Christmas Special: The End of an Era

1985.03.11 Moscow

Chernenko, the leader of the Soviet Communist Party, passed away.

The Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union held an emergency meeting on March 11 and appointed Comrade Mikhail Gorbachev as the Communist Party leader of the Soviet Union and named him a "close partner" Yeltsin was transferred to the Central Committee.

"I want to avoid a civil war, and the country is already heading in this direction," Gorbachev said. "If I and we continue to cling to power, it means that many people will die, and others will die." Huge damage will result.”

Under this concept, Gorbachev began to advocate new thinking, implement democratic reforms, voluntarily gave up the leadership of the Soviet Union over the country and the army, and promoted the spread of Sinatraism, setting off the prelude to the drastic changes in Eastern Europe.

(*Sinatra Doctrine: The Soviet Union allowed Warsaw Pact members to determine their own domestic policies)

1989.10.23 The Hungarian People's Republic was renamed "The Republic of Hungary".

The Republic of Hungary announced that it would abolish the leadership role of the Marxist-Leninist party in state institutions and replace it with the joint governance of the Socialist Party and the Free Democratic Union to establish a democratic and free country ruled by law.

1989.11.17 Czechoslovakia launches the "Velvet Revolution".

The Federal Parliament of Czechoslovakia approved amending the constitution, canceling the clauses regarding the Czech Communist Party's leadership role in society, and implementing a multi-party parliamentary democracy.

On December 25, 1989, the Romanian Socialist Republic under the rule of Nicolae Ceausescu was overthrown.

The Romanian National Salvation Front Committee took over all power in the country, and the country was renamed Romania on the 28th.

1989.12.29 The People's Republic of Poland was renamed "The Republic of Poland".

The free, democratic, and wealthy new Republic of Poland has since officially embarked on a development path of pursuing Western-style parliamentary democracy in politics and a market economy based on privatization in economy.

1990.01.15 Bulgaria decided to implement a multi-party system and a market economy. In the same year, the People's Republic of Bulgaria was renamed the "Republic of Bulgaria".

1990.03.18 The Democratic Republic of Germany implemented free elections, and then the Warsaw Pact was fully integrated into the Federal Republic of Germany.

However, all this was acceptable in the eyes of the Soviet government at the time.

Without solving those basic national issues and without the participation of the people, there would be no way to build a new society. At least at that time, everyone thought it was right to do so.

However, the reform process was interrupted when certain basic issues began to be addressed.

With the disintegration of the countries associated with the Warsaw Pact, cracks began to appear within the once unbreakable alliance of the Soviet Union.

1990.03.11 Lithuania became independent.

1991.04.09 Georgia becomes independent.

1991.08.20 Estonia becomes independent.

…

Like a falling domino, in the following more than a year, the 15 republics of the Soviet Union successively declared independence and began to formulate steps and measures to achieve independence.

Although Gorbachev held some referendums across the Soviet Union on whether to retain the alliance on March 27, 1991, 76.4% of Soviet citizens agreed with the decision to maintain the alliance, which did not play the correct role.

Since the Soviet Union liberalized its foreign economic policy in 1989, the capital that has poured into the Soviet Union has quickly taken root. The huge capital power and attractive benefits have successfully helped Yeltsin and other senior Soviet officials who supported secession gain an advantage in political struggles. , extinguishing the last vestige of hope for the Soviet Union's self-recovery.

1990.07.12

At the 28th Congress of the CPSU, Yeltsin announced his withdrawal from the CPSU.

1991.08.19 Moscow

Conservatives in the Soviet Communist Party staged a coup in the hope of preventing reforms from proceeding.

The coup lasted only two days.

The coup ultimately failed when Russian President Yeltsin refused to comply and led Soviet troops to defect.

1991.08.23 Congress of People’s Deputies of the USSR

Gorbachev declared the CPSU an illegal organization, ordered the military police and KGB agents to expel all CPSU staff, seized all CPSU property and nationalized it, and restricted its activities within Russia.

1991.08.24

Gorbachev announced his resignation as Chairman of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and suggested that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union dissolve itself.

1991.11.16

Russian leader Yeltsin announced that he would deprive the Soviet Union of financial resources, take over the State Bank of the Soviet Union and the Foreign Economic Bank, and take control of the monetary power of the Union.

1991.12.01

Ukraine voted for independence, and the Soviet Union fell into a complete countdown to collapse.

