The delegation of the Democratic League of Albanians in Croatia, composed of Dr. Tom Berisha, chairman, Dr. Muharrem Nexhipi, deputy chairman, and Zef Marku, member of the Presidency, during their official visit to Albania held a meeting at the central headquarters of the Albanian Republican Party with Vangjush Gambeta, Hyen Çobani and Agim Zeka, founders of the Republican Party. At the meeting, both sides informed each other about the activities of their parties and exchanged views on the Albanian alternative in Kosovo and in other Albanian territories, concerning the defense of national rights against Greater Serbian oppression. They also exchanged experience on issues of mutual interest. In this context, they discussed the possibility of a joint meeting of the Republican Party of Albania and the Albanian parties in Yugoslavia. The Republican Party appreciated and supported the activities of the Democratic League of Albanians in Croatia and its efforts to defend the legitimate rights violated by the Greater Serbs. For its part, the Democratic League of Albanians in Croatia appreciated and supported the activities of the Republican Party in the process of democratization in Albania. Both sides considered ongoing contacts between them useful, through exchanges of delegations and other means. The meeting took place in complete understanding and in a fraternal spirit.

Thursday, 15 February. The streets of Kavaja are sorrowful. [?] makes the sadness even worse. The people of Kavaja faced a severe test today. This is what retired engineer Ibrahim Sukaj, Hasan Shkreli, the city high school’s mathematics teacher, and so many others tell you. A city angered on this February day. A pioneer city of the new, genuine democracy. The people of Kavaja have had democracy in their hearts. Our great Noli knew this about them: on 11 June 1924, in front of the former old school, he presented the political and economic program of his democratic government. This is an old tradition that the people of Kavaja, even under the violence of the dictatorship, rekindled and electrified all of Albania with. They were the ones who, on the evening of 26 March 1990, with their fiery cries, kindled in the fervor of the spirit of democracy, challenged the temple of dictatorial power. Even today, the impressions of that day in Kavaja remain fresh. Neither arrests, nor torture, nor pressure from the organs of the dictatorship broke their demands and aspirations for democracy. The spirit of this city, revolted by long-lasting violence, could find no comfort in the empty promises and shameless, presumptuous conduct of party and state bureaucrats. That thirst for democracy would pass through their hearts time and again throughout all the months that followed. Then it would pour openly into the city streets, like a wave onto the shore. And not without pain: the dictatorial state responded to the dialogue they had called for with violence and bloodshed. No one wanted that. But the people of Kavaja could only be subdued by the brandishing of force. That is what the bureaucrats thought; that is what others found appropriate—to deny the people of Kavaja dialogue about politics, the economy and everything connected with their lives and their future. But the people of Kavaja did not remain silent. They did not submit. Clear-headed and resolute, these (Continued on page 3)

Dear sisters and brothers! On 31 March we will vote. These are the first free votes that will express the will of the people, give legal recognition to political pluralism, human freedoms, individual initiative, the rule-of-law state and the depoliticization of national life. Our future depends on our votes. Do not allow any political or state force to impose its will on you. Only the union of free individuals can form a free people. The Republican Party is committed to advancing the ideals of the great national revivalists and democrats, Fan Noli, L. Gurakuqi, A. Rustemi, B. Curri, etc., for a profound, all-round democratization of the country’s life according to the principles of modern Europe. It undertakes the burden of the historic task facing our people: to avert spiritual and political erosion, as well as the economic catastrophe into which the monist regime of the PPSH has plunged the country; to restore all national spiritual values and put the economy on the road to prosperity through our own efforts and close cooperation with Europe and the USA. To achieve these goals as quickly as possible, with the will of the people, the Republican Party will reconstruct Albanian society in its entirety and resolve the problems accumulated in every field, aiming to integrate Albania as quickly as possible into the course of European development and raise the economic standard of the Albanian family from its present level to one acceptable and worthy by the standards of our continent. Specifically: — It will guarantee national unity and build a depoliticized, modern state governed by the rule of law, which safeguards the interests of its citizens, and Albania’s freedom, independence and sovereignty. — It will secure the human rights set out in contemporary international conventions concerning housing, work, profession, movement, ideas, information, the creation of