News In Brief

China drops egalitarianism, vows to reward good work

The Chinese Communist Party publicly abandoned the egalitarian principles of the late Chairman Mao Tsetung in presenting a master plan Saturday for overhauling China's urban economy.

Party secretary Hu Yaobang presided over the third plenum of the Central Committee at which the reforms were unanimously adopted.

A policy document bearing the unmistakable imprint of the country's present leader, Deng Xiaoping, foreshadowed price and wage reforms and an end to Soviet-style rigid state planning. It said the wages structure must be adapted to reward diligent workers and punish the lazy.

The reforms mark Peking's boldest departure ever from economic strictures common to communist nations and its biggest decentralization of economic power in its 35-year history as a communist nation.