Dublin Festival of History talks explore fall of communist rule in Europe

The Dublin Festival of History continues this week with two fascinating talks exploring the end of communist rule in Europe

Add to preferred sources News Stephen Holland Local Democracy Reporter 10:48, 07 Oct 2026 View Image Boris Yeltsin stands on a tank to defy the August Coup - an attempt by hard-line members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) to take control of the country. Moscow, Russia, on August 21st, 1991. (Image: Wojtek Laski/Getty Images)

Discover how communist rule in Europe came to an end as free historical talks, discussions and events take place across the city.

The Dublin Festival of History is in full swing and runs until October 11. Bringing together leading historians , writers and broadcasters, events not only dig into Ireland’s past but also explore world history. This week, two talks highlight the fall of communist rule in Europe, from the shipyards of Gdańsk in 1980 to the streets of Moscow in 1991.

On Thursday 8 October at 7pm, the festival welcomes back Robert Service, one of the foremost historians of Russia and the Soviet Union, to talk about his new book, The August Coup. This dramatic and expertly researched account looks at the failed coup of 1991 where over the three days a group of hardline Communist Party officials tried to take control of the Soviet Union and reverse the Gorbachev reforms.

They failed, and the state they meant to save did not survive them for long. Service will discuss the plotters' mistakes, Boris Yeltsin's defiance from a tank outside the Russian parliament, and the events that led, within months, to the dissolution of the USSR and the founding of a new Russian state.

Mr Service is also the author of acclaimed biographies of Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky, and a leading authority on the Soviet century. His talk takes place at 7pm on Thursday, October 8, in Pepper Canister Church, Mount Street Crescent, Dublin 2.

On Sunday, as part of the Festival's Europe History Day, Magdalena Charkin-Jaszcza of the European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk tells the story of Solidarność. The movement began with a strike at the Lenin Shipyard in August 1980, grew out of workers' resistance in communist Poland, and drew support from intellectuals and the attention of the world's media.

Nearly ten million Poles joined it, and it set in motion the unravelling of communist rule across Central and Eastern Europe. Its leader, Lech Wałęsa, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and its story inspired U2's "New Year's Day".

Ms Charkin-Jaszcza will also look at what that peaceful revolution means for Europe today. Magdalena Charkin-Jaszcza is the ECS Director's Representative for International Relations and a university lecturer. She works with the history and legacy of Solidarność every day, connecting it with present-day solidarity with Ukraine, Belarus and other countries where democracy is under threat.

This talk takes place at 5pm on Sunday, October 11, in the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin 2

Acting City Librarian with Dublin City Council Brendan Teeling said: "These two talks tell one story from both ends: how a strike in a Polish shipyard and a failed coup in Moscow brought down a system that had shaped Europe for most of the twentieth century. We're delighted to welcome Robert Service back to the Festival, and to welcome the European Solidarity Centre to Dublin."

Admission to all festival events are free: booking is available at www.dublinfestivalofhistory.ie

This content is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme

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