Mikhail Gorbachev Quotes

Perestroika is our last chance. If we stop, it will be our death.

... the dynamic architect of Soviet reform.

I left Russia in 1993 optimistic that democracy had taken hold despite the obstacles.

The essential meaning of perestroika for Gorbachev and his supporters was creating and acting on alternatives to failed and dangerous policies at home and abroad.

The free world should not wait for dictatorial regimes to consent to reform.

My goal for the Arab world is to change the status quo, which is horrible politically, religiously, economically, in every way.

We should applaud peristroika but not pay for it.

Perestroika and glasnost mean more nationalism, more fascism.

Opening China to the world has dramatically affected the movement for democracy. The process of opening up is a process whereby the government loosens its control of the people. On the other hand, simply opening the economy is not enough. Very few people are actually able to enjoy the economic reforms. The privileged classes, or those who have connections with the privileged classes, enjoy more benefits from an open policy.

Gorbachev's legacy is that he called time on communism, partially against his will, but in fact, he finished it off. Without violence. Without bloodshed. Beyond that, I am struggling to think of much else in terms of real legacy.

There is no greater advocate of perestroika than the president of the United States.

Perestroika is nothing more than refined Stalinism.

Deep in my heart, I still believe that the democratization of Russia and the democratization of Ukraine will proceed.

America is the first country... that can actually have a bloodless revolution.

This scepticism is the same scepticism I heard a generation ago in the USSR when few thought that a democratic transformation behind the iron curtain was possible.

Of course, I know everything that happens in Russia. But even at the most dangerous moment or the most negative moment now, it's still 10 times better than what it was in the communist state.

I started like many young Russian people in the beginning of perestroika when it seemed that everything was possible.

On March 11, 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union, and within a few weeks the full-scale reformation he attempted to carry out both inside his country and in its cold war relations with the West, particularly the United States, began to unfold.

I have the greatest sympathy with the growth of the socialist party. I think they understand the evils that surround us and hammer them into people's minds better than we Liberals. I want to see the Liberal party throw its heart and soul fearlessly into reform so as to prevent a reaction from the present state of things and the violent revolution that would inevitably follow it.

A new Russian Revolution is inevitable, and that it may come much sooner than anyone would now dare to hope… I do not believe it possible that the thirst for freedom and decency in the countries of the Soviet Empire can remain much longer unslaked, and that any attempt either to quench it by total repression or to satisfy it by real reforms, will be cataclysmically destructive of the eroded foundations of the entire State system.

[We must] accelerate the reform of our political system, especially the building of a system of socialist democracy based on law …. Democracy is a worldwide trend …. If the Party doesn’t hold up the banner of democracy in our country, someone else will, and we will lose out.

The peaceful path out of totalitarianism has never been tested.

Great political and social changes begin to be possible as soon as men are not afraid to risk their lives.

Glasnost has given us all a headache.

This country has been without stern, sails and wind, and it needs someone at the helm. We are doomed to live in an authoritarian state until genuine democracy, which should not be confused with anarchy, can be set up.