CHRONICLE LEZHE On 4 July, Mr. Sabri Godo held a meeting with the PR branch of Lezhe. At the center of the meeting were the problems of the 26 July election campaign, the work already done for this important campaign, as well as relations with the youth. The chairman of the Albanian PR in Mirdita, Puka and Lezhe informed the branch and, in order to make the Directorate’s law workable, requested that a telephone line and a teleprinter also be installed, despite all the difficulties, since this area is isolated. PUKE The chairman of the PR, Mr. Sabri Godo, held an activity with the district cadre on 2 July. During the meeting, the election campaign was discussed. In the end, due to the difficult situation, the lack of infrastructure and supply, transport, housing, etc. In his speech, the chairman of the PR, Mr. Sabri Godo, emphasized that the local elections could change the country’s political situation, giving it the character of a truly pluralist local government. The PR’s policy will be constructive. It will fight every anti-democratic action that hinders the new processes. Also of interest was the meeting held in Hajmel. Gjegjan, Berishë, Korthpulë, unemployment and as many as 9,000 people, shortages of water and land distribution, etc.) It was emphasized that the power structures are not taking the proper measures to improve the situation. The Republicans of Puka must do more to make themselves clear to the people and awaken trust in them, offering not party slogans, but the usual word. A meeting with the PR chairman was also held in Fushë-Arrëz. KUKES At the meeting held in Kukës on 3 July, many serious problems were reported, namely land distribution, promises regarding Maretat and their non-fulfillment by the Democratic Party, problems of supply, transport, housing, etc. Correspondent of “Republika”

THESE DAYS... The Communist Party is expected to be declared illegal. On this occasion, the ranks of the Socialist Party will grow and “Zëri i popullit” will become readable [?]

THE PAINFUL JULY OF THE ALBANIANS We have now grown used to all kinds of scandals, and to the tragedy of life as well, just as a person gets used to smoking. It seems our official calendar must also add getting used to July, which for Albanians is becoming a symbol of revolt against the state and, in this context, embassies become objects of exploitation by the masses, poctn, tra, d? The desire to flee this country seems to remain the constant anguish of rare Albanians. What happened these days in Tirana, and the desperate attempts to flee in Vlora, have left people stunned. It has psychologically destroyed them and crushed them spiritually. The exact number of people is hard to know; however, more than 5,000 people gathered around 10 p.m. in front of the embassies, from “Rruga e Durrësit” onward. Just as two years earlier they had rushed the embassies, this time the leap over the threshold of prosperity and escape toward Europe was no longer an option; that alternative now no longer exists. Knowing this, the crowd did the simplest thing: it destroyed and smashed the embassies’ plaques, the windows of the shops, r?full, and then until around 3 a.m. it stood in the streets in front of the embassies. Any normal person asks: who is to blame, why must this happen? At first glance, it seemed that after the democratic elections a new era would begin, but that did not happen; it seemed as though everything would be quickly put right, but that did not happen either. The heavy emotional climate before the elections and the lack of ways to overcome the crisis have severely shaken the cohesion of Albanians. And the government? In the irony of fate, that evening television was showing chronicles of these transformations and then? paraand? of the president of the seven most industrialized countries before they entered the meeting, a farce, pointless, as if nothing had happened. Toward the end, a dry statement is given about an attempt at exodus in Durrës. It seems to me that the state is not learning to speak honestly with people. ILIR ZVERI

AMONG OTHER THINGS FATOS NANO AGAINST LENIN Lenin insisted that socialism is the first stage of communism. Fatos Nano insists that it is the first stage of anti-communism. The processes taking place throughout the Eastern countries and in Albania are being called post-communist. And, according to Fatos Nano, the society that will emerge from this process must be... socialism (democratic). WHAT DID ENVER HOXHA GET WRONG? Enver Hoxha spent his whole life confusing the position of the first name with that of the surname in the structure of the sentence (a grammatical detail that tormented him greatly). He used to say socialist democracy instead of democratic socialism. This principled flaw was corrected by the reformed PS in the context of criticism of the major mistakes of the PP. NIKO GJYZARI IS NEEDED! After disproving everyone’s statements at the state’s door, the current government is left only with the Search for the State Plan in order to draft the five-year plan. Perhaps it cannot find Niko Gjyzari. WHAT DID ENVER HOXHA NOT KNOW? Enver Hoxha never doubted that socialism is the most democratic order. He only did not know that democratic socialism is first established in the elections for local government. And yet, he devoted his life to socialism...

