ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, March 27, 1997               TAG: 9703270053
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: MINSK, BELARUS
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

BELARUS LEADER: I'M DICTATOR BY DEMAND STALIN, LENIN ARE HIS ROLE MODELS

The president is reviving the Soviet tradition of unpaid mandatory labor for spring planting.

President Alexander Lukashenko tightened control over this former Soviet republic Wednesday, saying people have asked him to take on dictatorial powers similar to those of Josef Stalin.

``People are saying: `Mr. President, give us a dictatorship. Give us Stalin's times,''' Lukashenko said in a television broadcast with regional administrators and state farm directors.

It may work at home, but Lukashenko's increasing authoritarianism has triggered protests from abroad.

Belarus' relations with the United States have deteriorated, with Washington ordering a Belarusian diplomat out of the country Wednesday in retaliation for Belarus' expulsion of an American diplomat this week.

Lukashenko, who is trying to forge a union with Russia, announced the revival of the Soviet tradition of ``subbotniks'' - unpaid mandatory labor on weekends. He called for the first subbotnik April 22, the birthday of Vladimir Lenin.

Lashing out at unspecified domestic and foreign enemies who he claims are eager to undermine Belarus' economy, Lukashenko justified his measures by the need for productive spring field work.

Lukashenko, a former Soviet farm director, has closed newspapers and responded to demonstrations with mass arrests.

This has made him widely popular among most citizens, who are facing economic hardships and are nostalgic for the Soviet past. He gained nearly unlimited powers in a referendum last year.

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