Halfway in Many Ways, Yevgeny

Halfway

In many ways, Yevgeny Yevtushenko's 1989 poem, "Half Measures," functions as a scathing attack on the Soviet Union's leader at the time, Mikhail Gorbachev, and many of his political and economic policies. The author's viewpoint, although ardently expressed, ultimately represented the opinions of a number of people within the Soviet Union and its headquarters in modern day Russia. The country was largely divided between radicals such as Yevtushenko, who believed that more drastic measures were required to abruptly correct the Soviet Union's failing economy and standing in the world, and hardline Communist supporters, who wanted to preserve the traditional, conservative methods of previous leaders -- despite the fact that by the time of Gorbachev's election to General Secretary in 1985, it was quite clear that these methods were no longer effective. Gorbachev was ultimately stuck between both of these opposing viewpoints, and adopted measures that were designed to please both sides, and which ultimately ended up alienating him from both groups. An analysis of Yevtushenko's poems and Gorbachev's domestic and foreign policy illustrates that it would have been virtually impossible for him to succeed in pleasing both sides.

The half measures that Yevtushenko's diatribe is based upon are largely economic in nature. Perestroika was a restructuring of many of the economic processes that were vital to the function of the Motherland. Yet for radicals such as the author, the several half measures which the former General Secretary adopted were not extreme enough to correct the Soviet Union's economic problems. It is fairly evident that the poem is addressing these economic reforms of Gorbachev's, particularly when one reviews the passage in which the author refers to a "weak-willed "Robin Hood" (Yevtushenko, 1991), which is an obvious allusion to monetary affairs due to the fact that Robin Hood's worldwide acclaim came from his policy of taking from the rich and distributing to the poor. The economic reforms alluded to within this poem are myriad -- there is the process of attempting to transfer the ownership of land from the state to private citizens, which Gorbachev's policy of leasing to citizens was a fledgling attempt of. Radicals like Yevtushenko wanted a more extreme land reform. Other measures included a reduction on military spending to conserve funding, and attempts to increase worker productivity. All of these measures were made in attempts to help build a free market economy in the Soviet Union. However, the vast majority of them failed because they were not comprehensive enough -- or perhaps radical enough -- to correct what was already a failing socio-economic situation.

These measures are considered by the poet to be mere half measures for the simple fact that it was quite obvious that the former General Secretary was attempting to assuage both hardliners and radicals. In all actuality, Gorbachev was not looking to completely revamp the Soviet Union to bring it full force into the global world market and its capitalist tendencies. He was merely looking to update the Soviet Union's processes, in the hopes that doing so would gradually allow for an entry into such a market and a climb from its socio-economic recesses. The dichotomy of the Gorbachev's efforts towards the hardliners and radicals is evinced within the following quotation. "With every half-effective/half measure/half the people/remain half pleased,/the half sated/are half hungry/the half free/are half enslaved" (Yevtushenko, 1991). In this quotation, the "half sated" is a reference to the hardline communist supporters who are benefitting from the system, whereas the "half free" are the multitudes who are not benefitting from the communist system, and who are "half enslaved" as a result. By not fully attempting to appease the half-enslaved, Gorbachev is ripe for criticism of only halfway attempting to revamp the Soviet Union.

Gorbachev most certainly did undertake policies that were not half measures, and for which he did all in his power as a government official to implement systemic, nationwide (and international) change. The degree of efficaciousness of these measures and their results, however, is somewhat dubious. An excellent example of a measure implemented by the General Secretary that no one can claim was done in a halfhearted attempt was the Soviet Union's prohibition of alcohol consumption, selling and purchasing. Alcoholism had long been a problem in the Soviet Union by the time Gorbachev became its leader, and prohibition was an earnest effort on his part to address and even correct this seriously debilitating issue. However, the most long-range result of this measure was the rise of Russian mafia and the underground market that this law produced. Although he made a noble effort, Gorbachev did not succeed in curing the Soviet Union of this particular ill.

Another measure that he made quite an attempt to introduce to the Soviet Union was glasnost, which was designed to remove all of the problems of the degree of secrecy and internal fear that had gripped Soviet Union citizens for decades. With free speech and freedom to express one's thoughts now a reality in the Soviet Union, people were also free to travel internationally and exercise a whole host of civil liberties that were not previously available. The problem, however, was that soon after glasnost was introduced, it was exercised by people such as Yevtushenko to criticize the state. Radical papers sprouted up, and their decrying of Gorbachev and his half-way measures did not help in assisting the sustenance of the Soviet Union. Again, the ultimate good produced by this measure is somewhat suspect, since it was used against its very creators.

The dichotomy that characterized the majority of Gorbachev's efforts to please both partisans in the Soviet Union is the predominant theme in "Half-Measures." Each of the sides, that of the radical and that of the hardline Communists is refereed to in the subsequent quotation. "You cannot be half/a guard for the cardinal/and half/a king's musketeer" (Yevtushenko, 1991). As such, the vast majority of the author's criticism of the various economic and socio-political measures induced by the former General Secretary appears well substantiated. By understanding the reasons why Gorbachev took a decidedly lukewarm approach to restructuring the Soviet Union, his impending destruction of the Soviet Union is completely understandable, and further justification for Yevtushenko's criticism.