c. Only Carter's defeat in the 1980 election saved him from almost certain impeachment by a heavily Republican Congress. ", This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 17:53. January 1981 - 1988. [86] By 1968 he was increasingly frustrated with his jobin large part because Khrushchev's reforms were stalling or being reversedand he contemplated leaving politics to work in academia. Critics claimed it could never be perfected. d. The assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem. [33], In Moscow, Gorbachev resided with fellow MSU students at a dormitory in the Sokolniki District. He oversaw the expansion of irrigation systems through construction of the Great Stavropol Canal. [416] Gorbachev feared that the coup plotters would order him killed, so had his guards barricade his dacha. Mikhail Gorbachev was named a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in 1971. In 1975, the Vietnam War ended: [624], United Nations secretary-general Antnio Guterres said Gorbachev was a "one-of-a-kind statesman who changed the course of history and a towering global leader, committed multilateralist, and tireless advocate for peace", as former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker III stated that "history will remember Mikhail Gorbachev as a giant who steered his great nation towards democracy" in the context of the Cold War's conclusion. [82] In 1961, Gorbachev played host to the Italian delegation for the World Youth Festival in Moscow;[83] that October, he also attended the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. [620] Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin called Gorbachev an "outstanding statesman". [74] With an ability to outmanoeuvre rivals, some colleagues resented his success. a. [142] Instead, Konstantin Chernenkoa longstanding Brezhnev allywas appointed general secretary, but he too was in very poor health. [326] In August 1989, protesters formed the Baltic Way, a human chain across the three countries to symbolize their wish to restore independence. b. overpopulation d. use military force, particularly in the Persian Gulf. O n the day when I learned of the passing of George Bush, I . [583] He was sensitive to personal criticism and easily took offense. [200] After it ended, it took several years for production to return to previous levels, after which alcohol consumption soared in Russia between 1990 and 1993. Mikhail Gorbachev obituary. [244] Many economists proposed reducing ministerial controls on the economy and allowing state-owned enterprises to set their own targets; Ryzhkov and other government figures were skeptical. 25. b. instability in Western Europe. Read more. 51. [69] Gorbachev was among those who saw themselves as "genuine Marxists" or "genuine Leninists" in contrast to what they regarded as the perversions of Stalin. d. called for a halt to the development of nuclear weapons. [387] Seeking compromise with the liberalizers, Gorbachev assembled a team of both his own and Yeltsin's advisers to come up with an economic reform package: the result was the "500 Days" programme. The CIS began operations in early 1992. [275] Of the 2,250 legislators to be elected, one hundred termed the "Red Hundred" by the press were directly chosen by the Communist Party, with Gorbachev ensuring many were reformists. [196] However, bootleg liquor production rose considerably,[197] and the reform imposed large costs on the Soviet economy, resulting in losses of up to US$100billion between 1985 and 1990. [362] Ultimately he acquiesced to the reunification on the condition that NATO troops not be posted to the territory of Eastern Germany. 35. a. expanded food stamps and school lunch programs. What percentage of Soviet GNP was spent of military supplies. He did not clarify to whom he was referring. [483], Gorbachev was critical of U.S. hostility to Putin, arguing that the U.S. government "doesn't want Russia to rise" again as a global power and wants "to continue as the sole superpower in charge of the world". [327] That month, the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet ruled the 1940 Soviet annexation of their country to be illegal;[328] in January 1990, Gorbachev visited the republic to encourage it to remain part of the Soviet Union. [129] He began to have concerns about other policies too. [475] He repeatedly faced anti-Gorbachev protesters, while some pro-Yeltsin local officials tried to hamper his campaign by banning local media from covering it or by refusing him access to venues. Gorbachev, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was the only President of the Soviet Union. [36] He gained a reputation as a mediator during disputes,[37] and was also known for being outspoken in class, although he would reveal some of his views only privately; for instance, he confided in some