1989 for the USSR is the peak of "Perestroika", a time of grandiose changes, when events were beginning to get out of control of the leadership of the CPSU and acquire their own logic. Already in the next year, 1990, the country will frankly go to pieces, but in 1989 Moscow was still talking about "democratic socialism", "socialist rule of law" and "pluralism of opinions".
Let's see the fragments of this 25-year-old kaleidoscope.
February 15, 1989 last soviet soldiers left Afghanistan:
One headache for the country seemed to be less, but it was already beginning to be drawn into the whirlpool of acute internal political struggle and manifestations of separatism.
In the wake of a stormy public discussion within the framework of the "glasnost" policy, by the spring of 1989, opposition began to form in the Soviet Communist Party for the first time since the late 1920s. Its supporters demanded more radical democratic reforms from Gorbachev. The disgraced party apparatchik Boris Yeltsin became the unofficial leader of the "democratic wing" of the CPSU.
He arranged this photo session for foreign journalists in February 1989 in his office of the Chairman of the USSR Gosstroy: 
On May 25, 1989, the 1st Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR opened in Moscow: 
Among its delegates were several hundred so-called. "democrats", i.e. representatives of the opposition, although the "aggressively obedient majority", as they said then, was formed by supporters of the current leadership of the CPSU.
Half of the country quit their jobs and spent whole days listening to the broadcasts of the sessions of the Congress, where the new stars of the tribune speakers were lit. Accustomed for decades to the official unanimity of the population, the head was spinning from diatribes, revelations, accusations and calls to "reform everything from top to bottom."
The highlight of the program were the speeches of the main dissident of the country - Academician Sakharov: 
For the disgraced Yeltsin, the election as a delegate to the congress was the beginning of a rapid political career grave digger of the USSR.
Boris Yeltsin - People's Deputy, 1989: 
But discussions from the session halls have not yet spilled onto the streets in the form of millions of opposition rallies and demonstrations that Moscow will see already in February 1990.
In 1989, out of a generational habit, people walked around the distribution list of enterprises and institutions for Soviet holidays, with posters in support of the "party's course for renewal" and portraits of Lenin.
May Day procession in Moscow 1989: 
The absolutely traditional for the USSR paraphernalia of the design of Red Square in 1989 did not foreshadow the imminent collapse of the system: 
Unless the slogan "full power to the Soviets" betrayed some new trends in the official ideology: 
A typical triad of official slogans in 1989 in Moscow: 
And on the old Arbat, one of the first "hyde parks" in the USSR was already seething: 
Official perestroika propaganda was built on criticism of the period of "stagnation" and in 1989 it was already allowed to openly mock the former general secretary: 
Meanwhile, mass rallies were already gathering in the Baltic States under the old banners of the pre-war bourgeois republics, at which they demanded with might and main to secede from the USSR. Rally in Tallinn, 1989: 
No less alarming for the leadership of the USSR, the situation was developing in Transcaucasia, where the first post-Soviet armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh had actually broken out.
One hundred thousand demonstrators at the monument to Lenin in Baku, 1989: 
Most of all, the changes taking place in the country were felt in the sphere of artistic creativity especially in cinematography.
Films appeared on the screen, one bolder than the other, which, like a sledgehammer, destroyed the usual system of moral and spiritual values of Soviet society.
One of the films of the year was "Intergirl", about the hard working life of Soviet currency prostitutes: 
By 1989, the state had actually recognized the right of the citizens of the USSR to lead an "alternative" way of life. Such people were called "informals". The term encompassed many different strands of "counter-culture".
Soviet informals of the late 1980s: 
Although commercial ("cooperative") cafes and restaurants had already appeared in 1989, in general, for almost the entire population, the everyday side of life remained unchanged with all its usual attributes.
Here is what a typical Moscow shop looked like in 1989: 
Already in the next year, 1990, the former way of life will begin to crumble. Along with the appearance of the first commercial stores, the state trading system will begin to collapse, food shortages will begin, cards will appear, prices will creep.
In 1989, one of the last Soviet cars appeared - VAZ 1111 "Oka": 
On the eve of the collapse of the USSR, the Soviet space industry created its own "shuttle".
The most powerful cargo aircraft in the world "Mriya" carries "Buran" at the exhibition Le Bourget (Paris), 1989: 
All series of the project "20th century in color":
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Events 1985–1988 "unleashed" a number of very important socio-economic, socio-political and ideological processes, which in 1989-1990. took on a life of its own, destabilizing public life and making it difficult to reform the political system.
