs told about the leader. The halo of the once formidable and most important communist political literacy has faded and, most likely, would gradually fade away, as unnecessary. But the party ruled everything for a long time; in fact, the CPSU was the backbone of the state, the concentration of control centers of the state machine...”

Yes, that’s how it was - “the party ruled everything.” So there must be in a state of the dictatorship of the proletariat, which was the Soviet Union! Only, firstly, not just any party, but a political party of the working class, and a truly Marxist-Leninist and communist party, i.e. Bolshevik party, which alone is capable of fully understanding and expressing the class interests of the working class and the working masses. And secondly, not a “stanovoy ridge”, but rather nervous system, which analyzes and decides, and even sets the whole class in motion. From such a comparison it is easier and simpler to understand what will happen if suddenly, for some reason, the nervous system is paralyzed, as happened during Perestroika, or if suddenly any organ of its central part, for example, the head, does not work correctly - will begin to give the wrong orders (which is what happened during the Khrushchev-Brezhnev period, when the CPSU slipped further and further into the swamp of revisionism, until, finally, it turned from a Bolshevik party into a party of counter-revolutionary Menshevism). It is clear that the proletarian state and its economy will begin to stall, contradictions in the country, instead of being resolved, will accumulate and intensify, bourgeois elements will immediately raise their heads and sooner or later rush into battle, trying to wrest political power from the hands of the working class. Perestroika became this most decisive battle of the counter-revolution, a battle for life and death, in which the Soviet working class, ideologically and organizationally completely disarmed, could not defend his power. He didn't even understand what was happening! Just as the members of the State Emergency Committee did not understand this, despite their high state and party positions and their super-information. To defeat the opposition, this was not enough; political knowledge was also needed - revolutionary theory, i.e. the same Marxism-Leninism (only real, and not vulgarized by revisionism!), at which party and state leaders closer to Perestroika began to openly laugh: some due to their political ignorance, and some in accordance with their class position, working off foreign tugriks in this way .

Members of the State Emergency Committee and their active supporters were what is called "statists". And to defeat the counter-revolution it was necessary Bolsheviks- Leninists and Stalinists. There were no such people in the country by the mid-80s. there are no more left.

The story of the State Emergency Committee, the shameful collapse of a powerful security system that was technically capable of crushing any enemy and suddenly turned out to be completely powerless in front of an insignificant group of political scoundrels, is very indicative. As it turned out, in the class struggle it is not enough to be a professional in your field; you must also clearly recognize yourself as a representative of a certain social class, firmly stand on its side, fully sharing its ideology and its worldview. Only in this case can you understand what is really happening, and therefore know what and how to do to win your class. In all other cases, any professional, no matter how high his personal qualifications, will inevitably find himself just a toy in the hands of his class enemy.

This is why the ideologists of the bourgeoisie keep telling us about “pure” professionals, “pure” art, “independent” trade unions, an army “free of political commissars,” etc. They convince us that science, technology, art, the army and even trade unions must be completely free and independent of any political parties (i.e. they deny classism, partisanship in any form). But all this is only in words (just like with freedoms and democracy!). In fact, they deny only the influence of the working class party - the Marxist-Leninist, communist party, which expresses the fundamental class interests of the proletariat and, through them, the interests of all the working masses. But with great pleasure and great zeal, the same bourgeois ideologists implant their bourgeois partisanship in these public institutions, introduce their bourgeois worldview, which binds and subjugates scientists, engineers, artists, military personnel and even workers her and only her, bourgeoisie, class interests. (A clear example of the Russian Federation - political instructors in the army were replaced by priests who now bless Russian soldiers to give their lives for their own and foreign oligarchs.)

In fact, there is not and cannot be any “pure” science free from politics, “pure” art free from politics and ideology, independent from class ideology and the politics of trade unions, and even more so an army free from ideology and politics! Without class ideology and class worldview, they are not able to exist - they are not capable of action! The same army without ideology is like a car without a driver or a lathe without a turner - it is an empty mountain of iron. An army without politics cannot be an army! Because the army (like science and art) always class, and it cannot be otherwise! And if the army does not reflect the class interests of the working class, then it inevitably will reflect the class interests of the bourgeoisie (which, hiding this fact, will certainly present them under the slogans of “the whole people”).

So that this does not happen, so that the army does not go against its own people and military personnel require political knowledge- to clearly understand whose interests they are going into battle for, for whom they are ready to die, who to shoot at and for what.

We are convinced that the GKChP members sincerely wanted to stop the destruction of the country, they saw where everything was going. But at the same time they did not understand at all the most important thing- What is this class battle what unfolds before their eyes great class battle not for life, but for death, in which it is their duty as Soviet state and party leaders to firmly stand on the side of the working class. The GKChPists were deliberating, getting confused in opportunistic illusions about a “single people” and a “classless Soviet society”, and in the end, unable to figure out what was what, they ended up in the camp of the bourgeoisie, helped her satisfy their class interests.

The documents of the State Emergency Committee say that this is exactly so - they say a lot of good and correct things, but not a single document not a single one mentions of classes and the fierce class struggle that was going on at that moment in all areas of social life of the Soviet Union. But this struggle in its most acute form has lasted for 7 whole years!

How could they, in such a period of time, fail to understand the most important thing—essentially, what they had been taught and prepared for all along? “Creeping counter-revolution”, thirty years of domination in the country of opportunism destroyed The main weapon of the Communist Party is the scientific dialectical-materialist worldview, replacing it with a bourgeois, idealistic one. The confusion in the heads of the members of the Emergency Committee (as well as the entire Soviet people) was such that they would not have been able to defend the socialist system and the USSR, even if they had implemented all the measures that they had declared! As a result, they would still end up with what we have now - restored capitalism and a divided country with a dying economy and a plundered, impoverished and disenfranchised working population. Only the process of restoration of capitalism would have proceeded a little slower than what happened with Yeltsin. But the difference is not fundamental, right?

