Opposition politics in Russia

Abstract

IN THE WAKE OF the failed August 1991 coup, the banning of the CPSU and the collapse of the Soviet state, the CPSU split into myriad communist, socialist, democratic and nationalist parties and movements. Soon many of those who had supported El'tsin during the coup turned against him and his democrats. The alliance of convenience between nationalists, moderate communists, democrats and radical reformers that each group had joined for often diametrically opposed reasons was no longer needed after the demise of Gorbachev. There were also disparate reasons behind various Russians' support for El'tsin in his effort to come to power in the RSFSR and challenge the CPSU leadership. With the fall of Gorbachev and the collapse of the Union, the distinctions which hitherto had not been so important in these groups' interrelations gradually became decisive. A split became inevitable between El'tsin's democratic, reform communist and (few) national-patriotic supporters, who had undermined Gorbachev because they were opposed to his reforms either for orthodox communist reasons or because of a desire to salvage the empire, regardless of whether they envisioned it as Soviet or Russian. Nationalist Russophiles, who preferred the break-up of the Union and the birth of a new Russia, now saw westerising democrats and moderate communists as the obstacles to the fulfilment of their aspirations. In this they found like-minded allies among the hardline communists.