Gorbachev. He turned 85 this year. However, even today there is an unprecedented interest in his personality, although this interest is different for everyone. For the West, Gorbachev is almost a holy man. A democrat, a fighter against totalitarianism, etc. But for the majority of citizens of our country, this is the embodiment of evil, betrayal, in a word, everything vulgar and disgusting. Many media today exaggerate rumors about his death, and sometimes assassination attempts are made on him, but he is still alive. All this is quite natural and fair, although I am sure that those who are dissatisfied will definitely be indignant and try to oppose what, about what and in what form I am writing. And yet I will NOT let them do this and will try to present my material about the last General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, about the first and last president Scoop the way he deserves it, not embarrassed in assessments, epithets, expressions and his personal position. The crime committed by Gorbachev together with Yeltsin surpasses all the atrocities of the Nazis and Americans combined during the Second World War, where the Nuremberg Trials are just a cracker before one of the catastrophes of the bygone XX century. Although I must make a reservation here: the creation of the USSR, along with its collapse, became the same catastrophe for people who considered themselves Russians, regardless of their place of residence. However, this is our history, and it has never had only bright spots. The USSR, Nazi Germany, Great Britain, the USA (the list goes on and on) - all these empires were built on bones. Among the first empires that collapsed in the last century were: Kaiser's Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Russian monarchy, Ottoman Empire. In World War II, the Second Roman Empire (Kingdom of Italy), the Third Reich, the British and Japanese empires collapsed. Almost by the very end of the century, this fate befell the USSR. Not far off the collapse and disappearance of the United States with political map world and it is a question of a relatively short time. This is required by history, which speaks of an obvious fact: unipolarity will soon come to an end.
So, let's move on to the topic of our today's material.
With grandma Vasilisa and grandpa Pantelei

Judas childhood
Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 in the village of Privolnoye, Krasnogvardeisky District, Stavropol Territory, into a Russian-Ukrainian family of immigrants from the Voronezh province and Chernihiv region.


Mikhail Gorbachev's father, Sergei Andreevich, worked as a machine operator at a machine and tractor station. In August 1941, he was mobilized into the army, commanded a squad of sappers, was a participant in many famous battles of the Great patriotic war. At the end of May 1944, the Gorbachev family received a funeral. For three days there was crying in the family. However, they soon received a letter from Sergei Andreevich, in which he said that everything was in order with him. At the end of the war, Sergei Andreevich received a shrapnel wound in his leg. S.A. Gorbachev was awarded a medal"For Courage" and two Orders of the Red Star. Returning to his homeland, he again began to work as a machine operator. “My father knew the combine very well and taught me,” recalls M.S. Gorbachev. “After a year or two, I could adjust any mechanism. A point of special pride - by ear I can immediately determine what was wrong in the work of the combine. In 1949, M.S. Gorbachev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.


The repressions that unfolded in the mid-1930s did not bypass the Gopkalo and Gorbachev families either. In 1937, grandfather M.S. Gorbachev Pantelei Efimovich Gopkalo was arrested as "a member of the counter-revolutionary right-wing Trotskyist organization." For fourteen months he was in prison, being under investigation, endured torture and abuse. Pantelei Efimovich was saved from execution by the assistant prosecutor of Stavropol. In December 1938 he was released, returned to Privolnoye, and in 1939 was elected chairman of the collective farm. Pantelei Gopkalo enjoyed great prestige among his fellow villagers.
Another grandfather of Mikhail Sergeevich, Andrei Moiseevich Gorbachev, did not at first join the collective farm, but lived as an individual farmer on a farm. In 1933, as a result of a drought in the south of the country, there was a terrible famine. In the family of Andrei Moiseevich, out of six children, three died of starvation. In the spring of 1934, he was arrested for not fulfilling the grain sowing plan: there was nothing to sow. Andrei Moiseevich as a "saboteur" was sent to forced labor at a logging site in the Irkutsk region. Two years later, in 1936, he was released early for good work and good behavior. Returning to Privolnoe, A.M. Gorbachev joined the collective farm, where he worked until the end of his life.
Before school, Mikhail Gorbachev lived most of the time in the house of Panteley Efimovich and Vasilisa Lukyanovna Gopkalo, who doted on their grandson.


In the play "Masquerade" by Lermontov. School theater, 40s
Michael studied very well at school. During his school years, he showed a passion for knowledge, an interest in the new, which remained in him forever. Michael enthusiastically participated in amateur performances. Once the drama club, in which he participated, went on a "tour" in the villages of the region. With the proceeds from paid performances, 35 pairs of shoes were bought for children who had nothing to go to school.

50s
In 1950 M.S. Gorbachev with silver medal finished school. The father insisted that Michael continued to study. The choice fell on the main university of the country - Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov (Moscow State University). M.S. Gorbachev was enrolled in the law faculty of Moscow State University not only without entrance exams, but even without an interview. He was called by telegram - "enrolled with the provision of a hostel." Several factors influenced this decision: Gorbachev's worker-peasant origin, seniority, a high government award - the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and the fact that in 1950 (while studying in the 10th grade of school) Gorbachev was accepted as a candidate member of the CPSU.

Mikhail Sergeevich recalls: “The years of study at the university were not only extremely interesting for me, but also quite stressful. I had to fill in the gaps in the rural school, which made themselves felt - especially in the first years, and, frankly, I never suffered from a lack of pride.
“... Moscow University gave me solid knowledge and a spiritual charge that determined my life choice. It was here that the long process of rethinking the history of the country, its present and future began, stretching for years.

In his student years, M.S. Gorbachev met his future wife, Raisa Maksimovna Titarenko, who studied at the Faculty of Philosophy at Moscow State University. On September 25, 1953 they got married.

Agent injection
In 1955 M.S. Gorbachev graduated with honors from the Faculty of Law. According to the distribution, he was sent to the disposal of the Stavropol Regional Prosecutor's Office.

In Stavropol, M.S. Gorbachev was remembered for his activities in the school Komsomol organization, noted for his social activity and talent as an organizer. Almost immediately M.S. Gorbachev was offered a job as deputy head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department in the regional committee of the All-Union Leninist Communist Youth Union (VLKSM). So, having worked only 10 days in the prosecutor's office (from August 5 to August 15, 1955), M.S. Gorbachev took on new duties.

In the position of the regional committee of the Komsomol. 60s
In September 1956 M.S. Gorbachev became the first secretary of the Stavropol city committee of the Komsomol; On April 25, 1958, he was elected second secretary of the Komsomol regional committee, and on March 21, 1961, first secretary of the Komsomol regional committee.


September 26, 1966 M.S. Gorbachev becomes First Secretary and member of the Bureau of the Stavropol City Committee of the CPSU. August 5, 1969 - Second Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the CPSU.
Here we should dwell on another important fact: since the beginning of Khrushchev's "thaw", which can be called the "first perestroika" or even its dress rehearsal, Gorbachev and his wife began to actively use Western structures. Gorbi traveled abroad more often than he did work to strengthen the country's potential. During one of these trips, the Americans noticed him, and began to "help" him in every possible way. They will apply the same scheme already when Gorbachev will already hold the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and later the President of Sovka. Then they will find Yeltsin, who, having removed Humpbacked, will abolish the USSR in Viskuli, and on Christmas, according to the Western calendar, the latter will resign as president of the USSR once and for all. On December 26, 1991, the Soviet Union will finally cease to exist.

“When WE received information about the imminent death of the Soviet leader (it was about Yu. V. Andropov.), We thought about the possible coming to power with our help of a person thanks to whom we could realize our intentions. This was the assessment of my experts (and I always formed a very qualified group of experts on the Soviet Union and, as necessary, contributed to the additional emigration of the necessary specialists from the USSR). This person was M. Gorbachev, who was characterized by experts as a careless, suggestible and very ambitious person. He had good relations with the majority of the Soviet political elite, and therefore his coming to power with our help was possible..[ Margaret Thatcher. Member of the Trilateral Commission - January 1992]


One anecdote comes to mind:
"Gorbachev and Thatcher are leaving after closed-door talks. Journalists are interested in:
- Well, how did the dialogue go, what did you feel?
Gorbachev: I felt England under me.
Thatcher: And I am the end of the USSR

During his work in the Stavropol Territory, M.S. Gorbachev managed to prepare and implement a long-term program for the development of the region.


From Yu.V. Andropov
In those years, the young secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU had to come face to face with the decision-making system in the conditions of an administrative-command economy and a bureaucratic state.
The Stavropol Territory is one of the most beautiful and famous resort places in Russia. Top party leaders of the USSR regularly came here to relax. It is here that M.S. Gorbachev met A.N. Kosygin and Yu.V. Andropov. Gorbachev developed a close and trusting relationship with Andropov. Later, Andropov would call Gorbachev "the Stavropol nugget."

For Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva, the Stavropol Territory also became native. After several years of searching for a job in her specialty, she began teaching at the Faculty of Economics of the Stavropol Agricultural Institute. Raisa Maksimovna gave lectures to undergraduate and graduate students on philosophy, aesthetics, problems of religion,
On January 6, 1957, the Gorbachevs had a daughter, Irina.


