GORBACHEV, MIKHAIL August 1968. So despite an earlier reputation as a reformist, Gomul/ka toward the end of his tenure was solidly backing Soviet conservatives. His only real success in office was in normalizing relations with West Germany in 1970 and acquiring international recognition of the postwar Oder-Neisse boundary. Gomul/ka’s regime ended in December 1970, when a disastrous economic performance triggered sudden and unexpected food price hikes. Widespread demonstrations then arose that provoked a national crisis. Despite severe crackdowns by police and military forces, Gomul/ka had lost control of the situation and was on the verge of requesting Soviet intervention. Fortunately he suffered a heart attack on December 19, 1970, and adversaries on the Central Committee arranged for his ouster. He was replaced by EDWARD GIEREK. Now shunned by the party, Gomul/ka, retired to a life of obscurity until his death in Warsaw on September 1, 1982. He had successfully balanced Polish nationalism with international communism but otherwise failed to make the system work. Further Reading Bethel, Nicholas W. Gomul/ka and His Communism. Harlow, England: Longman, 1969. De Weydenthal, J. B. The Communists of Poland: An Historical Outline. Stanford, Calif: Hoover Institution Press, 1986. Diskin, Hanna. The Seeds of Triumph: Church and State in Gomul/ka’s Poland. Budapest and New York: Central Europe University Press, 2001. Gluchowski, L. W. “Poland, 1956: Khrushchev, Gomul/ka, and the ‘Polish October,’” World International History Project Bulletin 5, no. 1 (1995): 38–49. Granville, Johanna. “To Invade or Not to Invade? A New Look at Gomul/ka, Nagy, and Soviet Foreign Policy in 1956.” Canadian Slavonic Papers 43 (December 2001): 437–474. Werblan, A. “Wl/adysl/aw Gomul/ka and the Dilemmas of Polish Communism.” Internal Political Science Review 9 (April 1988): 143–158.
Gorbachev, Mikhail (1931– ) general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev was born in Privolnoye, Stavropol, Soviet Union, on March 2, 1931, into a peasant family. He drove farm machinery before enrolling at
177
Moscow State University in 1952 to study law. Gorbachev also joined the Communist Party to enhance his political and personal fortunes. After graduating he returned to Stavropol to work within the Komsomol youth organization and advanced to regional leader. In this capacity he became acquainted with YURI ANDROPOV, a rising star within the party elite. By 1962 Gorbachev had been promoted to secretary of agriculture in Stavropol where he gained a reputation as a hardworking, intelligent young operative. At length Andropov prevailed upon ailing party secretary LEONID BREZHNEV to transfer Gorbachev to Moscow in 1978. There he functioned as agriculture secretary of the entire Soviet Union, but despite his best effort, failed to upgrade its performance. This convinced Gorbachev that deep-seated structural changes were necessary to improve the stagnating Soviet economy. After Andropov succeeded Brezhnev in January 1980, he adopted Gorbachev as his protégé and the two men began concerted efforts to stamp out corruption and alcoholism. For his good performance Gorbachev gained promotion as a full voting member of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body in the Soviet Union. However, his reputation as an ardent reformer alienated conservative party members, so that when Andropov died suddenly in 1982, hard-liner KONSTANTIN CHERNENKO advanced to succeed him. Gorbachev ignored the slight and continued cementing his reputation as a youthful and vigorous leader. After the ailing Chernenko died in March 1985, Gorbachev became first secretary of the Communist Party the following day. Gorbachev embarked on an ambitious reform program to improve living and working conditions in the Soviet Union, which had declined dramatically since the 1970s. Thus were born the twin policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring), which addressed the last vestiges of Soviet totalitarianism. The affable and charismatic Gorbachev himself set the tone for his new administration by meeting ordinary citizens on the street and discussing their complaints. Such candor in the traditionally closed Russian society was as unprecedented as it was welcome. Freedom of expression, unthinkable in the days of JOSEPH STALIN, was also encouraged in the arts, literature, and the press. Furthermore, Gorbachev fostered the growth of political factions inside the dominant Communist Party, to entertain as wide a spectrum of political views as possible. In economic reforms, Gorbachev proved less bold,