The year 1989 was a turning point in the history of perestroika: at that time, the objective prerequisites for a broad anti-Gorbachev and anti-communist opposition were taking shape. The negative trends in the development of the economy have become irreversible. The deterioration of the economic situation led to a widespread aggravation social problems. In March 1989, the first miners' strike took place, which in the summer covered the entire industry. In 1989–1990 the geography and scope of the strike movement expanded, and political demands were added to the economic ones.
In 1989, in most of the republics of the Union political life more and more painted in ethnic colors, which leads to the aggravation of existing and the emergence of new contradictions and conflicts. There is a further escalation of armed clashes (Transcaucasia, middle Asia), the Baltic model of separatism is being worked out, the Russian factor appears on the allied political scene for the first time as an independent one.
In 1989, the continued deepening of criticism Soviet period national history led to the rejection of socialism as a social system; the liberal-democratic alternative of development received more and more justification. At the same time, the organizational formation of the political opposition is taking place, the radical part of which was initially aimed at a tough struggle for the mastery of power.
chief political event 1989 was the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR (May-June), the work of which meant the entry of the reform of the political system into a practical phase. At the congress, a permanent bicameral parliament was elected - the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and M. Gorbachev was elected its Chairman. At the forum, a sharp controversy unfolded on the widest range of problems, witnessed by many residents of the country thanks to television.
At the First Congress, for the first time in many years, the formation of an organized political opposition began. On June 7, in opposition to the "aggressively obedient majority", it was announced that the "democratic" deputies had gone into opposition. An Interregional Group of Deputies (MDG) was created, which initially included 150 people. In the summer of 1989, the group increased to 388 members, 286 of whom represented the RSFSR. Its organizational formation took place on July 29 at the first general conference. Five co-chairmen were elected here: Yu. Afanasyev, B. Yeltsin, V. Palm, G. Popov and A. Sakharov. A Coordinating Council of more than 20 people was elected. B. Yeltsin made the program theses of the group. Later, the ideas of the MHD were “minted” in five “de”: decentralization, demonopolization, departization, de-ideologization, democratization. In January 1990, a broad opposition movement was constituted - the Democratic Russia electoral bloc.
The possibilities of the opposition in the struggle for power were largely strengthened due to the presence in its ranks of a bright charismatic leader of a populist persuasion. In 1989, Yeltsin's degree of popularity was a mirror image of Gorbachev's decline in authority, who was perceived as his political antipode.
While the opposition movement was on the rise, the situation in the CPSU was different. The traditional party structures proved ill-suited to compete with the new dynamic organizations. The lag of democratization in the party from democratization in society was obvious to many. However, the Central Committee of the party was in no hurry to decide on a strategy for restructuring its activities in the new conditions. With a delay in reforming "from above", impulses began to come "from below". On August 2, 1989, at a meeting of the Moscow Party Club, a decision was made to create a Democratic platform in the CPSU. Its leaders - V. Lysenko, I. Chubais, V. Shostakovsky - announced the creation of an organization of communists-supporters of a multi-party system and radical democratization of the CPSU. Supporters of the "Demplat-form" advocated the immediate abolition of the 6th article of the Constitution of the USSR; the introduction of factional pluralism in the CPSU; transition to the creation of the Communist Party of Russia; transformation of the CPSU into a parliamentary party. Gradually, the communists, who shared different views, also united. Thus, in 1989 - early 1990, the process of political "delimitation" actually unfolded in the CPSU, which was not officially recognized by its leadership.
In 1989 there were also rapid changes in the ideological life of society. More and more often, in the publications of scientists, primarily philosophers, one could read that in the USSR “not socialism” and not “early socialism”, but “barracks pseudo-socialism, totalitarianism” was built. It was proposed to "completely and without a trace" get rid of the "authoritarian-bureaucratic social and political system." Getting rid of the past was seen as a return to the path to a democratic, humane society, through the movement towards "world civilization". These intentions were supposed to be realized through the implementation of an “anti-totalitarian”, “anti-barracks” revolution, which would solve its tasks during a certain “transitional” period. It is significant that in the work of Gorbachev, published at the end of 1989, for the first time a leader of such a high rank did not mention the concept of “real socialism” - it was supplanted by the “socialist idea”, which in fact also meant a denial of the socialist nature of the society built in the USSR. Hence the task was not to improve what had been created, but to radically reform it.
