Was Mikhail Gorbachev as bad as some previous Soviet leaders?

When I lived in the SU Gorby was hated by all. His main failure was in trying to reform the country but keeping the Communist Part of Russia in power. I can't think of an example of how dumb this thinking is; it's sort of like a dictator forming a committee to reform the country but all of his favourites must remain intact. read more

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, GCL (born 2 March 1931) is a Russian and former Soviet politician. He was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, having been General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. read more

Then there are leaders who changed the world. The first among them was Vladimir Lenin, who created the communist system that challenged the West. The second was Mikhail Gorbachev, who brought that system down. Between 1985 and 1990, Gorbachev showed that he was a different kind of leader. First, he recognized that the U.S.-Soviet arms race was futile. read more