Fired Moscow Party Chief Pushes Reforms in Article

Boris Yeltsin appeared in the Soviet press today for the first time since he was ousted last November as the Communist Party boss of Moscow, warning that the standard of living must rise to gain popular support for reforms.

Yeltsin, who was forced out over his demand for faster reform, was writing in the daily newspaper Stroitelnaya Gazeta (Building Gazette) under his current title of deputy chairman of the State Construction Committee.

“I think that the social-economic restructuring of the country has entered the decisive phase,” Yeltsin said. “The success depends on the support of the masses of the working people.”

He had complained during a closed meeting of the Communist Party Central Committee last October that average citizens had gained nothing so far from Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s reform plans.

Yeltsin said in his newspaper article that the public will judge the perestroika reform program by changes in their personal lives.

“Their hopes should not be deceived, otherwise it will be very difficult to restore trust by the people and to inspire them for great things,” he said.

Although Yeltsin said the needs in housing, schools and medical offices could be met “in the nearest future,” he also said, “These serious social problems cannot be fulfilled in a short time at the present pace.”

Speaking as the person in charge of scientific and technological progress at his ministry, he said the resources and capacity of the building industry are inadequate for the amount of construction it is supposed to complete.

Yeltsin’s first appearance in the Soviet press was in the little-read newspaper of the building industry and was concerned mainly with efforts to improve the planning of construction projects. However, the Soviet press agency Tass drew attention to his article in a press review.

The firing of Yeltsin was interpreted as a serious setback for Gorbachev, who had promoted the Sverdlovsk native after forcing out the corrupt previous Moscow leader. But the extent of Yeltsin’s attack on the pace of reform apparently forced Gorbachev to abandon his ally at the time.

Yeltsin took on the dimensions of a folk hero during his two years in charge of the capital, conducting person inspections of everything from stores to the city’s buses in an effort to improve services.