Mikhail Gorbachev Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: Михаи́л Серге́евич Горбачёв; Pronunciation: mih-kha-ILL ser-GHE-ye-vich gor-bah-CHOFF) (born March 2, 1931), was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. His attempts at reform led to the end of the Cold War, but also inadvertently caused the end of the political supremacy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Mikhail Gorbachev was born into a peasant family on March 2, 1931, near Stavropol. He studied law at Moscow University, where he met his future wife, Raisa. They were married in September 1953 and moved to Mr. Gorbachev's home region of Stavropol in southern Russia when he graduated in 1955.
Mikhail Gorbachev joined the CPSU in 1952 at the age of 21. In 1966, at age 35, he graduated from the Agricultural Institute as an agronomist-economist. 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. He was elevated to the Politburo in 1979. There, he received the patronage of Yuri Andropov, head of the KGB and also a native of Stavropol, and was promoted during Andropov's brief time as leader of the Party before his death in 1984.
His positions within the CPSU created more opportunities to travel abroad that would profoundly affect his political and social views in the future as leader of the country. 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 1985, he traveled to the United Kingdom, where he met with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
On the death of Konstantin Chernenko, Mikhail Gorbachev, at age 54, was elected General Secretary of the Communist Party on March 11, 1985. As the de facto ruler of the Soviet Union, he tried to reform the stagnating Communist Party rule and the state economy by introducing glasnost ("openness"), perestroika ("restructuring") and uskorenie ("acceleration", of economic development) which were launched at the 27th Congress of CPSU in February 1986.
Domestically, Gorbachev implemented economic reforms that he hoped would improve living standards and worker productivity as part of his perestroika program. The Law on Cooperatives, enacted in May 1987, 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 it later revised these to avoid discouraging private-sector activity. Under this provision, cooperative restaurants, shops, and manufacturers became part of the Soviet scene.
The introduction of glasnost gave new freedoms to the people, such as a greater freedom of speech -- a radical change as control of speech and suppression of government criticiscm had previously been a central part of the Soviet system. Glasnost was considered a step towards real democracy in the USSR. The press became far less controlled, to such an extent that the official Komsomol newspaper was banned in Czechoslovakia following the introduction of glasnost.
Under glasnost, Soviet society was able to learn significantly more about the horrors committed by the government of Josef Stalin. Although Nikita Khrushchev had denounced Stalin's personality cult, information about the true proportions of his atrocities was still suppressed.
In foreign affairs, Gorbachev sought to improve relations and trade with the West. On October 11, 1986, Gorbachev and U.S President Ronald Reagan met in Reykjavik, Iceland, to discuss reducing intermediate nuclear missile arsenals in Europe. This led to the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty in 1987. In 1988, Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union would abandon the Brezhnev Doctrine, and allow the Eastern bloc nations to turn to democracy, if they wished. He jokingly called his new doctrine the Sinatra Doctrine.
Gorbachev's foreign policy reforms led to the string of revolutions in Eastern Europe throughout 1989 in which communism collapsed. With the exception of Romania, the democratic revolutions were all peaceful ones. The collapse of the pro-Soviet regimes in Eastern Europe coincided with the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan. These events effectively ended the Cold War, and for this Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel peace prize on October 15, 1990.
However, the democratization of the USSR and Eastern Europe tore away 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 other Soviet republics such as the Ukraine and Azerbaijan. Gorbachev had accidentally unleashed a force that would ultimately destroy the Soviet Union.
Conservatives in the Soviet leadership launched the August Coup in 1991 in an attempt to remove Gorbachev from power. During this time, he spent three days (August 19 to 21) under house arrest at a dacha in the Crimea before being freed and restored to power. Upon his return, Gorbachev found that support had swung over to his nationalist rival, Boris Yeltsin. Furthermore, Gorbachev was forced to sack large numbers of his Politburo and in several cases, arrest them. Those arrested for high treason include the "Gang of Eight" that had led the coup.
Gorbachev was elected as the first executive president of the Soviet Union on March 15, 1990 but would later resign on December 25, 1991. Gorbachev is generally well regarded in the West for having ended the Cold War. However in Russia, his reputation is very low because it is perceived that he brought about the collapse of the country and is responsible for the 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.
Gorbachev founded the Gorbachev Foundation in 1992. In 1993, he also founded Green Cross International, in which role he was one of three major sponsors of the Earth Charter in 1994. He also became a member of the Club of Rome.
In 1996, Gorbachev ran for re-election in Russia but received only about one percent of the vote.
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 in order to capitalize on its fame. The company now no longer uses the trademark as Gorbachev takes it very seriously. Gorbachev to Trademark his Forehead
In May 2004, Gorbachev presented Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The next month, he attended the funeral of Ronald Reagan.
In September 2004, following Chechen terrorist attacks across Russia, President Vladimir Putin launched an initiative to replace the election of regional governors with a system whereby they would be directy appointed by the President and approved by regional legislatures. Gorbachev, together with Boris Yeltsin, criticized Putin's actions as a step away from democracy.
Baptized in the Russian Orthodox church as a child, Gorbachev is an atheist. Nevertheless, he maintains respect for the faiths of people of all religions, as evidenced by his leading role in the establishment of freedom of religion laws in the former Soviet Union.
"Jesus was the first socialist, the first to seek a better life for mankind."
"What we need is Star Peace and not Star Wars."
"Certain people in the United States are driving nails into this structure of our relationship, then cutting off the heads. So the Soviets must use their teeth to pull them out."
Early Life
Early Political Career
General Secretary of the CPSU
Reforms
Division, Coup and Collapse
Political activity after resignation
Religious affiliation
Quotes
See also
External links
Further reading
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Preceded by: Konstantin Chernenko |
List of leaders of the Soviet Union | Succeeded by: Vladimir Ivashko (coup, August 1991) On December 25, 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolved. For continuation, see lists of leaders of post-Soviet independent states. |
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