Broken Zope, Python, xbase-clients, etc

[Russ Cook <russcook@flash.net>]

Please help.  I tried to upgrade my system, after a long period
of stable operation.  During the upgrade attempt, use apt-get
dselect-upgrade, Zope failed to upgrade, due to pre remove script
failure.  Zope is currently installed at 2.3.3-1 level, trying to
upgrade to 2.6.1-10.  It is trying to run python-base, which apparently
is no longer available, and not on my system.  I did reinstall
python1.5_1.5.2-27_i386.deb and python1.5-dev_1.5.2-27_i386.deb, from
ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/p/python1.5.  Additional problems are
that startx no longer exists on my system, and I can't run X.  I don't
know if this is directly related, but dselect and apt-get fail during
all attempts to upgrade due to zope and python script errors.

I am not a sophisticated user, and apparently have done myself damage.
Can anyone offer some steps for me to try to restore my system?  I will
be happy to provide a copy of 'dpkg -l' or any logs to anyone willing
to help.

Thanks so much,
   Russ