I was always under the impression that Gorbachev was a naïve optimist who tried to reform the USSR too rapidly, but failed. So how exactly did he screw up and how could the USSR have been saved?
I was always under the impression that Gorbachev was a naïve optimist who tried to reform the USSR too rapidly, but failed. So how exactly did he screw up and how could the USSR have been saved?
From what I have read and heard on podcasts, in 1986 it was by no means a foregone conclusion that the USSR would collapse. Things were kind of ok. If some alien Marxist from another planet were to land on earth in 1986 and do a deep study on the current situation, they'd probably conclude there were deep, potentially fatal problems in the Soviet system but things could still be turned around.
If the USSR was a like a person who was sick and needed life-saving surgery, then the right person for the job would a skilled surgeon who can delicately make the needed cuts. Gorby, though well intentioned, was like a clown doc with a chainsaw. His reforms were the wrong ideas that also were executed poorly, so a double whammy.