During these months, the Albanian Republican Party has been making efforts to convene an assembly of the opposition political parties within the country and of the political parties and organizations of Albanians throughout their territories in Yugoslavia. The grave situation in the country and the external threat make holding such an assembly essential, an assembly that would raise high the walls of national unity. But the PS (PPSH), through its destructive actions, both open and covert, has been and remains a serious obstacle to achieving this goal. While speaking as much as it can about national unity, this party, which organizes exoduses and undermines the country in order to bring about complete destabilization and blame it on democracy, holds a torch in one hand and tries to display the flag of unity with the other. We have seen President Alia play the role of propagandist in this. At a time when the PS (PPSH), through its numerous instruments, continues to carry out its machinations around the Sigurimi, protects the bloc, maintains control over Radio and Television, still keeps the emblems of communist rule at the forefront, talks about reforms while sabotaging them, and seeks to prolong and bring to completion the country’s agony from every position it controls, it is difficult to move toward an assembly of political parties on a national scale. Nevertheless, the PR is not giving up its efforts to bring about this assembly; its date and location will be set by the genuine opposition political parties. The PR believes that political parties from nearby European and Balkan countries that support Albania’s just demand—that Albanians live freely and have the right to self-determination in a united Europe—should also be invited as observers to such a historic assembly. The PR’s constant stance has been to make every effort to achieve unity on important national issues, because internal and external threats are becoming increasingly alarming. To this end, the PR will once again hold talks with the opposition parties. In this context, the appeal we have made to intellectuals has been welcomed.

INTERVIEW WITH THE VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE ALBANIAN REPUBLICAN PARTY, MR ZEF BUSHATI, BY MR GANI LEKA, SECRETARY OF THE «REPUBLIKA» NEWSPAPER EDITORIAL BOARD — — From the conversations we have had, we have noticed that many people are interested in learning about the organization of the Republican Party. So what can you tell us about it? — We are only a few days away from the date marking the PR’s 10-month anniversary. Time is measured in months, but the work done would have required years. Today our party has branches in 27 of the country’s main districts. Sub-branches are also being established in 10 smaller towns, such as Pllakë, Laci, Gramshi, Bilishti, Delvina, etc., and we intend to have our sections operating throughout the countryside of Albania by the end of the year. We have achieved some results in this regard, but we are by no means satisfied. There is still much to do. We are committed to organizing a serious political party, with a programme, a statute and membership cards, where every individual wishing to join must accept the programme, meet the admission requirements set out in the statute, and pay their membership dues regularly. This is the work of our republican ideal, which is unbreakable and unbending in the face of the obstacles that arise and that we encounter.

