Year of Gorbachev's rule - failure or success?

The years of Mikhail Gorbachev's reign will probably be appreciated a little later, when accusations of the fall of the Soviet Union will be sidetracked, and the summarizing of his activities will be seen through the prism of state, public, but not private interests. In this brief review, we will try to look at the former president of the USSR from this point of view, and at the same time understand what Mikhail Sergeevich was right about and where a fatal error occurred that led to such a negatively neutral perception of this, undoubtedly, outstanding personality.

But first of all you need to say a few words about the person. Gorbachev, whose years of rule fall in the second half of the 80's, in itself represents an example of a disillusioned Soviet power of the classic Soviet communist. He sincerely believed in the Bolshevik purity of Lenin's state plans, was really a sincere anti-Stalinist and also sincerely believed that the Brezhnev era was an age of stagnation, an inability to further develop, a social and political impasse. Therefore, the famous April 1985 theses presented a kind of declaration of a new party course, which, in theory, was supposed to offer scenarios for the deconstruction of a morally obsolete Soviet state machine. However, this was not done.

Moreover, in May of the same year two opposite intentions were proclaimed. In the economy there is a course for acceleration, not supported by practical steps and a reform plan. Whether in the moral sphere, or in the same economy - the beginning of an anti-alcohol campaign. As a result, beginning with the first year of Gorbachev's rule, it became obvious that an era of changes had begun and at the same time inconsistent decisions. However, the first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee in a certain sense can be understood: headed a huge country, he understood that these changes are not only necessary, they are necessary, but what exactly and what should be the logic of actions, he probably had no idea.

In addition, it was necessary to solve completely different tasks: pacify the "old guard", which prevents reforms, collect their own team and offer a new social contract to society. As a result, a "housing and communal" order of the party was issued in a year, thanks to which people were able to get free private property (legally this status was formalized later) apartments, suburban houses and plots. It turns out that from the point of view of personal interests, the year of Gorbachev's rule turned out to be the most profitable. People got the opportunity to work for themselves. At the same time, the cooperative movement was legalized, legally formalized the legal basis for the creation of joint ventures with foreign capital and the possibility of doing business. Who now will say that the years of Gorbachev's rule were for nothing? Another thing is that the NEP men were forced to work under the power and administrative roof of the party. But has this situation changed since then?

The summer of 1987 is a landmark time. In fact, from that moment, practical reorganization began. Glasnost, freedom of speech, a course toward disarmament, liberation from nuclear weapons, the end of the "cold war" and constructive dialogue with the world, not only with the West. The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, the emergence of alternative intra-party platforms, the Congress of People's Deputies, the development of the social movement and the formulation of political, social and economic demands for power are all the years of Gorbachev's rule. In fact, the second half of the 1980s is the epoch of the social classification of Soviet society, where every element, professional group, class, society of interests lived in the hope that their interests would be clarified, and all citizens would have a direct opportunity to influence the adoption of state Solutions.

And the last. The year of Gorbachev's rule is the rehabilitation of the repressed generation of the 1920s-1950s. The generation that "made" the revolution and whose errors Mikhail Sergeyevich tried to correct. However, how much can you do without the party, the state apparatus and in the conditions of constant positional battles, then with the power that seems to belong to you, then with the people who did not choose you. The lack of direct legitimacy is probably the main reason that the policy of perestroika has been almost completely destroyed.