With daughter and wife
In 1967 P.M. Gorbacheva defended her thesis on the topic “Formation of new features of the life of the collective farm peasantry (based on materials sociological research in the Stavropol Territory).
In 1971 he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU and was immediately appointed to the post of chairman of the Youth Committee (taking into account the experience of Komsomol work).
For numerous successes in the implementation of rationalization solutions, in 1974 he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
In 1974 he was transferred to Moscow and became the Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, supervised the issues of agriculture.
At the beginning of the 80s, due to a series of deaths of state leaders, a very fierce struggle for power was planned. Gorbachev, after the death of Andropov, was not considered one of the main contenders for the "throne", although he was Yuri Vladimirovich's favorite. However, during the reign of Chernenko, Mikhail Sergeevich managed to rally supporters from among the youth (based on the average age of Politburo members). The list of his team included: E.K. Ligachev, N.I. Ryzhkov, E.A. Shevardnadze and other young secretaries of the Central Committee, and leaders of local party organizations. A.A. had a huge influence on the election of Gorbachev. Gromyko, who at that time was, without a doubt, the most influential politician in the USSR, all over the world.
In November 1978, Gorbachev became secretary of the CPSU Central Committee for the agro-industrial complex, in 1979 - a candidate member, in 1980 - a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee.

"Bury the General Secretary!"
Gorbachev waited in the wings for 5 years. He was elected to the Politburo 2 years before Brezhnev's death. The first 5-year period of the 80s is also called the "epoch lavish funeral"when in 2 s small year 3 general secretaries died at once in their post. When Brezhnev died for almost 1.5 weeks, Swan Lake was played on Soviet TV. Only later did the people realize that Brezhnev had died. Andropov was appointed in his place. GB-ist, the chief of the Lubyanka was very good at leadership position. Having come to power, Andropov immediately launched an inner-party purge of corruption. But the chief of the Lubyanka himself was no longer young: in 1983 he turned 69 and this was the last year of his life. By the end of 1983, Andropov's health deteriorated sharply, and on February 9, 1984, he died. On February 13, Andropov's place was taken by Chernenko, who became the last General Secretary to die in the era of the USSR. The infirm 73-year-old man stayed at his post for 13 months. In March 1985 the same fate befell him. And the people began to call the Soviet elite "old farts": the age of most party members either exceeded, or equaled or fluctuated around 70 years. Brezhnev was 76 at the time of his death, Chernenko - 73, Andropov - 69. Will they put another living corpse?

"Apparently, comrades, we all need to rebuild. Everyone"
March 11, 1985 M.S. Gorbachev was unanimously elected as the new General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. He was at that time 54 years old.

Anecdote (from the American sitcom "Alf"):
"- What is Red Square? This is a spot on Gorbachev's bald head! Ha-ha-ha-ha!"

At first, the new general secretary gave the impression of a pleasant person to talk to. Businesslike, speaks and reads without a piece of paper - this is the very zest that his predecessors lacked. But did anyone pay attention to the huge spot that flaunted on his bald head, involuntarily reminiscent of a map of the USSR? I think so, but probably they were afraid to hint about it. Many at that time expressed hope for a change for the better. The system needed invigoration and "second wind". At this time, rock music began to actively develop in the USSR, which for a long time was deeply banned. In 1969, the first Soviet rock band "Time Machine" appeared, whose leader A. Makarevich today is not only one of Gorbachev's friends, but also a friend of the coming out junta.


Further more. The 80s became the heyday of the informal movement - persons whose opinion did not coincide with the official authorities and who expressed it in their work. Music during this period began to develop especially actively. If in the 60-70s our mothers and grandmothers listened to Pugacheva, their beloved VIA ("Pesnyary", "Leisya song", "Merry Fellows", etc.), bard songs, then the 80s were marked by the birth of Soviet rock (Chayf, Kino , Bravo, Nautilus Pompilius,...), and in the middle - punk ( Civil defense, Gaza, NAIV,...), metal (ARIA, Metal Corrosion, Master,...) and art-rock (Picnic). Soviet music will be devoted to a separate material. The anthem of the beginning of the Gorbachev era was the song of gr. KINO and V. Tsoi "Change":

"Our hearts demand change
Change requires our eyes ...
Change - we are waiting for change"


With A.A. Gromyko and N.I. Ryzhkov on the podium of the Mausoleum
Having come to power, Gorbachev proclaimed a course that came to be known as "perestroika". The Secretary General himself subsequently explained what perestroika meant:

- Many people ask "What is perestroika?" Your work is a matter of honor. The main thing is perestroika; nothing else matters.
Two years later, a book was published about the political course of the country called "Perestroika and New Thinking"

The main reason for the start of reforms in the USSR was undoubtedly the difficult economic situation that had developed in the country since the early 1980s. The first attempts to carry out economic reforms belonged to Yu.V. Andropov. He tried to strengthen labor discipline, began the fight against theft and corruption. Andropov's activity led to only a slight short-term effect. The Soviet system was in the grip of a structural crisis, but the Soviet leadership did not realize this.

perestroika poster
Gorbachev began with a large-scale anti-alcohol campaign. Alcohol prices were raised and its sale limited, vineyards were mostly destroyed, which gave rise to whole complex new problems - the consumption of moonshine and all kinds of surrogates increased sharply, the budget suffered significant losses. In May 1985, speaking at a party and economic asset in Leningrad, the Secretary General did not hide the fact that the pace economic growth countries declined, 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 Central Committee of the CPSU.

On May 7, 1985, the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On measures to overcome drunkenness and alcoholism" was adopted. It noted that the economy is suffering enormous losses due to absenteeism and drunkenness in the workplace. The immoderate consumption of alcoholic beverages was one of the main causes of early death among men of working age. It was envisaged to annually reduce the production of vodka and alcoholic beverages, by 1988 to completely stop the production of fruit and berry wines. Alcoholic beverages were sold to persons over the age of 21.


"Owls". This picture became a reality of the era of perestroika.
The anti-alcohol campaign led to a positive effect. The consumption of alcohol per capita has decreased, the mortality rate of people of working age has decreased, the average duration life.
At the same time, home brewing, the consumption of non-edible alcohol-containing liquids and chemicals. There were problems with the provision of sugar in the country, the quality of bread deteriorated due to the lack of yeast, there was a shortage of alcohol in medical institutions.

In 1987 alone, 11,000 people died due to the consumption of alcohol substitutes. State budget in 1985-87 received 37 billion rubles less in taxes from the production of alcohol. In autumn 1988 the anti-alcohol campaign was curtailed.
In fairness, it should be noted that E.K. Ligachev headed the anti-alcohol company

Everything as you wanted, scoop?
However, Gorbachev's anti-booze campaign led to miles of lines at Soviet grocery stores. Food was sorely lacking. The first signs of food shortages began to appear at the end of Brezhnev's rule. "Dry Law" turned out to be a "pyrrhic victory" for the General Secretary. In addition, drug addiction has flourished in the country, and cases of sexual violence are increasingly being recorded. Universities and colleges already received bribes, and food continued to be exported. Nothing was produced in the country. The standard of living began to fall rapidly.


In February 1986, at the 17th Congress of the CPSU, the question was correctly posed: "Turn production towards the consumer and activate the human factor." But appeals alone were indispensable: only one-seventh of the main production assets were involved in the production of consumer goods. And the government started a small-scale industrialization - in order to eventually modernize the backward light industry. Then they reduced the purchase of consumer goods and threw hard currency on the purchase of equipment abroad. The result is minimal. Part of the equipment remained in warehouses and in the open air due to the lack of production space. Entire production lines were idle due to improper operation, lack of spare parts, poor quality of raw materials. All this, however, ended in failure already at the first stage: billions of state investments in basic industries disappeared without a trace in the general bedlam - the light industry did not wait for new equipment, materials, technologies.

Internal subjective factors also contributed to the deterioration of the situation in the economy.
Brent oil price dynamics
By 1985, the external debt of the USSR exceeded $31 billion. The size of the debt gave rise to a number of problems. It was getting harder and harder to find new lenders. The latter demanded ever higher interest rates. And finally, the debt had to be serviced annually, i.e. pay interest on previous loans.


The second major foreign policy problem for the Soviet leadership was the sharp drop in world prices for oil and petroleum products. In the mid 1980s. The price of crude oil produced in the USSR reached an extremely low level - about $ 8 per barrel. The Soviet economy was largely dependent on the export of energy resources, in particular crude oil. As a result, export earnings from the sale of oil fell sharply. The third important foreign policy factor that influenced the deterioration of the economic situation was an active military campaign in Afghanistan. According to some estimates, it annually cost the economy 3-4 billion dollars. At the same time, the Afghan adventure "pushed" Western loans and the flow of new Western technologies from the USSR. It also had a negative effect on the Soviet economy.

Fourth, in 1983, US President Ronald Reagan put forward the idea of ​​a "Strategic Defense Initiative" (SDI), or "Star Wars" - space systems that could protect the United States from a nuclear strike. This program was carried out in circumvention of the ABM treaty. The USSR did not have the technical capabilities to create the same system. Although the US was also far from successful in this area and the idea of ​​SDI was intended to force the USSR to waste resources, the Soviet leaders took it seriously. At the cost of great efforts, the Buran space system was created, capable of neutralizing SDI elements. Thus, the situation developed that the Soviet government did not have sufficient foreign exchange funds to import the necessary consumer goods (consumer goods) and food, which were produced in insufficient quantities in the Soviet Union .


Despite the deteriorating economic situation in the mid-80s. the Soviet leadership did not form a coherent program of socio-economic transformations. There was only a certain concept of reforms. In accordance with it, the fundamental foundations of the Soviet economy - planning, directive management, subsidization of certain industries were preserved. In addition to state ownership, it was planned to widely develop cooperative ownership. The independence of enterprises was to increase significantly.

During his trips abroad, Gorbachev refused to use local cars. “Each foreign trip required up to twenty ZIL-115 vehicles to be delivered to the country of visit. Under them, seven IL-76 transport aircraft were needed. At the same time, visits were made all over the world (Washington, Havana, Delhi, etc.) ... On the other hand, the number of delegation members increased each time, ... reached 400-500 people, which also required at least five to six aircraft ... Usually, two planes were allocated for the delegation headed by Brezhnev. Dokuchaev.

