The architect of glasnost and perestroika.

The Man Who Saved Russia from the Soviet Union

by Yuri N. Maltsev , Lawrence W. Reed



Nothing is so contagious as example; and we never do any great good or evil which does not produce its like. -- Francois de la Rochefoucauld (1613-1680).
Heroes for liberty are not peculiar to any region of the world or to a particular time period or to one sex. They hail from all nationalities, races, faiths, and creeds. They inspire others to a noble and universal cause — that all people should be free to live their lives in peace so long as they do no harm to the equal rights of others. They are passionate not solely for their own liberty, but for that of others as well.

In my last book, Real Heroes: Inspiring True Stories of Courage, Character and Conviction, I wrote about 40 individuals whose views, decisions, and actions served this cause in various ways. That book planted the seed for this new weekly series to be published each Thursday at FEE.org. But this time, others from around the world will do the writing, and I’ll be content to do the editing. It is my hope that when all is said and done some months from now, the literature of liberty will be greatly complemented by this collection of short biographies. The authors will be writing about heroes for liberty who are (or were) citizens of each author’s own country. Each week’s installment will be added to the collection here.

The subject of the ninth essay in this Heroes for Liberty from Around the Globe series is the Russian architect of the "perestroika," or "restructuring" of the Soviet Union that ultimately led to its downfall, Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev. The author is Yuri Maltsev, an economics professor at Carthage College in Wisconsin. Before defecting to the United States in 1989, he was a member of a senior team of Soviet economists that worked on the reform program of perestroika.

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Read more: fee.org/