Mikhail Gorbachev
 b. 1931
 north of the Caucausus in Stavropol
 Grandfather sent to Gulag
protected by family during German occupation
 promising/ambitious student
 studied law/political theory at Moscow Univ
 marries fellow student Raisa Maximova
 became hardworking successful party official
 in charge of agriculture
 rose to local party secretary
politically savvy, atuned to the way the wind was blowing with Stalin, Krushchev, Breshnev,

Attracts attn of party
1978
brought to Moscow as Sec of Central Ctte

1983
travels to Canada, England

Thatcher describes him as “a man I could do business with”

1984
on visit to England, he told Europeans he wanted to work with them to "build a common European home" 
 
1985 Elected First Party Secretary 
looked at the big picture
saw “a new world civilization developing”
 
moved away from Marxist rhetoric/ideology

Perestroika
economic restructuring
 introducing “cost accounting” (!!)
 profitability as goal
 entrepreneurism/privatization in
 agric

Glasnost
"openness"
 more media freedom
 pluralism within party
 
"This is why we started everything in the first place
--so a human being can feel normal, can feel good,
in a socialist state.  So that he will feel above all like
a human being," (Stokes, 72)

1986
Chernobyl accident

Released of Andrei Sakharov from exile
Eased censorship in media
Factual reporting allowed
Films critical of Stalin shown
Tourist maps redrawn (accurately!)

Gorbachev
Didn't intend to be the end of the USSR
rather to "complete the creation of a socialist state based on the rule of law (Stokes, 73)

"if we can bring people back into the socialist system instead of alienating them, we can give socialism a second wind," (July 1989, Stokes 75)

1989 competively elected Congress of People's Deputies

"relaxed" the Breshnev Doctrine"
i.e., left Erich Honecker holding the bag