Mikhail Gorbachev

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Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev
[[Image:{{{image name}}}|225px|center|Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev]]
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Term of office {{{date1}}} – {{{date2}}}
Preceded by {{{preceded}}}
Succeeded by {{{succeeded}}}
Date of birth {{{date of birth}}}
Place of birth {{{place of birth}}}
Date of death {{{date of death}}}
Place of death {{{place of death}}}
Spouse {{{wife}}}
Political party Communist Party of the Soviet Union

(Russian: Михаи́л Серге́евич Горбачёв, Mihail Sergeevič Gorbačëv, IPA: [mʲɪxʌˈil sʲɪrˈgʲejɪvʲɪʨ gərbʌˈʨof], commonly anglicized as Gorbachev; born March 2, 1931) was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. His attempts at reform helped to end the Cold War, but also ended the political supremacy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and dissolved the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

Early life and political career

Mikhail Gorbachev was born into a peasant family in the village of Privolnoye near Stavropol. The son of a Russian agricultural mechanic, Alexi Gorbachev, and Maria Pantelyeva, he faced a tough childhood under the totalitarian leadership of Josef Stalin; his grandparents were deported for being richer farmers known as kulaks. Despite the hardship of his background, he excelled in the fields and in the classroom. He was considered the most intelligent in his class, with a particular interest in history and math. After he left school he helped his father harvest a record crop on his collective farm. For this he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor at age 19, an unusual honor for someone his age. It was almost certainly this award, coupled with his intelligence that helped secure his place at Moscow University, where he studied law. While living in Moscow, he met his future wife, Raisa. They married in September 1953 and moved to Gorbachev's home region of Stavropol in southern Russia when he graduated in 1955.

Gorbachev joined the CPSU in 1952 at the age of 21. In 1966, at age 35, he obtained a correspondence degree as an agronomist-economist from the Agricultural Institute. His career moved forward rapidly, and in 1970, he was appointed First Secretary for Agriculture and the following year made a member of the Central Committee. In 1972, he headed a Soviet delegation to Belgium and two years later, in 1974, he was made a Representative to the Supreme Soviet, and Chairman of the Standing Commission on Youth Affairs.

In 1979, Gorbachev was promoted to the Politburo. There, he received the patronage of Yuri Andropov, head of the KGB and also a native of Stavropol. Gorbachev was quickly promoted during Andropov's brief tenure as leader of the Party (November 12, 1982 - February 9, 1984). Given responsibility over personnel, under the tutelage of Andropov, Gorbachev replaced 20 percent of the top echelon of government ministers and regional governors, often with younger men. During this time Grigory Romanov, Nikolai Ryzhkov, and Yegor Ligachev were elevated, the latter two working closely with Gorbachev, Ryzhkov on economics, Ligachev on personnel. He was also close to Konstantin Chernenko, Andropov's successor, serving as second secretary.[1]

His positions within the new CPSU created more opportunities to travel abroad and this would profoundly affect his political and social views in his future role as leader of the Party. In 1975, he led a delegation to West Germany, and in 1983 he headed a Soviet delegation to Canada to meet with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and members of the Canadian House of Commons and Senate. In 1984, he traveled to the United Kingdom, where he met with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

General Secretary of the CPSU

Upon the death of Konstantin Chernenko, Mikhail Gorbachev, at age 54, was elected General Secretary of the Communist Party on March 11, 1985. He became the Party's first leader to have been born after the Russian Revolution of 1917. As de facto ruler of the Soviet Union, he tried to reform the stagnating Communist Party and the state economy by introducing glasnost ("openness"), perestroika ("restructuring"), and uskoreniye ("acceleration" of economic development), which were launched at the 27th Congress of the CPSU in February 1986.

Gorbachev in one-on-one discussions with U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

Domestic reforms

Domestically, Gorbachev implemented economic reforms that he hoped would improve living standards and worker productivity as part of his perestroika program. However, many of his reforms were considered radical at the time by orthodox apparatchiks in the Soviet government.

In 1985, Gorbachev announced that the Soviet economy was stalled and that reorganization was needed. Initially, his reforms were called "uskoreniye" (acceleration) but later the term "perestroika" (reconstruction) became much more popular.