1991.12.08

Russian President Yeltsin, Ukrainian President Kravchuk and Belarusian Supreme Soviet Chairman Shushkevich signed the CIS Agreement to establish the Commonwealth of Independent States. They replaced the Soviet Union by establishing a Commonwealth-like structure and completely defeated the Soviet government. The new agreement ultimately renders the old system fundamentally inoperable.

1991.12.21

A total of 11 republics signed to join the CIS in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and the Soviet Union was completely sentenced to death.

…

December 25, 1991, 19:00.

Office of the President of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev sat in the Presidential Office, faced the camera, and delivered that paragraph to the country and the world. In the following decades of his acting career, he repeated it countless times in films of various themes and types. A paragraph.

"In view of the situation that developed after the establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States, I ceased my activities as President of the Soviet Union. This decision was taken out of principled considerations."

"I firmly advocate the independence of the people of all ethnic groups and the sovereignty of the Republic; at the same time, I advocate the retention of the Union State and the integrity of the country. However, the situation developed along another path, and the policy of dismembering and splitting the country prevailed. I cannot agree to this..."

"Even after the Almaty meeting and the decision adopted at the meeting, the opinions of the representatives present at the meeting were quite different, but my position on this issue has never changed..."

"Furthermore, I am convinced that such an important decision should be taken on the basis of a referendum among the citizens of the Union countries."

"In any case, I will do my best to ensure that the successfully signed agreement can promote actual harmony in society, get rid of social crises and alleviate difficulties in the reform process..."

"This is my last speech as President of the Soviet Union in front of everyone..."

"We have a vast land with abundant natural gas and oil reserves. We also have many other more precious resources such as talented people. However, our life is much worse than that of Western developed countries, and it is getting worse at all levels. The more we fall behind them, the reasons are clearly visible..."

"Society is almost suffocating under the constraints of the bureaucratic order system... The country is losing its sustainability... It cannot continue like this and everything should be fundamentally changed..."

“But I always believe that starting a reform of such a large scale, and in such a huge social system, is destined to be extremely difficult and even extremely risky...”

"However, we have accomplished a historic job."

"Society has been freed, politically and spiritually liberated... We will continue to advance the process of freedom, rights, especially human rights, which will be the measure of all future work..."

"The Soviet Union has opened its arms to the people of the world and solemnly promised not to interfere in the affairs of other countries and to abandon the use of force abroad..."

"And Western society will repay our efforts with trust, solidarity and respect..."

Moscow Red Square, main entrance to the Kremlin.

The hammer-and-sickle flag that has been flying over the Kremlin for nearly a century is slowly falling. Under the flagpole, several former Soviet guards were slowly unfurling a red, blue and white flag of the Russian Federation...

The entire Red Square in Moscow was silent. There were no cheers, no discussions, no national anthem was played, and there was no roar of salutes or the sound of neat military boots...

Most of the people on the Red Square stood still, with confusion and helplessness written in everyone's eyes. People either watched numbly as the red flag that would never be raised again fell down, or they covered their mouths and noses with force. Letting out sad sobs...

In the silence...

The Soviet Union, the big brother of the socialist system.

The largest red empire in human history so far.

This great alliance that had stood for more than half a century fell quietly on Christmas Day in 1991.

And this also means...

"An era is over."

In a corner of Moscow's Red Square, a little silver-haired girl wrapped in a black trench coat tightened her tight clothes, sighed in a complicated manner, turned around and walked towards the old wizard standing in the shadows behind her.

"Let's go back to Hogwarts...a new era has begun."

Elena looked at her open palm with a complicated expression and repeated in a low voice.

"Belongs to...my time!"

Then the girl clenched her fists hard, as if silently making an important decision in her heart.

Grindelwald, who was still lamenting the disintegration of the Soviet Union, came to his senses and asked curiously.

"What did you say?"

"nothing."

Elena shook her head and did not continue to speak.

Deep in her clenched fist, what remains is the last red of the furry bear. The girl’s white little fist protects the last dignity of red from being eroded by the biting Moscow wind and snow——

————

This chapter is free.

This chapter is free, and good luck to Big Brother.

PS: I would like to thank my classmate [I Don’t Know How I Am] for his comment. I quoted it directly in the text. It feels like I haven’t made up for the last bit of difference. Thank you very much~