The campaign that has been unfolding in recent weeks against the Democratic Party, in its malicious aims and in the intensity of its organizers’ actions, is reminiscent of December, when this party was born. It is true that the country’s economic situation is worse than ever. It is true that this crisis has reached the point where even the people’s essential food supply is threatened day by day, something that cannot help but bring about people’s entirely understandable irritation. It is precisely this critical economic and moral situation in the country that is being exploited in an attempt to sow discontent among the people toward the Democratic Party. To achieve this aim, the organizers of this campaign deliberately leave out of sight the destroyers responsible for this catastrophe: the Party of Labour, now renamed the Socialist Party, which everyone has clearly seen is Enver Hoxha’s party, regardless of the new demagogic slogans it is using. To understand this truth, it is enough to recall the Stalinist spirit, with its cries of “Party—Enver, we are always ready,” which stifled every voice seeking its genuine renewal and dominated its tenth congress, held no more than a month ago; or to look at the destructive stance its deputies are taking these days in parliament. This shameful campaign has no basis; it tries to portray the central figures in Albania’s democratic process according to the mould of the former Enverist rulers, whose boundless abuses are being sensationally exposed today. Any surprise or confusion among the democratic forces of the whole people in the face of this campaign would be a dangerous success for the devilish mind that gave birth to it. And, regardless of the “skill” with which this campaign has been constructed, anyone who has followed the course of Albania’s democratization can easily identify the caste in whose heads that mind resides. It is in the heads of that political caste of the old regime, sullied to the core by the people’s honest sweat, whose fattening was cut short by the end of the dictatorship. These “men” certainly cannot surrender so easily the power they gained through blood. The innocent blood of the people. And, as is their habit, they continue—and will continue—to fight until their final agony, using the most obscurantist means, which their long rule has taught them to use very well. Their time has indeed set, but any forgetfulness of the danger they pose gives them a chance to revive, gives them the chance to inflict painful wounds on our new and still fragile democracy, and gives them a chance to obstruct its rapid flourishing. Therefore, let us preserve the uncompromising character of the Democratic Party and of the entire movement for the democratization of Albania, which made its beginning difficult but worthwhile. They will continue to be an indispensable support both for the Democratic Party’s systematic demands and for its persistent efforts to finally dismantle the Enverist bureaucracy at every level of the Albanian state. But the most loyal and blind servant of Enver’s totalitarian politics remains the State Security Service. Its hands are stained with blood up to the elbows, solely to keep alive the inhuman regime we overthrew. Many of its members, and its extensive network of informers, transformed over the years into professional executioners of the suffering people, see day by day that they have no future in Democratic Albania. This means losing, once and for all, the very reason for their existence. That is why they can never forgive the mass of students, the entire people, and above all the Democratic Party, for the devastating blow dealt to their medieval rule. The law on the Status of the National Intelligence Service, passed in parliament only recently, even if it may not be perfect, has greatly diminished the hopes they apparently still held for their future. …time,” a remnant for every voice that wanted its genuine renewal, which prevailed at or look at the destructive stance its deputies take day after day in parliament. This shameful campaign does not stop there. Its notorious “architects” and executors, well aware of the influence of intrigue, especially in situations of this kind of desperation, are spreading a profusion of the vilest slanders about the leaders of the Democratic Party in Tirana and the districts. They go so far as to fabricate statements never heard from the mouths of Albanian Democrats, which are distributed swiftly and with the greatest zeal precisely among those groups and sections of the population who might be made dissatisfied. One of these immoral fabrications is the attribution to the leaders of the PD of the demand that land be returned to its former boundaries to ex-farmers and agallarë [landed lords]. In the same ugly style, there are also a number of inventions without any…

