Leader Reportedly Calls Unusual Party Session

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev has called an unusual meeting of the Communist Party Central Committee for Tuesday, an informed source said.

The 300-plus-member committee, which names the ruling Politburo and the party Secretariat, appeared certain to discuss the new drive to stimulate the lagging economy during the next five-year period.

The session also could lead to further changes in the Kremlin high command that presumably would strengthen Gorbachev’s grip on the party and the government ministries.

There have been rumors for months that the Moscow party boss, Politburo member Viktor K. Grishin, may be removed from his post in the ruling body.

Grishin, 71, was a close associate of the late Soviet leader Konstantin U. Chernenko and reportedly tried to resist Gorbachev’s election last March as party general secretary.

Since then, four men allied with Gorbachev have been promoted to full membership in the Politburo, and a rival, Grigory V. Romanov, has been ousted without ceremony.

More recently, Premier Nikolai A. Tikhonov resigned at the age of 80, citing poor health, and was replaced by one of Gorbachev’s allies, Nikolai I. Ryzhkov.

Tikhonov kept his position in the Politburo, however, indicating that he was not demoted in disgrace.

The reign of the 54-year-old Gorbachev has been marked by the advent of a new generation of leaders, changing the Politburo’s image as a gerontocracy.

Even so, despite the youth movement, two of its candidate (non-voting) members are in their 80s and several full members are past 70.

While Soviet President Andrei A. Gromyko, 76, is likely to be spared in any purge of elderly leaders, there have been unconfirmed reports that a Politburo member from the republic of Kazakhstan, 73-year-old Dinmukhamed A. Kunayev, may be pushed out.

Kunayev, considered a close associate of former Soviet President Leonid I. Brezhnev and a member of the Politburo since 1971, is regarded by Western diplomats as a lackluster politician who does not fit with Gorbachev’s new, vigorous style.