students his opposition to the Soviet jurisprudential norm that a confession proved guilt, noting that confessions could have been forced. e. ended with the signing of the Camp David Accords. The couple would go on to have one daughter together. [384] Other countries were more forthcoming; West Germany had given the Soviets DM60billion by mid-1991. Events outpaced him, however, and the Russian government under Yeltsin readily assumed the functions of the collapsing Soviet government as the various republics agreed to form a new commonwealth under Yeltsins leadership. Geraldine Ferraro is best known as: d. strengthened labor unions. He owed a great deal of his steady rise in the party to the patronage of Mikhail Suslov, the leading party ideologue. [485] In his judgment, while Crimea was transferred from Russia to Ukraine in 1954, when both were part of the Soviet Union, the Crimean people had not been asked at the time, whereas in the 2014 referendum they had. [204] He made the historian Yury Afanasyev dean of the State Historical Archive Faculty, from where Afansiev could press for the opening of secret archives and the reassessment of Soviet history. [110] In September 1971 he was part of a delegation that traveled to Italy, where they met with representatives of the Italian Communist Party; Gorbachev loved Italian culture but was struck by the poverty and inequality he saw in the country. e. were banned from making television appearances. How did the experience of the 1960s shape America's neoconservatives? [385] Bush visited Moscow in late July, when he and Gorbachev concluded ten years of negotiations by signing the START I treaty, a bilateral agreement on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms. [92] That year, the Soviet authorities ordered him to punish Fagim B. Sadykov[ru], a philosophy professor of the Stavropol agricultural institute whose ideas were regarded as critical of Soviet agricultural policy; Gorbachev ensured that Sadykov was fired from teaching but ignored calls for him to face tougher punishment. [213] Yeltsin then resigned both as Moscow party secretary and as a member of the Politburo. Mikhail Gorbachev resigned the presidency of the Soviet Union on December 25, 1991. [645] However he remains a controversial figure in the Baltic states for his role in suppressing pro-independence movements. e. elevate women to a superior class, allowing women to outnumber men in politics, professional jobs, and higher education programs within a decade. Updates? [70] He helped spread Khrushchev's anti-Stalinist message in Stavropol, but encountered many who continued to regard Stalin as a hero or who praised the Stalinist purges as just. [295] Pro-democracy students had massed in Tiananmen Square during Gorbachev's visit but after he left were massacred by troops. [476] In the election, Gorbachev came seventh with approximately 386,000 votes, or around 0.5% of the total. in China, authoritarian rule by the Communist Party persisted. As a young man, he studied law at Moscow State University. [263] Party hardliners thought the speech went too far; liberalisers thought it did not go far enough. His primary domestic goal was to resuscitate the stagnant Soviet economy after its years of drift and low growth during Leonid Brezhnevs tenure in power (196482). [544] He claimed that "the essence of Lenin" was a desire to develop "the living creative activity of the masses". [103] Gorbachev always sought to maintain Brezhnev's trust;[104] as regional leader, he repeatedly praised Brezhnev in his speeches, for instance referring to him as "the outstanding statesman of our time". d. Wages increased significantly in the first period but stagnated in the second. [470] Shortly after, in July, Raisa was diagnosed with leukemia. On 29 August 2022, Gorbachev arrived at the Central Clinical Hospital for another hemodialysis, where he died on 30 August at approximately 10:00p.m. Moscow time. [472] When questioned by journalists, he said that he would never remarry. b. finally make women truly equal citizens, a goal set forth at Seneca Falls over a century before. b. the policy of containment. a. global stock markets [161], Gorbachev's leadership style differed from that of his predecessors. MOSCOW (AP) Mikhail Gorbachev, who set out to revitalize the Soviet Union but ended up unleashing forces that led to the collapse of communism, the breakup of the state and the end of the Cold War, died Tuesday. [602] On 22 October 2013, it became known that Gorbachev was undergoing another examination in a German clinic. [333] Some Eastern Bloc leaders, like Hungary's Jnos Kdr and Poland's Wojciech Jaruzelski, were sympathetic to reform; others, like Romania's Nicolae Ceauescu, were hostile to it. Thomas Roser: DDR-Massenflucht: Ein Picknick hebt die Welt aus den Angeln (German Mass exodus