Pay attention to the paragraphs we have highlighted in italics in the texts of the State Emergency Committee. None of them even try raise to fight against the bourgeoisie striving for power, the Soviet working class and the collective farm peasantry! But this was the only way to stop the counter-revolution! On the contrary, the State Emergency Committee called on workers to return to the machines - “to restore labor discipline and order as soon as possible, to raise the level of production, in order to then move forward decisively”. Only “forward” - where does that go? TO “multi-structured nature of the national economy” And "private enterprise", which the State Emergency Committee pledged "support" and create for him "favorable conditions"? To the market "slip" to which, according to the State Emergency Committee, there should be less "chaotic" And "spontaneous"? But this is nothing other than the restoration of capitalism! This is exactly what Gorbachev and Yeltsin and their accomplices were striving for!

Power was snatched from the hands of the working class, they put a knife to its throat, driving it into capitalist slavery, and the State Emergency Committee, these guardians of the country, these “statists” - security ministers and members of the Soviet government - intensively covered its eyes, urging it not to resist and to go work calmly, they say, we can handle it ourselves... What is this? This is the same Khrushchev-Brezhnev opportunism with his favorite mantra “the party will decide everything for you!” Which resulted in assistance to the advancing counter-revolution. The natural dialectic of opportunism.

But it is not the party that decides, it is the class united in the party that decides, based on its fundamental class interests. The party only proposes a solution, and then expresses and, together with the class, defends its solution. At least this is how the Bolshevik, truly communist party acted. It's up to you to decide behind Class, to impose their subjective will on the class, regardless of its fundamental class interests, to neglect them, opportunists, petty-bourgeois democracy - Mensheviks and Trotskyists, whose theses and methods of “working with the masses” were adopted by the Khrushchev-Brezhnev CPSU, tried all the time.

The GKChP members had a rare mess in their heads. They write in their “Address to the Soviet people of the State Committee on the State of Emergency in the USSR” dated August 18, 1991:

“We stand for truly democratic processes, for a consistent policy of reforms leading to the renewal of our Motherland, to its economic and social prosperity, which will allow it to take its rightful place in the world community of nations.

It’s interesting how “democratic processes” and a “consistent policy of reforms” (perestroika, of course, what else? There’s no mention of other reforms!, which means market, bourgeois reforms) could not lead to a “decline in the living standards of the population,” when there is a decline in the living standards of the population - the working masses and, first of all, the working class - the most important condition capitalism, that very market economy to which odes were sung at that time? After all, the market is not interested in the standard of living of the masses, but in the profit of commodity owners, and therefore entrepreneurs! Profit arises for the capitalist only from the appropriation of unpaid labor of workers, i.e. from exploitation, when the worker lives from hand to mouth and is forced to work for pennies.

How do you like “a worthy place in the global community of nations”? Isn’t this the desire to take a good place under the “capitalist sun”, i.e. enter the system of world capitalism not in the last role? And how is this fundamentally different from what Gorbachev and Yeltsin were striving for? Ah, they were preparing the country to become a colony of the largest imperialist countries! And these “statists” wanted the USSR itself to become the largest imperialist power in the world, something like the USA or, at worst, France.

And to this day there are enough fools in our country who naively believe that this was possible. And a quarter of a century ago, such people, as we see, even ruled the country, headed the last Soviet government.

What can I say? Marx and his “Capital” are resting... As if the rest of the imperialist countries of the world were only eager to get a new competitor on their head, and even one as powerful as the USSR...

But the GKChPists did not read Marx, they made fun of him. And now the Soviet people have been paying for the third decade, including for their laughter...

Our reader already knows how it all ended. Capitalism still reigns in the former proletarian country. The former GKChP members have more or less settled down and are not in poverty.

But some of them and their active supporters could not bear such shame - they lost their lives immediately after the defeat of the State Emergency Committee. The Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR B.K. Pugo and the Marshal of the Soviet Union, Advisor to the President of the USSR S.F. Akhromeev shot themselves. Akhromeev left a suicide note, the text of which is worth citing in order to understand the whole tragedy of these, in their own way, honest people: “I can’t live when my Fatherland is dying and everything that I have always considered the meaning in my life is being destroyed. Age and my past life give me the right to die. I fought until the end. Akhromeev. August 24, 1991"

Under strange circumstances (they say he fell out of a window), the manager of the affairs of the CPSU Central Committee, N. E. Kruchina, died (a little later, the same fate befell his predecessor in this post, G. Pavlov). The counter-revolution was coming into its own and, apparently, clearing out witnesses to its crimes...

Gorbachev is still alive, writing memoirs, in which he sometimes tells the truth:

“My task was to contain this process(an attempt to remove him from the post of General Secretary of the CPSU - note by L.S.) until the party ceases to pose a danger to the people(for the bourgeois counter-revolution - note by L.S.) and will not completely give way to democracy.”

“I believe that I fulfilled my mission: society has already become such that any attempt at a coup was doomed.”(this is about the State Emergency Committee - note by L.S.).

L. Sokolsky

Http://svpressa.ru/post/article/155039/

Http://svpressa.ru/politic/article/154836

Vladimir Belkov “On the last hours of communist Smolny on August 23, 1991” http://svpressa.ru/post/article/155039/

Mikhail Gorbachev. December-91. My position, M.: Novosti Publishing House, 1992.

Formation of the State Emergency Committee

Preparing to create a committee

From the “Conclusion on the materials of the investigation into the role and participation of USSR KGB officials in the events of August 19-21, 1991”:

Members of the Emergency Committee

Yanaev Gennady Ivanovich (1937-2010) - Vice-President of the USSR, Acting President of the USSR (August 18 - 21, 1991), member of the CPSU Central Committee. - Chairman of the State Emergency Committee

Baklanov Oleg Dmitrievich (b. 1932) - First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council, member of the CPSU Central Committee.

(1924-2007) - Chairman of the KGB of the USSR, member of the CPSU Central Committee.

Pavlov Valentin Sergeevich (1937-2003) - Prime Minister of the USSR, member of the CPSU Central Committee.

Pugo Boris Karlovich (1937-1991) - Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR, member of the CPSU Central Committee.

(1931-2011) - Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR, member of the CPSU Central Committee.

Tizyakov Alexander Ivanovich (b. 1926) - President of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial, Construction, Transport and Communications Facilities of the USSR.

