The legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev is akin to that of mighty Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev, who wrote among others the mighty novel, Fathers and Sons. Gorbachev inspired hate at home but love abroad. Ditto Turgenev, who an envious Fyodor Dostoevsky described as a German. Gorbachev’s fellow citizens thought he brought down the great Soviet Empire. The main character in Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons is named Bazarov, a nihilist who calls for all institutions to come down. When asked what should replace them, he says let them come down first.
Many believe Gorbachev wanted it so. Before his Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring), the country had waxed into an edifice that no longer edified. Richard Nixon called it a first-class military but third world economy. If he tweaked it, he wanted something better. Some railed back at home, even a coup failed. While trying to save his country, he bedevilled it. He ended the Cold War, birthed a new generation of East European leaders, trashed the Warsaw Pact, and enthroned America atop a unipolar world. His is not alone in history as leader of principle who pleased the world at his people’s expense. Remember Anwar Sadat, who made peace with Israel and gave prosperity to Egypt, things that eluded Nasser. The Arab world made him a pariah and was assassinated. In India, Nehru preferred a Hindu nationalism to the world-beloved Ghandi. Ghandi is beloved less than Nehru at home. Gorbachev departs in a world where we hail those who love the clan more. A paradox of globalisation. Even as Gorbachev goes, I question Shakespeare’s assertion that “he that dies pays all debts.” Russians still believe the man owes them their pride and place in the world. He took away their miracle. I disagree.
NB: Sam Omatseye is a respected columnist with The Nation Newspaper.
