Architect amidst the Ruins (russian: Архитектор у развалин, other versions: - 'The Architect of the Ruins', - 'To the Architect of the Ruins') was an

open letter An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter addressed to an indiv ...

Gennady Zyuganov Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov (russian: Генна́дий Андре́евич Зюга́нов; born 26 June 1944) is a Russian politician, who has been the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and served as M ...

, then a relatively little known

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often featur ...

functionary who later became the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, to

Alexander Yakovlev Alexander Nikolayevich Yakovlev (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Я́ковлев; 2 December 1923 – 18 October 2005) was a Soviet and Russian politician, diplomat, and historian. A member of the Politburo and Secreta ...

, the ideological founder of perestroika who was also known as the "architect of perestroika".

History

The letter was published in the

hardline In politics, hardline (or hard-line) is an adjective describing a stance on an issue that is inflexible and not subject to compromise. A hardliner is a person holding such views. The stance is usually far from the centrist view. People, policies, ...

communist newspaper '' Sovetskaya Rossiya'' on 7 May 1991. The letter argued that perestroika caused disintegration of the state; democratization resulted in a "war of legislation"; glasnost turned out to be a weapon in the psychological war against the Soviet people; and a new alliance of obscurantists, lumpen intelligentsia, and criminals was coming into being. The letter was perceived as the start of the campaign to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev. It was later reported by Oleg Shenin that the text itself had been written by a

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

team, and Zyuganov's signature just suited the goals.

References

External links

Text of the original
{{DEFAULTSORT:Architect Amidst The Ruins 1991 documents 1991 in the Soviet Union Gennady Zyuganov Open letters Politics of Russia Soviet internal politics