March 11, 1985 - March 14, 1990
President of the USSR
March 14, 1990 - December 25, 1991
Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeevich (b. 1931), President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (March 1990 - December 1991). Born on March 2, 1931 in the village of Privolnoye, Krasnogvardeisky district, Stavropol Territory, into a peasant family. At the age of 16 (1947) he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for high-threshing grain on a combine harvester.
In 1950, after graduating from school with a silver medal, he entered the Faculty of Law of Moscow state university them. M. V. Lomonosov. He actively participated in the activities of the Komsomol organization of the university, and in 1952 he joined the CPSU.
After graduating from university in 1955, he was sent to Stavropol to the regional prosecutor's office. He worked as deputy head of the agitation and propaganda department of the Stavropol regional committee of the Komsomol, first secretary of the Stavropol city Komsomol committee, then second and first secretary of the regional committee of the Komsomol (1955–1962).
In 1962, Gorbachev went to work in party bodies. Khrushchev's reforms were underway in the country at that time. The party leadership bodies were divided into industrial and rural. New management structures have emerged - territorial production departments.
The party career of M. S. Gorbachev began with the position of party organizer of the Stavropol territorial production agricultural administration (three rural districts). In 1967 he graduated (in absentia) from the Stavropol Agricultural Institute.
In December 1962, Gorbachev was approved as head of the department of organizational and party work of the Stavropol rural regional committee of the CPSU. Since September 1966, Gorbachev has been the first secretary of the Stavropol city party committee; in August 1968 he was elected second, and in April 1970 - first secretary of the Stavropol regional committee of the CPSU. In 1971 M. S. Gorbachev became a member of the CPSU Central Committee.
In November 1978, Gorbachev became Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee on issues of the agro-industrial complex, in 1979 - a candidate member, and in 1980 - a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. In March 1985 Gorbachev became general secretary Communist Party.
1985 is a tragic year, a milestone in the history of the state and the party. The reborn “communist” launched the mechanism for the collapse of the Great Country by reforming the party-state organism. This period in the country's history was called "perestroika" and was associated with a complete betrayal of the ideals of socialism.
Gorbachev began with a large-scale anti-alcohol campaign. Alcohol prices were increased and its sale was limited, vineyards were mostly destroyed, which gave rise to a whole range of new problems - the use of moonshine and all kinds of surrogates sharply increased, and the budget suffered significant losses. The anti-alcohol campaign was carried out in a country that had not yet experienced the shock of the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
In May 1985, speaking at a party and economic gathering in Leningrad, the General Secretary did not hide the fact that the country’s economic growth rate had decreased and put forward the slogan “accelerate socio-economic development.” Gorbachev received support for his policy statements at the XXVII Congress of the CPSU (1986) and at the June (1987) plenum of the CPSU Central Committee.
In 1986–1987, Gorbachev and his corrupt supporters set a course for the development of glasnost. These degenerates understood glasnost not as freedom of criticism and self-criticism, but as a way for everyone possible ways discredit the achievements of the Soviet system. Through the efforts, in particular, of the secretary and member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee A. N. Yakovlev, a worthy successor to Goebbels, lies, elevated to the rank of state policy, poured out from all means mass media. The XIX Party Conference of the CPSU (June 1988) adopted the resolution “On Glasnost”. In March 1990, the “Press Law” was adopted: achieving a certain level of independence of the media - independence from the truth, from conscience, from everything that makes the word - the Word.
Since 1988, the “process has begun” in full swing. The creation of initiative groups in support of “perestroika”, “glasnost”, “acceleration”, the creation of “popular” and essentially anti-people fronts and other non-state public organizations led to an aggravation of interethnic contradictions, and interethnic clashes occurred in some regions of the USSR.
In March 1989, during the elections of people's deputies, Gorbachev and his henchmen experienced a shock: in many regions, secretaries of party committees, proteges of Gorbachev's team, failed in the elections. As a result of these elections, a “fifth column” came to the deputy corps, praising the successes of the West and critically assessing the Soviet period.
The Congress of People's Deputies in May of the same year demonstrated a fierce confrontation between various currents both in society and among the parliamentarians. At this congress, Gorbachev was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
Gorbachev's actions caused a wave of growing criticism. Some criticized him for being slow and inconsistent in carrying out reforms, others for haste; everyone noted the contradictory nature of his policies. Thus, laws were adopted on the development of cooperation and almost immediately on the fight against “speculation”; laws on democratizing enterprise management and at the same time strengthening central planning; reform laws political system and free elections, and immediately - about “strengthening the role of the party”, etc.
In domestic policy, especially in the economy, there were signs of a serious crisis. The shortage of food and everyday goods has increased. Since 1989, the process of disintegration of the political system of the Soviet Union was in full swing.
In the first half of 1990, almost all union republics declared their state sovereignty (RSFSR - June 12, 1990).
On December 8, a meeting of the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus took place in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (Belarus), during which a document was signed on the liquidation of the USSR and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev announced his resignation as President of the USSR. 16:47 09.08.2011
Gorbachev was caught in duplicity and bickering.
The German Der Spiegel received 30 thousand pages of documents from the archives of the President of the USSR
Mikhail Gorbachev, through whose efforts the great power the USSR was destroyed, has now lost the secrets kept in his personal archive of those times. The German weekly Der Spiegel received 30,000 pages of documents that were secretly copied from the archives of the first and last president of the USSR by a young man now living in London. Russian historian Pavel Stroilov. He gained access to them while working at the Gorbachev Foundation, which is located in Moscow at Leningradsky Prospekt, 39. About 10,000 documents are stored there that Gorbachev took from the Kremlin, parting with power, says the article, the contents of which are provided by the website InoPressa.ru .
