Gorbachev, Glasnost and Perestroika
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The slides present the two of Gorbachev's well-known economic philosophies - Glasnost and Perestroika. It starts with the background on Gorbachev's life and proceeds with the discussion on how the Our Lady of Fatima is related with the Russian history and Gorbachev's beliefs.
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Gorbachev, Glasnost and Perestroika
- 1. Mikhail Gorbachev’s Philosophy of Peace, Glasnost and Perestroika Philosophy of Business (DBA 701) Atty. Celso D. Benologa, Ph.D., CPA Presented by: Ferdinand C. Importado August 26, 2012
- 2. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev March 2, 1931 Privolnoye, Stavropol, Russia Sergei and Maria Panteleyvna Gorbachev Studied Law, Moscow State University Raisa Maksimovna Titorenko
- 3. Gorbachev as a young child • Gorbachev's father is a driver and mechanic and at the age of 13, he worked on a collective farm • At age 14, he joined the Komsomol and became an active member • In 1952 he became Secretary of the law department's Young Communist League
- 4. Early political career • In 1970, he was first elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR as party leader and served on commissions dealing with conservation, youth policy, and foreign affairs • In 1978, he was officially admitted at the Communist party secretariat as agriculture secretary
- 5. Gorbachev in World History • Ending the nuclear race with the U.S. • Responsible for the withdrawal of the Soviet presence in Afghanistan in 1989 and Central Europe • 1990 Nobel Peace Prize • Last Secretary General (President) of the U.S.S.R.
- 6. 1990 Nobel Peace Prize The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize to Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, president of the Soviet Union, for his leading role in the peace process, which today characterizes important parts of the international community.
- 7. Gorbachev and the Cold War Gorbachev cooperated with Reagan to end the Cold War, and Reagan cooperated with Gorbachev to legitimize the democratic process with the Soviet public. But it was Mikhail Gorbachev, not Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush, who ended Communist rule in the Soviet Union. Ambassador Jack F. Matlock, Jr.
- 8. What is the message of Fatima? Consists of a number of precise predictions, requests, warnings and promises concerning the Faith and the world, which were conveyed by the Blessed Virgin Mary to three shepherd children – Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco – in a series of apparitions at Fatima, Portugal from May to October 1917
- 9. What did the message of Fatima predict? The emergence of Russia as a world power which would "spread its terrors (including Communism) throughout the world ... raising up wars and persecutions against the Church"
- 10. What does the message of Fatima request? The Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Pope together with the world's bishops in a solemn public ceremony
- 11. Have these requests of our Lady of Fatima been honoured? Russia has yet to be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in a solemn public ceremony conducted by the Pope together with the world's Catholic bishops. In 1984 likewise did not mention Russia or involve the participation of many of the world's bishops
- 12. What does the message of Fatima warn? The Church will be persecuted, there will be other major wars, the Holy Father will have much to suffer and various nations will be annihilated. Many nations will be enslaved by Russian militant atheists. Most important, many souls will be lost.
- 13. What does the message of Fatima promise? The Message of Fatima promises that if the requests of Our Lady of Fatima are carried out "My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will Consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to mankind."
- 14. Proof that Russia was not consecrated • On March 25, 1984, Pope John Paul II said twice that Our Lady of Fatima's request for the consecration of Russia was not done. • The attempted Consecration of 1984, Russia was not mentioned nor involved by the participation of the world's bishops as specified Our Lady of Fatima
- 15. Proof that Russia was not consecrated • 600 million abortions, and wars have broken out all over the world • Mercy-killing and homosexual acts have been "legalized" • In Russia, law has just been passed which discriminates against the Catholic Church
- 16. Proof that Russia was not consecrated • There have been very few conversions to Catholicism in Russia over the past fourteen years. In all of Russia today there are only 300,000 Catholics--much less than one percent of the Russian population.
- 17. Why is the message of Fatima important to me and my family? It involves the salvation of souls, peace in the world and, if the requests of Our Lady of Fatima are not carried out, the consequences are the annihilation of nations and the enslavement of all mankind under militant atheists of Russia
- 18. Peace Grounded on Liberty “The principle of freedom of choice is a must. Refusal to recognize this principle will have serious consequences to world peace. To deny a nation the freedom of choice regardless of the pretext or the verbal guise in which it is cloaked, is to upset the balance that has been achieved at this point”.