By 1990, the political system of the USSR was in a state of crisis. The beginning of its reform led to a general decrease in the level of controllability of social processes. The transfer of power functions from party structures to Soviet ones, which were not organizationally prepared for this, led to a weakening of centralized influence on the economy and politics, interethnic relations and social processes. Contemporaries noted the widespread "escalation of impunity." At the same time, there came an awareness of the need to create a political institution that would compensate for the loss of the integration function of the CPSU.
Under these conditions, in January-February 1990, surrounded by Gorbachev, they decide to put into motion the idea of introducing a presidential system in the USSR. The notion that Gorbachev "lacked power" was associated with the growing illegitimacy of the party in the context of the policy of separating functions between the CPSU and the state, when interference in conflict situations along the line of the party apparatus became difficult and ineffective.
The establishment of the post of President of the USSR at the III Congress of People's Deputies in March 1990 occurred simultaneously with the abolition of Article 6 of the Constitution, which secured the leading role of the CPSU. M. Gorbachev himself assessed this event as follows: “This, comrades, is literally a coup, completion, complete completion of the change in the political system.” Indeed, the revolutionary meaning of what happened was that the supreme government legally separated from the party and became accountable to all citizens, regardless of their political views. The party itself legally turned into one of the public organizations, designed to fight for influence by purely political methods. In fact, the possibility of creating new parties has opened up.
Almost simultaneously with the reform of the political system in the winter of 1989-1990. a movement for Russian sovereignty is unfolding, which has become the most important factor union value. There were two main reasons behind the nationwide consolidation. The first is a decrease in the effectiveness of management on the part of allied structures. The second is the chronic unwillingness of the allied leadership to deal with Russian problems. The self-consciousness of Russians was also wounded by the fact that dissatisfaction on the part of national regions was often directed against Russia and Russians, and not against that very “international” “Center”, from which Russia suffered at least no less than other republics.
I think few people will dispute the thesis that the events of 1989-1991 in Russia should be characterized as a social revolution. This revolution has an obvious result - the collapse of communism and the collapse of the USSR, respectively, up to a specific date on the calendar, you can say when the revolution ended *
It began, in my opinion, just 20 years ago with the first alternative elections in the history of the USSR. Now they are trying to compare the present time with the period of perestroika, asking the question, is it possible to repeat the process of "democratization" in modern Russia? I answer this question in the negative. Revolution 1989-91 did not start in a vacuum. She was getting ready. Architects and foremen of perestroika. Well-meaning and benevolent people. Their complacency is due to the state of sociological science of that time. They sincerely believed in such empty propagandistic dummies as "the complete and final victory of socialism in the USSR", "a new historical Soviet people”, “the Soviet people are the most read and educated in the world”, etc. In these characteristics - complacency and good intentions - them, foremen of perestroika, fundamental difference from the current powers that be. And hence - the fundamental impossibility of "loosening the nuts" from above by the current ones. The architects of perestroika themselves did everything possible to prepare the country for revolution. We carried out an anti-alcohol campaign and forced a significant part of the population to look at life with a sober look. They allowed the publication of "anti-Soviet works" and criticism of the saint himself - nomenclature workers and the party as a whole. Released political prisoners. Do you know how in the spring of 1988 in Estonia they met Mart Niklus, who arrived in a camp uniform from Potma? He was carried by the whole city in his arms from the station to the house. Stop jamming Western radio stations Serfdom was abolished. I mean Article 209 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR "Parassism". In June 1988 I took work book from a government office and was no longer required to be listed as employed anywhere. Many have had free time for "anti-Soviet" activities. Laws on cooperation and individual labor activity financed the revolution. It was no longer necessary to wait for the West to help us, we could earn money ourselves to help the revolution. Finally, the election law itself. For the first time, he allowed alternative candidates. Despite the existence of quotas for "public organizations" and "district election meetings", much more democratic than all the current electoral legislation of the Chekists. And here are the choices. All the Novosibirsk city authorities were left behind. The chairman of the executive committee Indinok gave way to the director of one of the factories. The first secretary of the city committee Maslov - to the military. The first secretary of the regional