Communist Party leaders agreed Wednesday to surrender their monopoly on power guaranteed by the Soviet Constitution, allowing rival parties to compete for the first time in more than seven decades, a delegate said.
The decision by the powerful party Central Committee was a victory for President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in his drive to transform the party from a static oligarchy to a modern political force able to compete for power.Svyatoslav Fyodorov, a famed eye surgeon and participant in the three-day meeting in the Kremlin, said the committee agreed to support abolishing the constitution's Article 6, which guarantees power to the Communist Party.
"Article 6 will no longer be; there will be a multiparty system. There will be a normal democracy," Fyodorov said. He called the move "fantastic."
The official news agency Tass and official Radio Moscow reported the approval of the platform, but did not provide details. They said the document would be published in official newspapers.
Both hard-line Communists and reformers had sharply criticized Gorbachev's platform, with hard-liners complaining he was going too far and reformers saying he failed to go far enough.
Populist leader Boris N. Yeltsin cast the only vote against the platform, Fyodorov said, apparently because it was not radical enough. There also was one abstention, Fyodorov said.
The 249-member Central Committee was joined in the meeting by more than 700 other officials from around the Soviet Union, and all were allowed to vote on the platform, he said.
The committee agreed to move up the date of the next party Congress from October to no later than July, Radio Moscow said. The Congress, the most powerful party body, is the only group that has the right to choose a new Central Committee.
The Central Committee, the party's policymaking body, is considered by reformers to be the main bastion of hard-liners wary of Gorbachev's reform program, and the Congress offers Gorbachev the last step in a long struggle to reform the committee to his liking.
Sources inside the Central Committee meeting said the committee would recommend to the Supreme Soviet parliament that it delete Article 6. The Supreme Soviet could take up the issue at its meeting next week.
Final authority rests with the Supreme Soviet's parent legislative body, the Congress of People's Deputies. At its last meeting in December, the Congress of People's Deputies heeded Gorbachev's plea and blocked an effort by reformers to strike Article 6.
Since then, Gorbachev said it would be "no tragedy" if a multiparty system develops in the Soviet Union. He told the Central Committee on Monday that rather than relying on constitutional guaran tees, the party must prove its worthiness to govern.
The Central Committee, which had been scheduled to meet two days, continued to consider how to deal with the breakaway party in Lithuania, which split from the national Communist Party in December.
When Gorbachev extended the committee session late Tuesday, he told the Central Committee he wanted its work done by mid-afternoon, but the group was unable to meet that deadline.
Gorbachev and his advisers were turning their attention to talks with U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III, who arrived Wednesday.
Most speakers during debate Tuesday agreed the Communists must end their political monopoly, but Gorbachev's plans for the party's future - and his tenure itself _ drew harsh criticism from hard-liners.
Yegor K. Ligachev, a leading orthodox Politburo member, was warmly applauded Tuesday for a speech that blamed Gorbachev's reform program for the country's dire economic situation and nationalist upheavals, a committee source said.
In his speech, quoted by Tass, Ligachev demanded that the party platform emphasize the sacredness of party unity and said he firmly opposes allowing private property, a demand of radical reformers.
Tass quoted three influential Politburo members _ Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, Vitaly Vorontinkov and Vadim Medvedev _ as backing Gorbachev's program, expressing emphatic support for a strengthened presidency.
Many people believe Gorbachev hopes to step down as party chief in the Communists' anticipated fall from power and concentrate authority in the presidency and popularly elected legislative bodies.