Gorbachev Appeals for Teamwork : Soviet Union: He warns the republics of economic collapse in the face of bickering and indecision.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, acknowledging that the country’s political leaders have again gotten lost in incessant bickering and plain indecision, pleaded Monday with the Soviet Union’s breakaway republics to work together to avoid complete economic collapse.

Gorbachev, despairing of the unity he believes is required to pull the country back from “the edge of the abyss,” said that all the political momentum gained with the defeat of the conservative coup in August has been squandered and the country now faces greater dangers than before.

The nation is repeating its earlier mistakes, he said, by proceeding with one or two reforms at a time and postponing measures to create a free-market economy based on supply and demand.

“We have frivolously and irresponsibly used the capital we received after the putsch,” Gorbachev told the State Council, the nation’s top executive body, which includes leaders of the remaining republics. “Some hope had come to the people, and all of us were certain we could manage the situation, firmly lead the country along the path of reforms and cope with the crisis quicker. . . .

“But this was followed by dawdling, political games, a tug of war. . . . We see this in major issues, not just minor ones. . . . The country is suffocating because it has no clarity on major issues. This is very dangerous, and the State Council--that is us, comrades--is responsible for everything.”

Gorbachev’s plea brought a promise from Ukrainian Prime Minister Vitold P. Fokin that his independence-minded republic, the richest and most important after the Russian Federation, will this week sign the treaty creating an “economic community” and preserving the common market among most of the republics, the Soviet news agency Tass reported. The Russian Federation and seven other republics signed the treaty last month.

But the Ukrainian Parliament, meeting in Kiev, voted Monday to establish customs posts around the republic’s borders in a move to isolate it from the economic collapse it expects in neighboring areas. Ukrainian political observers said that the treaty, even if signed, might not be ratified by the republic’s Parliament.

The extent of the economic crisis was evident in a further devaluation of the Soviet ruble, which is now worth slightly more than 2 cents, a drop of nearly a third, at the Soviet State Bank’s new open-market rate. Two years ago, the ruble was officially valued at $1.85, and for purposes of trade it remains at roughly 60 cents.

Alexander N. Yakovlev, Gorbachev’s senior adviser, warned after the State Council meeting that, if the economic crisis is not resolved quickly, “scoundrels” could again try to profit from the growing popular discontent.

Democratic leaders thrust into positions of power after the coup were often unprepared for their new responsibilities or incompetent, he said. Many were lost in “political self-admiration” and others were preoccupied with revenge on the Communist Party and division of its property, he said.

Grigory A. Yavlinsky, the government’s chief economist, said that efforts to establish a common market under the economic union treaty had bogged down in disputes over taxes, the huge state budget deficit, repayment of the country’s $68-billion foreign debt, creation of a capital market and the authority of a proposed banking union.

Despite Gorbachev’s call for action to recover the political dynamism lost in the 2 1/2 months since the coup, the State Council put off a key decision on supporting the economic reforms proposed last week by Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin.

“The pivotal problem of the present situation in the country is the Russian president’s program to accelerate the reforms,” Gorbachev said at the start of the meeting, televised Monday night. “I hope the State Council will support this initiative. . . . I think this is what the country is waiting for.”

Yeltsin’s program includes an end to government control of prices in a calculated bid to stimulate production even at the risk of several months of hyper-inflation. He also proposes to sell off state-owned enterprises in a broad effort to privatize the economy.

Pavel Bunich, a leading pro-market economist, said on Monday that Yeltsin’s program is virtually the country’s last chance to avoid collapse: “I am very worried (about) Yeltsin because he is the last man with such a high popularity rating, and the reforms must be led by a person with a high public standing. It may turn out that his government will be doomed, but it will succeed in achieving something. Nobody can push the reforms forward like Yeltsin. He is the only one who enjoys a credit of trust from the people.”

But Gorbachev warned that the Russian Federation alone, despite its wealth and size, could not pull the whole country out of the deepening crisis, that other republics must join the reforms.

“We cannot allow the market to disintegrate, trade barriers to be raised, new prices to be introduced without coordination,” he said, referring to the increasingly protectionist policies of the Ukraine and other republics seeking to save themselves as the Soviet economy collapses. “Separation will save no one. This is an illusion.”

Yeltsin, who has increasingly pursued a “Russia first” policy, has pledged to act within the framework of the economic treaty, Gorbachev said, but will use the weight of his republic, which constitutes more than 60% of the Soviet economy, to push the reforms.

Gorbachev also warned that the country is again making the mistakes that undercut earlier reforms, announcing plans but not putting them into effect or adopting one or two good ones but failing to follow through with tougher supporting measures.

The State Council, despite Gorbachev’s prodding, deferred a decision until next week on a new governmental structure to replace the 80-odd old ministries, which are being abolished on Nov. 15.

Times special correspondent Mary Mycio contributed to this report from Kiev.