Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 8, 1993 TAG: 9312080150
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But here was Gennadi Gerasimov, known for his role as chief spokesman to former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, casually explaining to a roomful of American teen-agers the failure of communism and the disintegration of his homeland.
It's like the story of the three Boy Scouts who helped an old lady across the street, he told the students at Fleming-Ruffner's Magnet Center on Tuesday morning.
It took three Boy Scouts, Gerasimov said, because "the old lady didn't want to cross the street."
Gerasimov, who fell along with Gorbachev from the pinnacle of power to a place on the sidelines of Russian history, said communism failed because it attempted to provide what was best for everyone without giving people the freedom to decide what was best for themselves.
In an hourlong news-conference-style discussion with students, Gerasimov moved easily from serious political analysis to silliness and satire.
On the Soviet concept of an egalitarian society: "Some people were more equal than others."
On being ambassador to Portugal during the dismantling of the Soviet Union: "Every morning I had a roll call - how many republics are left for me to represent?"
On comparing his country's founding father to George Washington: "Lenin also chopped cherry trees. . . . Lenin chopped off the heads of many people."
And on the news-conference format, which he practiced daily for 4 1/2 years as Gorbachev's spokesman: "You ask questions, for me to evade them."
While Gerasimov seemed to make light of the ideological battles that drove him from the right hand of power, his face took on a saddened, more thoughtful expression when asked later if he would return to his country.
"I will return when I see the chance to participate actively," he said, adding that he would be given only a mundane bureaucratic job if he went back in today's political climate.
"Of course, it is sad," he said of the breakup of the Soviet Union into 15 independent states. Like Gorbachev, Gerasimov had hoped that a more open form of government could have been adopted within the framework of a unified republic.
But events took a different course, and so did Gerasimov, who recently has been traveling in the United States as a teacher and lecturer. He came to Fleming-Ruffner's School of Global Studies on loan from the New College of Global Studies at Radford University.
Although Radford's program still is being developed and won't open officially until 1997, Associate Provost Myrl Guy Jones said he has already welcomed foreign visitors, who are invited to speak to the student body at large. Gerasimov spoke to Radford students Tuesday night.
A former journalist with a degree in international law, Gerasimov is teaching this semester at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. In the spring, he will move to the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, where he will teach Russian studies and communication.
And after that?
"I will play it by ear," he said.
Gerasimov answered dozens of questions from the magnet students - about Russia's difficulties moving to a free market economy; about the uncertainties his country faces with a parliamentary election approaching; and about socioeconomic, cultural and educational differences between the United States and Russia.
His 14-year-old daughter, he told them, found "less discipline, less homework and more fun" in American schools, which she thought made them better.
"I'm not so sure," he said.
Afterward, however, Gerasimov said he found the American students well-prepared for his visit.
Russian students, he said, might be more aware of foreign affairs but would be less likely to stand up and ask questions, because they are taught to show reverence for their teachers.
by CNB