On the Verge of the Collapse of Empire: Images of Alexander Kerensky and Mikhail Gorbachev

Abstract

There are a striking number of similarities between the lives and deeds of Alexander Kerensky and Mikhail Gorbachev. Both came to power on the verge of the collapse of the state, the Russian empire in the case of Kerensky and the Soviet Union in the case of Gorbachev, and both initially enjoyed great popularity. Unfortunately, both also failed fully to implement their reform programmes and to hold onto power. Yet their attempts at democratisation helped to give the Russian people an opportunity to participate in creating history. By comparing their reconstructed images, the author reveals the similarities between the two politicians' lives and careers in the form of a schematic description of the consecutive stages of their careers.

Notes

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² ‘Agenda: With George Friedman on Egypt’, available at: http://www.stratfor.com /analysis/20110128-agenda-george-friedman-egypt, accessed 14 June 2012.

³ Moskovskie novosti, 24 March 1991.

⁴ Bich: Satiriko-yumoristicheskii ezhenedel'nik, 35 (Petrograd), 1917.

⁵ For example, see: http://vkontakte.ru/club6553860; http://vkontakte.ru/club3433647; http://vkontakte.ru/club4355451, accessed 14 October 2010.

⁶ ‘Internet protiv teleekrana-informatsionno-analiticheskoe elektronnoe izdanie’, available at: http://www.contrtv.ru, accessed 12 November 2012.

⁷ Pozor Rossii. Vseobshchee golosovanie, available at: www.badnameofrussia.ru, accessed 12 October 2010.

⁸ For more details see: http://www.nameofrussia.ru, accessed 14 October 2010.

⁹ For more detail see Nakhimova (2008, pp. 48–55).

¹⁰ Petrogradskii Listok, 23 March 1917.

¹¹ A total of 270 people were killed and 250 wounded as the result of a conflict between workers and the administration.

¹² Data Gorbachev Foundation, available at: www.gorby.ru, accessed 10 November 2010.

¹³ ‘Ego, kak pervuyu lyubov’, Rossii serdtse ne zabudet', Respublika, 1 September 1917.

¹⁴ The alternative title of this painting in English is ‘Gorbachev among the people’ (Gorbachev sredi naroda), available at: http://www.artrussia.ru/russian/artists/picture_s.php?pic_id = 4129&foa = f, accessed 10 May 2010.

¹⁵ For more details, see Grigor'eva (2001).

¹⁶ State Archive of the Samara region (Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Samarskoi oblasti, hereafter GASamO), Fond 136, OPis 1, Stranica 7.

¹⁷ GASamO, Fond 136,OPis 1, Stranica 9.

¹⁸ The New Times, 23 March 2009.

¹⁹ Pravda, 20 May 1987.

²⁰ Rossiiskaya Gazeta, 14 February 2006.

²¹ Jack Matlock, remark in discussion at VIII World Congress of the International Council for Central and East European Studies (ICCEES), Stockholm, 26–31 July 2010. For further elaboration of Jack Matlock's perception of how Gorbachev and his reform programme were seen by the US administration, see Matlock (2009).

²² Nikolai Vladimirovich Ruzsky (6 March 1854–18 October 1918). His military career prior to the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 took him to both the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) and the Russo–Japanese War, where he was Chief of Staff to the Second Manchurian Army.

²³ A. Baranov, ‘Interv'yu s knyzem A.P.Scherbatovym’ (New York City), available at: http://www.romanov-center.narod.ru/kerenskt.htm, accessed 10 November 2010.

²⁴ Svobodnaya Rossiya, 12 June 1917.

²⁵ Moskovskii komsomolets, 2 March 2006.

²⁶ Database FOM, ‘Opros naseleniya “Perestroika: 20 let spustya (14.04.2005)”’, available at: http://bd.fom.ru/report/map/projects/dominant/dom0515/ddd051531, accessed 10 November 2010.