Bread. How often the word has been mentioned by Socialist leaders in recent days. In Parliament. In the government. In the PS, etc., etc. The bread problem certainly deserves special attention, but when bread is guaranteed for several months and so far no problem has arisen—at least as regards securing grain—statements that conjure up famine and spread panic among the people are made for electoral and dishonest purposes. We were all alarmed after Mr. Ylli Bufi’s statement at the government meeting with the political parties, following the government crisis, that in Albania there was bread for only another 6 days ... Bread for only another 6 days ...! The Albanian people will rise up in revolt. Parents think of their children. What will they tell them ... when the children ask for bread? What will the poor mothers do when they set the tables and, among all the other «good things», bread is missing? And the next day people began lining up to buy as much bread as they could, because the capital had said there would be none after 6 days ... And this happened right after the PD was removed from the government. Yes, simple logic says: the PD is leaving the people without bread. The PS is not to blame. It tried to secure bread for the people, but the power-hungry PD, «which puts party interests above those of the people», etc., etc. But how true is Mr. Bufi’s statement? On Monday we attended Mr. Gramoz Pashko’s press conference, where one of the journalists asked him: — What is your opinion of Mr. Bufi’s statement that Albania has bread for only another 6 days? If it is true, what will be done? — Dr. Pashko: I don’t know what Mr. Bufi has declared. But the bread problem has been completely resolved through the end of June. I informed the Prime Minister about this. There may be problems processing the grain at the port or on the railway. But these do not merit being mentioned as difficulties. What matters is that the contracts for grain reserves have been fulfilled and will continue to be fulfilled. So, as can be seen, Mr. Ylli Bufi is being presented as the bogeyman of bread at a time when bread is in our ports.

On the first day of the pluralist parliament, one of the most zealous communist officials, «the wise» Adil Çarçani, opened the session with a speech full of blunders. The Blockhead did not realize that afterwards he would be mocked everywhere: “You got us there, hey!”... What could one do? Albania had a thousand wounds, and the humor the «kindly» former prime minister provoked among the people was like a balm... The days gave way to one another. Comrade Çarçani was not feeling well. It so happened that the very person who had opened the first session drew the lot to be arrested. Only then did his constituents realize they had voted for a thief... The question is: when will those who voted for Haxhi Lleshi, Xhelil Gjoni, A[j]li Ajlushani, and Gramoz Ruçi realize this?! Understand this?! ZEF LUCA

In December 1990, in a winter like this one, when the lights in the city of students went out and came back on like their hopes, the anti-communist student revolt erupted, and it would become the seed of the entire nationwide democratic movement. These students, poorly fed and poorly clothed, these sons and daughters of poverty and disappointment, became through their act the crater of a lava fire that had been boiling in the hearts of Albanians for 46 years. These students put an end to threats, operatives, rubber bullets and helmets, loudspeaker calls, etc. They had risen up for democracy, freedom of thought, and freedom of conscience. Under these circumstances, they asked to meet the president. But as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the PPSH, he could not talk to a group of «hooligans and thugs». The students insisted on meeting him by day, by night, whenever. The storm quickly spread throughout the country, among all the people, across all social strata. Then R. Alia realized that this was not such an easy matter. He received them while insulting them in an unprecedentedly cynical manner. Everyone learned of this. The conversation was broadcast as a recording in «Democracy» Square and was accompanied by whistles and insults. Ramis Alia wanted the democratic processes to unfold under the leadership of the PP. Today, on the first anniversary of those winter days that shook the red dynasty to its foundations, precisely today, the President greets with «love» (as always) the students’ act—the very act that stripped him of the glory he had built upon the bloodied lives of the people. His greeting to the students was hypocrisy that, having long since crossed all known limits, marks a new degree of unscrupulousness, perhaps the most unique in the history of dishonesty.

