The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the time between Mikhail Gorbachev's resignation and its suspension was politically impotent.

During the August Coup he did not make public statements but on behalf of the Secretariat distributed letters to local party organizations calling on them to uphold the CPSU.

Gorbachev brought in his ally Ivashko in to replace the long-serving Volodymyr Shcherbytsky as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine on 28 September 1989.

However, on 9 July 1990 he too resigned as Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR after declining to be recalled to Kyiv during the 28th Congress of the Communist Party in Moscow, and a few days later successfully secured the position of Deputy General Secretary of the CPSU.

[4][5] According to Sergei Tretyakov, KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov sent US$50 billion worth of funds of the Communist Party to an unknown location in the lead-up to the collapse of the USSR.