ABC News on the Miners' Strike
ABC Evening News May 1, 1991 - Situation in the Soviet Union
In this TV news clip from May 1, 1991, the familiar May Day ritual looked strangely drained of confidence. The report noted Gorbachev’s deep unpopularity and pointed to a subdued parade, then shifted to a more dangerous sign of the moment: renewed strikes by coal miners, including in Siberia. What had begun as demands for pay and supplies was now entangled with questions of political authority. The segment captures a country where symbols still stood, but obedience no longer did.