Mikhail Gorbachev: Global grief over his death – From poor peasant family to leadership of the Soviet Union

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, passed away yesterday, a news that caused worldwide grief. Leaders and politicians from around the world are sending messages of condolence, stressing among other things that a “man of peace” and an “iconic figure of the 20th century” has passed away.

Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was born on March 2, 1931 in a poor peasant family. Growing up in the era of Joseph Stalin, in his youth he worked on harvesters on a collective farm before joining the Communist Party, which then ruled the Soviet Union as a one-party state according to Marxist-Leninist theory.

In 1953, while still studying at Moscow State University, he married his fellow student Raisa Titarenko. In 955 he got his degree and then moved to Stavropol where he worked for the local Komsomol and became an ardent supporter of de-Stalinization.

In 1970 he was appointed Secretary of the Stavropol Regional Committee and in 1974 he was in Mocha where he became the First Secretary of the Supreme Soviet.

In 1979 he became a candidate member of the political bureau of the party and three years after the death of Leonid Brezhnev he was elected General Secretary.

With his reforms, Mikhail Gorbachev contributed to the end of the Cold War, but failed to prevent the dissolution of the Soviet Union. When pro-democracy protests swept communist Eastern Europe in 1989, Gorbachev avoided resorting to violence – unlike his predecessors who had sent tanks to quell uprisings in Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.

But the protests fueled aspirations for autonomy in the 15 republics of the Soviet Union, which dissolved within two years in chaotic fashion. Gorbachev fought in vain to prevent the collapse of the USSR.

When he became general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1985, aged just 54had set out to introduce limited political and economic freedoms, but their reforms got out of hand.

The “glasnost” policy of open dialogue to solve problems allowed previously unthinkable criticism of the party and the state, while encouraging nationalists who began pushing for independence in the Baltic republics (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia). and elsewhere.

A champion of rapprochement with the West, Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

Many Russians have never forgiven Gorbachev for the upheaval caused by his reforms, considering the subsequent decline in their living standards to be a “very high price” they were asked to pay for “democratization”, as reported by international agencies and relayed by Athenaikos News agency.

Economist Ruslan Greenberg, who visited Mikhail Gorbachev in the hospital on June 30, recently told the Russian television network Zvezda: “He gave us freedom, but we didn’t know what to do with it.”

Condolence messages from the international community

THE President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin expresses his “deepest condolences” for his death yesterday Tuesday Mikhail Gorbachev, the Kremlin spokesman said today. “Vladimir Putin expresses his deep condolences after the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, he is going to send a condolence telegram in the morning to the family and relatives” of the former USSR leader, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Russian news agency. TASS news.

THE US President Joe Biden paid tribute to the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, who died on Tuesday, calling him a “rare leader”. “As leader of the USSR, he worked with (then-US) President (Ronald) Reagan to reduce the nuclear arsenals of our two countries, much to the relief of people around the world who were praying for an end to the nuclear arms race. After decades of brutal political repression, he adopted democratic reforms,” Mr. Biden said in a press release released by his administration.

These were the actions of a ‘rare leader’, who had ‘the imagination to see that another future was possible and the courage to risk his entire career to achieve it. The result has been a safer world and greater freedom for millions of people,” he added.

The Reagan Foundation for his part, he said via Twitter that he “mourns the loss” of the leader who “was once a political opponent of Ronald Reagan and ended up becoming his friend”.

And French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev, thanking him for his “commitment to peace in Europe”. Mr Macron praised on Twitter the memory of this “man of peace whose choices opened a path to freedom for Russians. His commitment to peace in Europe changed our shared history.”

THE British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised Gorbachev’s “courage and integrity”, saying his “tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society” remains an “example”, six months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “I am saddened to learn of Gorbachev’s death. I have always admired the courage and integrity he showed in ending the cold war peacefully,” Mr Johnson said on Twitter. “At the time of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s attack on Ukraine, his tireless commitment to opening up Soviet society remains an example to us all.”

THE Secretary General of the United Nations expressed his “deep sadness” at the death of Mikhail Gorbachev, paying tribute to the “incomparable leader” who “changed the course of history”. “He did more than anyone to bring about a peaceful end to the cold war,” Antonio Guterres noted in a press release released by his services, saying that “the world has lost a tremendous world leader, committed to multilateral cooperation, tireless defender of peace”.

THE President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen paid tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev, singling out a politician “worthy of trust and respect”. The last leader of the Soviet Union (1985-1991) “played a crucial role in ending the Cold War and bringing down the Iron Curtain. It paved the way for a free Europe. It is a legacy we will not forget. Rest in peace Mikhail Gorbachev,” said the head of the Commission, a former German defense minister, via Twitter.

“Mikhail Gorbachev was an iconic political figure of the 20th century,” said Mr Deputy Foreign Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis via Twitter. “He played a decisive role in the end of the Cold War, paving the way for a free Europe. He showed that History can be written not with wars but with acts of peace”.