Yazov Dmitry Timofeevich (b. 1924) - Minister of Defense of the USSR, member of the CPSU Central Committee.

Political positions of the State Emergency Committee

In its first appeal, the State Emergency Committee assessed the general mood in the country as very skeptical towards the new political course of dismantling the highly centralized federal structure of governing the country, the one-party political system and state regulation of the economy, and condemned the negative phenomena that the new course, according to the drafters, caused life, such as speculation and the shadow economy, proclaimed that “the development of the country cannot be built on the decline in the living standards of the population” and promised a strict restoration of order in the country and a solution to basic economic problems, without, however, mentioning specific measures.

Television announcement about the creation of the State Emergency Committee

Official Statement of the State Emergency Committee

Due to the impossibility for health reasons of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev to fulfill the duties of the President of the USSR and the transfer, in accordance with Article 127/7 of the USSR Constitution, the powers of the President of the USSR to the Vice-President of the USSR Gennady Ivanovich Yanaev.

In order to overcome the deep and comprehensive crisis, political, interethnic, civil confrontation, chaos and anarchy that threaten the life and safety of citizens of the Soviet Union, sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom and independence of our state.

2. Establish that throughout the entire territory of the USSR, the Constitution of the USSR and the Laws of the USSR have unconditional leadership.

3. To govern the country and effectively implement the state of emergency, form "State Committee on the State of Emergency" in the USSR (GKChP USSR), in the following composition:

Baklanov Oleg Dmitrievich - First Deputy Chairman of the USSR Defense Council;

Kryuchkov Vladimir Aleksandrovich - Chairman of the KGB of the USSR;

Pavlov Valentin Sergeevich - Prime Minister of the USSR, Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR;

Pugo Boris Karlovich - Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs;

Starodubtsev Vasily Aleksandrovich - Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR;

Tizyakov Alexander Ivanovich - President of the Association of State Enterprises and Industrial, Construction, Transport and Communications Facilities;

Yazov Dmitry Timofeevich - Minister of Defense of the USSR Ministry of Defense of the USSR;

Yanaev Gennady Ivanovich - Vice-President of the USSR, Acting President of the USSR.

4. Establish that decisions of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR are mandatory for strict execution by all government and administrative bodies, officials and citizens throughout the territory of the USSR.
Signature: Yanaev, Pavlov, Baklanov.

In difficult, critical times for the fate of the fatherland and our peoples, we turn to you.

A mortal danger looms over our great homeland. The reform policy launched on the initiative of M. S. Gorbachev, conceived as a means of ensuring the dynamic development of the country and democratization of public life, for various reasons, has reached a dead end.

The initial enthusiasm and hopes were replaced by unbelief, apathy and despair. The authorities at all levels have lost the trust of the population. Politics has crowded out concern for the fate of the fatherland and the citizen from public life. Evil mockery of all state institutions is being instilled. The country has essentially become ungovernable.

Taking advantage of the freedoms granted, trampling on the newly emerging sprouts of democracy, extremist forces arose, setting a course for the liquidation of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the state and the seizure of power at any cost.

The results of the national referendum on the unity of the fatherland have been trampled.

Cynical speculation on national feelings is just a screen for satisfying ambitions. Neither the present troubles of their peoples nor their tomorrows bother political adventurers. The power crisis had a catastrophic impact on the economy. The chaotic, spontaneous slide towards the market caused an explosion of regional, departmental, group and personal egoism.

The war of laws and the encouragement of centrifugal tendencies resulted in the destruction of a single national economic mechanism that had been developing for decades. The result was a sharp drop in the standard of living of the vast majority of Soviet people, and the flourishing of speculation and the shadow economy.

It’s high time to tell people the truth: if you don’t take urgent and decisive measures to stabilize the economy, then, in the very near future, famine and a new round of impoverishment are inevitable, from which it is one step to mass manifestations of spontaneous discontent with devastating consequences. Only irresponsible people can hope for some help from abroad. No amount of handouts will solve our problems - salvation is in our own hands.

The time has come to measure the authority of each person or organization by its real contribution to the restoration and development of the national economy. The deepening destabilization of the political and economic situation in the Soviet Union is undermining our position in the world; Here and there notes of revenge were heard. Demands are being made to revise our borders. There are even voices about the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the possibility of establishing international trusteeship over individual objects and regions of the country. This is the sad reality.

The State Committee for the State of Emergency” in the USSR is fully aware of the depth of the crisis that has struck our country. He accepts responsibility for the fate of the Motherland, and is determined to take the most serious measures to quickly bring the state and society out of the crisis. We promise to hold a broad national discussion of the draft new union treaty, immediately restore law and order, put an end to the bloodshed, declare a merciless war on the criminal world, and put an end to the tyranny of the plunderers of people's property.

We stand for truly democratic processes, for a consistent policy of reforms leading to the economic and social prosperity of our Motherland.

In a healthy society, continuous improvement in the well-being of all citizens will become the norm. We will focus on protecting the interests of the broadest segments of the population. By developing the multi-structured nature of the national economy, we will also support private entrepreneurship. Our first priority will be to solve food and housing problems.

We call on all Soviet people to restore labor discipline and order as soon as possible, to raise the level of production, so that we can decisively move forward - our lives and the fate of the fatherland depend on this.

We are a peace-loving country and will strictly comply with all our obligations, but no one will ever be allowed to encroach on our sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

We call on all true patriots, people of good will to put an end to the current troubled times, realize their duty to the Motherland and provide full support to the efforts to bring the country out of the crisis.

Official Resolution No. 1 (GKChP)

On August 19, 1991, in continuation of the information program “Time”, the announcer of the central television, Vera Shebeko, read out the official First Resolution of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR:

In order to protect the vital interests of the peoples and citizens of the USSR Union, the independence and territorial integrity of the country, restore law and order, stabilize the situation, overcome a severe crisis, prevent chaos, anarchy, and fratricidal civil war. The State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) decides:
1. All authorities and management bodies of the USSR, union and autonomous republics, territories, regions, cities, districts, towns and villages must ensure strict compliance with the state of emergency regime, in accordance with the Law of the USSR on the legal regime of a state of emergency and the resolutions of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR. In case of failure to ensure the implementation of this regime, the powers of the relevant authorities and management are suspended, and the implementation of their functions is entrusted to persons specially authorized by the State Emergency Committee of the USSR.