Gorbachev was not operating within a vacuum. Although the Brezhnev era is usually thought of as one of economic stagnation, a number of economic experiments (particularly in the organization of business enterprises, and partnerships with Western companies) did take place. A number of reformist ideas were discussed by technocratic-minded managers, who often used the facilities of the Young Communist League as discussion forums. The so-called 'Komsomol Generation' would prove to be Gorbachev's most receptive audience, and the nursery of many post-communist businessmen and politicians, particularly in the Baltic States.

The first reform introduced under Gorbachev was the 1985 alcohol reform, which was designed to fight wide-spread alcoholism in the Soviet Union. Prices on vodka, wine and beer were raised, and their sales were restricted. People who were caught drunk at work or in public were prosecuted. Drinking on long-distance trains and in public places was banned. Many famous wineries were destroyed. Scenes of alcohol consumption were cut from movies. Unfortunately, the reform did not have any significant effect on the alcoholism in the country, but economically it was a serious blow to the state budget (a loss of approximately 100 billion rubles according to Alexander Yakovlev) after alcohol production migrated to the black market economy. Alcohol reform was one of the initial triggers that caused a chain of events that ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union and deep economical crisis in the newly formed CIS six years later (Citation needed).

The Law on Cooperatives, enacted in May 1988, was perhaps the most radical of the economic reforms during the early part of the Gorbachev era. For the first time since Vladimir Lenin's New Economic Policy, the law permitted private ownership of businesses in the services, manufacturing, and foreign-trade sectors. The law initially imposed high taxes and employment restrictions, but these were later revised to avoid discouraging private-sector activity. Under this provision, cooperative restaurants, shops, and manufacturers became a legally recognized part of the Soviet economy. It should be noted that some of the Republics ignored these restrictions. In Estonia, for example, co-operatives were permitted to cater to the needs of foreign visitors and forge partnerships with foreign companies.

The large 'All-Union' industrial organizations started to be restructured. Aeroflot, for example, was split into a number of independent enterprises, some of which became the nucleus for future independent airlines. These newly autonomous business organizations were encouraged to seek foreign investment.

File:TIME Gorbachev.jpg
Time magazine cover of January 4, 1988 featuring Gorbachev as Man of the Year.

Gorbachev's introduction of glasnost gave new freedoms to the people, particularly freedom of speech. In a country in which censorship, control of speech and suppression of government criticism, had previously been a central part of the system, this was a radical change. The press became far less controlled, and thousands of political prisoners and many dissidents were released. Gorbachev's goal in undertaking glasnost was to pressure conservatives within the CPSU who opposed his policies of economic restructuring, and he also hoped that through different ranges of openness, debate and participation, the Soviet people would support his reform initiatives.

In January 1987, Gorbachev called for democratization: the infusion of democratic elements such as multi-candidate elections into the Soviet political process. In June 1988, at the CPSU's Twenty-Seventh Party Conference, Gorbachev launched radical reforms meant to reduce party control of the government apparatus. In December 1988, the Supreme Soviet approved the establishment of a Congress of People's Deputies, which constitutional amendments had established as the Soviet Union's new legislative body. Elections to the congress were held throughout the USSR in March and April 1989. On March 15, 1990, Gorbachev was elected as the first executive President of the Soviet Union.

"New Thinking" abroad

In international affairs, Gorbachev sought to improve relations and trade with the West. He established close relationships with several Western leaders, such as West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - who famously remarked: "I like Mr Gorbachev - we can do business together."[2]

On October 11, 1986, Gorbachev and Reagan met in Reykjavík, Iceland to discuss reducing intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe. To the immense surprise of both men's advisors, the two agreed in principle to removing INF systems from Europe and to equal global limits of 100 INF missile warheads. This culminated in the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in 1987.

In February 1988, Gorbachev announced the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan. The withdrawal was completed the following year, although the civil war continued as the Mujahedin pushed to overthrow the pro-Soviet Mohammad Najibullah regime. An estimated 15,000 Soviets were killed between 1979 and 1989 as a result of the conflict.

Also during 1988, Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union would abandon the Brezhnev Doctrine, allowing Eastern bloc nations to determine their own internal affairs. Jokingly dubbed the "Sinatra Doctrine" by Gorbachev's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Gennadi Gerasimov, this policy of non-intervention in the affairs of the other Warsaw Pact states proved to be the most momentous of Gorbachev's foreign policy reforms. Moscow's abrogation of the Brezhnev Doctrine led to a string of revolutions in Eastern Europe throughout 1989, in which Communism collapsed. With the exception of Romania, the popular upheavals against the pro-Soviet Communist regimes were all peaceful ones. (See Revolutions of 1989)

The loosening of Soviet hegemony over Eastern Europe effectively ended the Cold War, and for this, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 15, 1990.

