“Catastroika” - that’s what Russian philosopher Alexander Zinoviev called Gorbachev’s perestroika be

“Catastroika” - that’s what Russian philosopher Alexander Zinoviev called Gorbachev’s perestroika before it had even run its course.

Living in Munich since the 1970s, Zinoviev had watched the West up close. He understood why Gorbachev - and later Yeltsin - were greeted there with such enthusiasm.

In a 1990 televised debate with Yeltsin in France, Zinoviev made a striking prediction: if Gorbachev, a Soviet apparatchik, managed to bring down the USSR, the West would proclaim him “Man of the Century.”

A year later, the Soviet Union was gone.

Gorbachev received the Nobel Peace Prize and became a hero in Western capitals - Margaret Thatcher did call him the Man of the Century.

But millions back home experienced something very different: empty shelves, evaporating savings, economic upheaval, and finally the disappearance of their country.

Zinoviev had seen the catastrophe coming. He had even found the word for it:

Catastroika.

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