Parliamentary politics under Gorbachev: Opposition and the failure of socialist pluralism

Abstract

Opposition in Gorbachev's reformed Soviet parliaments helped show the limits of political perestroika. Opposition came from the democratic Inter‐Regional Deputies’ Group (I‐RDG), whose actions in 1989–90 changed the political agenda by questioning the powers granted to the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet. The democratic opposition and the changes that it helped bring about therefore undermined the centre and its ideas on politics and contributed to Gorbachev's failure. Conservative opposition came from the Soyuz (Union) group, Soyuz however was a reactive force in 1990–91, as the centre of political action had shifted from the all‐Union parliaments to the new executive presidency and the republican parliaments, a shift facilitated by the actions of the I‐RDG.