After political pluralism, holding free elections constitutes the next most important step toward the full establishment of democracy in our country. The Democratic Party called for and insisted on postponing the elections of 10 February. It presented and defended this request solely in order to have the time and the means necessary to conduct a serious, worthy and politically mature election campaign, in keeping with the ideals, aspirations and wishes of democratic Albanian public opinion and in accordance with recognized international rules and standards. Without these, there are no free elections and there cannot be any. The Democratic Party is aware that today’s political and economic situation is extremely complex and difficult. In this regard, the heaviest burden undoubtedly falls on our workers and peasants, who are showing unwavering determination for democracy. It also knows well that the true causes of this situation lie in the failed economic policy of the PPSH, in the dogmatic socialist system that ruled our country for more than 45 years. It also knows that this situation cannot be resolved with cosmetic remedies, but with profound and radical measures. Despite all this, the Democratic Party considers establishing and ensuring a peaceful life, or social peace, during the election period to be vital to holding free elections. Social peace during the election period has become a basic norm practiced in all countries that aspire to true democracy. This is because, as is well known, any social tension, even when justified, inherently carries the risk of political tensions, which the Stalinist bureaucratic forces are ready to exploit for their own interests. These forces are fighting by every means to keep alive a strategy of tension and violence through which they may survive, frighten people, restrict and weaken the Democratic Party’s free activities and, consequently, undermine free elections. Naturally, the Democratic Party can never agree with either the appetites or the ideas of the extremists, who, not for lack of political culture but because of their anarchist and extremist principles, do not hesitate to attach every kind of label to the appeal that the country’s political forces are making to workers during the election campaign. It is worth emphasizing once again that extremists of every color have been and will remain foreign to the Democratic Party. It is true that our party, together with the country’s other political forces, is asking workers during this period to give up some demands that may be absolutely justified. But it is doing so in the name of much greater goals. By securing free elections, for the first time in their lives Albanian citizens will gain much, much more in their fundamental freedoms and rights; democracy will gain, a democracy for which they are ready to make even greater sacrifices, because they are convinced that without it there can be no political stability or economic development.

An overview of the Persian Gulf - The risks of the conflict spreading, - Its duration will have serious consequences everywhere, - Regret that peaceful people failed to resolve the crisis. An overview of the Persian Gulf THE WAR HAS BEGUN. - The risks of the conflict spreading, - Its duration will have serious consequences everywhere, - Regret that peaceful people failed to resolve the crisis. “Kuwait’s liberation has begun... Operation ‘Desert Storm’ has begun...,” the White House announced on Wednesday, as Thursday was breaking. Thus ended the hopes of resolving the Persian Gulf crisis by political and diplomatic means, and the task of establishing justice was left to armed force, after the United Nations deadline for compelling Iraq to withdraw peacefully from Kuwait had expired. Diplomacy had exhausted every avenue and method to avoid this armed conflict, which began at a time when Europe and the entire world community were cooperating as never before to strengthen peace, security and democracy. It is difficult to describe the details of the military operation accurately, since even the information becomes outdated within moments. Operations are continuing at full intensity. The main targets of the bombing by the multinational force’s aircraft were Iraqi military bases in Iraqi and Kuwaiti territory, oil facilities, the destruction of Iraqi missiles with various ranges, and factories producing chemical and bacteriological weapons. American, British, Canadian, Saudi, Kuwaiti, French and Italian aircraft are heavily bombing many strategically important locations. In the afternoon, a spokesman for the American Pentagon announced that 80 percent of the 2,000 military missions carried out by the multinational force had been successfully completed. The allies’ losses are minimal: so far, seven aircraft have been shot down. There is no information on casualties. In these initial attacks, sophisticated, high-precision equipment is being used for two reasons. First, to prevent the Iraqi army from organizing an effective counterattack, and second, to preserve as many human lives as possible. Accordingly, no attacks have been carried out against populated areas, only against military bases and communications and radio-television buildings in Baghdad. The aircraft used in these attacks include the American-made “F-15s,” the giant B-52s, British “Tornado” aircraft with a maximum speed of up to 2,000 kilometers per hour, and French “Jaguars,” all capable of flying at altitudes that make them extremely difficult for Iraqi anti-aircraft forces to hit. Despite these fierce attacks, Iraq’s military force is very large and capable of resisting. The armed forces of dictator Sadam Husein are equipped with sophisticated missiles of seven different types, including “Scud” missiles with a range of up to 2,000 kilometers. According to military experts, these are Iraq’s most effective weapons, because even the allies’ anti-missile defenses are not fully complete. Nevertheless, according to the latest reports, six “Scud” missiles launched by the Iraqis managed to cause damage at their target in Daharan, Saudi Arabia, where the main runway of the multinational air force is located. Meanwhile, dictator Husein is (Continued on page 6)

