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<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIn his article from the September 15 issue, \u201cWhat Next?,\u201d Alexander Tsipko wrote: \u201cIn my opinion the decomposition of the USSR has become irreversible after the events of August 23-24.\u201d He went on to state: \u201cIt would be folly to believe that the process of restoration of national statehood going on in all other Republics can bypass the Russian Federation and that a new Russian state can rise up without restorationist ideas and an appeal to traditional patriotism.\u201d As we can see, the effect of the failed coup of August was to turn the dissolution of the USSR from a possibility to an inevitability. The question for many such as Tsipko was no longer when the USSR would collapse, but how. Since the constituent republics within the USSR were the only other major centers of government power, many, at least in the pages of Moscow News<\/em>, assumed them to be the logical replacement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A more pressing question was what form these new governments would take. One likely solution expressed frequently within the September 15 issue was that of liberal democracy. In the opinion article \u201cFish – with a Knife?\u201d the political writer Andrei Nukin expressed this view. He argued not just that a democratic revolution is viable, but that it was already taking place. In reference to the events following the August coup, he said that, \u201cSo far it is, regrettably, not a bourgeois revolution, but a democratic one. It is not the \u2018activities of the CPSU\u2019 that have been suspended in our country, but its criminal rule that has been overthrown.\u201d He also expresses the view that, in order for democracy to prevail, the republics of the USSR must be given their independence, writing, \u201cWhy are the \u2018ill-starred\u2019 democrats so firm in granting independence to the Baltic republics? Because the people there support this independence.\u201d He finishes the article by imploring that the nascent democracies of the republics continue to be protected so that they may one day stand on their own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is difficult to overstate how pervasive the transformation that had begun after the August coup was to what was swiftly ceasing to be Soviet society. No part of the country was untouched by the sorts of debates and questions captured on the pages of The Moscow News<\/em>. Articles discussed the seizing of Communist Party records, the possibility of the impending dissolution of the KGB, and even a delightful excerpt from the sports sections report on the USSR soccer team. Alexander Gorbunov, the sports reporter, wrote that, \u201cThe USSR soccer team has been doing very well in the European championship qualifying games, and there is no doubt whatsoever that it is going to compete for the European title in Sweden in 1992. But chances are, by the time, it will no longer be the USSR team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Liam Martin is a junior majoring in International Studies and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Works Cited By Liam Martin By early September, it was obvious to everyone that the Soviet Union was not the power it had once been. Gorbachev was widely perceived as weak, the Soviet government was perceived as corrupt, and questions began to … Continue reading <\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
(1991, September 15). Page 1. Moscow News Digital Archive. Retrieved from https:\/\/dlib.eastview.com\/browse\/doc\/49796897<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"