People S Deputies

The Soviet Union's new national assembly began electing a full-time legislature from its ranks Friday, opening the country's lawmaking process more widely to broader popular participation after years of domination by the ruling Communist Party. Sharp divisions quickly emerged among members of the Congress of People's Deputies as the liberals fought conservatives for seats in the new Supreme Soviet, which will be the nation's standing legislature. A number of radicals, including the populist Boris N. Yeltsin, were included in the lists of candidates, but party officials maneuvered through the day to ensure a pliable legislature as the country sets out on one of its most fundamental political reforms.

It was clear in the first 10 minutes that this was going to be a meeting unlike any ever held behind the Kremlin's walls. As the first speaker read a traditional statement of congratulations Thursday to the newly elected members of the Congress of People's Deputies, an unidentified deputy strode to the front of the hall and seized the microphone. Standing beneath a 20-foot-tall statue of the founder of the Soviet state, V. I. Lenin, he demanded a minute of silence in memory of 21 people killed by Red Army troops in a protest demonstration last month in the republic of Georgia.

When the new Congress of People's Deputies convenes today for its historic first session, President Mikhail S. Gorbachev may get more than he bargained for, with deputies fired up by a taste of democracy demanding a voice in reforms ranging from the economy to the KGB. The demands of what the press here is calling the poslantzi naroda --"messengers of the people"--are a challenge to the plans of the top party echelon, which has had a...

Popularly elected members of the Soviet Union's new national assembly, announcing their broad legislative plans, declared their determination Sunday to maintain the independence of the Congress of People's Deputies and resist any attempt by the Communist Party leadership to dictate to it. Boris N. Yeltsin, the maverick member of the party's Central Committee, who won nearly 90% of the votes cast in the congress' prestigious all-Moscow constituency, told...