On 18 January, the first Muslim religious ceremony in a quarter of a century was held at the Ethem Beu Mosque. Skënderbej Square, the steps of the Palace of Culture around the Clock Tower, and the inside of the mosque were filled with tens of thousands of people. After so many years of harsh restrictions on religious representatives and their believers, the people of Tirana welcomed this initiative enthusiastically. The Muslim community, with permission from the Committee of Culture and Arts, conducted services inside the religious Temple. Members of the community, former imams of this Mosque and well-wishers took part. After the opening prayer, delivered by Ibrahim Balla, who explained matters of Islam and its principles and spoke about national unity, brotherhood and peace, he said, among other things, that the free practice of religion is part of the general process of democratization. The Mevlud ceremony (the anniversary of Muhammad’s birth) followed; surahs from the Qur’an and various Mevluds were recited, and a religious sermon was delivered. The ceremony lasted about an hour. The Mosque’s minaret was also put into use. Members of the diplomatic corps accredited in our country, local and foreign journalists, and journalists from radio, Kinostudio, television, etc., were present.

What was achieved was achieved by the miners of Valias As became known in recent days, the miners of Valias won through their strike what they had demanded and what was due to them as the fruit of their sweat and toil. Nevertheless, this account would be incomplete if we did not say a little about what happened on Monday afternoon, Tuesday and Wednesday morning. MONDAY, 14 JANUARY 1991 At around 16:00, talks resumed between the two committees, the government committee and the strikers’ committee. The journalists of “Rilindja Demokratike” were not allowed by the Minister of Energy, Besnik Bekteshi, to take part in these talks (!), while television journalists were in the room. This meeting, which went on for a long time, just like the previous ones, reached no conclusion. The government representatives insisted that the maximum wage increase was 40 percent, and even then it was not known whether that figure could be fully implemented. But while the government representatives insisted, the members of the strike committee were determined that the wage increase should be 60 percent. Their determination and conviction were supported fully and absolutely by the large body of miners. This meeting, too, reached no conclusion. The negotiating parties left, each believing it was right. But who was truly right, and who won? Let us wait until Wednesday. TUESDAY, THE 1ST OF 1991: We Don’t Want a Compromise The fifth day of the strike. The miners are still waiting. The strike committee comes out onto the balcony of the cultural building, and its members try to quiet the crowd of miners so that they can speak. Figuron Xibri, the committee’s chairman, asks the miners whether they agree to a wage increase of less than 60 percent. No! Their emphatic “No” is followed by the shouts: “We don’t want a compromise!” Messages of solidarity keep arriving, and reading them lifts the miners’ spirits. What is the source of this enthusiasm, which has not been overcome even by five days of exhaustion? How can it be explained that their cheers do not stop, although (Continued on page 2)

Except for the children of

Except for the little children who greet train passengers with two fingers raised and the sunny weather, everything else is sad in Kavajë this mid-January. Its inhabitants endure their poverty wearily. It shows in their faces, conversations, comments and sighs in front of the empty shops. The nail-and-bolt factory on the outskirts of the town, not far from the railway station, is silent. Its workers invited us on the third day of the strike. They stand in groups, waiting for the representatives’ decisions. “It’s not just a matter of wage increases,” they told us. “We are asking for work and working conditions. We have gone more than four years without fuel supplies. We want work; we don’t want 80 percent as charity.” The long workshops, with large windows without glass or crudely bricked up, form the first backdrop to the strike. Inside, everything is difficult. The wire-drawing workshop is a sad sight with its resin. The floor is half covered in mud mixed with acids, and there are a few machines that hardly look like machines at all. The large hall is battered from every side by the cold wind, except for one corner where the workers light a fire to warm themselves. There are many shortcomings in industrial safety. The workers say that over the years these deficiencies have caused injuries and even deaths. The same is true in the nail workshop. The workers switched on the machines in front of the cassette. The building filled with a deafening noise. The machines installed here in 1963 had exceeded their depreciation period by six years in every respect. The Ministry has received so many requests, and only this year did their replacement begin. Even that is only half-done, (Continued on page 2)