- 19. Liberty •Good moral conduct •Without liberty morality and life meaningless •Christian philosophy •Bill of rights •Constitution of free peoples •Lies in the very root and heart of democracy Fundamental Right of all rights Ethics Freedom of choice
- 20. Liberty trade-off Right of peoples to freedom Right of nation to integrity and dismemberment
- 21. Christian Philosophy of Peace Rational social being Natural blessing Embedded in man’s nature Enshrined in man’s conscience
- 22. Christian Philosophy of Peace A man who lived constantly in accordance with the natural moral law, experiences and enjoys peace of mind and soul. Gorbachev envisions peace for mankind as global in scope, enduring and perennial in point of time for the whole human race
- 23. What is the moving spirit? Glasnost Perestoika
- 24. Glasnost Metaphysical • Truth • Very object of human intellect • In discovering the truth, the mind is satisfied and happy Moral • Knowing yourself truly • Rending apart the senseless secrecy and hypocrisy of pretending to be what you are not
- 25. Quotes about Glasnost “The way of truth is the way to peace” Mahatma Gandhi “To thy own self be true and thou cannot be false to any other man” Polonius Hamlet, Act 1, scene 3, 78 - 82
- 26. Being false to oneself Inevitably, this leads to conflicts, confrontation and wars; and the story and history thereof was written in unquantifiable blood and deaths in two world wars. The same error, according to Gorbachev, unless effectively checked and corrected, will surely lead to a third nuclear war that now threatens to exterminate the greater portion of humankind.
- 27. Contradiction • Law of reality • Accounts for all the changes in the word • Arising from conflicts between antithetical concepts or realities Hegel, Marx • Law of logic and discourse • Opposition between proposition and negation • No contradictories, only opposites, polarities and paradoxes Scholastic
- 28. Gorbachev’s Dialectic Movement • Our present society is now in the brink of total destruction • Radical sweeping reforms for the better if it has to survive • Mankind is confronted with the do-or- die alternative of having lasting peace or risking total destruction • Stressed the necessity for drastic, revolutionary reforms while at the same time and with the same emphasis • Universal peace as the only way for survival
- 29. Gorbachev contradicting himself • Peace and revolution can be combined logically without incurring inconsistency • Peace and revolution are not contradictory but merely paradoxical • Peace (positive) can be attained by non-violent revolution (negation of a negation becomes positive)
- 30. Effects of Perestroika End of the cold war Cessation of the armament race Outlawing of nuclear war except for defence
- 31. Effects of Perestroika Dismantling of the past dictatorship converting it to democracy Shifting from state controlled economy to free market enterprise Change from a long regime of relentless religious persecution to freedom of worship; Restoration and re- enshrinement of all human rights
- 32. Democratization according to Gorbachev • The one main objective of Gorbachev’s reform was to liberate or lift the people from the quagmire of doctrinaire and dogmatic misconceptions and interpretations into which the true original socialism of Lenin had fallen. • Freedom of speech and expression which always signifies the diversity of views and / or opinions. • It is not the case of one working as many; but of many working as one
- 33. The Universal Human Constant Nature of man Human variables Economic Political Social Technological Rational Social Free
- 34. Gorbachev’s internal revolution When Gorbachev speaks of radical and profound changes in all aspects of life to bring about true and lasting peace, he certainly meant changes not only in the outward structure of society, but also and more importantly the deeper transformation in the inner nature of man that includes moral regeneration and true conversion of heart for which true and constant peace is based and established
- 35. Havel’s inner renewal of man • Radical transformation in man, a true conversion of the heart as the only means of ensuring lasting peace • “The salvation of our world lies in the human heart” • Man is still imprisoned in the narrow cell of his own ego, barred by possessiveness – I, my, mine, myself, my family, my company, my region, my nation
- 36. Inner moral renewal of man Uprooting selfishness Cultivating virtues of the heart Responsibility Love for fellowmen
