Lawmakers to Hear Gorbachev on Crisis : Soviet Union: He agrees to demands and will focus on a federal treaty in a major talk Friday.

MOSCOW —  In a back-bench rebellion by lawmakers fed up with their lack of real power, the Supreme Soviet dumped its regular agenda on Wednesday and demanded that President Mikhail S. Gorbachev report personally on the country’s state of crisis.

Gorbachev agreed to deliver a wide-ranging address to the Supreme Soviet, the national legislature, on Friday, focusing on his plans for a new treaty among the Soviet Union’s 15 republics that is meant to hold the country together.

But Wednesday’s Supreme Soviet session, originally scheduled to begin with discussion of a bill on foreign currency, had already dissolved into an outpouring of anger and disgust from disillusioned legislators tired of seeing their new laws ignored and their country sinking inexorably toward chaos.

“Not one law is working; no one pays attention to anyone else,” deputy Vladimir A. Valov complained. “The paralysis of power at the highest level has reached its most extreme period.”

Lt. Col. Vilen Martirosian, a reformist military officer, proposed that the Supreme Soviet simply disband itself if it cannot find a way to make its new laws stick.

“The highest organ of power should be the highest organ of power,” he said. “Otherwise, let’s just admit we’re no one.”

Deputies now serving in the Supreme Soviet were the first national lawmakers chosen in competitive elections after seven decades of one-candidate races.

The Supreme Soviet, which is formed from members of the Congress of People’s Deputies, the larger national Parliament, was given the principal legislative role in Gorbachev’s political reforms.

Although intended to become the mechanism for introducing the rule of law to replace the Communist Party’s effective dictatorships in the past, the 542-seat body has found it hard going. While racing to pass dozens of laws per session, it still has been unable to keep up with the pace of reform needed to stem the country’s accelerating collapse.

It lacks the funding, staff and technical resources to function smoothly, as well as the Western-style party machines that work deals behind the scenes to keep parliamentary action efficient.

The Supreme Soviet’s tenure also has coincided with a tremendous surge of nationalism in the 15 republics, most of which have asserted their sovereignty by declaring that they have the right to ignore the Supreme Soviet’s laws.

Armenian deputy Genrikh S. Igitian complained that although the Supreme Soviet voted Gorbachev special powers in September to get the economic crisis under control, the president was still unable to take the country in hand.

“I want to know, is there power in the Soviet Union or isn’t there?” he asked. “We gave all possible powers to the president. All that’s left is for us to take off our coats and hand them to him.

“We left nothing for ourselves. You have to ask, ‘What else do we need to do so that presidential decrees are fulfilled?’ ”

In a similar vein, the popular weekly newspaper Moscow News, long a strong Gorbachev backer, issued a virtual ultimatum Wednesday, calling on the president either to take urgent radical measures or to cede his seat to someone who can.

“One can no longer avoid responsibility for today’s deeds by entreating about the socialist choice and Communist future,” the paper said. “Either prove your ability to act resolutely or resign.”

Warning that “a tragedy will be inevitable” if the Soviet president acts otherwise, it urged him to adopt a six-point program that includes an overhaul of the government and distribution of land as private property to farmers.

Deputies also complained that Gorbachev has excluded them from negotiations on the new treaty establishing a less centralized, more federal structure for the Soviet Union and that he has kept them in ignorance about his meeting Sunday with Boris N. Yeltsin, the radical president of the Russian Federation. Yeltsin told members of the Russian legislature Tuesday that he and Gorbachev had reached basic agreement about forming a coalition government.

Acting Supreme Soviet Chairman Ivan D. Laptev said the president’s address will include an account of his meeting with Yeltsin and will be attended by the heads of the 15 republics and top government officials. Gorbachev also will report on the crumbling economy and the political situation.