The earthquake of 22 March is now being felt even in the upper circles of the PS. The signs are bad. The hemorrhage of intellectuals from that party is becoming alarming. A well-known journalist from «ZP», Mr Sami Milloshi, resigned from the editorial office that manufactures the vilest slander and insults for the narrow interests of a bankrupt party. Genuine socialist intellectuals are revolted by what they see, what they hear, and what they experience at the hands of the «renewed» socialists. And the bravest among them are expressing their revolt openly.

In truth, in spirit I had left «Zëri Popullit» some time ago, but now I decided to leave in fact as well, withdrawing my employment booklet with full awareness. I worked for a relatively long time at ZP, and from 1985 until July 1991 I was deputy editor-in-chief and later secretary of the editorial board of this newspaper. The breeze of democracy that began to blow through the pages of «Zëri Popullit» during the first five or six months of 1990 meant that the newspaper was eagerly awaited by readers. The reason was that the newspaper was becoming more open to the truth and, more importantly, distinguished intellectuals such as Ylli Popa, Sali Berisha, and others were ... (Continued on page 2)

«Let them try the PS for another 47 years»... «ZP» urges. In today’s world, it is hard to find a party that fights harder than the PS to avoid being removed from the political stage than our 50±1-year-old PS. A desperate, almost pathological persistence has put its leaders in the position of a drowning person who clutches even at a straw to survive at any cost, by any means, at any price. Once, those leaders taught us that, according to Marxism, history has iron laws that no one can withstand. - When it delivers its verdict: «leave power!» - no one and nothing in the world can keep you standing. Could the professors of the Institute of Gër-mërrit have forgotten this law? «Let the PD have a try too». This slogan of the undecided part of the electorate, as simple as it is persuasive, is greatly troubling our Punisto-socialists. They have even given a lengthy leading article the single-name title FPSH. It harbors people who have committed monstrous crimes against this people: murderers, criminals and Punist thieves. The latest fact: the PS lays claim to 10 tons of gold stolen two years ago. Why, indeed? What connects it to the thieves of the past? 4. The PS must leave the stage because democratic socialism has nothing to do with real Eastern socialism. At no founding congress of European socialist parties have people cheered dictators as they did at the 10th congress of the PS («Party of Enver, we are always ready!»). By the way, we do not know what ordinal number the next congress will have. 5. The PS must leave the stage because no democratic government supports it. The PS is repeating the phrase «it is not true that the world does not help us» so often that even those of its members who believed it until yesterday are now ... You understand that the end is now near. And you are putting into practice Louis XIV’s motto: «After me, let the cataclysm come!» The orchestrated looting, theft and burning have been incited, supported and organized by your extremists, who regard your fall from power as the end of the world. And yet you want to blame the opposition. It is not the one who enters a house who destroys it, but the one who leaves it. There are reports that your people are arming themselves. Just do not forget to tell them, when you give them weapons, to «flatten them completely»! You will lose. Any attempt to change the historical course at the end of this century is futile. You are absurd. You have lost your logic. You do nothing but curse and insult. You attack Sali Berisha for his supposed cult tendencies, and publish an album about Fatos Nano; you question Azem Hajdari’s mental capacity, and two lines later attack him for continuing two faculties at once(!). You attack the PD because six months were not enough for its experiment in power (though God knows with what nerve, when it is widely known that the president was a Punist, the prime minister a socialist, the interior minister an Enverist, the foreign minister a socialist too, the parliament two-thirds PP, and even the ministries run by Democrats were staffed with more than 90 percent Punists), while 47 years of experimentation by your predecessors seem too little to you. We do not conduct experiments, gentlemen. We have a living model: more than 20 Western European countries have built the society you say you want to achieve. You are the ones conducting experiments, trying to replace the socialist economy of exchanging goods in kind with a market economy. And as for the European left, go and meet Karl Shramekun in Australia once again, because he will tell you where you belong. SKENDER SHKUPI … this law, the professors of the Institute of Gër-merrit [?]