When Gorbachev became president of the USSR: date of election, time of government, achievements and failures, resignation, receiving the Nobel Prize. Years of Gorbachev's life: biography of the leader

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. Born on March 2, 1931 in the village. Privolnoe (North Caucasus region). Soviet, Russian statesman, political and public figure. The last General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. The last Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, then the first Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The only President of the USSR.

Founder of the Gorbachev Foundation. Since 1993, co-founder of CJSC Novaya Ezhednevnaya Gazeta (see Novaya Gazeta). Member of the editorial board since 1993.

He has a number of awards and honorary titles, the most famous of which is the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize. Included in the list of the 100 most studied personalities in history.

During the period of Gorbachev’s activities as head of state and leader of the CPSU, serious changes occurred in the Soviet Union that influenced the whole world, which were a consequence of the following events:

A large-scale attempt to reform the Soviet system (“Perestroika”). Introduction to the USSR of the policy of openness, freedom of speech and press, and democratic elections.
The end of the Cold War.
Withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan (1989).
Refusal of the state status of communist ideology and persecution of dissidents.
The collapse of the USSR and the Warsaw bloc, the transition of the socialist countries of Eastern Europe to a market economy and democracy.

Born on March 2, 1931 in the village of Privolnoye, Medvedensky district, Stavropol Territory (then North Caucasus Territory), into a peasant family. Father - Gorbachev Sergei Andreevich (1909-1976), Russian.

Mother - Gopkalo Maria Panteleevna (1911-1993), Ukrainian.

Both grandfathers of M. S. Gorbachev were repressed in the 1930s. Paternal grandfather, Andrei Moiseevich Gorbachev (1890--1962), individual peasant; for failure to fulfill the sowing plan in 1934, he was sent into exile in the Irkutsk region, two years later he was released, returned to his homeland and joined a collective farm, where he worked until the end of his life.

Maternal grandfather, Panteley Efimovich Gopkalo (1894-1953), came from peasants in the Chernigov province, was the eldest of five children, lost his father at the age of 13, and later moved to Stavropol. He became the chairman of a collective farm and was arrested in 1937 on charges of Trotskyism. While under investigation, he spent 14 months in prison and endured torture and abuse. Pantelei Efimovich was saved from execution by a change in the “party line”, the February 1938 plenum dedicated to the “fight against excesses.” As a result, in September 1938, the head of the GPU of the Krasnogvardeisky district shot himself, and Panteley Efimovich was acquitted and released. After the resignation and collapse of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev stated that his grandfather’s stories served as one of the factors that inclined him to reject the Soviet regime.

During the war, when Mikhail was more than 10 years old, his father went to the front. After some time, German troops entered the village, and the family spent more than five months under occupation. On January 21-22, 1943, these areas were liberated by Soviet troops in a strike from near Ordzhonikidze. After his release, news came that his father had died. And a few days later a letter arrived from my father, it turned out that he was alive, the funeral was sent by mistake. Sergei Andreevich Gorbachev was awarded two Orders of the Red Star and the medal “For Courage”. Then his father supported Mikhail more than once in difficult moments of his life.

From the age of 13, he combined his studies at school with periodic work at MTS and on a collective farm. From the age of 15 he worked as an assistant to an MTS combine operator. In 1949, schoolboy Gorbachev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for his hard work harvesting grain. In the tenth grade, at the age of 19, he became a candidate member of the CPSU, recommendations were given by the school director and teachers. In 1950, he graduated from school with a silver medal and entered the Lomonosov Moscow State University without exams, this opportunity was provided by a government award. In 1952 he was admitted to the CPSU. After graduating with honors from the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University in 1955, he was sent to Stavropol to the regional prosecutor's office, and was assigned to work for 10 days - from August 5 to August 15, 1955. On his own initiative, he was invited to the vacated Komsomol work, became deputy head of the Department of Agitation and Propaganda of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the Komsomol, from 1956 the first secretary of the Stavropol City Komsomol Committee, then from 1958 the second and in 1961-1962. First Secretary of the Regional Committee of the Komsomol.

While studying at Moscow State University, he met and on September 25, 1953 married a student at the Faculty of Philosophy, Raisa Maksimovna Titarenko (1932-1999). The wedding took place in the dining room of a student dormitory on Stromynka.

Since March 1962, party organizer of the regional committee of the CPSU of the Stavropol territorial production collective and state farm administration. In October 1961 - delegate to the XXII Congress of the CPSU. Since 1963 - head of the department of party bodies of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the CPSU. F.D. Kulakov, who left the Stavropol region from the post of first secretary of the regional party committee in 1964, called his successor in this position L.N. Efremov M.S. Gorbachev is among the promising party workers. And although Efremov did not like him, there were urgent recommendations from Moscow for his promotion.

On September 26, 1966, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected first secretary of the Stavropol City Committee of the CPSU. That same year he traveled abroad for the first time, to the GDR. In 1967, he graduated in absentia from the Faculty of Economics of the Stavropol Agricultural Institute with a degree in agronomist-economist.

Twice Gorbachev’s candidacy was considered for joining the KGB. In 1966, he was proposed for the post of head of the KGB department of the Stavropol Territory, but his candidacy was rejected by Vladimir Semichastny. In 1969, he considered Gorbachev as a possible candidate for the post of deputy chairman of the KGB of the USSR.

Gorbachev himself recalled that before being elected first secretary of the regional committee, he “had attempts to go into science... I passed the minimum, wrote a dissertation.”

From August 5, 1968, second secretary, from April 10, 1970, first secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the CPSU. His predecessor in this position, Leonid Efremov, argued that Gorbachev's promotion took place at the insistence of Moscow, although Efremov found it possible to nominate him as his successor.

Deputy of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR 9-11 convocations (1974-1989) from the Stavropol Territory. Until 1974, he was a member of the Commission of the Union Council for Nature Conservation, then from 1974 to 1979 - Chairman of the Commission on Youth Affairs of the Union Council of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In 1973, a candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Pyotr Demichev made him an offer to head the Propaganda Department of the CPSU Central Committee, where Alexander Yakovlev was the acting head for several years. After consulting with Mikhail Suslov, Gorbachev refused.

According to the testimony of the former chairman of the State Planning Committee Nikolai Baibakov, he offered Gorbachev the post of his deputy on agricultural issues.

After Politburo member Dmitry Polyansky was removed from the post of Minister of Agriculture of the USSR (1976), Gorbachev’s mentor Fyodor Kulakov spoke about the post of Minister of Agriculture of the USSR, but Valentin Mesyats was appointed minister.

The administrative department of the CPSU Central Committee proposed Gorbachev for the post of Prosecutor General of the USSR instead of Roman Rudenko, but his candidacy for the future General Secretary was rejected by Politburo member, Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Andrei Kirilenko.

In 1971-1991 he was a member of the CPSU Central Committee. According to Gorbachev himself, he was patronized by Yuri Andropov, who contributed to his transfer to Moscow; according to independent estimates, Mikhail Suslov and Andrei Gromyko were more sympathetic to Gorbachev.

On September 17, 1978, at the Mineralnye Vody station of the North Caucasus Railway, the so-called “meeting of four general secretaries”, which later gained some fame, took place - those traveling to Baku and Konstantin Chernenko, who accompanied him, met with Mikhail Gorbachev, as the “master” of Stavropol, and who was there on vacation at the same time by Yuri Andropov. Historians emphasize that 47-year-old Mikhail Gorbachev was the youngest party functionary whose candidacy Brezhnev approved as Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee; Gorbachev himself mentioned several of his meetings with Brezhnev even before moving to Moscow.

As Evgeny Chazov testified, in a conversation with him after the death of F.D. Kulakov in 1978, Brezhnev “began to go through from memory possible candidates for the vacant position of Secretary of the Central Committee and named Gorbachev first.”

On November 27, 1978, at the Plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, he was elected Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. On December 6, 1978, he moved with his family to Moscow. From November 27, 1979 to October 21, 1980 - candidate member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. Chairman of the Commission for Legislative Proposals of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1979-84.

