The April 91 Plenum: How Gorbachev Resigned, But Wasn't Let Go

The April 1991 Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee became one of the most dramatic and significant events in the late stories Soviet Communist Party. It was held on April 24–25 in Moscow, amid a deep political and economic crisis, when dissatisfaction with the policies of Soviet President and General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev was growing in society and within the Party itself. The agenda included questions about the situation in the country and ways to lead the economy out of the crisis, as well as organizational issues.

The plenum opened with Gorbachev's opening remarks, describing the situation in the country as exceptionally difficult. During the discussions, many Central Committee members, especially the first secretaries of regional committees, sharply criticized the policies of the party leadership and Gorbachev personally.

Demands were raised for the General Secretary's resignation and the adoption of emergency measures to stabilize the situation. Representatives of the Communist Party of the RSFSR and several Union republics spoke out most forcefully.

Amidst the insults directed at him, on April 25, Gorbachev announced his intention to resign as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. This move, partly impulsive and partly already prepared and deliberated by Gorbachev and his close associates, caused confusion among the plenum participants.

A recess was called, and an emergency Politburo meeting was convened. Gorbachev was asked to withdraw his resignation. He refused. The Politburo then made the following decision:

Based on the highest interests of the country, the people, and the party, withdraw from consideration the proposal put forward by Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev regarding his resignation from the post of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.

This proposal was submitted to the Central Committee plenary session for approval. An absolute majority of its participants did not dare vote for Gorbachev's resignation and supported the Politburo's proposal to retain him as General Secretary. This decision was adopted by 322 votes, with only 13 voting against and 14 abstaining.

This plenum marked the first time in the history of the CPSU that a party leader had been subjected to such harsh criticism and yet retained his post. The plenum approved the so-called "9+1 Statement" – a joint declaration by the President of the USSR and the leaders of nine Union republics on the need to sign a new Union Treaty and create a Union of Sovereign States.

Apparently, the majority of Central Committee members, while having compelling reasons to be dissatisfied with the General Secretary, believed that Gorbachev was the CPSU's last hope of maintaining unity and power. His departure from the post of party leader meant that the CPSU would cease to be the ruling party. The results of the plenum demonstrated that the party was no longer capable of consolidated action, and the disintegration of the USSR and the CPSU continued until the August putsch and the Belovezh Accords. On December 25, 1991, M.S. Gorbachev resigned as head of state.

And this is a British report on what were essentially the last minutes of the USSR's existence (BBC broadcasts are blocked in Russia due to the television company's violation of Russian law):

Comments

[andrey martov]

People said that the marked Michael would come and then the end of the world would come. The end of the world really did come, and this end of the world has been going on for more than 30 years and does not end, but only becomes wider, deeper and bloodier.

[paul3390]

Well, yes, the eternal question - is the end of the world possible in one particular country...

[man]

Quote: paul3390

Well, yes, the eternal question - is the end of the world possible in one particular country...

If you arrange it for yourself periodically, then it is possible...

[commbatant]

Demands were made for the resignation of the Secretary General and the adoption of emergency measures to stabilize the situation. Representatives of the Communist Party of the RSFSR and a number of union republics.

Why did they bring up the author of the Communist Party of the RSFSR? It existed for only one year, had no independence or charter, was created for a covert war within the CPSU, and died before it was born. The RSFSR was the only republic that didn't have its own Communist Party.

[Belisarius]

A strange article. The CPSU was out of power in 1991. Article 6 of the Constitution was repealed in March 1990. Gorbachev exercised his powers as President of the USSR, not as General Secretary.
The April plenum was indeed important, but the article misrepresents the events.

[Revolver]

Nobody was interested in that plenum back then. People were preoccupied with far more pressing issues—where to buy food, cigarettes, and gasoline.

[Same lech]

The overfed elite of the Great Country.

[october]

The overfed elite of the Great Country.

This isn't a greedy elite. These are completely different people, not the ones who built it.
Look for information about Gorbachev's personnel policy, for example,
[https://multiurok.ru/index.php/files/tablitsa-reforma-politicheskoi-sistemy-v-period-pe.html]

From 1985 to 1990, 90% of the leading employees of the CPSU Central Committee were replaced, and at the republican level, up to 70%.

These people were only criticizing for show; otherwise, the people wouldn't have understood. But in reality, Gorbachev was doing exactly what they wanted. So it was all a publicity stunt; no one was planning on firing him, and he had no intention of leaving.

[october]

Apparently, the majority of the Central Committee members, having good reasons for dissatisfaction with the General Secretary, were of the opinion that Gorbachev was the last hope for the CPSU to maintain unity and power.

Это завершающий этап реставрации капитализма. В это время в ЦК было уже много диссидентов и антикоммунистов, вроде Роя Медведева [https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%B2,_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87?ysclid=mojo7c8oqn644247112]
And they had no intention of preserving the USSR as a socialist country. Therefore, removing their leader, who had done everything for the counterrevolution, was not in their interests.

The Central Committee of the CPSU as a whole at this time expressed the interests of the new bourgeoisie.

[guest]

The absolute majority of its participants did not risk voting for Gorbachev's resignation.

А зря.

[Mazunga]

And the guy pulled off such a scam that his granddaughters in Germany will have enough time to live happily until they are 10 years old.

[Evgeny]

The country had been falling apart long before Gorbachev.

[Anatoly Eliseev]

Judas who sold out his homeland! He shit himself resisting Yeltsin's coup!