The economic transformation of the Gorbachev era went through three stages:


Stage I (1985 - 1986)- the stage of "acceleration of socio-economic development". The main idea was that socialism has huge untapped resources, it is necessary to put them into action and make a breakthrough in the competition with the West.
Stage II (1987-1989)- the stage of economic liberalization. Introduction of elements market economy. The goal is to combine a planned economy with a market economy.
Stage III (1990-1991) — unsuccessful attempts implementation of market reforms.

In April 1985, at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, it was recognized that the economy of the USSR was in a difficult situation. Gorbachev proclaimed the course of "all-round intensification of production based on the introduction of the achievements of scientific and technological progress, the improvement of planning and management, the strengthening of organization, discipline and order in all sectors of the economy." main element new policy the "human factor" was declared. Materials of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU (April 23-26, 1985)

In May 1985, the "Food Program" was adopted, according to which there should have been an improvement in the provision of Soviet people with basic foodstuffs. Gorbachev also promised new apartments to Soviet citizens.

Joke:
“Gorbachev died. The party members decide what to do with the Secretary General, where to bury him. Well, that means they put him to Lenin. The night passes, they look - Gorbachev is lying at the door of the Mausoleum. Gorbachev is lying on Red Square. His body was again removed to the Mausoleum. At night, the guards come and hear a burry voice:
“F*ck out of here, my friend – this is not a hostel for you!”

Chernobyl: sabotage as a gift from Reagan
April 26, 1986 there was an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. According to the most minimal estimates, more than 20 billion rubles were required to eliminate the consequences of the explosion

Chernobyl. 04/26/1986. In 25 years, there will be an accident at the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. Radiation from the Japanese nuclear power plant will enter the Yellowstone caldera and accelerate seismic processes in the supervolcano.


And this is the fires in Yellowstone Park. August 20, 1988 1/3 of the park burned out. 3 years before the August putsch of the State Emergency Committee
By the beginning of 1987, it became clear to Gorbachev that the reform of the economy was marking time. This was due to the fact that the reform was supposed to be carried out by Soviet party officials, who did not need it, since they lived in a different reality compared to ordinary citizens of the USSR (special shops, special clinics, resort services, special dachas, personal drivers and other personnel, etc.). .d.). Officials did not understand the goals of the reforms and did not want to lose their influence.

Gorbachev declares the need to introduce self-financing, self-sufficiency at state enterprises. The law "On the state enterprise (association)" was adopted. The head of state urged to increase the output of consumer goods at heavy industry enterprises in general, and at factories of the military-industrial complex in particular. It was in January 1987 at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU that Gorbachev first uttered the term "perestroika". “Perestroika is a decisive overcoming of stagnant mechanisms and a breakdown of the braking mechanism, the creation of an effective acceleration mechanism based on the creativity of the masses, the development of democracy and self-government, and the expansion of glasnost.” Materials of the Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU (January 25-28, 1987), p.10.

But the economic independence of enterprises was limited by the planned administrative system of the economy as a whole. Freedom turned into only the right to uncontrolled spending public funds and led to inflation in prices, a reduction in production volumes. At the same time, the growth of earnings did not affect the output of final consumer products in any way, since the money was paid not only to producers of goods, but to everyone else without exception.


Gorbachev's ideas about economics were largely mythological. In November 1987, he declares that it is necessary to return "the Leninist concept of building socialism." Gorbachev M.S. October and perestroika. The revolution continues. - M.: Politizdat, 1987, p.6. In this regard, the idea of ​​mass development of cooperation, taken from the work of V.I. Lenin "On cooperation". In the USSR, it is proposed to develop new forms of economy, especially in the service sector and the production of consumer goods - cooperatives, various forms lease of state property, individual labor activity is allowed. Gorbachev goes on to state that "it is necessary to develop new forms of socialist property." True, 1989, November 26.


But already in 1988 it became clear that the "perestroika" of the economy did not contribute to a real improvement in the situation. And then Gorbachev convenes the XIX party conference (June 28 - July 1, 1988). In his speech, he states that “the previous system of mandatory tasks in terms of production volume has been preserved, the production of goods that are not in demand by consumers continues. The economy continues in many ways to move along an extensive path. Materials of the XIX Party Conference. — M.: 1988, p.108.


Gorbachev brings to the attention of the participants that since 1989 all enterprises must switch to self-supporting and self-sufficient: “... various forms of contracting and leasing should be developed, a wide network of cooperatives should be created, attempts to command collective farms and state farms should be immediately stopped” Ibid., S. 108, 110..


The "radial economic reform" was actually poorly implemented. It was a reform mostly "on paper". According to official data, the growth of industrial production in 1986-88. amounted to 2.8% annually, in 1989 - 2.4%, and in 1990 there was a drop in industrial production by 2%. And at the same time, changes in the structure of industry management actually lead to its chaos. Abalkin L.I. Unused chance. One and a half years in government. M., 1991, p.106. Already in 1988, serious problems began to arise with the provision of food and consumer goods to the population. In 1989, the card-voucher system for individual products began to be introduced, in 1990-91. it covers dozens of food and non-food items.

Gradually, the consumer goods market is captured by cooperative producers. The activities of small private producers lead to speculation and price increases. In fact, cooperators individual entrepreneurs They pay almost no taxes to the state, as there is no tax collection mechanism. The place of the state is occupied by gangs of racketeers.


In 1990, the head of the government, N. Ryzhkov, was forced to admit that the country's economy was in a deep crisis. In his report on May 24, 1990, at the session of the Supreme Council, he admitted that over 4 months of 1990, production volumes decreased by 19% compared to the level of the previous year in Azerbaijan, Armenia - 9%, Georgia - 8%, etc. . The government is forced to buy 27 million tons of grain in 1990. Due to strikes and ethnic conflicts in 1989, 7 million man-days were lost, and in 4 months of 1990 - 9.5 million. True, 1990, May 25. The deficit of the state budget of the USSR in 1990 amounted to 58.1 billion rubles.


After MS Gorbachev's instructions, using free contractual prices, many enterprises at first began to receive huge amounts of money - super profits, but not due to increased production, but due to their monopoly position. As a result, revenues in 1988 grew by 40 billion rubles, in 1989 by 60 billion rubles, and in 1990 by 100 billion rubles. (instead of the usual increase of 10 billion rubles). The consumer market was blown up, all goods literally "flew" from the shelves. Unprofitable products began to be removed from production everywhere - cheap assortment was washed out. If the state order was sharply reduced in mechanical engineering and a number of other industries, then in the fuel and energy complex it amounted to 100%. Miners bought everything they needed for production at negotiated prices, and sold coal at state prices. This was one of the main reasons for the outbreak of miners' strikes. Justice has been violated. There was a break in the established relationships in national economy. Regional interests began to come to the fore, which became a breeding ground for separatism. The result of perestroika was a socio-economic collapse: control over production, finances, and money circulation was lost. But after all, this was the main goal of Operation Perestroika as part of the Kombainer information warfare plan against the USSR.


Before perestroika, the state budget of the USSR was adopted and executed without a deficit.
For 1988, it was adopted for the first time without an excess of income over expenses in a balanced amount. But already in 1989, the state budget of the USSR was already adopted with a budget deficit of about 36 billion rubles, but the budget revenues included loans from the State Bank, which had never before been included in budget revenues in the amount of more than 64 billion rubles.


That is, in fact, the budget deficit amounted to 100 billion rubles! So soon consumer market was “blown up”, problems began with the food supply of the population.
The abandonment of the monopoly on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages only in 1989 led to the loss of more than 20 billion rubles of turnover tax revenues from the state budget.
The country's economy began to experience problems, production volumes decreased by 20% compared to 1985, prices steadily crept up, and unemployment appeared.


During the years of perestroika, the state external debt increased many times over and became the main means of covering the budget deficit. The public domestic debt grew even more rapidly.
After M. Gorbachev came to power, crime increased sharply. The number of crimes increased annually by 30%. Already in 1989, the number of prisoners in the USSR (1.6 million people) became 2 times more than in 1937. The number of premeditated murders in 1989 (19 thousand) was one and a half times more than the number of dead Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan in ten years.


And in these unstable socio-economic conditions, the implementation of POLITICAL REFORM begins. A similar scheme was used by the CIA and MI6 in 1953 to overthrow the government of Mossadegh in Iran, after which oil production came under the control of transnational corporations.
In the course of the POLITICAL REFORM, the informational moral liquidation of all heroes and prominent people who were the pride of the Russian people. In its course, the emphasis was placed on the implementation of Allen Dulles' keynote speech in 1945. Almost all the heroes of the Great Patriotic War were subjected to sophisticated slanderous accusations and outrage, the same was done in relation to more distant Russian history, including Peter I, Catherine II, Ivan the Terrible. The devilization of individual personalities and historical periods of Rus' began. All Russian history, according to the versions of the late 80s, was the history of nonentities. So, gradually, step by step, the idea of ​​the inferiority of the Russian people began to be instilled. These information and ideological actions were successfully carried out by the "Colombian" A. Nyakovlev, who was at the same time close to both MS Gorbachev and the CIA agent O. Kalugin.


