Eagle, I don't want to form an alliance anymore.

I believe my reforms are justified and that speaking the truth is not a crime!

I used to say: A cadre should have five things they're not afraid of: first, not being afraid of jail; second, not being afraid of being dismissed from office; third, not being afraid of being expelled from the Party; fourth, not being afraid of being disgraced; and fifth, not being afraid of divorce. The fifth one is no problem for me. I've already experienced the second, third, and fourth ones in the past few months. As for the first one, jail—I'm already in jail!

Yeltsin's defense was far from simple; he spoke eloquently in court, delivering what was arguably the last public speech of his life.

"I am doing everything I can to defend the interests of the people."

"I am now doing everything in my power to defend the conscience of this country."

Yeltsin questioned the court: "How can you lump those who plotted and those who opposed plotting together? And say that Yeltsin and his team were engaged in subversive activities?"

Do you acknowledge or not the 27th Congress of the CPSU? If you don't, you're ignoring the crucial historical context and concealing a major historical event!

Yeltsin recounted his days in Sverdlovsk, questioning the court: "Back then, facing Brezhnev and withstanding pressure from conservatives to carry out reforms, I was the only comrade who stayed behind to follow Gorbachev. Where were you, Ivanov, hiding?"

Yeltsin also said: "The purpose of purging the emperor's inner circle is to benefit the emperor."

They fabricated charges and made baseless accusations. They used their dictatorship to promote fascism. The psychological abuse they inflicted is indescribable.

To sabotage reform is ruthless and brutal. Reform is justified, and speaking the truth is not a crime. To kill me to silence me is a great honor.

Finally, Yeltsin declared loudly, "That is my answer!"

Yeltsin's final statement lasted nearly two hours.

Host: "Has the defendant finished speaking?"

Yeltsin: "That's all."

Host: "Please submit your original statement to the court."

Yeltsin then handed the original document to the bailiff on duty.

Host: "Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Yeltsin remained silent for a long time: "...I'm tired. Let's stop here."

Host: "Take the defendant Yeltsin away. Court is now adjourned."

It was 11:20 a.m.

At 9:5 a.m. on May 25, 1987, the Moscow Special Tribunal convened and pronounced sentences on 10 political prisoners. Yeltsin was the first political prisoner to get up that day.

Clearly, he didn't sleep well that night because he was concerned about the final verdict.

After the court session began, the presiding judge read the verdict. The verdict was very long, over 16,000 words. After the section on "crimes against the Party clique" was read, the deputy presiding judge read the section on individual crimes.

In the section on individual crimes, Yeltsin was listed first. Regarding Yeltsin's crimes and his criminal liability, the judgment stated:

The defendant Yeltsin, with the aim of overthrowing the dictatorship of the proletariat, organized and led a counter-revolutionary group and was the principal offender of the counter-revolutionary group.

Yeltsin, wearing headphones and tilting his head, listened intently to the prosecutor's reading of the section regarding his personal crimes. Finally, the presiding judge announced the verdict, reading it in an extremely solemn tone:

"Based on the facts, nature, circumstances, and degree of harm to society of the crimes committed by Yeltsin and other defendants, this court, in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Code concerning the crimes of counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement, conspiracy to subvert the government, and organizing a counter-revolutionary group, and related sentencing provisions, hereby renders the following judgment—"

Suddenly, the entire hall fell silent. Yeltsin craned his neck, held his breath, and tilted his ear—he was certain that he would be in first place!

Sure enough, the judge raised his voice and slowed down, pronouncing each word clearly:

"Yeltsin was sentenced to death..."

Upon hearing this, Yeltsin immediately erupted in hysteria, shouting and yelling incoherently:

Down with the bureaucratic privilege clique!

"We absolutely refuse to recognize the verdict in this palace coup!"

"Speaking the truth is not a crime, and reform is justified!"

"Long live the victory of the people's cause!"

During his time in the Moscow City Committee, Yeltsin attended numerous mass rallies, delivered speeches, and raised his arms in rallying countless times. Therefore, he was quite adept at shouting slogans.

At this moment, seeing Yeltsin in such a sorry state, the crowd was in an uproar.

With the prosecutor's order, "Take death row inmate Yeltsin away!" two uniformed bailiffs with pistols at their waists dragged the defiant Yeltsin out of the courtroom.

Once outside, as soon as the bailiffs let go, Yeltsin collapsed to the ground, rolling around and crying, shouting, and making a scene, all the while muttering to himself:

"Reform is not a crime, speaking the truth is justified!", "Down with bureaucratic privilege!", "Down with the parasites within the Party who eat special supplies and live in villas!", "Long live the people!"...

At that moment, a bailiff shouted at him, "Yeltsin, did you hear me clearly? You are sentenced to death with a five-year reprieve!"