2. Immediately disband the structures of power and control, paramilitary forces operating contrary to the Constitution of the USSR.

4. Suspend the activities of political parties, public organizations and mass movements that impede the normalization of the situation.

5. Due to the fact that the State Committee for a State of Emergency (GKChP) in the USSR temporarily takes over the functions of the USSR Security Council, the activities of the latter are suspended.

6. Citizens, institutions and organizations must immediately hand over all types of firearms, ammunition, explosives, military equipment and equipment that are illegally in their possession. The USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB and the USSR Ministry of Defense must ensure strict compliance with this requirement. In case of refusal to confiscate them forcibly, with the violators subject to strict criminal and administrative liability.

In the government White House, B. N. Yeltsin refuses to cooperate with the State Emergency Committee and decides not to submit to the actions of the State Emergency Committee, calling their actions unconstitutional. The leadership of the State Emergency Committee sends a tank battalion of the 1st motorized rifle regiment of the 2nd Taman division under the command of Chief of Staff Sergei Evdokimov to the building.

Liquidation of the State Emergency Committee and arrest

On the night of August 20, the first clash between the army and demonstrators takes place in Moscow; three demonstrators died. On the morning of August 21, the Minister of Defense of the USSR D.T. Yazov gives the order to his military leaders and commanders to withdraw all units from Moscow to places of permanent deployment and lift the blockade of the White House. At 9:00 at a meeting with I. O. President of the USSR G.I. Yanaev, it was decided to send a delegation to Foros to M.S. Gorbachev consisting of: Luktyanov, Yazov, Ivashko and Kryuchkov

Those arrested were placed in the Matrosskaya Tishina prison, where they remained until 1994, when they were released under a State Duma amnesty.

"Accomplices" and "sympathizers"

After the failure of the August putsch, in addition to members of the State Emergency Committee, some people were prosecuted and taken into custody, who, according to the investigation, actively assisted the State Emergency Committee. Among the “accomplices” were:

Ageev Geniy Evgenievich - Colonel General, First Deputy Chairman of the KGB of the USSR.

Akhromeev Sergey Fedorovich - Marshal of the Soviet Union, adviser to the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, adviser to the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, adviser to President of the USSR M. S. Gorbachev on military affairs.

Boldin Valery Ivanovich - head of the General Department of the CPSU Central Committee.

Varennikov Valentin Ivanovich - Army General, Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR.

Generalov Vyacheslav Vladimirovich - head of security at Gorbachev’s residence in Foros

Anatoly Ivanovich Lukyanov (born 1930) - Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR; his address was broadcast on TV and radio along with the main documents of the State Emergency Committee.

Medvedev Vladimir Timofeevich - Major General, head of Gorbachev's security.

Makashov Albert Mikhailovich - commander of the Volga-Ural Military District

Shenin Oleg Semenovich - member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.

Prokofiev Yuri Anatolyevich - member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, 1st Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU.

Ryzhkov Nikolai Ivanovich - Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR

Kalinin Nikolai Vasilievich - commander of the Moscow Military District, military commandant from the State Emergency Committee in Moscow.

Nikolai Efimovich Kruchina - manager of the affairs of the CPSU Central Committee.

Grushko Viktor Fedorovich - First Deputy Chairman of the KGB of the USSR

All of them were released under an amnesty in 1994.

According to the memoirs of Yu. A. Prokofiev, the Secretary of the Central Committee Yu. A. Manaenkov took part in preparing the decisions of the State Emergency Committee and communicating them to government bodies, who, however, was not later held accountable.

The leaders of the republican authorities in most cases did not enter into open confrontation with the State Emergency Committee, but sabotaged its actions. Open support for the State Emergency Committee was expressed by the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Belarus N. I. Dementey, the 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine S. I. Gurenko and the 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Azerbaijan SSR, President of Azerbaijan Ayaz Niyazi ogly Mutalibov, and the leaders of Russia declared themselves opponents of the State Emergency Committee - B. N. Yeltsin and Kyrgyzstan - A. A. Akaev. In the Baltic countries, the leadership of the Communist Party of Lithuania (CPSU) (M. Burokevičius), the Communist Party of Latvia (A. Rubiks), and the Intermovement of Estonia (E. Kogan), which had lost power by that time, came out in support of the State Emergency Committee.

After the August events

The Russian leadership, which led the fight against the State Emergency Committee, ensured the political victory of the supreme bodies of Russia over the Union Center. Since the fall of 1991, the Constitution and laws of the RSFSR, the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, as well as the President of the RSFSR received full supremacy over the laws of the USSR on Russian territory. With rare exceptions, the heads of regional authorities of the RSFSR who supported the State Emergency Committee were removed from office.

On December 8, 1991, the presidents of the three founding states of the USSR B.N. Yeltsin, L.M. Kravchuk and S.S. Shushkevich, despite the decision of the all-Union referendum to preserve the USSR, signed the Belovezhskaya Agreement on the termination of the activities of the USSR and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev officially resigned as President of the USSR.

On December 26, 1991, the USSR officially ceased to exist. In its place, a number of independent states emerged (currently - 19, of which 15 are members of the UN, 2 are partially recognized by UN member countries, and 2 are not recognized by any UN member country). As a result of the collapse of the USSR, the territory of Russia (the successor country of the USSR in terms of external assets and liabilities, and in the UN) decreased compared to the territory of the USSR by 24% (from 22.4 to 17 million km²), and the population decreased by 49% (from 290 to 148 million people) (while the territory of Russia has remained virtually unchanged compared to the territory of the RSFSR). The ruble zone and the unified Armed Forces of the USSR collapsed (in their place, the CSTO was created, except for the three Baltic republics, Moldova, Ukraine and subsequently Georgia, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan).

Shooting and dispersal of Parliament 1993

Opinion of former participants of the State Emergency Committee

Referring to the memoirs of the 1st Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU Yuri Prokofiev. Gorbachev himself claims that only practical steps were being prepared to implement the USSR Law “On the Legal Regime of a State of Emergency,” which did not involve unconstitutional actions, and that he never gave consent to the introduction of a state of emergency.

