NOWHERE IN THE WORLD DID THE COMMUNISTS TAKE POWER THROUGH ELECTIONS ARBEN POPOCI When the Communists took power 50 years ago (naturally, not in free elections), they politically and physically eliminated the entire opposition and their arr... (the intelligentsia and the wealthy class). Ahmet Zogu, for example, did the same when he killed Avni Rustemin, Bajram Currin, Luigj Gurakuqin, Hasan Prishtinën, etc. All these, who were ... in the history of the whole world, have been done by all the great rulers throughout the history of the whole world. But is, for example, Avni Rustem or Bajram Curri to blame for not having sympathy... Thus, for not having sympathy... When ... (because of damage to the page) ... In this way ... ...In today’s Albania... [the article text is cut off at the upper and left edges of the image] ... They brought Zogu, thinking they were dealing with fools who didn’t know what they were doing...

A swimming pool was discovered at Enver Hoxha’s house. Cities, armies, people have been buried, but Enver also buried a swimming pool. His family and loyalists used to bathe in it during the harvest season, after indulging their vice. Tirana without water, a swimming pool... They say it was even filled with milk... The mothers’ kilometre-long queues for a glass of milk. They hid the swimming pool. Does life emerge? What about gold? This extraordinary discovery was not made by archaeologists.

The author of the article about Bosnia, taken from the New York Times and published in “Aleanca,” Misha Gleni, is expressing neither an opinion... The author of the article about Bosnia, taken from the New York Times and published in “Aleanca,” Misha Gleni, is expressing neither an English nor an American opinion. The author, whose father is Russian, mother Czech, and wife Serbian, is a BBC correspondent in Athens.

The 800 workers at the cigarette factory in Durrës have been without a director for two months. The factory is one of the few in the country that is operational. The reason for this situation has not been confirmed, but widespread rumours link it to “the desire to cover up the factory, so that the way can be further opened for foreign cigarettes.”

On Friday, at the “Lugu i Zi” border crossing in Tropojë, Serbian border forces fired on the Albanian border patrol. On Friday, at the “Lugu i Zi” border crossing in Tropojë, Serbian border forces fired on the Albanian border patrol, seriously wounding Ali Qemam Shehu and Xhavit Demush Ferizaj. An hour later, soldier Fatmir Mema was also wounded. Friday’s incident shows that the Serbs are now seriously considering moving south as soon as possible.

The SP rallies in Korçë, Tropojë, and Peshkopi were accompanied by extremely laughable scenes. No more than 100 people gathered in the wide squares and spacious stadium grounds. It seems that even the SP leaders themselves are now becoming indifferent. The duty toward the chairman, whom they themselves wanted to make shine, has been fulfilled. And what more could the Dokle & Islami duo do? The Editor

… and with a few scratches it can be uncovered Interview by our editor with Dr. TEODOR KARECO and with a few scratches it can be uncovered Question. There is much talk about corruption in the press. What would your opinion be ... I have had, I have drawn some conclusions, I can influence public opinion.

In fact, my letter addressed to Comrade BeXhet should have begun with the words “you too, Brutus”. But the pain caused me by Comrade BeXhet’s deviation from the Party line is greater than that. As you know, Comrade BeXhet, after being promoted from director of the SMT in Fier and recruited by Comrade Hysni Kapo, was placed under me and in my cell. And I made him chairman of the committee in Pogradec. And, further appreciating his contribution in favor of the people, from Comrade BeXhet we now get a persecuted man, who found some sort of prisoner and hid him for years and years. But for Comrade BeXhet we violated the Party line, because he was from s’po bu e and we turned a blind eye. Then we made another cover-up, too. The late Enver showed mercy; he was harsh with us, instead of arresting BeXhet’s in-law, Ilo Prifti, Hero of Socialist Labor, a renowned and wealthy director, we arrested another Ilo Prifti; indeed, we convinced the latter that he was a Greek agent. Ah, BeXhet, BeXhet, as the saying goes! The bread you ate with me was wasted. With information from you and the others, I paid no heed in Pogradec to the first secretary, the committee, the plenum, or the people. Return to the right path as soon as possible. Put that persecuted man aside, because in these difficult days I got your son into the Pogradec Court, even though he shot one or two people over there around April. But how could you forget, BeXhet, that when you retired, we made you chairman of the committee and sent you to school for intelligence and oratory. Return, return, comrade, to the bosom of the Party that raised and educated you. I order that this letter be discussed in the basic organizations with all the veterans and that a summary material be prepared for a written account of the experience concerning the traitor and bread-betrayer. I know that Comrade BeXhet has the strength to do it, given the state he has fallen into. Revolutionary greetings NEXHMIJE HOXHA from the Ministry of Public Order rest home, Tirana Prison