And Gorbachev kept these secrets from the public for good reason. Yes, Gorbachev used certain documents from the archive in his books, which “greatly annoyed the current Kremlin leadership,” the publication says. But “most of the papers still remain hidden,” and mainly because “they do not fit into the image that Gorbachev himself created for himself: the image of a purposeful, progressive reformer who, step by step, changes his huge country to his own taste.”
The documents obtained by Der Spiegel “reveal something that Gorbachev was very reluctant to make public: that he submitted to the flow of events in the dying Soviet state and often lost his orientation in the chaos of those days. And besides, he behaved duplicitously and, contrary to his own statements, from time to time teamed up with hardliners in the party and army. The Kremlin chief thus did what many statesmen do after resigning: he subsequently greatly embellished the portrait of the brave reformer.”
By the end of his inglorious reign, Gorbachev appears as a completely pathetic beggar, who humiliatingly asks Western “friends” to save him from the inevitably approaching collapse. By September 1991, the publication says, economic situation The USSR became so desperate that Gorbachev, in a conversation with German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, had to “throw away all pride.” Talking with the future federal president, and at that time State Secretary of the German Ministry of Finance Horst Köhler, Gorbachev tried to remind him of his services to the world: “How much did our perestroika and new thinking save? Hundreds of billions of dollars for the rest of the world!
Ex-Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Helmut Kohl left a significant mark on Gorbachev’s archive. Kohl was “in great debt” to the Soviet leader, since Gorbachev did not interfere with the unification of Germany and its entry into NATO. At the same time, the Soviet leader, as evidenced by the publication in Der Spiegel, considered Kohl “not the greatest intellectual” and “an ordinary provincial politician,” although he had significant influence in the West. However, by 1991, Gorbachev’s faith in Kohl became “limitless” - apparently due to the desperate situation in which the leader of the USSR found himself at that time. In telephone conversations from that time, Gorbachev “complains and complains, these are the pleas of a drowning man for help,” writes Der Spiegel. With the help of Kolya, Gorbachev is trying to “mobilize” the West to save the USSR. In addition, he is looking for support against his “worst rival, Boris Yeltsin,” whom, as it soon turns out, both underestimate. “Gorbachev wants to continue to be accepted abroad as the head of a great power, but behind the scenes he is forced to beg,” notes the German weekly.
The archive obtained by Der Spiegel includes minutes of discussions in the Politburo and negotiations with foreign leaders, recordings of telephone conversations of the Soviet leader, and even handwritten recommendations given to Gorbachev by his advisers, Vadim Zagladin and Anatoly Chernyaev. The latest documents from this list clearly show both the nature of the relationships that have developed within Gorbachev’s team and his lack of independence in decision-making.
Thus, in January 1991, “under pressure from the special services and the army,” Gorbachev agreed to an attempt to restore order in Lithuania, the publication Der Spiegel notes. Two days before the storming of the television center in Vilnius, which killed 14 people, Gorbachev assured US President George H. W. Bush that intervention would occur “only if blood is shed or riots break out that will threaten not only our Constitution, but also human lives" Gorbachev’s assistant Anatoly Chernyaev wrote a letter to his boss about this with the following content: “Mikhail Sergeevich! Your speech in the Supreme Council (regarding the events in Vilnius) meant the end. This was not a performance of significance statesman. It was a confused, hesitant speech... You obviously don’t know what people think about you - on the streets, in shops, in trolleybuses. There they only talk about “Gorbachev and his clique.” You said that you want to change the world, and with your with my own hands You’re ruining this work.”
In general, the publication summarizes, the archive shows “how erroneously... [Gorbachev] assessed the situation and how desperately... he fought for his post.”
Gorbachev himself, of course, does not share this assessment of his activities as head of the Soviet state, as evidenced by the interview he gave that coincided with the publication of Der Spiegel ex-president USSR to the Austrian newspaper Die Presse (translation - InoPressa.ru). Here he regrets the collapse of the USSR, but continues to justify the “reforms” he undertook then: “The Soviet Union then needed modernization and democratization, and then the outdated model of Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev, which worked through orders, control and party monopoly, collapsed " No, this destroyer of the USSR does not admit that he threw out the baby with the bathwater.
Moreover, a person who has ruined a great country still believes he has the right not only to evaluate its current leaders, but even to give them recommendations. “I’m trying to give an objective assessment of events,” Gorbachev said, answering a journalist’s question about why he either praises or criticizes Putin. “During his first term in office, he managed to prevent the partial collapse of the country, so he already occupies a certain niche in history.”
Commenting on the current political situation, Gorbachev said: “The next 5-6 years will be decisive. Two polar camps have already emerged, one of which advocates modernization, and the other seeks to retain power. For what? To preserve the extracted wealth? However, he continues, “if Medvedev does not run, it will not lead to disaster, as many claim. However, it is very important which camp wins. If Medvedev becomes the head of the reform camp, he will need a lot of strength and support. He has potential." Well, Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, we can congratulate you: there is a new addition to your camp, and what a one! Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev himself with his zero electoral support...
Reflecting on the fate of the country, Gorbachev, however, does not forget about his beloved self. Answering a question from a correspondent of an Austrian publication about how he himself assesses the recent release from custody after a short detention of ex-KGB officer Golovatov (the same one who commanded the Alpha group in Vilnius in January 1991), as well as the intention of the Lithuanian authorities to summon Gorbachev himself for questioning, Mikhail Sergeevich begins to make excuses. Apparently, the threat of being called to Vilnius for interrogation seriously worried him. According to Gorbachev, when the atmosphere in Vilnius became tense, the Federation Council was convened, at which it was decided to find a political compromise by sending representatives of the three republics. “We wanted to find a political solution to the problem. And who provoked whom, who gave the order to shoot, and who fired, I don’t know. No such orders came from me. I don’t understand what testimony Lithuania expects from me,” “Gorby” panics.