- 37. Love or Die Live together Die altogether • Does not mean living in the same place, in the same country under the same ideology. • Nor does it mean merely living in peaceful co- existence under the law of live and let live. • Mutual sharing of the sacrifices we may have to make, for our own survival
- 38. Love or Die • Gift of freedom • We will to do so by our own freewill for our own survival • We must live altogether voluntarily sacrificing our private interests • Most distinctive human prerogative – to love and to be loved • Live and let live = Live and love • True and lasting peace for mankind springs from freedom and love • Love or die means that it is not enough that we live together, it means me must love each other, else we perish
- 39. Memoirs of the Philippine Revolution “In order to build the edifice of our social regeneration, we have to change radically our establishments, our mode of thinking and living. A revolution both external and internal becomes
- 40. Gorbachev vs. Mabini’s Revolution Gorbachev’s revolution • Peaceful revolution Mabini’s revolution • Bloody and violent
- 41. Russian vs. EDSA RevolutionRussianRevolution • 1991 • Aborted coup ouster of Mikhail Gorbachev • Some people were killed EDSARevolution • 1986 • Lead by Corazon Aquino • EDSA miracle
- 42. Decalogo Truths Justice Liberty • For the good • Never for evil
- 43. Decalogo “We must strive to establish in our country the republic and never the monarchy. The latter serves and promotes the welfare of a few privileged families, and forms a dynasty, while the former seeks and ministers to general well being of the people.” Apolinario Mabini Decalogo, Memoirs of the Philippine Revolution
Hinweis der Redaktion
- Mikhail Sergeyevich GorbachevMikhail Gorbachev was the last General Secretary of the Soviet Union. He brought about massive economic, social, and political changes and helped bring an end to both the Soviet Union and the Cold WarMarch 2, 1931 - Privolnoye, Stavropol, Russia - Sergei and Maria Panteleyvna GorbachevMikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev was born in the village of Privolnoye near the agricultural region of Stavropol, Russia on March 2, 1931 to Sergei and Maria Panteleyvna Gorbachev. His parents and his grandparents had all been peasant farmers before Stalin's collectivization program. Gorbachev was ten years old when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. His father was drafted into the Soviet military and Gorbachev spent four years living in a war-torn countryStudied Law, Moscow State University - Raisa Maksimovna TitorenkoFrom the age of 13, he worked on a collective farm, where his father was a mechanic. Rather than attend a local university, Gorbachev applied to the prestigious Moscow State University and was accepted as a law student. In 1953, he married a philosophy student, Raisa Maksimovna Titorenko and in 1957 their only child was born, a daughter named Irina
- Ending the nuclear race with the U.S.For decades, the United States and the Soviet Union and been competing with each other over who could amass the largest, most lethal cache of nuclear weapons. As the United States was developing the new Star Wars program, Gorbachev realized that the Soviet Union's economy was seriously suffering from the excessive spending on nuclear weapons. To end the arms race, Gorbachev met several times with U.S. President Ronald Reagan.Responsible for the withdrawal of the Soviet presence in Afghanistan in 1989 and Central EuropeBy 1989, he had brought about the end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and had sanctioned the end of the Communist monopoly on political power in Eastern Europe by permitting an unprecedented freedom of expression in the USSR. For his contributions to reducing East-West tensions 1990 Nobel Peace Prize Last Secretary General of the U.S.S.R.
- Ending the nuclear race with the U.S.For decades, the United States and the Soviet Union and been competing with each other over who could amass the largest, most lethal cache of nuclear weapons. As the United States was developing the new Star Wars program, Gorbachev realized that the Soviet Union's economy was seriously suffering from the excessive spending on nuclear weapons. To end the arms race, Gorbachev met several times with U.S. President Ronald Reagan.Responsible for the withdrawal of the Soviet presence in Afghanistan in 1989 and Central EuropeBy 1989, he had brought about the end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and had sanctioned the end of the Communist monopoly on political power in Eastern Europe by permitting an unprecedented freedom of expression in the USSR. For his contributions to reducing East-West tensions 1990 Nobel Peace Prize Last Secretary General of the U.S.S.R.
