Stalemate and the Rise of National Communism (1990–1)

Abstract

By 1990 Gorbachev understood that maintaining the Soviet nationality policies of his predecessors with only minor alterations was no longer acceptable to the ruling elites of the Soviet republics. The three Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, together with Armenia and Georgia, had already declared independence. The March 1990 elections had empowered new and more democratic parliaments within the 15 republics as well as given access to state resources and the media to anti-communist and democratic groups. A ‘war of laws’ began between the newly elected republican parliaments and the centre, followed by declarations of sovereignty in the summer and autumn.