From October 21, 1980 to August 24, 1991 - member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, from December 9, 1989 to June 19, 1990 - Chairman of the Russian Bureau of the CPSU Central Committee, from March 11, 1985 to August 24, 1991 - General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee. After the death of K. U. Chernenko, Gorbachev was nominated to the post of Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee at a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee on March 11, 1985 by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A.A. Gromyko, and Andrei Andreevich attributed this to his personal initiative. In the memoirs of the first deputy chairman of the KGB of the USSR F.D. Bobkova mentions that at the beginning of 1985, due to Chernenko’s illness, Gorbachev chaired the Politburo, from which the author concludes that Mikhail Sergeevich was already the second person in the state and the successor to the post of Secretary General.

On October 1, 1988, Mikhail Gorbachev took the post of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, that is, he began to combine senior positions in the party and state hierarchy.

He was elected as a delegate to the XXII (1961), XXIV (1971) and all subsequent (1976, 1981, 1986, 1990) congresses of the CPSU. From 1970 to 1989 - deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from July 2, 1985 to October 1, 1988. Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (October 1, 1988 - May 25, 1989). Chairman of the Commission on Youth Affairs of the Union Council of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1974-79); Chairman of the Commission for Legislative Proposals of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (1979-84); People's Deputy of the USSR from the CPSU - 1989 (March) - 1990 (March); Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (formed by the Congress of People's Deputies) - 1989 (May) - 1990 (March); Deputy of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR (1980-1990).

On March 15, 1990, at the third extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected President of the USSR. At the same time, until December 1991, he was Chairman of the USSR Defense Council and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Armed Forces. Reserve Colonel.

During the events of August 1991, the head of the State Emergency Committee, Vice-President of the USSR Gennady Yanaev announced his assumption of office. O. president, citing Gorbachev's illness. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR declared this decision to be the actual removal of Gorbachev from power and demanded that it be cancelled. According to Gorbachev himself and those who were with him, he was isolated in Foros (according to statements of some former members of the Emergency Committee, their accomplices and lawyers, there was no isolation). After the self-dissolution of the State Emergency Committee and the arrest of its former members, Gorbachev returned from Foros to Moscow; upon his return, he said about his “imprisonment”: “Keep in mind, no one will know the real truth.” On August 24, 1991, he announced the resignation of the General Secretary of the Central Committee. In November 1991, Gorbachev left the CPSU.

On November 4, 1991, the senior assistant to the Prosecutor General of the USSR, head of the department of the USSR Prosecutor General's Office for supervision over the implementation of laws on state security, Viktor Ilyukhin, opened a criminal case against Gorbachev under Article 64 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (Treason to the Motherland) in connection with his signing of resolutions of the USSR State Council dated 6 September 1991 on recognition of the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. As a result of the adoption of these resolutions, the USSR Law of April 3, 1990 “On the procedure for resolving issues related to the secession of a union republic from the USSR” was violated, since referendums on secession from the USSR were not held in these republics and there was no established transition period for consideration of all controversial issues. USSR Prosecutor General Nikolai Trubin closed the case due to the fact that the decision to recognize the independence of the Baltic republics was made not by the president personally, but by the State Council. Two days later, Ilyukhin was fired from the prosecutor's office.

After the signing by the presidents of the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR and L. Kravchuk and the chairman of the Supreme Council of the Byelorussian SSR S. Shushkevich on December 8, 1991 of the Belovezhsky Agreement on the termination of the existence of the USSR and the creation of the CIS, Gorbachev 17 days later in a televised address to the people announced the termination of his activities in office President of the USSR and signed a decree transferring control of strategic nuclear weapons to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. After this, the state flag of the USSR was lowered over the Kremlin.

On the day the Belovezhskaya Agreement was signed, Vice-President of the RSFSR Alexander Rutskoy met with Gorbachev. Rutskoi persuaded the President of the USSR to arrest Yeltsin, Shushkevich and Kravchuk. Gorbachev weakly objected to Rutsky: “Don’t panic... The agreement has no legal basis... They will fly in, we will gather in Novo-Ogarevo. By the New Year there will be a Union Treaty!”

The day after the agreement was signed, USSR President M.S. Gorbachev made a statement saying that each union republic has the right to secede from the Union, but the fate of a multinational state cannot be determined by the will of the leaders of the three republics. This issue should be resolved only constitutionally with the participation of all union republics and taking into account the will of their peoples. It also talks about the need to convene a Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR.

On December 18, in his message to the participants of the meeting in Almaty on the formation of the CIS, Gorbachev proposed calling the CIS the “Commonwealth of European and Asian States” (CEAG). He also proposed that after the ratification of the agreement on the creation of the CIS by all union republics (except for the Baltic ones), a final meeting of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR would be held, which would adopt its resolution on the termination of the existence of the Soviet Union and the transfer of all its legal rights and obligations to the community of European and Asian states .

On December 21, 1991, by decision of the Council of Heads of State of the CIS, the outgoing President of the USSR received lifelong benefits: a special pension, medical care for the whole family, personal security, a state dacha, and a personal car was assigned to him. The resolution of these issues was entrusted to the Government of the RSFSR.

Activities of Mikhail Gorbachev as General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and President of the USSR:

Being at the pinnacle of power, Gorbachev in January 1987, at the plenum of the CPSU Central Committee, launched the policy of “perestroika”, in the development of which he carried out numerous reforms and campaigns, which later led to a market economy, free elections, the destruction of the monopoly power of the CPSU and the collapse of the USSR.

Acceleration- a slogan put forward on April 20, 1985, associated with promises to dramatically increase industry and the well-being of the people in a short time; the campaign led to an accelerated disposal of production capacity, contributed to the start of the cooperative movement and prepared perestroika.

Anti-alcohol campaign in the USSR, launched on May 17, 1985, led to a 45% increase in prices for alcoholic beverages, a reduction in alcohol production, cutting down vineyards, the disappearance of sugar in stores due to moonshine and the introduction of sugar cards, but also an increase in life expectancy among the population, a decrease in the level of crimes committed due to alcoholism. The authors of the idea were Yegor Ligachev and Mikhail Solomentsev, whom Gorbachev actively supported. According to the Chairman of the USSR Government Nikolai Ryzhkov, the country lost 62 billion Soviet rubles in the “struggle for sobriety.”

In December 1985, Gorbachev, after consulting with his closest associate, Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee E.K. Ligachev, contrary to the advice of Prime Minister N.I. Ryzhkov, decided to appoint B.N. Yeltsin as the first secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the CPSU.

On April 8, 1986, Gorbachev visited Tolyatti, where he visited the Volzhsky Automobile Plant. The result of this visit was the decision to create, on the basis of the flagship of the domestic mechanical engineering, a research and production enterprise - the industry scientific and technical center (STC) of AVTOVAZ OJSC, which was a significant event in the Soviet automobile industry. At his speech in Tolyatti, Gorbachev clearly uttered the word “perestroika” for the first time; this was picked up by the media and became the slogan of the new era that had begun in the USSR.

On May 1, 1986, after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, on the instructions of Gorbachev, in order to prevent panic among the population, May Day demonstrations were held in Kyiv, Minsk and other cities of the republics with a risk to the health of those present.

On May 15, 1986, a campaign began to intensify the fight against unearned income, which was locally understood as a fight against tutors, flower sellers, chauffeurs who picked up passengers, and sellers of homemade bread in Central Asia. The campaign was soon curtailed due to the introduction of the first elements of a market economy in the USSR.

Published November 19, 1986 USSR Law “On Individual Labor Activity”(according to the law - “socially useful activities of citizens in the production of goods and provision of paid services, not related to their labor relations with state, cooperative, and other public enterprises, institutions, organizations and citizens, as well as with intra-collective farm labor relations”), for the first time in decades establishing the right of citizens of the USSR to private enterprise (in small forms) and giving it legislative regulation.

The return of the Soviet scientist and dissident, Nobel Prize winner A.D. Sakharov from political exile at the end of 1986, the cessation of criminal prosecutions for dissent.

Transfer of enterprises to self-financing, self-sufficiency, self-financing- the introduction of the first elements of a market economy in the USSR, the widespread introduction of cooperatives - the harbingers of private enterprises, the removal of restrictions on foreign exchange transactions.

Perestroika with alternating half-hearted and drastic measures and countermeasures to introduce or limit a market economy and democracy.

