When
Mikhail Gorbachev was Premiere of the USSR he first adopted
perestroika (перестро́йка),
in the mid-80s, along with glasnost (гла́сность)
and primarily did so to try and restore a moribund USSR to some kind
of economic pre-eminence that it had really never enjoyed, not even
under Stalin. To be sure, the power-house that was the USSR had done
amazing things, such as improve it's literacy rate from less than 5%
to over 95% under Lenin's first five-year plan, even while fighting a
civil war with the Royalists; it was Trotsky's magnificent pen and
organizational abilities that allowed the Red Army to be built, fight
and finally prevail against arrayed enemies sent from Poland and even
from the U.S. In an attempt to halt the rise of Bolshevism. But
Communism was an idea that took firm root under the hands of Lenin,
Trotsky, Bukharin, Kamenev, Zinoviev, et al. and would have remained rather benign had
not Lenin died prematurely in January of 1924.
Russian Postage Stamp, circa 1988, celebrating Perestroika in the USSR
Copies
of his Last Will and Testament had been distributed to several party
members of the Duma and stated simply that under no circumstances
should Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, better known as Stalin, be
allowed to become Premiere, and preferably, should be reduced to a
minor role; in short Stalin was dangerous, narcissistic and given to
paranoia. Unfortunately, Stalin found out about the will and managed
to reclaim every copy and then to do away with everyone who had
possessed one. His long-simmering feud with Trotsky grew to epic
proportions and Trotsky was forced into exile, all the way to Mexico
City. Not content with having him even on the planet, Stalin had
Trotsky assassinated in 1940.
Trotsky, my Russian Blue, not Leon Trotsky, the writer and Bolshevik Party Red Army Leader.
When
Stalin died in 1953, his mark was firmly embedded on the USSR. The
zeitgeist of the country was one of suspicion of outsiders, paranoia,
a deep sense of inadequacy regarding it's place on the world stage
and yet, a hatred of anything really new. At least that is how it
would seem to a westerner. The reality, I believe was much different.
The old USSR and now, Russia is a country of brilliant scientists,
poets, artists and critical thinkers. It is also a country of some of
the toughest people imaginable. No other country has been invaded so
many times. They withstood sieges at Stalingrad and Leningrad. The
Nazis made it as close as six blocks from the outskirts of Moscow,
before the tide was turned against them. This is the country that
lost anywhere between 20,000,000 to 55,000,000 people, both military
and civilian, in World War II, while the USA suffered 450,000
casualties. The reason the numbers are so disparate is because, while
“official” numbers tend to be lower, independent researchers,
over the years, have painstakingly pored back over birth records and
talked to surviving relatives, in villages in the west. The other
issue is that so many people were also still sent to P.O.W. Camps and
D.P. Zones (displaced persons) tended to be rather haphazard in
identifying remains, as battle fronts were still fluid. Anyway, I
digress.
Mikhail Gorbachev and Margaret Thatcher, in 1989
This
is really about Mikhail Gorbachev and what he said recently on the
anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mr. Gorbachev was
“elected” Premiere of the old-style Soviet Union after a series
of gray-heads came and went. When Stalin died, Georgi Malenkov
inherited all of Stalin's titles, but lost out within the month in a
power struggle to Nikita Kruschev. As Premiere, no one dreamed that
even with all of his shoe-banging and hollering about “burying the
United States in the ash-heap of history” that he was a closet
subversive and would allow Alexander Solzhenitsyn to publish his “A
Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” (an un-put-downable little tome
about a little prisoner's day in the gulag) and THEN allow it's
reprint in the west, where it was an instant sensation (READ IT! If
you haven't, it's great!). Well, Nikita remained Premiere from 1955
until 1964, when while vacationing on the Black Sea, he was recalled
by Leonid Brezhnev, and in a fiery clash, he was “let go” and
basically declared a non-person; he quietly retired to a dacha on the
Black Sea and is buried in the Novedevichy Cemetery, not in the
Kremlin, although he was a Hero of Stalingrad. His son lives here in
the United States, now and is a charming man.
Leonid
Brezhnev became General Secretary until his death, and a series of
“gray-heads” followed: Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko.
Their one constant was Andrei Gromyko, who also worked in concert
with Eduard Shevardnadze (who along with Stalin, was also from the
SSR, Georgia). Gromyko and Shevardnadze had been around during World
War II and had negotiated with von Ribbentrop and were people who
really got things done. But, again, I digress. When Gorbachev became
General Secretary, in 1985 upon the death of Chernenko, he embarked
on a series of reforms with the approval of his Cabinet (Duma).
Still,
facing the west, with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher proved
daunting at first, with the abjurement from President Reagan, “Mr.
Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Shortly after that, Mr. Gorbachev
announced his ideas for perestroika and glasnost, the two ideas
wedded together, essentially meaning “transparency within
government and a willingness to open a dialog with the west”.