? “Let the DP have a try for once, too” … This slogan of the undecided section greatly troubling our socialist rulers. So much so that they made it the title of a long leading article in “Zëri i popullit” dated February 29. It was put in quotation marks to stigmatize the idea and accompanied by the ridiculous subtitle “Wasn’t one year of trial enough?!” The gentlemen of “ZP” interpret the slogan “Let them have a try…” as a consequence of the opposition’s lack of arguments. Since they have forgotten them, we will remind them once again: 1. The SP must leave power because it holds it and is able to retain it, even though, as it has openly declared, it cannot govern the country alone. 2. The socialists must leave because their party’s credibility is rapidly approaching zero: they cannot secure even the minimum number of people needed to organize an ordinary meeting anywhere, not even in Tirana, where the election campaign was launched with small-scale oral announcements and “support” contingents brought by bus from Librazhd and Gramsh. 3. The SP must leave the scene because it is tied to the PP by 99 threads and has snapped one … … advised the supporters not to applaud. We want to point out here that these base acts were not accidental. Comrade Nano is proving a worthy successor to E. Hoxha and has been trying for some time to create a cult of his own. At a time when children in schools have no books or notebooks, Comrade Nano distributes an expensive album containing 1 larde [?] of pictures of himself. The latest incident at the “press conference” shows that Nano is not at all what he claims to be, but a refurbished dictator who nurtures the most extreme convictions and the most aggressive passions of his predecessor. Unfortunately, this “conference” reminded us of the dictator’s films, where every word of his was greeted with irrepressible cries. But this “conference” also reminded us of the 10th Congress of the PPSH (or the continuity congress), where participants chanted: “Party-Enver, we are ready at any time!” At Saturday’s “conference,” it would have been no surprise to hear the cries: “Fatos-Enver, we are ready at any time!” Direct responsibility for these acts lies with the director of the Palace of Congresses, Dese Jaku, a former prominent PPSH activist, who allows other people to enter a press conference that is held exclusively for journalists. To be precise, there have been other conferences where a party’s supporters have applauded, but there have never been provocations. What was special about Nano’s “conference” was that the “supporters” had been deliberately brought in and perhaps paid to insult and provoke opposition journalists. Comrade Nano declared that from the PP we inherited only its honest members. Were those who insulted, threatened, provoked and even used force against journalists at the end honest members? We do not believe so. The honest members of the PP abandoned the SP and its “erudite” chairman long ago. Unfortunately, those who have remained in the SP are people who want at all costs to keep their positions and profit as much as they can. Perhaps Comrade Nano wanted, with this “conference,” to put pressure on the free press and show journalists his strength. But we tell you this: “Professor,” you are deluding yourself; he and those who show their fists have themselves experienced the people’s true strength, and especially that of Tirana’s journalists. Don’t make such jokes. Don’t act brave when your end is approaching! ARMAND SKULLAKU, GENC TIRANA, DRITAN KABA 5. The SP must leave the scene because no democratic government supports it. The SP is trying so hard to explain away the fact that the world is not helping us that even some of its members, who until yesterday believed this claim, have now begun to doubt it. The world is organized into states; states are governed by governments; governments have representatives in other countries, including Albania. Those representatives have made it perfectly clear that a government run by the SP should expect no kind of assistance from abroad. So what do you want, gentlemen? Why do you protest without stopping? Do you want people to love you by force? 6. The SP must leave power because the solution to our national problem, the resolution of the Albanian question, makes it imperative. Those who sacrificed national interests for proletarian internationalism are still members of the SP and have had a great influence on that party’s policies. For the third time now, Ismail Kadare has been compelled to declare that the opposition must win in Albania. Kosovo’s leaders are saying the same thing. Who is left who has not said it? Surely even these facts do not convince you?

