In February 1984, Margaret Thatcher, then British Prime Minister, traveled to Moscow to attend Andropov's funeral.
Margaret Thatcher Gorbachev
On the plane, After reading the briefing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Margaret Thatcher suddenly commented: "Doesn't the Soviet Union have a younger leader?" At Andropov's funeral, Thatcher met the young Gorbachev for the first time, when Gorbachev was already a core member of the Politburo, and Thatcher was so impressed by the future leader of the CPSU Central Committee, who was deeply valued by Andropov, that she warmly invited Gorbachev to visit England.
In December 1984, Gorbachev visited Britain, according to Thatcher's custom, Gorbachev, who had not yet served as head of state, should only have a short stay at 10 Downing Street, but Thatcher invited Gorbachev to chequers villa for a luncheon, and the luncheon lasted for 5 hours, which enabled Thatcher to establish a cordial and friendly personal relationship with Gorbachev, and Thatcher said after the meeting: "This is a person with whom he can deal... He is trustworthy. "
Gorbachev
Unlike his predecessors Khrushchev and Brezhnev, Gorbachev showed great enthusiasm for cooperation with the West from the beginning, and eventually formed a set of diplomatic "new thinking" to ease the contradictions with the West. So, is Margaret Thatcher, who has always hated the socialist Soviet Union, really willing to coexist peacefully with Gorbachev, the advocate of the socialist system, and work together for a long time?
In this issue, I'll talk to you about that", Margaret Thatcher's "political friendship" with Gorbachev. Friends who like us, may wish to move your fingers at this moment, first like, then watch, develop good habits, I believe that our later narration will be more exciting!
Thatcher's funeral
On April 8, 2013, when Margaret Thatcher died of a stroke, former Soviet Leader Mikhail Mikhail Gorbachev expressed his deep condolences when he said: "Margaret Thatcher is a great statesman and an outstanding figure, and she will always live in people's memory and history." "
As the first female prime minister in British history, Thatcher was full of hostility and hatred for Soviet socialism throughout her life, but among the successive leaders of the Soviet Union, Thatcher sincerely admired Gorbachev.
In her memoirs, Margaret Thatcher wrote: "He is clearly the most cultured person in the Politburo of the SOVIET Union, not like the old soldiers and bureaucrats of the Politburo as others describe ... He was so different from what I thought he was, and I think I admire this man..." The Soviet leader of Thatcher's pen was Gorbachev, the last general secretary of the Soviet Union and president of the Soviet Union, who is highly acclaimed in the Western world.
Gorbachev was born in the countryside, but he was gentle, happily married, and highly educated, showing great talent and wisdom in all aspects.
In the early 1980s, the death of the supreme leaders of the Soviet Union in a short period of time caused widespread concern in Soviet society, and in this context, Gorbachev stood out with his youthfulness and vitality and was successfully elected as the supreme leader of the new Party and state of the Soviet Union.
Perhaps it was because of these excellent qualities in Gorbachev that British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who came to Andropov's funeral, felt refreshed, and finally found the opportunity to talk to the Kremlin, she said bluntly: "I like Gorbachev, we can work together." "
So, before Gorbachev came to power, in December 1984, Thatcher sincerely invited Gorbachev and his wife to visit Britain and invited them to her prime minister's villa, because she felt that "this atmosphere contributes to better conversations."
During this meeting, Gorbachev again impressed Margaret Thatcher with his unique personal charm, and Thatcher recalled: "His personality was so different from that of the standard Soviet leader: he either smiled or laughed, and reinforced his speech with gestures, he was definitely a sharp debater, he was full of confidence, he never spoke according to the prepared manuscript, at most he referred to a short synopsis, and only consulted his colleagues on the pronunciation of foreign names..."
Margaret Thatcher and Gorbachev
It was also in this meeting that Gorbachev first expounded his "new thinking" ideas, facing Thatcher and British parliamentarians, Gorbachev said: "The Soviet Union is ready to negotiate to limit and reduce armaments, first of all, nuclear armaments, and we will accompany the Western opponents to which step they go." This surprised and impressed the West.
Gorbachev declared: "Whatever separates us, there is only one earth." Europe is our common home, a homeland, not a war zone. When it came to ideological issues, Thatcher was aggressive at first, but Gorbachev jokingly said: "I must state that I did not lobby you to join the Communist Party on the orders of the Politburo." "
Margaret Thatcher burst out laughing, which unconsciously transformed the conversation from sarcasm to openness. It was through this trip to England that Gorbachev developed friendly personal relations with Margaret Thatcher, but at the same time began the peaceful evolution of the Socialist States of the Soviet Union in the Western world.
Margaret Thatcher visited the Soviet Union
On March 28, 1987, Thatcher went to Moscow to visit the Soviet Union, which was the first official visit of the British Prime Minister to the Soviet Union after a gap of 12 years, and it was close to the British general election, and public opinion believed that the Soviet Union invited Thatcher to visit the Soviet Union at this time, which was the "best political gift" given by Gorbachev to Thatcher.