of the GDR: A picnic clears the world) in: Die Presse, 16 August 2018. [531] He began to move away from the MarxistLeninist belief in class struggle as the engine of political change, instead viewing politics as a ways of co-ordinating the interests of all classes. [502] He continued to speak out on issues affecting Russia and the world. [107] Gorbachev also developed good relationships with senior figures including the Soviet Prime Minister, Alexei Kosygin,[108] and the longstanding senior party member Mikhail Suslov. [514], Following the death of former President George H.W. [640] Taubman characterized Gorbachev as "a visionary who changed his country and the worldthough neither as much as he wished". [464] Gorbachev continued to defend perestroika but acknowledged that he had made tactical errors as Soviet leader. 31. [398] His support among the intelligentsia was declining,[399] and by the end of 1990 his approval ratings had plummeted. [157] Although not a well-known figure to the Soviet public, there was widespread relief that the new leader was not elderly and ailing. [354] At the same Congress meeting, he presented the idea of repealing Article 6 of the Soviet constitution, which had ratified the Communist Party as the "ruling party" of the Soviet Union. 10. e. Wages for women grew significantly while men's wages declined. [648] Conversely, many of his Communist Party critics thought his reforms were reckless and threatened the survival of Soviet socialism;[649] some believed he should have followed the example of China's Communist Party and restricted himself to economic rather than governmental reforms. [469] In 1999, Gorbachev made his first visit to Australia, where he gave a speech to the country's parliament. [402][184][g], The 14th Dalai Lama wrote to the Gorbachev Foundation to express his "condolences to his daughter, Irina Virganskaya and members of his family, his friends and supporters". [238], In his relations with the developing world, Gorbachev found many of its leaders professing revolutionary socialist credentials or a pro-Soviet attitudesuch as Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and Syria's Hafez al-Assadfrustrating, and his best personal relationship was instead with India's Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi. Domestically, President Gerald Ford: a. refused to commit U.S. troops abroad. e. human rights as a diplomatic priority. 33. Perestroika (/ p r s t r k /; Russian: ) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated with CPSU general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost (meaning "openness") policy reform. In May 1989 he visited Beijing and there met its leader Deng Xiaoping; Deng shared Gorbachev's belief in economic reform but rejected calls for democratization. [627] French President Emmanuel Macron called Gorbachev "a man of peace whose choices opened up a path of liberty for Russians". [315], On taking power, Gorbachev found some unrest among different national groups within the Soviet Union. [123] He and his wife socialized little, but liked to visit Moscow's theaters and museums. a. growing enough food to feed the world's population. [498] That year, Medvedev awarded him the Order of St Andrew the Apostle the First-Called. [389] In September, Yeltsin presented the plan to the Russian Supreme Soviet, which backed it. [616][617] His press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the "tight schedule of the president" would not allow him to be present at the funeral, as he was scheduled to visit Kaliningrad. [606] Also in 2016, he underwent surgery to replace his lenses due to cataracts.[607]. How did Mikhail Gorbachev become president of the Soviet Union? Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 - 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. They then moved to another, at Sosnovka, before finally being allocated a newly built brick house. [341] He believed that democratic elections would not lead Eastern European countries into abandoning their commitment to socialism. [337][338][339], In the Revolutions of 1989, most of the MarxistLeninist states of Central and Eastern Europe held multi-party elections resulting in regime change. During his career, Gorbachev attracted the admiration of some colleagues, but others came to hate him. [6] His parents named him Viktor at birth, but at the insistence of his mothera devout Orthodox Christianhe had a secret baptism, where his grandfather christened him Mikhail. [596] He died after a "severe and prolonged illness," according to the hospital. Gorbachev, however, never succeeded in making the jump from the command economy to even a mixed economy. [497] b. pledged to pardon Richard Nixon. He withdrew troops from the SovietAfghan War and embarked on summits with United States president Ronald Reagan to limit nuclear weapons and end the Cold War. What was Reagan's reaction to the air traffic controllers' strike? b. glasnost. [644] McCauley noted that in facilitating the merger of East and West Germany, Gorbachev was "a co-father of German unification", assuring him long-term popularity among the German people. When Gorbachev came to power as Soviet leader in 1985, he was younger and more vibrant than his predecessors. The second was Mikhail Gorbachev, who brought that system down. $\underline{\text{Clearing the bar at seven feet, a new high jump record was set. 169", " . . 