Interview with Mr. EKREM BARDHA, given to our newspaper’s editor, Visar Zhiti — People have been talking about your arrival on television and in the newspapers. We would like to hear something about yourself from you. — I am from the village of Radan, in Leskovik. I grew up as a farmer. I attended primary school there. But for political reasons, for freedom and democracy, I left with my two brothers and my mother. From Greece we went to Germany and then to America. I was 18. I enrolled in some business courses, and that is what I still do today. We prospered economically; we had the opportunity to become wealthy, but our love for our homeland did not diminish. The rejection we faced only increased it. I have not forgotten my people, the villagers, all my memories… — From afar, what was your image of Albania, the country you had left behind? — It was deeply painful that we were prevented, for no reason, from visiting it. The severing of our ties with Albania and our loved ones was so complete that it was horrifying. We could not send anything. Packages were returned. The state kept 80 percent of the money. I sent it under another name, because mine was prohibited here. And yet I saw that there were people in America too who were privileged. It saddened us that our country, once so civilized, had become so foreign to the world, so brutally cut off from Europe. It became like an isolation camp. We had difficulty adjusting to America, but we had no difficulty feeling the indescribable dictatorship of our homeland. — And how do you find us today? — Strangely changed. There really is freedom and democracy, something I never imagined. It seems like a dream. When I arrived and saw the soldier with the star, to be honest, I shuddered. For a moment I thought, why did I come? I made a mistake. But my thinking was wrong, not my decision. I say this from the heart: I was welcomed wonderfully! But I am distressed when I see democracy misunderstood and abused, to the point that I feel we could descend into anarchy. Why should Albanians kill Albanians, or set things on fire? I believe the anti-democrats are responsible. We are known for our dignity; theft dishonors us and is not characteristic of us. The world envied our ancestors’ loyalty and bravery. These seem to have disappeared. Refugees, even if they were right to leave, have no right to behave badly abroad. I want to stress that this does not describe everything; it is the least of it. But we must not turn our country into a wrecked train that fills people with horror, because we would be pleasing our age-old enemies. Let us forget the past and begin again. Sweat and hard work are needed. Democracy requires freedom, but not the kind that makes you run wild in the streets. Today, men’s dignity is recognized. Let us withdraw from the extremes of the left and the right. Everyone must feel responsible. The parties (D, R, S, SD, K. A. E.) and the trade unions must engage in dialogue and take concrete, urgent action. — Let us understand one another. Let us respect religions, but not place them above the nation. The role must be national, not religious. It is not the individual who matters, but his freedom. I found Albania worse than when I left it. I saw the elite, the Block, the villas and palaces. They are more luxurious than anything in America. They are more exaggerated. This is a crime. But your hospitality, respect and love made me proud. The character of Albanians has changed—for the worse, I believe because of the hated dictatorship and misery. This has brought us down. But I believe we are pure enough to improve. — What is your vision for Albania’s future? Do you believe in it, and how? — Albania is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. My wife and children liked it very much. I still live more beautifully. We should become equal to Europe and surpass Switzerland. This can be done through work and dignity. I say this because we are civilized. We need new laws, a state, privatization. Property is dignity. All these things raise us up. I believe we can put things right in a short time. We are at the end of the 20th century. I want human freedom. We have [unclear] before the nation. Let us take Israel as an example: it has both [unclear] and a voice, and we have everything. And how wealthy they are! Democracy goes hand in hand with freedom and religions. So that Albania will be neither Muslim nor Catholic (Continued on page 6)

In recent days, the Steering Committee of the Democratic Party reviewed the work of the newspaper “Rilindja Demokratike”. The Committee found that, as a courageous pioneer of the free democratic press, the newspaper had adhered to and expressed the line of the Democratic Party in its pages. The editor-in-chief, Mr E..., also deserved credit for these changes.

