Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 28, 1990                   TAG: 9006280755
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/16   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Medium

SOVIET RADICALS SEE LITTLE CHANGE IN PARTY

Leaders of the Democratic Platform, a group struggling to drastically change the Communist Party from within, told a news conference that they were not impressed by party efforts at internal reform.

"In reality, despite the many statements of leaders, the Communist Party has shown it is simply incapable of reforming itself," said Vladimir Lysenko, one of the group's leaders.

The proposed split in the Communist Party would be the first since 1922, and Gorbachev, the party's general secretary, has warned that it would divide and weaken the forces struggling for reform.

Hard-liners appeared to be consolidating their strength before the 28th Congress of the Communist Party, due to open in the Kremlin on Monday.

The reformist Democratic Platform has the backing of only about 100 of 4,700 delegates at the congress, but is believed to have much wider support in the party rank-and-file.

Lysenko said the group would fight for its views at the congress, but "if it proves impossible, there will be a statement that either the Communist Party has split or a new party is starting."

Another Democratic Platform leader, Stepan Sulakshin, said he expected more than 2 million of the Communist Party's 19 million members to quit.

Gorbachev, speaking last week to a congress of Communists from the Russian republic, said a split in the party would be "a gift" to opponents of his reforms.

Lysenko predicted "a very hard time for Gorbachev" from hard-liners, but the platform leaders said they opposed a proposal to put off the congress until autumn to stem the conservative tide.

A plenum of the party's Central Committee is expected to address the timing of the congress and other issues on Friday, but with both right and left coming out against it, a postponement appeared unlikely.

Lysenko criticized a proposed new set of party rules published today in the Community Party daily Pravda, as well as a proposed program published Wednesday.

The new documents make a pretense at reform, he said, but remained "wholly in the old spirit," retaining tight discipline over the party, forbidding factions and refusing to remove party cells from workplaces.

The Democratic Platform wants the party to allow factions, relinquish its massive assets, remove itself from direct management of the country and become a western-style parliamentary party.

Party ideology chief Vadim Medvedev said the leadership tried to accommodate the Democratic Platform as it drafted its new rules and program, but also tried to build a consensus with the party mainstream and the traditionalist Marxist Platform.

The rules make several key changes in the workings of the Communist Party political machine:

The party leader would be called the chairman instead of the general secretary and be elected directly by the 4,700-member congress instead of the 249-member Central Committee.

The collective leadership would be called the Presidium instead of the Politburo. It is expected to be enlarged from a dozen members to include the heads of the 15 republic parties, although this is not specified in the published proposal.

The Central Committee could be replenished in between congresses. That would make its membership much more fluid.

Party leaders could not be elected to more than two terms in a row.

Republic parties would become more independent.