9 1991", "11 Soviet States Form Commonwealth Without Clearly Defining Its Powers", "End of the Soviet Union: Text of Gorbachev's Farewell Address", "The first advertisement to feature Mikhail Gorbachev will also", "Mikhail Gorbachev's Pizza Hut Thanksgiving Miracle", "Gorbachev Vows Revolution If New Orleans Levees Don't Improve", "Gorbachev launches political party with Russian billionaire", "Mikhail Gorbachev will found new political party", "Former Soviet Leader Gorbachev Records Album", "Obama met Gorbachev in run-up to Medvedev talks", "Leaders in Berlin Retrace the Walk West", "Mikhail Gorbachev says Putin should not run for Russian presidency again", "Gorbachev says Putin 'castrated' democracy in Russia", "Mikhail Gorbachev hails Crimea annexation to Russia", "Former Soviet leader Gorbachev warns against 'new Cold War' in Ukraine crisis", "Mikhail Gorbachev Banned from Ukraine after Crimea Comments", "Gorbachev throws shade at Putin: 'Russia can succeed only through democracy', "Mikhail Gorbachev warns global powers have put the world 'on the brink of a new Cold War', "Mikhail Gorbachev: world on brink of new cold war over Ukraine", "Gorbachev: Ukraine could explode into 'hot war' between Russia and the West", "Gorbachev: The West and Russia must defrost relations before it is too late. The Three Mile Island nuclear plant: [361] His compromise that Germany might retain both NATO and Warsaw Pact memberships did not attract support. [313] There, they agreed to a joint press conference, the first time that a U.S. and Soviet leader had done so. [613] The service included rites administered by a Russian Orthodox priest. b. was the first of its kind to be operational. a. included an emphasis on global human rights. The Congress of People's Deputies elects General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev as the new president of the Soviet Union. [366][367] In July, Kohl visited Moscow and Gorbachev informed him that the Soviets would not oppose a reunified Germany being part of NATO. Scholars are puzzled why Gorbachev never pursued a written pledge. e. was dedicated to maintaining Russia's military budget. [528], By the mid-1980s, when Gorbachev took power, many analysts were arguing that the Soviet Union was declining to the status of a Third World country. [16] This was followed by the Great Purge, in which individuals accused of being "enemies of the people", including those sympathetic to rival interpretations of Marxism like Trotskyism, were arrested and interned in labor camps, if not executed. a. e. focused its foreign policy on Southeast Asia. e. resulted in a rise in economic inequality. In March of that year the Congress of Peoples Deputies elected him to the newly created post of president of the U.S.S.R., with extensive executive powers. Queen Elizabeth II (who herself died nine days after Gorbachev) in her condolence stated that "through his courage and vision, he gained the admiration, affection and respect of the British people". [331] His ideas for reform for the Soviet Union's economy and society were radical in the mid '80's. IT is an unusual event when a Soviet leader comes to call, but Soviet strong men have visited in the past, each arriving with . ", Lane, David. c. The revelations about the My Lai Massacre. [94], In April 1970, Yefremov was promoted to a higher position in Moscow and Gorbachev succeeded him as the First Secretary of the Stavropol kraikom. e. had little appeal for most Americans. In 1952, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. b. [388] Gorbachev described the plan as "modern socialism" rather than a return to capitalism but had many doubts about it. 29 1991 . N 2371-I " , ", " 06.11.1991 . d. cofounder of the National Organization of Women (NOW). Gorbachev worked with U.S. President Ronald Reagan to lessen the political and military tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. [100], Gorbachev's main task as regional leader was to raise agricultural production levels, a task hampered by severe droughts in 1975 and 1976. [164] His other close aides were Georgy Shakhnazarov and Anatoly Chernyaev. 