I found a lot in it that coincides with my own thoughts about the history of Soviet Russia. Thank you for this wise, interesting book, which is indispensable today.
Your other writings have also been a great help to me, for example, your memoirs Zhizn’ i reformy [Life and Reforms].[2] The topic of my academic research is the mutual relations between local and central government institutions in pre-revolutionary Russia. I found a clear analysis in your work of the history of their mutual relations and consideration of their specific features.
It is no secret that political issues are much debated in our society. And again, to what and to whom do we owe the fact that people still have this desire to reason, to reflect, and express their views on the most pressing issues of the day? Why is there no longer the fear that was so real in the Stalin period, the lazy indifference that characterized the Era of Stagnation? For me the answer is obvious: it is thanks to Perestroika and Gorbachev. I often find that my attitude to you and the period when you were in power puzzles my acquaintances, colleagues and relatives: ‘What do you find to support? It was Gorbachev who impoverished the country and wrecked a great power!’ And that is where I start to argue and defend my viewpoint. Was Gorbachev, were the reforms necessary? Most certainly they were. Did Gorbachev urge us to break up the Soviet Union? No, he called for Perestroika, restructuring. And is what we have today what the reforms were aiming at, is this the kind of society we were intending to live in? No. Did you not yourselves support Gorbachev’s actions, did you not want change? At this point many lower their eyes and prefer not to continue the discussion. For a long time I was puzzled by that, but then realized it was painful for them to remember that time, their youth, their hopes. And I ask myself: if their unfulfilled little hopes hurt them so much, what must it be like for the reformer who has been fated to see the hopes of millions of people dashed? It is only too easy to blame everything on one person. That is probably just human nature, persuading yourself that someone other than you is responsible for all your troubles. That is probably easiest, but what is easiest is not always right.
Dear Mikhail Sergeyevich,
I am writing to offer you my support and my apologies. My apologies because I thought the way most people do: all the leaders were just playing games and, when we looked at you and Raisa Maximovna, we thought that was just an act too. Apologies, we were wrong.
Now I want to give you my support. I have been meaning to write for a long time, but today I watched a programme about you on NTV and made up my mind to write, to salve my conscience. Just to say thank you for not plunging our country into a civil war. You went peacefully and with dignity.
It must be hard to experience the treachery of your closest associates. Your decency was replaced by lawlessness and thievery. I am confident that history will not forget you.
I am a little person and do not know all the ins and outs, but I do see that you speak sincerely and from the heart. It is a pity I can do nothing to help you, but if you did stand for president, you would most certainly have my vote.
Dear, respected Mikhail Sergeyevich,
What I find really surprising is that some people think you are an unsuccessful politician. I do not agree with that and here is why. Our country has ceased to be the totalitarian state it was. That change has taken place everywhere: both in the economy and in the changed psychology of society. Our country has been able to breathe freely. Admittedly that led to aggravation of interethnic relations and collapse, but it seems that was how it had to be. The Communist Party imposed much that was good, but everything it imposed should have been thought through by the whole of society, then there can be real progress. Those people who are disrespectful towards you are uncouth and think very superficially.
Raisa Gorbacheva
In January 1999 I went to St Petersburg with Raisa for, as it proved, the last time. An interview she gave to Smena was recently discovered in our archive. I was very moved to read it:
Interviewer: Raisa Maximovna, I have been surprised that you, and sometimes your husband, go shopping. How do people react to you?
RG: When I go into shops, I am always rather taken aback that, after all these years when I have been off the television screen, everybody still recognizes me. Some people just look silently from a distance, but others come over to say hello. I have never been insulted, never. Sometimes people ask how we are getting on, how Mikhail Sergeyevich is doing. They may complain or tell me about something. Sometimes people come up and say, ‘Goodness, you look so like Raisa Gorbacheva!’ I answer, ‘That’s because I am Raisa Gorbacheva!’ In response they say, ‘Oh, but why are you in a shop, on your own, without any security?’
Actually, it is usually our daughter who does the shopping in our family. That is how we share out the chores. She has a car, so she does the shopping.
Interviewer: So, how is your family getting on today?
RG: I suppose we are rather conservative. Our own parents were always there for us, and now my daughter and our granddaughters are with us all the time. Unfortunately, my daughter is divorced. I was very sad about that, but what can you do? They are grown-ups. Things are never simple in this life.
Interviewer: What period in your life was the happiest for you?
RG: The most important period was, of course, when Gorbachev was at the helm of the state. The most cloudless, though, the most carefree, was our youth, the years when we were students at Moscow State University, although we were half-starved, with only our grant to live on and nothing to wear. My entire wardrobe consisted of one all-purpose dress. For a couple of years we could not even afford to buy a raincoat. Still, that was a wonderful time; we were young and in love. It was a time when you are responsible only for yourself. We took our exams, bought ourselves pirozhok pies, and went to the cinema or theatre.
Interviewer: Many of Gorbachev’s former colleagues parted company with him after 1991. Who are your closest friends today?
RG: For me personally, my husband and children have always been and still are my best friends. We went together through what is probably the worst thing you can experience in this world, betrayal. In order to appreciate and understand that, you probably need to climb to the pinnacle of power, to see those people, and then be on the receiving end of the mass psychosis of betrayal that we endured. In that context, I feel especially close, of course, to those who stood by us. The really good thing was that people rallied to us whom we had never expected to side with us at that most difficult time in our lives.