In my western perspective of the Cold War, I expected everyone in the eastern bloc would’ve been happy to have the USSR dissolved but the 1991 Soviet Union referendum had 70% in favour of preserving the union. The actual decision to dissolve the Soviet Union was taken almost unilaterally by Boris Yeltsin. However, when individual member states took independence referenda they were overwhelmingly in favour. How come there’s this contradiction? Did people want to stay a part of the USSR or not?