Truly a telling confession. The president of the world's largest power, who in 1985 (when he headed the country) had such power that no other person in the world possessed, only 6 years later complains that without him someone gives the order to shoot and someone even shoots. These are the kind of bad people you come across - they don’t listen to the President of the USSR...
Now, however, we already know quite reliably who planned and carried out the provocation in Vilnius in January 1991: KM.RU talked about how then “friends shot at their own.” And Gorbachev still tells us fables about some disobedient uncles from the leadership of the USSR, who allegedly prevented him from reaching a peaceful agreement with the Lithuanians. Well, the leader was then caught by a great country, which, thanks to his efforts, ceased to exist in just 6 years! Such leaders must be judged for this, as the famous political scientist Sergei Chernyakhovsky rightly noted today on the pages of our portal. Judge, and not allow interviews to be freely distributed to foreign media.
Source: www.km.ru FROM THE BIOGRAPHICAL CHRONICLE OF M.S. GORBACHEV
1931, March 2. Born in the village of Privolnoye, Krasnogvardeisky district, Stavropol Territory, into a peasant family.
1944. Starts periodically working on a collective farm.
1946. Assistant combine operator at MTS.
1948. As a schoolboy, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for special success in harvesting.
1952. Joins the CPSU.
1955. Graduates from the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University.
1956–1958. First Secretary of the Stavropol City Committee of the Komsomol.
1958–1962. Second and then first secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the Komsomol.
1962, March. Party organizer of the Stavropol territorial production collective farm and state farm administration. December. Approved by the head of the department of party bodies of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the CPSU.
1966. Elected first secretary of the Stavropol city party committee.
1967. Graduates in absentia from the Faculty of Economics of the Stavropol Agricultural Institute.
1971. Elected member of the CPSU Central Committee.
1978. Elected Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
1979. Candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.
1982, May. At the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, the USSR Food Program for the period until 1990, the development of which was supervised by M.S. Gorbachev, was approved.
1985, March 11. Elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. April 23. Presents a report at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party “On the convening of the next XXVII Congress of the CPSU and the tasks associated with its preparation and holding.” Promotion of the concept of accelerating the socio-economic development of the country. May 17. The resolution of the CPSU Central Committee “On measures to overcome drunkenness and alcoholism”, adopted on May 7, is published. The beginning of the anti-alcohol campaign.
1986, February 25. Makes a Political Report at the XXVII Congress of the CPSU. May 14. He appears on Soviet television with information about the Chernobyl accident that occurred on April 26.
1987, January 27–28. Conducts the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, at which the ideas of perestroika as a universal concept are improved, in contrast to its previous interpretation as the transformation of individual aspects of social life. May 30. Authorizes the resignation of the Minister of Defense, Marshal S. Sokolov, and the Commander of the Air Defense Forces, Marshal A. Koldunov, in connection with the landing on May 28 on Moscow's Red Square of an airplane piloted by a German citizen, M. Rust.
1988, March 13. Article in " Soviet Russia“N.A. Andreeva “I can’t give up principles”, perceived as anti-perestroika, directed against the policies of M.S. Gorbachev. June 28. Report at the XIX All-Union Party Conference “On the progress of implementing the decisions of the XXVII Congress of the CPSU and the tasks of deepening perestroika.” October 1st. Elected at a session of the Supreme Council as chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
1989, February 16. The withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, carried out on the initiative of M.S. Gorbachev, has been completed.
1990, March 15. At the Extraordinary Third Congress of People's Deputies he is elected President of the USSR. March 27. Presides over the first meeting of the Presidential Council of the USSR. the 14 th of July. After the completion of the XXVIII Party Congress at the Plenum of the Central Committee, he was last elected General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. August 13. A decree of the President of the USSR is published on the restoration of the rights of all victims of political repression of the 20s–50s. October 15. Honored Nobel Prize world for 1990. 28 of October. Resolution on political no-confidence in the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee M.S. Gorbachev, adopted by the All-Union Conference of the “Unity for Leninism and Communist Ideals” society, headed by N.A. Andreeva. November 7. During a festive demonstration on Red Square, an attempt is made to assassinate M.S. Gorbachev. The shooter, a resident of Kolpino A.A. Shmonov, was detained. December 14. He declares in the Kremlin that he has decided to use the monetary portion of the Nobel Peace Prize he received for the needs of protecting people’s health.
1991, June 5. Gives the Nobel lecture in Oslo. August 19. Vice-President of the USSR G.I. Yanaev issues a Decree on his assumption of duties as President of the USSR in connection with the “illness” of M.S. Gorbachev. August 22. Returns to Moscow from Foros after the failure of the Emergency Committee action. 24 August. Resigns from his duties as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and recommends that the party Central Committee dissolve itself. August, 26th. Suspension of the activities of the CPSU throughout the USSR. November. The head of the department for supervision over the implementation of laws on state security of the USSR Prosecutor's Office V.I. Ilyukhin initiates a criminal case against President M.S. Gorbachev under Article 64 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (treason) in connection with the secession of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia from the USSR. December 8th. Signing in the absence of M.S. Gorbachev by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus the Belovezhsky Declaration on the dissolution of the USSR and the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). December 23. Official registration in Moscow of the “International Fund for Socio-Economic and political studies"(Gorbachev Foundation). December 25th. Resigns as President of the USSR and addresses the people on television with a farewell speech.
