The Levada Center recently polled Russian society about the events of August 1991. Its conclusions are as follows:
- 13 percent of the population consider the August events to be a triumph of democracy.
- 39 percent perceive them to have been a power struggle between competing echelons of power.
- 3.33 percent see those events as tragic.
- 4.80 percent of people under the age of 24 do not have an opinion on the matter.
(data taken from http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c39/845515.html)
Given these results, what can be said about the defeat of the August putsch? Are those that describe it as a triumph of democracy right? Or are those that perceive those events as tragic more accurate? While either view can be argued, I think that the fourth point—the fact that the majority of young adults do not have an opinion on the matter—conclusively settles the debate in favor of the latter.
Granted, this view requires the benefits of hindsight. It is understood that those that described the events as tragic were referring to the beginning of the Soviet Union’s demise. However, reflecting on those developments 22 years later, what stands out as being truly tragic is that the younger generation has very little to no opinion on such a pivotal moment in their country’s history. Who would have thought that the dramatic denouement of the Soviet Union—a moment that had been envisioned and discussed by some nationals since its conception—would be looked back on with almost complete ambivalence?
For that matter, who would have thought that Dmitry Komar, Ilya Krichevsky, and Vladimir Usov, the August martyrs who Yeltsin described as “our defenders, our saviors,” would be virtually forgotten in two short decades?
The fight to defend the Russian White House was buried in the rubble of the Yeltsin years. The motivations, the drive, and the passion to take control of the country faded as Russia descended into the chaos of the 1990s. Enough time has passed to allow for objective analysis of this period. It is important to recognize that the August happenings, while triggering the end of empire, did not cause the subsequent events.
The August putsch should not be considered taboo. On the contrary, it should be seen as a moment of national pride. It is time for the younger generation to start forming opinions on the crowning moment of the post-Soviet Russian Federation.