Politburo member Vadim Medvedev went to Vilnius in advance of Mikhail Gorbachev's scheduled trip Wednesday to the Lithuanian capital to try to stem the first splintering of the Soviet Communist Party in 72 years.
As Medvedev arrived Monday on his damage control mission, fellow Politburo member Alexander Yakovlev warned in Moscow that the Lithuanian split could have a domino effect in the other 14 Soviet republics, threatening Moscow's control.Medvedev, in his second trip to Vilnius in six weeks, immediately encountered strong worker support for the Republican party breakaway during a spirited tour of a factory shown on Soviet television.
"Not everyone understands the situation. We should defend the Communist Party," Medvedev, the party's ideology chief, told workers surrounding him.
An ethnic Lithuanian laborer retorted, "I am for the independent Lithuanian party. I have read the program and I like the idea of independence."
Yakovlev, one of the godfathers of perestroika who is close to Gorbachev, said the Lithuanian communists "had failed to take into account the possibility of a domino effect their withdrawal might have," Radio Moscow's Interfax Service said.
Gorbachev met with the Lithuanian communist leaders in Moscow last week, apparently seeking some compromise in what is emerging as the sternest internal political test of his nearly five years at the Kremlin helm.
Gorbachev's unusual journey was first announced following the suspension of an urgent Central Committee plenum Dec. 26, six days after the Lithuanian Communist Party voted overwhelmingly to break from Moscow and form the first independent republican party in Soviet history.
In the first official confirmation of Gorbachev's travel dates, state-run television said the Soviet leader and general secretary of the national party would be in the Baltic republic from Wednesday to Friday.
"Lithuania is preparing for the arrival of Mikhail Gorbachev, full and candidate members of the Politburo, and secretaries of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party," television said.