Title

Russia transformed : breakthrough to hope : Moscow, August 1991

Description

James Billington examines the changes that have occurred in the former Soviet Union over recent years.

Identifier

886842

29035155

Creator

Billington, James H

Source

Brian Lamb Booknotes Collection

Gift of Brian Lamb, 2011.

Catalog record

Language

eng

Date

1992

Program air date: September 13, 1992.

Publisher

Free Press

George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections & Archives

Subject

"Billington, James H."

Relation

Original Booknotes interview

Rights

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Text

Transcription of Annotations
Notes on front endpapers: How does history fit in (1848 Eur. Revolution)? Midnight curfew on road to airport. Tsar--Godunov/Romanov. Son Tom in [???] 1990. Sverdlovsk--what role did its people play? Anatoly Sobchak--Matroshka. Talk "Russia in search of itself." West: 1. Academic exchanges pg. 100; 2. Echo radio; 4. BBC, E-mail, Fax, Xerox. 500 Russians visit Library of Congress. pg. 48 Women's role in preventing violence--flowers. August 1991, most significant single political happening in second half of the 20th century. Perlomby. Russian people transformed psychologically by August events. Prince Vladimir, Peter the Great, Stalin, Gorbachev. Foreign prince (Rurik) in 9th century. Prince Vladimir converted to Orthodox Christianity in late 10th century. Peter the Great opened Russia to the West in the early 18th century. 1930s Stalin, forced industrialization. Gorbachev's perestroika. Tsar Ivan IV--"the Terrible". By 19th century, largest contiguous land empire in the history of the world. Tsar. In midst of losing war with Japan (1904-5) Nicholas II experimented with the Duma, a protoparliament and abolished censorship for the first time in Russian history. Russians invented word "terrorism" as a badge of pride. Stalin used Lenin's Bolshevik Party to build first totalitarian state. Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Cherenkov succeeded Stalin, institutionalized totalitarian system of controls. Mikhail Gorbachev--favored child of totalitarian state's inner control system. August 1991 tradition of autocracy fortified by control/terror overturned in a few days. 50 years. One of the greatest mutations of history. Never saw self as journalist or political activist. Mingling in streets, got little sleep, took no photographs, only a few notes. Only person not of Russian origin at "Congress of Compatriots." Great libraries of the Soviet Union had always been under strict Party control. Now conduct major exchange programs with 85 Soviet institutions. Father of the Library of Congress, democracy must be knowledge based. Libraries attract little attention in American media. Gave a lecture in Russian. Congress continued uninterrupted throughout the crisis. First visit to Moscow, 1958. Saw transformation/transfiguration begin in Russia. August 12, 1991--Mikhail Levner head of Library of Congress's Moscow office. Helped develop a mini-Congressional Research Service. Gorbachev, "Institute of the Book." Call-in radio show--leading station of reform movement, Echo Moscow. Russia now had a chance--Slavophile/Western impulses. Sensed enthusiasm for ideal of democracy rerooted in religion that had not been noticeable in May. Went to Leo Tolstoy's rustic rural retreat. 7 AM, Monday, 19 August called with news that government taken over. For three days/nights slept little, lived largely on granola bars--tried to keep up on obligations. Khrushchev/Brezhnev vulgar men, devoid of aristocratic/religious culture of 19th century Russia. Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko. Gorbachev pure child of this party elite, Russian equivalent of chief lifeguard in Palm Springs. Dynamism. Having gained more formal power than any Soviet leader since Stalin, Gorbachev by 1991, even less authority within USSR than Cherrnenko. No one in Gorbachev's cabinet except Minister for Environment denounced the putsch; Gorbachev's chief of staff--Valery Boldin--helped craft it. Gorbachev's vacillation, indecisiveness, encouraged people to confront him with faits accomplis. Top military command endured a retreat--Afghanistan/Eastern Europe. Saddam Hussein. Public opinion would not support a declaration of emergency. Most of Moscow went about its business in apathy/resignation. Towards end of conference news arrived that the junta had held a press conference, where comments of Bush and Mitterand used as proof of international willingness to accept change as long as existing international treaties were respected. 5 days before the coup a party commissioned poll was published that showed 79% of Russians favored continuation of state control over most industrial enterprises. Would have been bizarre to discuss cultural momentum with Boldin who had worked with closely, but secretly against. Boldin ready to betray an individual in order to perpetuate the system. Appearance of elected President had electrifying impact as played back into Moscow on CNN. Yeltsin seemed to be thrust up by the people atop the tank. Congress of Compatriots in Tchaikovsky Concert Hall. Russian emigre made moving speech in opposition to the coup. Despite darkness and rain, miscellaneous groups that left the meeting found a far larger/more hetrogeneous crowd outside the White House. Konstantin Kobets--go out in teams to engage in aggressive dialogue with the armored troops that had entered Moscow. Major Evdokhimov, with Rutskoi, convinced him to transfer allegiance of his tank unit to the Yeltsin government. KGB Alphas decided at 3 AM to ignore order to attack White House. Feared for their lives. Age of Russian Rambos over. Protestors varied from 30,000 in the late afternoon to 10,000 in the early morning. General Yazov spent much of the morning trying to get the Air Force to attack the White House. General Yevgeny Shaposhnikov refused. Around tanks, smell of flowers/sound of women's voices. Women took lead trying to persuade the soldiers to never fire on their fellow Russians. Independent Gazette. Left at 3:45 to take part in three conference related events: religious service at St. Basil's Cathedral, reception in Pushkin Art Museum, founding meeting of a new Russian Bibliographical Society. Announcement of military curfew--guests quickly went home. Yazov's wife told him to arrest all civilian leaders of the putsch.