Mikhail+Gorbachev

=Mikhail Gorbachev= created by Claire Mathias

[|Mikhail Gorbachev] was the [|General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union] for about 6 years before he resigned. For many years he was the Head of the State and tried to create economical, political and cultural reforms within the [|Soviet Union]. Adding democratic aspects into his views and his way of ruling did not impress some conservatives still part of the [|Communist Party Central Committee]. A life starting as a peasant and slowly making his way up to ruling the entire country, Gorbachev is now looked at as an individual who started to change communism in more positive ways. He was a very young ruler compared to the his previous ones, and was one of the first to be born within the communist rule. Still alive today, he made a difference in the Soviet Union that would allow for the country to become more successful.

Early Life
Born on March 2nd 1931 to a peasant family in Privolnoye, Stavropol, Gorbachev was raised within the farms. His father made a living as an agricultural mechanic on a collective farm. The communist party has been a large part of Gorbachev's life since he was little because his grandfather was also a member. Eventually, the [|NKVD] arrested his grandfather and he was charged with being a leader of an underground organization supporting [|Trotsky], which [|Stalin] did not agree with. While [|WW II] was going on, his village was one of which was occupied by the German Army before they left due to their loss. Growing up he worked as a combine harvest worker and then later went on to study law at [|Moscow University].

Rise to Power
While at university, Gorbachev joined the [|Komsomol], a communist youth organization. In 1955, he was appointed 1st secretary of Komsomol Territorial Committee and then 5 years later became the top official in Stavropol. After becoming the top official, he soon became the delegate of Stavropol for the 22nd Communist Party Congress in Moscow. After being in politics for some time, he went back to school to get a second degree. After receiving his second degree, in 1970 he became the First Secretary of Stavropol Territory. Higher officials were impressed with Gorbachev's achievments and with hard work, made his way until he was the deputy to [|Konstantin Chernenko]. In 1985, he was elected by the Central Committee as General Secretary of the Communist Party. He stayed in this position for over 5 years until he resigned.



Ideas of Reform
Gorbachev wanted change while in power. Since he has been apart of the communist party for the majority of his life, he saw the failures it had underwent and wanted that to change. The economy was never built up strongly and that needed to change in Gorbachev's opinion. While party leader, he started to force the more conservative and elderly members to resign so that there would be less of a chance of an opposition. In 1985, he started to create large campaigns against corruption within the Soviet Union and alcoholism. There were two major ideas while Gorbachev was in rule: [|Perestroika] and [|Glasnost], both of which allowed for criticism. Glasnost gave the people within the country new freedoms, that they were not used to. A new major freedom was the freedom of speech. Newspapers were no longer controlled has heavily and political prisoners and dissidents were released. Perestroika had an aim; the attempt to create a dependable system for which economic and social progress accelerated. He wanted to create a market economy, allowing for there to be private ownership of industry and agriculture. He started to change the foreign policy as well, a large event was when he met [|Ronald Reagan] and signed the [|Immediate Nuclear Forces Treaty] which stopped the pressure by both countries on the nuclear front. He had hoped that the Soviet people would believe in his reforms, but unfortunately he was not successful and had to resign on Christmas Day, 1995.

Resources
"Mikhail Gorbachev." //Wikipedia //. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 June 2012. Web. 13 June 2012. .

"Biography." //Mikhail Gorbachev - Biography //. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2012. .