Word: gorbachev
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...Communist Party Central Committee plenum, Gorbachev invited the leaders of nine of the 15 Soviet republics, including Russia's maverick chief, Boris Yeltsin, to a conference at a secluded dacha in the woods outside Moscow. The six republics that are bent on immediate independence -- Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Moldavia, Georgia and Armenia -- were not asked...
...leaders' agreement. It was essential to "restore the constitutional order everywhere," their statement said, and they decided to begin with such remedial economic measures as abolishing the new 5% sales tax, reviewing recent price increases and indexing incomes to the cost of living. On the political front, Gorbachev and the republic presidents cited as their "top priority" the signing of a new treaty of union among themselves and the central government. Six months after that, a new Soviet constitution would be adopted and national elections held. The agreement also included a clause in which the nine leaders recognized the right...
...document's most immediate effect was to strengthen Gorbachev as he walked into the party plenum assembled in the Kremlin to denounce him for his failure to bring the country to order. It proved he could make progress on the crucial issue of the union treaty, even garnering Yeltsin's support. It also reminded the communist chieftains that he does not depend solely on them for his political authority...
Critiques dominated the two-day Kremlin meeting of the Central Committee. Ivan Polozkov, head of the Russian republic's Communist Party, told Gorbachev, "I cannot understand how, after taking on such a large and responsible affair as perestroika, you have let the steering wheel slip from your hands." Admiral Gennadi Khvatov, commander of the Pacific fleet, intoned the old slogan, "The fatherland is in danger." Gorbachev, tired of the harangues, stormed to the rostrum and announced he would resign...
That was a threat he had used before, but the party leaders took him seriously. They called a quick recess, then returned to announce that the Politburo was proposing that Gorbachev's resignation not be considered. The motion passed overwhelmingly, 322-13, with 14 abstentions. It seems obvious now that no matter how much steam the hard-liners let off, the party has no ready alternative to Gorbachev...