Gorbachev Appears Ebullient at Meeting

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev attended a session of the Supreme Soviet on Monday and appeared ebullient after last week’s victory at a meeting of the Communist Party Central Committee.

After weeks of pre-meeting debate among economists and commentators, the Central Committee last week approved Gorbachev’s proposals to establish a new system of economic management and to change the way prices and wages are set.

The twice-a-year sessions of the Supreme Soviet, the legislative body, rarely provide any insight into national policy. Customarily, the Supreme Soviet simply gives its stamp of approval to what the Politburo has proposed through the Central Committee. But the Supreme Soviet sessions do give diplomats and the press a chance to see the people involved--or to note their absence and speculate on the reason.

On Monday, for example, Politburo member Geydar A. Aliev, 63, failed to show up for the meeting, and this lent support to reports that he is seriously ill. Aliev, an Azerbaijani, has not appeared in public for two months.

It was duly noted, too, that Yegor K. Ligachev, the second in command and chief ideologist of the party, received no applause when he marched to the podium to deliver a brief report.

Some analysts believe that Ligachev, 64, had tried to position himself as a possible alternative to Gorbachev.

On the other hand, while Premier Nikolai I. Ryzhkov delivered a somber report on the “entrenched malaise” afflicting the Soviet economy, Gorbachev and Ligachev chatted amiably.

Even the usually dour Andrei A. Gromyko, the 77-year-old Soviet president, brightened noticeably under Gorbachev’s charm, which was in sharp contrast with the grim picture that Ryzhkov was drawing of the economy.

“We are lagging behind in major areas of scientific and technological progress,” Ryzhkov said in describing the need for radical economic reform.

Few among the 1,500 members of the Supreme Soviet appeared to be listening closely. Many, along with Gorbachev, talked quietly with those sitting nearby. Others read newspapers. Here and there, one was seen to have dozed off in the warm hall.

A Red-Letter Day

For the Politburo’s four recently promoted members, it was a red-letter day. They beamed at the crowd from seats in the Politburo’s reserved section.

Alexander N. Yakolev, considered to be one of Gorbachev’s closest allies, sat democratically next to Pyotr N. Demichev, a non-voting member.

Viktor K. Nikonov, a farm specialist who was moved to senior Politburo status without ever serving as a candidate member, looked altogether at home. He chatted with Nikolai N. Slyunkov, who was also elevated to full membership last week.

Dmitri T. Yazov, one of the most junior four-star generals in the Red Army, seemed almost stunned to be sitting with the Politburo. Just a month ago he was suddenly appointed minister of defense in place of Marshal Sergei L. Sokolov, 76, who was dismissed when a young West German pilot landed his light plane in Moscow’s Red Square.

In the press gallery, rumors of possible comings and goings recalled one of Gromyko’s few known wisecracks.

“Moscow is a little bit like the Bermuda Triangle,” he is reported to have told a visitor. “Every now and then, one of us disappears.”