Essay, Biography or Paragraph on “Mikhail S. Gorbachev” complete biography for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Mikhail S. Gorbachev

Russia: Protagonist of ‘glasnost’

Born : 1931

After the Russian revolution, the Russian people were living behind an `iron curtain’ as Stalin and his successors ruled that country in an autocratic manner. It was Khrushchev and Bulganin who initiated a policy of liberalisation. With the emergence of Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, this policy of liberalisation found full play. Gorbachev would always find a distinctive position in history for introducing the policy of `Glasnost’ and ‘Perestroika’ into the regimentalised society of the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev was born in a farmer’s family on 2 March, 1931. He started life as a mechanic and joined the Communist Party in 1952. He graduated in Law from Moscow university in 1953 and became an agricultural scientist in 1967. He was taken into the Central Committee of Communist Party in 1971 and became its General Secretary in 1985. We must remember that the holder of this office is the de facto ruler of the Soviet Union. In 1987, he became President of the Soviet Union.

Mikhail Gorbachev who is known for his polite behaviour and attractive personality has visited India twice in 1986 and 1988. He has admiration for the policies of India as he regards it as leader of the third world. Gorbachev believes in peace and initiated steps to dismantle the wall of distrust between the Soviet bloc and the US bloc. In his quest for peace and nuclear-free world, he entered into agreement to destroy nuclear weapons and their removal from Europe. He changed the entire thinking of the communist bloc by introducing principles of ‘glasnost’ and ‘perestroika’ and a wave of democracy and freedom swept the communist countries of Europe. It is because of him that anti-Establishment writers like Boris Pasternak were rehabilitated in Soviet Union and Sakharov could return to his mother country. Freedom of worship was also allowed and the Soviet people could live without the fear of KGB, the Soviet Secret Service.

Gorbachev’s biggest achievement is the dismantling of cold war between the two power blocs and establishing East-West detente. He shall always be remembered for disarmament and his efforts for a war-free world. Under the wave of liberalism and democracy most of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe have been thrown out and the people there have now the opportunity to live and breathe under elected governments.

Fundamentalist and extreme elements in Russia had not taken kindly to his policies. In August 1991, these elements staged a coup and put Gorbachev under house arrest under the plea that he was sick. But these leaders could not find support and Gorbachev was ‘back to power after three days.

Gorbachev has been co-sponsor of peace talks between Israel and Arab states with President Bush of the United States. It is after 40 years of strife that these adversaries are talking to each other across the table. Earlier, he played an important role in making Iraq vacate Kuwait which it annexed in August 1990.

His most revolutionary act was to recognise the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia when they broke away from the Soviet Union. These states had been forcibly seized by Stalin before the Second World War.

Gorbachev has been conferred with many Soviet decorations. He has been given ‘Order of Lenin’ thrice. He was conferred ‘Indira Gandhi  Peace Award’ (1987) and the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1990. In short, it can be said that he has made revolutionary changes in the Soviet Union and international relations.