Filed Under: Video > Journalism > First USSR Congress of People's Deputies
First USSR Congress of People's Deputies
00:00:02 Speaker 1
Alexander Korshunov, Soviet Trade Unions, city of Tashkent, worker.
00:00:08 Speaker 1
I am categorically against when someone shuts someone's mouth if people talk to the point.
00:00:16 Speaker 1
But I am also a categorical opponent of turning democracy into democratic games.
00:00:24 Speaker 1
I appreciate the courage of the comrade—I apologize, I don't remember his name. Of course, he is a brave man, but what we're here for is this most important Congress, the highest expression of our collective power.
00:00:41 Speaker 1
People are waiting outside the gates, outside the walls of this palace. They're waiting to hear what solutions we're going to offer them. They're not interested in slogans like the ones the [previous] comrade was just expounding.
00:00:55 Speaker 1
But what will we tell our people when we come back from the Congress? What will we say to the old women who live in hunger, what will we say to the invalids, what will we say to the entire Soviet people?
00:01:06 Speaker 1
And that is why I...not that I am condemning [the previous speaker], on the contrary, I really admire him. This is simply an appeal to you, Comrade Deputies: don't waste time, not only your own time, but the time belonging to our Soviet people.
00:01:22 Speaker 1
The country is on the brink, and here we sit—already starting...already starting to bloviate.
00:01:31 Speaker 1
My personal opinion is that this candidacy [of Alexander Obolensky] is in no way suitable for the presidency of the country.
00:01:49 Speaker 1
Belozertsev, 570th National-Territorial District of Karelia.
00:01:54 Speaker 1
Comrades, I was observing the debate about the time limits with surprise.
00:01:59 Speaker 1
Many of you, I think, do not understand at all why we were debating.
00:02:05 Speaker 1
Look, Mikhail Sergeyevich [Gorbachev] had to answer so many questions, he was practically giving an impromptu mini-lecture.
00:02:11 Speaker 1
If we had noted this as a lecture or report in the first place, then all these issues, all of this queueing up to make speeches could have been avoided.
00:02:19 Speaker 1
But it was this specific agenda that was stubbornly imposed on us.
00:02:23 Speaker 1
Now, as for an alternative candidate [to Mikhail Gorbachev].
00:02:25 Speaker 1
We were indeed sent here so that there would be democratic elections, to create democratic procedure for the future.
00:02:32 Speaker 1
That is why I urge you to vote for the inclusion of [Alexander] Obolensky in the list for nomination as a candidate for the presidency of the country.
00:02:43 Speaker 1
Yes, he won't be chosen, but in this way we will lay down procedure, we will create the precedent that we need, an electoral precedent.
00:02:53 Speaker 1
This isn't a game, it's of fundamental importance.
00:03:02 Speaker 1
Sandulyak, 544th Territorial District, Chernivtsi.
00:03:08 Speaker 1
Esteemed Comrade Deputies! Today I heard someone saying in the Party group, something to the effect that "It's time to stop playing childish games."
00:03:19 Speaker 1
My constituents, who sent me here, believe that perestroika is not a game, that it is serious and irreversible.
00:03:30 Speaker 1
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev has done a great service to our country.
00:03:35 Speaker 1
Without a doubt, he is an outstanding politician of the age, but he is the only one we have. Or is he? Maybe so, or maybe we simply do not know any others, because we never had a chance to find out.
00:03:49 Speaker 1
Thanks to Comrade Gorbachev, we know that there are people who aspire to the country's highest post.
00:04:00 Speaker 1
I urge you to include in the lists for the secret ballot Comrade [Alexander] Obolensky, who nominated himself for this position.
00:04:15 Speaker 1
Chairman: It's enough now, no?
00:04:18 Speaker 1
Chairman: If you want to speak too, go ahead.
00:04:25 Speaker 1
Sobchak Anatoly Alexandrovich, 47th Territorial District, city of Leningrad.
00:04:32 Speaker 1
For decades, since the times of Stalin, we have had a situation where any position in our country—any government position, starting with chairman of the village soviet, not to mention minister or chairman of the Council of Ministers—was filled exclusively by members of the Communist Party.
00:04:55 Speaker 1
I believe that we must introduce, into the new version of our Constitution that we will eventually adopt, a fundamental provision that every Soviet person, regardless of their affiliation with this or that party—or his non-partisanship!—has the right to get on the ballot for any state post.
00:05:24 Speaker 1
On principle.
00:05:25 Speaker 1
And that's why I believe that it is necessary to include the non-Party Comrade Obolensky in the lists for the secret ballot for the post of chairman of the Supreme Soviet.
Alexander Korshunov, Soviet Trade Unions, city of Tashkent, worker.
00:00:08 Speaker 1
I am categorically against when someone shuts someone's mouth if people talk to the point.
00:00:16 Speaker 1
But I am also a categorical opponent of turning democracy into democratic games.
00:00:24 Speaker 1
I appreciate the courage of the comrade—I apologize, I don't remember his name. Of course, he is a brave man, but what we're here for is this most important Congress, the highest expression of our collective power.
00:00:41 Speaker 1
People are waiting outside the gates, outside the walls of this palace. They're waiting to hear what solutions we're going to offer them. They're not interested in slogans like the ones the [previous] comrade was just expounding.
00:00:55 Speaker 1
But what will we tell our people when we come back from the Congress? What will we say to the old women who live in hunger, what will we say to the invalids, what will we say to the entire Soviet people?