The media, supervised by A.N. Yakovlev, proclaimed the concept of freedom of speech and launched a phased anti-state campaign. Taking into account the interaction carried out by the "Colombian" A.N. Yakovlev with another "Colombian" - the general of the KGB of the USSR and the CIA agent O. Kalugin, it can be assumed that the main "temniki", comments for the Soviet media were developed overseas. The comments developed in New York were based on the conclusions of the so-called "Harvard Project", a study led by Allen Dulles, aimed at studying the underlying mechanisms of public consciousness in the USSR and searching for " pain points for its destruction.
Under external information and ideological control, the Soviet media began to work for the destruction of the state. The media was led by a group of globalist-Trotskyists (A. Yakovlev, V. Medvedev, V. Korotich, D. Volkogonov, and others), who had previously severely punished dissent and carried out strict censorship of "anti-socialist" views. They were M. Gorbachev's closest associates in the cause of the collapse of the USSR.


With R. Reagan
But what cannot be forgiven for Gorbachev is the destruction of the Soviet nuclear shield. At a time when the United States continued to test more and more new types of nuclear weapons, the USSR unilaterally declared a moratorium on their testing. The last brainchild of Soviet nuclear scientists was the creation of the SS-18 "Satan" ICBM, which is currently in service with the RF Armed Forces. Most likely there will never be analogues of this rocket.
"Detente" that contributed to the end cold war left the country defenseless. Nearly 2,000 nuclear warheads were put under the knife. The ZhDR-complexes "Molodets" were liquidated (this happened already under Yeltsin). There is only one thing left - to wait for the end.

Balkanization, putsch and the abolition of the USSR
Under Gorbachev and his regional reshuffles in the union republics, local leaders were removed from their posts; only Russians were appointed in their place. All this eventually led to a surge of nationalism in the republics. Conflicts broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Baltic States, the "front showcase of the USSR", twitched, Georgian-Ossetian-Abkhazian contradictions escalated. The USSR finally turned from a continent of stability into a nationalist powder keg

.
In 1990, another reshuffle was carried out in the Central Committee of the CPSU. With the abolition of the 6th article, which fixed the leading and guiding role of the party, a split occurred in the political elite of the USSR. In the same year, Gorbachev was elected President of the USSR for a period of 5 years.
Nothing seemed to portend trouble. In August 1991, Gorbachev took a short vacation and went to the Crimea. There he was arrested.


August-91.
Gorbachev, having barely returned to Moscow and after listening to the accusations of the party members, sent them "to mother". In the country, meanwhile, frankly fascist sentiments were already roaming. Many were ready to kill Gorbachev. In 1990, such an attempt was made for the first time, but without success. All this testified that only a few moments remained for the Soviet Union to live.

Returning to his post, Gorbachev no longer exercised any control. In fact, he was just serving the number. Despite the fact that the majority of citizens were in favor of preserving the USSR and signing a new Union Treaty, no one wanted to see the USSR on the world map. The new union treaty became an ordinary fiction, which was simply wiped off.

On December 7, 1991, exactly 50 years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the leaders of the independent Russian Federation, Belarus and Ukraine "buried" the Soviet Union. 20 days after Gorbachev's address, the USSR became history.


Pearl Harbor. So everything started well!

Gorbachev in post-Soviet Russia
Without a doubt, it is worth noting that the Nobel Prize was awarded to Gorbachev not for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, but precisely for the collapse of the USSR. Today, huge tubs of dirt are poured on Gorbachev. After retiring, in 1992 M.S. Gorbachev created the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Science Research (Gorbachev-Fund), becoming its president. The Gorbachev Foundation is a research center, a platform for public discussions, and carries out humanitarian projects and charity events.

After the death of Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva (September 20, 1999), the family continues to play a big role in the life of Mikhail Sergeevich - daughter Irina, granddaughters Xenia and Anastasia, great-granddaughter Alexander.

Since 1999, Irina Mikhailovna Gorbacheva-Virganskaya has been the Vice President of the Gorbachev Foundation.
In 1993 M.S. Gorbachev, on the initiative of representatives of 108 countries, founded the international non-governmental environmental organization International Green Cross. This organization aims at broadly informing the public about environmental problems, educating a new environmental consciousness, overcoming the environmental consequences of the Cold War and the arms race. National organizations of the International Green Cross work in 23 countries of the world.
M.S. Gorbachev is one of the initiators of the creation in 1999 of the Forum of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. The annual meetings of the Forum discuss global problems that concern mankind: violence and wars, problems of poverty, ecological crisis.

In 2001-2009 M.S. Gorbachev served as co-chairman on the Russian side of the Petersburg Dialogue Forum, regular meetings between Russia and Germany that take place alternately in both countries. Politicians, public figures, representatives of business circles, youth participate in the Forum events.

On May 21, 2010, Luxembourg hosted the first meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board of the New Policy Forum, where a board of founders headed by M.S. Gorbachev was formed. This is new international organization, created by M.S. Gorbachev and continuing the mission of the World Policy Forum (2003-2009) - a platform for informal discussion actual problems global politics by the most authoritative political and public leaders of different countries of the world.
M.S. Gorbachev takes an active part in the political life of Russia: during the 1996 elections, he was one of the candidates for the post of President of the Russian Federation. M.S. Gorbachev, is a staunch social democrat, the founder of the Russian United Social Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party of Russia (2001 - 2007), the all-Russian social movement "Union of Social Democrats" (formed in autumn 2007), the Forum "Civil Dialogue "(2010).

Mikhail Gorbachev characterizes his political credo as follows:

“... I sought to combine politics with science, morality, morality, responsibility to people. For me it was a matter of principle. It was necessary to put a limit to the rampant desires of the rulers, their tyranny. I did not succeed in everything, but I do not think that this approach was erroneous. Without this, it is difficult to expect that politics will be able to fulfill its unique role, especially today, when we have entered a new century, when we are facing dramatic challenges.”

For the period since 1992, M.S. Gorbachev made over 250 international visits, visiting 50 countries. He has been awarded more than 300 state and public awards, diplomas, certificates of honor and distinctions. Since 1992 M.S. Gorbachev published dozens of books in 10 languages ​​of the world.

Currently, active attempts are being made to try Gorbachev. Whether there will be a trial or not, the near future will show. In the meantime, let's turn to the mistakes that he made while at the helm of the state.

7 fatal mistakes of Gorbachev

"The Moor has done his job, the Moor can go." On December 25, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as president of the USSR "for reasons of principle." The next day, the USSR officially ceased to exist.
1. Gorbachev's plan. We remember glasnost, queues, acceleration, endless party plenums and meetings, Viktor Tsoi's songs and free television, blood in Tbilisi, Dushanbe, Yerevan and the Baltic republics, the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and tanks in Moscow. But we do not remember anything that would tell us: Gorbachev and his entourage, in addition to numerous loud slogans, had a specific plan, they knew exactly what they were doing and why. We have heard, whether anyone likes them or not, about the "Putin Plan", the "Marshall Plan", the "Roosevelt New Deal", and even the "500 Days of Yavlinsky" - but we have never heard about the "Gorbachev Plan", at least for in order to retrospectively find errors in it. Was he at all?
2. Anti-alcohol campaign. There is still no consensus on the advisability of conducting an anti-alcohol campaign, even among experts. But there are things that can be considered an axiom: all the advantages of the campaign, such as increasing the birth rate, worked in long term, and all the minuses hit the country here and now. In the mid-80s, the USSR was no longer ready for the loss of 10-12% of tax revenues to the budget. In numerous queues for alcohol, the already low prestige of the leadership fell quite low. And, finally, the main thing - to look at what is happening in the country with sober eyes for many of its citizens was simply unbearable.
3. Yakovlev and Ligachev. The role of the Communist Party in the life of the country was interpreted as "leading and guiding". The political monopoly demanded, if not unity of opinion in the apparatus, then at least unity of action in the apparatus. Under Gorbachev, the most important, ideological department of the Central Committee of the CPSU split into two groups: one was personified by the conservative Yegor Ligachev, who gravitated towards Stalinist views, the other was the radical liberal Alexander Yakovlev. The power system of checks and balances operating in "peacetime" turned out to be disastrous during the period of large-scale reforms. The country reached the point of absurdity - in the morning the liberal wing of the party allowed something, in the evening the conservative wing tried to ban it. Now it is clear: unfamiliar with the principles of the work of the democratic press, the Soviet country would have survived both the Vzglyad program and the revealing strips of Moscow News, in the same way it would have survived the temporary tightening of the screws, but the sharp conflict of freedom and lack of freedom, simultaneous permits and prohibitions - No. Gorbachev could not, and perhaps did not want to reconcile the warring party factions and work out general program action during a crisis.

4. Yeltsin. By the beginning of Perestroika, none of the Soviet politicians had the experience of a public struggle for power. This partly justifies Gorbachev's grandiose miscalculation regarding Boris Yeltsin. When the future first president of Russia rode the populist wave and began to rapidly "gain points", Gorbachev and his entourage were not ready for this. The awkward denigrating publications in the party press (which few people believed), the ugly picks at the Plenums of the Supreme Council, the general "fi" that the Soviet government defiantly expressed to Yeltsin, did not interfere, but greatly helped him to become a national hero in the shortest possible time. On the shoulders of these people, Yeltsin will very soon demolish the Soviet Union in order to drink an outrageous amount of vodka on its ruins.