1993, February. Meetings of the “Public People's Tribunal”, created by the left opposition to try M.S. Gorbachev, who was accused of the collapse of the USSR, were held in Moscow.
1995, March 1. Conducted in Moscow by the Gorbachev Foundation Round table dedicated to the 10th anniversary of perestroika. May. Speaks at a conference dedicated to the 5th anniversary of the creation of the Democratic Party of Russia, with the idea of forming a single Centrist coalition.
1996, March 1. Declares at a press conference at the Postfactum agency his intention to run for the post of President of Russia. 2nd of March. Materials dedicated to the 65th anniversary of M.S. Gorbachev are published in the Russian and foreign press. March 22. While in St. Petersburg, he publicly confirms his decision to run in the presidential elections of Russia. April June. He travels to the regions of Russia, conducts an election campaign under the slogan “I started the reforms - it’s up to me to complete them.” April. An incident during M.S. Gorbachev’s election trip in Omsk: unemployed M.N. Malyukov hit him on the head, explaining his actions with a desire to slap him in the face. June 16. Does not receive voter support in the presidential elections of Russia.
1998, June. Ceremony for awarding an honorary doctorate of science from Northeastern University Boston (USA) in the discipline " International relationships" October. The US black organization “National Civil Rights Museum” awards M.S. Gorbachev the Freedom Prize for 1998.
1999, March 15. In Cambridge (Great Britain) he takes part in the scientific symposium “Russia on the threshold of the new millennium”. Celebrates the 9th anniversary of his election as President of the USSR. April. Speaks at a meeting of Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Italy condemning the armed confrontation between NATO and Yugoslavia.
Source of information: A.A. Dantsev. Rulers of Russia: 20th century. Rostov-on-Don, Phoenix Publishing House, 2000 Events during Gorbachev’s reign:
1985, March - at the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected general secretary (Viktor Grishin was considered the main rival for this post, but the choice was made in favor of the younger Gorbachev).
1985 - publication of the “semi-prohibition” law, vodka on coupons.
1985, July-August - XII World Festival of Youth and Students
1986 - accident at the fourth power unit Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Evacuation of the population from the “exclusion zone”. Construction of a sarcophagus over a destroyed block.
1986 - Andrei Sakharov returns to Moscow.
1987, January - announcement of “Perestroika”.
1988 - celebration of the millennium of the baptism of Rus'.
1988 - the law “On Cooperation” in the USSR, which laid the foundation for modern entrepreneurship.
1989, November 9 - the Berlin Wall, which personified the "Iron Curtain", was destroyed.
1989, February - the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan is completed.
1989, May 25 - The First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR began.
1990 - the accession of the GDR (including East Berlin) and West Berlin to the Federal Republic of Germany - the first NATO advance to the east.
1990, March - introduction of the post of President of the USSR, who was to be elected for five years. As an exception, the first President of the USSR was elected by the Third Congress of People's Deputies, the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev.
1990, June 12 - adoption of the declaration of sovereignty of the RSFSR.
1991, August 19 - August putsch - an attempt by members of the State Emergency Committee to remove Mikhail Gorbachev “for health reasons” and thus preserve the USSR.
1991, August 22 - failure of the putschists. Banning of republican communist parties by the majority of union republics.
1991, September - new supreme body The authorities of the USSR State Council, headed by USSR President Gorbachev, recognize the independence of the Baltic union republics (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia).
1991, December - the heads of three union republics: the RSFSR (Russian Federation), Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR) and the Republic of Belarus (BSSR) in Belovezhskaya Pushcha sign the “agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States,” which declares the termination of the existence of the USSR. On December 12, the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR ratifies the agreement and denounces the 1922 treaty on the formation of the USSR.
1991 - December 25 M. S. Gorbachev resigns from the post of President of the USSR, by decree of the President of the RSFSR B. N. Yeltsin, the state of the RSFSR changed its name to " Russian Federation"However, it was enshrined in the constitution only in May 1992.
1991 - December 26, the upper house of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR legally liquidates the USSR.
Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeevich - politician, statesman, first and only President of the USSR.
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for improving relations with foreign countries, including ending " cold war"with the USA.
During his activities, the most significant events took place that had a great influence on the further development of the country.
Childhood and adolescence
On March 2, 1931, Mikhail Gorbachev was born in the Stavropol Territory, the village of Privolnoye. His parents were ordinary peasants.
Father - Sergei Andreevich Gorbachev was a foreman, and his father was the chairman of the local collective farm. Gopkalo's mother Maria Panteleevna was Ukrainian.
The childhood of the future statesman coincided with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.
My father immediately went to the front, and Misha and his mother ended up in a village occupied by the Nazis.
Mikhail with his parents as a child
They lived under the yoke of German soldiers for 5 months. After liberation, the family received news from the front about the death of their father.
Mikhail had to combine his studies at school with work on the collective farm. At the age of 15, he already held the position of assistant combine operator.
For conscientious work and exceeding the plan in 1948, Mikhail was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
Despite the difficulties and work, Mikhail graduated from school with a “silver” medal.
This allowed him to enter the Faculty of Law at Moscow State University without entrance exams, where he became the head of the Komsomol organization.
Occupying a public position, he was surrounded by fairly free-thinking fellow students.
His circle of friends included Zdenek Mlynar, who would become one of the leaders of the Prague Spring in the future.
In 1952, he joined the CPSU party. After 3 years, he received a law degree and was assigned to work in the Stavropol prosecutor's office.
In 1967 he received a second higher education agricultural economist.
Starting a career in politics
He worked at the prosecutor's office for only a week. He was immediately accepted into the regional committee of the Komsomol in the department of agitation and propaganda. He worked there for 7 years, from 1955 - 1962.
