Gorbachev, at Stanford, Defends Actions in Days Before Coup

Mikhail S. Gorbachev on Saturday defended his actions in the days before last year’s attempted coup, saying he could not crack down on opponents and remain true to his goal of peaceful and lawful change.

“As president of a country, I had many powers, including emergency ones. And more than once, people tried to make me use them, tried to push me into an extremist position,” the former Soviet president said.

Some of those people were members of the group that briefly seized control of the Soviet government in August, he said through a translator before nearly 10,000 people at Stanford University.

“But I simply could not betray myself,” Gorbachev said.

Gorbachev, who stepped down as head of the Soviet Union as it disintegrated last December, addressed students and faculty as part of a U.S. tour to promote his fledgling foundation aimed at working for peaceful political change.

In a half-hour speech, Gorbachev reviewed the tumultuous process that began in 1985 with perestroika, his reform and the restructuring of Soviet society, and ended with the abortive coup and country’s breakup in 1991.

He said no one should be surprised that Russia and the other republics of the nation he once led have had trouble establishing the rule of law.

“We are burdened by our dark heritage . . . absence of a political culture, disrespect for the law, and a hostility to those responsible for the preservation of order,” Gorbachev said.

“No rule of law emerged in our country. Only in 1861 was serfdom abolished, and we had an autocracy until 1917,” he said. “Therefore, one can scarcely be surprised that the political struggle is dominated by extremist positions.”