Editing Mikhail Gorbachev (section)

=== 1950–1955: university ===

{{Quote box
| quote = I would consider it a high honour to be a member of the highly advanced, genuinely revolutionary Communist Party of Bolsheviks. I promise to be faithful to the great cause of Lenin and Stalin, to devote my entire life to the party's struggle for Communism.
| source=—&thinsp;Gorbachev's letter requesting membership of the Communist Party, 1950{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=42}}
| align = right
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In June 1950, Gorbachev became a candidate member of the Communist Party.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=42}} He applied to study at the law school of [[Moscow State University]] (MSU), then the most prestigious university in the country. They accepted him without asking for an exam, likely because of his worker-peasant origins and his possession of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour.{{sfnm|1a1=Doder|1a2=Branson|1y=1990|1p=6, 8 |2a1=McCauley|2y=1998|2p=18 |3a1=Taubman|3y=2017|3pp=40–41}} His choice of law was unusual; it was not a well-regarded subject in Soviet society at that time.{{sfn|Medvedev|1986|p=35}} At age 19, he traveled by train to Moscow, the first time he had left his home region.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=43}}

In Moscow, Gorbachev resided with fellow MSU students at a dormitory in the [[Sokolniki District]].{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=50}} He  felt at odds with his urban counterparts, but soon came to fit in.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=44}} Fellow students recall his working especially hard, often late into the night.{{sfnm|1a1=Doder|1a2=Branson|1y=1990|1p=14 |2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=48}} He gained a reputation as a mediator during disputes{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=53}} and was outspoken in class, but was private about his views; for instance, he confided in some students his opposition to the Soviet jurisprudential norm that a confession proved guilt, noting that confessions could have been forced.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=52}} During his studies, an [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] campaign spread through the Soviet Union, culminating in the [[Doctors' plot]]; Gorbachev publicly defended Volodya Liberman, a Jewish student accused of disloyalty.{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=19|2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2pp=45, 52}}

At MSU, Gorbachev became the Komsomol head of his entering class, and then Komsomol's deputy secretary for agitation and propaganda at the law school.{{sfnm|1a1=Doder|1a2=Branson|1y=1990|1p=10|2a1=McCauley|2y=1998|2p=19|3a1=Taubman|3y=2017|3p=46}} One of his first Komsomol assignments in Moscow was to monitor the election polling in [[Presnensky District]] to ensure near-total turnout; Gorbachev found that most people voted "out of fear".{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=46}} In 1952, he was appointed a full member of the Communist Party.{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=19|2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=46}} He was tasked with monitoring fellow students for subversion; some of his fellow students said he did so only minimally and that they trusted him to keep confidential information secret from the authorities.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=47}} Gorbachev became close friends with [[Zdeněk Mlynář]], a [[Demographics of Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]] student who later became a primary ideologist of the 1968 [[Prague Spring]]. Mlynář recalled that the duo remained committed Marxist–Leninists despite their growing concerns about the [[Stalinism|Stalinist]] system.{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1pp=36–37 |2a1=Doder|2a2=Branson|2y=1990|2p=11 |3a1=McCauley|3y=1998|3p=19|4a1=Taubman|4y=2017|4pp=45, 53, 56–57}} After Stalin died in March 1953, Gorbachev and Mlynář joined the crowds massing to see Stalin's body lying in state.{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=20 |2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2pp=57–58}}

At MSU, Gorbachev met [[Raisa Gorbacheva|Raisa Titarenko]], who was studying in the university's philosophy department.{{sfnm|1a1=Doder|1a2=Branson|1y=1990|1p=1 5 |2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2pp=59, 63}} She was engaged to another man, but after that engagement fell apart, she began a relationship with Gorbachev;{{sfn|Taubman|2017|pp=59–63}} together they went to bookstores, museums, and art exhibits.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=66}} In early 1953, he took an internship at the procurator's office in Molotovskoye district, but he was angered by the incompetence and arrogance of those working there.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|pp=72–73}} That summer, he returned to Privolnoye to work with his father on the harvest; the money earned allowed him to pay for his wedding.{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=20 |2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=68}} On 25 September 1953 he and Raisa registered their marriage at Sokolniki Registry Office{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=20 |2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=68}} and in October moved in together at the [[Sparrow Hills|Lenin Hills]] dormitory.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=70}} Raisa discovered that she was pregnant and although the couple wanted to keep the child she fell ill and required an abortion.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|pp=70–71}}

In June 1955, Gorbachev graduated with a distinction;{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1p=42 |2a1=McCauley|2y=1998|2p=20}} his final paper had been on the advantages of "socialist democracy" over "bourgeois democracy" ([[liberal democracy]]).{{sfn|McCauley|1998|p=20}} He was subsequently assigned to the [[Procurator General of the Soviet Union|Soviet Procurator]]'s office, which was focusing on the rehabilitation of the innocent victims of Stalin's purges, but found that they had no work for him.{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1pp=20–21 |2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2pp=73–74}} He was then offered a place on an MSU graduate course specializing in kolkhoz law, but declined.{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=20 |2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=74}} He had wanted to remain in Moscow, where Raisa was enrolled in a PhD program, but instead gained employment in [[Stavropol]]; Raisa abandoned her studies to join him there.{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1pp=20–21 |2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=75}}