A German writer--I want to say it was Achternbusch but I won't until I can find the article again--once wrote an article in praise of men like Jaruzelski and Modrow. He figured he'd be one of the only people to do so. To progressives, these were reluctant reformers at best, looking for a way to preserve a regressive system well past its due date, and to the old guard, they were simply traitors. They don't have the romance of true revolutionaries--but they didn't pile up the same body counts. They'd be remembered better if they tried to hang onto power until the bitter end--like Ceauşescu--but as vile monsters rather than dorky apparatchiks how happened to be in office during a critical turning point.
I think of Gorby as one of these men, but with much better international press. It's not surprising at all that most Russian despise him, more of a fluke that Americans think so highly of him. As with Reagan, I think this has a lot to do with his personal charisma.
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momijizukamori
Re: Legacies
Date: 2004-06-10 03:21 pm (UTC)I think of Gorby as one of these men, but with much better international press. It's not surprising at all that most Russian despise him, more of a fluke that Americans think so highly of him. As with Reagan, I think this has a lot to do with his personal charisma.