Soviet Union Old Guard Out

The announcement from the Soviet news agency TASS was deferential in tone. Nikolai Tikhonov, it said late last week, had resigned as Premier of the U.S.S.R. In a letter to General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, TASS reported, the 80-year-old Politburo member, who has held the premiership since 1980, declared that his health had "considerably deteriorated lately" and his doctors suggested retirement. Named to replace Tikhonov was Nikolai Ryzhkov, 56, a rapidly rising star who was appointed to the ruling Politburo only last April. He is its second-youngest member after Gorbachev, who is 54.

Less surprising than the content of the message was its timing. As Premier, and thus head of the country's 64-member Council of Ministers, Tikhonov had been expected to deliver the state-of-the-government address at the 27th Communist Party Congress, scheduled for next February. His retirement before that date reinforced the impression of Western observers that Gorbachev is determined to overhaul the Soviet economy, for which the Premier is at least nominally responsible. Last June, Gorbachev publicly excoriated four ministers, who reported to Tikhonov, for slipshod work and failure to rectify bureaucratic shortcomings. Nonetheless, Tikhonov in his resignation letter praised "the warm, comradely atmosphere that has been created in the Politburo lately."

In choosing Ryzhkov as Tikhonov's replacement, Gorbachev underlined his high regard for the former engineer who earned a reputation for efficiency as a manager of armaments factories in the Soviet heavy-industrybelt of the ! Urals. Transferred to Moscow's governing bureaucracy in 1975, Ryzhkov served from 1979 to 1982 as first deputy chairman of Gosplan, the state planning agency. He was then moved to the Central Committee Secretariat, the powerful body that effectively administers the Soviet Union. Prior to 1981 Ryzhkov had never held a Communist Party job. In April, Gorbachev promoted Ryzhkov to full Politburo status without the normal interval of service as a nonvoting candidate.

As a member of both the Central Committee Secretariat and the Politburo, Ryzhkov has been deeply involved in drafting the upcoming 1986-1991 Five-Year Plan. His latest promotion makes it clear that more than anyone else, he will be responsible for supervising Gorbachev's much awaited revival of the Soviet economy.