As if he had taken a tear suppressant, Yeltsin immediately stopped crying, arguing, and making a fuss when he heard that there was a reprieve, and obediently got up from the ground.

It turns out he was too impatient. He only heard "the defendant Yeltsin is sentenced to death" in court and started making a scene, but he didn't hear the following sentence—"suspended for five years."

Chapter 70 We Can't Do That: The Story of Khrushchev

Hundreds of Central Committee members sat below the stage looking at the short Slav on the dais. At 1.6 meters tall, he should have been inconspicuous behind the large podium.

In the past few decades, those who stood in this position were Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev... leaders who were either dignified, imposing, or imposing.

And now, standing here is a short, ordinary-looking person.

"Comrades!" Slava's voice wasn't loud, "We must honestly confront one question—what exactly should socialism look like?"

He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping across the audience.

"Our Soviet Union has practiced socialism for seventy years, from the October Revolution to now, seventy years!"

But if someone asks us today: What exactly should socialism look like? Can we give an answer that the people can accept?

The venue was completely silent.

"Comrade Lenin led us to establish the world's first socialist state, and Comrade Stalin led us to industrialization and victory in the Great Patriotic War. These are immortal achievements, but—seventy years have passed, and we must admit:"

We haven't fully figured out how to build socialism yet.

"Comrade Khrushchev said that the Union would build communism within twenty years—but communism has not come."

Comrade Brezhnev said, "We have built advanced socialism—but where is the advancement? Is it that our shops only have canned goods and salt? Is it that our border people have to cross borders to neighboring countries to buy daily necessities? Is it that our technology is falling behind the West year by year?"

Slava showed no mercy, directly exposing the reality that the Party had been unwilling to face for decades, which it had been shrouded in flowery language.

Among the Central Committee members in the audience, some lowered their heads, some were indifferent, some continued to gloss over the problems, some pretended to be very interested, and some looked solemn.

Because what Slava said was true, and everyone knew it in their hearts, but many of them didn't care. Anyway, the cadres had special privileges and could buy better supplies. As for what happened to the people, it was none of their business.

In this system of privileges, officials never need to be accountable to their subordinates; they only need to serve their protectors and superiors, and then they can rightfully plunder the people's hard-earned money.

But Slava cannot point this out directly here; his prestige is not yet sufficient, and he still has to rely on these incompetent "good cadres of the party," because politics can only be carried out by people.

He was very realistic. He never believed that automation and information technology could solve all problems once and for all. Tools are just tools. If the people who use and supervise them have problems, then even the best tools cannot save the mentor's career.

“So, where does the problem lie?” Slava raised his voice.

"The problem does not lie in socialism itself. The fundamental principles of socialism—public ownership, the people being the masters of the country, and common prosperity—are correct and are directions we must never abandon."

"The problem is that we have turned socialism into a set of rigid dogmas, a bunch of slogans to be memorized, and forgotten that the true purpose of socialism is to enable people to live a better life!"

He paused.

"Some time ago, there was a voice saying that we should rebuild, tear down everything that exists and start over, and learn from the Western system. Everyone knows who the representative of this voice is."

He didn't name names, but everyone knew he was referring to Gorbachev.

"I want to make it clear: this idea is wrong and dangerous. Overthrowing socialism and starting over is not reform; it is suicide."

Learning from Western systems, changing our public ownership to private ownership, and our people's democracy to bourgeois democracy—that doesn't make socialism better; that makes socialism cease to be socialism.

"The tragedy in Almaty serves as a warning of this danger. Unrestrained openness and reckless disclosure in a society rife with contradictions will not lead to rational discussion, but rather to uncontrolled turmoil."

Thousands of young people were swept up in chaos on a freezing night of minus twenty degrees Celsius—this is the price of blind Westernization and political recklessness.

The meeting room was completely silent. Everyone knew that Gorbachev's departure was not due to "health reasons," but the cadres felt uneasy upon hearing Slava's sudden criticism of Gorbachev's theories.

Is it possible that Khrushchev's criticism of Comrade Stalin at the 20th Party Congress is about to repeat itself?

The Party's ideological legitimacy can no longer withstand another setback.

Fortunately, Slava quickly steered the conversation away from the topic and started talking about his own things, which relieved everyone.

"So, what should we do now? I think our path should be socialist modernization."

What is modernization? Modernization is not about tearing everything down and starting over, it's not about denying our past, and it's not about abandoning socialism. Modernization means keeping the foundation of socialism unchanged, but ensuring that its equipment, its technology, and its operating methods keep pace with the times.

"Our public ownership system, our Party leadership, and the people's right to be masters of the country—these cannot be touched, not even a little bit! But our way of managing the economy, our technological level, our production efficiency... these must be modernized, and we must equip ourselves with the most advanced means."