committee, Kazarezov, barely outperformed his opponent in the farthest rural district. The chairman of SOAN Koptyug in a huge national-territorial district, which included the Novosibirsk and Tomsk regions, lost to the pilot Demakov. Not because he is a scientist, but because he wrote in his biography "deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR" Two weeks after the elections, on April 9, the first ten copies of the "Press Bulletin" of the Siberian News Agency found their readers in Narymsky Square. Two weeks later, on April 23, I was detained in the same square with leaflets from the third issue of the Press Bulletin and Anatoliy Marchenko's book Live Like Everyone Else and given 10 days of administrative arrest. The court sentenced Marchenko's book and "PB" to be burned as printed materials prohibited from circulation on the territory of the USSR. Radio Liberty then danced for two weeks on the bones of the Zheleznodorozhny District Court. As a result, the regional court canceled the ritual burning of anti-Soviet literature. At the end of May, the whole country was sitting at the TV, taxi drivers listened not to cassettes with thieves' chanson, but to broadcasts of the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR. On June 7, an Aeroflot scheduled flight delivered to Novosibirsk the first mass circulation of PB - 5,000 copies, printed, by the way, in the printing house of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Lithuanian SSR. On June 30, the Novosibirsk police arrested the 10,000th edition of the next issue of PB right at the airport. After the massive head-on on the square. Lenin, with its subsequent dispersal by riot police, "PB" became the most popular publication in the region. At the end of 1989, Maxim Klimenko, one of the publishers of PB, poured cognac into glasses and said: “Let's spend the happiest year of our lives!” Now it is obvious that in the life of my generation this year, the year of the beginning of the revolution, was the happiest. Although the hopes that overwhelmed us then were not destined to come true in Russia, I am in no hurry, following some liberal publicists, to characterize the missed opportunities the term "pissed off" . Still, the two main results of the revolution of 1989-91. neither Putin, nor the FSB, nor any other vile force will be able to cancel it. No one will be able to restore communism, no one will be able to restore the USSR. I want to emphasize that, unlike the “national leader”, I not only do not consider the collapse of the USSR as the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century” (greater than two world wars?), but quite the contrary, I consider this collapse to be the most important positive result of our revolution. Even if it were possible to break away not 14 former Soviet republics, but one, say, tiny Estonia, from the “evil empire” (Russia), which had turned into a KGB fragment, I would consider this a success for the liberation movement. The success of the struggle for your and our freedom, which is now almost forgotten. Not only the Soviet Baltics, but also Ukraine and Georgia separated forever from the "evil empire". We have someone to take an example from, we have something to strive for. There is no need to hope for a repeat of democratization from above. Unlike the benevolent elders from the Politburo, the boys from the KGB are merciless like nature. Grandfather Michurin on school posters of my childhood advised not to expect favors from nature: "to take them from her is our task."
Those born between February 6, 1989 and January 26, 1990 are members of the Earth Snake Chinese Zodiac sign. Those born under the auspices of the yellow snake are characterized as wise people, guided primarily by common sense, very active and promising. They are characterized by such personal qualities as responsibility, reliability. It is believed that these people are lucky with partners at all stages of their lives.
People born under the auspices of the Earth Snake are sweet, benevolent, as a rule, get along well with people, leave a good impression of themselves. characteristic feature people born in 1989 animal Earth Snake is that sometimes the ability to take rational decisions cheats on them, and they can make a pretty serious mistake. And yet, despite this, proteges of the earth reptile often become successful businessmen and financiers.
People born in the year of the Snake are great connoisseurs of beauty, luxury, but at the same time they cannot be called spenders. They are very economical. And Snakes prefer peace and tranquility. Snakes are conscientious and diligent workers, but they do not like to be bored, and therefore they can easily quit a job that has become uninteresting to them. For health and longevity, Snakes simply need proper rest and a balanced diet.
Those born this year love peace and comfort at home. These people rely on quite understandable earthly principles, they do not like innovations. By nature, they are calm, balanced, able to understand others. Serpents can be trusted with the most important secrets - they will not tell anyone.
1989 by Eastern calendar- the year of people who easily make friends, communicate with anyone without any problems. They often make generous gifts to loved ones they hold dear. Representatives of this variety of the sign are strongly attached to their friends and are ready for a lot for them. The life of the Earth Snake, born in 1989, will be much easier if she stops throwing herself into the pool with her head and is the most careful.