When the files are opened... Who will leave Parliament? Are there former informers of the State Security in Parliament? - When the files are opened... On the days when SEJMI (the Polish parliament) was discussing the issue of the files, one of the deputies said: “Deputies who were informers of the Security are kindly asked not to come to the afternoon session.” This proposal seemed daring, even ridiculous, but the effect it produced was enormous. In the afternoon session, empty seats were seen in parliament. So it was enough for one deputy to speak for the former informers to leave parliament for good. We believe it was the right time to discuss the files. Now imagine for a moment that a law on opening the files has been approved in Albania, and that one of the deputies makes the above proposal. Would there perhaps be empty seats in parliament at the morning session? The answer to this question is both simple and difficult. It is simple because the dictatorship in Albania, unlike other Eastern countries, was more savage and more repressive. Here, people were accused by it more than in any other country. As a result, the condemnation of informers for work on behalf of the State Security must have been very great. It would be a true miracle if all our parliamentarians were not touched by this disease. On the other hand, the answer to the above question is difficult, because the issue of the files, although widely discussed, has remained at a nearly dead point. There is a great deal of indifference toward reaching this chapter. If we add to this indifference the fact that many files have been burned, the problem becomes even more difficult and seems as though it will have no solution at all. And if this really happens, then in Albanian political life failed people will continue to be involved, and their past will also be reflected in new times. Despite all this indifference toward opening the files, the Albanian parliament also has figures so compromised that their removal could happen even without opening the files. The most extreme case is that of Gramoz Ruçi. Throughout Eastern Europe it will be hard to find an analogous case to the former First Secretary of the PP for Tepelena, former Minister of the Interior, Mr. Gramoz Ruçi. He was in the vanguard during the dictatorship, a principle turned- (To be continued on page 2) YLLI RAKIPI

PLATFORM OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY FOR THE LOCAL ELECTIONS After the elections for the People’s Assembly, the elections for local government, to be held on 26 July 1992, are the most important event in political, economic and social life. These elections will determine the local legislative and executive authorities, which will form the moral and legal foundation of the state we want to build. Local government will play a decisive role in bringing the country out of crisis and will open the way to further development, pluralism and democracy. Every citizen should go to these elections with a strong sense of responsibility, knowing that his own problems and those of his family, and the problems of the entire district, are closely linked to the candidate he chooses, in a contest that will last four years. The Republican Party will fight for the broadest possible participation in local government, putting forward as candidates the most honest, capable and hardworking people. The Republican Party believes in the people’s great right to choose a government that truly serves them. The Republican Party believes that, in the conditions of the inevitable crisis we are living through, no single party can take on the vast and complex task that local government must face. Any tendency for one party to monopolize power, whether through violent administrative means or otherwise, hinders democratic development and opens the way to arbitrariness, poor choices and harsh consequences [?]. The Republican Party believes that the most powerful means of breaking the bureaucracy from which our people have traditionally suffered is the deepest possible decentralization of power. Local self-government simplifies the everyday problems of the individual, encourages private initiative and opens the way to free activity, first personal and then national protection. Because the liberation of the energies of each individual means the liberation of the energies of the entire nation. This can be achieved through general laws and principles and through local self-government in practice, toward local self-government as well as the necessary interventions of the protective administration, and fundamental matters must be enshrined in the constitution. The Republican Party sees as the first duty of local government the establishment of a legal order that will ensure the full protection of the individual and his property. The Republican Party is for an unrelenting fight against corruption, bribery, nepotism, and fraud. The first punishment for staff whose abuses for personal gain are proven must be a lifetime ban from state service. II The Republican Party, aiming to achieve the broadest possible participation in local government, will insist that this power have as much autonomy as possible in the fair and rapid allocation and use of resources. The Republican Party considers economic reform to be the only way out of the crisis. The dates set for the start of reform, and the economy, should not be conditioned by partisan political considerations. The Republican Party considers the removal of the 80 percent rule and the liberalization of prices to be right and necessary, but approval at the proper time should only be given after the modalities of these measures are made public and guarantees are provided that minimum living standards will be preserved. Unemployment and a lack of income prevail in the city. Market prices make life difficult and raise the cost of living. The lack of medical and hygiene services puts public health at risk. The housing situation is growing increasingly severe. Urban planning has been left to spontaneity. Streets left in a general state of neglect and burdened by time are compounded by the special problems of families, creating an atmosphere of mistrust and fatalism. Without breaking this spirit, no work can begin. For this, one needs the kind of civic spirit that can see to the end of the tunnel, and that begins with the opening of these municipal councils made up of the most capable, most honest and most proven people in the city. The Republican Party can make a sufficient contribution with such people. It undertakes to solve the problems of the cities by seeking active cooperation from specialists and people of high quality, not by relying merely on party colors. The party criterion in selecting cadres is absurd and, by keeping an entire system in place, constitutes a mistake. For the normalization of life in the cities and to open the path of progress for them, the Republican Party will follow the program set out in the points below: The way out of the crisis must be based on the unrestricted privatization of trade, коммунal services, crafts and light industry. The duty of the municipal council is to remove every bureaucratic obstacle to privatization and free initiative. All obstacles to private import-export should be removed, and wholesalers should be given facilities to create bases that will develop retail trade. Foreign capital should be encouraged in the decisive sectors of development and in the problems of employment, housing, urban transport and joint ventures for industrial development. Links should be established between banking and nearby foreign cities, especially in the fields of education, culture and tourism. Within the state master plan, a municipal tourism development plan should be drawn up with the creation of cooperatives for financing private tourism. The privatization of state housing should be demanded. Citizens living in apartments should be sold those apartments at cost, after deducting depreciation and taking into account the size and location of the apartment. Construction loans should be launched for housing provision. Former owners should be given ownership rights over land and homes, enabling them to choose one of the buildings for their own residence, while the rest should be compensated by the state according to real and objective value. Each municipality should establish the appropriate office for former political prisoners and the entire council should (To be continued on page 4)

In this issue: On p. 3. The Enigma of the Spectrum IN THE NEXT ISSUE: Imprisoned old people - The dictator’s shame