How will the world travel to Mikhail Gorbachev who was the head of the global power called the Soviet Union? Doubtless, it is unlikely that he will even receive an official burial. It doesn’t matter if any head of state wants to attend the funeral. Because there is no access to Russia. The current Russian ruler, Vladimir Putin, is not interested in receiving Western leaders who are stalling because of the war in Ukraine.
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, the democrat, the one who brought an end to the Cold War… the West has a hundred words to describe Mikhail Gorbachev.
The last of the Soviet Union, the world power, the one who led the way from communism to dictatorship… How Russians evaluate Gorbachev. He was a strong president of the Soviet Union and ran for the Russian presidency in 1996. Received only 0.5 percent of the votes cast!
After leaving the post of the President of the Soviet Union, he came back to the people. Politics through the Socialist Democratic Party, the newspaper Novaya, public service through the Gorbachev Foundation… nothing was accepted by the people. For them, Gorbachev was only the end of the Soviet Union. In recent times, Vladimir Putin has come out against the dictatorship, but no one has stood with him!
Born in the land of conflict
Gorbachev was born in Privolnoe, Russia in 1931 to a poor peasant family. It was a time of clashes in Privolno. Fighting between Russians and Ukrainians was common there. His mother Maria was of Ukrainian heritage. Father Sergey is also of Russian origin.
The turning point was when Amma’s father joined the Communist Party. Gorbachev also became a communist. Later, the grandfather became a victim of brutality as he became a thorn in the side of the party. In 1941, Gorbachev’s village was captured by Germany. With this, the father became a part of the Red Army. Attracted by Stalinist ideas, he again came close to the Communist Party. He became a party member in 1950.
Growth was rapid. In 1953, he married his classmate Raisa. In 1978, he became the secretary of the party central committee. He joined the Politburo in 1979. He became the General Secretary in 1985.
The secretary will stop the car and hurry
As power was concentrated, he began to change his mind. Unlike other communist leaders, Gorbachev wanted to stand with the people. The General Secretary, who stopped the vehicle during the journey and inquired about it, was a surprise to the citizens of the Soviet Union. The first move was to improve the economic condition of the country.
First were economic reforms based on socialist ideas. Later, more freedom of expression was given to the people. Senior leaders were kicked out of the Politburo after the party got stuck. Progressive ideologues gradually took over the party. He assumed the presidency of the Soviet Union in 1990. He moved to end the Cold War. He was also awarded the Nobel Prize in 1990.
Glazenast, which promised political transparency, and Perisrah, a policy of economic liberalization, later backfired. The deregulated economy of the Soviet Union made a few millionaires. But the common people were reduced to poverty. During the peace process, the grip on the communist countries of Europe was loosened. Poland, East Germany… Communist regimes collapsed one by one. The Berlin Wall fell.
Yeltsin came to the rescue and seized everything
As the grip of the Communist Party loosened, the extremists in the party turned against Gorbachev. In August 1990, when he went on vacation to Crimea, the coup happened. Terrorists led by General Varennikov seized power. Vice President Yanev was made the head of administration. Gorbachev and his family were put under house arrest.
With this, Boris Yeltsin, the leader of the Russian Republic, became a hero. He took to the streets for Gorbachev. The coup failed. On his return, Gorbachev resigned as the General Secretary of the party. The party central committee was dissolved. After Yeltsin banned the Communist Party in Russia, Gorbachev’s glory faded.
On August 29, 1991, the Communist Party was banned by the Supreme Soviet. By November, Gorbachev’s control was confined to Moscow. He strove to preserve the Soviet Union. Only the rulers of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan supported it. With Yeltsin’s agreement with the other Soviets, the Soviet Union ended without Gorbachev even knowing. The Soviet flag flew over the Kremlin in Moscow for the last time on Christmas Day 1991. The Soviet Union disintegrated. Gorbachev resigned.
By the time he realized his mistakes, it was too late. He later said that his efforts to reform the Communist Party were immature and that he should have resigned from the party in 1991 and started the Democratic Party. He later said that it was tough for someone who had spent a large part of his life as a party official to leave the system.
Mathews M. George