Editing Mikhail Gorbachev (section)

==Early CPSU career==

=== 1955–1969: Stavropol Komsomol ===

In August 1955, Gorbachev started work at the Stavropol regional procurator's office, but disliked it and got a transfer to work for Komsomol,{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=21|2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=77}} becoming deputy director of Komsomol's agitation and propaganda department for that region.{{sfnm|1a1=Doder|1a2=Branson|1y=1990|1p=31|2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=78}} In this position, he visited villages in the area and tried to improve the lives of their inhabitants; he established a discussion circle in [[Gorkaya Balka]] to help its peasant residents gain social contacts.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=95}}

Gorbachev and his wife Raisa initially rented a small room in Stavropol,{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=210|2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2pp=81–83}} taking daily evening walks around the city and on weekends hiking in the countryside.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=81}} In January 1957, Raisa gave birth to a daughter, Irina,{{sfnm|1a1=Doder|1a2=Branson|1y=1990|1p=19|2a1=McCauley|2y=1998|2p=23|3a1=Taubman|3y=2017|3p=86}} and in 1958 they moved into two rooms in a [[communal apartment]].{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=23|2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=89}} In 1961, Gorbachev pursued a second degree, in agricultural production; he took a [[correspondence course]] from the local Stavropol Agricultural Institute, receiving his diploma in 1967.{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1pp=56, 62|2a1=Doder|2a2=Branson|2y=1990|2p=19 |3a1=McCauley|3y=1998|3p=29 |4a1=Taubman|4y=2017|4pp=115–116}} His wife had also pursued a second degree, attaining a PhD in sociology in 1967 from the [[Moscow State Pedagogical University]];{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1p=63 |2a1=Doder|2a2=Branson|2y=1990|2p=19 |3a1=McCauley|3y=1998|3p=29 |4a1=Taubman|4y=2017|4pp=111–113}} while in Stavropol she joined the Communist Party.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=86}}

Stalin was succeeded as Soviet leader by [[Nikita Khrushchev]], who denounced Stalin and his [[cult of personality]] in a [[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences|speech given in February 1956]], after which he launched a [[de-Stalinization]] process throughout Soviet society.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|pp=90–91}} Later biographer [[William Taubman]] suggested that Gorbachev "embodied" the "reformist spirit" of the Khrushchev era.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=90}} Gorbachev was among those who saw themselves as "genuine Marxists" or "genuine Leninists".{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=91}} He helped spread Khrushchev's anti-Stalinist message in Stavropol, but encountered many who saw Stalin as a hero and praised his purges as just.{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=22|2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2pp=96–98}}

Gorbachev rose steadily through the ranks of the local administration.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=78}} The authorities regarded him as politically reliable,{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=80}} and he would flatter his superiors, for instance gaining favor with prominent local politician [[Fyodor Kulakov]].{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1p=74|2a1=Doder|2a2=Branson|2y=1990|2p=32|3a1=McCauley|3y=1998|3p=25|4a1=Taubman|4y=2017|4pp=105–106}} With an ability to outmanoeuvre rivals, some colleagues resented his success.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|pp=103, 105}} In September 1956, he was promoted First Secretary of the Stavropol city's Komsomol, placing him in charge of it;{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1p=47 |2a1=Doder|2a2=Branson|2y=1990|2p=31|3a1=McCauley|3y=1998|3p=23 |4a1=Taubman|4y=2017|4p=98}} in April 1958 he was made deputy head of the Komsomol for the entire region.{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=23|2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=100}} He was given better accommodation: a two-room flat with its own private kitchen, toilet, and bathroom.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=89}} In Stavropol, he formed a discussion club for youths,{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=23|2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=99}} and helped mobilize local young people to take part in Khrushchev's agricultural and development campaigns.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=100}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1986-1126-307, LPG Golßen, Besuch durch KPdSU Delegation.jpg|thumb|Gorbachev on a visit to [[East Germany]] in 1966]]

In March 1961, Gorbachev became First Secretary of the regional Komsomol,{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1p=49|2a1=McCauley|2y=1998|2p=23}} in which position he went out of his way to appoint women as city and district leaders.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=102}} In 1961, Gorbachev played host to the Italian delegation for the [[World Youth Festival]] in Moscow;{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=149}} that October, he attended the [[22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]].{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1p=50 |2a1=Doder|2a2=Branson|2y=1990|2p=24 |3a1=McCauley|3y=1998|3p=24}} In January 1963, Gorbachev was promoted to personnel chief for the regional party's agricultural committee,{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=107}} and in September 1966 became First Secretary of the Stavropol City Party Organization ("Gorkom").{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1p=61|2a1=McCauley|2y=1998|2p=26}} By 1968 he was frustrated with his job—in large part because Khrushchev's reforms were stalling or being reversed—and he contemplated leaving politics to work in academia.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=116}} However, in August 1968, he was named Second Secretary of the Stavropol Kraikom, making him the deputy of First Secretary Leonid Yefremov and the second most senior figure in Stavropol Krai.{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1p=63 |2a1=Doder|2a2=Branson|2y=1990|2p=32 |3a1=McCauley|3y=1998|3p=28 |4a1=Taubman|4y=2017|4p=119}} In 1969, he was elected as a deputy to the [[Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]] and made a member of its Standing Commission for the Protection of the Environment.{{sfn|Medvedev|1986|p=64}}

