Why Gorbachev?
Gorbachev is of the same age as I am. Several days ago I read a post (on a Russian forum) in which he was accused of being responsible for the disintegration of the Soviet Union. In my opinion the country disintegrated spontaneously, after the truth about dark sides of Stalinism became known. Yes, Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Communist Party, did contribute to the fall, by promoting the policy of "glasnost," that is by allowing truth to be known. But reforms introduced by the President of the Soviet Union, Yeltsyn, were equally important. The same can be said about Gorbachev's predecessor Khrushchev, about Solzhenitsyn, Shalamow and Pasternak, whose books were allowed to be published, and about authors of many other documents.
Karl Marx would say that focusing on characters of exceptional individuals, such as Lenin, Stalin and Gorbachev, is not sufficient. He would most probably try to identify mistkes made by those who managed the country's economy, focusing on nationalization of means of production, collectivisation of agriculture, and on dealing with some national aspirations.
Ludwik Kowalski, Ludwik Kowalski
http://csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/life/intro.html
P.S.
A Russian author wrote:
"Gorbachev must be put on trial! This diversionary enemy worked for western intelligence services."
"СудиÑ,ÑŒ Ð"орбачÑ'ва необÑ...одимо! ÐÑ,о враг, диверÑанÑ, коÑ,орый рабоÑ,ал на западную разведку!"
Or perhaps the decline and fall of the Soviet Empire was a freight train than no one could stop, and the writers of history need someone to blame.
Gorbachev was the fall guy for an already falling government. Read the book "Mig Pilot" by Viktor Belenko, the Russian air force officer that flew his Mig-25 to Japan to defect. Interesting read, because he details the state of the Soviet Union and how messed up the infrastructure was.
The guy was one of their top pilots, chosen to fly the (then) hottest fighter plane in the world, one so scary that NATO feared it more than any other weapon. Turned out to be a fraud, like the Soviet Union.
Pining for the good old days..go back to the 1950s.. Hmmmm.. Seems I've heard that elsewhere. Now where have I heard that....?
Quote from: AllPurposeAtheist on July 05, 2014, 03:15:57 PM
Pining for the good old days..go back to the 1950s.. Hmmmm.. Seems I've heard that elsewhere. Now where have I heard that....?
A Draino commercial?
-Nam
Quote from: Nam on July 05, 2014, 05:32:26 PM
A Draino commercial?
-Nam
ahh the good old days when kids were sprayed down with DDT..