General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: 25 years ago tonight: "Did you just hear what I just heard?" [View all]DFW
(54,372 posts)He remained a CPUSSR loyalist, if an enlightened one. Had he been able to morph out of that, and stay at the top, Russia would have been MUCH better off. The attempted coup of Rutskoi and Hasbulatov would have been a disaster if it had succeeded, and Yeltsin was so besotted with alcohol, he was pretty much useless soon after taking power. Putin was surely gearing up for his reign way before it actually happened. I think Raissa was already seriously ill by 1991, and Gorbachëv just didn't have his heart in it any more.
He is still considered a hero by the East Germans (except "Die Linken," the unofficial SED successor), for not interfering with the events of November 9. An American friend of mine was invited to his 80th birthday party 3 years ago, and she didn't have to think twice about accepting the invitation.