In January 1987, at a meeting of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, which discussed the responsibility of senior party cadres, the first acute public conflict between Gorbachev and Yeltsin occurred. From this time on, Gorbachev was regularly criticized by Yeltsin, and a confrontation between the two leaders began.

Power reform, introduction of elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and local Soviets on an alternative basis.

Personnel changes in the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, resignation of many elderly party functionaries (1988). In 1989, more than 100 members of the CPSU Central Committee were sent into retirement by Gorbachev.

Publicity, the actual lifting of party censorship on the media and cultural works. Posthumous cancellation in September 1989 of the awarding of L. I. Brezhnev with the Order of Victory - as contrary to the status of the order.

Tough measures to localize national conflicts, in particular, the dispersal of a youth rally in Almaty, the deployment of troops into Azerbaijan, the dispersal of a demonstration in Georgia on April 9, 1989, the beginning of a long-term conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh (1988), countering the separatist aspirations of the Baltic republics, and then recognition of their independence from the USSR on September 6, 1991.

The disappearance of food from stores, hidden inflation, the introduction of a rationing system for many types of food in 1989. The period of Gorbachev's rule was characterized by the washing out of goods from stores, as a result of pumping the economy with non-cash rubles, and subsequently by hyperinflation.

Under Gorbachev, the Soviet Union's foreign debt continued to grow. Approximate data are as follows: 1985, external debt - $31.3 billion; 1991, external debt - $70.3 billion.

Reform of the CPSU, which led to the formation of several political platforms within it, and subsequently - the abolition of the one-party system and the removal of the constitutional status of “leading and directing force” from the CPSU.

Rehabilitation of victims of Stalinist repressions who were not previously rehabilitated under.

The weakening of control over the socialist camp (the Sinatra doctrine), which led, in particular, to a change of power in most socialist countries, the unification of Germany in 1990, and the end of the Cold War (the latter in the United States is usually regarded as a victory for the American bloc.

The introduction of Soviet troops into Baku on the night of January 19-20, 1990, against the Popular Front of Azerbaijan. More than 130 dead, including women and children.

The revival of the tradition of celebrating Orthodox Christmas at the state level since January 7, 1991, declaring it a non-working day.

During the years of his rule, Gorbachev put forward a number of peace initiatives and proclaimed a policy "new thinking" in international affairs. The USSR government unilaterally declared a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing. However, such initiatives of the Soviet leadership were sometimes regarded by Western partners as a sign of weakness and were not accompanied by reciprocal steps. Thus, with the abolition of the Warsaw Pact in 1991, the opposing NATO bloc not only continued its activities, but also advanced its borders far to the east, to the borders of Russia.

Family of Mikhail Gorbachev:

Wife - (nee Titarenko), died in 1999 from leukemia. She lived and worked in Moscow for more than 30 years. As Mikhail Sergeevich said in a press interview in September 2014, Raisa Maksimovna’s first pregnancy in 1954 back in Moscow due to heart complications after suffering from rheumatism, doctors, with his consent, were forced to terminate artificially; The student spouses lost a boy whom Gorbachev wanted to name Sergei. In 1955, the Gorbachevs, having completed their studies, moved to the Stavropol region, where, with a change in climate, Raisa felt better, and soon the couple had a daughter.

Granddaughters: Ksenia Anatolyevna Virganskaya-Gorbacheva (January 21, 1980) First husband - Kirill Solod, son of a businessman (1982), got married on April 30, 2003. Second husband - Dmitry Pyrchenkov (former concert director of singer Abraham Russo), got married in 2009. Great-granddaughter - Alexandra Pyrchenkova (October 22, 2008).

Anastasia Anatolyevna Virganskaya (March 27, 1987) - a graduate of the MGIMO Faculty of Journalism, works as a chief editor at the Internet site Trendspace.ru, husband Dmitry Zangiev (1987), married on March 20, 2010. Dmitry graduated from the Eastern University of the Russian Academy of Sciences, studied in graduate school at the Russian Academy of Civil Service under the President of the Russian Federation in 2010, and worked in an advertising agency in 2010.

Brother - Alexander Sergeevich Gorbachev (September 7, 1947 - December 15, 2001) - military man, graduated from the Higher Military School in Leningrad. He served in the Strategic Missile Forces and retired with the rank of colonel.

20 years ago, popular elections of the head of state were held for the first time

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On June 12, 1991, in Russia, more precisely, in the RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, as we were then called), presidential elections were held for the first time. Boris Yeltsin was elected, becoming the first and last President of the RSFSR.

At that time, the Soviet Union was still alive and there was a President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev. The USSR will collapse a few months after the election of the first President of Russia. What kind of time was it when the first President of Russia was elected? How was the election campaign? Why did Yeltsin become president? How does this event look 20 years later?

The day before

Perestroika, launched in 1985, by 1991 had already completely taken hold of the masses and spread across the vast expanses of the USSR, regardless of its parent. The country, carried away by glasnost, spoke louder and lived harder. The 1989 Congress of People's Deputies, of which Boris Yeltsin became a delegate, showed the people many bright, non-Soviet-minded people - Anatoly Sobchak, Galina Starovoitova, Yuri Afanasyev, Gavriil Popov and, of course, Andrei Sakharov.

In 1990, the Supreme Council of the RSFSR was elected. Yeltsin became its deputy and then its chairman. Announcing the program of activities as speaker, Yeltsin said: “I have never advocated the secession of Russia, I am for the sovereignty of the Union, for the equality of the republics, for the republics to be strong and thereby strengthen our Union. This is the only position I stand on.”

A few days later, on June 12, 1990, the Russian parliament adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the RSFSR. Two months later, in Ufa, Yeltsin invited the national republics that are part of Russia to take as much sovereignty “as they can digest.” A year later, on June 12, the elections of the first President of Russia will be held, after which the day of June 12 will be declared a public holiday.

To spite Gorbachev

In 1987, Yeltsin, the first secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee, criticized the party leadership, including Gorbachev, at a plenum of the CPSU Central Committee. The plenum called Yeltsin’s speech “politically erroneous.” Yeltsin lost his post as first secretary of the Moscow City Committee. And he became deputy chairman of Gosstroy. “Do whatever you want,” Gorbachev told him, “but I won’t let you into politics anymore.” But not everything depended on the once all-powerful Secretary General in the country. Perhaps the confrontation with Gorbachev, the desire to punish for humiliation was one of the springs that propelled Yeltsin to the crest of big politics. The presence of an enemy has always been good fuel for enthusiasm in politics.

But Yeltsin left the CPSU only in 1990, on the eve of elections to the Russian parliament. By that time, Gorbachev received the status of President of the USSR. And Yeltsin, having been elected as a deputy and then as speaker of the Russian parliament, is actively promoting the idea of ​​​​introducing the post of President of Russia. He needed to defeat Gorbachev, crush him in the struggle for power and, of course, liquidate the Communist Party. This, the democrats of the 90s believed, was a brake on Russia’s prosperity. And then everything will bloom wildly...

The Gorbachev-Yeltsin political knot sparked from overvoltage. Captured by the war with Yeltsin, Gorbachev lost control of the country by the early 90s.

On March 17, 1991, the USSR held a referendum proposed by Gorbachev on the preservation of the USSR. More than 76% of citizens answered “yes”. In Russia, through the efforts of Yeltsin, the question was also submitted to this referendum: “Do you consider it necessary to introduce the post of President of the RSFSR, elected by popular vote?” More than 52% approved the idea.

Less than three months were spent preparing the fateful campaign. Taking America as an example, Russia also developed a president-vice president tandem. Aleksandr Rutskoy was teamed up with Yeltsin. The former head of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikolai Ryzhkov (he ran for the elections as a pensioner), the leader of the new Liberal Democratic Party Vladimir Zhirinovsky, deputy Aman Tuleyev, security officials Albert Makashov and Vadim Bakatin declared presidential candidates.

Yeltsin won in the first round. Upon taking office in the Kremlin Palace, he said: “Russia is rising from its knees! We will transform it into a prosperous, democratic, peace-loving, rule-of-law and sovereign state.” After the inauguration, Yeltsin and Gorbachev left the stage together. Or was Yeltsin taking Gorbachev away from the stage?