Representation in art

see also

Literature

Resolutions No. 1 and No. 2 of the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR

memoirs
A. S. Chernyaev“Diaries of A. S. Chernyaev. Soviet policy 1972-1991 - a look from the inside"

G. I. Yanaev“GKChP against Gorbachev” - M.: Eksmo, 2010. - 240 p. - (The Court of History), ISBN 978-5-699-43860-0

A. I. Lukyanov“August '91. Was there a conspiracy? (2010; publishers: Eksmo, Algorithm)

Links

Chronicle: ,

Why the State Emergency Committee lost (excerpt from the book by A. Baigushev)

DECREE
Vice President of the USSR

Due to the impossibility for health reasons, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev assumed the duties of President of the USSR on the basis of Article 1277 of the USSR Constitution on August 19, 1991.

Vice President of the USSR
G. I. YANAEV

Appeal
to the Soviet people
August 18, 1991

Compatriots!
Citizens of the Soviet Union!

In a difficult, critical hour for the fate of the Fatherland and our peoples, we turn to you!

Taking advantage of the freedoms granted, trampling on the newly emerging sprouts of democracy, extremist forces arose that set a course for the liquidation of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the state, and the seizure of power at any cost. The results of the national referendum on the unity of the Fatherland have been trampled. Cynical speculation on national feelings is just a screen for satisfying ambitions. Neither the present troubles of their peoples nor their tomorrows bother political adventurers. By creating a climate of moral and political terror and trying to hide behind the shield of popular trust, they forget that the ties they condemned and severed were established on the basis of much broader popular support, which has also passed the test of centuries of history. Today, those who are essentially leading the cause of the overthrow of the constitutional order must answer to their mothers and fathers for the deaths of many hundreds of victims of interethnic conflicts. They are responsible for the crippled fates of more than half a million refugees. Because of them, tens of millions of Soviet people, who only yesterday lived in a single family, lost peace and joy in life, and today find themselves outcasts in their own home. What the social system should be like must be decided by the people, and they are trying to deprive them of this right.

The power crisis had a catastrophic impact on the economy. The chaotic, spontaneous slide towards the market caused an explosion of egoism - regional, departmental, group and personal. The war of laws and the encouragement of centrifugal tendencies resulted in the destruction of a single national economic mechanism that had been developing for decades. The result was a sharp drop in the standard of living of the vast majority of Soviet people, and the flourishing of speculation and the shadow economy. It’s high time to tell people the truth: if urgent measures are not taken to stabilize the economy, then in the very near future famine and a new round of impoverishment are inevitable, from which it is one step away from mass manifestations of spontaneous discontent with devastating consequences.
Only irresponsible people can hope for some help from abroad. No amount of handouts will solve our problems; salvation is in our own hands. The time has come to measure the authority of each person or organization by its real contribution to the restoration and development of the national economy.

There is an attack on workers' rights. The rights to work, education, health care, housing, and recreation are called into question.

The pride and honor of the Soviet people must be restored in full.

We promise to hold a broad national discussion of the draft new Union Treaty. Everyone will have the right and opportunity, in a calm atmosphere, to comprehend this most important act and make a decision on it, because the fate of numerous peoples of our great Motherland will depend on what the Union becomes.

We intend to immediately restore law and order, put an end to the bloodshed, declare a merciless war on the criminal world, and eradicate shameful phenomena that discredit our society and humiliate Soviet citizens.
We will clear the streets of our cities from criminal elements and put an end to the tyranny of the plunderers of people's property.

We stand for truly democratic processes, for a consistent policy of reforms leading to the renewal of our Motherland, to its economic and social prosperity, which will allow it to take its rightful place in the world community of nations.
The country's development should not be based on a decline in the living standards of the population. In a healthy society, continuous improvement in the well-being of all citizens will become the norm.

Our first priority will be to solve food and housing problems. All available forces will be mobilized to meet these most pressing needs of the people.

Constructive proposals from socio-political organizations, labor collectives and citizens will be gratefully accepted as a manifestation of their patriotic readiness to actively participate in the restoration of centuries-old friendship in a single family of fraternal peoples and the revival of the Fatherland.

