DO NOT BELIEVE THE SLANDERS AND PROMISES OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY. LIKE A WORTHY DAUGHTER OF THE “MOTHER” PARTY, IT SEEKS TO HOLD ON TO POWER WITH LIES, WHILE ALL OF EUROPE HAS ELIMINATED COMMUNISM-SOCIALISM AS A SYSTEM.

ZEF BUSHATI Deputy Chairman of PRSH In a truly democratic and pluralist society, different parties compete, representing particular alternatives for society’s development. Each of these parties is linked to particular visions of development and to particular social strata and groups. Starting from a particular position, each of these parties offers its specific alternative for overall social development. We Republicans, our Republican Party, certainly have our own distinctive character. It brings together those who share the same vision of social development and have common interests. In this respect, two important aspects are of particular significance, and other elements rest upon them. The first concerns the political aspect, while the second relates to factors of economic and social development. Many aspects are important for the development of society, but for a republican political grouping the fundamental point, the important moment, is the transformation of society’s political system according to republican concepts. Thus, what matters is the normal functioning of the legal order and the market economy; respect, according to the principle of equality, for every citizen before the law; human freedoms and rights; the right to private property and inheritance; the exercise of religion; the inviolability of the confidentiality of correspondence; freedom of movement within and outside the state, etc. But the most important element, which conditions all the others and guarantees the development of everything else, is the construction of a modern republican political system founded on contemporary principles. The Marxist argument that the economic foundation of society is state-owned social property is wrong and does not stand up to history. This was demonstrated especially by the experiments—and the communist experiment—and by the history of this century on the one hand, and, on the other, by actual Nazi-fascist practice: even in a society based entirely on private property and favouring big capital, if relations within the political system are distorted, that country not only fails to emerge from crisis but also plunges, in addition to economic crisis, into a domestic and foreign political adventure. This is what happened with the Bolshevik communist experience. The communist left claimed that placing the means of production under social ownership would further strengthen the political state. This did not happen. The harsh dictatorship within the political system became an important factor in plunging the country into a severe, general crisis. We Republicans firmly affirm, on the contrary, that in those countries where life was built on the basis of a genuine system, in accordance with republican traditions and their continuous refinement, not only was democracy stabilised, but society also experienced major economic and technological development. The most perfect example of the republican system is the United States of America. The Republicans’ idea is that the people, the electorate, citizens and peasants, in order to secure all social values—such as their fundamental freedoms and rights and their economic interests based on the development of ownership—must first and foremost give priority to perfecting the representative political system, built beyond any doubt on the basis of the great, foremost values of republican politics. It is a fact that over the last three or four centuries almost every major social movement has been founded on republican values and principles. What are these values? We Republicans would say that these values are of a dual nature: traditional republican values and modern republican values, which supplement, strengthen and consolidate one another. Among traditional values are the construction of power on the basis of free elections, the separation of local powers, popular sovereignty, etc. As for modern values, we Republicans would list the creation of multinational representative systems; the interweaving of the republican political system with a liberal economic system and highly advanced individual rights; the extension of the principle of elections and representation to other cells of social life, such as enterprises; and the interweaving of the republican political system with a very high level of social welfare, etc. In the fundamental philosophical and legal concepts on which Republicans base themselves, and which are a continuation ... of domestic and foreign [relations]. This is what happened with the Bolshevik communist experience. The communist left claimed that placing the means of production under social ownership would further strengthen the political state. This did not happen. The harsh dictatorship within the political system became an important factor in plunging the country into a severe, general crisis. We Republicans firmly affirm, on the contrary, that in those countries where life was built on the basis of a genuine system, in accordance with republican traditions and their continuous refinement, not only was democracy stabilised, but society also experienced major economic and technological development. The most perfect example of the republican system is the United States of America. In the fundamental philosophical and legal concepts on which Republicans base themselves, and which are a continuation

