According to the Soviet news agency TASS, on 29 August the Supreme Soviet of the USSR voted by 283 votes in favor and 29 against to suspend the Communist Party because of the involvement of its leaders in last week’s coup d’état. The Supreme Soviet ordered the USSR prosecutor general to investigate the activities of the Soviet Communist Party during the coup. Bolshevik Leninist-Stalinist communism was born as an organized ideological-militarist current at a time when the stars of the three greatest empires—the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman—had set or were setting, at a time, that is, when the political map of the continents was taking on new colors. With the victory of communism in Russia, the Kremlin became a center of the red Inquisition, more ferocious and monstrous than its medieval predecessor. Its first victims were the Russian people themselves and the other peoples of the tsarist empire. The tragic fate is well known of the millions upon millions of people annihilated in the Soviet Union by the genocide of the “class war” in Siberia and in concentration camps; the fate of true democrats in psychiatric hospitals; the fate of an entire Eurasian space stretching from the Baltic and Black Seas to Kamchatka and the Pacific. Wherever the brutal communist dictatorship was established in the name of the power of the proletariat, in the name of the power of the people—in Poland or Hungary, East Germany or Yugoslavia, Romania and Albania, Bulgaria and Cuba, China, Cambodia, etc.—the peoples who dreamed and hoped for a new world sacrificed their lives to the same terrors, to the demonic weight of red power, which was born in blood and lived by feeding on blood. In all communist countries, without exception, rigged trials, secret and public, mass deportations and imprisonment, killings in the streets and from ambush, mysterious medieval-style disappearances, suicides and poisonings, mass deportations and imprisonment, persecution and expulsions, surveillance and monitoring down to the most intimate matters are well known. Everywhere, arbitrariness was elevated to a cult, with state security as a cult within that cult; it became a repressive mechanism ready to demonstrate the power of tank treads and its fire in the streets of cities and villages, to keep people in terror, suppressing and burning out every discontent in its infancy. For somewhere between more and less than half a century, nearly half of humanity lived in this real hell. As in all these comparisons with the hypocrisy and Byzantinism of its adherents, communism, whether in power or not, promised people prosperity and happiness, justice and equality, brotherhood, and the entire rich arsenal of utopian ideologies and the saints of the century, in order to win them over and become the ideology of the masses. Advertising itself as a homeland, it denied every other faith so that it alone could exist, and so that all humanity would have to worship it blindly. But, contrary to what communist dogma preached, the communist system, the rule of the red rabble, brought misery, poverty, misery, hunger and extreme poverty everywhere in the world. At the top of the pyramid stood and ruled tyrants: mediocre, servile and unscrupulous people, squanderers and plunderers of the wealth and labor of the peoples, ready for every crime and vileness, for intrigues and palace conspiracies, for destroying one another for the sake of power and their selfish, petty interests. Communism has now passed for all time into history’s hell. It is highly significant that the land of the October Revolution, Russia, also became its coffin. It was born on this soil in blood, to the thunder of the cannons of the “Aurora,” and was accompanied on its way out by the mournful bells of history, never to return. In today’s world there are still nostalgics for fascism. Nor can nostalgia for communism be ruled out. We encounter this reality in our own country too, where fanatical communists are trying to “resurrect” communism’s corpse with cosmetic operations to hide its true face. But the turbulent events unfolding in the Soviet Union show how futile communism’s attempts at reform are. They demonstrated its total decay down to its roots. And no new shoots can grow from these roots. They can only become entangled in the forest of human history and are destined to be buried ever deeper by it. The inglorious end of communism—which claimed that the future belonged to it and, with megalomania, claimed that its record contained nothing but successes and no defeats—is a great historic victory for all humanity, the greatest since the defeat of fascism in the Second World War. Communism, which was born as a phantom, ended as a phantom. The price humanity has paid to get here has been very high, tragic. Democracy, in particular, as humanity’s aspiration for thousands of years, has shown its vitality, and peoples have shown their strength and inexhaustible energy to follow its path as the only guarantee of a dignified life built through honest labor. The end of communism is the end of a dark, terrifying era for the peoples who lived through it and for others who were threatened by it. For the world in general, it marks the beginning of a new era; for the peoples it enslaved, including our own, it means building a new world that will rise above the ruins. For this, first of all, everyone must work—work hard—with courage and vigilance; we need the support of friends and the friendship of peoples. To achieve this, the thorns must be removed from our path, and the crypto-communists must be given their final send-off. A historic opportunity has knocked at the doors of our homeland. It is up to the people and democracy to take it into their own hands. BASHKIM TRENOVA

