An insider's view of the Gorby era
- 16 Jun 06, 07:55 AM
The diary of Gorbachev's foreign policy adviser, Anatoly Chernyaev, has been published in English by the at George Washington University. It makes compelling reading for anybody involved in, or studying, the labour movement and the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Chernayaev is in the Kremlin just as Gorby begins to transform the bureaucracy, and describes the beginnings of perestroika in first hand detail.
For some reason this Soviet war hero and savant was delegated to organise relations with the Communist Party of Great Britain, and to meet with the Labour Party. Delve into the pages on his UK trips to read about Charles Clarke's (then Kinnock's aide) reported private assessment of Thatcherism; the Kremlin's despair as "intelligence agents" are alleged to be involved in the Eurocommunist takeover of the CPGB; and a detailed account of his visit to the CP in Wales, where he notes with scorn that the party boss is an ex-art student.
He concludes: "Under English conditions there is no space for a social-democratic (anti-Soviet) Communist Party, and especially now when we've begun embracing with Kinnoke [sic] and Healey".
It's an insight into the mind of the Soviet intelligentisa in its final decade: walks in the Arbat, musings on Mayakovsky, despair over Afghanistan. You can download it .
Comments Post your comment
Seeing the question from the U.S.-Soviet point of view, Mr. Gorbachev had a good personal relationship with Ronald Reagan, who liked to engage in personal banter with him, telling him, for instance, that Russia was as democratic as America, because anyone could go to Red Square and shout, "Reagan is a son of a bitch," to which Gorby would respond, "You always tell that joke". More seriously, Gorbachev thought that what eventually brought down the Soviet union was Reagans's Star Wars programme, with which Russia could not keep up without damaging its economy.
Complain about this post