During this time, he served as first secretary of the city Komsomol committee, then as 2nd and 1st secretary of the regional committee of the Komsomol.
Afterwards, having support in the person of F.D. Kulakov, Mikhail Gorbachev’s career quickly began to grow upward.
By 1970, he was the first secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU. In addition, Mikhail acquired good reputation in the field Agriculture.
Then he was elected a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. He spent 12 years in this service. He rose to the post of Chairman.
Years of Presidency and removal from office
In March 1985, a plenum of the CPSU Central Committee was held, at which Mikhail Gorbachev officially assumed the position of General Secretary of the central committee.
He became the political leader of one of the world superpowers - the USSR. Subsequently he career began to grow rapidly.
In 1989 he joined the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR as its chairman.
A year later he becomes President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.
He initiated a series of major reforms, called “perestroika,” which lasted in the country for 6 years (1985-1991).
As head of state, he carried out an anti-alcohol campaign, which was considered a big mistake.
His decisions in the international arena led to the end of the Cold War, the reduction of the threat of the use of nuclear weapons, and the unification of Germany.
Mikhail Gorbachev sought to reduce tensions between countries.
However, discontent was growing within the country, and against its background, external achievements did not look advantageous.
On June 12, 1990, a decree was signed proclaiming the independence of the RSFSR. As a result, other republics began to follow this example.
In 1991, the August Putsch occurred, which became the culmination of internal tensions, and its failure only completed the collapse of the allied power.
After such events, Mikhail Gorbachev was accused of treason and a criminal case was opened.
After some time, it was closed, and M. Gorbachev himself resigned from the post of head of state.
This happened on December 25, 1991. He led the country for only 1 year.
Afterwards he became the head of an international foundation that was engaged in socio-economic and political research.
People called it the “Gorbachev Foundation”. After 2 years, he headed the international environmental organization Green Cross.
Activities after retirement
In 1996, Mikhail again participated in the elections of the President of the Russian Federation. However, his candidacy was able to gain only 0.51% of the vote. total number votes.
In 2000, he took the post of head of the Social Democratic Russian Party, which a year later merged with the SDPR (Social Democratic Party).
For the next 3 years he was the leader of this party. In 2007, by court decision, SDPR was liquidated.
In the same year, Mikhail Gorbachev created the social movement “Union of Social Democrats” and headed it.
In 2008, he was invited to a program with Vladimir Pozner. In an interview, he admitted his mistakes that led to the collapse of the USSR.
On the occasion of his 80th anniversary on March 2, 2011, the current President signed a decree awarding M. Gorbachev the Order. Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called.
In 2014, he went to Germany, where he opened an exhibition dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall separating the eastern and western parts of Berlin.
On the last day of February, the ex-president of the USSR presented a book about himself, “Gorbachev in Life,” at his foundation.
In the spring of 2016, a meeting with future economists took place at the Moscow School at Moscow State University.
There he publicly acknowledged responsibility for his government decisions.
Personal life
Mikhail Gorbachev was married once. His first, faithful and only legal companion was Raisa Maksimovna Titarenko.
They met during their student years at one of the parties organized by Raisa’s friend.
Raisa was an exemplary student and spent all her time in the library. And at first she didn’t like Mikhail.
However, an incident changed everything. Raisa had serious health problems, and the only person who was nearby all the time was Mikhail.
With his wife Raisa
On September 25, 1953, the young couple registered their relationship. Parents were simply presented with a fait accompli.
Family life almost immediately began to test the strength of the young family’s feelings.
In the first year, Raisa became pregnant, but doctors forbade her to give birth due to heart problems.
The couple had to accept difficult decision- agree to an abortion. Then, on the recommendation of the doctor, Mikhail and his wife decide to change the climate.
They move to Stavropol, to a small village. It starts there new life, and Raisa safely gives birth to a girl, Irina, in 1957.
At first, Raisa helps Mikhail in every possible way in his career. However, she herself does not sit at home either.
One of the most popular Russian politicians in the West during the last decades of the twentieth century is Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev. The years of his reign greatly changed our country, as well as the situation in the world. This is one of the most controversial figures, according to public opinion. Gorbachev's perestroika causes ambiguous attitudes in our country. This politician is called both the gravedigger of the Soviet Union and the great reformer.
Biography of Gorbachev
Gorbachev's story begins in 1931, March 2. It was then that Mikhail Sergeevich was born. He was born in the Stavropol region, in the village of Privolnoye. He was born and raised in a peasant family. In 1948, he worked with his father on a combine harvester and received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for his success in harvesting. Gorbachev graduated from school in 1950 with a silver medal. After this, he entered the Faculty of Law at Moscow University. Gorbachev later admitted that at that time he had a rather vague idea of what law and jurisprudence were. However, he was impressed by the position of a prosecutor or judge.
During his student years, Gorbachev lived in a dormitory and received one increased scholarship for Komsomol work and excellent studies, but nevertheless barely made ends meet. He became a party member in 1952.
Once at a club, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev met Raisa Titarenko, a student at the Faculty of Philosophy. They got married in 1953, in September. Mikhail Sergeevich graduated from Moscow State University in 1955 and was sent to work in the USSR Prosecutor's Office on assignment. However, it was then that the government adopted a resolution according to which it was prohibited to employ law graduates in the central prosecutor's offices and judicial authorities. Khrushchev, as well as his associates, believed that one of the reasons for the repressions carried out in the 1930s was the dominance of inexperienced young judges and prosecutors in the authorities, ready to obey any instructions from the leadership. Thus, Mikhail Sergeevich, whose two grandfathers suffered from repression, became a victim of the fight against the cult of personality and its consequences.
