Elections are held for the new parliament set up as part of Gorbachev's reforms. It is called the Congress of People's Deputies. Boris Yeltsin wins a massive vote in a Moscow constituency - he is back in national politics.
Live television broadcasts of parliament later prove so popular they have to be taken off the air - because millions of workers are downing tools to watch.
Gorbachev has also pulled the last Soviet troops out of the deeply unpopular and costly war in Afghanistan. His popularity remains high.
But as the democrats celebrate the elections, the hardliners have their say. A fortnight after the elections, a peaceful demonstration in the republic of Georgia is broken up by Soviet troops. They have been ordered not to use live fire - so instead they use poisonous gas and sharpened shovels. Nineteen people, most of them women, are killed. Gorbachev denies all prior knowledge of events.