Party Post on the Line, Gorbachev Says

President Mikhail S. Gorbachev came under renewed fire from Communist Party hard-liners who oppose his reforms today, and he acknowledged he could lose his post as party leader during a coming national congress.

“Tomorrow, or after 10 days or 12 days, there may be another general secretary or chairman of the party,” Gorbachev told the largely anti-reform delegates at a conference of the Russian republic’s Communist Party.

He did not say if he might resign or if he expected to be ousted from the party job. Giving up that position legally should not affect his five-year term as president of the Soviet Union.

There has been speculation for months that Gorbachev’s long-range strategy is to shift the key leadership positions from the party to the government.

His appeal appeared to be an effort to gain support at the fractious meeting. Conservative delegates have attacked him for diminishing their influence.

Politburo member Yegor Ligachev--without mentioning Gorbachev--criticized him indirectly for retaining the job of party general secretary after his election earlier this year to the new post of Soviet president.

“It is impossible to run the party, this guiding force, without devoting full time to it,” Ligachev, the most prominent Soviet hard-liner, told the congress.

Gorbachev did not rebut the conservative criticism but said his accusers were poorly informed and disrespectful.

“The comrades seem to suspect the general secretary of the Communist Party of some vacillation, hesitation, and so forth,” he said angrily. “Some of the comrades are being too casual with the general secretary, with the president of the country.

“Before expressing opinions, and especially accusations, you have to know a whole lot and understand it, and not just speak off the cuff.”

The delegates at this week’s meeting will form the majority of delegates at the national party congress opening July 2, which is expected to make considerable changes in the party leadership.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman, Gennady I. Gerasimov, when asked by reporters whether Gorbachev would be elected then, said: “We’ll see at the congress. It will add suspense to your lives.”