Product Description
Gorbachev and Predecessors Matryoshka Doll. 8 pieces, 7" down to a tiny ¾". Fully hand painted. In near fine condition with no cracks. 1 only.
In March of 1990, the Congress of People’s Deputies elected General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev as the new president of the Soviet Union. The election was a victory for Gorbachev, but it revealed serious weaknesses in his power base that would eventually lead to the collapse of his presidency in December of 1991. He was facing criticism from reformers and communist hard-liners. The reformers (Boris Yeltsin) criticized him for the phlegmatic pace of his reform agenda. Communist hard-liners saw Gorbachev’s retreat from Marxist principles as betrayal. So Gorbachev amended the Soviet constitution and wrote a section establishing more power to the president, a position previously largely symbolic.
On this set. the former Communist leaders have been painted portrait quality. Mikhail Gorbachev is painted in crimson and red, together with the Kremlin walls, belltower, clock, red star and church cupolas. There is no Boris Yeltsin in this set, as he had not yet arrived on the scene, and thus we can date this set prior to 1991. He is followed by Leonid Brezhnev with military medals on the back, the Communist seal, his favorite brown suit, and, of course, his bushy eyebrows. Nikita Khrushchev, aka the Ukrainian "peasant" and First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union touted and popularized the expansion of its cultivation as a solution to the livestock problem. (Note: it didn't work out well in the end.) Stalin wears a green military tunic with his ubiquitous pipe. Josef Stalin is in full-blown "Papa Joe" mode with his ubiquitous pipe. Wearing a military uniform, complete with epaulettes, projected strength and authority. As the leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin wanted to embody the image of a strong, decisive leader (like a certain Ukrainian military man currently). Lenin is painted cherry red with a hammer and sickle and star. The last three are, in order, Nicholas II, Peter the Great, and Rasputin. Though nicely painted, the facial expressions are not as clear as are the larger pieces.
