Mikhail Gorbachev, Statement. August 24, 1991
Original Source: Krasnaia zvezda, 27 August 1991.
The Secretariat and Politbiuro of the CPSU Central Committee did not speak out against the coup d’etat, and the Central Committee did not manage to take a decisive position of condemnation and opposition, nor did it stir Communists to combat the flouting of constitutional legality. The conspirators turned out to include members of the Party leadership, and a number of Party committees and media outlets supported the actions of the state criminals. This put millions of Communists in an awkward position.
Many Party members refused to cooperate with the conspirators, condemned the coup and joined the struggle against it. No one has the moral right to make sweeping accusations against all Communists, and I, as President, consider myself obliged to defend them, as citizens, against unfounded accusations.
In this situation, the CPSU Central Committee must make the difficult but honorable decision to dissolve itself The republic Communist Parties and local Party organizations will determine their own fates.
I do not consider it possible to continue performing the functions of General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and I resign from that position. I believe that the democratically-minded Communists who remained true to constitutional legality and the course aimed at the renewal of society will call for the creation, on a new basis, of a Party that will be capable of actively joining, together with all progressive forces, in the continuation of fundamental democratic transformations in the interests of the working people.
M. Gorbachev.
Source: Current Digest of the Soviet Press, Vol. XLIII, No. 35, October 2, 1991, p. 8