Cleared for travel to [[Eastern Bloc]] countries, in 1966 he was part of a delegation which visited [[East Germany]], and in 1969 and 1974 visited [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]].{{sfn|McCauley|1998|p=30}} In August 1968 [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|the Soviet Union led an invasion]] of [[Czechoslovakia]] to put an end to the Prague Spring. Although Gorbachev later stated that he had had private concerns about the invasion, he publicly supported it.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|pp=123–124}} In September 1969 he was part of a Soviet delegation sent to Czechoslovakia, where he found the people largely unwelcoming.{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1pp=64–65 |2a1=McCauley|2y=1998|2p=30|3a1=Taubman|3y=2017|3p=124}} That year, the Soviet authorities ordered him to punish Fagim B. Sadygov, a philosophy professor of the Stavropol agricultural institute whose ideas were regarded as critical of Soviet agricultural policy; Gorbachev ensured that Sadykov was fired from teaching but ignored calls for him to face tougher punishment.{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1pp=28–29 |2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=125}} Gorbachev later related that he was "deeply affected" by the incident; "my conscience tormented me" for overseeing Sadykov's persecution.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|pp=125–126}}

=== 1970–1977: heading the Stavropol region ===

In April 1970, Yefremov was promoted to a higher position in Moscow and Gorbachev succeeded him as the First Secretary of the Stavropol kraikom. This granted Gorbachev significant power over the Stavropol region.{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1p=65 |2a1=Doder|2a2=Branson|2y=1990|2p=32 |3a1=McCauley|3y=1998|3p=29|4a1=Taubman|4y=2017|4p=120}} He had been vetted for the position by senior [[Kremlin]] leaders and was informed of their decision by the Soviet leader, [[Leonid Brezhnev]].{{sfn|Taubman|2017|pp=121–122}} Aged 39, he was considerably younger than his predecessors.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=121}} As head of the Stavropol region, he automatically became a member of the [[Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] ([[Central Committee of the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|24th term]]) in 1971.{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1p=73|2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=121}} According to biographer [[Zhores Medvedev]], Gorbachev "had now joined the Party's super-elite".{{sfn|Medvedev|1986|p=65}} As regional leader, Gorbachev initially attributed economic and other failures to "the inefficiency and incompetence of cadres, flaws in management structure or gaps in legislation", but eventually concluded that they were caused by an excessive centralization of decision making in Moscow.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=127}} He began reading translations of restricted texts by Western Marxist authors such as [[Antonio Gramsci]], [[Louis Aragon]], [[Roger Garaudy]], and [[Giuseppe Boffa]], and came under their influence.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=127}}

[[File:Большой Ставропольский канал в поселке Горном.JPG|thumb|right|Part of the [[Great Stavropol Canal]] constructed under Gorbachev's regional leadership]]

Gorbachev's main task as regional leader was to raise agricultural production levels, a task hampered by severe droughts in 1975 and 1976.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=129}} He oversaw the expansion of irrigation systems through construction of the [[Great Stavropol Canal]].{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1pp=31–32|2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=130}} For overseeing a record grain harvest in [[Ipatovsky]] district, in March 1972 he was awarded the [[Order of the October Revolution]] by Brezhnev in a Moscow ceremony.{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=33 |2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2pp=131–132}} Gorbachev sought to maintain Brezhnev's trust;{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=123}} as regional leader, he repeatedly praised Brezhnev in his speeches, for instance referring to him as "the outstanding statesman of our time".{{sfn|Taubman|2017|pp=128–129}} Gorbachev and his wife holidayed in Moscow, Leningrad, Uzbekistan, and resorts in the North Caucasus;{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=157}} he holidayed with the head of the [[KGB]], [[Yuri Andropov]], who was favorable towards him and who became an important patron.{{sfnm|1a1=Doder|1a2=Branson|1y=1990|1pp=35–36 |2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2pp=138–139}} Gorbachev developed good relationships with senior figures including the Soviet prime minister, [[Alexei Kosygin]],{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=35|2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2pp=145–146}} and the longstanding senior party member [[Mikhail Suslov]].{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1pp=108, 113|2a1=McCauley|2y=1998|2p=35}}

The government considered Gorbachev sufficiently reliable to be sent in Soviet delegations to Western Europe; he made five trips there between 1970 and 1977.{{sfnm|1a1=Medvedev|1y=1986|1p=78|2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2p=149}} In September 1971 he was part of a delegation to Italy, where they met with representatives of the [[Italian Communist Party]]; Gorbachev loved Italian culture but was struck by the poverty and inequality he saw there.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|pp=149–150}} In 1972, he visited Belgium and the Netherlands, and in 1973 [[West Germany]].{{sfnm|1a1=McCauley|1y=1998|1p=30|2a1=Taubman|2y=2017|2pp=150–151}} Gorbachev and his wife visited France in 1976 and 1977, on the latter occasion touring the country with a guide from the [[French Communist Party]].{{sfn|Taubman|2017|pp=151–152}} He was surprised by how openly West Europeans offered their opinions and criticized their political leaders, something absent from the Soviet Union, where most people did not feel safe speaking so openly.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=152}} He later related that for him and his wife, these visits "shook our a priori belief in the superiority of socialist over bourgeois democracy".{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=153}}

Gorbachev had remained close to his parents; after his father became terminally ill in 1974, Gorbachev traveled to be with him in Privolnoe shortly before his death.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|pp=153–154}} His daughter, Irina, married fellow student Anatoly Virgansky in April 1978.{{sfn|Taubman|2017|p=156}} In 1977, the Supreme Soviet appointed Gorbachev to chair the Standing Commission on Youth Affairs due to his experience with mobilizing young people in Komsomol.{{sfn|Medvedev|1986|p=77}}