Mikhail Gorbachev Kiev, Ukraine. In 2006, he expressed his continued belief in Lenin's ideas: "I trusted him then and I still do". He claimed that "the essence of Lenin" was a desire to develop "the living creative activity of the masses". Taubman believed that Gorbachev identified with Lenin on a psychological level. Taubman described Gorbachev as "a true believer—not in the Soviet system as it functioned (or didn't) in 1985 but in its potential to live up to what he deemed its original ideals." As Soviet leader, Gorbachev believed in incremental reform rather than a radical transformation; he later referred to this
1996 Mikhail Gorbachev presidential campaign by Viktor Anpilov and a group of Anpilov's supporters. They condemned Gorbachev for his role in the collapse of the Soviet Union, and held signs which read "No Place for Traitors on the Holy Ground of Stalingrad". Anpilov tried to get Gorbachev's wife Raisa to take flowers from him, and mocked her and her husband for being "rude ingrates" when she refused them. During a campaign trip through St. Petersburg local officials refused to allow Gorbachev to embark on visits that he had planned to take to three factories, with the officials telling Gorbachev that the factories were closed to