The year is now 1991. The year progresses much like OTL except for there being no Gulf War. Yugoslavia begins to fall apart, Sonic the Hedgehog is released for the Sega Genesis, and Nicktoons begins to air Rugrats, Doug, and Ren and Stimpy. But this year marks another major Point of Divergence. The Soviet Union during this time, has not been doing so hot. Gorbechav has made great progress with Perestroika and Glasnost in the past, but this year it is clear. Communism in the Eastern Bloc is on the event horizon of it’s collapse. But while the ideology may leave, the Soviet State itself still has hope.
The New Union Treaty, first proposed by Gorbechav at the Communist Party Congress of July 1990, would be a total restructuring of the Soviet Union. From November of 1990 to March 6th of 1991, the treaty was debated and worked on. It was approved by the Soviet of the Union, and sent to each individual republics Supreme Soviet.
“The treaty stated that jurisdiction over most industries/resources and control over taxation and public expenditures would be turned to those republics that were signing it, and their sovereignties would be recognized, and those which wouldn't sign would be allowed to go their own way. The central government would retain control of the country's armed forces and security services, but with a reduced size and subjected to oversight by the republican legislatives, along with issuing currency,
Soviet Rouble and control of its
Gold and
Diamond resources, although the republics would have the right to share them. The republics and the central government would jointly determine military and foreign policy and work out policies on the economy, fuel, and energy resources. The
Congress of People's Deputies would be disbanded. The number of government ministries would be reduced, some ministries having their responsibilities transferred to the republics, some having to reduce staff or abolished, or turned into small co-ordinating bodies which would support republican ministries. The republics would also be given ownership of almost all their natural resources, including mineral deposits on their territories, along with the right to establish direct diplomatic and trade relations with foreign states. A new constitutional court would have also been established to resolve questions between republics and the centre. Lastly, republican law would take precedence over All-Union law.”
-Description of the treaty from Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Soviet_Sovereign_Republics
Essentially, the Soviet Union was to become a very Decentralized Federation in order to prevent a Seccession Crisis. This would also come along with widespread liberalization.
9 of the republics agreed to sign the treaty, Namely
- Russia
- Ukraine
- Belarus
- Azerbaijan
- Kazakhstan
- Uzbekistan
- Turkmenistan
- Tajikistan
- Kyrgyzstan
5 republics did not elect to support the treaty, and were allowed to go their own ways.
- Armenia
- Estonia
- Georgia
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Moldova
IOTL, 2 weeks before the signing was scheduled for August 19th, Gorbachev decided to go to his Dacha in Crimea. On August 18th, the day before, he was put under House Arrest by hardliners who were upset with his reforms and the restructuring he was going to do.
The august coup as it was known, would be a massive failure, and if anything only sped the collapse of the Union. It failed because of 3 reasons.
- A lack of Total Support from the Military.
- Assuming that Russian Soldiers would be willing to fire upon Russian Civilians
- That ordinary people were ballsy enough to walk up to fully armed soldiers to protest the attempt to end what were actually amazingly popular reforms.
ITTL, We are going to avert this coup, and preserve the Soviet Union. How? Gorbachev decides not to go on vacation. Knowing that Hardliners are very opposed to the Treaty, he says he is going to Crimea. But it’s a disinformation tactic. He actually spends the last two weeks crashing at Boris Yeltsin’s Place. Crimea is a honeypot trap to weed out any conspirators.
The treaty goes forward, and the gang of 8 is imprisoned. On August 20th, 1991, The Soviet Union begins anew. A New Era of Openness, Cooperation, and Democracy for the Soviets has begun.
【OUR DREAM IS NOT YET DEAD】