Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 11, 1991 TAG: 9104110342
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: MOSCOW LENGTH: Medium
The largest work stoppage was in Byelorussia, where that republic's leaders permitted strike organizers to read a remarkably strident anti-Communist statement during the republic's nightly television news program.
By one estimate, up to 200,000 workers participated in the stoppage in Byelorussia, which is located in the western Soviet Union next to the Baltic republic of Lithuania.
The non-Communist government in the southern republic of Georgia, which is seeking independence from Moscow, told its workers Wednesday to skip work in order to protest Soviet rule.
The work stoppages have added to the economic woes in the Soviet Union, where a six-week-old nationwide walkout by about 300,000 coal miners has threatened to sharply reduce industrial output. On Wednesday, some striking coal miners said they are now prepared to stop shipping coal to consumers.
The Byelorussia strike was the most dangerous escalation of industrial discontent for Gorbachev. The protestors crowding the center square in Minsk, a city of 1.5 million, shouted for Gorbachev's resignation and for better food supplies.
Byelorussia has been one of the republics most politically loyal to the Kremlin and the Communist Party. Until now, it has witnessed little of the anti-Moscow political upheaval experienced in other independence-minded republics.
All of Wednesday's stoppages included calls for Gorbachev's resignation and were not confined merely to demands for higher wages. In Byelorussia, the protestors also said they want Gorbachev's entire Cabinet of Ministers to quit.
The republic's leaders had tried to avoid Wednesday's protest by quickly offering better financial incentives, but the strikers refused to go along.
Gorbachev's top assistant, Georgy Shaknazarov, said Wednesday that Gorbachev is prepared to use his full powers to stop the industrial unrest. Last summer, the Soviet parliament gave Gorbachev the power to rule on his own by presidential decree if he finds that in the nation's interest.
On Tuesday, he urged a moratorium on strikes and protests. He could have used his extraordinary powers to do this by presidential decree, but chose instead to ask the Parliament to approve it.
by CNB