Mikhail Gorbachev was the political leader who brought a new impetus to the Soviet Union by adopting the strategy for bringing the administration closer to the people and by launching the reformation of the system, political commentator Anatol Țăranu stated in a public debate hosted by IPN News Agency. According to the Doctor of History, Gorbachev showed that the whole Soviet system was based on the element of terror, IPN reports.
Anatol Țăranu noted that the coming of Gorbachev to power was influenced by a contradictory process witnessed in the Soviet Union. On the one hand, there was promoted the idea of development. On the other hand, the country experienced stagnation.
“The whole Soviet Union, the whole Socialist camp was waiting for changes. The notion stagnation was the first slogan that raised the issue of cardinal restructuring of life. The ascertaining of stagnation went against the whole ideology of the party that had been promoted during the last 20-30 years of the existence of the Soviet Union. When Gorbachev started his political career as a leader of the Soviet Union, the country witnessed developed socialism and the notion stagnation appeared against the background of this developed socialism. It was a flagrant contradiction. The shelves of stores were empty. Nothing could be found there,” stated Anatol Țaranu.
Being the last secretary general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Mikhail Gorbachev brought a new model of political leader into Soviet society. The former leader distinguished himself by the statement “The state is there where it is to serve the people”.
“Gorbachev came to power when the country was tired of interminable funerals. At the beginning of the 1980s, there were held the funerals of three political leaders of the Soviet Union. Society exacted a breath of fresh air and this breath came together with Gorbachev. Society met him with enthusiasm. Unlike his predecessors, Garbage went out and talked to the people. The Soviet leaders never dared to do this,” stated Anatol Țaranu.
Mikhail Gorbachev is known by the world for the start of perestroika, which is the process of reforming the bureaucratic and corrupt Soviet bodies, and for glasnost, which was a concept of openness and transparency.
“Gorbachev started perestroika without having a well-thought-out plan, without a designed concept. It was only a reform wish and he didn’t realize very well how to do that reform. He understood later but the political situation was several steps ahead of the conceptualization of perestroika. They initiated the process but could not manage it. As a result, all the authors of perestroika were thrown out of the political boat. Perestroika was absolutely necessary. Without perestroika, without a profound reform the system could not survive. In March 1990, the Communist Party, on the initiative of Gorbachev, renounced the role of leader in society. It became clear that the Soviet system was built based on the element of terror,” noted the political commentator.
The public debate titled “Why are the nostalgic wrong when they attribute the role of demolisher of the USSR to Mikhail Gorbachev?” was the third installment of the series “100 years of the URSS and 31 years without the USSR: Nostalgia for Chimeras”. The project is implemented by IPN News Agency with the assistance of the German foundation “Hanns Seidel”.
