Editing Alexander Yakovlev (section)

== Downfall and later life ==
He was promoted to the [[Politburo]] in 1987, but by 1990 he had become the focus of attacks by hardliner communists in the party opposed to liberalisation. At the [[28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] in July 1990, a cynical [[Alexander Lebed]] caused uproar when he asked Yakovlev: "Alexander Nikolayevich... How many faces have you got?" An embarrassed Yakovlev consulted his colleagues and continued on with the proceedings, but resigned from the Politburo the day after the congress concluded.<ref>Times Wire Services. "Six Quitting the Politburo: Exits Laid to Lessening of Party's Role". 3 July 1990.</ref><ref>{{cite episode |title=General in Exile |series=Assignment |credits=[[Tom Carver]] |network=BBC2 |airdate=1996-11-16 |minutes=45 }}</ref> As the communists opposed to liberalisation gained strength, his position became more tenuous; [[Architect amidst the Ruins|fiercely attacked]] by his former protégé [[Gennady Zyuganov]] in May 1991, he resigned from the CPSU two days before the [[August Coup]] in 1991. During the coup, Yakovlev joined the democratic opposition against it. Following the failed coup attempt, Yakovlev blamed Gorbachev for having been naïve in bringing the plotters into his inner circle, saying Gorbachev was "guilty of forming a team of traitors. Why did he surround himself with people capable of treason?"<ref>[http://www.raoulwallenberg.net/?en/press/alexander-yakovlev-81.2773.htm  globeandmail.com] by Vladimir Isachenkov. Retrieved 2005-10-18</ref>

In his book ''Inside the Stalin Archives'' (2008), Jonathan Brent relates that in 1991, when there were Lithuanian crowds [[January Events (Lithuania)|demonstrating for independence]] from the Soviet Union, Gorbachev consulted Yakovlev about the wisdom of an armed repression against them. Gorbachev asked, "Should we shoot?" Yakovlev answered that, "if a single Soviet soldier fired a single bullet on the unarmed crowds, Soviet power would be over." Despite Yakovlev's warnings, the Soviet Union proceeded to [[January Events (Lithuania)|invade Lithuania]] following its declaration of independence, and the Soviet Union collapsed seven months later.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Walker |first=Martin |date=23 January 2003 |title=Paper Trail |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/books/review/Walker-t.html |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>[[Image:Vladimir Putin 2 November 2000-4.jpg|thumb|Yakovlev, as the head of the Commission on the Rehabilitation of Soviet Repression Victims, meets President [[Vladimir Putin]]]]Yakovlev led [[Boris Yeltsin]]'s commission for the rehabilitation of victims of Soviet political repression.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Obituary: A. Yakovlev, champion of Soviet change, 81 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2005-10-18 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/18/world/europe/obituary-a-yakovlev-champion-of-soviet-change-81.html |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In the years following the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], Yakovlev wrote and lectured extensively on history, politics and economics. He acted as the leader of the [[Russian Party of Social Democracy]], which in the mid-1990s fused into the United Democrats, a pro-reform alliance that was later reorganised into the [[Union of Right Forces]]. In 2002, acting as head of the Presidential Committee for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression, he was present at the announcement of the release of a CD detailing names and short biographies of the victims of Soviet purges. In his later life, he founded and led the International Democracy Foundation. He advocated taking responsibility for the past crimes of communism and was critical of President [[Vladimir Putin]]'s restrictions on democracy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Feifer |first=Gregory |date=7 November 2002 |title=Russia: Rights Group Marks Bolshevik Anniversary With Catalog Of Soviet Repressions |work=Center for Defense Information |url=http://www.cdi.org/russia/230-2-pr.cfm |url-status=dead |access-date=12 October 2004 |archive-date=15 October 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041015173334/http://cdi.org/russia/230-2-pr.cfm }}</ref> 

In 2000, he publicly alleged that Swedish diplomat [[Raoul Wallenberg]], who became famous for his role in saving thousands of [[History of the Jews in Hungary|Hungarian Jews]] from the [[Holocaust]], was shot and killed in Soviet secret police headquarters in 1947.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Calamur |first=Krishnadev |date=28 May 2012 |title=Russia Denies It's Hiding Details Of Holocaust Hero Raoul Wallenberg's Fate |work=[[National Public Radio]] |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/05/28/153886497/russia-denies-its-hiding-details-of-holocaust-hero-raoul-wallenbergs-fate |access-date=21 July 2022}}</ref> He was called "God's commie" in a 2002 article for investigating crimes of the Soviet state.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Pryce-Jones, David |year=2002|title=God's Commie: The ongoing achievement of Alexander Yakovlev |journal=National Review|volume=54|issue=24|pages=24&ndash;26}}</ref>