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The August Coup: The Truth and the Lessons
by Mikhail S. Gorbachev
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Harpercollins (1991-10)
ISBN: 0060168900
EAN: 9780060168902
Dewey Decimal #: 947.0854
Binding/Media: Hardcover - 127 pages
Edition: 1st
SKU: 6091-015
Condition: New
Comments: New book
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
This is an analysis of the causes and consequences of the coup d'etat that began in the USSR on 18 August 1991. It examines such issues as why and how the conspiracy became possible and what was behind the attempt to destroy everything that had been done over the previous six years in an effort to change the nature of Soviet society - to make it democratic, civilized and to rid the world of the threat of nuclear war. The book tells how profound social transformations in the Soviet Union were inevitably accompanied by popular discontent over the hardships of daily life, of which the coup plotters sought to take advantage. Gorbachev speaks frankly of his own mistakes and oversights regarding the differences and conflicts in the democratic movement, which the conspirators also tried to exploit. A large chapter deals with the three days in the Crimea during which the President and his family were totally isolated. Gorbachev writes of the people who showed courage and fortitude in defending democracy - a new breed of people who have learned to appreciate the new values brought to life by perestroika, who put the defence of those values above everything else. He also gives a complete account of his actions, and the reasons for those actions, during the Supreme Soviet session in late August and at the Congress of People's Deputies in early September.
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Customer Reviews
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Interesting snapshot of Gorbachev's reform plans in 1991
Rating  (3)
Date: 2007-04-17
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I was very intrigued when I bought this used book for $1. It discusses very briefly the events of the attempted coup in the former Soviet Union by hard-line communists in August 1991 from the perspective of Mikhail Gorbachev. Pushed to the breaking point by an arms race with the US initiated by President Reagan in the 1980's, the Soviet economy was crumbling, and when Gorbachev was made General Secretary in 1985 he began instituting social and economic reforms known as glasnost and perestroika which caused even more national instability. I was surprised to find that the book had been published a mere month later. I jokingly commented to a friend that it was the sign of a good capitalist to write and publish a book so quickly after the event. But I was wrong in assuming the book was simply Gorbachev trying to capitalize on his side of the story and events.
In fact, I was disappointed to find that very little is discussed of the events of the attempted coup. Instead this is Gorbachev's attempt to tell his nation and the world what he was trying to do and the challenges they faced. It kind of has a feeling of desperation and he openly worries that the coup has exposed divisions among the various republics that made up the USSR and fears that the Union might disolve (which soon became a reality). He also tries to put to rest some of the rumors which spread from the event and his plans and ideas for how the problems it created should be dealt with. As such, it is not a history but a brief snapshot of his plans, and interesting in that regard even if it is a bit self-serving. For those of us who grew up in the 80's when the Soviet Union represented the spectre of possible nuclear war, it's an insight into the attempts to transition it to a free market economy by a man more celebrated and appreciated in the West than in his own country.
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The failed coup from the perspective of Gorbachev
Rating  (4)
Date: 2005-04-03
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Nothing will ever convince me that Mikhail Gorbachev is not one of the greatest statesman of the twentieth century. While he was in power, he was held in high regard in the west as a new type of communist. However, when the Soviet Union collapsed so suddenly, the mood in the west changed to one of praising Ronald Reagan as the "winner of the cold war." The role of Gorbachev was largely forgotten. As a consequence of the dramatic drop in living standards and the rise of lawlessness in the Soviet Union after the collapse, Gorbachev is reviled in the Russian successor to the Soviet Union.
Even though Gorbachev performed well in the attempted coup, not giving in to the demands of the plotters, the primary consequence was the dramatic rise of Boris Yeltsin and the fall of Gorbachev. This book is Gorbachev's account of the course he was trying to set for the Soviet Union and what happened during the time that he was held incommunicado by the plotters. While some of his statements are naturally self-serving, he is basically honest in his tales. He was not naïve about the potential for a coup, the fact that it failed so miserably indicates that he had very little to fear from a coup. We in the west fail to appreciate the history of government in the Soviet Union and how much the Stalinist legacy restricted what Gorbachev could do as he tried to institute reforms.
In the final analysis, there was an amazing lack of bloodshed when the Soviet Empire collapsed. In the 1980's if anyone would have suggested that such a thing could possibly occur, they would have been ridiculed. Much of the credit for the smoothness of the transition should go to Gorbachev, who tried to reform the unreformable. This is his description of the last real days of the Soviet Union and it is a story well worth reading. From it, you realize that he is fundamentally a decent man, who really wanted to make his country better.
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