00:01:06 Speaker 1
And that is why I...not that I am condemning [the previous speaker], on the contrary, I really admire him. This is simply an appeal to you, Comrade Deputies: don't waste time, not only your own time, but the time belonging to our Soviet people.
00:01:22 Speaker 1
The country is on the brink, and here we sit—already starting...already starting to bloviate.
00:01:31 Speaker 1
My personal opinion is that this candidacy [of Alexander Obolensky] is in no way suitable for the presidency of the country.
00:01:49 Speaker 1
Belozertsev, 570th National-Territorial District of Karelia.
00:01:54 Speaker 1
Comrades, I was observing the debate about the time limits with surprise.
00:01:59 Speaker 1
Many of you, I think, do not understand at all why we were debating.
00:02:05 Speaker 1
Look, Mikhail Sergeyevich [Gorbachev] had to answer so many questions, he was practically giving an impromptu mini-lecture.
00:02:11 Speaker 1
If we had noted this as a lecture or report in the first place, then all these issues, all of this queueing up to make speeches could have been avoided.
00:02:19 Speaker 1
But it was this specific agenda that was stubbornly imposed on us.
00:02:23 Speaker 1
Now, as for an alternative candidate [to Mikhail Gorbachev].
00:02:25 Speaker 1
We were indeed sent here so that there would be democratic elections, to create democratic procedure for the future.
00:02:32 Speaker 1
That is why I urge you to vote for the inclusion of [Alexander] Obolensky in the list for nomination as a candidate for the presidency of the country.
00:02:43 Speaker 1
Yes, he won't be chosen, but in this way we will lay down procedure, we will create the precedent that we need, an electoral precedent.
00:02:53 Speaker 1
This isn't a game, it's of fundamental importance.
00:03:02 Speaker 1
Sandulyak, 544th Territorial District, Chernivtsi.
00:03:08 Speaker 1
Esteemed Comrade Deputies! Today I heard someone saying in the Party group, something to the effect that "It's time to stop playing childish games."
00:03:19 Speaker 1
My constituents, who sent me here, believe that perestroika is not a game, that it is serious and irreversible.
00:03:30 Speaker 1
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev has done a great service to our country.
00:03:35 Speaker 1
Without a doubt, he is an outstanding politician of the age, but he is the only one we have. Or is he? Maybe so, or maybe we simply do not know any others, because we never had a chance to find out.
00:03:49 Speaker 1
Thanks to Comrade Gorbachev, we know that there are people who aspire to the country's highest post.
00:04:00 Speaker 1
I urge you to include in the lists for the secret ballot Comrade [Alexander] Obolensky, who nominated himself for this position.
00:04:15 Speaker 1
Chairman: It's enough now, no?
00:04:18 Speaker 1
Chairman: If you want to speak too, go ahead.
00:04:25 Speaker 1
Sobchak Anatoly Alexandrovich, 47th Territorial District, city of Leningrad.
00:04:32 Speaker 1
For decades, since the times of Stalin, we have had a situation where any position in our country—any government position, starting with chairman of the village soviet, not to mention minister or chairman of the Council of Ministers—was filled exclusively by members of the Communist Party.
00:04:55 Speaker 1
I believe that we must introduce, into the new version of our Constitution that we will eventually adopt, a fundamental provision that every Soviet person, regardless of their affiliation with this or that party—or his non-partisanship!—has the right to get on the ballot for any state post.
00:05:24 Speaker 1
On principle.
00:05:25 Speaker 1
And that's why I believe that it is necessary to include the non-Party Comrade Obolensky in the lists for the secret ballot for the post of chairman of the Supreme Soviet.
The First USSR Congress of People’s Deputies, which convened in Moscow from 25 May to 10 June 1989, was a media sensation. The long hours of the two-week-long meeting were broadcast in full on live television across the USSR. So many people watched the Congress that production rates fell across the country’s economy during the time that it met.
The Congress was unparalleled in other ways, too. It began as a decree laid out at the conclusion of the Nineteenth All-Party Conference in Moscow in summer 1988, when Gorbachev promised the creation of a new, popularly elected parliament to bolster perestroika. In October 1988, detailed proposals for the design of the Congress appeared in print. Then a Special Session of the USSR Supreme Soviet amended the 1977 Soviet Constitution to create the USSR Congress of People’s Deputies and a new electoral law that laid out how members, numbering 2250, would be elected. Elections electrified the country when they took place from January through May 1989.
In the clip above, four speakers—including future mayor of post-Soviet St. Petersburg and Putin mentor Anatoly Sobchak (1937-2000)—contribute to the debate around electing the chairman of the Supreme Soviet, the highest organ of state power since the advent of the “Stalin Constitution” in 1936. Ultimately, the job would go to Mikhail Gorbachev (1932-2022), but the speakers of 25 May were passionate in their insistence that the body consider alternatives. As Sobchak put it, the requirement that any aspiring participant in Soviet government be a Communist Party member was a relic of Stalinism. Following perestroika, it was crucial that “every Soviet person, regardless of their affiliation with this or that party—or his non-partisanship!” have the right to stand for election to any government post.
The intense media coverage of the Congress—which included live television broadcasts as well as live radio broadcasts and extensive daily newspaper coverage—galvanized popular interest, just as reformers had hoped. But the media buzz also proved more than reformers were prepared to handle—as evidenced, for instance, in a famous speech given by Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989). In part because of the “disruption” caused by Sakharov’s courageous intervention, subsequent meetings of the Congress in December 1989, March 1990, and September 1991 were not broadcast live. In September 1991, the Congress was disbanded following the attempted GKChP coup the month before.