HOW IT WAS

Vladimir ZHIRINOVSKY, 1991 presidential candidate:

Everyone worked for Yeltsin!

During the 1991 elections, the entire country worked for Yeltsin, the entire press, all power structures. The other candidates were communists, but at that time anti-communist sentiments were already very strong. Nikolai Ryzhkov, scoring 17%, took second place. But anyway, at that time the Communist Party numbered 10 million, with family members it was 30 million, and voters were 100 million. Every third person could vote for Ryzhkov, at least he could get 30%. This is probably a reaction to the fact that Ryzhkov headed the government for five years before. Makashov scared that he would put pressure on everyone. Bakatin looked too intelligent. Tuleyev doesn’t even know why he came forward. Yeltsin was fed up by then. And Zhirinovsky was something new. During the elections in 1991, I said: “I will defend the Russians!” People then already felt anti-Russian sentiments in the union republics and autonomies. This slogan sharply distinguished me from the candidates.

I was the only one who was then coming from a new, still unknown party. And took third place. Then, after the elections, Alexander Yakovlev called a meeting and said that this was not a victory for Yeltsin, but a victory for Zhirinovsky, an unknown employee of some publishing house, for whom 6 million 213 thousand 207 people voted. I remember I arrived in Ivanovo, there was a rally on the street, an old woman came up, stroked my hand, and said: thank you, son, what kind of Yeltsin are you. People could not even imagine that there could be other candidates for whom they could also vote. Day and night on TV and radio: Yeltsin, Yeltsin, Yeltsin.

I traveled a lot then. This was also new, people came to see an unknown presidential candidate. The rest of the candidates stayed at home more. Yeltsin had the opportunity to travel as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR; he had an airplane. And they showed him ten times more than everyone else. The communists at that time did not understand the threat looming over them; they were sure that everything would remain as before. They did not expect Yeltsin to destroy the USSR. I remember this day, June 12, 1991, warm and sunny. There are many voters, many journalists. Nobody took me seriously, and when they found out about the third place - what happened to the Democrats! There was such a howl!

Mikhail POLTORANIN, from 1990 to 1992 - Minister of Press and Information of Russia:

Gorbachev's "Child"

The 1991 presidential elections were the fairest Russia has ever known. If in 1989, during the elections of people's deputies of the USSR, in which I participated and won, administrative resources were still intruding, then in 1991 there was no administrative pressure at all. Gorbachev gave complete freedom, and the election of the President of Russia is Gorbachev’s merit. Yeltsin is now being thanked for freedom, but no, Gorbachev gave freedom. Both political and economic. And Yeltsin, and Luzhkov, and Sobchak, and Popov, and I - we are all Gorbachev’s children. And there are all sorts of children: some are grateful to their parents, others abandon them.

- Why did Yeltsin become the first president?

His victory is people's hope for change, for the prosperity of the country. But the elections on June 12 are already the end point of the rise, and disappointment set in very soon. Yeltsin did not live up to expectations - but this is not his fault, but our fault, the fault of the entire people, because the people had the opportunity to prevent him from winning in 1996.

- When Yeltsin was elected president in 1991, did he already understand that the USSR would die?

Of course, he no longer hid this death. I remember how after Yeltsin’s elections, at the end of June, his assistant Ilyushin called me and invited me to Klyazma, where the president was going to celebrate the victory, as he said, in a family way. I took a bottle of vodka, my wife baked whites. We were taken to the island, there were already several people there, including the not very sober Vice President Rutskoi. We drank to Russia. After the barbecue, I offered Yeltsin a boat ride. I sat down at the oars. I told him that it was necessary to negotiate with Gorbachev so as not to impose Bolshevism on Russia, that Russia now had a legally elected president, and that the USSR needed to be made a state convenient for all republics. Yeltsin replied: “Wait a little, soon there will be no need to negotiate with anyone, we will be our own masters.” And he put his finger to his lips. Yeltsin brought the idea of ​​the presidency from America back in 1989. In the USA, a lot of work was done with our politicians. And Yeltsin was greatly influenced. Although later, like a stubborn Russian man, he did not admit mistakes, insisting that, they say, I did everything right. Overseas they understood how important it was for the popularly elected President of Russia to appear next to the semi-legitimate President of the USSR appointed by deputies. This created a conflict in power. And from here the collapse of the country is just a stone's throw away. Yeltsin went to the collapse of the USSR, knowing that he was not loved either in Belarus, or in Ukraine, or in Kazakhstan. And he would never have been elected President of the USSR. He only had the opportunity to become the President of Russia.

- Did Western consultants work during the 1991 presidential campaign?

They were close all the time. True, we waved it off when they made recommendations on what slogans were needed. They didn't know our life.

Did Gorbachev understand what a threat the emergence of a Russian President would pose to him, especially one like Boris Nikolaevich?

I myself personally told Gorbachev: “Go to the polls, let the people elect you, you will be the legitimate president.” “Oh,” Gorbachev waved, “you just want Yeltsin to win.” Gorbachev would have won, would have become a legitimate president, and perhaps the USSR would have survived.

Mikhail Nikiforovich, you were one of those who contributed to the rise of Yeltsin, who helped him in the confrontation with Gorbachev?

Yes it is. It was I who came up with Yeltsin’s famous speech at the October 1987 Plenum of the Central Committee.

- The speech that made him a folk hero in the fight against the party nomenklatura and its privileges...

Yes, but Yeltsin didn’t make this speech at the plenum; I came up with it a month later. After the plenum, he was beaten hard, but the people did not understand why he was being beaten like that. People began to wonder: what did Yeltsin say to Gorbachev? I began to find out, it turned out that it was not a speech, but a dummy. Yeltsin was not an orator. I told him: “Why did you give such a weak speech?” Yeltsin replies that he couldn’t stand it, he threw it on his knee and left. If his real speech had been published, the people would have been disappointed. I was then the editor of Moskovskaya Pravda. A month after the scandalous October one, there was a meeting of the USSR editors-in-chief at the Academy of Sciences. They all began to ask me: get Yeltsin’s famous speech at the plenum. I sat down and wrote it. Photocopied at night. And they distributed it to the editors. They took it all over the Union, immediately printed it somewhere, and “Yeltsin’s speech” went around the country. And his authority soared.

- But why didn’t Gorbachev release a transcript of Yeltsin’s real speech in response?

A year later, this faded thing was published in the journal of the CPSU Central Committee. Everyone decided it was a hoax. I remember Gorbachev once met with us deputies. Gorbachev shakes everyone’s hands, but he backs away from me and hisses: “I won’t forgive you for this.” I confess that I helped Yeltsin become super popular.

A leader known in narrow circles

There was not a hint of dirt in the 1991 elections. Real competition between candidates. The Communist Party could no longer harm, and the voters themselves acted as judges. This was the peak of Gorbachev's democratic reform. In 1989, I was a candidate for deputy from Grozny. It was then considered a Russian city - 70% of Russian speakers, over 60% of Russians lived in Grozny. The so-called national minorities could not apply for any positions. And suddenly I am from Grozny. My rivals were respected people, a minister, a plant director. And the first presidential elections were clean. I actually headed Yeltsin's election campaign.

- Yeltsin won because that was the kind of leader Russia needed then?

No, Yeltsin could not be called an all-Russian leader. He was supported only by certain circles in the capital. But the province rejected it. The power there was with the leaders of the Soviets of Deputies, and they could not stand Yeltsin. Ryzhkov was just popular in the outback.

- Why didn’t Ryzhkov win?

He would have won if his team had not been pre-set to lose. His team was weak. And we were very active.

- How did you build Yeltsin’s election campaign?

Some of Yeltsin’s comrades wanted to promote the idea that we don’t need the USSR. But I demanded that Yeltsin categorically ban these slogans; they harmed us. We held several meetings with the headquarters, and I convinced them to say that Russia should be part of the USSR. And we convinced the majority of voters of this.

- Why did you nominate Yeltsin, and not someone else, say, Rutsky?

We did not think that Rutskoi should become president. The majority soon came to the conclusion that Yeltsin had mistakenly made him vice president in the first place. And in 1993, Valery Zorkin had many chances to become president.

- Were there Western “helpers” at the 1991 elections?

