Gorbachev & Glasnost-Perestroika: Good or Bad (for Commmunism progress?)?

[maxham]

We all know that Gorbachev became the last Soviet leader (1985-1991) before she collapsed. We know that Gorbachev was famous for his Glasnost & Perestroika policies, in which he hoped so much to expand the Soviet economy became more competitive. Bud sadly, due to the overdamaged economy, Soviet union must crashed (in 1989) and dissolved (in 1991). Nevertheless, since then, many people said Gorbachev is an evil leader because he made Soviet collpased, whilst many others said although Soviet collapsed, Gorbachev had paved a more liberal, humane Communism in Soviet Union after Khrushchev.

As a devote Humanist Communism (Libertarian Left), I definitely said Gorbachev is a good figure, due to his more liberal policy towards the people in the economic & political sector, like Alexander Dubcek in former Czechoslovakia. Do you friends have any other ideas, plz?

[Hyacinth]

We all know that Gorbachev became the last Soviet leader (1985-1991) before she collapsed. We know that Gorbachev was famous for his Glasnost & Perestroika policies, in which he hoped so much to expand the Soviet economy became more competitive. Bud sadly, due to the overdamaged economy, Soviet union must crashed (in 1989) and dissolved (in 1991). Nevertheless, since then, many people said Gorbachev is an evil leader because he made Soviet collpased, whilst many others said although Soviet collapsed, Gorbachev had paved a more liberal, humane Communism in Soviet Union after Khrushchev.

As a devote Humanist Communism (Libertarian Left), I definitely said Gorbachev is a good figure, due to his more liberal policy towards the people in the economic & political sector, like Alexander Dubcek in former Czechoslovakia. Do you friends have any other ideas, plz?
While the Soviet economy was by no means doing well, it wasn't on the brink of collapse before Gorbachev's reforms; it was the reforms which ruined the economy. The attempt to introduce more market mechanisms into what had previously been a centrally (and poorly) planned economy resulted in ripple effects throughout the system that unraveled the whole thing. In short, his reforms aggravated the economic problems of the Soviet Union from stagnation to complete collapse. Which prepared the Soviet Union for the outright restoration of market capitalism. As such, Gorbachev is hardly a progressive figure, and is rightly to be blamed for making a bad situation much much worse by plunging millions into poverty, and destroying what there existed of the Soviet economic safety net.

Now, of course, the blame is not squarely on Gorbachev's shoulders, there were many in the Soviet bureaucratic elite who favored, and became very rich due to, the outright restoration of market capitalism. The Soviet elite, Gorbachev included, were not interested in communism at this point—the Soviet Union had been state capitalist for quite a long time (pretty much from the beginning, largely out of necessity, as it was impossible to plan an economy of that scale on anything other than market lines due to lack of sufficient computing capacity), and while the earlier Soviet elite might have been sincere in their communist sentiments, by the time Gorbachev rolled around it was just state capitalism in red drapes, and Gorbachev allowed for removal of the drapes altogether, all pretenses were dropped.

Lastly, the reason his reforms cannot be considered progressive is because it was still possible, at the time, to take the Soviet Union toward a path of real socialism (see Cockshott, and Cottrell's Toward a New Socialism (http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/%7Ecottrell/socialism_book/)—which outlines how such economic reforms could have been undertaken in the late 1980's to bring about more efficient and effective economic planning in the Soviet Union).

[CHEtheLIBERATOR]

For me Gorbachav falls under state capitalist,liberal social democrat

[Revy]

The truth is, they were all capitalists ever since Stalin became leader. Authoritarian state capitalists. Gorbie becoming a social democrat was just part of that continuum. You see it here with the Communist Party USA. In reality, they did not betray their foundation, because their foundation was built on betrayal.

[Hoxhaist]

The Soviet Union collapsed as a result of revisionism run amok. The economy was sabotaged by Brezhnev's official policy of zastoy (Russian for stagnation). The Soviet Union was set in a death spiral economically because of this and Gorbachev's naive attempt to mimic capitalist "democracy" was quickly taken advantage of by reactionaries, capitalists, and national chauvinists who in concert literally tore the Union apart. Gorbachev was a suicidal communist at best or a deeply entrenched class traitor or capitalist agent at worst.

[AntinoiteBolshevik]

Gorbachev was the destroyer of Communism. His weakness let enemies of the people infiltrate the CPSU and let that asshole Yeltsin take over and crush the regime. Yes, the Union had flaws that needed to be fixed (oppression of homosexuals and lesbians, among other things) but in time those things would be fxed by now if Bolshevism survived. A month before the Berlin Wall fell East Germany was just about to legalise gay rights, after the wall fell gays had a tougher life in unified Germany. Capitalism destroys everything.

[Revy]

Gorbachev was the destroyer of Communism. His weakness let enemies of the people infiltrate the CPSU and let that asshole Yeltsin take over and crush the regime. Yes, the Union had flaws that needed to be fixed (oppression of homosexuals and lesbians, among other things) but in time those things would be fxed by now if Bolshevism survived. A month before the Berlin Wall fell East Germany was just about to legalise gay rights, after the wall fell gays had a tougher life in unified Germany. Capitalism destroys everything.

That's true. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the far right and religious extremists made gains.