She recalled the day in 1991 when demonstrators marched on Moscow's legislative headquarters and guaranteed the failure of a coup led by old-line Communists.

To the old-line Communists, Mr. Gorbachev's radicalism is apostasy and heresy - an assault on, among other things, their power and privilege.

In Parliament, an agrarian lobby, made up mostly of old-line Communists, is mounting a campaign to fend off the referendum.

But they were thwarted by desperate old-line Communists who didn't mind shedding rivers of blood and who calculated that the world would swallow their brutality without imposing real costs.

Mr. Popov further riled old-line Communists with a proposal to trim costs on the traditional Red Square celebration of the Nov. 7 Revolution Day.

In his dealings with Mr. Yeltsin, Mr. Clinton was protective, careful not to tempt old-line Communists to try to turn the clock back to dictatorship.

People were greedy, and the old-line Communists would not live forever.

Some people suggest that old-line Communists are scheming to keep food off the shelves to make Mr. Gorbachev look bad.

Mr. Yeltsin continues to define the vote as a turning point in the battle for change and against the return of old-line Communists.

"The leaders and local party secretaries are old-line Communists whose dream is to destroy Germany's constitutional order."