Absolutely no. This was a period of romantic faith among people, a revolutionary impulse. People believed in change, in a new life.

POLITICAL SCIENTIST'S OPINION

Leonid RESHETNIKOV, Director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, Lieutenant General:

Without a goal

In the 90s, the politicians of that time identified only two possible paths for Russia: communist or Western, called democratic. But even then it was clear that both paths had been passed. Then, in the 90s, they were passed. It was a shame that they didn’t want to take us onto the path that Russia had been following for millennia, to look for the direction of movement, development, from our roots.

Although, without such a breakthrough person as Yeltsin, it would have been very difficult to get out of systemic Soviet ideas. Still haven't come out. But then, in 1991, he broke through. But I couldn’t go any further. After all, he was the flesh of the Soviet system, a party and economic worker, and these comrades, as a rule, knew little, read little, and were not very well educated. In the post of president, if you came there empty-handed, you won’t be able to catch up. Especially when the main passions are not self-development, but tennis and feasting. And there’s a ton of work, documents, visits. Although, we must give Yeltsin his due, he did not allow any persecution. But such a post, especially in a country like Russia, must be filled by a deep person, who understands exactly where he will lead the country, and is strong. And, of course, high moral qualities.

Mikhail Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 in the village of Privolnoye, Stavropol Territory. The boy grew up in a peasant family. In 1948, he worked with his father on a combine harvester and even received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for his success in harvesting. In 1950, the young man graduated from school with a silver medal and entered Moscow University at the Faculty of Law. In 1952, Mikhail became a member of the party.

After graduating from Moscow State University in 1955, Gorbachev, as secretary of the Komsomol organization of the faculty, achieved assignment to the USSR Prosecutor's Office. However, just then the government adopted a closed resolution prohibiting the employment of law school graduates in the central bodies of the court and prosecutor's office.

Returning to the Stavropol region, he decided not to contact the prosecutor’s office and got a job in the district Komsomol committee as deputy head of the agitation and propaganda department. The Komsomol and then the party career of Mikhail Sergeevich developed very successfully. In 1961, Gorbachev was appointed first secretary of the regional committee of the Komsomol, the following year he transferred to party work, and in 1966 he took the post of first secretary of the Stavropol city committee of the Communist Party. At the same time, he graduated from the local agricultural institute in absentia.

In November 1978, Gorbachev took office as Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU. The recommendations of close associates of Leonid Brezhnev, Konstantin Chernenko, and Yuri Andropov played a role in this appointment. Two years later, Mikhail Sergeevich turned out to be the youngest member of the Political Bureau. In the near future, he dreamed of becoming the first person in the party and state.

When Andropov died and Konstantin Chernenko came to power for an equally short period, Gorbachev became the second-in-command in the party and the most likely “heir” to the elderly general secretary.

Chernenko's death opened the path to power for Gorbachev. At the plenum of the Central Committee on March 11, 1985, he was elected general secretary of the party. At the next April plenum, Mikhail Sergeevich proclaimed a course towards restructuring and accelerating the development of the country. He named glasnost as one of the conditions for the success of the reforms. This has not yet become full-fledged freedom of speech, but at least the opportunity to talk about the shortcomings of society in the press, however, without affecting the members of the Politburo and the foundations of the Soviet system.

Gorbachev hoped that by remaining the leader of a socialist country, he could gain respect in the world. The politician sincerely believed that new political thinking should triumph: recognition of the priority of universal human values ​​over class and national values, the need to unite all peoples and states to jointly solve global problems facing humanity.

In contrast to the course towards glasnost, when it is enough to order the weakening and then actually abolish censorship, his other undertakings were a combination of administrative coercion with propaganda. At the end of his reign, Gorbachev, having become president, tried to rely not on the party apparatus, like his predecessors, but on the government and a team of assistants. Mikhail Sergeevich leaned more and more towards the social democratic model.

However, Gorbachev abandoned communist dogmas too slowly, only under the influence of the growth of anti-communist sentiment in society and the outbreak of rallies for Boris Yeltsin. But even during the August 1991 coup, Gorbachev still hoped to retain power and, returning from the Crimean state dacha, declared that he believed in socialist values ​​and, at the head of the reformed Communist Party, would fight for them.

In his last speech as President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Sergeevich took credit for the fact that “society gained freedom, became liberated politically and spiritually.” And indeed, free elections, freedom of the press, religious freedoms, and a multi-party system have become real. Human rights are recognized as the highest principle.

The foreign policy of Mikhail Gorbachev, who finally eliminated the Iron Curtain, ensured him respect in the world. In 1990, the President of the USSR was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his activities aimed at developing international cooperation.

At the same time, Gorbachev’s indecisiveness and his desire to find a compromise that would suit both conservatives and radicals led to the fact that transformations in the country’s economy never began. Nor was a political settlement of interethnic contradictions achieved, which ultimately destroyed the “strong, mighty, indestructible” Soviet Union.

In 2016, the politician admitted his own responsibility for the collapse of the Soviet Union. This happened at a meeting with students at the Moscow School of Economics of Moscow State University. In the same year, Mikhail Gorbachev was banned from entering the territory of Ukraine. In September 2017, he presented a new autobiographical book, “I Remain an Optimist,” in which, along with stories from the politician’s biography, there was harsh criticism of modern Russia and the political and social situation in the country.

Awards of Mikhail Gorbachev

Knight of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called (Russian Federation)
Knight of the Order of Honor
Knight of the Order of Lenin
Knight of the Order of the October Revolution
Knight of the Order of the Red Banner of Labor
Knight of the Order of the Badge of Honor
Medal "For Labor Valor"
Medal "For Strengthening the Military Commonwealth"
Awarded the Philadelphia Medal of Freedom
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the White Lion
Commander of the French Order of Arts and Letters
Knight of the Order of Christopher Columbus
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Agatha
Knight Grand Cross of the Portuguese Order of Liberty
Knight Grand Cross of the Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Literary creativity of Mikhail Gorbachev

"A Time for Peace" (1985). Published by Richardson & Steirman & Black
"The Coming Century of Peace" (1986)
"Peace has no alternative" (1986)
"Moratorium" (1986)
"Selected Speeches and Articles" (vols. 1-7, 1986-1990)
“Perestroika and new thinking for our country and for the whole world” (1st ed. - 1987)
“August putsch. Causes and Effects" (1991)
“December-91. My position" (1992)
"Years of Hard Decisions" (1993)
“Life and Reforms” (2 vols., 1995)
“Reformers are never happy” (dialogue with Zdenek Mlynar, in Czech, 1995)
“I want to warn you...” (1996)
“Moral Lessons of the 20th Century” in 2 volumes (dialogue with D. Ikeda, in Japanese, German, French, 1996)
"Reflections on the October Revolution" (1997)
“New thinking. Politics in the era of globalization" (co-authored with V. Zagladin and A. Chernyaev, in German, 1997)
"Reflections on the Past and Future" (1998)
"The Way It Was: German Reunification" (1999)
“Understand perestroika... Why is it important now” (2006)
Gorbachev M. S., Ivanchenko A. V., Lebedev A. E. (eds.) “Legislative regulation of the status of public authorities in the Russian Federation. National Center for Monitoring Democratic Procedures", (2007),
“Mikhail Gorbachev and the German Question” Sat. documents. 1986-1991 / comp. A.A. Galkin, A.S. Chernyaev. - M.: Ves Mir, 2006. - 696 p.
"Alone with myself". - M.: Green Street, 2012. - 816 p.
"After the Kremlin." - M.: Ves Mir, 2014. - 416 p.
“Gorbachev in life” / comp. K. Karagezyan, V. Polyakov. - 2nd ed. - M.: Ves Mir, 2017. - 752 p.
Gorbachev M.S., “I remain an optimist”, (2017).

Family of Mikhail Gorbachev

His wife, Raisa Maksimovna Gorbacheva (née Titarenko), died at the age of 67, in 1999, from leukemia. She lived and worked in Moscow for more than 30 years.

Daughter - Irina Mikhailovna Virganskaya (born January 6, 1957), works in Moscow, first husband Anatoly Olegovich Virgansky (born July 31, 1957) is a vascular surgeon at the Moscow First City Hospital (marriage from April 15, 1978 to 1993), second husband Andrei Mikhailovich Trukhachev is a businessman, engaged in transportation (marriage since September 26, 2006).