The disclosure of abuses committed by the Ministry of Health concerning the misuse of foreign-currency funds is another shocking, monstrous scandal. For many years, this Ministry was a secret gateway and umbrella through which the leaders, their ilk and their entourages travelled to Europe, using money extracted from the sweat of this poor and deceived people. This door was extremely narrow for ordinary people. Any trip abroad was limited to two people. The audit commission found no accurate documents in this family’s records. One may therefore think that the figures given above are only the visible part of the iceberg. Sulua knows how much lies beneath the surface—the mountain steward who knows well how to make traces disappear. There are no invoices for any expenditure. There is only a set of minutes listing general sums for each trip abroad, signed by officer Sulo Gradeci and others as corrupt as he. Millions of dollars have flown out to safeguard the health of the top leadership and their families, who the people supposedly forgive because they “devote” their whole lives to them! These are the real vandals, not merely those who, to get an apple that had been hoarded for years, broke windows or set fire to a few shacks, and whom the government immediately charged, accounting for every lek, and rightly punished some of them. But who accounts for these sums? Why have they been left untouched for so long, and allowed to go to ruin? Not a thorn has pricked their feet! There is no justification for these abuses by the former ministers Ajli Alushani and Ahmet Kamberi. They may have been innocent, but there was no reason for them also to be dishonest and irresponsible toward the people who had elected them. How can one be so open-handed toward the ruling caste and so tight-fisted toward the people, even when someone has death hovering over them? Do you not feel that you may have become accomplices to murder? I will not accuse them fully, because all of us have sins to leave behind, but there is no catharsis for these sins. The amounts spent are shocking. Most were feigned, and their falsification was covered up by the leadership’s special clinic. It is difficult to believe Mr Dine Abazi, director of this clinic, when he says that there were no violations. That may be so in the paperwork. But when they travelled to Europe for treatment, it is impossible to believe that every one of them was ill. And apparently all of them suffered from illnesses that could not be treated in our clinics and hospitals. Poor things, they must have suffered greatly. We were fools to have taken them out of the Block. It must have been a hell, a quarantine, in there. Please don’t make us laugh—we cannot laugh. Enough lies. Stop preventing us from all living like human beings and enjoying something of our own. TIMO LUTO a protective umbrella through which leaders and their entire entourages travelled to Europe, with money extracted from the sweat of this poor and grievously deceived people. This door was far too narrow for ordinary people. Whenever you, gentlemen, the senior leaders, received a request or plea for treatment abroad, when a person’s life and that of their orphaned child depended on that being the only alternative, you pointed them to our hospitals, where you never entered except as patients. You were patients at the expensive clinics of Paris and Vienna. You did not do this for the people, but for your special friends, for whom you issued instructions, breaking every rule and bypassing the approval of the medical commission. Twenty-three people were sent abroad for treatment on the instructions of Manush Myftiu, who, together with entire clinic teams, visited Austria for thyroid treatment, even though the treatment had been clear from the outset. Twenty-one people were sent on the instructions of Adil Çarçani, who had seemed so kindly and innocent; when he went abroad for treatment, he took as many as ten people with him, a whole entourage in tow. Five people were also sent on the instructions of Lenka Çuko, who, mindful of the proverb that a long road seems shorter when shared, travelled to Paris via Athens with her husband and accompanying officer, stayed there for three days, and spent 12,200 dollars on her own pleasures. The gentlemen could not even live in Paris without their own court, without their customary entourage. During 1981–1985, 480,500 dollars were spent on this entourage, which accompanied every senior leader and, when necessary, also brought along their families. What could that foreign currency have been used for? Perhaps a maternity hospital, or improving the one in Tirana, which was built more than 50 years ago and is now in a scandalous state. Ordinary women of the people suffer this situation, because the ladies do not go there. Mrs Pranvera Hoxha goes to the maternity hospitals of Paris accompanied by four gynaecologists. Meanwhile, on a village road, a woman gives birth alone, with no one beside her, as if she were an animal. The town is far away, there was no ambulance, and her husband had gone to find a woman who lived nearby. For the Hoxha family alone, 171,638 dollars and 316,000 francs were spent over the past ten years. Fifty-three members of this family went abroad, accompanied at least on every occa-

