Soviet Union Back into The Pits

When coal miners in Siberia's Kuzbass region walked off the job in early March, they vowed not to return until Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned. Last week, with Gorbachev still in office, the miners ended their strike, but only after he ceded Kremlin control of the coalpits to the Russian republic.

The deal, seen by some Soviet observers as the beginning of the end of central control over major industries, stemmed from a pact signed three weeks ago by Gorbachev and his sometime rival, Boris Yeltsin, head of the Russian republic. Criticized by miners and fellow reformers for his accommodation with Gorbachev, Yeltsin spent three days in Siberia lobbying for a "dignified solution" to the strikes. Yeltsin vowed to turn ownership of the mines over to workers as soon as possible and to allow the mines to keep 80% of their hard-currency earnings.

But Yeltsin's victory could backfire. By winning control over Russia's coal mines, Yeltsin inherits an industry steeped in debt and badly in need of modernization. And the miners voted to suspend their strike for only two months, lest Yeltsin prove no better than Gorbachev at settling grievances.