- Ending the nuclear race with the U.S.For decades, the United States and the Soviet Union and been competing with each other over who could amass the largest, most lethal cache of nuclear weapons. As the United States was developing the new Star Wars program, Gorbachev realized that the Soviet Union's economy was seriously suffering from the excessive spending on nuclear weapons. To end the arms race, Gorbachev met several times with U.S. President Ronald Reagan.Responsible for the withdrawal of the Soviet presence in Afghanistan in 1989 and Central EuropeBy 1989, he had brought about the end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and had sanctioned the end of the Communist monopoly on political power in Eastern Europe by permitting an unprecedented freedom of expression in the USSR. For his contributions to reducing East-West tensions 1990 Nobel Peace Prize Last Secretary General of the U.S.S.R.
- During the last few year, dramatic changes have take place in the relationship between East and West. Confrontation has been replaced by negotiations. Old European nation states have regained their freedom. The arms race is slowing down and we see a definite and active process in the direction of arms control and disarmament. Several regional conflicts have been solved or have at least come closer to a solution. The UN is beginning to play the role which was originally planned for it in an international community governed by law. These historic changes spring from several factors, but in 1990 the Nobel Committee wants to honour Mikhail Gorbachev for his many and decisive contributions. The greater openness he has brought about in Soviet society has also helped promote international trust. In the opinion of the Committee, this peace process, which Gorbachev has contributed so significantly to, opens up new possibilities for the world community to solve its pressing problems across ideological, religious, historical and cultural dividing lines.
- On December 7, 1988, Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev addressed the United Nations General Assembly. After speaking about the recent changes in the Soviet Union, Gorbachev amazed the global community when he announced drastic cuts in the Soviet military presence in Eastern Europe and along the Chinese border -- a move that ultimately allowed Soviet satellites to choose their own paths.
- You should believe the Message of Fatima because: It was confirmed by an unprecedented public miracle, the Miracle of the Sun, which occurred at precisely the moment Lucia said it would. More than 70,000 people, including Masons, communists and atheists, saw the sun, contrary to all cosmic laws, twirl in the sky, throw-off colors and descend to earth. The event was reported in newspapers around the world, including the New York Times. All of the Popes since the Fatima Miracle have recognized that the Message is authentic. Several Popes have gone to Fatima in person, including Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II. John Paul II said at Fatima in 1982 that "the Message of Fatima imposes an obligation on the Church." Many other miracles have been performed by God authenticating the Fatima Message as coming from Him, not only at the time of the Miracle of the Sun, October 13, 1917, but down the years to the present day, miracles of conversions and cures which science cannot explain by natural means. The Message of Fatima accurately predicted world events, which proves that it is a true prophecy.
- The Message of Fatima accurately predicted in 1917 all of the following events which came to pass: the end of World War I; the emergence of Russia as a world power which would "spread its errors (including Communism) throughout the world ... raising up wars and persecutions against the Church"; the election of a Pope who would be named Pius XI; the waging of a second World War following a strange light in the night sky.The Message of Fatima also predicted that if the requests of the Virgin Mary at Fatima are not honored, many souls will be lost, "the Holy Father will have much to suffer", there will be further wars and persecutions of the Church and "various nations will be annihilated." The annihilation of nations predicted at Fatima has not yet occurred, but many fear that it will soon happen, given the growing immorality and corruption of the world.
- At Fatima Our Lady said that God wished to establish in the world devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Our Lady said that many souls would be saved from Hell and the annihilation of nations averted if, in time, devotion to Her Immaculate Heart were established principally by these two means: the Consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary by the Pope together with the world's bishops in a solemn public ceremony, and the practice or receiving Holy Communion (and other specific devotions of about 1/2 hour in duration) in reparation for the sins committed against the Blessed Virgin Mary, on the first Saturdays of five consecutive months--a practice known to Catholics as "the First Saturday" devotion.
- No, not entirely. A number of the Faithful practice the "First Saturday" devotion, but Russia has yet to be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in a solemn public ceremony conducted by the Pope together with the world's Catholic bishops. In 1982 the last surviving Fatima seer, Lucia, who is now a cloistered nun living in Coimbra, Portugal, was asked if an attempted consecration by Pope John Paul II had sufficed. She replied that it did not suffice, because Russia was not mentioned and the world's bishops had not participated. Another attempted consecration in 1984 likewise did not mention Russia or involve the participation of many of the world's bishops, and Sister Lucia stated immediately afterwards that this consecration, too, had failed to meet Our Lady's requirements.