… and with a few scratches it can be uncovered Question: There is much talk about corruption in the press. What would your opinion be? What would your opinion be? Answer: It is a well-known fact that the socialist society we tried to overthrow (because in my view, in many cells, particularly in the economy, it operates with the force of a dying beast, but even more unpredictably) was the society with the greatest corruption known in human history. Its roots must be sought there. I am very concerned about the way the trials against the bloc members are being conducted. It was like a variety show when, at one point, the leaders of party corruption—the widow of the monster Hoxha—made jokes about being asked to account for the coffees she had drunk. Where did the gold go that we inherited by skinning honest merchants, manufacturers, those whom the dictatorship called kulaks; where did those billions of lek go, earned through the sweat of workers in factories and peasants in cooperatives, who for nearly 50 years lived the most miserable lives of any people in the world? Where did those billions of lek in loans go? With a few scratches, corruption can be uncovered. But for that to happen, organizational measures are also needed. Action must be taken before it is too late against all the economic foundations laid on corruption by the former overthrown hierarchs and their zealous successors. Here, only the law can work, if it is applied accurately and knowledgeably. Question: Can we speak more concretely? Answer: As a citizen and, moreover, in some state positions I have held, I have drawn some conclusions and can enlighten public opinion. Let us take the issue of the bloc members. I would begin with the question of gold. When I was Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers in the Government of Stability, among the duties I oversaw, I had to make available to the Investigative Directorate pursuing the bloc members a so-called file, “On the movement of gold.” By a decision of the Council of Ministers, the movement of several hundred or even thousands of kilograms of gold was ordered—the figure escapes me—to be converted from bullion to coin and vice versa, for currency exchange, through the former Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Bank, etc., abroad. That was why, when the press wrote about transporting the gold, it did not publish it as if awaiting the discovery of this movement, which had already been documented. Here we must grasp some important, substantial threads of corruption, which perhaps today are a source of foreign-currency financing for some political force. According to the verifications made, these decisions had not been taken by the Council of Ministers; they had been signed by former Prime Minister Adil Çarçani, and Hekuran Isai and Qirjako Mihali knew about them (if I am not mistaken, Simon Stefani as well). This file was highly secret; only the prime minister was entitled to use it. Always. The trial will reveal the roots of corruption and, God willing, some source for recovering it. I am convinced that all that gold, even if obtained illegally, has been deposited somewhere, hidden and kept. Question: How can we find the roots of corruption in the relationship between the regime and that currency exchange? Answer: Currency exchange is a game, gambling, to put it more clearly. From every point of view: economic, scientific, technical and intellectual preparation, etc. No sound system would have allowed our State Bank, in its miserable condition, to enter highly sophisticated international games of that caliber. I think this was done to hide large quantities of foreign currency and gold in the world’s banks. There was not even the slightest capacity in the country to enter such games, but politics dictated such an action. Since they held political power, they were preparing to take economic power too, as we see in everyday practice. One of the ways was to secure foreign currency and gold by depositing them in foreign banks. But this time, alongside direct deposits, an indirect method of depositing was also found. This was done through currency exchange. At first, the idea was created that this was a criminal course for the Albanian economy (continued on page 4)

1. “The repeated calls by the opposition, particularly the AD, to create a roundtable of parties on the key issues of foreign policy receive no response from the party in power. 2. The calls by distinguished intellectuals for a program on the national question fall on deaf ears. This leads to the two issues that Zogaj implies as the optimal options for ‘putting back together’ the Mukja Agreement, and first of all the AD, particularly the open newspaper Aleanca, have already made their position clear regarding the national question. This has now become clear to the Greeks (and even to the Serbs), let alone the Albanians. It would be good for them to make public their reconsideration of their position in these surveys. Secondly, the question remains: who is clearly preventing distinguished intellectuals from drawing up a program on the national question? They should not wait for a government communiqué to read the names of those working on this. The best thing is to get this work started; afterwards, the authorities can be blamed for neglecting them. ... On reconsideration of their position in these surveys. Taking today’s communists seriously—or rather, failing to do so—could once again prove fatal for the nation. Although it is now more difficult for them to come to power and carry out the surpassing of the norms where they left off (in 2001), they are not a force to be underestimated when it comes to destabilizing the country, (again) following the advice of old friends. It seems the government is ...