[faterdom]

And who was there, in Gorbachev's new Central Committee? Yakovlev, Ligachev, Shevardnadze? And would they have been willing to let such a useful idiot go when they were all busy with their own affairs?
By the way, even the Belovezhskaya putschists also called Gorbachev and said, “Where would we be without you? You remain the main one in the entire CIS, and we’re just playing the fool…”
And, in principle, they didn't overthrow Gorbachev, and perhaps they would have left him as president of the CIS, only without any political, economic, or military power. It would have even been more convenient for them that way.
But Gorbachev no longer wanted to "rule" under such conditions, suspecting that it was some kind of scam: everyone would be ripping everything off, and at the same time everyone would hate the "boss" Gorbachev.

[Genius Yo]

There was a joke going around back then about the three Raikins: Arkady, Konstantin and Mikhail!
Gorbachev was "brought into the world" by Raisa Maksim Ovna, but he himself, as he was essentially a combine operator, remained so!!!
The Soviet elite didn't want to be in the USSR, even though the people voted overwhelmingly for the Union. They wanted to live like the West, and the West supported them, but with the secret goal of ultimately destroying Russia! Fortunately, Raisa Maksimovna was prescient and foresaw a "backup airfield" in Germany!!!
And the process of the collapse of the Russian State continues to this day and it is still unclear how it will end...

[Alexander Bezfamilnuy]

The resignation of the party leader meant that the CPSU ceased to be the ruling party

Uh... I'm reading this and can't believe my eyes. The CPSU was the only party back then. Of course, you can play with words in different ways, framing it as a "loss of power," but I don't really understand who could challenge that power.
For those who were born later, I will explain.
By that time, the CPSU was no longer a real party. In the political sense. It was a ruling party, like today's United Russia. At least the top, starting with the leadership of local branches.
Even if this... uh... not-so-smart character had left, little would have changed. He'd already done so much damage by then that apparently no one wanted to take on all that crap. But that's just my guess and feeling. I wasn't a party member and had no intention of being one.
Strictly speaking, the outcome was predictable. The USSR's economy grew increasingly complex as it developed. A natural process. Interconnections grew ever more numerous, while the level of management fell simultaneously. In other words, the system's complexity far exceeded the level of the central control center. And then this chatterbox found himself at the top.
Strictly speaking, I personally believed and still believe that the country was run not by this worthless person, but by his wife.
Even during his lifetime, I repeatedly suggested on various websites that we erect a bust of him. Made of gold. The only problem is that the only worthy place for it is in Langley. In front of CIA headquarters.
If I were in power, I would negotiate with Germany for Raisa's reburial. I would consult with all religious denominations about how to minimize the humiliation and harm to the ashes, and I would impale Mikhail himself publicly on Red Square. Under medical supervision, so he doesn't die too quickly.
Do you consider me a barbarian? I agree. But if you objectively count the number of victims and the consequences for the country, then Hitler would be a piece of cake...
Well, during perestroika I completely lost respect for the general public.
I wasn't a Soviet person at all, but I was nonetheless perplexed by how anyone could fall for this meliorator's words (meaning, that was his intellectual limit). But what could a young designer do? There was no internet. No one would publish anything in a newspaper, and there were crowds of easily suggestible people running around... When I tried to explain, didn't they just shake their heads... "What are you talking about? It's freedom..." "Freedom from what?" they shrugged in bewilderment and walked away...
But this was the technical elite... Not some illiterate people.
So, Gorbachev is Gorbachev, but the people were the ones who betrayed the country.
Since then, I have clearly understood that an enthusiastic idiot in power can be worse than the most terrible enemy.

[Prometey]

Quote: Aleksandr Bezfamilnuy

Since then, I have clearly understood that an enthusiastic idiot in power can be worse than the most terrible enemy.

I wouldn't categorically blame everything on him alone. Gorbachev wasn't a dictator, after all; the Politburo was in charge. The Soviet elite had degenerated by that time (just like the Russian one has now). While Stalin and his entourage were creators, and then, out of inertia, creators continued to create under Khrushchev, during the Brezhnev era, consumers came to power. After all, they thought the USSR had become the world's second-largest economy; there was no need to catch up or overtake anyone; they could live comfortably without any leaps and bounds. And when a country and society lack purpose, it gradually becomes inert. And in the 1980s, people began to desire something different, something new. They didn't realize back then that they were essentially living in a socially oriented state, and that to make things even better, they needed to preserve what they had at the beginning. Only now are many realizing that back in 1991, we lost almost everything and that nothing will ever be the same again. No - Gorbachev was already acting by inertia with his entourage and was weak-willed.
And I agree with you – political parties in Russia are evil. They degenerate, become monopolized, and essentially usurp power, as they are now. And the usurpation and monopoly of power by a select few with specific demands and views leads to stagnation and developmental delays. Therefore, modern Russia, in its current state, has no future.

[APASUS]

Here's a classic example of democracy: expand and deepen, promise a lot, and then destroy the country. It wasn't about words, you should have watched their actions.

[1944 - 1989]

I just heard a Russia expert say that the USSR collapsed because some party functionaries decided that its continued existence was not beneficial to THEM.

Even in the West, experts confirm that the USSR did not collapse, but was deliberately liquidated as a result of a conspiracy, which contradicts the version of the bankruptcy of socialism.

[Prometey]

Quote: 1944-1989

Even in the West, experts confirm that the USSR did not collapse, but was deliberately liquidated as a result of a conspiracy.

Very likely.

[air wolf]

I recently remembered how well and happily we lived in the Soviet Union, we studied, loved, made plans, and now it’s a nightmare: money, money, money, everyone’s counting something, the poor people can’t sleep...
I bought a house in the village, furnished it, and I don't even have time to watch TV. Life is getting better.

[Prometey]

I still can't get it all together. It's 1990—the country is united, the economy is relatively stable, workers' wages are being raised. And then, within a year, something happens—everything collapses in an instant, and a bacchanalia ensues. Surely this could only have been done artificially and deliberately?