- It warns that if the requests of Our Lady of Fatima for the Consecration of Russia and the First Saturday devotion are not honored, the Church will be persecuted, there will be other major wars, the Holy Father will have much to suffer and various nations will be annihilated. Many nations will be enslaved by Russian militant atheists. Most important, many souls will be lost.
- The Message of Fatima promises that if the requests of Our Lady of Fatima are carried out "My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will Consecrate Russia to Me, which will be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to mankind."
- On March 25, 1984, after the consecration of the world, Pope John Paul II said twice that Our Lady of Fatima's request for the consecration of Russia was not done. Soon after the attempted Consecration of 1984, which did not mention Russia or involve the participation of the world's bishops, Sister Lucia stated it was insufficient because it did not meet the requirements specified to her by Our Lady.
- Since 1984 the moral and spiritual state of the world has obviously grown far worse: In the past 14 years there have been 600 million abortions, and wars have broken out all over the world. Mercy-killing and homosexual acts have been "legalized". In Russia itself a new law has just been passed which discriminates against the Catholic Church and in favor of Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and the Orthodox churches which forcibly occupied Catholic parishes under the Communists. Thus it is clear Russia is not converted to the Catholic Faith as Our Lady of Fatima promised would happen if Her request was done.
- There have been very few conversions to Catholicism in Russia over the past fourteen years. In all of Russia today there are only 300,000 Catholics--much less than one percent of the Russian population. By comparison, after Our Lady appeared at Guadalupe, Mexico in the 16th Century, more than 7 million Mexicans converted from paganism to the Catholic Faith within nine years and Mexico became a Catholic country.
- The Message of Fatima is important to you and your family because it involves the salvation of souls, peace in the world and, if the requests of Our Lady of Fatima are not carried out, the consequences are the annihilation of nations and the enslavement of all mankind under militant atheists of Russia.
- The very heart of Gorbachev’s philosophy of peace is the concept of freedom. In his speech before the United Nations on December 7, 1988, Gorbachev still stressed the necessity of respecting the liberty or freedom of man and nations which includes the freedom of choice among man and the nations. According to Gorbachev: “The principle of freedom of choice is a must. Refusal to recognize this principle will have serious consequences to world peace. To deny a nation the freedom of choice regardless of the pretext or the verbal guise in which it is cloaked, is to upset the balance that has been achieved at this point”.
- The concept of liberty is truly a fundamental right of every individual and nation that lies in the very root of the democratic ideal. Liberty is also called the right of all rights which is the source from which other rights emanate. It lies at the core of every bill of rights and enshrined in all constitution of free peoples. It is the postulate or imperative of Ethics and good moral conduct, denial of which would render morality and life meaningless. The principle of freedom of choice is also a cardinal and central point of Christian philosophy.
- In emphasizing the importance of the right of peoples to freedom of choice in order to determine their status, to be independent or dependent on another nation, Gorbachev failed to emphasize an equally important right which is the right of a nation as to the integrity of its territory or to secure itself from dismemberment or disintegration. Just as an individual citizen has the right to liberty and the corresponding right to the security of his person and belongings, so it is with a nation, the social consolidation of persons. Both rights are dictates of reason; they spring from the principle of justice governing all human relations. The two aforementioned rights are like the two poles of the rigid bar of justice; they are inseparable, co-equal in importance and indispensable pillars in international relations. Gorbachev could and should have avoided or foreseen the secession of the 11 states under the Soviet Union had he emphasized and insisted on an equally important and alienable right, namely the right of the Soviet Union to its integrity as a legitimately constituted nation against its own dismemberment or disintegration. He stresses the importance of freedom at the neglect of the integrity of the Soviet Union and has led to the downfall and dissolution of the once super world power. Also Gorbachev could have stressed the point that leads to the conversion of all Russia to Christian democracy, the ground is then laid for a stronger and more enduring Soviet solidarity now firmly established on the timeless rock of Christian principles. Gorbachev is considered as one of the greatest men of the century being regarded as Time Man of the Decade on January 1, 1990 but some branded him as a soft leader. He is soft in the sense that he was able to espoused the soft side of democracy and that is freedom.
