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Gorbachev was an important figure for those who were born in the late 1960s and early 1970s who were interested in economics and politics. University graduates of this generation were listening to the song
"Winds of Change" while they were beginning their careers, witnessing the fall of the
Berlin Wall and watching the maps change. The world was changing rapidly.
When Gorbachev, the last president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), born in 1922,
resigned from his post which lasted for 6 years and 9 months, on December 25, 1991, he was closing an era in world history, but at the same time opening a new one. With his resignation, there was no country named USSR thereafter. 15 new countries were founded after the dissolution of the USSR. According to George Kennan, who was appointed to the US embassy in Moscow in 1952,
the greatest bloodless revolution in history was taken place. This revolution also put an end to the Cold War years
Gorbachev, who took the helm of the USSR in 1985, took over a country that was in extremely unfavorable economic conditions. The economy was at a standstill and corruption was a big problem. People in the USSR were unable to reach the consumer goods they needed. The Communist Party was controlling every aspect of social life in the USSR. Gorbachev was a staunch supporter of reforms. Nothing could go on as before.
He believed in the necessity of restructuring the economy and bringing transparency to politics and public life. He based his thoughts on two concepts and sailed the winds of change:
Perestroika and
Glasnost.Perestroika meant restructuring. Glasnost was openness. Perestroika represented economic change, Glasnost represented democratization.
Gorbachev saw the stalemate in the USSR and had reform goals, but what reforms? Was his aim to reform the communist foundations of the USSR or to move to a western-style free market economy? Was the process out of control with the developments that took place while attempting to make reform arrangements with regard to the communist foundations? If so, why? Was the USSR dissolved because reforms took a way not imagined by Gorbachev? While Gorbachev was trying to implement reforms within the communist regime, did his ideas change over time to the need to design a free market economy?
There are many comments on the above questions. Numerous policy analysis papers have been written over the years seeking answers to these questions. In this article, we have no opportunity to discuss these answers. However, we know that Gorbachev's aim at the beginning of his mission was to revive an outdated system with reforms. Although he had to resign as a result of the pressure exerted by the social factions he made unhappy, he left his mark on history only within almost 7 years. Aiming at reform, Gorbachev had no intention of terminating the USSR. However, the course of history resulted in the disintegration of the USSR. Founded after the USSR, Russia continued on its way with a free market economy.
It can be thought that one of the reasons for the Russia-Ukraine war that is taking place today is Gorbachev. Putin blames Gorbachev for the collapse of the USSR and the encirclement of Russia by the NATO.
According to Putin, the dissolution of the USSR was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20
th century and a real tragedy for millions of Russians.
Gorbachev released political prisoners, made it possible to read and watch banned books and movies. He signed an arms control agreement with Reagan, who was the President of the United States during his time. He had displaced a large number of bureaucrats by cracking down on corruption. He released
Andrei D. Sakharov, who was exiled in 1980 for criticizing the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan. He pulled the USSR out of Afghanistan. Putin's Russia, on the other hand, is disconnected from democracy and transparency today. The relations with the West of Putin's Russia are even worse than the Cold War years.
Gorbachev was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. With the money he received through the prize, he started publishing a newspaper called
Novaya Gazeta.
The wave that started with Perestroika and Glasnost also spread to Poland, Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Albania, eliminating the Iron Curtain.
Gorbachev did not want to destroy the USSR. What I have read and witnessed so far strengthens the thesis that Gorbachev initially made plans for restructuring a communist regime. However, the steps he took in the economy softened the strict communist regime in the direction of the market. However, he was not successful on the economic front. The process that led to his resignation was his inability to revive the economy in the eyes of the public.
It should not be neglected that when Gorbachev tried to implement reforms through Perestroika and Glasnost, capitalism was also renewing itself. The capitalist world had emerged from the
Bretton Woods order in the early 1970s and was changing shape and content under the leadership of US president Reagan and British prime minister Thatcher. In other words, another type of effective and radical change that Gorbachev brought to the USSR was taking place in the capitalist world. The transformation process of capitalism had a significant impact on the reform movement initiated by Gorbachev. With the collapse of the Iron Curtain, the high profit margins to be provided by the new markets would accelerate the change capitalism was passing through.
The members of the generation referred to in this article commenced their careers at the beginning of the changes described above. The world would become a planet of brotherhood. On the one hand, it was mentioned that the concept of the nation-state would disappear and nation-states would collapse, and that humanity would never even try to establish any other system
other than capitalism. On the other hand, the concept of
clash of civilizations was being introduced. The author of these lines thought in those years that Turkey would be a part of this clash of civilizations. Turkey was moving towards being stuck in the clutches of religious movements and a nationalism devoid of reason.
At first, capitalism seemed to be the winner. However, humanity is going through a crisis today. The processes brought about class inequalities between and within countries through the winds of change of those years. The Great Recession of 2008, the biggest crisis since
the Great Depression of 1929, was the result of the capitalist wave that caused Gorbachev's reforms to spiral out of control. Democracies have been damaged. Inequalities and economic predicaments gave way to autocratic regimes. However, it was mentioned that capitalism was compatible with human nature. However, capitalism’s process of change was so mismanaged that humanity has come to the point at which it is in a position to undergo a crisis today.
I saw the changes that took place in the 1990s on the spot in most of the countries mentioned above. I also saw most of them in the 1970s when change was unthinkable. While these countries that I saw in change were opening up to capitalism, I had a job at which I was trying to understand how and which supply chains could be established in which industries. I was in the middle of what had been told in the
32nd Day televison programs that I had watched with excitement during my high school years. I was enjoying witnessing history with my doubts and dozens of questions that this new world order would get blocked somewhere. The 2020s were so far away. So, I could have some fun. The climate crisis was also obvious. I was noticing that in my business life, too. The rapid growth of the European Union and especially the fact that the Eurozone was constructed contrary to economic theory raised doubts and question marks in my mind. Capitalism should not have missed the opportunity of making high-margin profits through new markets opening up day by day.
Gorbachev said goodbye. He was history. He was a greatly meaningful and profound figure of leadership for my generation. It makes more sense to me to try to understand what happened and look to the future rather than trying to find answers to what-if type questions of the past.
Goodbye my youth.