I skipped through one of his more recent books a bit ago. It gave the impression that he feels very bad about how modern-day russia turned out and a lot of it really felt like justification. It's kinda sad. I think he was one of the very few russian leaders that actually somewhat gave a shit about his people.
Many people (even russians) are not aware on what an incredibly tight rope he walked and how much worse everything could've turned out, mostly because he wanted a better future for his people. Seeing Russia fall into the lap of yet another autocratic despot in his lifetime and dying with that knowledge must be incredibly disheartening and it truly is palpable in his more recent works. I can only recommend them, they're not easy reads though and they actually get quite a bit of critique for him trying to justify his course so much.
A common understanding among Russians is that they decided upon dissolving the Soviet Union after having too much to drink.
I agree that it could’ve been way worse, but the fact that Russia fell under another dictator, albeit presenting as a democracy, isn’t exactly surprising.
One thing people tend to forget is that Russia is more of an Asian country than a European one, and we’ve always had at least a two centuries delay on Western culture.
Just as an example, our first modern university was founded in 1755 only. Compare that with Oxford in the UK (end of 10th century), Sorbonne in Paris (12th century), or even Leiden in the Netherlands (16th century).
And it was only with tsar Piotr the Great in the early 18th century that Russia started becoming less of a backwater shithole, and more civilised.
Hell, the whole idea behind the founding of St-Petersburg was to make a civilised, Western city - a “window onto Europe” if you will. Only ofc, they built it in an uninhabitable swamp that cost many a workers’ lives, and makes for terrible weather.
Anyways, the point I’m getting to is that you cannot just force freedom upon people that never had a taste of it. Russia is famous for its tradition of strong leaders, regardless of the regime. And without it, most people just get lost.
It’s just a different culture. It’s way more patriarchal, less civilised, and more collective, though not as much as China ofc. Resolving arguments with violence is way more prevalent and justified than in the West, and you have way more of a gap between Moscow and St-Petersburg, the two big cities, and the rest of the country, uneducated and poor, that slowly drinks itself to death.
Hell, even when you get 30-ish kilometers away from Moscow, roads and working plumbing just stops.
Basically, Russia is a third world country. And it really wasn’t ready for Western democracy and freedom back when Gorbatchev tried to do it. And it’s still not ready now, though it’s getting slightly closer.
Bear in mind that I’m not advocating for communism or anything. Fuck that shit. I’m just saying that Russians are really far from the Western ideals of free people, and centuries of a culture that promotes strong, dominant leaders doesn’t do well when confronted with democracy.
Especially when there’s no one competent to guide the transition, which there wasn’t.
Gorbatchev just dissolved a country and its structures and washed his hands of it - like “you (incompetent, self-serving morons) deal with the aftermath. I’m out”.
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