For more than seven days, a dispute has been going on between the Socialist Party and the Communist Party. At first, the issue arose over the title of their newspaper, since they are successors to the PKSH (formed on 8 November 1941) as well as to the PP. The Socialists, however, insist that it belongs to them. On this occasion, we are publishing an exchange we happened to hear at the journalists’ club between the leader of the PK, Hysni Milloshi, and the deputy chairman of the PS, Spiro Dede: Milloshi: We will sue you over the newspaper’s name. Dede: But we’ve had it for so many years! Milloshi: But aren’t you a new party!? Dede: Of course. We have nothing in common with the PP. Milloshi: We also want half of the PP Central Committee building. Dede: . . . . (silence) Milloshi: We also want the Party House. Dede: . . . . (silent again) Milloshi: Speak up, Spiro. Are we two sister parties or not? We have one mother. And yet «Zëri i Popullit», despite being an inaccurate name, belongs to the PK just as much as it actually belongs to the PS. FATOS BRAHIMI

THE POLICE INTERVENED TO MAINTAIN PUBLIC ORDER ... for more than a month, rallies have been held in Lezhë, attended by hundreds of citizens without ... . The rallies last 4–5 hours, with chants ... BREAD, etc., etc. ... these are rallies ... These gatherings, which last for hours, ... are above all ... on Saturday at the bakery, because in order to ... bread, citizens have to ... stand in line in the cold wind. ... of Lezhë for hours on end. The worst thing is that many of these participants have sometimes left without managing to get any bread. The party chairpersons are urged to take note of the situation and of these “illegal” gatherings, which are being used for electoral purposes, since at other times it would be hard to gather so many people in one place. The police, who are present every day at these “gatherings,” have intervened to maintain public order. But their task has been extremely difficult, since citizens do not leave the “rallies” without getting bread. So far, several people have been injured by broken glass. From now on, we believe there will be no more such incidents, since the glass has been replaced with iron bars. The citizens are demanding BREAD. The “rallies” continue. There have been no victims yet. A.F.

This icon, which embodies rare examples of Italian ecclesiastical art from the medieval period, was faithfully preserved by Gjin Lazri, who, despite being pursued and surveilled by the state security organs, managed to protect it by hiding it for decades, moving it from one village to another throughout Mirditë. A fortune worth Icon preserved by Gjin Lazri

During a private visit to Moscow in November, our newspaper’s correspondent in Tirana, Mr. LUAN PENGILI, held meetings and was also interviewed by journalists from Radio Russia. Below we present several points from the interview he gave to this radio station. Editorial office — Is the newspaper «Koha jonë» in favor of a course toward membership in any party? — I think that to date this newspaper has tried as much as possible to avoid the influence of particular parties, while discussing in its pages the pluralist democratization of its journalists and contributors. — Does the Communist Party now exist in Albania? At the time of the question, the Communist Party of ...ni Milloshit) had not been formed. — If we are speaking only in a formal sense, that is, about the name, let me tell you that as a name, the Communist Party has not existed in Albania since ... If we are speaking about substance, I can tell you that the Communist Party was embodied in the Party of Labour, today the Socialist Party. — Has democracy won completely in Albania? — Since Albania was the country with the harshest dictatorship in Europe for around half a century, it is natural that one cannot speak of a complete democracy; all the more so because the presence in high political and economic posts of the followers and collaborators of the demon Enver Hoxha constitutes one of the greatest barriers to achieving this democracy.

On the evening of 9-XII-1991, we heard on RTV the statement by the leadership of the PD and its group of deputies regarding the events that followed the government crisis: They have the right to say what they think and what they are turning over in one another’s heads, and to oppose any position that does not accord with their strategy as deputies and as a party, but they absolutely have no right to accuse others on the basis of prejudices concocted by some leader who has decided to attack any journalist or newspaper that offers even an honest criticism. The newspaper “Koha jonë” is being unjustly accused of being a newspaper that seeks to profit from the problems that have arisen in recent days within the PD, supposedly in order to attack democracy. We clarify for the public and for the authors of the statement themselves that: 1 — “Koha jonë” is an independent newspaper. 2 — In the articles published in its pages, there has been criticism of the PS, which bears primary responsibility for the situation that has arisen; however, on some points, the newspaper has not agreed, and will not agree, with the views of certain PD leaders regarding the way they seek to silence a new newspaper. 3 — We have never had, nor do we have, anything in common with “Zëri i Popullit”; indeed, in many of its articles we have been called a tool of the PD. We are a tool neither of the PS nor of the PD. We will be a “tool” only of the truth. THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE NEWSPAPER “KOHA JONË”