Ksenia Anatolyevna Virganskaya-Gorbacheva (born January 21, 1980).
Anastasia Anatolyevna Virganskaya (born March 27, 1987).

They said about this man that he put an end to the centuries-long struggle between East and West, and also removed the nuclear threat hanging over the planet, but as it turned out, not forever. And the price has become too high for all residents of a multimillion-dollar and multinational country. The last General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, as well as the first, and also the only president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, undoubtedly left his indelible mark on the history of our country, and the whole world. Only whether it was positive or negative is for posterity to judge.

Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeevich: short biography from tractor driver to secretary general

The years of Gorbachev's rule, which were the last for the Soviet Union, evoke truly contradictory reactions in society. Numerous ordinary citizens, as well as politicians and statesmen, welcomed what was happening. The reforms of Mikhail Sergeevich, seemingly bringing glasnost and democracy into the world of totalitarianism, the example of the unification of Germany, the cessation of international assistance to Afghanistan to the detriment of their own security, the fall of the Iron Curtain and the complete end of the Cold War, all this led people to confusion. However, in spite of everything, experts believe that the destruction of the world of the Soviet people, and this was exactly what it was, was received more positively in the West than within the country.

USSR President Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev had his own view on the further development of the country. Despite his desire to introduce a market economy, which in fact turned out to be not entirely suitable for that time and state of affairs, he wanted to preserve the centrally planned economy and the socialist system. Nikolai Ryzhkov then, and also after the above events, pointed out Gorbachev’s main mistake. He launched economic reform at a time of political upheaval and change, and it was only possible with a strong leadership, as happened in China.

The country's population, ordinary people, who suddenly ceased to be great and Soviet, suddenly found themselves on the sidelines of life. For an ordinary person of that era, the surname Gorbachev is associated with a massive shortage of all items and products, long queues and appointments for the purchase of sausage for the next quarter, a giant leap to the very bottom of the standard of living, when there are no prospects, or even the very opportunity to work, since enterprises stood up at once, not receiving raw materials and funds from the agonizing state. Even the publicist Zinoviev wrote that perestroika put the country and the government on the path of betrayal of the common people. So who is Gorbachev, an angel or a demon, a messiah or a messenger of the last days?

Outstanding research into the issue of the collapse of the Union was carried out by the Chinese, who at first generally considered Gorbachev personally and no one else to be to blame. There is some truth in this, but the roots of all this lie in the absence of any reforms during the Brezhnev stagnation. Andropov tried to make his own adjustments to the direction of movement and development of the country, but he did not have enough time, Chernenko turned out to be too sick and old, and Gorbachev simply relied excessively on his word, without showing any will, he just hoped that everything would work out, which is why today takes responsibility for the collapse of a mighty superpower. Moreover, about twenty percent of the population are confident that a little more and Russia would have completely lost its sovereignty, coming under the control of the West.

Origin of Michael

Gorbachev’s biography, by Soviet standards, was not entirely “clean”, because both of his grandfathers, both on his father’s and mother’s sides, were at one time victims of repression. Dad's father, Andrei Moiseevich Gorbachev, did not want to take part in the collective farm, so he was considered an individual peasant. For untimely completion of work, he was arrested in the thirty-fourth year of the twentieth century and deported to Irkutsk. Twenty-four months later he returned, realized his mistakes, joined a collective farm, where he worked faithfully until the end of his days.

My maternal grandfather, Panteley Efimovich Gopkalo, was from the Chernigov region and was passionate about the ideas of communism like no one else. At the age of thirteen, his father died, and the guy moved to a more well-fed and promising Stavropol region. There he became the chairman of the collective farm, but in 1937 someone wrote a complaint against him, after which he was arrested with the wording “suspicion of Trotskyism.” He spent a year and two months in dungeons, but remembered it for the rest of his life. However, he did not have the chance to perish in the camps; the head of the GPU department of the Krasnogvardeisky district shot himself, and Panteley successfully returned home.

Childhood and youth

The father, Sergei Andreevich, living in the Stavropol region, met Maria Panteleevna, married her and on the second of March 1931, his first-born was born - a boy, Mishenka, on whose forehead there was an irregularly shaped birthmark. It is for this spot that he will later receive the popular nickname Marked Bear. When the Great Patriotic War broke out, Gorbachev Sr. left to defend his Motherland, and the mother and the boy, who was barely ten, remained under occupation for a long six months. He still returned from the war, despite his erroneous burial in 1943.

From 1944 or 1945, thirteen-year-old Mikhail began working on a tractor mill and on a collective farm, because he had to somehow live. Two years later, the smart guy was already an assistant combine operator, and in 1949 he even received a real Order of the Red Banner of Labor for his success in harvesting. A year later, Misha submitted documents and, due to the presence of a high government award, was enrolled without exams at the Faculty of Law of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov. Five years later, he completed his studies with honors and returned to his native Stavropol region, where he became the first secretary of the city committee of the Komsomol. By sixty-one, he was already the first secretary of the regional committee of the Komsomol, and two years later the head of the department of party bodies of the Stavropol regional committee of the Communist Party.

First President Gorbachev: years of rule

Then in Gorbachev’s biography everything went like clockwork. The statesman Dmitry Kulakov became concerned about his fate, who strongly recommended promoting Mikhail Sergeevich along the party line as showing great promise. Despite the fact that Efremov’s immediate superior did not like him, Misha was still appointed first secretary of the city committee of the CPSU and in the same sixty-sixth he visited Germany (GDR) for the first time. At the same time, he received a second degree, became an agronomist-economist, and even tried to go into science, wrote and even defended a dissertation, but it didn’t work out.

Forward along the party line

The question of transferring Gorbachev to serve in the KGB was raised twice, but nothing came of it then, even at Andropov’s personal request. Meanwhile, Mikhail himself grabbed at everything that was offered to him, because he really was on fire, he wanted to improve his country, make it more comfortable for people, free. He was involved in ecology, youth, he was even offered to become a propagandist, but Suslov advised him not to move in this direction.

In 1978, Gorbachev was elected Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and moved to Moscow with his family. At that time, the forty-seven-year-old man was the youngest of the party functionaries. Ten years later, in 1988, he was already combining a government position with a party position and was the main contender to replace the sick and old Chernenko, who was simply no longer able to fulfill his duties.

Gorbachev's real reign began with the fact that on March 15, 1990, he was elected the first president of the Soviet Union, but it did not last long. In August of the ninety-first year, an uprising broke out, which was called the August putsch. After what happened, Gorbachev decided to leave his party post and even leave the ranks of the Communist Party altogether. At the same time, he decided to keep his party card as a souvenir. It turned out that the party that brought him to power and actually made him the president of a huge superpower was out of business.

In November, Gorbachev came back to haunt him, as the state prosecutor's office opened a case against him with the wording “treason,” since his signature was on the order accepting the withdrawal of the Baltic republics from the USSR. The exit procedure was not followed, a general referendum of citizens was not held, but the case was eventually closed anyway, and the prosecutor Ilyukhin himself, who initiated this case, flew out of his chair like a cork from a bottle.

The further, the more terrible, on December 8, 1991, three presidents of the then union republics, Yeltsin, Kravchuk and Shushkevich, gathered almost secretly in Belovezhskaya Pushcha and signed a criminal agreement on the complete cessation of the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the formation of the Union of Independent States (CIS ). Gorbachev was offered to arrest the conspirators and save the situation, but there was no longer any political will for this, he hoped that the agreement had no legal force, and everything would resolve itself, which did not happen. It was a fatal mistake and he made it. It was said that he was simply afraid that he would be accused of trying to retain power by any means necessary.

Gorbachev's dubious achievements?

Already on December 21, in less than two weeks, the President of the USSR will have to resign, since there simply was no Soviet Union anymore. He was personally granted lifelong benefits, the right to receive a special pension, personal security and the use of state apartments and dachas, medical care, etc. On December 25, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev appeared on television and spoke about his resignation. Subsequently, he said that all the time from the putsch to this moment he was waiting for the reaction of the Soviet intelligentsia, but it did not come. Despite everything, he managed a lot and it was not always positive, let's remember the most significant.

