What do Russians think of Gorbachev?

Mikhail Gorbachev turned 80 on 2nd March 2011. His birthday has become an occassion for much introspection, revival of old historical debates and statements of hatred against the leader, who although hailed by the West evokes a very mixed reaction at home. Many still blame him for the murder of the Soviet empire and for the economic unrest his perestroika years brought in.

My personal take: He is obviously a great man – no doubt about it. It takes a different kind of power and grace to allow criticism of oneself in a country starving for democracy and to step down without bloodshed. He always had the option to nuke dissenting Eastern bloc countries and his own rebellious Soviet republics (only Ukraine and Kazakhstan had nuclear facilities on Soviet soil in addition to Russia). In that, he did not just dismantle the Iron Curtain, avoid a Third World War, but also, willingly, averted a nuclear catastrophe. Where I feel he went wrong was economic policies. He ‘let go’ far too soon. Decades of communism cannot be fixed with a few months, even years of perestroika. I feel he and the Kremlin should have had sounder macroeconomic policies and done more hand-holding as in the cases of South African transition after apartheid or Indian economic reforms after the 1991 bankruptcy.


Here are a couple of interesting excerpts of what some prominent Russians think of Gorbachev. The article appeared on the Russia & India Report website. Original source: Vlast magazine.
"Valery Semyonov, Vice Chairman of the regional parliament of the Krasnoyarsk Region. There would have been no changes in the country hadn’t it been for Gorbachev, and Russia would not be part of the international community now. He gave us freedom to think, move and travel abroad. The only thing that cannot be justified is the collapse of the Soviet Union.


Vladimir Pekhtin, First Deputy Head of the United Russia party in the State Duma. I believe that Mikhail Gorbachev is a demagogue and traitor. He unleashed perestroika to meet his own political ambitions, and he ruined the country shamefully. And now, he speculates in a dignified tone on how efficient the president, government and United Russia are. It doesn’t take much to criticize and advise, but when Gorbachev had a real opportunity to care about Russia’s well-being, he not just missed this chance, but he plunged the country into chaos and absolute decline. We are still dealing with the negative implications of his reforms."