The Albanian communists, after changing their name at their second Congress, tactfully taking the side of their former leader, the «great» leader and «architect» of the new Albania, Enver Hoxha, decided that historians should judge him. In other words, the people who knew him, the people who suffered his kind of ideas to the very end, were to keep silent and accept him as a leader. This is all too true: when Dritëro Agolli, the poet and writer, and even Mojkom Keqo opposed it from the Congress rostrum, the conservatives responded with cries of «Party-Enver, we are ready at any time!» The same enthusiasm greeted Mr Fatos Nano when he was elected party leader. Thus, what had been expected—the split of the PPSH into two, Enverists on one side and moderates under a new name on the other—did not happen. Why? Was it not known that there were members opposed to exposing Enver’s record? It was known, but they left it to time. To gain ground. And when the entire opposition had portrayed the former leader vividly and clearly, and, moreover, when the people were experiencing the consequences of the society he and his comrades had designed and built, the communists, under their socialist name, finally decided that the time had come to put their idol, Enver Hoxha, up for auction. This was done in an interview published in «Zëri i Popullit» on 27 October by Mr Fatos Nano, under the headline «THE SOCIALIST PARTY FULLY DISASSOCIATES ITSELF FROM THE PPSH, AS A PARTY OF THE MONOLITHIC TYPE, FROM ITS POLICIES AND MISTAKES AND THOSE OF ENVER HOXHA». It could hardly be put better. But is this interview sincere? How did Mr Nano become convinced so quickly of the mistakes of the PPSH and its leader, when until a few months ago he either praised them or kept silent? Was he not a researcher at the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies? Could it be that he drew these conclusions back then? Besides, why must everything be attributed to Enver Hoxha alone? We understand that he was a Zeus, that he bears primary responsibility—not for the upheavals of socialism that engulfed us, since that was a historical tide, an ideal that spread through many countries and peoples, but because he chose the harshest, most inhuman type of dictatorship. But, to be realistic and honest, we must say that from 1973, when his abilities as a leader began to decline for the first time (as was only natural, since he had been in power for a long time), they diminished greatly. In the following years, this decline accelerated. He appeared only rarely at meetings and attended only a few working sessions. Who was in charge then? And after his death, who led and directed the party for five years? Who continued along the same path, in that amorphous kind of socialism, that bitter class struggle, that great and inexplicable revisionism? Even if Mrs Nevile may bear some responsibility, the leader was Mr Ramiz Alia. And not only during those five years. Along with Mehmet Shehu, Adil Çarçani and Hysni Kapo, he had been part of the PPSH leadership elite and was among the dictator’s closest associates. So how can the socialists, who today put Enver on trial, continue to support (since he is in their ranks) the president, the continuer of his work, Ramiz Alia? It seems to me that this is a tactical move, not an ideological or transparent one; perhaps Mr Nano made these statements to gain some advantage and save himself. It may also be a way to divert attention from an analysis of the unity between the pseudo-socialist communists and their Western leader. Looking at other recent facts, it appears that they have changed very little from Enver’s path—only under pressure from the entire population. Recall that, until a few months ago, parliament was controlled and dominated by state officials. Together with Mr President, they insisted on maintaining the agricultural cooperatives, although the farmers themselves settled the matter by dismantling them. The socialists had a rigid conception of privatization and took a clear, firm stand against handing over land, mines and factories. When it came to pardoning prisoners of conscience, they dug in their heels with their MPs and insisted that the decision remain in force, until, frightened by the heroic strike of the martyrs of democracy, they hurriedly granted the pardon. We will not mention the dictatorship of law-and-order enforcement or the methods used by the «renewed» SHIK, since that is a subject for a separate article. As for business, wherever they are the protagonists, they are ahead, because they acted to secure key positions in the economy. We could list other «renewals», but these are enough, dear reader, to understand how far they have moved away from the teachings of the PPSH and Enver. Of course, there will be changes, because we live in a new era, but the same spirit remains, the same tactic of doing whatever is necessary. Why do former Enverists now raise the most troubling issues through other people? The opposition raises them, the communist-socialists counterattack, and when they see they cannot win, they issue resolutions and support this or that just cause. And for this they threaten and applaud. But the people cannot accept this. They have understood very well that the Albanian socialists (communists) are not a force of the democratic European left. For the sake of the electorate, they say they wholly disagree with totalitarian communism and Leninist-Stalinist-Enverist socialism, while they have as President Enver’s associate, the continuer of his work and the leader under him, the author of the work «Our Enver», and continue to implement the tactics and strategy he laid down. If, as Mr Nano says in his interview, you oppose the nationalization and absurd socialization of the economy and the anonymity of ownership, why don’t you return to people the properties and those buildings, houses or shops that still exist? Let us turn to the party-state system, the totalitarian communism that, as Mr Nano says, has been historically and definitively proven a failure and is antidemocratic. This does not seem to me to be some new discovery: the people know it, and the world has known it for a long time, even while our Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies continued to sing the praises of this system. But if you have understood this bitter truth, why do you still retain the same state economic and organizational structure everywhere? What value is there in our ministries, these nests of monolithic trade and typical socialist bureaucracy? In general, the structure and apparatus remain the same, as do the methods and ways of operating that belong to a deceitful economy. Must the people still carry monolithic bureaucracy on their shoulders when we want to build a free-market economy? You may say that we are waiting for reform. Which one? The one initiated and persistently pursued by the opposition, mainly the Democratic Party, because it has MPs in the People’s Assembly, as well as the «Monolia» organizations? Can we praise you for criticizing the party-state when you have so far severed nothing from the Sigurimi? The state is never good. (Continued on page 4)

... mountains, with which we work. — More specifically, what issue are you referring to? — There are many, and they are varied. To begin with, the building is inadequate and old, and everyone is crammed inside. The Central Office works there, along with the newspaper’s editorial office, the Youth Forum and the Tirana branch. We have brought this up many times with Mr Ylli Bushi. He does not solve this problem because he is a communist! (Continued on page 2)

