The Property Law, adopted last week by the Supreme Soviet, dismantles a major component of Marxist philosophy practiced by the Soviets for more than 70 years. By allowing citizens to own small factories and hire their own workers, Soviet leaders call into question whether any reforms developed after the October Revolution will remain under President Mikhail Gorbachev’s rule.

Perestroika has revealed an inefficient system mired in bureaucratic mediocrity that is unable to supply to its populace basics such as butter, sugar and soap. The Supreme Soviet, reacting to this depressing fact, voted overwhelmingly to approve the drastic course toward free enterprise, displaying the frustration of years of declining productivity.

Politburo member Nikolai Slyunkov recently announced, “Our party would like to distance itself from overly primitive views of socialist ownership.” Such a dumbfounding statement is almost routine today in the Soviet Union, and indicates the Soviets’ eagerness to cast off its strangling economic system that renders its currency practically worthless.

A stronger ruble is essential if the Soviet Union hopes to someday accurately convert rubles into Western currency and take part in an increasingly unified European market. Such a plan may be years away, but it is the surest way to deliver a revitalized long-term economy.

The Property Law, which reserves major economic monopolies for the state, strengthens the multitude of changes conceived by Gorbachev as he reinvents the Soviet Union. Capitalistic policies dismissed during the Bolshevik Revolution are now finding favor in a country that is desperate to restore its economic base, and knows that its current system has failed.