Now that Fatos Nano has even been deprived of his head in Tirana Prison, leaving him to feel even more the high temperatures of these days, in the barracks of political temperatures brought about by his arrest, things are even worse: it seems that the friends he held dearest (Tirana–Athens–Rome) are doing nothing at all to cool the “fever” of the imprisoned Socialist leader. The first démarche was made by the Greeks, or PASOK. Not so much for Nano as for his signature on the joint PSSh-PASOK declaration, which they needed for the elections they are preparing. Nor were there any reservations about the Berisha–Meta government, which they accused of being a “regime” that “undermines” democratization and democracy and isolates Albania and its people. The Albanians seem to have seen the Greeks of PASOK as “good friends in all circumstances, even when conditions did not allow it, who would continue to defend their Greek ally—the socialist.” That is what is being said, as ... [text continues in adjacent columns] Someone looking beyond the socialist hubbub of Tirana–Athens–Rome might think that among friends... Nano’s message from Tirana Prison has not touched “the socialists wherever they may be” very much. The third-ranking member of the PSSH, Betino Kraksi, met the same fate in Italy as Nano did in Albania. Now, it really must be expected that, after judicial confirmation of Nano’s abuses, the party he led until very recently will reflect on the matter, if it is capable of doing so. Otherwise, here too we must see the closing of the chapter of the era of social-communists and the establishment of political confidence in the country’s politics. Whatever happens, Nano’s “good” friends are hobbling in the shadows, scattered amid their many troubles. The Italians, it seems to me, hold an original record: one in every five politicians in the country is under investigation. And the old Greeks, as I know, on the eve of an election campaign (as often happens) will reopen the talk about the vote concerning the 200 million dollars of the Bank of Greece, orchestrated by Papandreu, which cost them the election four years ago. Anything may happen with Nano’s friends, except that the government will ... Fatos Nano! B.8

On Friday, after a long and serious illness, the father of Albanian poetry in Kosovo, Esad Mekuli, died. A pioneer of poetry in Kosovo. Even before the war, he was an outstanding literary translator and scientist, and devoted his entire life to his people, their education and their freedom. Academician Esad Mekuli will never be forgotten; there will be no “Anthology of Kosovar Poetry” in which his work is not included (perhaps this is not the foreword)

“Message. Message: I am with you, sisters and brothers, brothers and sisters, I am with you!—the madwoman shrieked in the scorching heat of Friday, in the lanes near Tirana Prison. I am with you! With patriotic and revolutionary solidarity and sincerity. The madwoman shouted, and passersby moved away in fright, sensing danger, because after those words she might invite them toward the prison gate. ‘Get the old people away, get the children away! There will be war; the PASOK of Aqi[s] Coxhopollo is demanding my freedom. The Greek andartes have set out. The andartes and I will save Socialist Albania.’ In the afternoon of that same day, the madwoman climbed the steps of the former Enver Hoxha Museum and hung up eight red and tattered flags. ‘Preq Zogal was at the Mukja Meeting. You don’t know it, but he was on the side of the Greeks, not Mladin. You’ll find out more when the files are opened.’ the imprisoned Socialist leader.’ Provisionally, in place of Idlajet Begiri. He will also have the ranks and his revolver. The president of Albania’s fuel sector is declared to be Spartak Kiço Ngjela. Dr. Altred Paloka’s pardon was also found. Pages 9–33 / They had eaten it clean. On Sunday there will be a large rally to mark the anniversary of Comrade Enver. In addition to Gaqo Apostolli, the great rally will also be honored by the renowned fortune-teller Gurallë Quamli. Don’t forget the coffee cups! Kastrio[t] Islami, after being surrounded on General Staff Road, took nude photographs with a machine gun in the Martanesh Mountains. They say that Mojko Zeml has put a great song in his head. An unprecedented illness has occurred in Albania. Next week, the owner of the Demokratia printing house, P. DH., will be arrested. Perikli Teta is to set off to buy weapons and b[a]r? in Albania for real. Abren has now seen, among other things, that Coxhopoulos and Fatos T Nano will declare a great uprising. Gramoz Ruçi will be appointed prefect of Shkodër. THE CHRONICLER