Soviet Union Sore Knuckles: Harsh words from Gorbachev

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.