Gorbachev Addresses Uralmash Workers

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

on. We have lots of such gaps and lacunae, and there is a need to satisfy these services, to repair, to do some other such thing, some odd jobs. I think that in such a sphere it is possible. We must proceed further and further by way of what we laid down in the law on property, and it seems to me that there are great possibilities there.

Why, in my opinion, does comrade Yeltsin enjoy great prestige in the Urals and at Uralmash, and does not enjoy prestige among the government?

I was asked this question when I was speaking to Uralmash workers in the street. How I regard him, and my attitude to Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin. Well, my attitude to Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin has changed. When the need arose in Moscow to tackle the cadre question and the question of the first secretary, we took on what we had and the choice fell on Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin. I must say that I tried to support him. He gave everything he had, passionately. I wouldn't like to dwell at length on this question, but things developed in such a way that in the end the situation started to become heated in the town party organization, and Boris Nikolayevich started to worry; the party organization started to have sharp conversations, there were exchanges of opinion in the framework of the Politburo. The question arouse acutely when I was on holiday in the summer. He sent a letter, but I said I would return and we would have a conversation. I returned and I said that once we have had the 70th anniversary celebrations we'll have a chat. My aim was to cool passions, and, so to say, let comrade Yeltsin continue his work, even though the situation really had reached an acute state by then.

Well, Boris Nikolayevich didn't heed my advice and he did as his question. We were discussing the anniversary request at the anniversary sitting. He asked his question about the Politburo and the Secretariat. More about the Secretariat, really, and the fact that he wanted to be released. He didn't want to work in that atmosphere. I don't think the arguments were sufficient because, basically, it was a sort of whim, and that's how it was seen by the Central Committee at that time. We published the entire conversation in full. You've read it. To be frank, I was still convinced then that we had to keep him and no doubt you saw my position. LD3004151290TAKE12

[Excerpts] [Gorbachev continues] I tried to delay the procedure so that he could proceed within the framework of party democracy and comradely debate, even if it was of a critical nature. I tried to ask him again how he looked upon the comments from the comrades and was he able. No, he said firmly, I ask you to release me. So that is how the matter rests. That, then, is what we came to. I think that subsequently, even after all this, I still insisted that he remain in the Central Committee, that he be given a ministerial post, and that he use his experience to carry on with his activities. Well, there are all kinds of turning points in life. All the same, I feel it has not been a success, and, no doubt, those qualities manifested even when he was still here; you know his style better than I. We took it into account when we were deciding the matter.

But, you know, we thought that the Moscow Party Organization and the responsibility would bring him into line and set him to rights. It didn't happen. Then, I think, he chose what is not the best route. He embarked, so to speak, on a path of confrontation and I would say that what we get from him is the full measure of criticism. And so? That is the right of every member of the Central Committee or deputy. It is his right. But it seems to me now that the Comrade Yeltsins have got carried away. I am