A Red Star Rises in the East - The Rise of Mikhail Gorbachev, Part 1

In this two-part post, I hope to chart Gorbachev's early life and rise through the communist party, from a rural peasant farmer to leader of a world superpower, while exploring some of the strategic relationships involved.

Born in Privolnoye, Stavropol, a small village in the Northern Caucuses, Mikhail Gorbachev's childhood shows the harshest realities of Stalinism. As a toddler, he survived the Soviet Famine of 1932-33, a genocide which harshly effected the Caucuses. An estimated 3.3-3.9 million died of starvation, including half of his local village, two of his uncles and an aunt. He witnessed both of his grandfather's arrests during Stalin's Great Terror, a campaign of political oppression launched to purge the communist party of 'enemies of the party'. While both returned from Siberian Gulags alive, they were shaken by the horrific torture they had suffered. The suffering Gorbachev witnessed in his early years had a considerable effect on his later life - the need to condemn Stalinism, his desire for change in the communist party, his unwavering efforts to avoid violence.

Young Mikhail Gorbachev with his maternal grandparents, Pantelei and Vasilisa Gopkalo. Pantelei’s account of his experience in the Siberian Gulags had a lasting impact on Gorbachev.

An intelligent student and natural leader, Gorbachev excelled at school, both academically and politically. He was elected to the Komsomol committee for the Stavropol district, the youth division of the communist party. He was a rising star and displayed unwavering commitment to the party cause - working 20-hour days each summer for 5 years to help his father harvest grain on the family's collectivised farm. This hard work was rewarded following the harvest of 1948. Mikhail and his father harvested a record 800 tons of grain, receiving the Order of the Red Banner of Labour and the Order of Lenin respectively (Taubman, 2017). As will be described in our team blog in the future, agrarian reform through modern technologies could have been a revolutionary force at this point in Gorbachev's life.

This award was a key moment in Mikhail Gorbachev's life. At 17, he had become one of the youngest ever recipients of one of the highest civilian decorations in the Soviet Union. As a result, combined with his record of academic achievement, his rural-peasant background and his political position, he was accepted to study law at Moscow State University (Taubman, 2017; McCauley, 1998). The highest ranking university in Russia, Moscow State University was considered the Russian equivalent of Harvard – while Moscow to Gorbachev was New York, Chicago and Los Angeles rolled into one. For a peasant farmer from the Northern Caucuses, this represented an entirely new world.

Gorbachev wearing his prized Order of the Red Labour Banner.

Gorbachev maintained his political activities throughout his time at Moscow University, becoming the head of Komsomol for his entering class and a full member of the communist party. Gorbachev was a high-achieving, self-described ‘ambitsioznyi’ - a Russian term describing somewhere between ‘ambitious’ and ‘arrogant’, but a decidedly negative one. He was aware of the importance of strategic relationship and positioning even at this early stage. His political position allowed him to influence where and in what function he would work as a graduate, rather than face the same random allocation as his peers (Medvedev, 1986).

While other graduates were being sent to far reaching corners of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev received his first choice. However, upon beginning in his role at the state procurator's office in Moscow, he was frustrated at the lack of work they had for him. After rejecting a graduate law position at MSU, he transferred to the regional procurator's office in his home state of Stavropol (Taubman, 2017).

Again frustrated with his department, he was able to secure a transfer into local government by joining Komsomol in the region and strategically leveraging local contacts. Gorbachev prospered in Stavropol, rising through the ranks to eventually become head of the region in 1970. Gorbachev worked tirelessly improve production and living standards in the region, while also closely managing strategic relationships within in the party. Modern biographies cite Gorbachev's strong academic background, his erudite manner and his reputation with party officials as driving forces in his rise through the party ranks (Taubman, 2017; McCauley, 1998).

In the next iteration of this blog, I will describe the rest of Gorbachev’s rise in the communist party and the key relationships involved - as well as his eventual fall from grace. Stay tuned!

References

This article references a number of contemporary biographies on Gorbachev. I would recommend the following to any readers interested in learning more about his beginnings and his rise in the communist party:

Medvedev, Zhores (1986). Gorbachev. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. ISBN 978-0393023084.

McCauley, Martin (1998). Gorbachev. Profiles in Power. London and New York: Longman. ISBN 978-0582215979.

Taubman, William (2017). Gorbachev: His Life and Times. New York City: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1471147968.