Gorbachev Supporters Appointed to Politburo

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev won the appointment of three of his supporters to the ruling Politburo today and gained the backing of the Communist Party leadership for his radical reforms to reverse the country’s economic decline.

In an apparent major political victory for Gorbachev over opponents of his reforms, the plenum confirmed the promotion of Gorbachev’s main public relations whiz and propaganda chief, Alexander N. Yakovlev, 63, from non-voting status to full Politburo membership.

The two-day plenum that ended today was seen as a key test for the future of Gorbachev’s reforms and possibly for the Soviet leader himself.

Byelorussian Promoted

Another man promoted to the Politburo was Nikolai Slyunkov, 58, the head of the Communist Party in Byelorussia who was responsible for breaking up the patronage network established in his republic during the era of Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev.

Viktor Nikonov, 58, who has been associated with Gorbachev for a decade, also was promoted to the Politburo, which supervises the daily running of the country.

The Politburo now contains 14 full voting members and appears to be comfortably packed with backers of Gorbachev’s reforms.

Defense Minister Dmitri Yazov was also promoted to candidate, or non-voting, status in the Politburo. He replaced Sergei L. Sokolov, who was fired as defense minister after West Germany’s Mathias Rust landed his airplane by Red Square last month.

Guidelines Approved

The 300-member Central Committee approved guidelines for Gorbachev’s sweeping reform of the economy and adopted a new law for the management of state enterprises. It also approved a special Communist Party Congress in June, 1988--the first since World War II.

Such a Congress would allow Gorbachev to alter the structure of the Central Committee and possibly stack it with his own backers while eliminating opponents. Without a special Congress, Gorbachev would have to wait until the next scheduled Congress in 1991 to radically alter the committee’s makeup.

The decisions of plenums, which convene every six months and normally last two days, are given automatic approval by the Supreme Soviet, the rubber-stamp parliament. The Supreme Soviet meets Monday.

Ousters Demanded

By the tone of Gorbachev’s opening speech on Thursday, it appeared he was demanding the removal of at least some high-level officials.

“In effect, there has been and remains a shortage of everything--metal, fuel, cement, machinery and consumer goods,” Gorbachev said in a 20,000-word speech that took the Tass press agency almost six hours to transmit. “If we add to this a chronic shortage of manpower, it becomes clear that in such conditions the economy cannot develop normally.”

Gorbachev gave a bleak, no-holds-barred litany of Soviet economic failures, blaming at least 10 government ministers. He also outlined in detail what reforms are necessary to stop the decline of the Soviet economy.