Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread: Why Gorbachev?

  1. #1
    Council Member kowalskil's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA
    Posts
    49

    Default Why Gorbachev?

    Why Gorbachev?

    Gorbachev is of the same age as I am. Several days ago I read a post (on a Russian forum) in which he was accused of being responsible for the disintegration of the Soviet Union. In my opinion the country disintegrated spontaneously, after the truth about dark sides of Stalinism became known. Yes, Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Communist Party, did contribute to the fall, by promoting the policy of "glasnost," that is by allowing truth to be known. But reforms introduced by the President of the Soviet Union, Yeltsyn, were equally important. The same can be said about Gorbachev's predecessor Khrushchev, about Solzhenitsyn, Shalamow and Pasternak, whose books were allowed to be published, and about authors of many other documents.

    Karl Marx would say that focusing on characters of exceptional individuals, such as Lenin, Stalin and Gorbachev, is not sufficient. He would most probably try to identify mistkes made by those who managed the country's economy, focusing on nationalization of means of production, collectivisation of agriculture, and on dealing with some national aspirations.

    Ludwik Kowalski, Ludwik Kowalski

    http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html

    P.S.
    A Russian author wrote:
    "Gorbachev must be put on trial! This diversionary enemy worked for western intelligence services."
    "Судить Горбачёва необходимо! Это враг, диверсант который работал на западную разведку!"
    Ludwik Kowalski, author of a free ON-LINE book entitled “Diary of a Former Communist: Thoughts, Feelings, Reality.”

    http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html

    It is a testimony based on a diary kept between 1946 and 2004 (in the USSR, Poland, France and the USA).

    The more people know about proletarian dictatorship the less likely will we experience is.

  2. #2
    Council Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    115

    Default

    I wonder if the blame directed at Gorbachev by Russians is related to the more recent Chinese Communist Party's considerable efforts to specifically avoid a Chinese flavoured Soviet collapse?

    Are Russians angry that Soviet leaders were unable to manage a transition like the Chinese have(albeit based on a Soviet economic transformation operations manual of "what not to do")

    Would Russian anger directed at Gorbachev relate to wondering over what would have happened with the Soviet Union had it maintained an iron fist on political/personal freedom while enabling economic freedom and privatizing parts of the economy?

    Basically Stalinism meets coalface entrepreneurism.

    Or would Russian anger also relate to failure to prevent possibly the greatest theft in human history(prior to the recent GFC) when Soviet state assets were sold for fractions of a penny on the dollar and the rise of the insider connected oligarghs?

    I've read estimates of $200-300 US billion in value back when $200-300 billion was real money.

  3. #3
    Council Member kowalskil's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA
    Posts
    49

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by flagg View Post

    Are Russians angry that Soviet leaders were unable to manage a transition like the Chinese have(albeit based on a Soviet economic transformation operations manual of "what not to do")
    I suspect most of Russians know that China's transition was much more better.

    Ludwik Kowalski (see Wikipedia)
    Ludwik Kowalski, author of a free ON-LINE book entitled “Diary of a Former Communist: Thoughts, Feelings, Reality.”

    http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html

    It is a testimony based on a diary kept between 1946 and 2004 (in the USSR, Poland, France and the USA).

    The more people know about proletarian dictatorship the less likely will we experience is.

  4. #4
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Posts
    9

    Default

    People want something easy to blame. They don't like a large mass of party officials that have no name they might have to step out and research. It's why few people in the US get angry at Congress and more just name drop Obama. Gorbachev was the leader, that's the leader that everyone knows. That's who gets the blame.

    It also doesn't help him that he has remained active in political and social commentary on many hot button issues at a time when many russians are feeling nostalgic, renewed, and angry. Nationalistic fervor is high and all they're remembering is that people used to respect the dead empire it was, but now small countries they used to hold dominion over leave their sphere of influence every day.

  5. #5
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Upstate New York
    Posts
    6

    Default CCCP gets no respect

    Truth is, the Russians loathed the Soviet Union. I know this from eyeball to eyeball experiences. That is a big reason for its collapse.

    Now their grandchildren, not knowing any better, want the good-old-days back. What can I say? They're Russian.

Similar Threads

  1. Afghan Exit:why, how and more in country and beyond
    By Bob's World in forum OEF - Afghanistan
    Replies: 61
    Last Post: 03-15-2013, 06:07 PM
  2. Replies: 2
    Last Post: 12-01-2006, 02:15 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •