Mikhail Gorbachev

[[File:Gorbachev_(cropped).jpg|thumb|165px|Pictured: a large birthmark with attached Russian politician]]{{socdemnav|1}}
'''Mikhail Sergeievich "Gorby" Gorbachev''' Михаил Сергеевич «Горби» Горбачёв {{lived|3 March 1931|30 August 2022}}<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/world/mikhail-gorbachev-who-ended-cold-war-dies-aged-92-agencies-2022-08-30/ Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War, dies aged 91 -agencies] (August 30, 2022) ''Reuters''</ref> was the last ruler of the [[Soviet Union]], famous for his [[liberal]] reforms, for which he took inspiration from surprising sources: [[Lenin]] and the Neocommunist movement. His introduction of ''glasnost'' (openness) and ''perestroika'' (restructuring)<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/place/Russia/The-Gorbachev-era-perestroika-and-glasnost Russia: The Gorbachev era: perestroika and glasnost], ''Encyclopedia Britannica''</ref> allowed Soviet citizens to speak their minds and pursue economic opportunities without [[Command economy|state oversight]]. He was also the first leader of a superpower to sign (along with [[Ronald Reagan]]) a treaty reducing the number of [[nuclear war|nuclear missiles]].<ref>[https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gorbachev-calls-for-nuclear-weapons-treaty Gorbachev calls for nuclear weapons treaty] by History.com Editors (published November 13 2009, last updated February 25 2021) ''HISTORY.com'', ''A&E Television Networks''.</ref> Naturally, such radical change did aid the economy for a time, but the USSR was already at the point of collapse, and Glasnost only added to the ever increasing voices on the [[Nationalist]] right demanding for the USSR to split apart (mostly influenced by the disaster of [[Chernobyl]] and the equally disastrous reaction to it by the authorities).

Naturally a man who achieved so much in a short time made enemies, and after an attempted [[coup d'état|coup]] in August 1991, his position was weakened,<ref>[http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1991-2/the-august-coup/ The August Coup] by Lewis Siegelbaum, ''Michigan State University''</ref> and he could not stop [[Boris Yeltsin]] breaking up the USSR into squabbling factions ruled over mainly by corrupt opportunists.{{cn}} Gorbachev would later go on to say that he wished he had reassigned Yeltsin to an ambassador post in the [[United Kingdom]].<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/17/mikhail-gorbachev-on-boris-yeltsin Mikhail Gorbachev: I was too soft on Yeltsin] by Jonathan Steele (August 16, 2011) ''The Guardian''</ref>

Famously featured in a cheesy{{sic}} Pizza Hut commercial to raise money for the Gorbachev Foundation in [[San Francisco]]. Gorbachev doesn't actually eat any pizza during the ad (if you look closely, his plate is empty.) While he had some between shots, he refused to eat it on camera, but he did give the company permission to film his granddaughter doing so. In addition, while most of the commercial was shot at an actual Pizza Hut in Moscow, the scene where Gorbachev and his granddaughter supposedly enter a Pizza Hut on Red Square was actually shot at a jewelry store.<ref>[https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/28/mikhail-gorbachev-pizza-hut-ad-thanksgiving-miracle/ Mikhail Gorbachev’s Pizza Hut Thanksgiving Miracle] by Paul Musgrave (November 28, 2019, 7:00 AM) ''Foreign Policy''.</ref> After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Pizza Hut pulled out of Russia.<ref>https://www.foodandwine.com/news/yum-brands-kfc-pizza-hut-exit-russia</ref> Later that month, a friend of Gorbachev stated that Gorby felt his life's work was being "destroyed" by Putin.<ref>https://www.newsweek.com/gorbachev-russia-putin-ukraine-war-destroyed-1727037</ref>

After the fall of the USSR, Gorbachev was active in [[social democratic]] movements — ostensibly to try and oust [[Vladimir Putin|Mr. Putin]] — until his death on August 30, 2022.

==See also==
*[[Cold War]]
*[[Boris Yeltsin]]

==External links==
*If you think you might have done better than him and want to try your hand at it, there's a political sim for that: [http://www.peyre.42web.io/Kremlin/index.htm Crisis in the Kremlin].
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9lvzzH0STw Look at that Soviet nostalgia!] And if those 30 seconds weren't enough, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgm14D1jHUw here's the 60 second international version.]
==Bibliography==
*Kotkin, Stephen. [http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/11/19/armageddon-averted-the-soviet-collapse-1970-2000 ''Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970-2000''.] New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

==References==
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[[Category:Social democrats]]

Categories: Atheists, Authors, Cold War, Government incompetence, History of communism, Left-wing activists, Russian politicians, Social democrats