1991 Soviet Collapse - Thatcher and Kinnock React to Mikhail Gorbachev Resignation (1991)

[@jakemiller9547]

Given that Thatcher wasn’t Prime Minister in 1991 - where’s John Major in this selected footage?

[@MagicNash89]

Just learned Kinnock actually met Gorbachev, don't know much else beyond that. Never heard of Gorbachev meeting Leaders of Opposition before

[@jojojojo4332]

kinnock was a man who made labor electable after reforming a lot of the party or down right removing members.

[@alexanderwragge-morley8536]

During state visits to the UK it is standard protocol for the visiting head of state to have a meeting with the leader of the opposition, and the leaders of all the political parties represented in the House of Commons.

[@Ольга-н7и1з]

Опять то самое, опять люди рассказывают, они маргачер, вот оттуда я все узнала, потому что только тут можно было узнать, что здесь рассказывали на канале, я смотрела с переводом на русский язык, но интересно было, как рассказывали про. Да это чудо, что это тема вновь и вновь потихоньку поднимается политических моментах о её работе с премьер-министрами, политиками. О боже, как приятно, что многие рассказывают о ней я так счастлива, что уже это в традицию! Пошло опять рассказать о ней спасибо вам огромное чтобы они так много рассказывает так приятно вспоминать о ней столько много интересного

[@brianboyle2681]

My theory is that the only reason he ever came to power was because other factions saw the writing on the wall and didn't want to be holding the bag when it fell. They began manoeuvring with useful idiots like Yeltsin and other proto-autocrats in the republics as fronts to ensconce themselves in wealth as their Soviet project failed. Would be interested to hear your view.

[@Ольга-н7и1з]

Да к встречался с Горбачевым да я помню его приезд был интересный тогда он все время такие моменты были политические там очень интересные моменты были у них вообще чудо было

[@radioandtvmemories6178]

A total disaster

[@thunder-from-the-steppe]

Sure, Vlad.

[@mertsomcag9807]

Iron Lady

[@karlmann9608]

Gorbachev sold out to pizza hut and the west

[@ravenseft]

He tried to reform an un-reformable system that was already collapsing. Going down the Chinese route wasn't an option.

[@MagicNash89]

@@ravenseft It was an option, with some amendments, because the Chinese took the ideas of Nikolai Bukharian for their reforms - an early Bolshevik, who took part in the New Economic Policy (NEP) development in the 1920s which restored Soviet Russian economy. The bigger problem for Gorbachev was the legacy he got, I don't know enough about China in the 1970s to compare the two countries on this though.

[@ravenseft]

@@MagicNash89 It was a very different story in China with the New Enlightenment after the death of Mao. Chinese liberalism was on the rise from the 1970s, leaving the USSR reactionary in comparison. The war in Afghanistan, no reinvestment under Brezhnev and Chernobyl left no room for such a radical departure. There was massive discontent by Winter 1989. We can be grateful to Gorbachev that the USSR collapsed without extended violent conflict, as was the case with Yugoslavia.

[@brianboyle2681]

All the other factions knew the sums didn't add up, ran away and didn't oppose him when he was "elected". He was their useful idiot to give them space while they became the first oligarchs and are long diversified and insulated against any of Putin's tentacles. The officer class in the army saw what was happening but too late.