Relations 1. The newspaper «Zëri i rinisë», while setting out to judge the truthfulness of the anti-Farudin+Et-Farudin+Et-Fatos formula «Iliria Holding», also gives a short interview with Mr. Farudin Hoxha. Among other things, one senses his concern about why «RD» has made such recent attacks against him. It is said that he wants to give a response, if «RD» publishes it. Staying true to the Latin proverb and adapting it a little—“Farudin gives what is due”—to get as close to the truth as possible, we will have to go back two or three months... The national stability government had been formed; the ministers had not yet taken their oath before the president. It was precisely at that time that I published an article. In 10–15 lines I highlighted the economic «mess» Farudin Hoxha had cooked up in his role as chairman of the Economic Cooperation Committee. The newspaper. In the evening, even the telephone rang. It was Farudin. Very politely, he asked me to meet. A social conversation. He gave me two possible locations. At home? At a café? Farudin, the press? Two days later, together with Filip Çakuli, we climbed the stairs to the apartment. We met. He was extremely worried. He could not concentrate. At first I thought I had wronged him. Filip told me the same when the host left to fetch the coffee. Feeling myself to be in the right, I decided that we should reach some sort of compromise. The newspaper would publish a response to the article. The wording would be according to Farudin’s wishes. “I’m not able to,” he said. “I’ll consult with friends. I’ll also speak with my friend Ylli Khabri and another former employee of the committee.” Fine. If he needed it, we would even make a newspaper available to him. The person in question was Genc Tirana. We parted. On the way, Filip and I discussed Farudin’s worry and confusion. We became suspicious. With these suspicions, we arrived at the editorial office. There we met Genc Tirana. “A fax has come from Germany,” he says. “A newspaper has published the contract signed between Albania and the German firm «Ruker». An article has also been written with the headline: «Farudin Hoxha has sold Albania to an Illyrian.»” We translated it. We discussed the materials in the newsroom. We decided to publish the contract without making any comment. A week later the newspaper published the contract with these signatures: Days and weeks passed. Good heavens! Farudin did not publish a response in the newspaper. Yet today, two months after this story, he is needlessly worrying himself: Will RD publish his article or not?... Yes, there is a reason for that. You, citizens, Mr. Farudin Hoxha, have had your answer for a long time. A week ago, while I was writing the article «The political market displaces the economic market», a document from the State Control Commission came into my hands. It concerned the contract concluded with the firm «Iliria Holding». It showed that Farudin Hoxha was one of the architects of this agreement. The document did not explain what had happened to this contract. These are facts brought to light by an official inspection, not by a journalist’s imagination. These are old events, not discoveries made in recent days. So there is no place for statements, but for public answers. Otherwise, we get the familiar refrain: “Words, my lord, words...” 2. A month ago, for health reasons, I went to Italy. Quite by chance I met a businessman. His name: Renato Felilah. “I’ve established a joint venture,” he tells me. “We’ve given it a name. We’re waiting to start work.” “Wonderful, good luck!” “But how can I succeed when you attack the firm I own in your newspaper?!” We exchanged a few remarks and understood one another. We had published an article in the newspaper titled «The Businessman Son-in-Law». It was about Klement Kolaneci, who had established a joint venture called «Ital - Trade». The article did not criticize the Italian firm, but its architect, the only son-in-law of the late Enver, architect Klement Kolaneci. I explained it to him. He was not convinced. “I do business. I don’t do politics.” (Continued on page 2) MITRO ÇELA