5. Gorby and Raisa. Russia is a country with deep authoritarian traditions. All reforms, regardless of their price (usually it is calculated in hundreds of thousands of Russian lives), are implemented only by charismatic leaders: Ivan the Terrible, Peter 1, Catherine the Great, Stalin. Gorbachev tried to disrupt the unchanging course of Russian history. He began Perestroika without broad popular support. One gets the impression that in certain moment his image abroad began to excite him more than at home. Gorbachev was disliked for his indistinct public speeches, for his wife, who was too ladylike, unlike ordinary Soviet women, for indecision and for much more. Along with the fall of Gorbachev's rating, which he did not know how to strengthen, the hopes of the country's inhabitants for the success of economic, social and political transformations fell. In such cases, the Russians say: "Not for Senka hat"


6. Abroad will help us. Suspicious naivety of Gorbachev and part of the party elite regarding Western countries surprises. What was won with great difficulty, sweat and blood by the military imperialism of previous generations of Russians was squandered in a matter of years. In addition to a global strategic miscalculation - no one needs a powerful, sovereign Russia (even among Russians there is now no consensus on whether Russians themselves, and even more so the West, need it), Gorbachev made a lot of tactical mistakes. Suppose the unification of the FRG and the GDR was inevitable, but why, when we still had a strong influence on the Germans, and the Russian divisions were stationed in Berlin, did we not insist, and the Germans would agree, on the inclusion in the unification agreement of a clause prohibiting Germany from joining military-political blocs in future? The whole modern problem of NATO expansion to the East is the essence, the thoughtlessness of the Gorbachev era. After all, under the same conditions, we could “let go” of the countries of Eastern Europe - retaining our influence there and preventing the deployment of Anglo-Saxon military bases. Black Sea Fleet, Russian Crimea is everything, even in the worst case scenario, Gorbachev was not what he could, was obliged to save for Russia.

7. Neoliberalism. Privatization, reduction of state intervention in the economy, curtailment of social programs - with the coming to power in the Anglo-Saxon countries of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, neoliberalism became the leading practical direction in the world economy. In the US and the UK, neoliberal reforms have borne tangible results. Russia is a country of extremes, we traditionally for a long time completely reject the Western experience, and then we begin to rapidly and feverishly copy the “most progressive trends”. Having no experience of capitalism at all, we suddenly took its most modern form as a model and model. After all, it seems to be a no-brainer: the problems of the British and American economies of the 80s are not even close to the difficulties of the Soviet economy of those years. But it was under Gorbachev that a neoliberal economic core began to form in the country's leadership. It is known: "If you hurry, you will make people laugh." In the 20th century, Russia was in a tragic hurry at least twice: first to build socialism in an agrarian country, then advanced capitalism in Soviet empire. As a result, one part of the country fiercely hates everything Soviet and socialist, although the whole Western Europe in recent years has been building more or less socialism. The other part is all liberal and capitalist, although no one has canceled the absolute values ​​of personal freedom, private property and civil rights. The only point of social agreement in Russia was running on the spot or stagnation, and then suddenly again, without sorting out the road, we will run somewhere so that there will be no Russians left at all. Gorbachev had a historic chance to change everything. He missed him.

***
I do not know and do not presume to say whether there will be a trial of Gorbachev or not. However, even if he is suddenly killed, it will be a well-deserved punishment for his crime and betrayal in collusion with Yeltsin. But in any case, after Gorbachev's death, many will breathe easy, because Gorbaty, as you know, will be corrected by the grave.

The future head of the country of the Soviets was born on March 2, 1931 in the small village of Privolnoye, located in the Stavropol Territory. The young years of Gorbachev's life were spent in labor activity. At the age of thirteen, the boy began to help his father, a rural machine operator, at work. And at the age of sixteen, the young man received the Order of Labor from the state for high performance in grinding grain.

Start career

After graduating from high school in 1950 and receiving a silver medal, Mikhail Gorbachev enters the Faculty of Law at Lomonosov Moscow University. Two years later, he will be closely connected with all subsequent years of Gorbachev's life. After graduating from the university in 1955, the young man went on assignment to the city of Stavropol, to serve in the local prosecutor's office. Here he takes an active part in the activities of the Komsomol organization, works as a deputy propaganda and agitation of the local regional committee of the Komsomol. Later, he was promoted to the first secretary of the city committee of the Komsomol in Stavropol, and then the young man became the first secretary of the Stavropol regional committee of the Komsomol. The years of Gorbachev's life spent in Stavropol (1955-1962) gave the future invaluable experience and became an excellent launching pad for further success.

Party takeoff

In 1962, a little over thirty years old, Mikhail Gorbachev went to work directly in the party bodies. The years of his life are now inextricably linked with the party and the state. It was the epic era of Khrushchev's reforms. The party career of Mikhail Sergeevich began from the position of a party organizer in the Stavropol Territorial Production Agricultural Administration. In September 1966, he held the position of first secretary of the local city party committee, and already in April 1970, Mikhail Gorbachev became the first secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU in Stavropol. Since 1971, Mikhail Sergeevich has been a member of the Central Committee of the Party.

Moscow period

The successes of the regional manager do not go unnoticed by the capital's leadership. In 1978, an active official became the secretary of the Central Committee for the agro-industrial complex of the USSR, and two years later - a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

At the helm of the state

In March 1985 Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The years of life of an energetic figure in the subsequent period were very active: he became one of the most public people not only in the Soviet state, but throughout the world. The new head of state had a fairly fresh vision of the country's further development. As early as May 1985, he announced

the need to finally overcome the "stagnation" and accelerate the economic and social development of the USSR. Initiatives and bold reforms were endorsed at subsequent plenums in 1986 and 1987. Counting on the support of the broad masses, Gorbachev announced a course towards democratization and glasnost. However, such reforms led to widespread public criticism of the Soviet government, as well as its past performance. As early as 1988, non-party and non-state public organizations began to be created throughout the country. Previously hushed up inter-ethnic contradictions also came to light with the process of democratization. All this leads to well-known results, when former republics one by one, they begin the “parade of sovereignties”.

After collapse

Mikhail Sergeevich himself was the last head of the Soviet state until December 1991, when in Belarus were signed that marked the creation of the CIS and a new era in interstate relations in the region. The subsequent years of Gorbachev's life still to a certain extent passed and pass in the sphere of political activity. It appears with some periodicity in the Russian politics of modern times. From 1992 to the present time he has been the head of the International Foundation for Political and Socio-Economic Research. In 2000, he headed the Russian Social Democratic Party, and since 2001 - the SDPR, being in office until 2004.

Not everyone knows much about the families of Soviet political leaders. Surely, someone else will remember that the father of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was called Ilya Nikolaevich. There will also be those who thoroughly studied the biography of Joseph Vissarionovich and heard the myth that the famous explorer and traveler Nikolai Przhevalsky was Stalin's father. But it is unlikely that there will be those who can immediately say the names of the fathers of Khrushchev, Brezhnev or Gorbachev.

Today "RG" tells who the fathers of the "fathers of peoples" were.

Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov - father of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

The real name of Ilya Nikolaevich is Ulyanin. His father, Nikolai Vasilievich (1770-1838), an Astrakhan tradesman who worked as a tailor-craftsman, changed his surname from Ulyanin to Ulyanova. But when Ilya was born, his father still had a real surname.

Ilya was born in Astrakhan in July 1831. He did not remember his father well: Ilya was born when Nikolai Vasilyevich was already 60 years old. After 7 years, my father died. The family lived rather modestly, and after the death of his father, he almost fell into poverty. Nevertheless, in July 1850, Ilya graduated from the Astrakhan gymnasium. He studied well, but he was not an excellent student.

After receiving secondary education, Ilya entered and graduated from Kazan University. Moreover, as he himself repeatedly emphasized, he owed his higher education to his elder brother Vasily Nikolaevich. He also really wanted to study, but after the death of his father, someone had to take care of his mother, two sisters and a little brother. Vasily entered the service of a private office and abandoned his dreams of education. But he decided that if he himself did not have to study, he would educate his brother. In 1854, Ilya Nikolayevich graduated from Kazan University with a Ph.D. in mathematics, and in May 1855 was appointed senior lecturer in physics and mathematics in the higher classes of the Penza Nobility Institute. This appointment was signed by the famous mathematician Lobachevsky, who at that time was an assistant trustee of the Kazan educational district.

In Penza, Ilya Nikolayevich, who was 32 years old, met his future wife, Maria Alexandrovna Blank (she was 28). Maria Alexandrovna was the daughter of a doctor, a bourgeois by birth, a strong and independent person. Maria Alexandrovna was a rather pretty girl - with regular features, expressive eyes, a friendly and calm expression on her face. Ilya Nikolaevich and Maria Alexandrovna got married in the summer of 1863. Ilya Nikolaevich lived in Penza for 8 years, after which he and his wife moved to Nizhny Novgorod, where he received a position as a senior teacher of physics and mathematics at the local male gymnasium. “I remember our state-owned apartment in the corridor of the gymnasium building of four rooms in a row, and our nursery was the best; I remember my father’s study with physical devices, as well as the fact that one of our favorite toys was a magnet and a wax stick rubbed with cloth, on which we raised small pieces of paper, - Lenin's older sister Anna Ulyanova-Elizarova wrote in her memoirs. - I remember winter evenings, my mother playing the piano, which I loved to listen to, sitting on the floor near her skirt, and her constant company, her participation in our games, walks, in our whole life. From the time I begin to remember myself, we had one servant, who was mostly in the kitchen, and we were with my mother. We have two eldest nannies, I don’t remember ... ".

The Ulyanovs lived in Nizhny Novgorod for six years. Gymnasium students respected and loved Ilya Nikolaevich for the fact that he could simply and easily talk about the complex phenomena of physics and mathematics. Judging by the memories of the students, their teacher was a kind person. He never punished students and did not make rubbish from his class. Memories of the appearance of Lenin's father have also been preserved: he was a small, thin man with a bald head, with brown eyes.