Resolution No. 1
State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR

1. All authorities and management bodies of the USSR, union and autonomous republics, territories, regions, cities, districts, towns and villages must ensure strict compliance with the state of emergency regime in accordance with the Law of the USSR “On the legal regime of emergency situations and resolutions of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR. In cases of failure to ensure the implementation of this regime, the powers of the relevant authorities and management are suspended, and the implementation of their functions is entrusted to persons specially authorized by the State Emergency Committee of the USSR.
2. Immediately disband the structures of power and control, paramilitary formations operating contrary to the Constitution of the USSR and the laws of the USSR.
3. Consider henceforth invalid laws and decisions of government and administrative bodies that contradict the Constitution of the USSR and the laws of the USSR.
4. Suspend the activities of political parties, public organizations and mass movements that impede the normalization of the situation.
5. Due to the fact that the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR temporarily takes over the functions of the Security Council of the USSR, the activities of the latter are suspended.
6. Citizens, institutions and organizations must immediately hand over all types of firearms, ammunition, explosives, military equipment and equipment illegally held in them. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB and the Ministry of Defense of the USSR must ensure strict compliance with this requirement. In cases of refusal, they must be forcibly confiscated, with violators subject to strict criminal and administrative liability.
7. The prosecutor’s office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the KGB and the Ministry of Defense of the USSR organize effective interaction between law enforcement agencies and the Armed Forces to ensure the protection of public order and the security of the state, society and citizens in accordance with the USSR Law “On the Legal Regime of a State of Emergency” and the resolutions of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR.
Holding rallies, street processions, demonstrations, and strikes is not allowed,
If necessary, introduce a curfew, patrol the territory, carry out inspections, and take measures to strengthen the border and customs regime.
Take control and, if necessary, protect the most important government and economic facilities, as well as life support systems.
Resolutely suppress the spread of inflammatory rumors, actions that provoke violations of law and order and incitement of ethnic hatred, disobedience to officials enforcing the state of emergency.
8. Establish control over the media, entrusting its implementation to a specially created body under the State Emergency Committee of the USSR.
9. Government and management bodies, heads of institutions and enterprises, take measures to improve organization, establish order and discipline in all spheres of society. Ensure the normal functioning of enterprises in all sectors of the national economy, strict implementation of measures to preserve and restore for the period of stabilization of vertical and horizontal connections between economic entities throughout the USSR, failure to meet established production volumes, supplies of raw materials, materials and components.
Establish and maintain a regime of strict economy of material, technical and foreign exchange resources, develop and implement specific measures to combat mismanagement and squandering of people's wealth.
Resolutely fight the shadow economy, inevitably apply criminal and administrative measures for cases of corruption, theft, speculation, concealment of goods from sale, mismanagement and other offenses in the economic sphere.
To create favorable conditions for increasing the real contribution of all types of business activities carried out in accordance with the laws of the USSR to the economic potential of the country and meeting the urgent needs of the population.
10. Consider permanent work in government and management structures to be incompatible with engaging in entrepreneurial activity.
11. The Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR, within a week, carry out an inventory of all available food resources and essential industrial goods, report to the people what the country has, and take strict control over their safety and distribution.
Abolish any restrictions that impede the movement of food and consumer goods across the territory of the USSR, as well as material resources for their production, and strictly monitor compliance with this order.
Particular attention should be paid to the priority supply of preschool children's institutions, orphanages, schools, secondary specialized and higher educational institutions, hospitals, as well as pensioners and the disabled.
Within a week, make proposals to streamline, freeze and reduce prices for certain types of industrial and food products, primarily for children, services to the population and public catering, as well as increasing wages, pensions, benefits and compensation payments to various categories of citizens.
Within two weeks, develop measures to streamline the salaries of managers at all levels of state, public, cooperative and other institutions, organizations and enterprises.
12. Considering the critical situation with the harvest and the threat of famine, take emergency measures to organize the procurement, storage and processing of agricultural products. Provide village workers with the maximum possible assistance with equipment, spare parts, fuels and lubricants, etc. Immediately organize the dispatch of workers and employees of enterprises and organizations, students and military personnel to the village in the quantities necessary to save the harvest.
13. The Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR, within a week, will develop a resolution providing for the provision in 1991-1992 of all willing urban residents with land plots for gardening in the amount of up to 0.15 hectares.
14. The Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR, within two weeks, complete planning of urgent measures to bring the country’s fuel and energy complex out of the crisis and prepare for winter.
15. Within a month, prepare and report to the people real measures for 1992 to radically improve housing construction and the provision of housing to the population.
Within six months, develop a specific program for the accelerated development of state, cooperative and individual housing construction for a five-year period.
16. Oblige government authorities at the center and locally to give priority attention to the social needs of the population. Find ways to significantly improve free medical care and public education.

DECREE
Acting President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

On the introduction of a state of emergency in the city of Moscow

In connection with the aggravation of the situation in Moscow, the capital of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, caused by the failure to comply with the resolution of the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR No. 1 of August 19, 1991, attempts to organize rallies, street processions and demonstrations, facts of incitement to unrest, in the interests of protection and safety of citizens, in accordance with Article 1273 of the Constitution of the USSR, I decree:

2. To appoint as commandant of the city of Moscow the commander of the troops of the Moscow Military District, Colonel General N.V. Kalinin, who is vested with the rights to issue binding orders regulating the issues of maintaining the state of emergency.

Acting
President of the USSR
G. YANAEV.
Moscow Kremlin.
August 19, 1991

RESOLUTION No. 2
State Committee

On the release of central, Moscow city and regional newspapers

In connection with the introduction of a state of emergency in Moscow and some other territories of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on August 19, 1991 and in accordance with paragraph l4 of Article 4 of the USSR Law “On the Legal Regime of a State of Emergency,” the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR decides:
1. Temporarily limit the list of issued central, Moscow city and regional socio-political
publications by the following newspapers: “Trud”, “Rabochaya Tribuna”, “Izvestia”, “Pravda”, “Red Star”, “Soviet Russia”, “Moskovskaya Pravda”, “Lenin’s Banner”, “Rural Life”.
2. The resumption of publication of other central, Moscow city and regional newspapers and socio-political publications will be decided by a specially created body of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR.

Statement
State Committee
on the state of emergency in the USSR

Already the first day of the state of emergency in certain areas of the USSR showed that people breathed a sigh of relief.

Sometimes you think what would have happened if the State Emergency Committee had won? Although, probably, it was all too late, and everything was in vain. So, several documents from the State Emergency Committee.

DECREE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE USSR

Due to the impossibility for health reasons, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev assumed the duties of President of the USSR on the basis of Article 127/7 of the USSR Constitution on August 19, 1991.

Vice-President of the USSR G.I. YANAEV.

STATEMENT OF THE SOVIET LEADERS

Due to the impossibility for health reasons of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev to fulfill the duties of the President of the USSR and the transfer, in accordance with Article 1277 of the USSR Constitution, of the powers of the President of the USSR to the Vice President of the USSR Gennady Ivanovich Yanaev:

Pravda newspaper, August 21, 1991

in order to overcome the deep and comprehensive crisis of political, interethnic and civil confrontation, chaos and anarchy that threaten the life and safety of citizens of the Soviet Union, the sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom and independence of our Fatherland;

based on the results of the national referendum on the preservation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; Guided by the vital interests of the peoples of our Motherland, all Soviet people, we declare:

In accordance with Article 1273 of the Constitution of the USSR and Article 2 of the Law of the USSR "On the Legal Regime of a State of Emergency", and meeting the demands of broad sections of the population about the need to take the most decisive measures to prevent society from sliding into a national catastrophe, to ensure law and order, introduce a state of emergency in in certain areas of the USSR for a period of 6 months from 4 o'clock Moscow time on August 19, 1991.

Establish that throughout the entire territory of the USSR the Constitution of the USSR and the laws of the USSR have unconditional supremacy.

