Gorbachev Rebukes Stalin - November 1987

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, addressing 6,000 party officials and visitors in the Kremlin, November 2, asserted that the late Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin had committed enormous crimes. He said that contrary to the beliefs of some, Stalin well knew that "wholesale repressive measures and acts of lawlessness" had occurred. He added that a commission would investigate the possibility of rehabilitating the reputations of innocent victims of Stalin. In a speech marking the 70th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution, Gorbachev praised Stalin for his policy of farm collectivization and for his leadership during World War II. It was reported, November 3, that two leading party figures had argued vehemently at an October 21 meeting of the Central Committee. The disputants were said to be Yegor Ligachev, the party ideologist and a force for conservative thought, and Boris Yeltsin, head of the party in Moscow and an outspoken champion of Gorbachev's reforms. Yeltsin had reportedly blamed some senior leaders for what he saw as the slow pace of reform. Tass, the official Soviet news agency, said, November 11, that Yeltsin had been removed from office because of "major shortcomings." Gorbachev criticized Yeltsin, November 11,  at a meeting of Moscow party officials. Western observers thought that perhaps Yeltsin was removed as a signal to conservatives that the pace of reform would not be too swift.