But He Avoids Criticism of Gorbachev in Speech : Marxism Defeated, Bush Says at U.N.

Walking a fine philosophical line in the first United Nations speech of his Administration, President Bush proclaimed the defeat of Marxism on Monday but, at the same time, he carefully avoided criticism of the Soviet Union or its leader, Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

“Today is freedom’s moment,” Bush declared in a speech that often echoed the ideological rhetoric of the early years of his predecessor, Ronald Reagan, but skirted the former President’s harsh Cold War characterizations of Soviet policy.

“Advocates of the totalitarian idea saw its triumph written in the laws of history,” Bush said, in a clear reference to the historical dialectic theories of Karl Marx. “They failed to see the love of freedom that was written in the human heart.

“If . . . the 20th Century is remembered as the century of the state, the 21st must be an era of emancipation--the age of the individual.”

Bush also made it clear that he equates individual freedom with free markets. At times, he seemed to use the concepts of democracy and capitalism as though they were synonymous.

‘Free Governments, Markets’

He envisioned a world where “free governments and free markets meet the rising desire of the people to control their own destiny. The power of commerce is a force for progress. Open markets are the key to continued growth in the developing world.”

But, clearly determined not to dampen the emerging cordial relationship between Washington and Moscow, Bush was careful not to include the Soviet Union in his criticism of Marxism, statism and communism. He said the superpowers are now ready “to deal constructively and candidly” with each other.

The new Washington-Moscow relationship is “news that we, and indeed the world, must welcome,” he added.

Bush even appropriated some of Gorbachev’s rhetoric, praising openness, or glasnost in Russian, as a key to international cooperation.

“Openness is the enemy of mistrust--and every step toward a more open world is a step toward the new world we seek,” he said.

The President ignored the two regional conflicts--Afghanistan and Central America--that sparked confrontation in recent U.S.-Soviet exchanges. Instead of citing specific conflicts that have produced sharp differences, Bush limited himself to general comments that were crafted to prevent any disagreement.

“In a number of regions around the world, a dangerous combination is now emerging: regimes (are) armed with old and unappeasable animosities and modern weapons of mass destruction. This development will raise the stakes whenever war breaks out. Regional conflict may well threaten world peace as never before,” he said.

Bush’s approach struck a responsive chord with the Soviets.

Boris Pyadyshev, editor of the Soviet Foreign Ministry’s magazine and a member of Moscow’s U.N. delegation, said: “It is the same words and expressions that we have heard before, but don’t be misled by those old words--they now have a new meaning which could be duly accepted by the other side.”

Bush was U.S. representative to the United Nations in 1971 and 1972 at the start of the last era of superpower detente, which was marked by the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) signed by former President Richard M. Nixon and the late Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev. But the U.N. assignment left Bush frustrated and disillusioned, according to aides, because the organization seemed to be little more than a forum for Cold War bickering.

In his speech, Bush said the United Nations is moving closer to achieving its objective of replacing “conflict with consensus.” That was the kind of talk the U.N. audience usually likes to hear--but the President received only a tepid response. He was interrupted by applause just twice.

To be sure, there was not much in the speech to attract the Third World nations that make up the bulk of the General Assembly’s membership. The focus was clearly on the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.

He did promise a new initiative on Third World debt that he said he would outline Wednesday in a speech to the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington.

“The new world of freedom is not a world where a few nations live in comfort while others live in want,” he said.

Times staff writer Don Shannon contributed to this report.