Mikhail
Gorbachev – BiographyMikhail
Gorbachev – Biography| 1931: | March 2, born, Privolnoye, Krasnogvardeisky District, Stavropol territory in the North Caucasus, to a peasant family in a small village, his father an agricultural mechanic on a collective farm. |
| 1942: | German army occupies the Privolnoye area. |
| 1945: | Begins work as assistant to combine harvest operator. |
| 1949: | Awarded Order of Red Banner of Labour. |
| 1950: | Enrolled in Faculty of Law, Moscow University. |
| 1952: | After having been a member of Komsomol (Communist Youth Organisation), now joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). |
| 1955: | Marries Raisa Maximovna Titorenko, philosophy student. Receives degree in law. |
| 1955-60: | Appointed First Secretary, Komsomol Territorial Committee, then moves up to higher posts, finally becoming top Komsomol official in Stavropol. |
| 1956: | Daughter Irina born. |
| 1961: | Delegate from Stavropol to 22nd Communist Party Congress in Moscow. |
| 1962: | Appointed to key position in Stavropol Communist Party, responsible for personnel in administration, farms and industry. |
| 1964-67: | Studies for second degree at Stavropol Agricultural Institute. |
| 1970: | Appointed First Secretary for Stavropol territory, governing an area of 2.4 million people. |
| 1971: | Member CPSU Central Committee. |
| 1978: | Moves to Moscow as Secretary of Agriculture in Central Committee. |
| 1980: | Becomes youngest full member of Politburo. |
| 1985: | March, Elected by Central Committee as General Secretary of CPSU. |
| 1989: | Elected by new parliament as Executive President of Soviet Union. |
| 1991: | August, abortive coup of hardliners, resigns as General Secretary of CPSU, dissolves Central Committee. |
| 1991: | December 25, resigns as President when Soviet Union disintegrates. |
| 1992: | Head of Foundation for Social, Economic and Political Research, think-tank founded after August coup. |
| Selected Bibliography |
| By Gorbachev |
| Memoirs. Translated from the Russian by Georges Peronansky and Tatjana. New York: Doubleday, 1996. |
| The August Coup: The Truth and the Lessons. New York: Harper Collins, 1991. |
| Perestroika. New Thinking for Our Country and the World. New York: Harper, 1988. (New updated edition. An explanation and a manifesto, with five chapters on foreign policy. Published in many languages.) |
| Other Sources |
| Billington, James H. Russia Transformed: Breakthrough to Hope. Moscow, August 1991. (An important interpretation, based on personal observation of the August coup and a lifetime of study of Russia.) |
| Brown, Archie. The Gorbachev Factor. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. (An important scholarly study by a major authority on Gorbachev.) |
| Doder, Dusko and Louise Branson. Gorbachev: Heretic in the Kremlin. (By wellinformed American journalists.) |
| Medvedev, Zhores A. Gorbachev. Oxford: Blackwell, 1986. (By a Soviet scientist, living in London.) |
| Gorbachev, Raisa. I Hope: Reminiscences and Reflections. New York: Harper Collins, 1991. |
| Kaiser, Robert G. Why Gorbachev Happened: His Triumphs and his Failures. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. |
| Miller, John. Mikhail Gorbachev and the End of Soviet Power London: Macmillan, 1993. (Scholarly.) |
| Remnick, David. Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire. New York, 1993. (Perceptive journalistic account.) |
| Smith, Hedrick. The New Russians. New York: Random House, 1990. (A leading interpreter of the Russian people returns to describe them in the time of great change.) |
From Nobel Lectures, Peace 1981-1990, Editor-in-Charge Tore Frängsmyr, Editor Irwin Abrams, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1997
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later published in the book series Les Prix Nobel/Nobel Lectures. The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.