>
>Back during Gorbymania days, Spy mag did a story saying that he was
>rather crude, and his Russian sounded like a rube's. Is there any
>truth to that?
>
>Doug
It's snobbism. Gorby is an educated man has a provincial accent. He writes hsi own books, which is more than you can say about any US prez since Einsenhower (yes! Ike, a former University Prez--Columbia--wrote Crusade in Europe all by himself, the dullest book written about WWII). Stalin spoke with a strong Georgian accent, and when you talk about crude! Recall that crude, rude, and beastly was Lenin's characterization of him in the Testament. Khrushchev talked like Ukrainian peasant he was. Crudity ran with the job.
>----------------
>I should also mention that, although Gorbachev was the first Soviet leader
>since Lenin to have attended a university,
Didn't Andropov? I could look it up, but I'm too lazy.
I don't think he ever got rid of
>his provincial Russian. Gorbachev was born in a little rural village to a
>family of peasants (there was a lot of upward mobility in the USSR!).
I believe that this is true of all the Soviet leaders. Only Lenin was from the minor upper middle classes.
jks
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