European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 1, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine raising labor  he knows that the Low rus Sian birthrate leaves no other route but his details Are sparse that growth is no going to be achieved especially when you try to draw not on change but on reserves that supposedly exist in the  said a Western analyst. Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev has shown himself to two to artist. Gorbachev last Hope Tor the creaking soviet edifice ? by Jack Redden United press International l ast year began with a dying soviet Leader presiding Over an administration grow weary with age. Ii ended with a dynamic new Leader intent on injecting his own vigor into stagnant nation. On March 11, Mikhail Serg Yevich Gorbachev 54,. Took the office he had already assumed was his. Dramatically burying the image if not the policies of his stumbling and sickly predecessors. As 1986 begins the men of the Kremlin can no longer be dismissed As old Gray men Gorbachev does t have the support of the Polit by  goes a trendy russian joke. He can stand up by  More than standing Gorbachev has appeared to be running much of the time since his installation As Gener Al Secretary of the communist party. By the standards of the previous two decades his Pace has been torrid and his target has been the carryovers from those previous decades. Those who do not intend to adjust and who. More Over Are an obstacle to the solution of these new tasks simply must gel out of the Way the new Leader said in Leningrad get out of the Way and not be a  he meant it. A steady Stream of officials has been reassigned  and even sometimes re  a new generation has taken hold Gorbachev target Tor completing most changes is next february s party Congress an every five years meeting to give a democratic looking stamp of approval to plans presented by the leaders. That meeting of 5.000 people from across the world s largest nation will be a Celebration of the Start of the Gorbachev Era a Rule that is Likely to last two decades. It will give unanimous approval to both the economic plan for the next five years and the party program that is supposed to guide the country through the year but it is unlikely to shed much Light on the main question about Gorbachev exactly How he intends to use the Power a has amassed o act on his bold promises to revive the stagnant Economy. The party program is officially a revision of the one unveiled a Quarter Century ago by Nikita Khrushchev. But gone Are his grandiose claims of quickly overtaking the capitalist West. Gorbachev appears to realize the immensity of the task. One of his few specifics is a Promise to double production by the end of the Century. That works out at 4.7 percent per year a formidable task in a country beset with aging factories and an indifferent workforce. Gorbachev relentlessly preaches the Virtues of technological modernization the sole Means capable of what w w Whf we this iop m � Taw fund by in wet foreigners in Moscow. Especially with the increasing perception mat the new Kremlin rulers do not know what to do. The exact nature erf what Gorbachev Calls plans for acceleration of the country s socioeconomic development Are the source of endless speculation. Win he enlarge the use of brigades that contract their collective labor to the state How much will he increase individual incentives will he turn to liberalization like Hungary or bureaucratic streamlining like Easl Germany the key to that is probably the nature of the Man himself a character that has become clearer on his two highly publicized forays into the capitalist world. His trip to Paris in october and the first superpower Summit in six years with president Reagan at Geneva in november confirmed thai Gorbachev is articulate and intelligent and demonstrates the Power he now holds. It also confirmed thai demonstrating a quicker Intelli gence than his predecessors does not mean he has vastly different ideas. Gorbachev has proved he is a product of the system. It in t really even surprising that somebody who has never been of he United Stales would have Misin formation . Secretary of stale George Shultz said after a Stormy november session in which Gorbachev expressed his View hat America is run by a  Circle of the Rich. Despite his lifelong history As a communist party insider there were initial thoughts that Gorbachev s arrival would mean a new Era in soviet foreign policy. He deftly moved Andrei Gromyko Inlo the largely ceremonial presidency from the foreign minister s Job he had held for nearly three decades. Gromyko had of Way been associated with soviet . Relations he was ambassador to Washingion before becoming foreign minister his replacement by Eduard Shevardnadze was taken As a signal that mos cow would try other Fields. The theory seemed to be backed when Shevardnadze used the annual . General Assembly meeting to establish diplomatic relations with Oman and announced he would visit both Japan and China. One Western ambassador used an analogy from chess which russians love so passionately working the edges in the struggle with the United states instead of attacking directly. The new regime Clearsy would like to Widen con lacks it has rolled out the red carpet Lor third world leaders from traditional friends such As Indian president Rajiv Gandhi to ideologically unlikely ones such As Imelda Marcos of the Philippines. But Gort Mctott he Tettam himself to be a realist the United states must occupy Center stage in soviet foreign Poncy. Excursions Inlo other parts of the world Are important mainly for How they relate to .-soviet relations. By year s end the locus was firmly Back on direct relations and there is already talk of a second Gor Tachev Reagan Summit in mid june this time in Washington. It is the conviction of the communist parly of the soviet Union that the policies of both Powers should be oriented to Mutual understanding rather than Hosti Sty the new parly program says. Tha picture has emerged of a Man who is Demon Strating More style than substance More continuity than change. He May not be innately conservative As one Diplomat labelled him. But he is interested in improving not replacing. The communist system. Some diplomats have labelled Gorbachev As a breathing space a Chance to relieve some of the pres sures on a doomed communist system. Others term him the Only Hope for the creaking soviet edifice if he can t do it. No one  for Western strategists Gorbachev s Rise win Proba Bly not produce a stronger soviet Union or significantly different foreign policies. But he provides a return to Stab tiny in soviet leadership. His importance lies in his vigor and the fact that he is Likely to Lead hrs nation into the next Century. Wednesday january 1, 19b6 the stars and stripes Page 13