To get an accurate answer, we contacted the Ministry of Agriculture. «I should tell you,» the official said, «that 8,338 specialists worked in the agricultural cooperatives: agronomists, zootechnicians, veterinarians, planners, finance officers, engineers...» A whole army has been reduced to the ranks of the unemployed. And what is worse, the members of this army do not know where they have been assigned. Only God knows how many senior specialists have no income. At the former personnel office of the Ministry of Agriculture, they gave us an astonishing answer: «As far as we know, there are many of them, but we cannot give you an accurate figure because they were appointed and transferred...» Very well. Yet just two years ago, in that very same office we approached, you could find details such as the date and time the second hand of the clock was fitted in Lushnje, how many machines were ready for the wheat harvest-threshing campaign in Pukë, and how many square metres remained unplanted in Sarandë... To be realistic, we must say that not all specialists have been left without pay. Under a government decision, which has been extended until 31 October, specialists attached to the governing boards of cooperatives will be allowed to receive payment for carrying out the tasks involved in winding up their activities, but they are few in number. In the northeastern region, the cooperatives were dismantled relatively quickly. The senior specialists returned to their districts and gained nothing apart from having their names entered on the unemployed lists of the pluralist committees. When one recalls that for fifteen months the state has paid industrial workers millions of hours’ worth of wages for work not done (social assistance), because of the lack of raw materials, the question has a certain logical basis: Why should more than 80% of senior agricultural specialists not also be paid? At a time when everyone is asking questions, it is somewhat difficult to get answers, but in any case we believe that those who are unemployed and are dealing with these difficulties should not be judged so lightly. Including them in the social-assistance law is a very small consolation, which cannot make up for the degrading suspension of their livelihoods that has continued until now.

(THE FIRST CITIZEN TELLS THE STORY OF KAKAVIA) For eight hours I travelled hundreds of kilometres in comfort; but to cover the remaining hundred metres, up to the Albanian customs post, I had to endure several torturous hours. An ancient sort of paranoia and insecurity takes hold of you. The first worry: the luggage. It piles up all around, next to one another, like in the fable «The Two Oxen and the Wolf». Within seconds, your suitcase, television, refrigerator, sack of bedding or carpet can «fly away». Anyone whose belongings are not stolen is an exception. At the «gate» of Aduhet, humiliation awaits you; an assault! Your whole face tenses up; you sink into depression. You feel powerless to put yourself to the test. Because the profiteers who «beg» you to exchange money may snatch your wallet. In the chaos of crossing, real hawks—«xehshkrin»—swoop in, leaving you humiliated and exhausted in a moment. How are those people and those metres to be crossed? After hours of struggling and walking back and forth, we learn that several trucks have been assigned to carry people across in transit to the «other shore», to the Albanian customs post. But the drivers act according to their connections and interests. Luggage can get mixed up and lost. You collect one piece of luggage, but they will not let you go back for the other one a second time. And once on Albanian soil? If you have not arranged to meet someone close to you, night may fall while you are still there. In this chaos, taking advantage of the «wealth» carried by people returning from abroad, taxi drivers lie in wait, having raised their fares outrageously, and demand payment in foreign currency. Why is there not a single drop of water at the crossing today, nowhere to sit, nowhere to shelter from the heat or the rain? Why is there no regular service at reasonable prices? Where is our transport system? Is it only at customs that you are allowed to go private? And what about Durrës? Here is what the second citizen says: — The ordeal of crossing has several stages. The confusion begins on the ferry: you queue at the café to collect your passports. The conveyor belt for luggage does not work, or some fool has to carry it on their chest. Then rush toward the door. The confusion grows because nobody knows whether the passengers or the cars and trucks are to disembark first. This major delay creates waves of people boarding the ferry, colliding with those getting off. After all that comes the transport of the lug-

YELTSIN ASKS CONGRESS FOR «SUPPLEMENTARY POWERS» Russian President Boris Yeltsin asked the Congress of People’s Deputies of the Russian Federation for «supplementary powers» that would enable him to change autonomously, or «with the subsequent approval of the Supreme Soviet», the highest structures of the executive state: the Federation’s Supreme Council, its Presidium, the government and the president. According to Yeltsin, the current situation in the Russian Federation requires «urgently» a period of about one year to establish a new system of governance. «Bearing the interests of the people in mind, we must act decisively, energetically and with readiness.» FACING SECURITY RISKS Security at Bulgaria’s Kozloduy nuclear power plant is inadequate and the situation there is alarming, energy officials pointed out. «Extraordinary measures must be taken to improve the security» of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant, but we do not have sufficient financial resources, Reuters was told by Janko Janev, chairman of the Atomic Energy Committee. «The plant needs electronic equipment like that used in airports, but it does not even have a vehicle to transport personnel.» Security ranks last among the series of problems that have beset the large plant on the banks of the Danube. In recent months, the plant has suffered a fire and a leak of radioactive water. Several radioactive «hot spots» have been found. Germany agreed three weeks ago to provide Bulgaria with equipment worth 12 million dollars. The IAEA has also agreed to send aid to improve security at the plant. But Janev said that nothing has arrived so far.