Gorbachev Accuses Critics of Slander Over Economy

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev today accused his hard-line Communist critics of slander, denying their claim that he failed to obtain party approval to switch the Soviet Union to a market economy.

“To consider that this idea and program dropped from the sky, or that somebody is undertaking an overnight coup to change our course, that is slander,” Gorbachev said at a meeting of the Russian republic’s Communist Party.

“Don’t be suspicious that something is being done secretly to turn the rails and move the country in the direction of capitalism,” he said.

“These attempts are rotten, improper, made by people who seek a completely different goal from ours, which is to find new forms of life and make the lives of people better,” he said.

Numerous conservative critics this week denounced Gorbachev’s political and economic reforms. They have made it clear that they will try to replace him as Communist Party leader at a national congress early next month.

Gorbachev responded to his critics’ complaints today, citing numerous meetings of the party leadership at which officials decided on the need for radical economic reform, including a market economy.

The audience, 2,700 delegates to the founding congress of a Russian Communist Party, applauded briefly.

Gorbachev was alluding to a complaint made Wednesday by prominent conservative Yegor Ligachev, who said Gorbachev made crucial decisions without consulting the Politburo, the Communist Party’s 12-man ruling body.

Ligachev, a member of the Politburo along with Gorbachev, specifically cited decisions to move to a market economy, to allow the reunification of Germany and to loosen the Soviet grip in Eastern Europe.

His complaints that Gorbachev was bypassing the Communist Party apparatus underscored conservative concern that Gorbachev has shifted power from the party to newly elected legislative bodies, and to the newly created post of president--a title that Gorbachev holds along with that of general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.

The changes mean that Gorbachev may now be strong enough to remain the Soviet leader even if he no longer heads the Communist Party.