As Muscovites Greet the New Year, Their City Wears a Festive, Non-Political Look

Decorated with flags and lights and pictures of a cheery man in a red suit and white beard, Moscow wore a festive and non-political look Thursday for the start of 1988.

Traditional banners and slogans and the enormous portraits of V. I. Lenin, founder of the Soviet state, that are normally seen on other holidays have given way to colorful signs bearing the message “Happy New Year, Dear Comrades” and pictures of Ded Moroz, the gift-bringing Grandfather Frost.

Families gathered at home for parties around the yolka, the New Year’s tree that, like the Western Christmas tree, is customarily trimmed with lights and ornaments.

There was official as well as unofficial happiness, mainly over the success of the U.S.-Soviet summit meeting last month in Washington, and pleasure at Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s enhanced standing in the world.

‘Year of Profound Change’

Gorbachev, in a New Year’s message to the people, spoke of “a year of profound change and large-scale decisions, a year of intensive work.” He said that although the economic restructuring now under way in the Soviet Union “is not easy and without pain,” progress is being made. “The old,” he said, “is giving way to the new, but with struggle.”

In Moscow’s shops, there were unpleasant reminders of the hardship that persists. There were virtually no special holiday items in the food shops, and continuing shortages of coffee and tea were reported.

One store, in central Moscow, had only a few scrawny chickens, stewing meat and canned fish to offer last-minute shoppers.

Several of the new cooperative stores had more ample supplies, especially of sausage, a staple in Soviet diets. But the co-ops charge much higher prices than state stores; the best sausage sells for 12 rubles a kilogram, about $10 a pound at the official exchange rate.

Loud complaints were voiced about the food shortages. An office worker, gesturing at the “Happy New Year” signs and the big snowflake designs that have gone up in the parks, commented, “Perhaps they think the decorations will substitute for vegetables.”

Long Lines at Liquor Stores

The holiday has meant long lines in front of the liquor stores, not because of shortages but because the authorities have apparently declared a temporary cease-fire in their war on drunkenness. Holiday revelry is a tradition that goes back for centuries in this country.

Liquor stores opened six hours earlier than usual Thursday, and there were uncommonly ample supplies not only of vodka but of sparkling wine and brandy as well. Some people lined up over and over again in order to circumvent the two-bottle limit. Police were on hand to keep order.

At some stores, though, even the additional stocks provided for the holiday soon disappeared. At one, a man called out to another, who was peering in the window, and asked, “Any vodka?”

“Nope,” came the reply. “Only that rotgut wine.”

Lighted trees have been placed in almost every square around the center of the city. An enormous one stands close to the Kremlin, where crowds gather every year to watch the clock in Spassky Tower strike midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Special Lighting

Lights have been strung along major streets and bridges, and some buildings are entirely outlined with special lighting.

The first heavy snow of winter, along with temperatures around 15 degrees Fahrenheit, have added a chill to the holiday. Fur hats and heavy overcoats were a must Thursday.

Pedestrians, many of them carrying heavy shopping bags, walked warily over the ice just below the new layer of snow. And crowds waited longer at bus stops, apparently because the slippery streets had tied up traffic in some places and the low temperatures had put the batteries out of action on some buses.

Even so, many people appeared to enjoy the New Year’s holiday more than the politically flavored May Day Festival or even the Nov. 7 celebration of the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution.

A woman selling homemade coleslaw at the central market echoed widespread sentiment when she told a customer: “May we have peace, success and happiness in the coming year. All the best.”