XHEFRI PATI: «Foreign investment will come after the opposition wins» - Our newspaper’s editor, Genc Tirana, interviewed Mr Xhefri Pati, deputy leader of Britain’s Conservative Party and a member of the British Parliament. Question: What is your opinion of the democratic developments in Albania so far? Answer: This is my first visit to Albania, and I am not in a position to make comparisons with earlier periods. But I can compare your developments with those in other countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which I know well. What has impressed me most is the fact that the opposition’s activities have been shown on Radio and Television. I noticed this as well when I attended Democratic Party rallies. Such a thing is quite encouraging, ... Question: If you really claim that, since the elections are in January of this year in Albania, Europe and the World are satisfied. But I say that Europe and the World will not be satisfied with that alone. The Albanian economy will not be saved by foreign investment unless these elections are won by the Democratic Party and the other opposition forces. If it really happens that they do not win, believe me, I guarantee you that there will be no foreign investment here, because people will not believe that things have changed. And it is very clear. In that case, the only thing that will have changed will be the propaganda and ... Answer: In England newspapers are independent of political parties. Nevertheless, they retain their left-wing, centrist or right-wing profile. In cases ... Question: As a journalist, I am interested in knowing the relationship between the press and the parties in England. What experience do you have in this regard, and can we adapt to this experience? they retain their left-wing, centrist or right-wing profile. ... Eastern and Central Europe, with which I am familiar. What impressed me most was the fact that the opposition’s activities were covered on Radio-Television. I also noticed this when I attended rallies of the Democratic Party. This is very encouraging, because it gives democratic opposition forces the opportunity to present their activities and win over all the democratic forces in the country, as well as those who believe in democracy. People who watched on screen Mr. Berisha’s meeting in Berat, where I was also present, saw the large crowd that could not get into the cinema hall because it could not accommodate them, and that was directed to the sports stadium. All this gives people a realistic impression that the opposition and the Democratic Party are gaining broad support throughout the country. This is very important. Question: Which political forces do you think could integrate Albania into Europe more quickly? Answer: I have no doubt about this. I am also familiar with the “propaganda” being conducted on this issue. The true communists [?] democratic forces these believe that things have changed. And that will have changed will be the propaganda and rhetoric of the crypto-communists who will remain in power. The right choice for the Albanian electorate is to vote for the Democratic Party. And as soon as that happens, investment will pour in and Albania will have a good future. Question: How do you view the relations between England’s Conservative Party and Albania’s Democratic Party, now and in the future, and what support will England and your party, which is in power, give Albania? Answer: These relations are fraternal. We have welcomed Mr. Berisha in England, and he spoke at our Party Conference. He has made many friends there. I would like us to have more leaders like him in Europe, in Central and Eastern Europe. We wish to work even more closely with the DP and give it more assistance and sup- … true communists [?] democratic forces these believe that things have changed. And that sup-

- Opposition journalists protest and walk out of comrade Fatos Nano’s «press conference» - On Saturday, 29.2.1992, comrade Nano organized a «press conference» at the Palace of Congresses. This «conference» had been organized entirely according to the plans of the comrades of the PS. There were around 10–15 journalists in the hall and several representatives of foreign embassies in Tirana. The rest of the hall was filled with euphoric old men, M-L lecturers, and irresponsible, uncultured elements, who had been brought in and provoked, with the sole aim of provoking the opposition journalists. From the very beginning, the opposition journalists made clear their objection to this «conference» and to the insults and abuse directed at them by groups of this kind, which you would not even hear on the street. The journalists were treated with brutal, fascist interference when they asked questions. Nano’s answers were met with applause and shouts, while we were subjected to pushing and unscrupulous threats. And as if to crown it all, journalist Bashkim Ze-

— According to Tos, only SP members are honest?! — “Those who have remained in the SP (that is, have not betrayed it) are those who were honest and jealous of their honesty,” replied one of the questions put to Mr. Nano about the number of socialist members and their length of membership in the Socialist Party at the press conference. What a surprise! This was a press conference, so it was a serious meeting and not an election propaganda meeting (?!). According to Mr. Fatos, only today’s SP members are Albania’s honest people, and the others amount to nothing? I was deeply indignant and said to myself, why is he giving this answer? This man presents himself as “erudite,” “secluded,” “cultured,” and “democratic”!!!! Zeroes multiplied by zero are all zero. When he was called to a big London meeting in America, where communism won in Albania, to put his hand to this, he replied: “In any case, they are our sons and brothers” (...). But what about me, and hundreds of others like me, who were honest members of the PP and today have not become (or refused to become, “on the fish’s orders”) members of the SP—where do you put us, Mr. Nano?! Are we perhaps dishonest? No one would dare to make such an insult. At this conference, we were reminded of the way of speaking of your former “great” counterpart. History repeats itself, sometimes in heroic form and sometimes in comic form. Today you are the comic silhouette of social-communism in Albania. It is absolutely untrue to say that “your SP members are 200 percent socialist,” when their chairman is not even one gram socialist! MEHMET META Former PP member, now partyless (In the newspaper, “Asa. e Pyetje” [?])

- WHOEVER VOTES FOR THE OPPOSITION VOTES FOR THE FUTURE. - WHOEVER VOTES FOR THE PS VOTES FOR THE PAST. - WHOEVER DOES NOT VOTE IS FOR TODAY’S ANXIETY, POVERTY AND CHAOS.