The People’s Assembly’s adoption of the land law will surely become an important event in the history of our country. With this law, our stolen land awakens the vitality of the Albanian spirit. Returning the land to its rightful owner is not only a decisive moment in democratic agricultural reform; it also restores to the farmer dignity, freedom, prosperity and the patriotism inherited from his forefathers, and will make him the true master of himself, his home, his land and his rights, which have been violated. The Democratic Party of Albania considers returning the land to the person who works it, according to the principles it upholds, a necessary condition for ending the Bolshevik occupation of the land and transforming the villages enslaved in agricultural cooperatives throughout the country—from “estates of the Committees” of the Party of Labour into state security enterprises. It does not support any genuine Albanian territory, but… …together with the infamous restrictions, they turned our village into a camp of its own kind. Therefore, we must recall with great sorrow the hundreds and thousands of children and elderly people who suffered from pellagra, dysproteinemia and severe hunger, and died of diseases caused by malnutrition, while their leaders from the red nomenklatura built paradise upon the suffering and misery of this nation. The law adopted by the People’s Assembly returns the land to the farmer. It must, without fail, also take into account and guarantee the following: 1. Provision of facilities for agricultural personnel and teachers living in the countryside to establish model farms or service agencies for them. 2. Provision of facilities for farmers, including the sale at symbolic prices of seeds, irrigation water and chemical fertilizers. 3. Compensation for forest property lost through collectivization. 4. Ensuring a bread supply in every village household. Prof. Dr. SALI BERISHA The agricultural cooperatives, after they…

STEERING COMMITTEE OF THE DP From MP Azem Hajdari’s statement in the People’s Assembly. I protest before this parliament against the statement by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Order, which presumes to pass judgment on the Democratic Party’s statement calling for the rule of law to be established with regard to the squatters in Kamëz. In its statement, the Democratic Party makes no generalization; it is calling for conflicts to be avoided. Local government is not functioning. Immediately after receiving notice from the DP sections and the public-order forces, the DP, as a force committed to drawing up a policy of national reconciliation, sent its representatives to Kamëz in order to prevent conflict. The following action was taken: together with the police personnel, and with their assistance throughout the night, we worked to arrange their supplies, because traffic had been interrupted. Representatives of all the Democratic Party, the [unclear], and all its [unclear] were called to the scene. The Democratic Party also sent its representatives to Kamëz. editor-in-chief, Mr Frok Çupi, also deserved credit for these [unclear]. However, some shortcomings were also observed in the newspaper’s work: 1) The newspaper had few articles about the countryside. 2) The newspaper did not give adequate coverage to the substantial work being done by district branches to organize and strengthen the Party. 3) The newspaper did not publish the activities and statements of the Association of Political Prisoners. 4) There were weaknesses in the formation of the editorial structure. 5) It did not write enough about Kosovo and the Albanian question as a whole. Taking into account the growing demands of the times and the shortcomings mentioned, the DP Steering Committee decided to appoint Mr Napoleon Roshi as editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Rilindja Demokratike”. Mr Frok Çupi has been offered other important duties in the Democratic Party. (Continued on page 6)

The Renewed Ones in… command “The freshest example of just how much the Party of Labour, now called the Socialist Party, has been renewed was shown by parliament’s proceedings the other day, and by its debate on the land law. At last the moment for the vote arrived. Although there were several versions, the vote essentially concerned two things: would the farmer’s age-old dream finally be realized, allowing him to reclaim as private property the land stolen from him by the Party of Labour and the Stalinist Enverist regime, or would the land remain state property? What is even more remarkable is that, at this truly historic moment for our country, the person who steered the law through Parliament (which is, in its entirety, controlled by the Party of Labour) was Lonka Çuko’s man, the most Enverist deputy, Lafti Dautllari. He insisted that his own version be put to the vote first—a version that does not give the land to the farmer but leaves it state-owned. It was truly a scene both sad and comic to watch, one after another, all the deputies of the newly “Renewed” Party raise their blue voting cards and vote in favor. (Continued on page 6)