Although this was viewed positively in the west, it became a very
hard sell for the Russians; once again, Mr. Gorbachev and his
visionaries were battling centuries of suspicion of the west,
paranoia and again, perversely a lack of self-confidence on the world
stage – even Peter the Great bemoaned the fact that Russians were
medieval, as he brought them kicking and screaming into the 1700s, in his effort to join the "enlightenment" then going on in western Europe.
Tsar Pyotr spent 18 months traveling incognito in the west and learned how to build ships and bridges, use telescopes and microscopes and build armies. What he didn't learn, he hired and brought home with him. For several years, he had Dutch and Scottish shipwrights, scientists and astronomers who were part of his vast retinue. Many stayed after his death and they are much written about in Neal Ascher's fine book, "The Black Sea".
Nevertheless,
the wall came down, as both sides really did wish to see this happen. With
the fall of Eastern Germany, the rest of Eastern Europe was not far
behind. Eduard Shevardnadze resigned and went home, to become
Georgia's first ever President and to secure for his former SSR, it's
lasting independence. Czechoslovakia broke into two separate states,
which they had been under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Poland
elected her first president. The Eastern Bloc was no more. Ukraine
elected a president, but as a buffer state near Russia, Ukraine, like
Belarus and Chechnya are unique. Ethnic Russians have lived in these
countries for centuries and as such, they live and speak both
Russian, Ukrainian, or Russian and whatever the home country's
language is.
This
presents a very unique problem for these regions and problems that
we, in the west cannot begin to understand. Mr. Gorbachev has
recognized this and addressed it today. “We are on the brink of a
new Cold War. Some are saying that it's even begun.” This was said
at an event marking the 25th
anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, close to the iconic
Brandenburg Gate.
The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany
Mr.
Gorbachev's comments echoed those of Roland Dumas, France's Foreign
Minister at the time the Berlin Wall fell. “Without freedom between
nations, without respect of one nation to another, and without a
strong and brave disarmament policy, everything could start over
again tomorrow. Even everything we used to know, and what we called
the Cold War.”
President
Barack Obama seemed to share some of Mr. Gorbachev's concerns, but I
feel that he really doesn't quite get it. Even Ronald Reagan and
Margaret Thatcher had a clearer understanding of what Russia and her
place on the world stage is about. The conflict now in Ukraine is
one, that is not about sovereignty so much as it is about
appearances. What we perceive
here in the west, is not how it really is in Ukraine. The ethnic
Russians and ethnic Ukrainians have lived in that region for
centuries. As I have mentioned before in my posts, they will feel one
way one day about rule or directives from Russia, or a pro-Russian
Leader, and then another way, another day. Then, there is Vladimir
Putin himself. He will concern himself with Ukraine for a bit, and
then get side-tracked by Syria. It was ever thus. Sanctions against
Russia will not do anything but cause ill-will and frankly it is
ill-will we really cannot afford. We in the west should frankly, butt
out. One of the things the Russians DO NOT WANT from us is advice on
how to run their internal affairs, and strictly speaking, this is
still an “internal affair” even if it does involve another
country.
The perfect map for "busy Americans on the go..." circa 2012, but hey, wait five minutes and it changes, and then changes back, so, this could all be correct, again. The "Commies" part of it is still in play, I believe, and some may have moved farther south to Sevastapol. Whatever. This is a good example for why we should keep our noses and sanctions to ourselves.
President
Obama is using a fallacious argument by paying “tribute to the East
Germans who pushed past the East German guards to flee to the west”.
This is a wholly different situation and Mr. Gorbachev is right to
bring Mr. Obama to task. We all want freedom and equality in all
nations, but we must look at these situations realistically. Those
ethnic Russians in Ukraine are a huge part of the country and they
must have a say in their governance as well. That is something Mr.
Obama has overlooked time and again. It's time for him to get real;
his “shared vision of peace in all nations” is not attainable by
his methods. The west must seek an accord with Russia that is acceptable
to both parties; not just impose sanctions on a country with no
understanding of the real situation on the ground. Mr. Reagan and
Mrs. Thatcher understood this better than Mr. Obama and they were
supposedly more conservative than the current President.
*My second largest readership resides in Russia. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but I am appreciative for that and for each and every one of you. Спасибо
Well,
last Tuesday, we put on an absolutely stellar show at the Palladium
Theater in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was even better than the
concert we had on the previous Sunday. Tomorrow is our last concert
of this series and then we say goodbye to Beethoven. . . for now. It
has been an exhilarating, frightening and thoroughly enjoyable
experience! I've fallen in love with Beethoven all over again, and
it's a love that is deep and wide and will never end. There are times
in playing certain figures and passages that still take my breath
away with the creativity and the depth of his development; from a
simple theme to a 16-measure run of 32nd
notes, in the celli and violas, that are meant to be tossed off, light as air and are then
echoed in the violins. It is sublime in it's perfection and the
execution has been as near-perfect as can be. We have done honorable
service to Beethoven's and then some; it is as a benediction and such
a privilege to play. Our conductor, Mark Sforzini, Music Director is
wonderful and under his guidance he has wrought a miracle. I am so
fortunate. Next up, Edward Elgar and Enigmas.
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