In Moscow, Margaret Thatcher was received and welcomed by Gorbachev with the highest standards, attended the opening ceremony of the Anglo-Soviet Chamber of Commerce in Moscow, enjoyed the Soviet ballet Swan Lake with Gorbachev and his wife, and signed a new memorandum of understanding on Anglo-Soviet cultural cooperation and press with the Soviet side, as well as an agreement on the peaceful development and use of space.
During the meeting, although Britain still saw the Soviet Union as a major threat to Western Europe, Thatcher had begun to adopt a policy of "defense and détente" to improve relations with the Soviet Union.
However, that talk between Margaret Thatcher and Gorbachev was not easy, and the two sides had principled differences on many major issues.
Gorbachev refutes Thatcher's criticism of the Soviet Union's internal and external policies point by point, making it clear to Thatcher that it is "unserious" to link progress in the arms control issues between the East and the West with the question of whether the Soviet Union respects human rights, and that the idea of demanding that the Soviet Union change its political system to improve relations between the East and the West is even more "absurd", and he accuses Thatcher of insisting on nuclear deterrence as a policy of blackmail through threats and a source of increased tension in the arms race. In addition, on the issue of interim forces, Afghanistan and international disarmament, the two sides have also engaged in fierce debate, but no substantive progress has been made.
Since then, although the differences between Margaret Thatcher and Gorbachev on many major issues have remained the same, the two have exchanged frequent letters, the exchange of visits by senior officials of the two sides has increased, and the total amount of Anglo-Soviet trade has continued to grow. Inspired by Margaret Thatcher, the leaders of the Western world also began to deal with Gorbachev.
In December 1987, US President Reagan and Gorbachev signed the first nuclear disarmament treaty in history, Gorbachev made major concessions in the negotiations, and in a positive posture with the United States dialogue, Gorbachev's attitude of paying attention to global nuclear security and taking the initiative to put forward the idea of nuclear disarmament is completely different from the hardened posture of successive Soviet leaders before him who often claimed the escalation of the arms race and have always fought with the West, which gave the United States, Britain and other Western countries the opportunity to negotiate and dialogue with the Soviet Union. It accelerated the end of the world's Cold War pattern, but at the same time made the Soviet Union pay a terrible price for the collapse of the country.
On June 7, 1990, Margaret Thatcher again made a four-day visit to the Soviet Union, her seventh and of course final meeting with Gorbachev as Prime Minister. During this visit, the two men had friendly exchanges on major international issues and bilateral relations such as German reunification, the future of Europe, and disarmament, but at this time the Soviet Union was already in dire straits, domestic economic difficulties were intensifying, national contradictions were intensifying, and Gorbachev's leadership authority was being seriously challenged. In order not to embarrass Gorbachev, Thatcher did not meet with Yeltsin, the new leader of the Russian Federation, and during her visit she took advantage of every opportunity to express "strong support" for Gorbachev, praising him as a "visionary" leader.
Margaret Thatcher
In November 1990, Margaret Thatcher, who had been in power for 11 years, was re-elected and left British politics. A year later, on November 8, 1991, the International Petroleum Conference was held in Houston, USA, and Margaret Thatcher was invited to attend and give a speech.
In this 45-minute speech, Margaret Thatcher did not hesitate to tell how the Western world disintegrated the Soviet Union step by step, the details of which included the strategies and methods they adopted, as well as the process of cultivating Western agents, she clearly pointed out that Gorbachev and Yeltsin were the agents they were looking for, first through the arms race to make the Soviet Union more and more deformed, social discontent continues to increase, and then through the support of agents to complete the peaceful evolution of ideology, and finally to achieve the purpose of direct disintegration of the Soviet Union. She also predicted that the Soviet Union would declare its dissolution within a month.
Sure enough, a month later, Yeltsin announced the collapse of the Soviet Union and Gorbachev was forced to resign. At this time, when we recall again what Margaret Thatcher said when she first met Gorbachev, we can't help but feel meaningful, and even a little chilly...
Resources:
Liu Ying, "Friendly Tone, Opposing Views: Thatcher and Gorbachev Talks", Foreign Politics and International Relations, No. 5, 1987
Jiang Hong, "Britain and the Soviet Union Meet in Need of Each Other", Lookout, No. 25, 1990
Margaret Thatcher, "The Multinational Heads of State in the Writings of the Iron Lady", Leadership Digest, No. 3, 1998
Xiong Songce, "Gorbachev: "The Sinner of the Soviet Union, the Outcast of Russia"," Legends of Ancient and Modern Times, No. 1, 2015
"Thatcher talks about "How We Dismantled the Soviet Union" in a Speech in the United States on November 8, 1991," Chinese Soul, No. 1, 2011
Li Zongyang and Wu Baozhang, "The European Breakthrough of Gorbachev's Peace Offensive", Lookout, No. 16, 2019