[책걸상 '벽돌 책' 함께 읽기] #24. <소련 붕괴의 순간>

“ Still, it became clear that the acting President did not want to take responsibility for any bloodshed. The burden of this decision was firmly on Kryuchkov and Yazov. ”

“ "The most unpleasant thing for us was that the defenders of the White House and those who prepared to attack knew each other. We had all worked together in the KGB for years, and it was impossible to conceal any secrets from one another. ”

“ On too many occasions in the recent past the political leaders had made the military scapegoats for the use of lethal force against civilians. ”

“ Tens of thousands of people outside the Russian parliament - standing in a cold drizzle-felt completely unprotected, but they stayed. They were resolved to act as a human shield to protect the parliament building in the event of an attack, to defend their democratically elected government. ”

“ The conspirators had achieved something that no one could have predicted: the complete surrender of the executive branch of central government. The botched emergency rule provided Yeltsin and his democratic followers and allies with an historic opportunity to seize the levers of executive power on behalf of Gorbachev and the constitutional order. The unimaginable became inevitable. And this meant the political death of the Soviet Union. ”

“ Later, when Yeltsin no longer needed to embellish the August events for his own political goals, he called the junta members "average, ordinary Soviet people," not ruthless cynics and totalitarian despots. He even admitted that they had respect for human life and legality-and that was why they had surrendered and lost power. ”

“ "Those who managed to 'save' Gorbachev first would determine the success or failure of the coup and the political-perhaps even physical - survival of the main players on the Soviet political stage. ”

“ 격한 감정은 진짜였다. 고르바초프는 조국과 인민에게 이전에는 경험해보지 못한 ‘보편적 가치’와 자유를 주는 임무에 착수했다. 그는 인민을 해방시키고 “자신이 일하는 공장과 땅의 주인”으로 만드는 일을 계속할 것이었다. 당 조직에서 더 많은 권력을 빼앗아 ‘소비에트’와 민족 공화국, 현지의 인민평의회에 나눠줄 것이다. 고매한 서기장은 이 생각에 지나치게 사로잡혀서 세계사와 러시아 역사를 널리 살펴본 사람들에게는 명백히 보이는 역사적 교훈을 쉽게 간과했다. 고르바초프는 1861~1881년에 일어난 러시아의 대개혁에 관해 아무것도 읽지 않았던 모양이다. 차르인 알렉산드르 2세는 농노들에게 자유를 주고, 러시아인과 비러시아인을 가리지 않고 폭넓게 시민권을 부여했다. 이런 개혁 조치는 러시아를 재빨리 근대화의 궤도에 올려놓았지만, 한편으로 교육받은 청년층을 급진화시키고 대규모의 급진적 인텔리겐치아를 배출했다. 제국의 비(非)러시아계 주변부(폴란드)는 반란을 일으켰고, 혁명가들은 차르에게 전쟁을 선언하고는 1881년 대낮에 그를 시해했다. ”