The Communist Party of the Soviet Union succeeded with their coup.
The 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt , also known as the August Coup ( [ Августовский путч , r = Avgustovsky Putch ] `` August Putsch '' ) , was an attempt by members of the Soviet Union 's government to take control of the country from Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev . The coup leaders were hard-line members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( CPSU ) who were opposed to Gorbachev 's reform program and the new union treaty that he had negotiated which decentralised much of the central government 's power to the republics . Communist Party of the Soviet Union . The party was dissolved on 29 August 1991 on Soviet territory soon after a failed coup d'état and was completely abolished on 6 November 1991 on Russian territory .