In the autumn of 1869, Ilya Nikolaevich received a job as an inspector of public schools in the Simbirsk province. The family (Maria Alexandrovna and two children - Anna and Alexander) took the move hard, because Nizhny Novgorod was a fairly developed city, unlike Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk). The nobility lived there by itself, as did the bureaucracy. Maria Alexandrovna did not find special friends for herself in Simbirsk and devoted all her time to raising children. At this time, Ilya Nikolayevich traveled around the province, got acquainted with the state of schools, and then proved to local officials that most schools and colleges exist only on paper.

And the officials listened to the inspector. Therefore, he had quite a lot of authority: he put things in order in existing schools, providing them with funds, experienced teachers, opened new schools, finding funds for their existence. He also organized pedagogical courses for the training of teachers at the local city school, which were sorely lacking in the province. “At the same time, Ulyanov was the educator of the whole province, the builder of rural schools, the eternal beggar, importunately begging the zemstvo for an extra penny for schools, the only head of pedagogical courses, which he also instituted at the city parish school,” recalled a member of the Simbirsk district school council. Nazaryev - ... For many years he meekly galloped, starved, risked his life and health; for whole months he did not see his family; he was crucified at zemstvo meetings, begging for increases; for several hours in a row he tore himself at rural gatherings ...; fiddled with rogue contractors; threatened the fattened volost foremen with some extreme measures, listening to some never-fulfilled promises ... ". For three years of service, Ilya Nikolayevich built 10 new schools, organized 45 rural schools, trained 15 teachers who knew their job perfectly.

In 1874, Ilya Nikolayevich took the post of director of public schools. In the surviving memoirs, you can find that he was a rather liberal leader: you could always ask him for advice, he willingly helped young teachers in setting up school affairs. “His system was as follows: so that we, teachers, always work with the whole class, and not with loners, so that we never drop out of class when one answers, so that we can keep the attention of the whole class,” recalled the teacher Volkov. Ilya Nikolaevich on visual aids, to demonstrate experiments, to give each student his share of participation in the general lesson, and then, after all, these were all new and unusual ideas. The attitude towards the child was also new. Ilya Nikolaevich taught us to approach the student closer, to know him not only at school, but also in the family.

An interesting fact: Lenin's famous burr was inherited from his father. In the memoirs of Krupskaya there is a story of a certain student of Zaitsev: "I wrote:" Today, at 9 o'clock in the morning, during a mathematics lesson, the director, Ilya Nikolaevich, came to us. They called me to the blackboard and asked me a problem in which the word “dime coin” was repeated several times. I wrote down the problem, read it and began to plan the course of the solution. The director, Ilya Nikolaevich, asked me leading questions, and then I noticed that Ilya Nikolayevich burred a little and the word “kryvnia” pronounces “ggivennik”. This hit me in the head and made me think: “I am a student, and I can correctly pronounce the sound“ r ”, but he is the director, such a big and learned person, he cannot pronounce the sound "r", but says "yy"".

Then I wrote about some trifles and on this I finished the essay. The duty officer collected the notebooks and handed them over to the teacher V. A. Kalashnikov. Two days later, after lunch, the lesson was supposed to be a presentation of the article read. We were given our notebooks. Everyone rushed to look at the marks ...

Teacher Kalashnikov deliberately left my notebook with him. Then, throwing the notebook in my face, he said indignantly: “Pig!”

I took the notebook, opened it and saw that my essay was crossed out with a red cross, and at the end of it there was a mark "O" - zero. Then a signature. I almost cried. Tears came out of my eyes ...

During written work Ilya Nikolaevich entered the class. We greeted and continued to work. Ilya Nikolaevich walked between the desks, stopped here and there, watching the work. Came to me too. He saw a red oblique Cross and a zero mark on my last essay, put one hand on my shoulder, the other took my notebook and began to read. Reading and smiling. Then he called the teacher, asked: “Why did you, Vasily Andreevich, award this boy with the Order of the Red Cross and a huge potato? The essay is written grammatically correctly, consistently, and there is nothing invented, artificial here. The main thing is that it is written sincerely and fully corresponds to the topic you have given.” .

The teacher hesitated, said that there were places in my essay that were not entirely convenient for those in charge, that it was as if he ... Director I. N. Ulyanov, without letting him finish, interrupted him and said: “This essay is one of the best. Read the topic you set: "Impression of today". The student wrote exactly what made the greatest impression on him during the last lesson. The writing is excellent." Then he took my pen and at the end of the essay he wrote: “Excellent” - and signed: “Ulyanov”.

Ilya Nikolaevich died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 55. He is buried in the cemetery of the Intercession Monastery in Simbirsk (Ulyanovsk). In total, there were eight children in their family. Two died in infancy. Vladimir, the future leader of the world proletariat, was the fourth child.

Vissarion (Beso) Ivanovich Dzhugashvili - father of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin

Vissarion Dzhugashvili was born around 1850 (it is not known exactly). He was a peasant from the Georgian village of Didi-Lilo, a handicraft shoemaker by profession. According to Russian historian Edward Radzinsky, Beso's grandfather, Zaza Dzhugashvili, repeatedly participated in peasant riots, was arrested, imprisoned, and escaped. Soon he settled in the village of Didi-Lilo and got married there. Zaza was a shepherd.

Beso, on the other hand, knew how to read Georgian and quoted fragments from the poem "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" from memory, knew Georgian, Ossetian, Russian, and Armenian. Apparently, the knowledge was obtained independently, since Beso did not study at school. According to the Arsoshvilis, relatives of Dzhugashvilis and old residents of the village of Didi-Lolo, Beso was unable to pay the tax (3 rubles), and he was forced to go to work in Gori.

There, according to the recollections of Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva, he settled with Kulumbegashvili, an Ossetian from the Dzher Gorge, worked as a shoemaker, and married Ekaterina Geladze. Two of his children are known to have died in infancy(Mikhail and Konstantin). In the late 1860s and early 1870s, the Armenian merchant Iosif Baramov organized a factory for sewing and repairing shoes in Gori and invited Georgian craftsmen, among whom was Vissarion Dzhugashvili.

Stalin's father was of medium height, swarthy, with a large black mustache and long eyebrows, his expression was stern and even gloomy. According to numerous recollections, after the birth of Joseph (Soso), his father began to abuse alcohol, often beat his wife and child (according to other sources, Beso suffered from alcoholism even before his marriage). Around 1883 he left his family and moved to Tiflis. He tried to transport his son Joseph there and even got him a job at a shoe factory, but his wife took the child and took him back to Gori.

ABOUT future fate Little is known about Vissarion Dzhugashvili. According to Svetlana Alliluyeva, he died in a drunken brawl from a stab in 1890. But a number of researchers point out that Vissarion Ivanovich died on August 25, 1909 in a Tiflis hospital from tuberculosis.

By the way, there is also a curious, but not explicitly confirmed, version that the famous traveler and explorer Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalsky was the father of the "father of the peoples" Stalin. This version is based on the fact that at the beginning of 1878, Ekaterina Geladze, who was then 22 years old and she was married to Vissarion Dzhugashvili, came to the house of her relative, Prince Maminoshvili, and met the handsome Russian officer Nikolai Przhevalsky there. And the already famous traveler was allegedly fascinated by the beauty and spontaneity of the young Georgian woman. In addition, it was not just a Georgian beauty, but a relative of the prince.

And it seems like new acquaintances began to persistently seek each other's company and often spent time together with obvious pleasure. After the departure of Nikolai Mikhailovich from the Caucasus, Ekaterina Geladze gave birth to a son named Joseph.

Sergei Nikanorovich Khrushchev - father of Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev

Very little is known about Khrushchev's father. They say that Nikita Sergeevich himself in every possible way did not allow the dissemination of information about his family. The parents of Nikita Sergeevich were called Sergei Nikanorovich and Ksenia Ivanovna. They were peasants from the Kursk province. The future head of state was also born in the Kursk village of Kalinovka in 1894.

But there was no way to earn money to live there, so Khrushchev's father went to work four hundred kilometers to the southeast, to the Donbass city of Yuzovka (now Donetsk). The then name of this city came from the name of the Englishman John Hughes, the owner of the New Russia Company, who in 1769 brought about seventy engineers and technicians from England, built brick and wooden houses for them, and they began to develop mines. "Dirt, stench and violence," the writer Konstantin Paustovsky described Yuzovka in this way. "All the horrors of mining life were brought together here. Everything evil, dark and criminal - thieves, hooligans, other similar people - there was no shortage of any of them."

Khrushchev's father lived in a village called Suchiy. The workers lived in barracks, 50 to 70 people in a room, there was no furniture in the barracks, except for the bunks standing in rows and a rope under the ceiling, on which the miners dried their wet clothes and footcloths. “You can imagine the atmosphere in which a person lived,” Khrushchev himself said in an interview. “I will never forget what I saw: some workers relieved themselves of small need right from the second tier down ... My father dreamed of saving money, returning to the village and buying a horse so that grow enough potatoes and cabbage to feed the family. But we never got a horse. My parents cherished this dream even after 1908, when we finally moved to Yuzovka. There my father worked in the mines, my mother washed clothes, and I cleaned the steam boilers."

When Nikita Khrushchev was nine years old, his father took him out of school and sent him to work in the fields. “I learned to count up to 30, and my father decided that I had enough teaching,” recalled Nikita Sergeevich. “All you need is to learn to count money, but you will never have more than thirty rubles anyway.” Later Sergey Nikanorovich tried to enroll his son as an apprentice to a shoemaker: “My father said that a shoemaker would never be left without bread: everyone needs boots, so I will always have a roof over my head and money in my pocket,” said Nikita Sergeevich.

