Gorbachev Moves to Convert 550 Arms Plants to Civilian Goods

President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, struggling to maintain central control over Soviet political and economic life, plans to transform 550 armament factories to civilian production, a spokesman said Friday.

Gorbachev and top aides met to complete the conversion plan as representatives of seven Soviet republics agreed to bypass central authorities in working out a new system of economic and political cooperation.

The Supreme Soviet, the country’s legislature, has been unable to pass a cohesive reform plan, and on Monday granted Gorbachev extraordinary powers to transform the national economy from a planned to a market system.

Representatives of nine of the 15 Soviet republics and the mayor of Leningrad, dissatisfied with Gorbachev’s reforms, met in the Estonian capital of Tallinn and signed a protocol establishing a committee to coordinate their own shift to a market economy.

Gorbachev’s plan to shift hundreds of defense plants to civilian production appeared designed to quell fears of a military resurgence and to assure people that the central government is acting to meet consumer demands.

Presidential spokesman Vitaly N. Ignatenko said that Gorbachev was meeting late Friday with his advisory Presidential Council to cement plans to shift the arms plants to production of processed food, medicine, electronics and other desperately needed goods. The changeover would be done in stages over the next five years.