christened him Mikhail. Gorbachev's relationship with Sergey was close, while Maria was cold and punitive. The couple were poor and lived as peasants. They married as teenagers in 1928. In keeping with local tradition, Sergey and Maria initially resided in the house of the former's father, an adobe-walled hut, before a hut of their own could be built.

The Soviet Union was a one-party state governed by the Communist Party,