- What are the ties with the Soviet Union? - Let us not forget that Albania no longer has as many free sites as it once did for collecting scrap iron from Russia. - Our slogan now is: “We want Albania to be like all of Europe.” A few days ago, a long-term agreement on trade, economic and technical cooperation and the trade and economic Protocol for 1991 were signed in Tirana between Albania and the USSR. The Soviet delegation met with the highest government figures in our country. They discussed normalizing relations between the two countries, traditional ties and “shared traditions,” and even the “deep roots” of the friendship between the Albanian and Soviet peoples, which apparently lie not only in the good old days but also in the new ones. The restoration of relations with the USSR, after a break of three decades, is seen by all Albanians as a good thing. We are glad that the endless turmoil of Albanian-Soviet political and ideological relations now belongs to the past. At the 10th Plenum of the Central Committee of the PPSH, it was stated that Albania’s independent policy meant readiness to establish diplomatic relations with the two superpowers, which until then had rejected them with all their might. With the Soviet Union, things have moved faster, although there are still many issues and problems ... [part illegible] ... “technical difficulties” have been overcome. But although we have reached these new milestones in our relations with the superpowers, the need and interest for ongoing reflection have not diminished. Therefore, there is reason for this subject to be discussed more freely in our press. Albania has had supporters of good relations with the Soviet Union even when the verbal campaign against Soviet revisionism and social-imperialism thundered almost to the limits of ... Now the number of these supporters is undoubtedly growing, because in new circumstances reason is moving people toward more friendly sentiments. But, on the other hand, we cannot deny that the echo of the fierce attacks made until a very recent and utterly dark past has not yet faded from our ears—even attacks made during scientific sessions, perhaps the only more grounded, perhaps the only more accurate ones, to expose Gorbachevism, perestroika and glasnost. So it is rather too soon to pretend that nothing dramatic ever happened between us, and that there were merely some misunderstandings no longer worth recalling, now that new shoots of deep friendship and shared traditions are supposedly sprouting again. The truth is a little different. We all know this, and political pragmatism should not make us pretend that nothing happened and that there is nothing to remember from the past. We may reproach cynics who compare politics to a promiscuous woman, but that does not justify actions that could suit precisely such cynics. It is hardly surprising that, in the new circumstances, old feelings should resurface and that nostalgia should blossom for much of the beauty of the former Albanian-Soviet friendship. But alongside them, there remain the deep disappointments over our trust—so sincere as to be naïve—in this friendship, which cost us dearly. And we can say that if anyone tries to deceive us again, or in some other way tries to push us into returning fully to the past, there will certainly be many Albanians who understand this and respond firmly. We certainly want good, fair and genuine relations. We no longer yearn for the old ties and relations of those times. Even if you like it

Date: 17.1.1991, Durrës. The cargo-loading and unloading workers at the port of Durrës have gone on strike. In Durrës, before we had even met with the striking workers, we learned from citizens of different ages that the strike had begun four days earlier. We were taken aback. There had been no announcement in the media about January 14, the day the strike began. Are the workers’ demands and their voice really so unimportant?! It is known that all imported goods are unloaded at the seaport; indeed, we learned one fact: foreign ships set a deadline for their unloading. If this deadline is shortened—that is, if the ship is unloaded before it expires—the interested parties pay a sum in foreign currency. It has been calculated that 70 percent of this should go to the state and 30 percent to the workers, who are in fact deserving of credit for the strenuous work. But what happens? The share allocated to the workers goes toward “work tools,” without repeating that the receipt is issued by the state. So why is it said that there are no funds to meet the workers’ demands? The strikers told us ... [the article continues on page 6] ... a ship carrying wheat was waiting in the port to be unloaded. How is it possible that no one is concerned about meeting the workers’ demands, or about the people’s demand for the wheat and bread they are waiting for? And yet they say: We are for the people and for the working class. Their demands are entirely justified, even if they are being made at a difficult moment for the economy. The seaport is a profitable enterprise. So where do the profits go? Why should these profits not be used to meet the workers’ demands? The striking workers told us ...

Yesterday, on 18.1.1991, Section 1 of the Democratic Party was established at the Ministry of Construction. At its first meeting, the section’s members called on all employees of the Ministry of Construction’s administration to join this Party, which, in keeping with the interests of the entire nation, is fighting to put a progressive program into practice. «RD» correspondent.

On 17.1.1991 at 10:00, representatives of the Democratic Party—Azem Hajdari, Petrit Dodbiba, Bashkim Sala and Mark Topalli—went to the Embassy of the State of Palestine and offered their condolences for the killing of the State of Palestine’s vice presidents Salah Khalef Abu Ijad and Hail Abdelhamid, Abu El-Hul. «RD» correspondent

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