11. He took power in 1985, introducing bold reforms and opening the USSR to the . President Carter's foreign policy emphasized: perestroika, (Russian: "restructuring") program instituted in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid-1980s to restructure Soviet economic and political policy. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. d. Watergate undermined public confidence in the merits of the federal government. b. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. [21] Gorbachev did not want to return but when he did he excelled academically. On 14 March 1990, the provision on the CPSU monopoly on power was removed from Article 6 of the Constitution of the USSR. [265] Over 900 Soviet newspapers reprinted it and anti-reformists rallied around it; many reformers panicked, fearing a backlash against perestroika. [582] Taubman called him "a remarkably decent man";[561] he thought Gorbachev to have "high moral standards". a. In the 1980s, the Soviet Union and United States held a number of summits to come to terms with the two country's growing nuclear arsenals. 14. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. to make sense as a whole.) In December 1979, the Soviets sent the armed forces into neighbouring Afghanistan to support its Soviet-aligned government against Islamist insurgents; Gorbachev privately thought it a mistake. With the assistance of German Chancellor Gerhard Schrder, she was transferred to a cancer center in Mnster, Germany, and there underwent chemotherapy. The forces Gorbachev unleashed spun out of control, led to his downfall and the Soviet Union's collapse. All of the following are evidence that freedom for women expanded in the 1970s EXCEPT: e. Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. What triggered the rise of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia? [430] The referendum in Ukraine on 1 December with a 90% turnout for secession from the Union was a fatal blow; Gorbachev had expected Ukrainians to reject independence. [115] Gorbachev cherished his wife,[561] who in turn was protective of him. He became a candidate member of the Politburo in 1979 and a full member in 1980. [136] In April 1983, Gorbachev delivered the annual speech marking the birthday of the Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin;[137] this required him re-reading many of Lenin's later writings, in which the latter had called for reform in the context of the New Economic Policy of the 1920s, and encouraged Gorbachev's own conviction that reform was needed. [593] McCauley was of the view that "one of his weaknesses was an inability to foresee the consequences of his actions". [433] He desperately looked for an opportunity to preserve the Soviet Union, hoping in vain that the media and intelligentsia might rally against the idea of its dissolution. [466] In 1997, she founded a sub-division of the Gorbachev Foundation known as Raisa Maksimovna's Club to focus on improving women's welfare in Russia. The following year, he married his wife, Raisa. Under his new policy of glasnost (openness), a major cultural thaw took place: freedoms of expression and of information were significantly expanded; the press and broadcasting were allowed unprecedented candour in their reportage and criticism; and the countrys legacy of Stalinist totalitarian rule was eventually completely repudiated by the government. [406] Wanting to preserve the Union, in April Gorbachev and the leaders of nine Soviet republics jointly pledged to prepare a treaty that would renew the federation under a new constitution; but six of the republicsEstonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Georgia, and Armeniadid not endorse this. [660] In 1995, he was awarded the Grand-Cross of the Order of Liberty by Portuguese President Mrio Soares,[661] and in 1998 the Freedom Award from the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. This further alienated the liberalizers but was not enough to win over hardliners. While the election was a victory for Gorbachev, it also revealed serious . [358] The Russian Supreme Soviet was now out of Gorbachev's control;[358] in June 1990, it declared that in the Russian Republic, its laws took precedence over those of the Soviet central government. The Soviet Union would soon cease to exist as a nation and as a Cold War threat to the United States. c. The Chilean government had blocked U.S. access to Chilean copper mines. a. favored abortion rights. [52], In June 1955, Gorbachev graduated with a distinction;[53] his final paper had been on the advantages of "socialist democracy" (the Soviet political system) over "bourgeois democracy" (liberal democracy). Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, died on Tuesday at the age of 91, hospital officials in Moscow said. a. maintaining the purity of cultural traditions. [462] After Yeltsin's decision to lift price caps generated massive inflation and plunged many Russians into poverty, Gorbachev openly criticized him, comparing the reform to Stalin's policy of forced collectivization. Mikhail Gorbachev has been described as "one of the greatest figures of the 20th century" in a flood of tributes from across the world to the man . Like many Russians, Gorbachev sometimes thought of the Soviet Union as being largely synonymous with Russia and in various speeches described it as "Russia"; in one incident he had to correct himself after calling the USSR "Russia" while giving a speech in Kiev. [18], Following on from the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, in June 1941 the German Army invaded the Soviet Union. [150] At the end of the visit, Thatcher said: "I like Mr. Gorbachev. He was given a number of important diplomatic missions around the world. It was there that Gorbachev proposed to the Duma a law that would reduce many of the presidential powers established by Yeltsin's 1993 constitution. In 2014, he defended the Crimean status referendum and Russia's annexation of Crimea that began the Russo-Ukrainian war. d. The government of Chile had provided North Vietnam with covert support. In 1979, a popular revolution overthrew the shah and Iran became an Islamic state. significantly increased in number, as they became more vocal. e. Many states adopted similar propositions after its passage. It did not result in fewer funds for libraries and schools, as opponents claimed it would. b. improved medical care. Even before he left office, Gorbachev had become a kind of social democratbelieving in, as he later put it, equality of opportunity, publicly supported education and medical care, a guaranteed minimum of social welfare, and a "socially oriented market economy"all within a democratic political framework. d. Boston's tightly knit Irish-American community in South Boston fought integration violently. Gorbachev also moved quickly to shift fundamental political powers to the Soviet Unions constituent republics. [211] At the Twenty-Seventh Party Congress in February, Yeltsin called for more far-reaching reforms than Gorbachev was initiating and criticized the party leadership, although he did not cite Gorbachev by name, claiming that a new cult of personality was forming. [420][421] Several members of the coup committed suicide; others were fired. [623], European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen paid tribute to him on Twitter, as did the UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and Ireland's Taoiseach Michel Martin. Glasnost means 'openness' and refers to government transparency and increased freedom of expression. d. made Ronald Reagan appear weak and inept. [494], After Putin announced his intention to run for president in the 2012 election, Gorbachev was opposed to the idea. There, he again met with Bush. c. was the greatest scandal of the Reagan administration. This called for further decentralization and some privatization. Key points: a. the Viet Cong's policy of immediate execution of defectors recaptured from the South Vietnamese army. [646], He also faced domestic criticism during his rule. From there, he moved quickly to national prominence. [245] In June, Gorbachev finished his report on economic reform. What setback did the advocates of the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 suffer in 1976? [371] This brought criticism from many in the Soviet state apparatus, who saw Hussein as a key ally in the Persian Gulf and feared for the safety of the 9,000 Soviet citizens in Iraq, although Gorbachev argued that the Iraqis were the clear aggressors in the situation. Many problems. Gorbachev was the son of Russian peasants in Stavropol territory (kray) in southwestern Russia. d. The prosperity under the stewardship of liberal Democrats convinced them that New Deal economics were the path for the future. In 1971, his new friends got him elected to the Communist Party Central Committee. [494], In 2009, Gorbachev released Songs for Raisa, an album of Russian romantic ballads, sung by him and accompanied by musician Andrei Makarevich, to raise money for a charity devoted to his late wife. a. proposed to guarantee a minimum income for all Americans. Gorbachev's letter requesting membership of the Communist Party, 1950[30], In June 1950, Gorbachev became a candidate member of the Communist Party. But, comrades, you should not think about lifesavers but about the ship, and the ship is socialism. a. as the only war lost by the United States. [194] The All-Union Voluntary Society for the Struggle for Temperance was formed to promote sobriety; it had over 14million members within three years. [461], Gorbachev had promised to refrain from criticizing Yeltsin while the latter pursued democratic reforms, but soon the two men were publicly criticizing each other again.
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