Soviet Union Sore Knuckles

By George Russell

Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev was in a no-nonsense mood last week as he addressed an audience of his country's top political, industrial and < scientific leaders at Communist Party headquarters a few blocks from the Kremlin. The General Secretary continued the haranguing of the slipshod Soviet economy that he has made his theme since he took office last March. This time, though, Gorbachev went a good deal further. As aging apparatchiks, most of them the appointees of the late Leonid Brezhnev, shifted uncomfortably in their seats, he singled out members of the Soviet bureaucracy by name to deliver a remarkable tongue lashing.

Gorbachev declared that the time had come to "literally rap inefficient executives on the knuckles." One of the first to feel the pain was Victor Fyodorov, 73, Petrochemical Industry Minister for the past two decades, who was taken to task for a "careless attitude." The General Secretary noted sarcastically that Fyodorov had promised "that he would rectify his shortcomings. But evidently he does not keep his promises." The party Central Committee, Gorbachev declared, "has given instructions that the matter should be thoroughly investigated." Few doubted that the veteran bureaucrat was being invited to consider clearing out his ministerial desk.

Singled out for equally harsh criticism were Iron-and-Steel Industry Minister Ivan Kazanets, 67, in office for 20 years; Agricultural Machine-Building Minister Konstantin Belyak, 69, twelve years on the job; and Building- Materials Industry Minister Alexei Yashin, 66, appointed only six years ago. Gorbachev attacked all of them for failing to meet production quotas (in Kazanets' case, for the past 15 years) while raising their departments' budgets. Said Gorbachev: "I think we are not fellow travelers of those executives who hope to draw the country again into vast, unjustified spending."

The televised speech was one of the most dramatic demonstrations yet of Gorbachev's determination to spur the economy by using tactics advocated by his mentor, the late Yuri Andropov. Western analysts believe that the tough talk may signal a new phase in Gorbachev's ascendancy. Two months after he named three of his own men to the ruling Politburo, Western diplomats argue, Gorbachev is now increasing the pressure on some of the remaining gerontocrats in that body to retire. Most prominent among them may be Premier Nikolai Tikhonov, 80, who oversees all the ministers excoriated by Gorbachev. Kremlinologists noted the absence at last week's criticism session of Politburo Member Grigory Romanov, 62, once considered by some Western analysts as a contender for the party leadership. It was the second time recently that Romanov had failed to appear for a major Gorbachev speech. The abrasive former Leningrad party chief is officially said to be on vacation; most Kremlin analysts consider that explanation highly unlikely.

As interesting as Romanov's disappearance was the sudden "reappearance" in print of the former Chief of the Soviet General Staff, Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov, 67. Ogarkov had not been heard from since September 1984, when he was abruptly transferred from his top job in Moscow to the U.S.S.R.'s western military headquarters in Minsk. There was widespread speculation that Ogarkov had clashed with the Kremlin's leadership over military policy. Last week History Teaches Vigilance, a 96-page booklet written by Ogarkov on Soviet defense strategy, was published by the Defense Ministry. Its publication, a foreign diplomat in Moscow theorized, means that Ogarkov "is not in complete disgrace."

If toughness and a certain level of sophistication are intended to be the hallmarks of the Gorbachev era, there was an extraordinary reminder in Soviet cinemas last week of the man who inspired those qualities: Andropov. In a respectful 75-min. film, Andropov's wife Tatyana (not even seen in public until Andropov's funeral) reads love poems written by her husband; his son Igor praises his father's judgment and understanding of human nature. Andropov's 15 years as head of the KGB are given scant attention. If there was a deeper message in the week's events, it was that Comrade Mikhail's tough bureaucratic stance surely had the iconic blessing of Comrade Yuri.

With reporting by James O. Jackson/Moscow