Press Release, 6.03.2023.

Photo by um.mos.ru

On 4 March, the Social-Democratic Faction of the Yabloko party held a round table “Lessons of Perestroika” devoted to the 92nd anniversary of Mikhail Gorbachev. The round table was attended by members of the Yabloko party, experts and members of the Russian Social Democratic Youth Union. The speakers were Co-Chairman of the Yabloko Social Democratic Faction Anatoly Golov, Co-Chairman of the trade union “University Solidarity” Pavel Kudyukin, dissident Alexander Daniel, deputy of the State Duma of the 2nd convocation Yuri Nesterov and others.

The participants of the round table discussed the key aspects of Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms, his achievements and mistakes. One of the main issues for discussion was the question of Gorbachev’s understanding of the idea of social democracy and attempts to implement it. The participants of the round table agreed that Gorbachev was not an ideologist, but was a practitioner and did not limit himself to any narrow ideological direction. His main achievement was democratic reforms and the peaceful nature of the reforms. It was noted that Mikhail Gorbachev had never clung to power and sought to implement humanistic ideas. Now we see how these ideas been trampled, and the achievements of Perestroika canceled due to the current policies of the Russian authorities. That is why such events are important for us today, allowing us to learn lessons from the reforms of the past for the future reforms.

It was decided to hold another round table, and discuss the current situation and develop a vision for the future of Russia by the Social Democrats.