뉴스레터

“First stage in the Soviet troop withdrawal from Afghanistan”.

Soviet soldiers-internationalists returning from the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

RIA Novosti archive, image #644460 / Yuriy Somov (CC BY-SA)

Mikhail Gorbachev was born in Stavropol, southwestern Russia, the son of a peasant; he entered the University of Moscow School of Law in 1952 and became a Communist Party member that year. He got his Ph.D. in 1955 and became the first secretary of the local party committee, going through several positions in the Community Union of Youth and the organization within the party. In recognition of his ability, he was appointed to the Central Committee of the Community Party of the Soviet Union in 1971, and served as Secretary of Agriculture(1978) and a member of the Political Bureau(1980). He emerged as the next likely candidate during his tenure with Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, and was elected as the Secretary-General of the Community Party of the Soviet Union after Chernenko's death in March 1985.
Surprisingly, as soon as he came to power as a Secretary-General, he began to reform the party, dismissing incompetent and old executives and replacing them with talented new figures. Gorbachev aimed at revitalizing the stagnant economy, strengthened the power in the party, and promoted full-scale reform from 1987. This was a series of reform policies known as the so-called Glasnost and Perestroika.
Under this policy trend, freedom of expression and right to know have been greatly expanded socially. The media has sought freedom that has not been before in criticism of reality, and social organizations that are not controlled by the state have emerged. Politically, multiple candidates competed, and a partial secret ballot was held. Economically, industries that relied on state subsidies and orders have managed their own production, and market economic factors have begun to expand, including allowing private business activities.

Gorbachev became chairman of the Supreme Soviet caucus despite the opposition of the conservatives against the reform. He planned to separate legislative and administrative bodies from the party and separate power. In December 1988, according to the amendment of the Constitution, the People's Congress, a bicameral parliament, was established. In March 1989, the Soviet Union held elections based on the principles of multiple candidates and direct elections for the first time in history, and in May Gorbachev was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet, which changed into a representative body similar to the West.

Foreignly, the Soviet Union improved its relations with the capitalist countries of the West and promoted economic development. To achieve this, in December 1987, he signed the INF Treaty with President Reagan of the United States, and the following year he withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan, which had been occupied for nine years. He also did not intervene in the anti-Soviet/anti-Communist movement that took place in Eastern European socialist countries since 1989, and recognized the subsequent collapse of the regime, the abandonment of the socialist system, and the transition to the market economy system. In the summer of 1990, he accepted the unification of East and West Germany and allowed the remaining NATO of unified Germany; he won the Nobel Peace Prize for this series of peaceful moves.

But there were other problems within the Soviet Union. As freedom of speech and thought expanded, there was a strong demand for the right of autonomy and independence in each ethnic unit. In some Republics, there was a disturbance over democratization and ethnic conflict. In Lithuania and other Baltic countries, a strong separatist movement occurred. Gorbachev bloody-suppressed ethnic clashes in Central Asia and anti-Soviet protests in Georgia. In March 1990, when Lithuania unilaterally declared independence, he blocked the economy and prevented the departure. And he began to revise the Constitution to prepare legal requirements for federal withdrawal.

Meanwhile, he transferred various state powers to administrative bodies. Elected President of the Soviet Union at the People's Congress in March 1990, he became a powerful administrative power, abolished the dictatorship of the Communist Party and laid the framework for a multi-party system. In this way, there was a result of transplanting representative democracy to the Soviet Union, but economic reform has been difficult. He clearly recognized the limitations and alternatives of the real socialism, but also knew about the sudden transition to a capitalist system and the risks that Western-led capitalism would bring to the Soviet Union. So he could not easily draw a picture of ‘reform’. He did not appear determined: he overcame the violent opposition of conservatives, created new statutes and attempted to cabinet reshuffle, but the administration faced a major crisis. Eventually, as the pace of reform slowed, he began to lean on Security Organizations and conservatives within the party.

President Reagan and Vice-President Bush

meeting with General Secretary Gorbachev on Governor's Island, New York.

On August 19, 1991, hard-line conservatives, which were trying to reverse the reforms pursued by Gorbachev, caused a coup. But the coup was suppressed in three days after a national resistance took place throughout the Soviet Union, with anti-coup protests led by reformers such as Boris Yeltsin. Under these circumstances, Gorbachev put forward The Draft of a New Union Treatment, which strengthened the sovereignty of each republic, fearing the collapse of system and territorial integrity. But it was not enough to quell the minority who wanted segregation independence. Eventually, Moldavia, Armenia and Georgia, led by three republics in the Baltic region, declared their absence from the new federal government. Yeltsin also insisted on expanding the authority of the Russian Federal Republic and demanded that the Draft of a New Union Treatment be revised drastically.

Finally, on December 8, 1991, the leaders of the three major countries, including the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the Republic of Belarus, who belonged to the Soviet Union, declared the formation of the CIS, and Gorbachev's efforts to stop the dismantling of the Federation became meaningless. On December 21, 11 republics, except Georgia, signed the CIS agreement. The Soviet Union, which was launched in 1917 as a socialist revolution and has been in operation for more than 70 years, ended and the real socialism was over. And on December 25, Gorbachev declared his resignation as president.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he founded the Gorbachev Foundation for the environment and the human rights of children, and in the same year he became the first president of Green Cross International. He also served as a representative of political forces that encompass all social democratic circles. In the Western world, he is highly regarded as a leading figure in the peaceful end of the socialist system, but in Russia he has been regarded as the main culprit that destroyed the nation. The reforms pursued by Gorbachev showed how difficult it is to realize that peaceful coexistence between countries and between classes and groups in the country under the market system. He sought a transition to Nordic Scandinavian capitalism, not Anglo-American capitalism, but real socialism collapsed rapidly and there were not many alternatives. Despite abandoning the regime in the end, the level supported by the West, which had been expected in a hostile environment to Russia, did not meet expectations. And the rapid transition to a market economy based on Neoliberalism caused total confusion. More than 30 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the dream of democratic development and economic prosperity that Gorbachev painted is still far from possible.