Alexander Yakovlev, who’s just died aged 81 in Moscow, isn’t exactly a household name, but according to this article in Commentary, he deserves a place in the history books:
Even inside Russia it’s probable that very few people know that the disappearance of the Soviet Union and the end of communism in Europe were due in large measure to a fortuitous combination of chance and Yakovlev’s (fortunately) wrong ideas about how to reinvigorate and tidy up Marxism.
He thought greater freedom of expression would enable Soviet Communism to correct its mistakes, and so take its place at the forefront of history. In a chance meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev he managed to convince the new Secretary General of the Communist Party of this.
It turned out he was wrong.
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