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Contrary to his predecessors, Gorbachev maintained positive relations with Western leaders, which led to the signing of important agreements, such as those related to nuclear weapons.
If there are two words associated with Mikhail Gorbachev and his decisive stage at the head of the USSR, these are “perestroika” and “glasnost”.
The first means “reconstruction” and the second “opening”.
These two innovative concepts promoted by Gorbachev -who He passed away on Tuesday at the age of 91. in Moscow- they changed the hitherto rigid nature of the Soviet Union, so much so that it finally fell.
In March 1985, Konsantin Chernenko, who had been at the helm of the country for only a year, died at the age of 73.
Unlike the conservative Chernenko, who had forged his career in Stalinism, the number two in the hierarchy was a relatively young politician, 54 years old, with reformist ideas: Mikhail Gorbachev.
In the absence of another plausible candidate, Gorbachev was unanimously elected as General Secretary of the Communist Party and, with it, leader of the then second world power, a position from which he would promote his opening policies.
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On the occasion of the death of one of the most crucial historical figures of the 20th century, BBC Mundo delves into his two doctrines that marked the end of the Cold War and changed the course of history.
Perestroika day
In the 1980s the standard of living in the USSR was falling, while in the United States and Europe it was advancing more and more.
The Soviet economy was in dire straits and Moscow might not afford to continue the increasingly demanding arms race with Washington.
On the other hand, government reports indicated the need to encourage small private businesses to sustain the economy.
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Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the USSR Communist Party when he was just 54 years old.
Thus, Gorbachev believed that a comprehensive reform was necessary to modernize and restructure the economy of the Soviet Union.
This vision was called “perestroika”.
Since 1985 Gorbachev undertook a series of economic openings – among them the private property of some goods – and commercial relations with the West, always on the basis of socialism.
Basically, perestroika was aimed at changing the centrally planned economy of the Soviet Union towards a market economy.
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Gorbachev’s policies allowed for freedom of speech and the printing of books that were prohibited under previous communist governments.
China had already initiated similar reforms under Deng Xiaoping as early as 1979, leading some analysts to compare perestroika to its neighbor’s reformist policies.
And, although there are similarities, the biggest difference is that in the case of the USSR the economic opening was accompanied by an unprecedented political, social and cultural liberalization in the communist world: la “volume”.
La volume
The new doctrine expanded freedom of expression in the country to unexpected levels.
Until then prohibited books, which challenged not only the official history but also the legitimacy of the communist government, began to be published in large editions.
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Political dissidents were released from prison and excesses of justice were investigated, while religious persecution ceased and different creeds were tolerated.
The official ideology, Marxism-Leninism, was replaced by ideological pluralism y free intellectual inquiry.
Freedom of communication was decreed (for example, foreign broadcast waves stopped being interfered with) and citizens were allowed to travel to Western countries, something strictly prohibited until then.
Secret reports on violent Stalinist-era repression were also declassified.
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In politics, it represented a radical change within the Communist Party by abandoning its so-called “democratic centralism”, a euphemism that alludes to a hierarchical block, strictly disciplined and intolerant of dissidence.
With almost 20 million members, the party was divided into different political platforms that participated in the elections of 1989, 1990 and 1991.
The legalization of opposition parties with a constitutional change in 1990 legitimized the new political pluralism.
At the international level, Gorbachev decreed the return of troops from Afghanistan, which in 1989 withdrew completely from the country following 10 years of invasion.
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The last leader of the Soviet Union also established good personal relations with Western political leaders, reaching agreements to reduce nuclear and missile arsenals.
His most crucial step was to publicly renounce the “brezhnev doctrine” of limited sovereignty for the countries of the bloc in Eastern Europe, granting them the freedom to remain communist or opt for another political system.
Since 1989 they all took him at his word and deposed their local communist leaders peacefully (except in Romania) without Moscow sending soldiers to prevent it.
Mikhail Gorbachev was unusually open-minded for a communist politician, Professor Archie Brown of Oxford University pointed out in an article published in the BBC’s recent archive.
Gorbachev turned out to be more reformist than his Politburo colleagues believed and, at a time when the Soviet Union was going through a delicate economic and social situation, he assumed sufficient authority to put his ideas into practice.
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After his departure from power, Gorbachev devoted himself to the foundation that bears his name.
However, the scholar points out, the more the Soviet system reformed, the more it undermined the party leader’s traditional omnipotence, which was the basis of his power.
In addition, the tolerance of dissident expressions within the USSR brought to the fore many problems repressed for decades in political life, including nationalist ambitions in the republics subject to Moscow.
So much so that in 1990 the very existence of the Soviet Union was seriously threatened.
In December 1991, Gorbachev’s efforts to restructure the entity as a voluntary federation of its republics failed.
And the country dissolved into 15 states, the largest of which was Russia.
I would follow all of this a very serious economic crisis that led millions of Russians to misery and the emergence of the elite of the oligarchs, who, supported by political power, appropriated the wealth of the country.
This complicated situation would lead a decade later to the coming to power of Vladimir Putin and the progressive loss of political and social freedoms in Russia.
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