Mikhail Gorbachev to speak at Sanders:

Mikhail Gorbachev, former leader of the Soviet Union, will speak on “Looking Back on Perestroika” at Sanders Theatre on Monday (Nov. 11).

Leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until its dissolution in 1991, Gorbachev began to democratize the oppressive system he inherited, bringing an end to Communist rule in the USSR and Eastern Europe. Gorbachev brought two words into the global lexicon: perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness), and in an effort to secure relations with the West, he signed two broad disarmament pacts. As a result of his achievements, Gorbachev was the recipient of the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize. He is currently president of the Gorbachev Foundation, also known as the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies.

Gorbachev’s address is presented by the Kathryn W. and Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. It begins at 4 p.m. Tickets were made available to members of the Harvard community on Nov. 4 and sold out that same day.

Gorbachev’s talk will be transmitted live via closed-circuit TV to Science Center B for large-screen projection. The simulcast is free and open to the public.