- Peace is natural to man in the sense that peace is the natural blessing of the natural law as embedded in man’s nature and enshrined in man’s conscience. A man who lived constantly in accordance with the natural moral law, experiences and enjoys peace of mind and soul. Gorbachev envisions peace for mankind as global in scope, enduring and perennial in point of time for the whole human race. It is interesting to note that Gorbachev’s pleas, programs and operations for peace have catapulted and crystallized into living reality within just 59 days or two months what the papal encyclicals of the Church, the teaching of truth, strength and virtue through the centuries in the world has yet to achieve and realize. Gorbachev’s philosophy translated into action has converted and continues to convert to the core consciousness and consciences of countries and continents all over the world from Godless communism to Christian democracy.
- What is the moving spirit or the philosophy behind the stupendous transformations that have changed and continue to change the face of the globe? It is the twin ideas born in the mind of Mikhail Gorbachev translated into full all-out effort and operation worldwide: Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring). These ideas are not the creation of Gorbachev. Rather, they were conceived and designed by Gorbachev to help solve present human problems. Nor are these ideas are new. They were already well known before, but under different names. They are the main thrusts in the great papal encyclicals on Peace, Christian Renewal, the Dignity of Man, and Truth. It was however, who gave these ideas a new significance and worldwide recognition. Likewise, Lenin has mentioned these terms in his writings but it was Gorbachev who fleshed it up with meaning and reality.
- Glasnost was a policy that called for increased openness and transparency in government institutions and activities in the Soviet Union. Glasnost can also refer to the specific period in the history of the USSR during the 1980s when there was less censorship and greater freedom of information. Gorbachev frequently used glasnost to specify the policies he believed might help reduce the corruption at the top of the Communist Party and the Soviet government, and moderate the abuse of administrative power in the Central Committee. Glasnost as identified with openness also relates to truth as shown by the fact that truth itself is the very object of human intellect, as evidenced by the fact that in discovering the truth, as in finding the solution to a difficult problem, the mind is satisfied and happy. Saint Thomas Aquinas proclaimed the supremacy of reason or rationalism in man and maintained that man can know the truth with certainty by the use of his reason. Yet according to Aquinas, there are some truths which cannot be known by human reason alone and which can be perceived only with the aid of the light of divine revelation. There are two truths: those known through reason and the divinely revealed truths that can never contradict each other, because they emanate from the same source, God, who is the TRUTH Itself. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The way of truth is the way to peace”. Like Aristotle, Aquinas taught that man naturally longs for perfection and happiness and that this longing can be realized on earth with the full and optimal development of all man’s powers – rational, moral, social, emotional, physical. Yet, Aquinas saw and pointed to a higher (perhaps highest) form of perfection and happiness possible to man beyond this life, owing to the immortality of the human soul. This perfect happiness which all men seek can be found alone, according to St. Thomas Aquinas. To Gorbachev, glasnost means, first of all, knowing yourself truly, this means, in turn, rending apart the senseless secrecy of hypocrisy of pretending to be what you are not – or the opposite of what you really are. The Russian people under Stalin, were fed half truths or lies, about themselves and other peoples. The same was true with their Western capitalist counterparts who spread false propaganda against the Russians, painting the latter as the worst enemies of religion and democracy.
- Needless to point out here that the opposite attitude, that of being false to oneself and others, led to that vicious fallacy of secrecy and everything that it breeds and entails – mutual suspicion, mistrust and misunderstanding that vitiated international relations in the past. Inevitably, this leads to conflicts, confrontation and wars; and the story and history thereof was written in unquantifiable blood and deaths in two world wars. The same error, according to Gorbachev, unless effectively checked and corrected, will surely lead to a third nuclear war that now threatens to exterminate the greater portion of humankind.
