not always be trusted.”
There was little left for Gorbachev to do now but to tell the citizens of the mortally wounded superpower that he was leaving the stage.
It was the last occasion when Gorbachev and Yeltsin would meet or even speak to each other.
Chapter 24
DECEMBER 25: LATE EVENING
History finally catches up with Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. Thirty seconds before 7 p.m. Moscow time, 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, on December 25, 1991, the first and last president of the Soviet Union takes off his large-lens spectacles, checks to see if they are clean, and puts them back on. He glances a couple of times at his watch. Then he looks up at the camera and begins reading from a typed sheet of paper, without the benefit of a teleprompter.
“Dear fellow countrymen! Compatriots!” he begins.[252] “Given the current situation and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, I am ceasing my activities as president of the USSR. I have arrived at this decision for reasons of principle. I have always spoken out firmly in favor of autonomy and the independence of nations and sovereignty for the republics. But at the same time, I support the preservation of a union state and the integrity of the country.”
Even now he has not quite given up. By “ceasing” his activities, he leaves open the door to perhaps resuming them at a future date.
“Events have taken a different course,” he continues. “The trend towards dismembering the country and the disintegration of the state has prevailed, which I cannot accept. My position on this issue has not changed after the Alma-Ata meeting and the decisions made there. Furthermore, I am convinced that decisions of such importance should have been made by popular will. However, I will do everything within my power to ensure that the Alma-Ata agreements bring real unity to our society and pave the way out of the crisis, facilitating a sustained reform process.”
Watching him from behind the cameras, Grachev feels that Gorbachev’s voice at first sounds unnatural and hollow. “It seemed on the verge of trembling, as did his chin.” But the moment passes, and Gorbachev proceeds with his emotions under control.
“Addressing you for the last time as president of the USSR, I find it necessary to state my position with regard to the path we have embarked on since 1985—especially since controversial, superficial, and biased judgments abound,” he says.
Having signed the decree giving up his presidency a few minutes ago, Gorbachev is in fact no longer president of the USSR, but he has ignored the advice of his aides and lost the opportunity to complete the broadcast with a touch of ceremony.
Fate has decided that, when I became head of state, it was already obvious there was something wrong in this country. We had plenty of everything; land, oil, gas, and other natural resources, and God has also endowed us with intellect and talent—yet we lived much worse than people in other industrialized countries, and the gap was constantly widening. The reason was apparent even then—our society was stifled in the grip of a bureaucratic command system. Doomed to serve ideology, and bear the heavy burden of the arms race, it was strained to the utmost. All attempts at implementing half hearted reforms—and there have been many—failed one after another. The country was losing hope.
We could not go on living like this. We had to change everything radically.
For this reason I never regretted that I did not use my position as general secretary merely to reign for a few years. This would have been irresponsible and immoral. I understood that initiating reforms on such a large scale in a society like ours was a most difficult and risky undertaking. But even now, I am convinced that the democratic reforms started in the spring of 1985 were historically justified. The process of renovating the country and bringing about fundamental change in the international community proved to be much more complex than originally anticipated. However, let us acknowledge what has been achieved so far.
Society has acquired freedom; it has been freed politically and spiritually. And this is the most important achievement, which we have not fully come to grips with, in part because we still have not learned how to use our freedom. However, a historic task has been accomplished.
The totalitarian system, which prevented this country from becoming wealthy and prosperous a long time ago, has been dismantled.
A breakthrough has been made on the road to democratic reforms. Free elections, freedom of the press, freedom of worship, representative legislatures, and a multiparty system have all become realities.
We have set out to introduce a pluralistic economy, and the equality of all forms of ownership is being established. In the course of the land reform, peasantry is reviving, individual farmers have appeared, and millions of hectares of land have been allocated to the urban and rural population. Laws were passed on the economic freedom of producers, and free enterprise, shareholding, and privatization are under way.
Shifting the course of our economy towards a free market, we must not forget that this is being done for the benefit of the individual. In these times of hardship, everything must be done to ensure the social protection of the individual—partic—ularly old people and children.
We live in a new world. An end has been put to the Cold War, the arms race, and the insane militarization of our country, which crippled our economy, distorted our thinking, and undermined our morals. The threat of a world war is no more.
Once again, I should like to stress I have done everything in my power during the transitional period to ensure safe control over nuclear weapons.
We opened ourselves up to the rest of the world, renounced interference in the affairs of others, and the use of troops beyond our borders, and we have gained trust, solidarity, and respect.
We have become a major stronghold for the reorganization of modern civilization on the basis of peaceful, democratic principles.
The peoples and nations of this country have acquired genuine freedom to choose their own way towards self-determination. The quest for a democratic reform of our multinational state had led us to the point where we were about to sign a new union treaty.
All these changes demanded utmost exertion and were carried through under conditions of an unrelenting struggle against the growing resistance from the old, obsolete, and reactionary forces—the former party and state structures and the economic management apparatus—as well as our patterns, our ideological prejudices, our egalitarian and parasitic psychology. The changes ran up against our intolerance, a low level of political culture, and a fear of change. That is why we have wasted so much time. The old system tumbled down even before the new one could begin functioning. And our society slid into even deeper crisis.
I am aware of the dissatisfaction with today’s grave situation, the harsh criticism of authority at all levels, and of my personal role. But I would like to stress once again: In so vast a country, given its heritage, fundamental changes cannot be carried out without difficulties and pain.
The August coup brought the overall crisis to a breaking point. The most disastrous aspect of this crisis is the collapse of statehood. And today I watch apprehensively the loss of the citizenship of a great country by our citizens—the consequences of this could be grave for all of us.
I consider it vitally important to sustain the democratic achievements of the last few years. We have earned them through the suffering of our entire history and our tragic experience. We must not abandon them under any circumstances, under any pretext. Otherwise, all our hopes for a better future will be buried.
I am speaking of this frankly and honestly. It is my moral duty.
Today I want to express my gratitude to all those citizens who have given their support to the policy of renovating this country and who participated in the democratic reform. I am thankful to statesmen, political and public leaders, and millions of ordinary people in other countries—to all those who understood our objectives and gave us their support, meeting us halfway and offering genuine cooperation.
I leave my post with concern—but also with hope, with faith in you, your wisdom and spiritual strength. We are the heirs of a great civilization, and its revival and transformation to a modern and dignified life depend on all