“THE BOLSHEVIKS WILL HOLD ON TO POWER AGAIN...” (LENIN) — THE BOLSHEVIKS SURRENDERED POWER EVEN IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY!... — THE FACTORS FOR DICTATORSHIP AND OPPRESSION ARE A FIRE THAT BURNS EVERYONE — COMMUNISM IS TAKING ALBANIA BACK TO THE YEAR... 1941! — POPULARITY DOES NOT PUT DEMOCRACY AT RISK THROUGH DICTATORSHIP — THOSE WHO RULED AS COMMUNISTS CANNOT MANAGE AS DEMOCRATS! At a meeting of the “socialists”, Kastriot Islami is at the centre of ... A question comes from the hall, written down: What is your opinion of the Sali-Sabri-Skënder trio? The former chairman of the Parliamentary Presidium reads the question in his own way: “There is a question about a thirst for the ES-ES-ES trio!” (The allusion is clear; indeed, it is not an allusion at all, but a concrete version of the accusation already proclaimed by the Socialist Party and its megaphone, “ZP”, that the grouped OPPOSITION — PD, PR and PSD — is FASCIST.) At another meeting with the electorate, the senior PS spokesperson, Fatos Nano, declares that PD and PR are against national reconciliation and are therefore ANTI-ALBANIAN parties. Fatos Nano is not hinting. Being as transparent as he is, he says things plainly. You can easily find facts and statements like these everywhere... THE BOLSHEVIKS WILL HOLD ON TO POWER AGAIN... (LENIN) It is Fatos Nano’s duty to fight for his party: “We are entering the campaign to win,” he has declared. Loud and clear, without whispering. So be it, if that is also what is best for the people! On the eve of his SECOND resignation, Prime Minister Nano had declared in England that he had nothing whatsoever to do with political parties, that he had no political prejudices about writing and “aspërne”, that!... But immediately afterwards, when he was no longer prime minister, they reminded him of the idea that power (which should not be relinquished) could also be preserved as party No. 1! It is well known that, for the revolutionary working class, power—its seizure and retention by any means—is the main issue! “The Bolsheviks must hold on to power,” Volodja continued! And what does Andreotti think?: “Long-lasting power wears you down, power consumes you... but of course, it is not good to lose it! Naturally, the NATO-socialists cannot simply accept Andreotti! They are followed by the sentimental Italian communist press, which puts it more sternly: ‘Power wears you down, power consumes you...’ but it must not be lost!...” (Moreover, since the Italian communists, according to the “distanced” half of Enver, are Euro-communists (that is, anti-communists to Albanians?), the saying must be placed in the concrete circumstances of our country! Power is won with blood and defended... as it is won! The problem is that our Balkan “socialists” (that is: non-...) have no favourable circumstances whatsoever for continuing their hold on power. They know and feel these things well: even if they had won the 31 March elections by 100 percent, they would have handed it over unconditionally par- YLLI RAKIPI, FARUK MYRTAJ (Continued on page 2)

This 8 March finds you with the right—denied to you for a whole century—to speak freely, but, sadly, still under a communist-socialist government and system. The leaders of our national misfortune, under whom women were subjected to great suffering and barbaric exploitation, proclaim that today they are free, that they have become like European socialists. For the sake of their existence and of retaining power, they are ready to deny ... and change their name to suit their interests. Do not believe them, because they are responsible for your misery, mass unemployment and the exoduses that have taken sons away from their beloved mothers, sisters and wives. Do not be deceived by any promise or tale about Kosovo that they may offer with the money stolen from the people. We call on you, in the name of your sons and in the name of Mother Albania, to use your vote to seal the complete victory of democracy in town and countryside. All the more so in the countryside, where PPSH, the mother of PS, turned the cooperative woman into a creature fit only for work, creating the harshest conditions. We send our good wishes to you and to those in education there, who celebrated their holiday without joy: next year, with democracy at work, the first door to well-being and to the economic changes and improvements of a free Albania will open. OSMAN ALKASA (Continued on page 2)

This week, the US Embassy in Tirana donated to the newspaper “Republika” a Ford vehicle, Jurgon model, together with a photocopier. Two or three weeks ago you had also donated a Macintosh computer. You have also given us, free of charge, a fax machine, a camera, black-and-white film and several dictaphones, which were sent by the US International Media Fund. If we also add the newspaper’s paper donated to us by the USA so that we could continue the election campaign, your assistance has been ...; for this, it is our duty to thank you from the heart as brothers and friends. With the success of the democratic opposition’s campaign, this sincere cooperation will be further strengthened. THE EDITORIAL STAFF

This voice comes to you, friends of Albania — E. Ndbele, Toronto, Canada Amnesty International Group 76 Cobourg, Ontario — Jacob Glucman M. A. (Econ) Graf-Adolf Str. 77 5000 Köln 80 Germany — Majorie Stewart Thourbury, Ontario, Canada — Kristen Lamerte Imnis Edg(e), University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada — Wilfried Roggenkamp Germanstrasse 10 8000 Muenchen 40 — Claus H. Walter Amnesty of the FR Germany, Postach 170 229 D 5300 Bon 1 — Annie Izabel Gordon Edinburgh United Kindom — Hans Willi Doep, Margaretten Str. 22 D 5000 Wuppertal Germany — Bezik Bergich-Land Judith Kamin To/ Representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCR) in Belgrade Ladies and gentlemen, Your interest in human rights, in Albania, and in human rights in Albania has been great, and your help has been good... Here we are obliged to prepare materials as evidence about the situation of the Albanians, to examine and assess how we receive them, file them, and support them through their own institutions or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, without informing the public about it through public means. 2. Albania in Europe is worse than Palestine in the Middle East. In practical, physical terms, the police beat Albanians with batons, shoot them with firearms, and burn them even with napalm; the governments of four states and six republics: Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Italy and Albania itself. Please investigate these matters on the ground around Albania’s borders, and you will see this quite clearly and easily.