Thousands Call For Return To Communism But Yeltsin Calls For Unity On Anniversary Of Revolution

Die-hard Communists and disgruntled workers mustered their forces throughout the old Soviet Union on Thursday to commemorate the 79th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution with a nostalgic call for a comeback of socialism.

Under red flags with the hammer and sickle and to the tune of “Internationale,” tens of thousands from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus marched to Red Square.

Below a towering bust of Karl Marx outside the Kremlin, speakers called for a march on Moscow to recover power from what Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov called “thieves and drunkards running the country.”

While the Communists painted a grim picture of a Russia in tatters, President Boris Yeltsin issued his first decree since undergoing heart surgery Tuesday. It renames Revolution Day as the Day of Accord and Reconciliation.

In appealing for national unity, he pointed out that the 1917 revolution was a time when hope turned into a tragedy, claiming millions of lives.

The Kremlin’s medical council also announced that Yeltsin was walking in his ward and anxious to change to more comfortable quarters in another clinic.