The moment of truth.

Reports that Russian President Boris Yeltsin has agreed to delay until January 2 a bold economic reform plan that his republic was to have begun this month, and discusses why efforts to create a market economy have reached a critical pass. What the former Soviet republics must do to break a dangerous cycle of deficit spending; The outcome as the value of rubles deteriorate; The need for the republics to cooperate on economic reforms; The West's role.