- Gorbachev’s philosophy of perestroika is based on Karl Marx’s and Lenin’s Dialectic Materialism which in turn is adopted from Hegel’s Dialectic Idealism. They believe that everything tends towards perfection and begets its own contradiction and in ensuing encounter and clash between the two opponents there results a richer reality or synthesis which further generates a second antithesis and so on until the concept or reality becomes perfect or absolute.
- According to them, the essence of reality is contradiction which accounts for all changes in the world – arising from conflicts between antithetical concepts or realities. Under the Hegelian and Marxian philosophy, contradiction is viewed and taken as the very law of reality. On the other hand, contradiction as used in scholastic traditional metaphysics, as a law of logic and discourse, as the opposite between a proposition and its negation; which opposition cannot exist in the world of things. In addition, there are no contradiction in nature; there are only opposites, polarities and paradoxes. Paradox can be defined as a maxim, a proverb, a figure of speech, an analogy embodying a logical opposition, between contrasting elements that seem and sound contradictory but on deeper thought and analyses is or appears nonetheless as admissible and true. Contradiction implies an absolute opposition between contrasting elements that can never admit any reconciliation or compromise or middle possibility between them. In contrast, a paradox is always open and amenable to reconciliation; since the components thereof although opposed to each other are not contradictory to or mutually exclusive of each other and therefore admit a middle ground or possibility. In short, a contradiction implies an absolute irreconcilable opposition, while a paradox signifies a reconcilable position both in thought and in reality.
- Gorbachev’s concept of perestroika is based on the reality that our present society is now in the brink of total destruction that needs radical sweeping reforms for the better if it has to survive. Mankind is confronted with the do-or-die alternative of having lasting peace or risking total destruction. Thus, in all of his speeches, he stressed the necessity for drastic, revolutionary reforms while at the same time and with the same emphasis, he pleaded for universal peace as the only way for survival.
- Did Gorbachev contradict himself by uttering the contradictory please for peace and revolution? Most critics say inconsistency and even charge him of habitual inconsistency. Gorbachev is not a professional philosopher nor a logician and his answers are always practical, intended for practical purposes. He could have easily escaped from his critics by pointing out: That the concept of peace and revolution, while admittedly adversarial, can be combined logically without incurring inconsistency for there is such as thing as a peaceful revolution.That the concept of peace and revolution are not contradictory but merely paradoxical terms that is open to reconciliation. In combining peace and revolution, the only way to attain peace, Gorbachev can claim that he is only thinking along the lines of the dialectic, rather than illegally travelling from it. By having peace (positive) can be attained by non-violent revolution (negation of a negation becomes positive).
- By Gorbachev’s brand of revolution (bloodless, bullet less, and bomb less), he was not only able to democratized his country but also the whole of Eastern Europe as well as being instrumental in bringing about the end of the cold war between the nuclear superpowers; the cessation of the armament race; the outlawing of nuclear war except for defence which prevented the build up of a nuclear arsenal in outer space;
- the dismantling of the past dictatorship converting it to democracy; the shifting from state controlled economy to free market enterprise; change from a long regime of relentless religious persecution to freedom of worship; and the restoration and re-enshrinement of all human rights long banished from the altar of humanity by the iconoclastic wanton violations thereof in totalitarian regimes.
- Under the Socialist Philosophy of Lenin, Gorbachev notices some distortions particularly errors and defects that vitiate its implementation and interpretation. His reforms began with dismantling the past dictatorship, putting an end to the one-man-rule or monopoly of power concentrated in the hands of the dictator and transferring of sovereignty to the people, as envisioned originally in Lenin’s Socialist Philosophy. The one main objective of Gorbachev’s reform was to liberate or lift the people from the quagmire of doctrinaire and dogmatic misconceptions and interpretations into which the true original socialism of Lenin had fallen. Democratization as contrasted with totalitarianism or dictatorship signifies the change of a one-man rule to the rule of many. Hence, pluralism is of the very essence of democracy. Other aspects of democracy are: Freedom of speech and expression which always signifies the diversity of views and / or opinions.It is not the case of one working as many; but of many working as one
- In resolving human problems, Gorbachev appeals to the nature of man as fundamentally rational, social, and free. True peace is universal, perennial – meant for all times, places and peoples. Peace, as such should be based on something enduring, unchanging in man – the universal constant in man. The reason why peace has always been shaky, transitory, ephemeral and illusory is because it is made to depend on human variables – the external, shifting, accidental factors in man’s nature and relationships, such as the varying economic, political, social and technological conditions under which men live together. Even in the apex of their super development, as seems to be realized at present, these varying factors by themselves alone, cannot insure true constant peace for mankind.