The Democratic Party is the first political force to have raised the Cham issue, concerning a people who have been discriminated against and martyred. It took this step in the first days after its creation, particularly in Pukë, while its leader, the dictator Enver Hoxha, had tried with all his might to consign the issue to oblivion, to smear it, to keep it and its people in darkness. In its policy of supporting the Cham people, the Democratic Party has pursued no interests of its own. It was the first to ask the Greek government to open consultations. The Greek government has appreciated these actions and agreed to open such consultations. The Democratic Party has fought to ensure respect for the rights and freedoms of Albanians and was the first, both within the Republic of Albania and outside it, to act in accordance with the documents of the UN and the CSCE. This consistent position of the Democratic Party is known, publicized and proclaimed to the world. It is a peaceful, contemporary position, grounded in international rights. In these circumstances, the fuss made recently by certain press outlets is paradoxical and regrettable. They claim that Democratic Party leaders have spoken against the rights of the Cham people. In light of a year of known and publicly stated policy, the Democratic Party considers these statements slanderous and intended to sow division between democratic forces and the people. STEERING COMMITTEE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

- The PS and «ZP» are sheltering the thief wanted by the investigators. Recently, the Albanian literary world has been stirring public opinion with false news and all kinds of slander, sometimes targeting one person and sometimes groups of people, associations and different parties. As always, «ZP» proudly carries the standard as a beacon. An article dated 14 III appears on 24.8.91, under the headline «Three and a half months—a democrat», written by Agron Rexha, listing a string of slanders against the DP branch in Tropojë. The mania for writing people’s «biographies» in the style of the Party of Labour is more evident than ever today, always following a familiar principle of Goebbels: «Tell a lie, tell it again, and someone will believe it.» Not to polemicize with Agron Rexha, since it is not worth it, but in the interests of truth we will say a few words about how the ground for this article was prepared. Every revolution (Continued on page 2)

On 28.8.1991, at the Palace of Culture in the city of Vlorë, the DP branch of this district organized a meeting with DP members, activists and supporters. From the DP Steering Committee, Dr. Prof. Sali Berisha and ... were invited. SARANDË The Democratic Party branch of the Sarandë district organized a meeting at the cinema-theater in the city of Sarandë with members, supporters, intellectuals and employees from the city and the surrounding villages, together with Mr. Neritan Çeka, who spoke about the political situation in the country and the work being done in Albania’s first pluralist parliament to create democratic legislation. Without dissatisfaction and movement regarding the constitution, without the law on land, without the laws for de-

On Thursday afternoon, thousands of people gathered in «America» Square in the city of Kavajë to take part in the rally organized by the Steering Committee of the DP in this district. When the chairman of the DP Steering Committee, Prof. Dr. Sali Berisha, and others appeared on one of the balconies of the apartment building opposite, where the DP branch office was located, the square erupted in applause and enthusiastic cries of «Freedom, democracy». It should be emphasized that this is the first demonstration since the fall of the old and long-ruling regime by the residents of this city, which was declared a district only in these first months of pluralism. Dr. Prof. Sali Berisha praised the role of the city of Kavajë, one of the earliest and strongest centers of the struggle for democracy in our country and a co-founder of the PDSH. “You,” he emphasized, “have fought and aspire to a true and complete democracy, to a state governed by law. But these cannot be achieved with a nominal president, with Arben Imami and Tomor Dosti. In his speech, Dr. Prof. Sali Berisha stressed the great importance of civic political action for establishing democracy in Albania. Through this action, the DP aims to prevent the establishment of a right-wing dictatorship, ensure the restoration of order and calm in the country, the functioning of the state governed by law, the protection of freedom and property, equality of citizens before the law, and to develop this value and democratic education. ... with a parliament that is 70 percent communist, with a government whose members are 50 percent communist, with a security service that preserves the power, cadres, mentality and practices of the old regime. Even while we are seeking to secure rights and freedoms for everyone, they keep some people from Kavajë in prison, while leaving former members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour—now removed from office—at liberty, people who stole millions of lek from the people. «RD» correspondent ... the depoliticization of the army and law-enforcement bodies; without laws for ... in the economy and the market, and encouraging the entry of foreign capital; and he also ... (Continued on page 2)

Activities of the Democratic Party LARGE PUBLIC RALLY IN THE CITY OF KAVAJËS