What a time to die – and I say that with melancholy. We live in an era when so many of the towering figures of history are dying and leaving behind civilisation’s children without guardians.

Mikhail Gorbachev was no angel, but as the last leader of the USSR, he represented a moment when the world held out hope for a peaceful future for Europe – a re-unification with the lost empire that cut itself off to protect its jealous and fragile collectivist regime.

He died aged 91 after a long illness.

Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott spoke about Gorbachev’s legacy on The World According to Rowan Dean:

‘We should be very grateful to Mikhail Gorbachev because he did effectively reform communism out of existence – at least in the old Soviet Union – and for that the whole world should be immensely grateful.’

Gorbachev, with America’s Ronald Reagan and the UK’s Margaret Thatcher, were instrumental in bringing about the end of the Cold War, inching the world back from the edge of nuclear disaster.

‘He started out as a kind of closet liberal – liberal communist – he then evolved into a kind of social democrat by the time he left office in 1991. But along the way he did begin the process of dismantling communism and, very importantly, he began a process which resulted in the countries of Eastern Europe becoming free and independent. In particular, countries that had been, for a long time, part of the brutal soviet dictatorship became independent democracies.’

It may not have been Gorbachev’s goal – and it certainly ensured his legacy as a divided figure in Russian history – but the breakup of the USSR was a consequence of his desire to pursue a kinder ideology. No doubt this stemmed from so many family members finding themselves victims of the inherent violence and suspicion of the regime.

‘While we have to lament the rise of a new authoritarianism in Russia under the dictator Putin, by the same token there have been lasting benefits from the Gorbachev era and just at the moment, it’s very easy to appreciate what we’ve lost.’

Tony Abbott is right to lament. The wheel of Time has come full circle and, despite Gorbachev’s wish to see an end to global super-powers scratching each other for dominance, we have an entire chess board set up with dictators shuffling their chairs closer.

Gorbachev was a true believer in Marxist-Leninism. It was a hopeless subscription to a human Utopia that cannot and will not exist. In trying to reach the promised land, Gorbachev inadvertently unpicked the stitches of the USSR’s totalitarian State – weakening the corrupt, inbred bureaucracy that held it together.

Freedom flourished in the tears of the communist fabric, accelerated by Gorbachev’s policy of Glasnost. It was under this policy that the horrors of Stalin’s regime became common knowledge. A mirror was being held up to communism – but it broke immediately and started cutting Russia apart with its bloody truth. When people were free to criticise the regime, they did. And with criticism came the collapse of power.

Communist China is right to duct-tape its people. It is the only way to guarantee the survival of a cruel and absolute dictatorship. The West is not immune. Our governments have enjoyed their taste of censorship during Covid, relishing the power to promote ‘community safety’ via the erasure of dissenting citizens. Australia, America, Canada, the European Union, and New Zealand are all on the same path as Xi Jinping.

The West has its culture wars, and so too does Russia. Gorbachev lifted the Iron Curtain and watched its captured nations – instead of embracing communism voluntarily – flee to free market capitalism which, at the time, brought prosperity to every nation it touched. The freedom for these former states of the USSR appears to be short-lived, with their independence being eaten away by the failure of modern politics and Putin’s determination to rebuild Russia – with force, as all communists do.

That, more than anything, is Gorbachev’s great lesson. Regardless of good intentions, communism requires force to survive and therefore the Marxist promise of a future free of force is a lie. Communism without its enforcers collapses into humanity’s natural state – capitalism. We are, after all, creatures of commerce.

There are plenty of modern leaders prepared to dismiss the dream of Gorbachev and use the levers of the State to full effect.

And so, as Gorbachev bows out, a new curtain is falling. It is a curtain made of iron and jade that stretches from Eastern Europe to the Pacific.

As Gorbachev said:

‘Starting reforms in the Soviet Union was only possible from above, only from above. Any attempt to go from below was suppressed, suppressed in a most resolute way.’

‘From above’ is exactly how the modern world is being subverted. Gorbachev envisioned a future where the people would be able to build a better world, but instead ‘build back better’ has become a global collectivist goal – a ‘from above’ edict that is shifting the West closer to old USSR thinking.

The powerful love dictatorships. Political systems are evolutionary – they adapt, expand, die, and multiply. There is no guarantee that democracy or capitalism will win the game of civilisation when it benefits the closed-door elite to close the curtains.

Gorbachev warned that ‘the world will not accept dictatorship or dominion’ – I wonder if he still believed that at the end.

The Spectator wrote yesterday:

‘Gorbachev was a complex figure. A reformist who had made his way up the corrupt, clientelistic structures of the party; a peace-maker who still had blood on his hands; a ruthless politician who was willing to bow to new realities and surrender power with good grace. He was a failure as a Soviet leader, but in ways that suggest he was that much better a human being for it.’

We can only imagine how today’s successors will be remembered when they are done fashioning their empires.

Alexandra Marshall is an independent writer. If you would like to support her work, shout her a coffee over at donor-box.