Gorbachev Speech Dissolving the Soviet Union (USSR)

In this Christmas 1991 (western Christendom date) speech , Mikhael S. Gorbachev resigned as president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). This action was the final act in a peaceful dissolution of this communist (socialist) nation that had been borne out of the October 1917 revolution. This complete text of the speech is offered on Christmas 1999.
Dear compatriots, fellow citizens, as a result of the newly formed situation, creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, I cease my activities in the post of the U.S.S.R. president. I am taking this decision out of considerations based on principle. I have firmly stood for independence, self-rule of nations, for the sovereignty of the republics, but at the same time for preservation of the union state, the unity of the country.