At administrative work
Gorbachev returned to the Stavropol region and decided not to contact the prosecutor's office anymore. He got a job in the department of agitation and propaganda in the regional Komsomol - he became the deputy head of this department. The Komsomol and then the party career of Mikhail Sergeevich developed very successfully. Gorbachev's political activities bore fruit. He was appointed in 1961 as the first secretary of the local Komsomol regional committee. Gorbachev is already in next year begins party work, and then, in 1966, becomes the first secretary of the Stavropol city party committee.
This is how the career of this politician gradually developed. Already then it appeared main drawback of this future reformer: Mikhail Sergeevich, accustomed to working selflessly, could not ensure that his orders were conscientiously carried out by his subordinates. This characteristic of Gorbachev, some believe, led to the collapse of the USSR.
Moscow
Gorbachev became Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee in November 1978. The recommendations of L.I. Brezhnev's closest associates - Andropov, Suslov and Chernenko - played a major role in this appointment. After 2 years, Mikhail Sergeevich becomes the youngest of all members of the Politburo. He wants to become the first person in the state and in the party in the near future. This could not even be prevented by the fact that Gorbachev essentially occupied a “penalty post” - the secretary in charge of agriculture. After all, this sector of the Soviet economy was the most disadvantaged. Mikhail Sergeevich still remained in this position after Brezhnev's death. But Andropov even then advised him to delve into all matters in order to be ready at any moment to take full responsibility. When Andropov died and Chernenko came to power for a short period, Mikhail Sergeevich became the second person in the party, as well as the most likely “heir” to this general secretary.
In Western political circles, Gorbachev's fame was first brought to him by his visit to Canada in May 1983. He went there for a week with the personal permission of Andropov, who was the general secretary at that time. Pierre Trudeau, the prime minister of this country, became the first major Western leader to receive Gorbachev personally and treat him with sympathy. Having met other Canadian politicians, Gorbachev gained a reputation in that country as an energetic and ambitious politician who stood in stark contrast to his elderly Politburo colleagues. He developed a significant interest in Western economic management and moral values, including democracy.
Gorbachev's Perestroika
The death of Chernenko opened the way to power for Gorbachev. The Plenum of the Central Committee on March 11, 1985 elected Gorbachev as General Secretary. In the same year, at the April plenum, Mikhail Sergeevich proclaimed a course to accelerate the country’s development and restructuring. These terms, which appeared under Andropov, did not immediately become widespread. This happened only after the XXVII Congress of the CPSU, which took place in February 1986. Gorbachev called glasnost one of the main conditions for the success of the upcoming reforms. The time of Gorbachev could not yet be called full-fledged freedom of speech. But it was possible, at least, to talk in the press about the shortcomings of society, without, however, affecting the foundations of the Soviet system and the members of the Politburo. However, already in 1987, in January, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev stated that there should be no zones closed to criticism in society.
Principles of foreign and domestic policy
The new Secretary General did not have a clear reform plan. Only the memory of Khrushchev's "thaw" remained with Gorbachev. In addition, he believed that the calls of leaders, if they were honest, and these calls themselves were correct, could reach ordinary executors within the framework of the party-state system that existed at that time and thereby change the better life. Gorbachev was firmly convinced of this. The years of his reign were marked by the fact that throughout all 6 years he spoke about the need for united and energetic actions, about the need for everyone to act constructively.
He hoped that, as the leader of a socialist state, he could gain world authority based not on fear, but, above all, on reasonable policies and unwillingness to justify the country’s totalitarian past. Gorbachev, whose years in power are often referred to as “perestroika,” believed that new political thinking must triumph. It should include recognition of the priority of universal human values over national and class values, the need to unite states and peoples to jointly solve the problems facing humanity.
Publicity policy
During Gorbachev's reign, general democratization began in our country. Political persecution stopped. The pressure of censorship has weakened. Many prominent people returned from exile and prison: Marchenko, Sakharov and others. The policy of glasnost, which was launched by the Soviet leadership, changed the spiritual life of the country's population. Interest in television, radio, and print media has increased. In 1986 alone, magazines and newspapers gained more than 14 million new readers. All of these are, of course, significant advantages of Gorbachev and the policies he pursues.
Mikhail Sergeevich’s slogan, under which he carried out all the reforms, was the following: “More democracy, more socialism.” However, his understanding of socialism gradually changed. Back in 1985, in April, Gorbachev said at the Politburo that when Khrushchev brought criticism of Stalin’s actions to incredible proportions, it only brought great damage to the country. Soon glasnost led to more bigger wave anti-Stalinist criticism, which was undreamed of during the “thaw” years.
Anti-alcohol reform
The idea of this reform was initially very positive. Gorbachev wanted to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed in the country per capita, as well as begin the fight against drunkenness. However, the campaign, as a result of overly radical actions, led to unexpected results. The reform itself and the further rejection of the state monopoly led to the fact that the bulk of income in this area went into the shadow sector. Quite a lot starting capital in the 90s it was made up of “drunk” money by private owners. The treasury was rapidly emptying. As a result of this reform, many valuable vineyards were cut down, which led to the disappearance of entire industrial sectors in some republics (in particular, Georgia). The anti-alcohol reform also contributed to the growth of moonshine, substance abuse and drug addiction, and multi-billion dollar losses were incurred in the budget.
Gorbachev's reforms in foreign policy
In November 1985, Gorbachev met with Ronald Reagan, President of the United States. At it, both sides recognized the need to improve bilateral relations, as well as improve the overall international situation. Gorbachev's foreign policy led to the conclusion of the START treaties. Mikhail Sergeevich, with a statement dated January 15, 1986, put forward a number of major initiatives devoted to foreign policy issues. The complete elimination of chemical and nuclear weapons was to be carried out by the year 2000, and strict control was to be exercised during their destruction and storage. All of these are Gorbachev’s most important reforms.
