Soyuz (parliamentary faction)
소유즈 (의원 그룹)
Soyuz (Союз, 'Union') was a hardline parliamentary faction formed in February 1990 in the USSR Congress of People's Deputies, opposed to perestroika and liberal reforms and committed to preserving the Soviet Union as a federated state. Led by Viktor Alksnis, Yuri Blokhin, and Yegor Ligachev, it grew to over 560 registered deputies by late 1990, making it the largest conservative bloc in the Soviet parliament. The faction backed Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov's June 1991 demand for emergency powers, and many of its leaders laid the political groundwork for the August coup.
In depth
Founding and Composition
Soyuz was formally launched as a deputy group in the USSR Congress of People's Deputies on 14 February 1990. Colonel Viktor Alksnis, elected from the Latvian SSR, was the driving force; co-chairs included Yuri Blokhin, Georgy Komarov, and Anatoly Chekhoyev. Its core consisted of conservative deputies elected from republics with large ethnic Russian populations, such as the Baltic states and Central Asia, where 'interfront' organisations were mobilising against independence movements.
Parliamentary Activity
By the Fourth Congress of People's Deputies in December 1990, Soyuz had 561 registered deputies, making it the largest faction; by the Fifth Congress in March 1991, it claimed over 700. The group drove foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze to resign in December 1990 for 'giving up' Eastern Europe, and in February 1991 formally demanded a state of emergency in the USSR. It maintained close ties to the military and security services, and operated alongside Sergei Baburin's Rossiya faction in the RSFSR parliament as a sister bloc.
The June 1991 Emergency Powers Crisis
On 17 June 1991, Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov, backed fully by the Soyuz faction, asked the Supreme Soviet to grant him emergency powers bypassing the president. Pavlov, Defence Minister Dmitry Yazov, and KGB chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov took the floor in succession to attack Gorbachev's policies, and Soyuz deputies nearly carried the vote. Gorbachev intervened in the chamber personally to block the motion, but the episode laid bare the split at the top of the Soviet leadership.
The Coup and Dissolution
Soyuz did not formally endorse the August 1991 coup, but many of its leaders provided the political and organisational groundwork for it. After the coup failed, Soyuz collapsed as a parliamentary force. Many leaders migrated to successor organisations such as Sergei Baburin's Russian All-People's Union. A political movement under the same name persisted in post-Soviet Russia through the mid-1990s but never regained parliamentary influence.
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) founding date, leaders, membership numbers, key actions (ousting Shevardnadze, February 1991 state-of-emergency demand, relationship to August coup, successor organisations)
- Wikipedia (RU) Russian-language article: co-chairs named (Blokhin, Alksnis, Komarov, Chekhoyev), 561 deputies at IV Congress, 700+ by V Congress, transformation into All-Union movement, newspaper Politika
- encyclopedia.com Encyclopedia of Russian History entry: Alksnis's October 1989 origin of the idea, 1 December 1990 founding congress, ties to army and security services, pressure on Gorbachev for presidential rule, April 1991 conference calling for power transfer to Pavlov or Lukyanov
- soviethistory.msu.edu 17 Moments in Soviet History (James von Geldern, Michigan State University): describes Soyuz's role in the December 1990 Congress, Alksnis's aggressive demands for military order, and Soyuz granting Gorbachev emergency powers with only two hours of debate