The failed August Coup may be the death warrant for the Communist Party in the Soviet Union.
There has been a historic realignment of power as Gorbachev and Yelstin agree to share power. Yeltsin and Gorbachev meet at the Russian Parliament together in a loud and contentious meeting. Yeltsin signed a decree during the meeting suspending all Communist Party action in Russia while Gorbachev helplessly looks on. The Communist Party appears to be so weak it is dismantling and falling apart by the day. Pravda has been shut down and the head of Soviet official new station has been fired. The Communist Party controls many of the basic institutions but the Party is clearly under siege.
Gorbachev fires the Soviet Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh at, it appears, Yeltsin’s insistence. The Foreign Minister is accused of being “too passive” during the recent coup which led to his termination.
In the three Baltic Republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania there were attacks against symbols of the Communist Party and the Communist Past by pulling down Lenin’s statues. Huge citizen rallies occur in these Baltic republics possibly demanding independence.
The KGB, the secret police, may be dismantled and reorganized.