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20TH ANNIVERSARY OF PERESTROIKA START

MOSCOW, March 3 (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Romanov) - It is hard to say when politics becomes history. Probably, it happens when the key figures of once stormy events retire and calm analysis replaces inevitable human passions or even later when the results of the changes become obvious for the majority.

From the first and second points of view, Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika which was launched 20 years ago has not become history yet. All the key political figures of that period are still ready to debate with their opponents and most Russians still do not see the results of the changes yet.

Twenty percent of Russians still want to return to socialism. According to a ROMIR Monitoring poll, 57% of Russians point out the anti-social nature of the reforms in the country. At issue is the initial stage of market reforms. Vladimir Putin's efforts to overcome the Soviet legacy and mistakes of his predecessors are similar to those which Hercules made to clean the Augean stables with no compassionate applause. People who hardly survived the replacement of social benefits with cash payments are now concerned about the upcoming housing and communal reform. As a result, pensioners, the poorest people in Russia, will have to make 100% payment for these services. According to the poll conducted by the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center, 75% of Russians are convinced that this reform will do people no good and 79% expect massive rallies of protest against the reform. Therefore, Vladimir Putin will see hard times.

Mikhail Gorbachev elected Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee in March 1985 has nothing to do with the housing and communal reform. However, he is indirectly responsible for everything because he delivered the first blow on the old decayed system.

Mr. Gorbachev's attempt to build 'socialism with a human face' and carry out democratic reforms without social upheavals was a failure. The country collapsed in an instance and on its ruins party bosses of many national republics built pseudo-democratic independent states which are feudal, in effect.

It was the collapse of not only the Communist empire but of a huge cultural space and a community of nations which were good to each other. It is no wonder that both orthodox communists and stern democrats, for instance, Grigory Yavlinsky, regret the USSR collapse.

The book written by Mikhail Gorbachev during the perestroika period "New Thinking for Our Country and the World" can be compared with Thomas More's "Utopia". No ideas outlined in this book were realized.

However, we should not throw stones at Mr. Gorbachev. His ideas were not realized not only because they were utopian or because of his personal mistakes. The point is that these ideas were perverted by his successors, in particular, Boris Yeltsin.

Politicians of the Yeltsin epoch had a strong grip and better understanding of certain economic issues. But they lacked Mr. Gorbachev's humanism and genuine democracy. After his dismissal Mr. Gorbachev did not go anywhere. He stayed in Russia available to journalists and was pondering on his mistakes. Some reasons, for instance, the insufficient attention to national features in certain regions, are obvious. Others should be thoroughly analyzed.

The incumbent leadership is trying to correct many mistakes made in the Soviet times and post-Soviet times when 'capitalism with an inhuman face" was built instead of 'socialism with a human face'. However, many mistakes cannot be corrected already.

Russia is not the only loser. Mikhail Gorbachev's dream was 'new thinking for the world'.

Unfortunately, this was a utopia. The world has entered the 21st century with old principles.