But Nikita did not like sewing boots. Then the mother suggested another option, arranging her son as a seller in a shop. But the son didn’t like this profession either: “I flatly refused,” Nikita Sergeevich recalled, “I even threatened my father that if he made me work in the shop, I would run away from home.” Khrushchev's father died in 1938.

Ilya Yakovlevich Brezhnev - father of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev

Even less information is available about the parents of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev. It is only known that the parents of the Secretary General were Ilya Yakovlevich Brezhnev (1874-1930) and Natalia Denisovna Mazalova (1886-1975). They were born and before moving to the city of Kamensky, Yekaterinoslav province (now Dneprodzerzhinsk, Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine), lived in the village of Brezhnevo, Kursk province.

It is alleged that Leonid Ilyich was born into a simple working-class family. However, Brezhnev's father was not a worker. He was a technical worker at a metallurgical plant - a "fabricator". This job requires special education. Brezhnev's memoirs say that "after the revolution" he was chosen for such a position "just like that." This is extremely unlikely, especially since Ilya Yakovlevich was a non-partisan.

Sergei Andreevich Gorbachev - father of Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev

According to the Gorbachev Fund, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev's father, Sergei Andreevich, worked as a machine operator at a machine and tractor station in the village of Privolnoye in the Stavropol Territory. In August 1941, he was mobilized into the army, commanded a squad of sappers, and was a participant in many famous battles of the Great Patriotic War. At the end of May 1944, the Gorbachev family received a funeral. The family couldn't believe it. And, indeed, they soon received a letter from Sergei Andreevich, in which he reported that everything was in order with him. At the end of the war, Sergei Andreevich received a shrapnel wound in his leg.

Gorbachev Sr. was awarded the medal "For Courage" and two Orders of the Red Star. Returning to his homeland, he again began to work as a machine operator. “My father knew the combine very well and taught me,” recalled Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev. “After a year or two, I could adjust any mechanism. It is a matter of special pride that I can immediately determine by ear what was wrong in the work of the combine.” Sergei Andreevich died in 1976.

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 an ambiguous attitude 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, on March 2. It was then that Mikhail Sergeevich was born. He was born in Stavropol, in the village of Privolnoye. He was born and raised in a peasant family. In 1948, he worked with his father on a combine and received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for success in harvesting. Gorbachev graduated from school with a silver medal in 1950. After that, he entered the law faculty of 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 the prosecutor or judge.

During his student years, Gorbachev lived in a hostel, received one time increased scholarship for Komsomol work and excellent studies, but nevertheless barely made ends meet. He became a party member in 1952.

Once in a club Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeevich met Raisa Titarenko, a student of 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 for distribution. However, it was then that the government adopted a decree according to which it was forbidden to employ graduates of law schools in the central prosecutor's offices and courts. Khrushchev, as well as his associates, considered that one of the reasons for the repression carried out in the 1930s was the dominance of inexperienced young judges and prosecutors in the bodies, ready to obey any instructions from the leadership. So Mikhail Sergeevich, whose two grandfathers suffered from repression, became a victim of the struggle against the cult of personality and its consequences.

At administrative work

Gorbachev returned to Stavropol and decided not to contact the prosecutor's office anymore. He got a job in the department of agitation and propaganda in the regional committee of the Komsomol - he became the deputy head of this department. Komsomol, and then the party career of Mikhail Sergeevich developed very successfully. Political activity Gorbachev has borne fruit. He was appointed in 1961 the first secretary of the local regional committee of the Komsomol. Gorbachev is already next year starts 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. Even then, the main shortcoming of this future reformer appeared: Mikhail Sergeevich, accustomed to selflessly working, could not ensure that his orders were conscientiously carried out by his subordinates. This characterization of Gorbachev, according to some, led to the collapse of the USSR.

Moscow

Gorbachev in November 1978 becomes the secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. An important role in this appointment was played by the recommendations of L. I. Brezhnev's closest associates - Andropov, Suslov and Chernenko. Mikhail Sergeevich after 2 years 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. Even the fact that Gorbachev, in essence, occupied a "penal post" - the secretary responsible for agriculture could not prevent this. 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 already 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 time, Mikhail Sergeevich became the second person in the party, as well as the most likely "heir" of this general secretary.

In the political circles of the West, Gorbachev was first known for his visit to Canada in 1983, in May. He went there for a week with the personal permission of Andropov, who was General Secretary at that time. Pierre Trudeau, the prime minister of this country, became the first major leader of the West to receive Gorbachev personally and treat him with sympathy. Meeting with other Canadian politicians, Gorbachev gained a reputation in that country as an energetic and ambitious politician who contrasted sharply with his elderly Politburo colleagues. He showed considerable interest in the methods of economic management and the moral values ​​of the West, including democracy.

Gorbachev's perestroika

Chernenko's death opened the way to power for Gorbachev. On March 11, 1985, the Plenum of the Central Committee elected Gorbachev as General Secretary. Mikhail Sergeevich in the same year at the April plenum proclaimed a course towards accelerating the development of the country and perestroika. These terms, which appeared under Andropov, did not immediately become widespread. This happened only after the XXVII Congress of the CPSU, which was held in February 1986. Gorbachev called glasnost one of the main conditions for the success of the upcoming reforms. Gorbachev's time could not yet be called full-fledged freedom of speech. But it was possible, at least, to speak in the press about the shortcomings of society, without touching, however, the foundations of the Soviet system and the members of the Politburo. However, already in 1987, in January, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev declared that there should be no zones closed to criticism in society.

Principles of foreign and domestic policy

The new general secretary 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 the leaders, if they were honest, and these calls themselves were correct, could reach ordinary performers within the framework of the party-state system that existed at that time and thereby change life for the better. Gorbachev was firmly convinced of this. The years of his reign were marked by the fact that for all 6 years he spoke about the need for united and energetic actions, about the need for everyone to act constructively.

He hoped that, being the leader of a socialist state, he could win world prestige, based not on fear, but, above all, on a reasonable policy, unwillingness to justify the country's totalitarian past. Gorbachev, whose years of rule are often referred to as "perestroika", believed that new political thinking should prevail. 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 the reign of Gorbachev, general democratization began in our country. Political persecution has ceased. The oppression of censorship has weakened. Many prominent people returned from exile and prisons: Marchenko, Sakharov, and others. The policy of glasnost, which was launched by the Soviet leadership, changed the spiritual life of the country's population. Increased interest in television, radio, print media. In 1986 alone, magazines and newspapers acquired more than 14 million new readers. All these, of course, are essential advantages of Gorbachev and his policy.

Mikhail Sergeevich's slogan, under which he carried out all the transformations, 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 incredible size brought criticism of Stalin's actions, it brought only great damage to the country. Glasnost soon led to an even greater wave of anti-Stalinist criticism, which during the years of the "thaw" never dreamed of.

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 too 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 the income in this area went to the shadow sector. A lot of start-up capital in the 90s was knocked together on "drunk" money by private traders. The treasury quickly emptied. As a result of this reform, many valuable vineyards were cut down, which led to the disappearance of entire sectors of industry in some republics (in particular, in Georgia). The anti-alcohol reform also contributed to the growth of moonshine, substance abuse and drug addiction, and multibillion-dollar losses formed in the budget.

Gorbachev's reforms in foreign policy

In November 1985, Gorbachev met with Ronald Reagan, President of the United States. Both sides recognized the need to improve bilateral relations, as well as to improve the entire international situation. Gorbachev's foreign policy led to the conclusion of the START treaties. Mikhail Sergeevich, with a statement dated 01/15/1986, put forward a number of major initiatives devoted to foreign policy issues. Chemical and nuclear weapons were to be completely eliminated by the year 2000, and strict control was to be exercised during their destruction and storage. All these are the most important reforms of Gorbachev.

Reasons for failure

In contrast to the course aimed at openness, when it was enough just to order the weakening and then actually abolish censorship, his other undertakings (for example, the sensational anti-alcohol campaign) were a combination with propaganda of administrative coercion. Gorbachev, whose years of rule were marked by an increase in freedom in all areas, at the end of his reign, becoming 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 general secretary into a convinced Menshevik. But Mikhail Sergeevich abandoned the dogmas of communism too slowly, only under the influence of the growth of anti-communist sentiments in society. Gorbachev, even during the events of 1991 (the August coup), 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, heading the reformed Communist Party. It is obvious that he was never able to rebuild himself. Mikhail Sergeevich in many respects 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 speech as president of the country, took credit for the fact that the population of the state received freedom, spiritually and politically liberated. Freedom of the press, free elections, a multi-party system, representative bodies of power, and religious freedoms have become real. Human rights were recognized as the highest principle. A movement towards a new multi-structural economy began, the 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 disfigured the economy, morality and public consciousness, were stopped.

The foreign policy of Gorbachev, who finally liquidated the "Iron Curtain", ensured respect for Mikhail Sergeyevich all over the world. In 1990, the President of the USSR was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for activities aimed at developing cooperation between countries.

At the same time, some indecision of Mikhail Sergeyevich, his desire to find a compromise that would suit both radicals and conservatives, led to the fact that transformations in the state economy never began. The political settlement of contradictions, interethnic enmity, which eventually ruined the country, was never achieved. History is hardly capable of answering the question of whether, in Gorbachev's place, anyone else could have saved the USSR and the socialist system.

Conclusion

The subject of supreme power, as the ruler of the state, must have full rights. MS Gorbachev, the leader of the party, who concentrated state and party power in his person, without being popularly elected to this post, in this respect was significantly inferior in the eyes of the public to B. Yeltsin. The latter became, in the end, the president of Russia (1991). Gorbachev, as if compensating for this shortcoming during his reign, increased his power, tried to achieve various powers. However, he did not comply with the laws and did not force others to do so. Therefore, the characterization of Gorbachev is so ambiguous. Politics is, first of all, the art of acting wisely.

