Аннотация: A good book about Mikhail Gorbachev. The note.
A good book about Mikhail Gorbachev. The note.
Nikolai Alexandrovich Zenkovich 'Mikhail Gorbachev. Life until the Kremlin "(797 pages) [Николай Александрович Зенькович 'Михаил Горбачёв. Жизнь до Кремля'].
The book is huge in volume. Sometimes there is a feeling of too slowly storytelling.
However, it must be admitted that the author tries to be as detailed as possible. He wishes - as far as possible - to go into details, to present all biographical versions.
All topics and questions in a short note it's imposible to discuss.
Somewhere in the depths of the book there is a mention of the tribute that was collected from the heads of collective farms and state farms in favor of the lords. ("By the way, when inviting guests were arriving to rest, Mikhail Sergeevich never paid out of his own pocket. The chairmen of collective farms paid instead of him.").
At the beginning of the book it is mentioned that one of Mikhail Gorbachev's grandfathers was the head of a collective farm. ("In the 1930s, Gorbachev's grandfather [Gopkalo Panteley Efimovich] headed the "Krasny Oktyabr" collective farm in a neighboring village, 20 kilometers from Privolnoye.")
Another grandfather is Andrei Moiseevich Gorbachev. "Since he knew how to work, he soon began to lead the collective farm pig farm, and this pig farm constantly occupied the first place in the district."
It remains only to reflect about the tribute.
Gradually, the author of the book comes to the topic of support for Mikhail Sergeevich from influential persons of the Moscow (of all-state) level.
But there is a father, not only the grandfather and the grandson.
The father was a tractor driver and combine operator. But not the common person. A member of the bureau of the district party committee. ('In 1929, the eldest son Sergei [Andreevich Gorbachev], the father of Mikhail Sergeevich, married the daughter of a neighbor - Gopkalo.') ('He was a member of the bureau of the district party committee for a long time.').
Very interesting.
Here you can reflect on an interesting topic, the key to which I have not found in this book.
The older generation of Mikhail Sergeevich had a good sense of perspective and had the understanding of the importance of education.
They were not ordinary people. But what kind of biographical features they were is not clear from the book. The book directs readers to the conviction that the older Gorbachevs were just peasants (of different social levels). Let's doubt this biographical version.
Perhaps (this is only the version), somewhere here there are secret biographical elements not discovered by the author. ("... Andrei Moiseevich Gorbachev fought on the Western Front in the First World War, and from those times a photograph remained at home: grandfather sits in a picture pose on a black horse and in a beautiful cap with a cockade. "What kind of uniform is this?' ... he bent under the weight of years, already, but been dry and lean, he just waved it off [such question]. "). ("His ancestors - a handful of Ukrainian peasants, - fleeing hunger, founded a settlement in 1861: three thousand inhabitants of Privolnoye were far away all centers of civilization.").
So, the older generation of Mikhail Sergeevich had a good ability to imagine the future.
Mikhail Sergeevich's father, a member of the district committee bureau, knows what record should be set during the harvest. He not only knows the level of record, he knows how to set this record (with the participation of own son).
Why does he need this record? To receive an award, a position? To fulfill a public duty?
Probably, there were relatively many champions. But nobody asked Mikhail Sergeevich and his father the question: "What do you want?"
Instead of asking questions, they were presented with state awards.
May be, Mikhail Sergeevich, having an order on his jacket, married the most beautiful girl in the district and became the director of a local warehouse of scarce goods?
No, after the secondary school he wants to go to study in Rostov-on-Don. He intends to enter a technical higher educational institution (not the Rostov university).
But the older generation of the Gorbachevs insists: Mikhail Sergeevich needs to study not in Rostov-on-Don, but in Moscow, and not in some technical higher educational institution, but in Moscow State University, and not in the philological (or philosophy) faculty, but in the law faculty.
Yes ... For ordinary peasants, a rather unusual sense of perspective.
And, it seems, Mikhail Sergeevich was admitted to this faculty without exams.
Not bad.
Mikhail Sergeevich found an intellectual wife for himself.
In any case, she, seems, supported him when he received his second higher education.
With two full-fledged higher educations, Mikhail Sergeevich formally towered above most of the party and Komsomol workers.
After Moscow State University, Mikhail Sergeevich returns to his native Stavropol Krai.
The author sets out the entire script: a chain of circumstances and events that free the young graduate Gorbachev from serving in the prosecutor's office and open the way to the party and Komsomol hierarchy.
If you cleanse this plot of details, you get an interesting picture. A university graduate arrived the krai center after studying. Events are taking place around him. The events are attended by the regional prosecutor's office and the regional prosecutor, the regional party committee and an important party person, the regional Komsomol committee and its leader.
This is reminiscent of the Balzac story of the conquest of Paris by a provincial young talent, to which it must be added that Stavropol in the 50-60s of the 20th century is not Paris, but a completely different city. And the rotary motion of the prosecutor's office, regional committees of party and of the Komsomol around the young graduate does not look very plausible.
Naturally, Mikhail Sergeevich was free from typical Russian vices, he stood out for his activity in public affairs and a positive attitude towards people.
The ascent to the top began.
A good, informative book. The author repeatedly mentions Suslov, Andropov, Kulakov - those high-ranking officials who were related to the Stavropol Krai, and who, allegedly, positively influenced the career of Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev.
It logically to think, that before reading the biography of Gorbachev, it is useful to get acquainted with the biographies of these high-ranking figures.
In general, a good, conscientiously written book.
Ahead - Chapter 8 (Chapter 8 Mistress of the krai). Perhaps, I will read on, I will continue reading. Sometimes long and boring, but generally interesting.
May 12, 2021 15:55
Translation from Russian into English: May 12, 2021 18:01.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Хорошая книга о Михаиле Горбачеве. Заметка'.