East German Official Says No to Soviet-Style Reforms

A prominent member of the East German leadership has declared that his country does not intend to adopt the reforms instituted in the Soviet Union by Kremlin leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Kurt Hager, the 74-year-old chief ideologue of the ruling Communist Party Politburo in East Berlin, said in an interview published Wednesday in the West German magazine Stern that “it would be wrong to force the Soviet system on Germany.”

Hager added that the East German regime has never simply copied the Soviet system and feels no necessity to accept the reforms launched by Gorbachev this year in his policy of glasnost, or openness, according to the Hamburg magazine, which is circulated nationally.

First to Take Issue

His statements were the first public expression by a senior official of one of the Soviet Bloc countries that took issue with the sweeping new economic and bureaucratic reforms introduced by Gorbachev.

According to specialists on Communist regimes, some leaders of the East Bloc nations are uneasy about the new Soviet reforms--partly for ideological reasons and partly for fear of what what might happen to their own governments if tight controls should be lifted.

East Germany’s ruling clique is getting old, and party leader Erich Honecker, 74, is little inclined to accept Soviet reforms, which he considers irrelevant to his own country.

Most Successful Economy

The East German economy is the most successful in the Communist world. Hager, who has responsibility for culture, science and the media, noted in the interview that his country is also making strides in technology and education.

On the subject of whether East Germany should emulate its Soviet neighbor’s changes, he asked the Stern interviewer rhetorically, “Would you feel obliged to put up new wallpaper, too, when your neighbor does?”

Asked about a Gorbachev suggestion that workers elect managers of plants, Hager replied: “This is not a discussion problem for us. It’s left up to each country which solution it chooses.”

The party official added pointedly: “I don’t know of any case in West Germany or any other capitalist country where the manager of a concern is elected by the work force. Do you plan to start this at Stern magazine?”

Hager noted that there are significant differences in various Communist economic systems based on local conditions in East European nations.

Backs Glasnost

“We believe it would be wrong to force the Soviet system on Germany because it does not correspond to the conditions and development in Germany,” he was quoted by the interviewer.

However, Hager was quick to support Gorbachev’s glasnost policies in principle, declaring:

“We have used numerous opportunities to inform the Soviet people and its Communist Party of our conviction that the reforms to overcome unfavorable tendencies and difficulties which arose in the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s will be crowned by success because they will allow the material and spiritual potential of the Soviet Union to be fully realized and to strengthen socialism and make it more complete.”

Hager emphasized that his views, which he indicated might differ from those of Gorbachev, did not indicate any split in East Berlin-Moscow relations.

Rather, he said, East Germany is still closely tied to the Soviet Union and supports its foreign policy.