wealth, equality before the law, etc. It will guarantee the inviolability of the home, public safety, the fight against vagrancy and a peaceful life. — It will respect the rights of national minorities to education, movement, and facilitated communication with their respective peoples, etc. — It will support the legitimate demands of Albanian emigrants. It will create every opportunity and facilitate emigrants’ contribution to the country’s development, chiefly through investment and joint ventures. — It will review injustices committed in the past through wholly incompetent judgments, and the innocent will be compensated materially and morally through a rehabilitation institute, which must be based on fair criteria and function swiftly. — It will review all legislation, purging it of its anti-democratic spirit and enriching it with legal norms based on our own and world traditions. It will abolish the death penalty. — It will establish profoundly democratic legislation, in accordance with European standards and in favor of women, providing measures to prevent unwanted pregnancies and permitting abortion; a reduced six-hour workday in two shifts; and longer maternity leave, according to professions and in keeping with the scientific standards of the time. — The working week for all employees will be reduced from six days to five. — It will fight bureaucracy and corruption and disclose the high salaries of senior officials, including those of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and State Security. — It will establish a foreign policy of neutrality with a Western European orientation, giving priority to ties with neighboring and Mediterranean countries. — It will pay special attention to the issue of our Kosovar brothers and other Albanians living in other Albanian territories in Yugoslavia, and to aspirations for national unification, according to the principles of the KSB, through self-determination. — It will protect freedom of conscience and religious belief, returning places of worship to their respective faiths. — It will strengthen the development of all currents in art and science, with the exception of those that spread fascist and warmongering ideas. — It will protect the establishment of free trade unions and promote economic emigration, with the state also providing us with financial support. — It will reorganize the army, depoliticize and modernize it, and gradually reduce its size, shortening the period of military service and improving service personnel’s living conditions. It will introduce ranks in the army and new practices for military training. — It will organize and depoliticize the Ministry of Internal Affairs and modernize it in accordance with the needs of the time for the protection of public order, separating State Security from it and placing it directly under the President. Surveillance and the monitoring of citizens because of their political and social opinions will be excluded from its duties. — The investigative bodies, prosecution service and courts will be independent of one another. — Court proceedings will be public, with lawyers participating at every stage. The accused will be considered innocent until proven guilty. Any use of physical or moral coercion will be punishable by law. — It will draft a new constitution that fully meets the requirements of political pluralism, free relations with the world, human rights and recognition of the inviolability of private property. It will guarantee that the People’s Assembly is effectively the holder of the people’s sovereignty and functions permanently. — It will lead the country out of the severe political and economic crisis by reviving confidence in moving forward and encouraging and supporting every domestic and foreign initiative for development. — It will support all forms of property, with the aim of making all Albanians owners. To this end, it supports the three forms of ownership (state, collective and private), giving priority to expanding and strengthening private ownership through the privatization of services and enterprises producing mass consumer goods, light industry and food products, by transferring them to workers through favorable credit. They will have full rights to engage with foreign markets to obtain raw materials and sell their products, once domestic needs have been met as a priority. — The PR will open the way wide to market-economy laws, creating all necessary infrastructure, such as a bank, stock exchange, etc., and establishing all necessary international ties. — To facilitate the country’s economic activity, it will work to make the moc[?]dhën convertible, with all the necessary attributes. — To revive and activate the country’s assets, it will establish a fiscal policy and provide appropriate facilities to attract as much capital from abroad as possible, guaranteeing foreign investors all the rights they enjoy in the most developed European countries. Investors of Albanian origin will be given priority; in all cases, the main branches of the national economy will remain in the hands of their rightful owner: the Albanian nation. The PR will protect all Albanian specialists and workers, providing them with specialized training and placing them on an equal footing with