Vladislav Inozemtsev: "The Soviet Union as a space of freedom became the creation of Gorbachev"

“Recently, many colleagues of the liberals often say that Russia is rapidly becoming a kind of Soviet Union, while bearing in mind that the country is reduced in the country, attempts to return to a specially planned economy are growing, confrontation with the West is growing,” the economist writes on his Facebook page.

"It is undoubted that the Soviet era has become a terrible test for our then much more common country. Nobody inflicted on the Russian people, as well as the peoples who lived in the territory of the former empire, more damage and did not cause great suffering than the communist regime. The consistent extermination of the best people of their time, understanding the history and categories of the permanent civil war, a meaningless spending of resources and the waste of resource Talents for the arms race - all this was the reality of the twentieth century.

However, I want to remind you that the Soviet Union, the return to which today is drawn as the most terrible perspective, was completely different. He was a country that, like no other, of his own free will, and not after a military defeat, repented of perfect mistakes; opened archives with traces of the most cruel crimes; recognized the independence of previously occupied territories; He withdrew troops from countries that were previously in the position of submissive dominions. Having sacrificed (as he later turns out to be) his own sovereignty and integrity, the USSR went to the end of the Cold War, allowing humanity to survive until the 21st century. Moreover: it is in the Soviet Union - and not in the new Russia - as they sometimes mistakenly suggest that our short -lived democracy arose, a regime in which the opposition can change the current power in free and legitimate elections.

This is exactly what happened in 1989-1990 almost throughout the country, where new leaders won folk support and became leaders of the republics and regions during an honest and open vote. This never happened with us: in other historical eras there were either the 1918th year with the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, or 1993 with the execution of the Supreme Council; Either the Communist Party as the leading and guide force of Soviet society, or the "family" or the cooperative "Lake" as informal owners of the whole country.

The Soviet Union as a space of freedom and as a country that the world looked at with admiration and hope, as we now understand, the creation of a single person - Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev. Neither before nor after the country was controlled by a person, the former honor and conscience of his era. With his departure from power in Russia, a brief period of politics, built around ideas and projects, ended, and the era of a commercial state began, in which the elites are moving exclusively by the interests of holding power for their own endless enrichment.

The Russian people did not appreciate Mikhail Sergeyevich, joyfully handing power to those who treated and treat him not as a community of free people, but as a herd of wordless animals. However, some higher forces partly restored the violated justice, measuring the conscientious president the most long life from the rulers lived by the Russian rulers.

Today, Mikhail Sergeyevich celebrates his 90th anniversary, remaining for many of us the object of sincere admiration, and for society-almost the only subtle thread connecting Russia with the world, which was truly modern, even if this did not last long.

Thank you, Mikhail Sergeyevich, for our best years! - The further, the less people will doubt that the perestroika times were just that. Live for a long time! There are still many interesting things ahead ... "