Home > Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev

He served in the Red Army during World War II and became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1944.

Yakovlev served as editor of several party publications and rose to the position of head of the CPSU's Department of Ideology and Propaganda from 1969 to 1973Events January events January 1 United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark enter the European Economic Community now known as the European Union January 3 Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) sells the New York Yankees for $10 million to a 12-person syndicate led. In 19721972 is a leap year starting on Saturday (click link for calendar). Events January events January 2 the Pierre Hotel Heist Six men rob the safety deposit boxes of the Pierre Hotel in New York City. Loot is at least $4 million January 5 President of the Un he took a bold stand by publishing an article critical of Russian chauvinismChauvinism is extreme and unreasoning partisanship on behalf of a group to which one belongs, especially when the partisanship includes malice and hatred towards a rival group. The term is derived from Nicolas Chauvin, a soldier under Napoleon Bonaparte, and Soviet anti-SemitismAnti-Semitism alternatively antisemitism is hostility towards Jews. It ranges from ad hoc antagonism towards Jews on an individual level to the institutionalized prejudice and persecution once prevalent in European societies, of which the highly explicit. As a result he was removed from his position and appointed as ambassador to CanadaCanada historically the Dominion of Canada is the second-largest, and northernmost, country in the world. It is a decentralized federation of 10 provinces and 3 territories, governed as a constitutional monarchy, and formed in 1867 through an act of Confe remaining at that post for a decade. In the early 1980s he accompanied Mikhael Gorbachev, who at the time was the Soviet official in charge of agricultureFarming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). Agriculture is also known as farming . on his tour of CanadaCanada historically the Dominion of Canada is the second-largest, and northernmost, country in the world. It is a decentralized federation of 10 provinces and 3 territories, governed as a constitutional monarchy, and formed in 1867 through an act of Confe. The purpose of the visit was to tour Canadian farms and agricultural institutions in the hopes of taking lessons that could be applied in the Soviet Union, however, the two renewed their earlier friendship and, tentatively at first, began to discuss the need for liberalisation in the Soviet Union.

In an interview, Yakovlev recalled:

At first we kind of sniffed around each other and our conversations didn't touch on serious issues. And then, verily, history plays tricks on one, we had a lot of time together as guests of the Minister of Agriculture in Canada who, himself, was too late for the reception because he was stuck with some striking farmers somewhere. So we took a long walk on that Minister's farm and, as it often happens, both of us suddenly were just kind of flooded and let go. I somehow, for some reason, threw caution to the wind and started telling him about what I considered to be utter stupidities in the area of foreign affairs, especially about those SS-20 missiles that were being stationed in Europe and a lot of other things. And he did the same thing. We were completely frank. He frankly talked about the problems in the internal situation in Russia. He was saying that under these conditions, the conditions of dictatorship and absence of freedom, the country would simply perish. So it was at that time, during our three-hour conversation, almost as if our heads were knocked together, that we poured it all out and during that three-hour conversation we actually came to agreement on all our main points. [1]

Two weeks after the visit, as a result of Gorbachev's interventions, Yakovlev was recalled from Canada and appointed to head the Academy of Sciences Institute of International Relations and the World Economy in Moscow.

When Gorbachev became Soviet leader in 1985, Yakovlev became a senior advisor, helped shape Soviet foreign policy and accompanied him on his five summit meetings with United States President Ronald Reagan. Domestically, he argued in favour of the programs that became known as glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) and played a key role in executing those policies.

He was promoted to the Politburo in 1987 but by 1990 he had become the focus of attacks by conservatives in the party opposed to liberalisation. As the conservatives gained strength his position became more tenuous until he was ultimately removed from the Politburo and was expelled from the Party two days before the August Coup in 1991. During the coup Yakovlev joined the democratic opposition against it.

In the years following the fall of the Soviet Union, Yakovlev has written and lectured extensively on history, politics and economics. In 2002, acting as head of the Presidential Committee for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Political Repression, he was present at the announcement of the release of a CD detailing names and short biographies of the victims of Soviet purges. He continues to advocate taking responsibility for the past crimes of communism and is critical of President Putin's restrictions on democracy

See Yakovlev for other individuals with the same surname