Gorbachev Vows Emergency Moves : Cites Plan to Aid Economy, Hints at Price Hikes; Stands Firm on Reforms

President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, in a surprise address to the nation clearly intended to answer growing cynicism about his reform program, promised that the Kremlin will submit to Parliament a series of emergency measures to invigorate the economy and combat persistent shortages.

But he also hinted at the possibility of price hikes, a step progressive economists have long said is necessary in the Soviet Union but one the Communist Party has avoided because of the political unpopularity of such a move.

He called for patience at what he said is a crucial moment, and he insisted that conservatives and leftists alike should abandon their own agendas for reform and, instead, should fall in step behind him and follow the pace he has set for initiating changes.

Indirect Acknowledgement

Gorbachev’s speech, which lasted nearly 25 minutes at the top of the evening news program “Vremya,” was an indirect acknowledgement from the Soviet president of the spiraling criticism and crises he faces at home because of a perceived worsening of economic life styles.

The Communist Party leader, who had been expected to remain on vacation until Monday, clearly made the unannounced Saturday evening address to counter complaints heard privately and repeatedly, particularly among the intelligentsia in recent days, that he appeared to be losing the initiative in dealing with the twin problems of economic and ethnic unrest.

Lines are common in Moscow, even at the numerous corner bread stores, and soap, sugar, cigarettes and shoes are currently in extremely short supply in the capital.

Typically in the outlying regions, goods are even scarcer, and people have traveled an hour or more by train to Moscow to shop in its stores. Because of that, Moscow has recently adopted new rules banning non-residents from buying some items.

Even available goods are often of poor quality. For instance, only spoiled milk was available in stores in a central Moscow neighborhood last weekend.

The rapid deterioration in availability of consumer goods has spurred widespread doubts about perestroika , Gorbachev’s program to restructure Soviet society.

The shortage of consumer goods, for instance, was a central complaint of miners from the Siberian Kuzbass to the Ukrainian Donbass regions who went on strike in July. Soviet media announced last week that the government was importing more than $66 billion worth of goods to enable it to honor pledges to the miners to provide more goods.

Soviet media have said the scarcity of goods has contributed to an atmosphere of tension that has fueled hostility between ethnic groups in many of the country’s 15 republics.

Speaking slowly and deliberately as he addressed the nation from a bare studio, Gorbachev acknowledged: “Indeed, perestroika is proceeding with difficulty.”

He said an emergency economic program will be submitted to the Supreme Soviet, or Parliament, which resumes meeting at the end of this month after a summer break.

The program, he said, will include “specific measures to deal with the shortages. . . . Our program must provide clear answers about how to realize the most burning issues of social and economic development.”

He also hinted that price hikes are likely in this country where food has traditionally been heavily subsidized.

“Some unpopular and painful measures are possible, but they will be used only if necessary to find a way out from the present difficult situation,” he said, adding that improving the economy will require the cooperation of Communist Party leaders and workers alike.

Although Gorbachev was not specific about what emergency measures the Kremlin will be offering, the official Tass news agency announced Saturday that the government--in an apparent attempt to help combat shortages--had imposed stiff new limits on the consumer goods foreigners can take out of the country.

Foreigners are not allowed to buy more than 100 rubles worth of goods, or about $160 at the official exchange rate, and are prohibited entirely from taking out precious metals and stones, electrical household appliances, automobile spare parts, children’s clothing, underwear, coffee, tea and caviar, among other goods, Tass said.

But the new rules do not apply to special hard-currency stores that cater to foreigners, in particular to Western tourists.

Warning Issued

In his speech, Gorbachev also warned against “anti- perestroika forces” from both the right and the left who he said “are trying to intimidate us by talking about chaos or even civil war.”

He appeared to be criticizing conservatives when he spoke about “some forces who would like to create an atmosphere of uncertainty in the society. Some want to confuse people, to push them to hasty steps. They want to force us to stop perestroika , to return to the old ways of management.”

But he then added that he opposes left-wingers who contend that perestroika is moving too slowly. Those critics, he said, “pretend they are taking care of the people.” But in fact, they are failing to “take into consideration the present situation in our society.”

He added that there is no place for those who try “to reject socialism and conduct perestroika through capitalist principles. . . . Those who hope to take advantage of difficulties of the period of transition for some unsavory purposes and try to undermine the party’s influence should know this is not to be achieved.

“We are trying our best to create a new society of real socialism and democracy,” he said. “We want to create it to last hundreds of years.”