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Chernenko's address to the closed-door meeting of the Central Committee lacked the rhetorical bite of his predecessor's blunt statements about the sluggish Soviet economy. Instead, the new leader seemed to balance calls for change with expressions of concern for preserving the present system. Said he: "The necessary quests for the new must not be allowed to distract us from a more effective use of the existing institutions of management." Only Premier Tikhonov made direct reference to the Andropov reform program when he told the Supreme Soviet that "we must continue the economic experiments that provide flexibility and independence to some of our enterprises."
Chernenko's address focused mainly on ways to improve the work of administrative councils, known as Soviets, and to overhaul the school system. He urged local officials to pay more attention to popular opinion, and spoke out in favor of educational reforms that would add an extra year of schooling, upgrade vocational training and raise the salaries of teachers.
Reports from the party plenum were carefully scrutinized for clues indicating who was up and who was down in the Soviet leadership. Death or promotion had thinned the ranks of the Politburo's non-voting members to only six. But with the exception of Gorbachev's symbolic promotion, the ruling lineup remained unchanged. Said a Western diplomat: "There seems to be a balance in the Politburo that they do not want to change by bringing in someone new."
Given their deep-rooted fear of instability, the aging men who still wield power in the Kremlin are not likely in the near future to sanction sudden shifts in foreign or domestic policy. But pressing problems do face the Soviet Union, none more troublesome than the need to groom a younger generation to rule. In his first two months in power, Chernenko has not allied himself with the forces of modernization as Andropov tried to do. But neither has he done anything to halt his nation's uncertain course into the future. Even in the most controlled societies, change must come, however slowly.
—By John Kohan. Reported by Erik Amfitheatrof/Moscow and Johanna McGeary/Washington