foreign specialists. — The PR considers the peasantry a force with a decisive role in the fate of the nation. It is the bearer of our people’s highest traditions and spiritual values, and has successfully endured all the wars for independence and freedom. Today it represents 65% of the population. Therefore, the peasantry will be strongly supported so that it can rise as quickly as possible to the level required by the times. — The PR wants the peasant to be educated and master of his land, casting off the bureaucracy that has stifled him and turned him into a daily-wage laborer and a mere instrument of work. It aims to make the peasant and his labor a source of prosperity for his family and the nation. — The peasantry itself will decide the fate of agricultural cooperatives, their type, internal relations, etc., finally doing away with diktats. It will be introduced to various forms of modern European cooperation, where the development of production and the farmer’s individuality can best intersect. — To encourage the establishment of private farms, the state will strengthen low-interest credit and specialized enterprises for comprehensive mechanization, chemicalization, modern irrigation, etc., with the aim that, in time, the peasant will own his own means of work. — The PR believes that land should belong to the person who works it, and that the criteria for its allocation and use should be approved by the peasantry itself through a national or local referendum, after considering various options and taking into account soil fertility, each family’s capacity to work, etc. — The peasant will have the right to inherit agricultural land, but not to sell it, buy it or lease it. The land may be taken from him only if he abandons it voluntarily. — Building land (building plots) may be bought and sold together with the dwelling. — The PR supports preserving agricultural land and opposes its fragmentation, and will work to ensure that all construction is sited on hills and non-productive land. — Efforts will be made gradually to relieve the countryside of its present surplus of labor and remove women from fieldwork, by introducing modern mechanization and chemicalization on a broad scale. — To prevent overpopulation around large cities and the emergence of socioeconomic problems, following the example of many European countries, a carefully planned local industry will be established to employ all the rural workforce available and make good use of each area’s resources. In this context, both state and private tourism will play a special role. Thus, every farmhouse in coastal and mountain areas will become a source of foreign-currency income, serving the well-being of the peasant family and the country’s progress. — The peasant must not be regarded as the basis of state accumulation. The main profits should be left to the farmer for development and progress, applying proportional taxation in favor of reinvesting profits. — To improve peasant life, pensions, social insurance, various services and bakeries, whether state-run or private, will be further improved. All the country’s villages will gradually be connected by paved roads. — Within five years, state farms will be brought up to the level of contemporary technology and will employ no more than one worker per 5–10 hectares. They will become a greater source of livestock products, vegetables and fruit for the large cities. — The structure of agricultural crops will be developed in accordance with each farm’s interests and the market. — Education in the countryside will take a more polytechnic direction, with the task of producing middle-level specialists able to manage and operate agricultural enterprises, without excluding general education. — The export of food products will be categorically prohibited until domestic needs have been met to the level required by the times. In summary, the Republican Party undertakes to give priority to: a) In the field of the economy: — Reorganizing and developing agriculture so as immediately to improve the people’s food supply and expand tourism. — State and private tourism, turning it into a genuine industry for earning foreign currency and employing citizens. — Light and food industries, to use all the country’s resources and reduce the overconcentration of activity in major urban centers. — Modernizing mines and the production of energy resources. b) In the field of social welfare: — Giving urgent priority to feeding the people by eliminating the ration-card systems that exist today. — Resolving the serious housing problem in accordance with the needs of the times. — Employing all citizens by creating new jobs within the country or through economic emigration. — Ensuring cultured leisure, requiring that 25–30% of all new tourist facilities built by foreign entrepreneurs be made available to Albanian citizens, in addition to state and private construction that will be encouraged in this field. Brothers and sisters! Vote for the Republican Party! It guarantees you a peaceful future, well-being in humane conditions, national prosperity and rapid integration into the processes of European and global development. The Founding Commission calls on all PR members and supporters to promote its electoral platform.