• He announced acceleration and restructuring, which became the impetus for the development of a completely new market economy for the country.
• The anti-alcohol campaign led to a completely opposite result from what was expected. The price of alcohol soared by almost half, centuries-old vineyards were cut down, sugar, bought up by moonshiners, became scarce.
• It was Gorbachev, contrary to Ryzhkov’s recommendations, who brought Yeltsin to power, who would lead the country to the very edge of the abyss.
• In May 1986, five days after the release at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, to prevent panic, festive demonstrations were still held in Kyiv, Moscow, Minsk and other cities, despite the health hazard.
• Termination of participation in the Afghan conflict and withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.
• In the same year, Gorbachev returned academician Andrei Sakharov from exile and ordered a complete end to persecution for dissent.

In addition, it is also worth recalling the interethnic conflicts that broke out throughout the country, which during the Soviet Union were simply impossible in principle, since internationalism was the main idea. Inflation, a sharp drop in living standards, hidden inflation, a colossal increase in external debt and complete impoverishment of the population, with enormous opportunities to “earn money” for a few. And this is only a drop in the ocean from what was caused by the collapse of the state.

Personal life and modern activities of the first and last president of the USSR

Usually, for famous, public figures, their private and family life does not work out the way they wanted, because it is not easy to always be in the public eye. However, with Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev everything was different, he madly loved his wife and was ready to make any concessions for her sake. It was rumored that he made many rash political decisions under her influence, but we are unlikely to know the truth, since asking a woman will never be possible.

Family and Children

Raisa Maksimovna Titarenko was born on January 5, 1932 and was only a year younger than her future husband. The daughter of a railway engineer and a native Siberian, she graduated from medical university and worked as an ophthalmologist in Ufa. But she did not finish her education there; she entered Moscow State University, where she met Misha. The wedding was traditionally held in the canteen, and then in the hostel, it was fun, there were a lot of songs, dances, the whole block was buzzing. True, the bride turned out to be weak, so according to the doctor’s testimony, the first pregnancy had to be terminated due to heart problems. However, she was able to give one daughter to her husband.

• Irina Mikhailovna, married Virganskaya (January 6, 1957). Subsequently, she separated from the vascular surgeon Vigransky and remarried a businessman who is still involved in transportation to this day.

Mikhail Sergeevich’s wife, whom he really almost idolized, died in 1999 from leukemia. From his daughter Irina, Gorbachev has two charming granddaughters, Ksenia and Anastasia, as well as a great-granddaughter, Alexandra Pyrchenkova, who was barely ten years old.

Modern activities

Already at the head of the country in ninety-four, Yeltsin assigned Gorbachev a lifelong allowance, which amounts to forty minimum pensions. After his resignation, he began to complain that he was being persecuted, his speeches and books were being blocked, he was being silenced, and in 1996 he even nominated himself for the presidency, but the people no longer believed him and he managed to get no more than half a percent of the votes. He tried to join the Social Democratic Party, but at the dawn of the new millennium it was dissolved by court order. In May 2016, Ukraine banned Mikhail Sergeevich from entering the country for five years, to which he skeptically replied that he had not gone there for a long time and had no intention of doing so.

Interesting

Margaret Thatcher, before her death, made a list of all the guests who would attend her funeral. Among others, the name of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was listed there. However, when in April the “Iron Lady” gave the order to live long, the former Russian leader did not come to the farewell ceremony, since he himself was in the hospital at that time.

Gorbachev was last hospitalized in 2015, after which he was discharged. He sold a huge house that belonged to his family in the Bavarian Alps. In an interview with Vladimir Pozner, Gorbachev once said that he should have arrested the “conspirators” at one time, and also driven Yeltsin with a filthy broom, as his comrades advised. But he was unable to show political will, for which he paid with contempt, mistrust and ostracism from the people.

In the sixteenth year, at a meeting with students, he fully admitted his own responsibility for the collapse of the Soviet Union, and even earlier welcomed the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation. In April of the seventeenth year, Mikhail Sergeevich said that he saw clear signs of the opening of a new cold war of the West against the Russian Federation, as well as an arms race, against which and for the sake of which he took the main steps to reorganize the country, state and party.

General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (1985-1991), President of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (March 1990 - December 1991).
General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee (March 11, 1985 - August 23, 1991), first and last President of the USSR (March 15, 1990 - December 25, 1991).

Head of the Gorbachev Foundation. Since 1993, co-founder of New Daily Newspaper CJSC (from the Moscow register).

Biography of Gorbachev

Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 in the village. Privolnoye, Krasnogvardeisky district, Stavropol Territory. Father: Sergei Andreevich Gorbachev. Mother: Maria Panteleevna Gopkalo.

In 1945, M. Gorbachev began working as an assistant combine operator together with by his father. In 1947, 16-year-old combine operator Mikhail Gorbachev received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for high-threshing grain.

In 1950, M. Gorbachev graduated from school with a silver medal. I immediately went to Moscow and entered the Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov to the Faculty of Law.
In 1952, M. Gorbachev joined the CPSU.

In 1953 Gorbachev married Raisa Maksimovna Titarenko, a student at the Faculty of Philosophy at Moscow State University.

In 1955, he graduated from the university and was given a referral to the regional prosecutor's office of Stavropol.

In Stavropol, Mikhail Gorbachev first became deputy head of the agitation and propaganda department of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the Komsomol, then the 1st Secretary of the Stavropol City Komsomol Committee and finally the 2nd and 1st Secretary of the Regional Committee of the Komsomol.

Mikhail Gorbachev - party work

In 1962, Mikhail Sergeevich finally switched to party work. Received the position of party organizer of the Stavropol Territorial Production Agricultural Administration. Due to the fact that the reforms of N. Khrushchev are underway in the USSR, great attention is being given to agriculture. M. Gorbachev entered the correspondence department of the Stavropol Agricultural Institute.

In the same year, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was approved as head of the department of organizational and party work of the Stavropol rural regional committee of the CPSU.
In 1966, he was elected 1st Secretary of the Stavropol City Party Committee.

In 1967 he received a diploma from the Stavropol Agricultural Institute.

The years 1968-1970 were marked by the consistent election of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, first as the 2nd and then as the 1st secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee of the CPSU.

In 1971, Gorbachev was admitted to the CPSU Central Committee.

In 1978, he received the post of Secretary of the CPSU for issues of the agro-industrial complex.

In 1980, Mikhail Sergeevich became a member of the Politburo of the CPSU.

In 1985, Gorbachev took the post of General Secretary of the CPSU, that is, he became the head of state.

In the same year, annual meetings between the leader of the USSR and the President of the United States and leaders of foreign countries resumed.

Gorbachev's Perestroika

The period of the reign of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev is usually associated with the end of the era of the so-called Brezhnev “stagnation” and with the beginning of “perestroika” - a concept familiar to the whole world.

The Secretary General's first event was a large-scale anti-alcohol campaign (officially launched on May 17, 1985). Alcohol prices in the country rose sharply, and its sales were limited. Vineyards were cut down. All this led to the fact that people began to poison themselves with moonshine and all kinds of alcohol substitutes, and the economy suffered more losses. In response, Gorbachev puts forward the slogan “accelerate socio-economic development.”

The main events of Gorbachev's reign were as follows:
On April 8, 1986, at a speech in Togliatti at the Volzhsky Automobile Plant, Gorbachev first uttered the word “perestroika”; it became the slogan of the new era that had begun in the USSR.
On May 15, 1986, a campaign began to intensify the fight against unearned income (the fight against tutors, flower sellers, drivers).
The anti-alcohol campaign, which began on May 17, 1985, led to a sharp increase in prices for alcoholic beverages, cutting down vineyards, the disappearance of sugar in stores and the introduction of sugar cards, and an increase in life expectancy among the population.
The main slogan was acceleration, associated with promises to dramatically increase industry and the well-being of the people in a short time.
Power reform, introduction of elections to the Supreme Council and local councils on an alternative basis.
Glasnost, the actual lifting of party censorship on the media.
Suppression of local national conflicts, in which the authorities took harsh measures (dispersal of demonstrations in Georgia, forceful dispersal of a youth rally in Almaty, deployment of troops to Azerbaijan, unfolding of a long-term conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, suppression of separatist aspirations of the Baltic republics).
During the Gorbachev period of rule there was a sharp decrease in the reproduction of the population of the USSR.
The disappearance of food from stores, hidden inflation, the introduction of a card system for many types of food in 1989. As a result of pumping the Soviet economy with non-cash rubles, hyperinflation occurred.
Under M.S. Gorbachev, the USSR's external debt reached a record high. Gorbachev took out debts at high interest rates from different countries. Russia was able to pay off its debts only 15 years after his removal from power. The USSR's gold reserves decreased tenfold: from more than 2,000 tons to 200.

