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

DATE: THURSDAY, July 5, 1990                   TAG: 9007050130
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Medium

SOVIET CHANGE VOWED

Conservatives ridiculed President Mikhail Gorbachev's efforts at Western-style economic reform Wednesday, chiding him that "a market is not a bazaar," and the Kremlin chief said his leadership should resign in two years if it has not succeeded in bringing about change by then.

"I think that in two years, if there are no changes, this leadership has to go of its own accord - the same way it is showing courage now," he told reporters between sessions of the 28th Communist Party Congress, where his policies have been the target of repeated attacks.

Reformers were on trial Wednesday as rival factions sharpened swords for a closed-door confrontation over the party's survival and the nation's future.

But Gorbachev appeared confident he can execute a turnaround of the declining living conditions afflicting his nation.

In the brief exchange with journalists outside the Palace of Congresses, which was shown on Soviet television news, Gorbachev denied that he seeks to protect his political power through reform.

"I said this to our delegates and I want to say it to you, when people want to cast a shadow on us and call into question our plans and intentions," Gorbachev said. "Some people say, `They grabbed power and are holding onto it.' No, we're not.

"I will tell you, before perestroika we had more power. I don't know who in the world had more power than the general secretary of the Communist Party."

His suggestion that the leadership should step down in two years if the nation continues to suffer through the transition was the first time he has imposed a deadline on the drive for reform.

During the first day of debate on Gorbachev's proposed party platform, Marxist hard-liners from the country's troubled provinces lashed out at "ill-considered" tampering under the banner of perestroika, blaming the reforms for dismantling the framework of Soviet society and crushing public confidence in the party's ability to rebuild it.

Those who sought to defend efforts to transform the stagnant state-run economy to a market-oriented system were heckled by the emboldened delegates fed up with change that has imposed steadily mounting hardships.

The conservatives went on the attack early Wednesday when state farm director Anatoly Volochkov criticized the central government's high-handedness in dealing with the country's farmers.

"Each peasant feeds 17 of those who walk around with slogans and blame the party for everything," Volochkov said, setting off thunderous applause.

Volochkov charged that efforts to break up giant agro-industrial complexes and redirect resources to smaller, family-run farms - a key element of Gorbachev's economic reforms - has brought chaos.

"They should bear in mind that a market is not a bazaar," he said.

Even a government minister, defense industry chief Boris Belousov, charged the party leadership with being unfaithful to the basic tenets of communism.

by CNB