File:Reagan and Gorbachev.jpg
Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, Raisa Gorbachyova and Mikhail Gorbachev December 8, 1987, after the signing of the INF Treaty.

Coup and collapse

While Gorbachev's political initiatives were positive for freedom and democracy in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the economic policy of his government gradually brought the country close to disaster. By the end of the 1980s, severe shortages of basic food supplies (meat, sugar) led to the reintroduction of the war-time system of distribution using food cards that limited each citizen to a certain amount of product per month. Compared to 1985, the state deficit grew from 0 to 109 billion rubles; gold funds decreased from 2,000 to 200 tons; and external debt grew from 0 to 120 billion dollars.

Furthermore, the democratization of the USSR and Eastern Europe had irreparably undermined the power of the CPSU and Gorbachev himself. Gorbachev's relaxation of censorship and attempts to create more political openness had the unintended effect of re-awakening long-suppressed nationalist and anti-Russian feelings in the Soviet republics. Calls for greater independence from Moscow's rule grew louder, especially in the Baltic republics of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, which had been annexed into the Soviet Union by Stalin in 1940. Nationalist feeling also took hold in the Soviet republics of Georgia, Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Gorbachev had unleashed a force that would ultimately destroy the Soviet Union.

On January 10, 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev issued an ultimatum-like request addressing the Lithuanian Supreme Council demanding the restoration of the validity of the constitution of the USSR in Lithuania and the revoking of all anti-constitutional laws. The next day Gorbachev approved the attempt of the Soviet military to overthrow Lithuania's government. As a result, at least 14 civilians where killed and more than 600 injured on January 11-13, 1991 in Vilnius, Lithuania. The strong Western reaction and the actions of Russian democratic forces put the president and government of the Soviet Union into an awkward situation, as news of support for Lithuanians from Western democracies started to appear.

Gorbachev's response to growing republic separatism was to draw up a new treaty of union which would have created a truly voluntary federation in an increasingly democratised USSR. The new treaty was strongly supported by the Central Asian republics, who needed the economic power and markets of the Soviet Union to prosper. However, the more radical reformists, such as Russian SFSR President Boris Yeltsin, were increasingly convinced that a rapid transition to a market economy was required and were more than happy to contemplate the disintegration of the USSR if that was required to achieve their aims.

File:Gorbachev and Yeltsin.jpg
Gorbachev accused Boris Yeltsin, his old rival and Russia's first post-Soviet president, of tearing the country apart out of a desire to advance his own personal interests.

In contrast to the reformers' lukewarm approach to the new treaty, the hard-line apparatchiks, still strong within the CPSU and military establishment, were completely opposed to anything which might lead to the breakup of the Soviet motherland. On the eve of the treaty's signing, the hardliners struck.

Hard-liners in the Soviet leadership launched the August Coup in 1991 in an attempt to remove Gorbachev from power and prevent the signing of the new union treaty. During this time, Gorbachev spent three days (August 19 to 21) under house arrest at a dacha in the Crimea before being freed and restored to power. However, upon his return, Gorbachev found that neither union nor Russian power structures heeded his commands as support had swung over to Yeltsin, whose defiance had led to the coup's collapse. Furthermore, Gorbachev was forced to fire large numbers of his Politburo and, in several cases, arrest them. Those arrested for high treason included the "Gang of Eight" that had led the coup.

Gorbachev had aimed to maintain the CPSU as a united party but move it in the direction of social democracy. The inherent contradictions in this approach - praising Lenin, admiring Sweden's social model and seeking to maintain the annexation of the Baltic states by military force - were difficult enough. But when the CPSU was proscribed after the August coup, Gorbachev was left with no effective power base beyond the armed forces. In the end Yeltsin won them around with promises of more money. Gorbachev eventually resigned on December 25 1991 as the USSR was officially dissolved.

Political activity after resignation

Vice-president Bush, president Ronald Reagan and Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev in New York City, 1988.

