Mikhail Gorbachev, Address to the Country. February 7, 1991
In early autumn 1990 the ‘500-days’ plan for rapid economic reform was rejected, and over the winter of 1990-1 Gorbachev appeared to ally himself with the hardliners. In January 199 1 troops were used to seize objects in Lithuania and Latvia, with some loss of life. The leaders of the republics became increasingly alarmed, fearing that as long as authority resided in Moscow their declarations of sovereignty remained fragile. The Union Treaty process appeared to be going nowhere. Gorbachev tried to strengthen his position by holding a referendum on the preservation of the Union. It was on this matter, in which he detailed how the question would be framed, that Gorbachev addressed the nation on 6 February 1991.
Original Source: Pravda, 7 February 1991.
I would like to talk to you on a matter of crucial importance for the whole country – the forthcoming referendum on the future of our Union. The referendum is to be held in accordance with a decision of the Fourth Congress of People’s Deputies of the USSR. The order of holding the referendum and its date have been set by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The Soviet people are to answer one question on 17 March. This is how this question has been worded by the Supreme Soviet:
Do You think that it is necessary to preserve the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as a renewed federation of equal and sovereign republics in which the rights and freedoms of each citizen, regardless of ethnic origin, will be fully guaranteed?
The answer should be either yes or no. Each and all of us should make a choice …
Although debates on this issue go on, we can pretty surely state right now that the Soviet people are for the preservation of the Union as a common asset of our peoples, and their reliable support. They favor, just as resolutely, the renewal of the Union so that all the people living in it can develop freely and feel that they arc the masters of their own fate. A general outline of a renewed federal state, as it should be, is given in the draft Treaty of Union. This draft has been published in the press. What is the most important thing in the concept of renewing the Union? It is first and foremost the sovereignty of the republics, the subjects of the federation, which ensures the right of each people to self-determination and self-government. It is also the joint participation of the republics in the exercise of the federal terms of reference, i.e., all the powers they are delegating to the federal bodies of power and management. Sovereign republics need a viable federation which call really uphold common interests …
By virtue of history, a great many peoples, big and small, living oil the vast expanse of Siberia, the flatlands and steppes of the Far East and Central Asia, in the valleys of the Caucasus and the Pamirs and on the Baltic, Caspian and Black Sea shores, have united around Russia. A huge Eurasian state with the world’s largest territory and a large multilingual population has taken shape over centuries. To a large extent this is the result of complex processes that have taken shape over centuries, arising from the assimilation of new territories and from population shifts. Some of these territories were acquired by conquest, as has happened throughout the world, on all continents. Many peoples Voluntarily allied themselves with Russia, seeking protection from outside aggression, or to gain access to a vast market and to one of the world’s centers of science and Culture. This was largely facilitated by the openness of the Russian nation, its willingness to cooperate on equal terms with various other peoples, its benevolent attitude towards their traditions, and willingness to share its own …
There is every justification to say that in this country a unique civilization has taken shape, the outcome of many centuries of joint effort by all our peoples. And this also is vital in order to understand what we are now going through. First and foremost, we must take account of the fact that virtually all of our republics arc multinational. Millions of people are descended from mixed marriages; 75 million, that is, one in four, live outside of, let us say, their ‘own’ republics. It Would be madness to attempt to destroy this natural result of the flow of history. Yet in a number of republics attempts are being made to turn members of non-indigenous nationalities into second-class citizens, into outcasts, and in the long run to force them to leave. Think, comrades, about this: in peacetime, refugees have appeared in our country. And not in their tens or hundreds, but thousands, blameless victims of ethnic strife, political hotheadedness and uncontrolled emotion. Separatism threatens to tear millions of people away from their historical homelands, from the land where their ancestors are buried, and to disrupt the existing pattern of life …
Let us take the economy. It is glaringly obvious that all republics and regions of the country arc economically dependent upon each other. This is the result of decades, perhaps even centuries, of sharing and cooperation in labor. It only takes one link within this integral system to break down, a few enterprises to cease work, and in the wake of this tens and hundreds of others also stop and then the entire country comes to a standstill. The Soviet Union possesses a vast scientific and cultural potential. This spiritual achievement is also the result of joint creativity. Those who decide to renounce this cultural powerhouse, clearly, stand to lose a great deal.
One of the advantages of a large federal state is the ability to ensure full and reliable security for one’s country. And in any case, who is going to divide up the nuclear-missile, strategic potential of the Soviet Armed Forces? By virtue of its political weight and prestige, the Soviet Union is now a powerful player on the international stage, justifiably called a superpower. Its policies influence all the processes taking place in the world. Enormous effort was needed to acquire such influence and this can be so quickly squandered, thrown to the winds. Let me add that, with the exception of unreconstructed reactionaries and militarists, nobody in the world wants to weaken the role of the Soviet Union in international affairs.
These conclusions, dear comrades, form the basis of my firm conviction that Our Union must be retained and profoundly reinvigorated. A renewed federal state, a federation of sovereign republics, means guaranteed security, a vast market, powerful science and culture. The Soviet Union is a world power, playing one of the key roles in the establishment of a new international order that is being built upon justice and solidarity. The Soviet Union represents a reliable future for all our peoples, for me and you, for our children and grandchildren.
Source: Richard Sakwa, ed., The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, 1917-1991 (London: Routledge, 1999), pp. 471-473.