Soviets Approve Private Ownership of Factories and Hiring of Workers

The Soviet Parliament today overwhelmingly approved legislation that will allow people to own factories and hire workers for the first time in nearly 70 years.

The vote by the Supreme Soviet was hailed by supporters as a great step forward. It is one of the key elements of President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s economic reform package.

“This is an enormous step forward because it lays down the principle of pluralism in the forms of ownership and the basis of their equality and their protection from the government,” said Deputy Alexei Yablokov.

After a section-by-section vote on each of the bill’s six parts, the legislation was given final approval by a margin of 350 to 3. Eleven deputies abstained.

The joint meeting of the Supreme Soviet’s two houses broke into applause as the total was announced.

The section on the property rights of Soviet citizens, which includes the right to own factories and other means of producing goods, passed 354 to 0 with 13 abstentions.

A Western diplomat watching the session said it would be the first time since Soviet founder Vladimir I. Lenin’s New Economic Policy that private individuals would be allowed to own an industrial plant.

People have traditionally been allowed to own cars, summer homes and other personal property.

The law also gives individuals the right to hire others to work for them as long as their pay and benefits are in keeping with Soviet law. Both the private ownership of factories and hired labor are regarded in classic Marxism as exploitation of workers and were one of the key targets of Lenin’s revolution.

Despite its strong stand on property rights, the bill continued to skirt the socialist bugaboo of private property. It makes no mention of private property but refers instead to the property of citizens.

“It’s unfortunate that there is no mention of private property, but the principle is there,” Yablokov said.

Noted political commentator Fyodor Burlatsky, also a deputy, said the bill was a good start but still inadequate to pull the Soviet Union from its economic quagmire.

Vice President Anatoly I. Lukyanov, who chaired the joint meeting of the Supreme Soviet’s two chambers, urged the legislature not to drag its feet on the bill, which is to become law on July 1.

“We need this law to go into effect fast,” he said.