Gorbachev founded the Gorbachev Foundation (http://www.gorby.ru/en/default.asp) in 1992. In 1993, he also founded Green Cross International, with which he was one of three major sponsors of the Earth Charter. He also became a member of the Club of Rome.

1995 saw Gorbachev receive an Honorary Doctorate from Durham University for his contribution to "the cause of political tolerance and an end to cold war-style confrontation". [3]

In 1996, Gorbachev re-ran for President in Russia, but only received about 1% of the vote, most likely due to animosity following the Soviet Union's collapse. While on a pre-election tour at that time he was given a fistblow on the face by an unknown man.

In 1997, Gorbachev starred in a Pizza Hut commercial made for the USA to raise money for the Perestroika Archives.

On November 26 2001, Gorbachev also founded the Social Democratic Party of Russia—which is a union between several Russian social democrat parties. He resigned as party leader in May 2004 over a disagreement with the party's chairman over the direction taken in the December 2003 election campaign.

In early 2004, Gorbachev moved to trademark his famous port wine birthmark, after a vodka company featured the mark on labels of one of their drinks to capitalize on its fame. The company now no longer uses the trademark.[4]

In June 2004, Gorbachev represented Russia at the funeral of Ronald Reagan.

In September 2004, following Chechen militant attacks across Russia, President Vladimir Putin launched an initiative to replace the election of regional governors with a system whereby they would be directly appointed by the President and approved by regional legislatures. Gorbachev, together with Boris Yeltsin, criticized Putin's actions as a step away from democracy.[5]

In 2005, Gorbachev was awarded the Point Alpha Prize for his role in supporting German reunification. He also received an honorary Doctorate from the University of Münster.[6]

Legacy

Gorbachev is generally well regarded in the West for having ended the Cold War. In Germany, for example, he is acclaimed for allowing German reunification to proceed. However, in Russia, his reputation is very low because he is perceived to have brought about the collapse of the country and is held responsible for the economic misery that followed. Nevertheless, polls indicate that a majority of Russians are pleased with the result of the individual aims of perestroika, Gorbachev's chief legislative legacy, and the freedom that came about as a result.

Nor is he considered by all to be the sole reason the Cold War ended as it did. The war in Afghanistan had been going on since the late 1970's draining Soviet resources. This and many revolutionary movements in Soviet satellite states (well funded and supplied by clandestine operations from the West), most notably Afghanistan and Poland, took a huge toll on the Union's ability to keep order and operate as a government. Some insist that armament buildups in the West also prompted likewise military expenditures that, when added to expenditures in Afghanistan, could not be maintained. Soviet economy infrastructure was in serious decay by 1985 (when Gorbachev took office) and these events would have had a huge impact on Gorbachev's decisions to liberalize. In the end, these attempts to "open" the Soviet Union were too little too late, and satellite nations responded accordingly, ending a nearly 50 year stalemate between East and West.

Conversely, others, especially in the former Soviet Union, believe that the USSR was not in as serious of an economic crisis as claimed and view Gorbachev as an incompetent politician who initiated the wrong kind of reforms. During the last years of his life Lazar Kaganovich said in an interview that Gorbachev's rule was a direct destruction of the state.

Miscellaneous

  • In the West, Gorbachev was colloquially known as 'Gorby', in part because of a perception that he was less austere than his predecessors.
  • The ё letter is often replaced by е in writing, hence Gorbachev is a common English transliteration even though it's universally pronounced as Gorbachyov.
  • In 1987, Gorbachev acknowledged that his liberalizing policies of glasnost and perestroika owed a great deal to Alexander Dubček's "socialism with a human face". When asked what the difference was between the Prague Spring and his own reforms, Gorbachev replied, "Nineteen years".[7]
  • In 1989, during an official visit to China during the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, shortly before the imposition of martial law in Beijing, Gorbachev was asked for his opinion on the Great Wall of China: "It's a very beautiful work", he replied, "but there are already too many walls between people". A journalist asked him, "would you like the Berlin Wall to be taken down?" Gorbachev replied very seriously, "Why not?"
  • Gorbachev was ranked #95 on Michael H. Hart's list of the most influential figures in history.
  • Gorbachev currently resides in Moscow.

Religious affiliation

Baptized in the Russian Orthodox church as a child, Gorbachev is an atheist. He campaigned for establishment of freedom of religion laws in the former Soviet Union.

