Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 2, 1990 TAG: 9007020072
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
But no clear favorite has emerged as a challenger, and some reform-minded delegates say that they may rally around Gorbachev if necessary to block a victory by a reactionary.
"Democrats and conservatives are united on only one thing - that Gorbachev should give up his post as party leader," said Vladimir A. Zhenin, a reformist delegate from Sverdlovsk.
His view was supported by other delegates interviewed Sunday as they shuttled back and forth between caucuses in the Kremlin and the nearby Hotel Rossiya, home for the 4,700 delegates.
Only three of 11 delegates polled briefly by Soviet television endorsed Gorbachev's keeping his party post. Two delegates said that a new party leader should be elected in a nationwide poll of all 19 million Communist Party members.
Stanislav A. Osminin, party chief in the Kirov region, said that Gorbachev met Saturday with a large group of delegates and reiterated his view that he should stay on for the time being as party leader to promote stability.
But Osminin said that he and many other delegates nonetheless believed that Gorbachev should turn the post over to someone else. The outcome of a vote on the issue is "far from clear," he said in an interview.
Zhenin agreed that in stark contrast to major Communist Party gatherings in the past, this congress has no script.
"You can't guarantee anything," he said. "It's wide open."
Zhenin, 43, one of the estimated 2 percent of the delegates who back the radical Democratic Platform, said that conservatives and reformists have very different motives for seeking to replace Gorbachev.
Conservative party functionaries, who hold about half the seats, oppose many of Gorbachev's reforms because they threaten their own power and privilege, Zhenin said.
And many backers of reform, he said, feel on principle that top posts in the state and the party should not be held by one person. The Russian federation parliament recently banned its leaders from holding leadership posts in any political party.
The two groups also share a feeling that "no one's minding the party" - that the demands of the presidency have distracted Gorbachev from his duties as general secretary, Zhenin said.
Nonetheless, he said, he would consider switching positions and voting for Gorbachev if the only alternative was a reactionary whose views resembled those of Ivan K. Polozkov. Polozkov, a foe of market economics and political pluralism, was elected leader of the new Russian Communist Party nine days ago by many of the same delegates who will now attend the 28th Soviet Party Congress.
Despite the widespread view that Gorbachev should step aside, there was no consensus on who might replace him.
On the moderate and reformist side Sunday, delegates mentioned Politburo member Alexander N. Yakovlev, Minister of Internal Affairs Vadim V. Bakatin and Moscow party chief Yuri A. Prokofiev. But Yakovlev is despised by the conservatives, who are expected to dominate the Congress; and Bakatin and Prokofiev are said to want to keep their current jobs.
Among conservative candidates for party leader, delegates named Politburo member Yegor K. Ligachev and Leningrad party chief Boris V. Gidaspov. But Ligachev, at 69, is seen by many as too old for the job and is extremely unpopular outside the party apparat. Gidaspov, a chemist and industrial manager until last year, has brief experience as a party official.
"Let's not guess who might be a candidate," said Osminin. But his grin suggested that regional party bosses of his rank may well have discussed possible candidates.
One progressive delegate from the Kuzbass coal-mining region of Siberia, Mikhail Naidov, said that he was firmly against Gorbachev holding both posts and that he would back Yakovlev as party leader.
"Gorbachev doesn't have the time for both jobs. At this time he should spend all his time on the presidency. We need decisive action - toward a market economy, privatization, greater democracy," said Naidov, a former coal mine manager who now heads the executive arm of the local soviet, or government council.
by CNB