To govern the country and effectively implement the state of emergency, form the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR (GKChP USSR) with the following composition: Baklanov O. D. - First Deputy Chairman of the Defense Council of the USSR, Kryuchkov V. A. - Chairman of the KGB of the USSR, Pavlov V. S. - Prime Minister of the USSR, Pugo B.K. - Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Starodubtsev V.A. - Chairman of the Peasant Union of the USSR, Tizyakov A.I. - President of the Association of State Enterprises and Facilities of Industry, Construction, Transport and Communications USSR, Yazov D.T. - Minister of Defense of the USSR, Yanaev G.I. - and Fr. President of the USSR.

Establish that decisions of the State Emergency Committee of the USSR are binding for strict execution by all government and administrative bodies, officials and citizens throughout the territory of the USSR.

G. YANAEV, V. PAVLOV, O. BAKLANOV.

"Time" information program

ADDRESS TO THE SOVIET PEOPLE

Compatriots! Citizens of the Soviet Union!

In a difficult, critical hour for the fate of the Fatherland and our peoples, we turn to you! A mortal danger looms over our great Motherland! The policy of reforms launched on the initiative of M. S. Gorbachev, conceived as a means of ensuring the dynamic development of the country and democratization of public life, has reached a dead end for a number of reasons. The initial enthusiasm and hopes were replaced by unbelief, apathy and despair. The authorities at all levels have lost the trust of the population. Politics has crowded out concern for the fate of the Fatherland and the citizen from public life. Evil mockery of all state institutions is being instilled. The country essentially became ungovernable. Taking advantage of the freedoms granted, trampling on the newly emerging sprouts of democracy, extremist forces arose that set a course for the liquidation of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the state and the seizure of power at any cost.

Not everyone understands the horror of what is happening. Photo AP/Reuters/Scanpix

The results of the national referendum on the unity of the Fatherland have been trampled. Cynical speculation on national feelings is just a screen for satisfying ambitions. Neither the present troubles of their peoples nor their tomorrows bother political adventurers. By creating a climate of moral and political terror and trying to hide behind the shield of popular trust, they forget that the ties they condemned and severed were established on the basis of much broader popular support, which has also passed the test of centuries of history. Today, those who are essentially leading the cause of the overthrow of the constitutional order must answer to their mothers and fathers for the deaths of many hundreds of victims of interethnic conflicts. They are responsible for the crippled fates of more than half a million refugees. Because of them, tens of millions of Soviet people, who only yesterday lived in a single family, lost peace and joy in life, and today find themselves outcasts in their own home. What the social system should be like should be decided by the people, and they are trying to deprive them of this right.

Instead of caring about the safety and well-being of every citizen and the entire society, often the people in whose hands the power is, use it in interests alien to the people, as a means of unprincipled self-affirmation. Streams of words, mountains of statements and promises only emphasize the poverty and wretchedness of practical affairs.Inflation of power is more terrible than any other, destroying our state and society. Every citizen feels growing uncertainty about the future and deep anxiety for the future of their children.

The power crisis had a catastrophic impact on the economy. The chaotic, spontaneous slide towards the market caused an explosion of egoism: regional, departmental, group and personal. The war of laws and the encouragement of centrifugal tendencies resulted in the destruction of a single national economic mechanism that had been taking shape for decades. The result was a sharp drop in the standard of living of the vast majority of Soviet people, and the flourishing of speculation and the shadow economy. It’s high time to tell people the truth; if urgent and decisive measures are not taken to stabilize the economy, then famine and a new round of impoverishment are inevitable in the very near future. from which it is one step to mass manifestations of spontaneous discontent with devastating consequences. Only irresponsible people can hope for some help from abroad. No amount of handouts will solve our problems; salvation is in our own hands. The time has come to measure the authority of each person or organization by its real contribution to the restoration and development of the national economy.

There is an attack on workers' rights. The rights to work, education, health care, housing, and recreation are called into question.

Even the basic personal safety of people is increasingly under threat. Crime is growing rapidly, organized and politicized. The country is plunging into the abyss of violence and lawlessness. Never in the history of the country has propaganda of sex and violence been on such a scale, threatening the health and lives of future generations. Millions of people are demanding action against the octopus of crime and gross immorality.

The deepening destabilization of the political and economic situation in the Soviet Union is undermining our position in the world. In some places, notes of revanchism were heard, and demands were being made to revise our borders. There are even voices about the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the possibility of establishing international trusteeship over individual objects and regions of the country. This is the sad reality. Just yesterday, a Soviet person who found himself abroad felt like a worthy citizen of an influential and respected state. Nowadays he is often a second-class foreigner, whose treatment bears the stamp of disdain or sympathy.

The pride and honor of the Soviet people must be restored in full.The State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR is fully aware of the depth of the crisis that has struck our country, it accepts responsibility for the fate of the Motherland and is determined to take the most serious measures to bring the state and society out of the crisis as quickly as possible.

We promise to hold a broad national discussion of the draft new Union Treaty. Everyone will have the right and opportunity in a calm environment to reflect on this most important act and make a decision on it. For the fate of numerous peoples of our great Motherland will depend on what the Union becomes.

We intend to immediately restore law and order, put an end to the bloodshed, declare a merciless war on the criminal world, and eradicate shameful phenomena that discredit our society and humiliate Soviet citizens. We will clear the streets of our cities from criminal elements and put an end to the tyranny of the plunderers of people's property.

The country's development should not be based on a decline in the living standards of the population. In a healthy society, continuous improvement in the well-being of all citizens will become the norm.

While we remain committed to strengthening and protecting individual rights, we will focus on protecting the interests of the broadest segments of the population, those hit hardest by inflation, industrial disruption, corruption and crime.

By developing the multi-structure nature of the national economy, we will also support private enterprise, providing it with the necessary opportunities for the development of production and the service sector.
Our first priority will be to solve food and housing problems. All available forces will be mobilized to meet these most pressing needs of the people.

Constructive proposals from socio-political organizations, labor collectives and citizens will be gratefully accepted as a manifestation of their patriotic readiness to actively participate in the restoration of centuries-old friendship in a single family of fraternal peoples and the revival of the Fatherland.