Among the many accusations leveled against Gorbachev, perhaps the most significant was that he was indecisive. However, if we compare the significant scale of the breakthrough made by him, and the short period of being in power, this can be argued. 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 the history of Russia, 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. One can relate to Gorbachev in different ways, but, of course, this is one of the largest figures in modern history.

Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeevich (b. 1931), General Secretary of the CPSU(March 1985 - August 1991), 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. In 1942, he was under German occupation for about six months. At the age of 16 (1947) he was awarded for high grain harvesting together with his father on a combine. Order of the Red Banner of Labor. In 1950, after graduating from school with a silver medal, due to the high award, he was enrolled in the Faculty of Law without exams. Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov. He actively participated in the activities of the Komsomol organization of the university, in 1952 (at the age of 21) 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 committee of the Komsomol, 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 going on in the country at that time. The organs of the party leadership were divided into industrial and rural. New management structures appeared - territorial production departments. The party career of M. S. Gorbachev began with the post of party organizer of the Stavropol Territorial Production Agricultural Administration (three rural districts). In 1967 he graduated in absentia Stavropol Agricultural Institute.

In December 1962, Gorbachev was appointed head of the department of organizational and party work of the Stavropol rural regional committee of the CPSU. Since September 1966, Gorbachev was 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 member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

In November 1978 Gorbachev became Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU for the agro-industrial complex, in 1979 - a candidate member, in 1980 - a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU. In March 1985, under the patronage of A. A. Gromyko, Gorbachev was elected at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

1985 became a milestone in the history of the state and the party. The era of “stagnation” has ended (this is how Yu. V. Andropov defined the “Brezhnev period”). The time has begun for changes, attempts to reform the party-state body. This period in the history of the country was called "Perestroika" and was associated with the idea of ​​"improving socialism". Gorbachev began with a large-scale anti-alcohol campaign. Alcohol prices were raised and its sale was limited, vineyards were mostly destroyed, which gave rise to a whole range of new problems - the consumption of moonshine and all kinds of surrogates increased sharply, the budget suffered significant losses. In May 1985, speaking at a party and economic activist in Leningrad, the Secretary General did not hide the fact that the country's economic growth rates had declined, and put forward the slogan "accelerate social and economic development". Gorbachev received support for his policy statements at XXVII Congress of the CPSU(1986) and at the June (1987) plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

In 1986-1987, hoping to awaken the initiative of the "masses", Gorbachev and his team headed for the development publicity and "democratization" of all parties public life. Glasnost in the Communist Party was traditionally understood not as freedom of speech, but as freedom of "constructive" (loyal) criticism and self-criticism. However, during the years of Perestroika, the idea of ​​glasnost through the efforts of progressive journalists and radical supporters of reforms, in particular, the secretary and member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU, a friend of Gorbachev, A. N. Yakovleva, was developed precisely in freedom of speech. XIX Party Conference of the CPSU(June 1988) adopted a resolution "About publicity". In March 1990 was adopted "Press Law", achieving a certain level of media independence from party control.

Since 1988, the process of creating initiative groups in support of perestroika, popular fronts, and other non-state and non-party public organizations. As soon as the processes of democratization began, and the control of the party decreased, numerous interethnic contradictions that had been hidden before were exposed, interethnic clashes took place in some regions of the USSR.

In March 1989, the first free events in the history of the USSR took place. elections of people's deputies, the results of which caused a shock in the party apparatus. In many regions, secretaries of party committees failed in the elections. Many scientists came to the deputy corps (like Sakharov, Sobchak, Starovoitova), who critically assessed the role of the CPSU in society. The Congress of People's Deputies in May of the same year demonstrated a tough confrontation between various trends both in society and in the parliamentary environment. At this congress, Gorbachev was elected Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR(previously was chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces).

Gorbachev's actions caused a wave of growing criticism. Some criticized him for slowness and inconsistency in the implementation of reforms, others for haste; everyone noted the inconsistency of his policy. So, laws were adopted on the development of cooperation and almost immediately - on the fight against "speculation"; laws on the democratization of enterprise management and, at the same time, on the strengthening of central planning; laws on the reform of the political system and free elections, and immediately on “strengthening the role of the party”, etc.

Attempts to reform were resisted by the party-Soviet system itself - the Leninist-Stalinist model of socialism. The power of the general secretary was not absolute and largely depended on the alignment of forces in the Politburo of the Central Committee. Least of all, Gorbachev's power was limited in international affairs. Supported by the Minister of Foreign Affairs E. A. Shevardnadze and A. N. Yakovlev, Gorbachev acted assertively and effectively. Since 1985 (after a 6 and a half year break due to the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan), meetings of the head of the USSR with the US presidents have been held annually. R. Reagan, and then G. Bush, presidents and prime ministers of other countries. In exchange for loans and humanitarian aid, the USSR made huge concessions in foreign policy, which in the West was perceived as a weakness. In 1989, at the initiative of Gorbachev, withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, happened fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification. The signing by Gorbachev, after the rejection of the socialist path by the heads of state of Eastern Europe, in 1990 in Paris, together with the heads of state and government of other European countries, as well as the United States and Canada, of the “Charter for a New Europe” marked the end of the Cold War period of the late 1940s - late 1980s. However, in early 1992 B. N. Yeltsin and George W. Bush (senior) reiterated the end of the Cold War.

In domestic politics, especially in the economy, signs of a serious crisis were becoming more and more clear. After the law "About cooperation", which ensured the outflow of finance to cooperatives, there was an acute shortage of food and consumer goods, for the first time since 1946, card system. Since 1989, the process of disintegration of the political system of the Soviet Union has been in full swing. Inconsistent attempts to stop this process with the help of force (in Tbilisi, Baku, Vilnius, Riga) led to directly opposite results, strengthening centrifugal tendencies. Democratic leaders Interregional Deputy Group(B. N. Yeltsin, A. D. Sakharov and others) gathered thousands of rallies in their support. By the end of 1990, almost all union republics declared their state sovereignty (RSFSR - June 12, 1990), giving them economic independence and the priority of republican laws over union ones.

In the summer of 1991, several options were prepared for signing new union treaty(Union of Sovereign Republics - SSG). Only agreed to sign it. 9 out of 15 union republics. In August 1991, there was an attempted coup by removing Gorbachev "for health reasons" and declaring a state of emergency in the USSR, nicknamed in the press as "August Coup". Union government members included in USSR State Emergency Committee thwarted the signing of an agreement that turned a single country into a confederation of sovereign republics. However, the conspirators did not show decisiveness and then surrendered to Gorbachev, who was resting in Foros. The failure of the State Emergency Committee gave a powerful impetus to the disintegration of the state that had begun. A number of states recognized the independence of some republics from the USSR, including other union republics. In September 1991 took place V Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR who announced "transition period" and dissolved itself, transferring power to a new body - State Council of the USSR, consisting of the heads of the eleven union republics, headed by the President of the USSR Gorbachev.

On September 6, the State Council of the USSR recognized the independence of the Baltic republics: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which were already recognized by the UN on September 17.

On November 14, 1991, in Novoogarevo, participants in a meeting of the USSR State Council agreed on the text of the latest version of the Union Treaty, which provided for state structure Union Sovereign States as a confederation and made a statement on television that there should be a Union. However, the day before the scheduled signing, on December 8, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (Belarus), a meeting was held between the leaders of the three union republics - the founders of the USSR: the RSFSR (Russian Federation), Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR) and Belarus (BSSR), during which a document was signed on the demise of the USSR and creating an organization instead of a confederation: Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). December 25, 1991 Gorbachev made a televised address on the resignation of the President of the USSR "for reasons of principle" and gave control of nuclear weapons RSFSR President Yeltsin.

From 1992 to the present, M. S. Gorbachev has been President of the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Science Research ( Gorbachev Foundation). Lives in Germany.

In 2011 celebrated his 80th birthday with pomp at the London Concert Hall albert hall. President of Russia D. A. Medvedev awarded Gorbachev with the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.

Events during Gorbachev's rule:

  • 1985, March - at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU, 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-dry" law, vodka on coupons.
  • 1985, July-August - XII World Festival of Youth and Students
  • 1986 - an accident at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Evacuation of the population from the "exclusion zone". Construction of the sarcophagus over the destroyed block.
  • 1986 - Andrei Sakharov returns to Moscow.
  • 1987, January - the announcement of "Perestroika".
  • 1988 - celebration of the millennium of the baptism of Rus'.
  • 1988 - the law "On cooperation" in the USSR, which marked the beginning of modern entrepreneurship.
  • November 9, 1989 - the Berlin Wall, which personified the "Iron Curtain", was destroyed.
  • 1989, February - the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan is completed.
  • May 25, 1989 - 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 FRG - the first advance of NATO to the east.
  • 1990, March - the introduction of the post of President of the USSR, who was to be elected in elections for five years. As an exception, the first president of the USSR was elected by the third Congress of People's Deputies, he was the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR MS Gorbachev.
  • 1990, June 12 - adoption of the declaration on the 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 - the failure of the putschists. Prohibition of republican communist parties by the majority of union republics.
  • 1991, September - the new supreme body of power, the State Council of the USSR, headed by the President of the USSR Gorbachev, recognizes the independence of the Baltic Union Republics (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia).
  • 1991, December - the heads of the 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 treaty on the formation of the USSR in 1922.
  • 1991 - December 25, M. S. Gorbachev resigns from the presidency 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.