Word: gorbachevized
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...Gorbachev chastised the secession-minded Lithuanians for rejecting the notion of a new Soviet federation out of hand. The party platform follows the basic line worked out at last September's plenum on nationalities. It calls for the present union to be reorganized on the basis of a new voluntary contract between the republics and the central authorities, but leaves open the possibility of "diverse forms of federative ties." Thus the Baltic republics might be allowed to introduce individual clauses into the general contract that would make staying part of the Soviet Union a more attractive proposition...
...conservatives exacted their revenge on the last day of the plenum when the question of how to deal with wayward Lithuanian party members came up. Gorbachev struck a conciliatory tone, urging his Lithuanian comrades to suspend their decision to break away from Moscow headquarters and submit their program for the consideration of the party congress this summer. The central party ought to render assistance to Lithuanian party members who remain loyal, he said, but accept delegates from both the regular and breakaway groups to this summer's congress...
Given the rapid pace of change, Ligachev's small victory last week may prove to be his last stand. Gorbachev has called another plenum for next week to discuss how to conduct party elections. The General Secretary is determined to push ahead with a complete renewal of local party organization before early summer to prevent hard-line holdovers from stacking the delegations to the policy-setting congress. As he noted in his concluding remarks to the plenum, "It is inadmissible to tarry now. It is necessary to take the lead in stormy and complicated processes...
Nothing is more fraught with risk than Gorbachev's bold gambit to devolve power from the party to the local soviets. After seven decades of Communist domination, regional party organizations have become so intertwined with the running of local economies that in some collective farms there would be no second shift to milk the cows unless the local party boss went door to door rounding up workers. Would a democratically elected mayor on a newly reformed town council be ready to take on the job? Vyacheslav Shostakovsky, rector of Moscow's Higher Party School for Communists, has his doubts...
WORLD: The Gorbachev revolution finally comes home...