Reasons for failure
In contrast to the course aimed at transparency, when it was enough just to order the weakening and then actually abolish censorship, his other initiatives (for example, the sensational anti-alcohol campaign) were combined with the propaganda of administrative coercion. Gorbachev, whose years of rule were marked by increasing freedom in all spheres, at the end of his reign, having become president, sought to rely, unlike his predecessors, not on the party apparatus, but on a team of assistants and the government. He leaned more and more towards the social democratic model. S.S. Shatalin said that he managed to turn the Secretary General into a convinced Menshevik. But Mikhail Sergeevich abandoned the dogmas of communism too slowly, only under the influence of the growth of anti-communist sentiment in society. Gorbachev, even during the events of 1991 (the August putsch), still expected to retain power and, returning from Foros (Crimea), where he had a state dacha, declared that he believed in the values of socialism and would fight for them, leading the reformed Communist Party. It is obvious that he was never able to rebuild himself. Mikhail Sergeevich in many ways remained a party secretary, who was accustomed not only to privileges, but also to power independent of the people's will.
Merits of M. S. Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeevich in his last performance in his role as president of the country, he took credit for the fact that the population of the state gained freedom and became spiritually and politically liberated. Freedom of the press, free elections, a multi-party system, representative bodies of government, and religious freedoms have become real. The highest principle human rights were recognized. The movement towards a new multi-structured economy began, equality of forms of ownership was approved. Gorbachev finally ended the Cold War. During his reign, the militarization of the country and the arms race, which had disfigured the economy, morality and public consciousness, were stopped.
The foreign policy of Gorbachev, who finally eliminated the Iron Curtain, ensured Mikhail Sergeevich respect throughout the world. The President of the USSR was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 for activities aimed at developing cooperation between countries.
At the same time, some indecisiveness of Mikhail Sergeevich, his desire to find a compromise that would suit both radicals and conservatives, led to the fact that transformations in the state’s economy never began. A political settlement of contradictions and interethnic hostility, which ultimately destroyed the country, was never achieved. History is unlikely to be able to answer the question of whether someone else could have preserved the USSR and the socialist system in Gorbachev’s place.
Conclusion
The subject of supreme power, as the ruler of the state, must have full rights. M. S. Gorbachev, the leader of the party, who concentrated state and party power in himself, without being popularly elected to this post, in this respect was significantly inferior in the eyes of the public to B. Yeltsin. The latter eventually became the President of Russia (1991). Gorbachev, as if compensating for this shortcoming during his reign, increased his power and tried to achieve various powers. However, he did not follow the laws and did not force others to do so. That is why Gorbachev’s characterization is so ambiguous. Politics is, first of all, the art of acting wisely.
Among the many accusations brought against Gorbachev, perhaps the most significant was the accusation of indecisiveness. However, if you compare the significant scale of the breakthrough he made and the short period of time he was in power, you can argue with this. In addition to all of the above, the Gorbachev era was marked by the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the holding of the first competitive free elections in Russian history, and the elimination of the party's monopoly on power that existed before him. As a result of Gorbachev's reforms, the world has changed significantly. He will never be the same again. Without political will and courage, it is impossible to do this. Gorbachev can be viewed differently, but, of course, he is one of the largest figures in modern history.
Mikhail Gorbachev was born into a peasant family in the Stavropol region. IN school years worked part-time on a collective farm. Work did not prevent him from graduating from school with a silver medal and entering Moscow State University. Having graduated with honors from the Faculty of Law, Gorbachev soon received the position of deputy head of the agitation and propaganda department of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the Komsomol. A few years later, he promoted to the position of first secretary of the regional committee of the Komsomol, and later - first secretary of the Stavropol regional committee of the CPSU. In 1978, he was elected Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and 10 years later he took the post of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
Mikhail Gorbachev became the first and last president of the USSR.
This position was created on March 15, 1990 and abolished on December 25, 1991. Even before taking office, Gorbachev launched the policy of perestroika. A number of reforms were supposed to accelerate the country's socio-economic development. Reform plans were developed back in 1983-1984 on behalf of the Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee Yuri Andropov. Gorbachev spoke about the need for reforms in 1985 at the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee. “Apparently, comrades, we all need to rebuild. Everyone,” he noted then, and two years later he moved on to implementing his plans.
The goal of the reforms was to democratize the socio-political and economic system that had developed in the USSR. By 2000, it was planned to double the economic potential of the USSR. One of important elements perestroika was the introduction of the glasnost policy - now negative sides the life of society was openly covered. Creativity became freer, and many previously prohibited works were published.
However, by 1989, changes were beyond the control of the authorities.
Economic growth slowed down, and in 1990 it completely gave way to a decline. The standard of living of the population fell sharply, the USSR was gripped by poverty, unemployment and shortages of goods. Not knowing what to expect from the future, people went abroad.
By 1991, private property was legalized in the USSR and currency and stock markets were formed; the philosophy of foreign policy was reduced to unilateral concessions to Western countries. Union and autonomous republics, one after another, declared their independence. They no longer paid taxes to the union and federal budgets, which further undermined the economy of the USSR. Gold reserves, which in 1985 amounted to 2,500 tons, decreased to 240, external debt increased from $31 billion to $70 billion (according to other sources, from $25 billion to $104 billion), the ruble to dollar exchange rate increased almost 150 times.
A few days earlier, Gorbachev met with Boris Yeltsin to discuss some aspects of the transfer of power.
On December 25, Mikhail Gorbachev made a televised speech announcing his resignation.