Before our eyes, all democratic institutions created by the people's will are losing their weight and effectiveness. This is the result of the deliberate actions of those who, by grossly flouting the Basic Law of the USSR, are actually committing an anti-constitutional coup and are reaching for an unbridled personal dictatorship. Prefectures, mayor's offices and other illegal structures are increasingly replacing the Soviets elected by the people.

Also worth reading:
25 years separate us from the tragic events of August 1991, associated with the short-lived activities of the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR, with its attempt to save our Motherland.

It was a selfless act of state and party leaders who had not lost their conscience (no matter how anyone treats them), who rose up against the betrayal of M.S. Gorbachev and A.N. Yakovleva...

What is the State Emergency Committee?
Perhaps A.I. Lukyanov gave the most accurate description of the actions of the State Emergency Committee: “It was a desperate but poorly organized attempt by a group of the country’s leaders to save the Union, an attempt by people who believed that they would be supported by the president, that he would postpone the signing of the draft Union Treaty, which meant legal formalization of the destruction of the Soviet country.”
Unfortunately, the end of events was predetermined. Returning from Foros to Moscow, Gorbachev renounces the party and recommends that the CPSU Central Committee dissolve itself. Yeltsin had a direct path to power. Essentially, nothing held him back any longer on the path to realizing his darkest plan—the final destruction of the USSR and the legal formalization of the collapse of the Union. The Belovezhsky Accords became the logical finale of the process of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Our country has ceased to be a great power...
However, a lot has been written about those August days. And today we want to give the floor to the “GKChPists” themselves, because few people remember their appeal to the people. An appeal that was not heard. Today, with 25 years of difficult experience of capitalism behind us, this text reads completely differently. And who knows how events would have developed in our country if you and I had listened to this Appeal then.

ADDRESS TO THE SOVIET PEOPLE

Compatriots! Citizens of the Soviet Union!

In a difficult, critical hour for the fate of the Fatherland and our peoples, we turn to you!
A mortal danger looms over our great Motherland! The policy of reforms begun on the initiative of M. S. Gorbachev has reached a dead end. The initial enthusiasm and hopes were replaced by unbelief, apathy and despair. The authorities at all levels have lost the trust of the population. The country became ungovernable. Taking advantage of the freedoms granted, extremist forces emerged that set a course for the liquidation of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the state and the seizure of power at any cost. The results of the national referendum on the unity of the Fatherland have been trampled. Neither the present troubles of their peoples nor their tomorrows bother political adventurers. Today, those who are essentially leading the cause of the overthrow of the constitutional order must answer to their mothers and fathers for the deaths of many hundreds of victims of interethnic conflicts. They are responsible for the crippled fates of more than half a million refugees. Because of them, tens of millions of Soviet people, who only yesterday lived in a single family, but today find themselves outcasts in their own home, have lost the joy of life.

What the social system should be like should be decided by the people, and they are trying to deprive them of this right. Every citizen feels growing uncertainty about the future and deep anxiety for the future of their children. The power crisis had a catastrophic impact on the economy. The chaotic, spontaneous slide towards the market caused an explosion of egoism: regional, departmental, group and personal. It resulted in the destruction of a single national economic mechanism that had been developing for decades. The result was a sharp drop in the standard of living of the overwhelming majority of Soviet people, and the flourishing of speculation and the shadow economy.

It’s high time to tell people the truth: if you don’t take urgent and decisive measures to stabilize the economy, then in the very near future famine and a new round of impoverishment are inevitable, from which it is one step to mass manifestations of spontaneous discontent with devastating consequences. Only irresponsible people can hope for some help from abroad. No amount of handouts will solve our problems; salvation is in our own hands. For many years, from all sides we have been hearing incantations about commitment to the interests of the individual, concern for his rights, and social security. In reality, the person found himself humiliated, denied real rights and opportunities, and driven to despair. There is an attack on workers' rights. The rights to work, education, health care, housing, and recreation are called into question. Even the basic personal safety of people is increasingly under threat. Crime is growing rapidly, organized and politicized. The country is plunging into the abyss of violence and lawlessness. Never in the history of the country has propaganda of sex and violence been on such a scale, threatening the health and lives of future generations. The deepening destabilization of the political and economic situation in the Soviet Union is undermining our position in the world. In some places, notes of revanchism were heard, and demands were being made to revise our borders. There are even voices about the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the possibility of establishing international trusteeship over individual objects and regions of the country. This is the sad reality.

The State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR is fully aware of the depth of the crisis that has struck our country, it accepts responsibility for the fate of the Motherland and is determined to take the most serious measures to bring the state and society out of the crisis as quickly as possible. We intend to immediately restore law and order, put an end to the bloodshed, declare a merciless war on the criminal world, and eradicate shameful phenomena that humiliate Soviet citizens. We will clear the streets of our cities from criminal elements and put an end to the tyranny of the plunderers of people's property. We call on the workers, peasants, labor intelligentsia, all Soviet people to restore labor discipline and order as soon as possible, raise the level of production, and then decisively move forward. Our lives and the future of our children and grandchildren, the fate of the Fatherland depend on this.

We are a peace-loving country and will strictly comply with all our obligations. We have no claims against anyone. We want to live with everyone in peace and friendship. But we firmly declare that no one will ever be allowed to encroach on our sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. To fail to act at this critical hour for the fate of the Fatherland means to take on heavy responsibility for tragic, truly unpredictable consequences. Everyone who cherishes our Motherland, who wants to live and work in an atmosphere of calm and confidence, who does not accept the continuation of bloody interethnic conflicts, who sees their Fatherland in the future as independent and prosperous, must make the only right choice. We call on all true patriots and people of good will to put an end to the current time of troubles. We call on all citizens of the Soviet Union to realize their duty to the Motherland and provide full support to the State Committee for the State of Emergency in the USSR.

P.S. They tried to tell us in great detail about what awaits us ahead. You and I were called to defend our Motherland. We did not understand? Didn't you hear? Didn't want to? But we had a real opportunity to stop the traitors. And if we don’t come to our senses at least today, then not only we will have to pay for our tacit consent to the murder of the country, but also our children and grandchildren. Let's think about this. Until it's not too late…

And simple mechanisms for achieving the goals:

CON. Real Democracy. Operating principle -

(PLEASE provide informational support for these materials...)