Gorbachev's politics

Reform of the CPSU, abolition of the one-party system and removal from the CPSU constitutional status of “leading and organizing force”.
Rehabilitation of victims of Stalinist repressions who were not rehabilitated under.
Weakening control over the socialist camp (Sinatra doctrine). It led to a change of power in most socialist countries and the unification of Germany in 1990. The end of the Cold War in the United States is regarded as a victory for the American bloc.
The end of the war in Afghanistan and the withdrawal of Soviet troops, 1988-1989.
The introduction of Soviet troops against the Popular Front of Azerbaijan in Baku, January 1990, the result - more than 130 dead, including women and children.
Concealment from the public of the facts of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986.

In 1987, open criticism of Mikhail Gorbachev's actions began from the outside.

In 1988, at the 19th Party Conference of the CPSU, the resolution “On Glasnost” was officially adopted.

In March 1989, for the first time in the history of the USSR, free elections of people's deputies were held, as a result of which not party henchmen, but representatives of various trends in society, were allowed to power.

In May 1989, Gorbachev was elected chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. In the same year, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan began. In October, through the efforts of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, the Berlin Wall was destroyed and Germany was reunited.

In December in Malta, as a result of a meeting between Gorbachev and George H. W. Bush, the heads of state declared that their countries were no longer adversaries.

Behind the successes and breakthroughs in foreign policy lies a serious crisis within the USSR itself. By 1990, food shortages had increased. Local performances began in the republics (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia).

Gorbachev President of the USSR

In 1990, M. Gorbachev was elected President of the USSR at the Third Congress of People's Deputies. In the same year, in Paris, the USSR, as well as European countries, the USA and Canada signed the “Charter for a New Europe”, which effectively marked the end of the Cold War, which lasted fifty years.

In the same year, most of the republics of the USSR declared their state sovereignty.

In July 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev ceded his post as Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to Boris Yeltsin.

On November 7, 1990, there was an unsuccessful attempt on M. Gorbachev’s life.
The same year brought him the Nobel Peace Prize.

In August 1991, a coup attempt was made in the country (the so-called State Emergency Committee). The state began to rapidly disintegrate.

On December 8, 1991, a meeting of the presidents of the USSR, Belarus and Ukraine took place in Belovezhskaya Pushcha (Belarus). They signed a document on the liquidation of the USSR and the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

In 1992 M.S. Gorbachev became the head of the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Science Research (“Gorbachev Foundation”).

1993 brought a new post - president of the international environmental organization Green Cross.

In 1996, Gorbachev decided to take part in the presidential elections, and the socio-political movement “Civil Forum” was created. In the 1st round of voting, he is eliminated from the elections with less than 1% of the votes.

In 1999 she died of cancer.

In 2000, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev became the leader of the Russian United Social Democratic Party and chairman of the NTV Public Supervisory Board.

In 2001, Gorbachev began filming a documentary about 20th-century politicians whom he personally interviewed.

In the same year, his Russian United Social Democratic Party merged with the Russian Party of Social Democracy (RPSD) of K. Titov, forming the Social Democratic Party of Russia.

In March 2003, M. Gorbachev’s book “The Facets of Globalization” was published, written by several authors under his leadership.
Gorbachev was married once. Spouse: Raisa Maksimovna, nee Titarenko. Children: Irina Gorbacheva (Virganskaya). Granddaughters - Ksenia and Anastasia. Great-granddaughter - Alexandra.

The years of Gorbachev's reign - results

The activities of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev as head of the CPSU and the USSR are associated with a large-scale attempt at reform in the USSR - perestroika, which ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as the end of the Cold War. The period of M. Gorbachev's reign is assessed ambiguously by researchers and contemporaries.
Conservative politicians criticize him for the economic devastation, the collapse of the Union and other consequences of the perestroika he invented.

Radical politicians blamed him for the inconsistency of reforms and the attempt to preserve the previous administrative-command system and socialism.
Many Soviet, post-Soviet and foreign politicians and journalists assessed positively Gorbachev’s reforms, democracy and glasnost, the end of the Cold War, and the unification of Germany. The assessment of M. Gorbachev’s activities abroad of the former Soviet Union is more positive and less controversial than in the post-Soviet space.

List of works written by M. Gorbachev:
"A Time for Peace" (1985)
"The Coming Century of Peace" (1986)
"Peace has no alternative" (1986)
"Moratorium" (1986)
"Selected Speeches and Articles" (vols. 1-7, 1986-1990)
“Perestroika: new thinking for our country and for the whole world” (1987)
“August putsch. Causes and Effects" (1991)
“December-91. My position" (1992)
"Years of Hard Decisions" (1993)
“Life and Reforms” (2 vols., 1995)
“Reformers are never happy” (dialogue with Zdenek Mlynar, in Czech, 1995)
“I want to warn you...” (1996)
“Moral Lessons of the 20th Century” in 2 volumes (dialogue with D. Ikeda, in Japanese, German, French, 1996)
"Reflections on the October Revolution" (1997)
“New thinking. Politics in the era of globalization" (co-authored with V. Zagladin and A. Chernyaev, in German, 1997)
"Reflections on the Past and Future" (1998)
“Understand perestroika... Why is it important now” (2006)

During his reign, Gorbachev received the nicknames “Bear”, “Humpbacked”, “Marked Bear”, “Mineral Secretary”, “Lemonade Joe”, “Gorby”.
Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev played himself in the feature film by Wim Wenders “So Far, So Close!” (1993) and participated in a number of other documentaries.

In 2004, he received a Grammy Award for scoring Sergei Prokofiev's musical fairy tale "Peter and the Wolf" together with Sophia Loren and Bill Clinton.

Mikhail Gorbachev has been awarded many prestigious foreign awards and prizes:
Prize named after Indira Gandhi for 1987
Golden Dove for Peace Award for contributions to peace and disarmament, Rome, November 1989.
Peace Prize named after Albert Einstein for his enormous contribution to the struggle for peace and understanding between peoples (Washington, June 1990)
Honorary Award “Historical Figure” from an influential US religious organization - “Call of Conscience Foundation” (Washington, June 1990)
International Peace Prize named after. Martin Luther King's "For a World Without Violence 1991"
Benjamin M. Cardoso Award for Democracy (New York, USA, 1992)
International Prize "Golden Pegasus" (Tuscany, Italy, 1994)
King David Award (USA, 1997) and many others.
Awarded the following orders and medals: Order of the Red Banner of Labor, 3 Orders of Lenin, Order of the October Revolution, Order of the Badge of Honour, Gold Commemorative Medal of Belgrade (Yugoslavia, March 1988), Silver Medal of the Sejm of the People's Republic of Poland for outstanding contribution to the development and strengthening of international cooperation, friendship and interaction between the People's Republic of Poland and the USSR (Poland, July 1988), Commemorative Medal of the Sorbonne, Rome, Vatican, USA, “Star of the Hero” (Israel, 1992), Gold Medal of Thessaloniki (Greece, 1993), Gold Badge of the University of Oviedo ( Spain, 1994), Republic of Korea, Order of the Association of Latin American Unity in Korea “Simon Bolivar Grand Cross for Unity and Freedom” (Republic of Korea, 1994).

Gorbachev is Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Agatha (San Marino, 1994) and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Liberty (Portugal, 1995).

Speaking at various universities around the world, giving lectures in the form of stories about the USSR, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev also has honorary titles and honorary academic degrees, mainly as a good messenger and a peacemaker.

He is also an Honorary Citizen of many foreign cities, including Berlin, Florence, Dublin, etc.