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Date:         Mon, 12 Oct 1992 01:43:44 -0500
From:         "VALENTINE M. SMITH" <CDELL@UMKCVAX1.BITNET>
Subject:      ON the "trials" of Gorbachev, #779
Comments: To: val-l@ucf1vm.bitnet, jwales@iubvm.bitnet, olsenj@stolaf.edu,
              kousen@rayleigh.res.utc.com, klur@maristb.bitnet

Sorry to be so silent. Between studying for a Russian test I feel not
very good about, real congested lungs, the presidential debate, and
my family's varying states of activity and wellness - I have not had
much to say, nor the will to say much.

But, I would offer a few comments to the "dilemma" of Brother
Gorbachev. I wish I could feel bad for him, and that I could just
denounce thw Yeltsin government as treating him shabbily and evilly
in light of Gorbachev's services to the nation.

I do believe Boris IS acting in a petty manner. I believe that the
Russian government has no sympathy for Gorbachev, and that Yeltsin
personally would do anything to avenge his treatment by Gorbachev
when he was dismissed as party boss of Moscow, and humiliated by the
party.

But, Gorb is adamant that he will not get tied into the CPSU's
struggle with the Constitutional Court. He was expelled from the CPSU
after he resigned as General Secretary, and he can arguably say that
he was the one who took the CPSU's "place" as paramount (and only)
party of the USSR away from the party. But, I think he's right to
perceive his being called to testify is a ploy to humiliate him, and
tar him with all the evil the CPSU HAS done as the sole legal party
of the ex-USSR these past 75 years. He will not buy into cooperating
with his tormentors, and he's shrewd enough to make political capital
out of what is being done to him even though (so far, at least) that
has not been very serious - loss of all but fifty offices in a
building he once "controlled" all of, having to pay rent for those
offices, a 100 ruble fine for contempt of the Constitutional Court,
and his passport lifted.

A high irony for this observer is Gorbachev's attempt to classify
himself as a "refusenik," which I personally believe is an insult to
all those genuine refuseniks who paid in exile, loss of property
and/or loss of freedom. He IS being hassled, and perhaps he is being
treated shabbily considering that the transition from the old way to
the new was relatively peaceful, and democracy appears to be trying
to manifest itself in the wake of his years in power, which he
appears to have set in motion.

But, Gorbachev is lucky to be alive, in this observer's estimation. I
thought in August, 1991, that Kryuchkov or the "emergency committee"
would order him shot. They failed to remove him OR Yeltsin, so now
the two men, not the best of friends anyway, are re-polarizing the
fragile Russian democracy with a political battle of wills Gorby
cannot win. (Yeltsin may lose too, but probably not the battle with
Gorbachev). George Kennan said it at the time of the putsch -
Gorbachev played a historic role, but his day is done. He ought to be
thankful that the 50,000 new MVD troops have not been given the order
to arrest him - I do not believe the well-fed Gorbachev would do well
in the camps or in jail.

While it may be that Yeltsin's days or months in office are numbered,
it will not be over Gorbachev that he is ousted, but over
privitization and the speed of reform. If Gorbachev is jailed over
the CPSU, THEN he could be a "martyr" to persecution by the
government, but a more likely course is more & more hassle, more and
more isolation, maybe even a trial for malfeasance down the line.
Gorbachev may have brought the ex-USSR to a new day, but one expects
he will be treated shabbily as a reward. Few people inside his
country like him even now, he'll get little sympathy there. It would
appear he gets little pity anywhere, and perhaps that is just. VMS