International audience “I order the suspension of the parliamentary, administrative and supervisory functions of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation... The Constitution... and legislation... will remain in force to the extent that they do not conflict with this Decree”. Moscow, Kremlin, 21 September 1993, 8pm, Presidential Decree (Ukaz) n° 1400.Presented by some as a way out of the intractable conflict which had opposed the President and Parliament for months, denounced by others as a coup, Boris Yeltsin's decree provoked a crisis which would last fourteen days, during which political conflict turned into violent confrontation. From 21 September to 4 October 1993, Russia experienced a major political crisis. In response to Yeltsin's Ukaz, Members of Parliament supported by General Rutskoi, Russian Vice-President, met in extraordinary session, refused to comply with the presidential decision, occupied Parliament (the White House) and held out against the security forces. Protests were organised in the city: Yeltsin's supporters gathered near the Moscow Soviet (Mossovet), those supporting the deputies assembled near the White House. The political confrontation ended with the storming of Parliament by the army on 4 October, under the orders of the President, and the arrests of the rebel deputies and their supporters. The toll: more than 150 dead and 400 injured.Twenty years after October 1993, this Conference aims to propose a sociological analysis of this crucial but neglected political crisis. To this end, it seeks to question the official version of the event, which was principally the work of the victors, who imposed their vision of the confrontation and its consequences, in particular concerning the institutional outcomes. The Conference also restores the place of alternative accounts and memories. It analyses the diverse individual and collective trajectories of actors of the period. Focussing on the period prior to the conflict, its development and its consequences, the Conference explores both the winners and the losers of the conflict, its active participants and its observers. Particular attention is paid to the issue of the explosion of violence, its effects on the crisis and its outcome.