- When Gorbachev speaks of radical and profound changes in all aspects of life to bring about true and lasting peace, he certainly meant changes not only in the outward structure of society, but also and more importantly the deeper transformation in the inner nature of man that includes moral regeneration and true conversion of heart for which true and constant peace is based and established. According to him, even the super colossal achievements of technology, science, economics, politics and all human pursuits by themselves alone cannot guarantee true peace and happiness for men.
- President Baclav Havel of Czechoslovakia even once said, “The salvation of our world lies in the human heart”.According to Havel selfishness still reigns supreme in the human heart. Man is still imprisoned in the narrow cell of his own ego, barred by possessiveness – I, my, mine, myself, my family, my company, my region, my nation.
- True peace can only come with the inner moral renewal in man – by uprooting selfishness and cultivating instead, therein the virtues of the human heart – primarily responsibility and love for our fellowmen.
- In resolving the dilemma confronting mankind, “live together or die altogether”, Gorbachev naturally chooses the first alternative as any other human being would; but Gorbachev enlightens us on the very reason for this choice, and the proper attitude in living up with this choice. Living together does not mean living in the same place, in the same country under the same ideology. Nor does it mean merely living in peaceful co-existence under the law of live and let live. It means mutual sharing of the sacrifices we may have to make, for our own survival. Thus Gorbachev elevates and ennobles the motive behind human solidarity by invoking the use of reason, particularly freedom.
- In making the choice and living by it, we have to make use of our gift of freedom. We must live together not because we are forced to do so as the only alternative but because we will to do so by our own freewill for our own survival. Gorbachev sees in man something nobler, deeper and more fundamental, than the instinct of survival – freedom. In making the choice between living together or risking total destruction, we have to make use of our God-given gift of liberty. We must live altogether voluntarily sacrificing our private interests – not because we cannot choose otherwise under the circumstances, but because it is our own will to do so for our own good. Still, there is in man, that highest and noblest power, which Gorbachev could and should have stressed and exploited further – it is the most distinctive human prerogative – to love and to be loved. Earlier we spoke of the law, live and let live, now we speak of a higher and nobler law – live and love, and in its deepest meaning, “Love or Die”. Thus true and lasting peace for mankind springs from freedom and love. Lastly, love or die means that it is not enough that we live together, it means me must love each other, else we perish.
- The Democratic ideas of Gorbachev, particularly that of Perestroika, freedom, love and justice are not foreign or new to Filipino thought. Long before Gorbachev, they were already conceived in the mind of Apolinario Mabini, the philosopher of the Philippine Revolution. In his Memoirs of the Philippine Revolution, particularly in his Decalogo, he expounded brilliantly on revolutionary restructuring of everything for our moral and social regeneration. Thus in his Decalogo, he wrote: “In order to build the edifice of our social regeneration, we have to change radically our establishments, our mode of thinking and living. A revolution both external and internal becomes necessary.”
- However, Mabini’s concept of revolution differs from that of Gorbachev. Mabini speaks of bloody and violent revolution while Gorbachev advocates a peaceful revolution – without bullets, bombs and blood.
- We note however the contract between our own EDSA Revolution in 1986 and the Russian Revolution in 1991 following the aborted coup ouster of Gorbachev. Both used great people power and triumphed but in EDSA, not a cup of blood was spilled while in Moscow, some of those who stopped the tanks were killed.
- Mabini envisioned Democracy as Christian humanism founded on love and justice. This is evidences by his first and greatest commandment written in his Decalogo: Love God above all things. God who is the Source of all truths and justice. Liberty is for the good, and never for evil. It is always in harmony with reason and justice.
- We must strive to establish in our country the republic and never the monarchy. The latter serves and promotes the welfare of a few privileged families, and forms a dynasty, while the former seeks and ministers to general well being of the people.”