He began to systematically expound his platform at the conference.

"First, we must focus on economic modernization."

"Over the years, we have wasted too much energy on ideological stagnation and on meaningless debates such as 'economics first or politics first'."

Now, the Party's attention should return to the most fundamental issue—developing the economy and improving people's living standards.

Political system reform must be carried out cautiously and gradually, on the premise that economic reforms have yielded results and society has maintained stability.

I believe that improving the lives of the people is the Party's overriding task at present.

"Second, we must take informatization as a strategic tool."

Slava has finally returned to the field he knows best and is most skilled at.

"Comrades, what is the biggest problem with our planned economy? It is information. Our planning departments are sitting in Moscow but have no idea what is happening in factories thousands of kilometers away!"

Our supplies were allocated from the central government, but were lost at each level, and by the time they reached the grassroots, only half remained. By the time our decisions were reported back, they were already outdated.

Slava knew that the real cause of material losses was never technical problems or information efficiency, but the bureaucratic system, but he couldn't say it here.

"...and information technology is the key to solving this problem. We use computers, public computing centers, and automated planning and regulation systems to provide our planned economy with real-time and accurate information. In this way, we can retain the advantages of public ownership and the planned economy while overcoming its rigidity and inefficiency."

"We do not follow Western marketism, nor do we want everyone to return to the highly centralized old path of the Stalin era—because every era has its own tasks, the problems faced in the past have their own solutions, and the problems we face now have their own solutions. We must never make the mistake of dogmatism."

We must follow the path of a socialist planned economy that is technologically advanced and capable of dynamic optimization!

As Slava spoke these carefully concealed words, his patience continued; the new world he truly sought to create was something that at least the vast majority of the cadres present were not qualified to enter.

Why was the OGAS plan rejected when Academician Grushkov proposed it? He knew all too well.

Now, only by convincing these officials that they can still get a share of the “new world” can he take his first step and finally dismantle this damned black box of power that is sucking the life out of the bureaucratic command economy!

Some committee members in the audience who had witnessed the results of Slava's information technology pilot program had their eyes light up.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

“Third,” Slava continued, “we need to establish a standard for judging all work—three benefits.”

"Whether it is conducive to developing productive forces and improving people's living standards; whether it is conducive to the people being masters of their own country and realizing Soviet democracy; whether it is conducive to enhancing the country's comprehensive national strength."

"Some cadres can only see the improvement of productivity, but forget about the people's living standards and the distribution of ownership. They have temporarily numbed the people with the sugar-coated bullets of capitalism, letting them taste poisoned candy in a short time. Little do they know what our fundamental purpose in developing production is—it is for the people! For our Soviet democracy!"

Anything that benefits these three points is right; anything that does not benefit these three points is wrong. Let's stop getting bogged down in empty ideological debates and focus on practical results!

"Fourth, we must open up to the outside world, but we must safeguard our sovereignty."

"We must actively integrate into the world economy, introduce Western technology and management experience, and expand foreign trade. However, this openness is principled, controlled, and serves our national strategy. We introduce, digest, and innovate—this is our openness."

Upholding the dominant position of public ownership, upholding the leadership of the Party, and safeguarding national sovereignty and strategic security are our principles.

What we want is to use the world's resources to develop socialism, not to become a vassal of the West through openness.

Slava knew that this path would be difficult, and that bringing in external funds to accelerate its own development was nothing short of accepting a sugar-coated bullet. The influx of external funds also meant an increase in the influence of external forces.

He's so short on time...

Fifth, we need to improve our ethnic policies.

"The lessons of Almaty tell us that ethnic issues cannot be solved by parachuting in cadres and using force to suppress them. We must oppose both the arrogance of Great Russian nationalism and the separatism of local nationalism."

We must strengthen our alliance through economic development and genuine ethnic equality. The appointment of cadres in ethnic minority areas must respect local opinions, and the benefits of modernization must be shared by all ethnic groups.

Only in this way can our multi-ethnic family truly unite and remain stable.

Slava paused here before summarizing.

"Comrades, I can summarize this path in one sentence—"

"Taking economic modernization as the central task, informatization as the strategic lever, and the 'three benefits' as the criterion, we will follow a pragmatic and technology-enabled path of socialist modernization while maintaining the socialist system and national stability!"

The hall erupted in enthusiastic applause.

At that moment, the hundreds of Central Committee members below the stage looked at Ivanov on the podium and a common understanding arose in their hearts—the Party had not made the wrong choice.

This is a person who can clearly diagnose the country's ailments and offer a practical remedy, which is exactly the kind of leader this confused, weak, and crossroads nation needs most.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.