Anxiety and apprehension seem to pervade Moscow whenever Mikhail Gorbachev is out of town. But for much of August, with the Soviet President off on his annual vacation in the Crimea, the capital showed symptoms of panic. Conservative members of the Politburo were warning that the country could be slipping out of control. Government officials were speculating openly about the possibility of a coup. A rock group climbed the Soviet hit parade with a song whose refrain was "We are anticipating civil war." Arriving home, Gorbachev, looking tanned and vigorous after four weeks on the Black Sea shore, went straight to...
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