Gorbachev Calls for Radical New Soviet Economy

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev on Thursday proposed a radical new economy with reduced central control and greater priority for the everyday needs of workers.

He outlined his plans in an address to the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and according to the official news agency Tass, he complained of sabotage and foot-dragging by party leaders and government ministries involved.

“We are actually only on the first wave of the restructuring,” he said, “and this wave has sent ripples through stagnant water.”

Better Work, Better Pay

Gorbachev’s wide-ranging program for perestroika, or restructuring the economy, includes overhauling the pricing system and providing better pay for better work.

It would introduce the profit-and-loss concept for state-owned factories, but Gorbachev insisted that it is not a move toward private enterprise, only an improved form of socialism.

Gorbachev described his plan as the most extensive in the 70 years since the Bolshevik Revolution, “the most thorough-going and sweeping reform of this kind over the years of building socialism.”

Previous economic reform efforts, introduced by former Soviet leaders Nikita S. Khrushchev and Leonid I. Brezhnev, were short-lived. V. I. Lenin, the founder of the Soviet state, introduced his New Economic Policy, with limited private enterprise, in the 1920s, but it was abandoned when Josef Stalin began a massive drive for industrialization in 1930.

No Indication on Reception

Tass gave no indication how Gorbachev’s speech was received by the Central Committee members at their semi-annual plenum.

For weeks, the state-run newspapers have reflected a heated debate on the country’s economic course and indicated that major decisions could be expected at the plenum.

Gorbachev said there has been too much inaction and that progress has been too slow in connection with his demands for revitalizing the economy. He has made this his major goal since taking over in March of 1985.

In an unusual step, he criticized nearly a dozen top government officials by name, including Nikolai V. Talyzin, chief of the State Planning Agency and a candidate member of the Politburo.

In agriculture, he called for expansion of private plots for raising livestock and growing fruit and vegetables. He bluntly accused the minister for light industry, Vladimir G. Kluyev, of making such shoddy products that no one wants them.

“Our economic mechanism, whether we like it or not, is geared to average or even poor work,” he complained. “We certainly may not continue in the same rut any longer, comrades.”

Instead of receiving top-level directives from Moscow, he suggested, factories should decide basically what to produce and how to organize their supplies and labor force. Central planners should set overall goals but give up intensive supervision of industrial enterprises.

Support From Workers

Ordinary workers apparently support Gorbachev’s campaign, he said, but they have expressed disappointment at the lack of change in their everyday life.

“The restructuring has not affected the work collectives, towns and villages where they live and work,” he said. “Despite tremendous efforts, the restructuring drive has in actual fact not reached many localities.”

He said the Republic of Armenia, for example, is “marking time” and that the Gorky industrial region, east of Moscow, shows few signs of change for the better.

Possibly signaling a purge, Gorbachev said that party and public organizations should not tolerate anyone in authority who is blocking the renewal drive. He proposed that the Central Committee staff crack down on party organizations in the 15 republics and major regions of the country if they fail to support the economic overhaul.

Unusual Conference Slated

Gorbachev also announced that the party will convene an unusual conference in June, 1988, to review progress and lay out additional economic tasks if necessary.

It appeared, however, that the conference will not be empowered to make changes in the membership of the Central Committee, the members of which are customarily elected by a party congress every five years.

Western diplomats said that Gorbachev probably would like to drop some committee members who have been resisting his proposals for change.

In Thursday’s speech, he mentioned the West German pilot who landed his light plane in Moscow’s Red Square on May 28. He said the incident was without precedent and was caused by a “lack of order” and “negative trends” in the army.

At the same time, he acknowledged that the work of the Politburo, which he heads, has been weak.

Five Officials Accused

In addition to criticizing Talyzin, Gorbachev ticked off the names of five ministers and accused them of making miscalculations and failing to take “timely measures.” As a result of their mistakes, he said, the economy suffered “considerable losses” in the first months of this year, especially in the vital machine-building industry.

Restructuring cannot be accomplished overnight, he said, but neither should it be dragged out. He estimated that the Soviet Union has two or three years at most to develop a more efficient system of economic management.

He called on the Central Committee to approve a draft law on greater factory autonomy and send it on to the Supreme Soviet, the legislature, for enactment into law on Monday.

By the end of this year, Gorbachev said, a package of other measures to reorganize central economic agencies and ministries will be ready for adoption. He said they can take effect next Jan. 1.

‘Time to Act Vigorously’

“It is time to act vigorously, purposefully and without fear of miscalculation,” he said.

Speaking of the persistent shortage of consumer goods, he said it is the leading political problem the party faces. He urged greater efforts to improve the supply of food, to make more housing available and to raise the quality of clothing and other products.