You're going with Gorbachev," the Moscow airport ticket clerk says scornfully. "If I had a gun I'd kill him myself." In Russia these days, such remarks are common. The last President of the former Soviet Union is reviled by many of those he once ruled. Free-market liberals disdain his vacillating support for economic reform; Communists and nationalists detest him for his role in ending the empire. No matter. Gorbachev is waging a quixotic race for Russia's presidency and this day is heading 700 miles south of the Kremlin to plead his case in Volgograd.
About 1,500 citizens pack the Palace of Culture and Art to hear the man so many love to hate. "I have no text," Gorbachev says. "Ask your questions." Instantly, a Russian air force general is shouting: "You bastard! You traitor! You destroyed the motherland. How dare you face the people?"
And thus begins two hours during which Gorbachev yells, whispers, lectures and cajoles. "You are now a free people," he says. "I accept my share of responsibility for the mess we're in, but remember that when I got power I set out to reform this country. You now have the freedom to choose, but you must learn how. You must debate civilly. If you want stability, which you think you have lost, you must first learn respect for law, especially since some still want to shut you up."
A chorus of heckling rises and subsides. Gorbachev presses on. "Yeltsin's reforms have benefited no more than 10% of the population," he says. "That must stop." A few dozen in the audience now rise, clapping. "On the other hand," he adds quickly, spreading his arms to still the applause, "we must not forget how many ordinary citizens the Communists oppressed. Do you think they will not do the same if you vote for them now?"
"About Yeltsin," says an elderly man. "He promised to lie down on the railroad tracks if prices went up."
"Well maybe he did," Gorbachev says, "but under him the trains don't run regularly." When the laughter stops, Gorbachev becomes grave. "I made a mistake trusting Yeltsin," he says, "but you elected him the first time, so you made a mistake too. Think hard before you make the same mistake again, and remember that no matter who wins, the result must be respected. What we need most at this time is a straight, free, democratic election."
Gradually the hostility turns to neutrality and then to respect--but not support. Too much is at stake, explain several people as they exit. "We can't waste our votes and help the Communists," says one. "We'll have to go with Yeltsin."
The Russians have a saying: "One beaten man is worth two unbeaten ones." Experience, Gorbachev says, "is a great teacher; suffering is the mother of wisdom." So think of Mikhail Gorbachev as a beaten man fighting back. His chances are slim, and he knows it, but he has something to say and is determined to say it. "I set the course that has given people the right to make this choice," he says. "Who more than I has a right to run?" Asked if the prospect of history's kind verdict is comforting, the man who says, "I have seen it all," responds skeptically: "History is a capricious creature. It depends on who writes it."
--By Michael Kramer and Yuri Zarakhovich