Gorbachev has also expressed pantheistic views, saying, in an interview with the magazine Resurgence, "Nature is my god." [1]

At the end of a November 1996 interview on CSPAN's Booknotes, Gorbachev described his plans for future books. He made the following reference to God: "I don't know how many years God will be giving me, [or] what his plans are." [2].

Naevus flammeus

Gorbachev is the most famous person in modern times with visible naevus flammeus. The crimson birthmark on the top of his bald head was the source of much satire among critics and cartoonists. (Among his official photos there was at least one on which this birthmark was removed.) Contrary to some accounts, it is not rosacea. This birthmark and the two missing fingers of Boris Yeltsin's left hand have been compared (by people disappointed by their rule) with a passage from the Bible which says that Satan would mark his men on the forehead and on the hand.

References
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  1. Roxburgh, Angus (1991). The Second Russian Revolution: The Struggle for Power in the Kremlin. London: BBC Books. 
  2. Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader. BBC News (March 1985). Retrieved 2006-05-22.
  3. Honorary Doctorate from Durham
  4. Gorbachev to Trademark His Forehead. NewsMax.Com (February 2004). Retrieved 2006-05-22.
  5. Mikhail Gorbachev on Putin’s Reforms: “A Step Back from Democracy”. MosNews (September 2004). Retrieved 2006-05-22.
  6. Reunification Politicians Accept Prize. Deutsche Welle (June 2005). Retrieved 2006-05-22.
  7. Almond, Mark (2002). Uprising: Political Upheavals that have Shaped the World. London: Mitchell Beazley. 

See also

  • Soviet Union
  • Earth Charter
  • Raisa Gorbacheva, wife of Mikhail, died of leukemia 1999
  • Yuri Gorbachev, famous Russian-American painter and sculptor, nephew of Mikhail Gorbachev
  • Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev, key Gorbachev advisor and ally
  • Eduard Shevardnadze, senior Gorbachev minister and ally

Quotes

  • "What would you call it when the country is being ruled by old men who keep dropping dead, and the country is left without normal leadership?"
  • "I began to feel the desire for something more; I wanted to do something to make things better."
  • "I believe that danger await only those that do no react to life.", often misquoted as "He who comes too late is punished by life" (East Berlin, 7 October 1989)

External links

Wikisource
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Further reading

Primary sources

  • Mikhail Gorbachev, Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country and the World, Perennial Library, Harper & Row, 1988, ISBN 0-06-091528-5
  • Mikhail Gorbachev, Memoirs, Doubleday, 1996, ISBN 0-38-548019-9
  • Mikhail Gorbachev Moral Lesson of the Twentieth Century with Daisaku Ikeda (2005)
  • "At Historic Crossroads: Documents on the December 1989 Malta Summit" in Cold War International History Project Bulletin 2001 (12-13): 229-241. Issn: 1071-9652

Secondary sources

  • Anders Aslund, Gorbachev's Struggle for Economic Reform Cornell University Press, 1991
  • Archie Brown, The Gorbachev Factor, Oxford University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-19-288052-7
  • Farnham, Barbara. "Reagan and the Gorbachev Revolution: Perceiving the End of Threat" Political Science Quarterly 2001 116(2): 225-252. Issn: 0032-3195
  • Marshall Goldman, What Went Wrong with Perestroika? W.W. Norton, 1992
  • Jackson, William D. "Soviet Reassessment of Ronald Reagan, 1985-1988" Political Science Quarterly 1998-1999 113(4): 617-644. Issn: 0032-3195
  • Jack Matlock, Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended (2004)
  • Jack Matlock, Autopsy on an Empire: The American Ambassador's Account of the Collapse of the Soviet Union (1995)
  • David Remnick, Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire (New York: Random House, 1993)_.
  • Robert Strayer, Why Did the Soviet Union Collapse? Understanding Historical Change M. E. Sharpe. 1998
Preceded by:
Konstantin Chernenko
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
1985-1991
Succeeded by:
Vladimir Ivashko
Preceded by:
Andrei Gromyko
as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1988-1989)
Chairman of the Supreme Soviet (1989-1990)
President of the Soviet Union (1990 - 1991)

1988-1991
Succeeded by:

The Soviet Union was dissolved and replaced by the Commonwealth of Independent States

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