How to be Seventy - Mark Twain

A Hero Returns to the Fray - by The Boston Globe

A hero returns to the fray
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The Boston Globe / Editorial
September 1, 2011

 
[ GORBACHEV VS. PUTIN ]

YOU DON’T have to be a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize to publicly condemn Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for undermining democracy and dragging Russia backward, but it helps. And you don’t have to be the last head of state of the USSR to point out that Putin’s United Russia Party is reminiscent of the old Soviet Communist Party, but that helps too.

It is an irony of history that Mikhail Gorbachev, the former leader of the totalitarian Soviet Union, is now one of the most eminent critics of authoritarian rule in contemporary Russia. Twenty years ago this summer, Communist hardliners outraged by Gorbachev’s reforms attempted to remove him from power, take control of the Kremlin, and shut down the independent media. But the coup collapsed within days, and by the end of the year the Soviet Union no longer existed.

There were hopes that democracy and freedom would take root in Russia, but the rise of Putin, a former KGB colonel, has dashed them. Under Putin, who was elected president and then evaded term limits by continuing to dominate the government as prime minister, democratic liberties have been suppressed - and so have critics of his regime. The direct election of local governors and members of parliament has been abolished. Opposition parties have been marginalized. Political opponents have been jailed, aggressive journalists have been murdered, and academic freedom has been stifled. Media outlets have been taken over by Kremlin loyalists, and nongovernmental organizations have been severely restricted.

In this ominous environment, Gorbachev’s re-emergence as advocate of political openness and democratic change is deeply welcome.

“Honest elections are needed: single-ballot elections, elections of governors,’’ Gorbachev told interviewers last month. “People must have a feeling that something depends on them.’’ The one-time father of glasnost and perestroika accuses Putin of “dragging the country into the past,’’ and of resembling Stalin in his drive to consolidate power.

Gorbachev is 80 now, and could choose to spend his remaining years in comfort and quiet. That he chooses instead to speak out in support of Russia’s beleaguered reformers attests to his moral authority - authority he first acquired a generation ago, when his determination to end totalitarian rule made “Gorby’’ a hero and changed the course of history.
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© Copyright 2011 Globe Newspaper Company.