TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/100190/1001009.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5KB | 112 lines

                                                                                WORLD, Page 56

SOVIET UNION

All Power to the President


As parliament deadlocks over economic policy, an indecisive
Gorbachev asks for the right to decide


    It was a classic Gorbachev performance. After allowing the
national parliament to wrangle all week long over the merits
of various plans to renovate the economy, the Soviet President
decided he had heard enough debate from the toilworn
legislators. Late on Friday afternoon Deputy Yuri Golik, a
close Gorbachev ally, proposed, without prior discussion, a
resolution that would give the President almost total power to
overhaul the enfeebled economy by decree.

    After several liberals rose to condemn the plan as
dictatorial, Gorbachev took to the podium. Banging the lectern
with his palm, his face scarlet with determination, he
expressed his exasperation with those who dawdled while the
economy went up in flames. "We're in a very dangerous
situation," he said. "Let's not kid ourselves . . . I ask you
for the authority to act." He finished to whoops of applause
punctuated with shouts of "Let's do it!" There was no quorum
in the hall, so no vote could be taken. But given the
enthusiastic response to Gorbachev's oration, the proposition
seemed almost certain to pass when the Supreme Soviet resumes
its debate this week.

    For the moment, Gorbachev's high-drama act has quieted
complaints that the President himself is as guilty as anyone
else of dithering amid the economic crisis. Though he says he
favors the most radical plan before the parliament, a scheme
that would demolish socialism and create a full-bodied market
system within 500 days, Gorbachev insists on rejecting one of
the proposal's fundamental provisions: the devolution of key
economic powers to the 15 republics. Moreover, he suggested
last week that the privatization of land, perhaps the most
important aspect of the plan, be placed on a referendum for
voters to decide. The procedure for balloting could take as long
as six months to organize, postponing and perhaps dooming the
entire reform package should the public, which is ambivalent
about private property, reject the proposition.

    Under the pending resolution, the President would gain
authority to issue orders on everything from wage hikes to
property ownership. Though his pronouncements would be subject
to a veto by the 542-member parliament, that body is so
indecisive that Gorbachev would have plenty of leeway.

    Whether he would take advantage of it is another issue.
Gorbachev has said that private property should play "only a
rather limited role in society as a whole" -- hardly an
endorsement of a principle many economists believe is critical
to curing the economy. What's more, Gorbachev has been
reluctant to use the special powers he already has. Granted by
the parliament earlier this year, they enable him to issue
mandates with binding force on practically any subject.

    Now, however, the pressure on Gorbachev to do something
dramatic is greater than ever. In parliament, Abel Agan begyan,
one of Gorbachev's favorite economists, asserted that "the
economic situation in the country is catastrophic." The leading
scapegoat for the troubles is Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov,
whose own proposed remedy is a go-slow package that preserves
much of the center's control over the economy. Led by Moscow
Mayor Gavril Popov, some 40,000 demonstrators marched in the
capital last week demanding Ryzhkov's resignation. The
parliament of the Russian Republic, which accounts for half the
Soviet Union's population, seconded the motion in a resolution
approved 154 to 1.

    In an interview with TIME, Ryzhkov was remarkably frank
about the possibility that he might resign. "To resign today,"
he said, "would mean that we have to choose a whole new
government. Does the country really need that right now?" Asked
his opinion about a proposal to let Gorbachev rule the country
with his Cabinet of ministers, Ryzhkov replied, "Maybe someday
we will adopt an American system of government, but it is too
early for this."

    While distancing himself from Ryzhkov, Gorbachev has refused
to sack him. At one point, Ryzhkov threatened to resign if
parliament approved a proposal he could not "believe in." Later
the Prime Minister endorsed the idea of giving Gorbachev almost
single-handed control of the economy, though that would
seriously undermine his own authority.

    With or without a new set of prerogatives, Gorbachev and the
entire central government are skating on the rim of irrelevancy
as far as economic policy goes. Already the Russian parliament,
under President Boris Yeltsin, has voted to begin implementing
the 500-Day Plan on Oct. 1, regardless of which way Moscow
goes. The other republics, many of which desire economic
sovereignty more than anything else, will be eagerly looking
on.


By Lisa Beyer. Reported by James Carney and Paul Hofheinz/
Moscow.