“Dear compatriots, fellow citizens,” he said, pausing between words. — Due to the current situation with the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, I am ceasing my activities as President of the USSR. I make this decision for reasons of principle... I firmly stood for the independence of peoples, for the sovereignty of the republics. But at the same time, for the preservation of the union state, the integrity of the country. Events took a different path. The prevailing line was to dismember the country and disunite the state, which I cannot agree with.
I leave my post with anxiety, but also with hope.
With faith in you, in your wisdom and fortitude. I wish you all the best."
The recording shows how worried Gorbachev is, and you can hear his voice trembling. After he has said this, he sits silently for several seconds, now looking at the camera, now turning away. Then he collects the papers laid out on the table in front of him and takes off his glasses.
On the same day, the Supreme Council of the RSFSR decided to rename the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the Russian Federation.
“Shortly before the start, I came to Mikhail Sergeevich’s office. He was upset, but at the same time so focused,” recalled the chief director of the “Time” program, Kaleria Kislova.
“I made one mistake. We had to go all the way,”
- Gorbachev said later in one of the documentaries about the collapse of the USSR.
The next day, the news of Gorbachev's resignation from the presidency filled the headlines of many newspapers.
“Gorbachev is leaving. But the trace he left in the chronicle of the world does not disappear,” Pravda wrote.
Gorbachev is now president of the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Science Research. In 2008, in an interview with television journalist Vladimir Pozner, he said: “But I’ll tell you: we all made mistakes three more times. We were late in reforming the party. Secondly, we are late in reforming the Union. And third... When things got tight here, especially after 1989, in 1990 - when the whole country was in queues and we didn’t have enough goods to satisfy these requests, when we could get broken in line for Italian shoes... It was necessary find $10-15 billion. They could be found...” Also in other television appearances, he insisted that perestroika had won and democratic reforms began during his reign.
Mikhail Gorbachev received about 70 different awards, orders and prizes, including the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his “leading role in the peace process, which today characterizes an important component life of the international community."
2 March 1931 in the village of Privolnoye, Krasnogvardeisky district, Stavropol Territory, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, Soviet and Russian state and public figure, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (1985-91), first President of the USSR (1990-91), Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1990).
In 1950, Gorbachev graduated from school with a silver medal and entered the law faculty of Moscow University. After graduating from the university in 1955, he was appointed secretary of the Stavropol city Komsomol committee, and from 1956 - first secretary. In 1958-1962. Gorbachev worked in leadership positions in the regional Komsomol committee. In 1967, he graduated in absentia from the Faculty of Economics of the Stavropol Agricultural Institute with a degree in economics and agronomist.
In 1962, Gorbachev went to work in the regional party committee. In 1966, he became the first secretary of the Stavropol City Committee of the CPSU, two years later - the second secretary, and then the first secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the CPSU. In the mid-1970s. Gorbachev was actively involved in agricultural issues: his articles were published in the central press in support of methods for rationalizing peasant labor. Gradually, Gorbachev became one of the ideologists of the party's policy in the field of agriculture.
In 1971, he became a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and three years later he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR; was the chairman of a number of commissions of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR: on youth affairs (1974-1979), legislative proposals (1979-1984), on foreign affairs(1984-1985). During these years, he managed to rally around himself the young secretaries of the Central Committee and the leaders of local party organizations (E.K. Ligacheva, N.I. Ryzhkov, E.A. Shevardnadze), and also received the support of some members and candidates for members of the Politburo, first just A. A. Gromyko, who had great influence.
In 1985, at the March plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, Gorbachev was officially elected General Secretary of the Central Committee. During the year, Gorbachev renewed the composition of the Politburo by two-thirds: 60% of the secretaries of regional committees and 40% of the members of the CPSU Central Committee were replaced. In February - March 1986, at the XXVII Congress of the CPSU, Gorbachev made a report in which he spoke in favor of the need for economic renewal of the country, increasing the independence of enterprises, reducing government orders, democratic changes in society, and increasing the political activity of the people. The policy of the XXVII Congress of the CPSU was called “perestroika”, the main slogans of which were “new thinking”, “glasnost” and “openness”.
On March 15, 1990, the III Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR elected M.S. Gorbachev as president THE USSR.
The foreign policy of “new thinking” associated with the name of Gorbachev contributed to a radical change in the entire international situation (the end of the Cold War, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, the weakening of the nuclear threat, “velvet” revolutions in countries of Eastern Europe, unification of Germany). In 1990, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to easing international tensions.
In August 1991, Gorbachev announced his resignation as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and on December 25, 1991, after signing the Belovezhskaya Agreement on the liquidation of the USSR, he resigned as head of state.
After resigning, Mikhail Sergeevich continued his active social activities. In 1992, he founded the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Research (Gorbachev Foundation). In 1993, Gorbachev headed the international environmental organization Green Cross. In 1996, he took part in the Russian presidential elections (gained about 0.51%). On October 20, 2007, M. S. Gorbachev became chairman of the All-Russian social movement"Union of Social Democrats".
Lit.: Gorbachev Foundation: website. 2010. URL: http://www. gorby. ru /; Gorbachev M. S. Life and reforms. M., 1995; Medvedev IN. A. On Gorbachev’s team: A look from the inside. M., 1994;Modern political history of Russia (1985-1997) years). T. 2: Faces of Russia. M., 1998; Chernyaev A. S. Six years with Gorbachev: According to diaries and notes. M., 1993; Shakhnazarov G. X. The price of freedom: Gorbachev’s Reformation through the eyes of his assistant. M., 1994;27th Congress of the CPSU: Materials. M., 1986; The same [Electronic resource]. URL: http://publ. lib. ru / ARCHIVES / K / KPSS /_ KPSS . html #027.
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