About Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: Михаи́л Серге́евич Горбачёв, pronounced ( listen); born 2 March 1931) was the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 until 1991, and also the last head of state of the USSR, serving from 1988 until its collapse in 1991. He was the only Soviet leader to have been born after the October Revolution of 1917.Gorbachev was born in Stavropol Krai into a peasant family, and operated combine harvesters on collective farms. He graduated from Moscow State University in 1955 with a degree in law. While in college, he joined the Communist party of the Soviet Union, and soon became very active within it. In 1970, he was appointed the First Party Secretary of the Stavropol Kraikom, First Secretary to the Supreme Soviet in 1974, and appointed a member of Politburo in 1979. After the deaths of Soviet Leaders Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko, Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by Politburo in 1985. Gorbachev's attempts at reform as well as summit conferences with United States President Ronald Reagan contributed to the end of the Cold War, ended the political supremacy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. In September 2008 Gorbachev and billionaire Alexander Lebedev announced they would form the Independent Democratic Party of Russia together, and in May 2009 Gorbachev announced that the launch was imminent. This is Gorbachev's third attempt to establish a political party of significance in Russian politics after having started the Social Democratic Party of Russia in 2001 and the Union of Social-Democrats in 2007.