CONSERVATIVE COMMUNISTS IN OPEN ATTACK AGAINST REFORMS
For half a century, this Albanian communist underworld [?] was built in the circles of power with an unprecedented hatred against reform in general and against the figures of reformers in particular. This political harshness has been inherited even in these days, when the hallmark of our opponents is a pathological hatred toward market reform and its reformers.
1
The Albanian conservative communists launched their frontal attack against economic reform from the moment when PD became the winner in the elections of 22 March, the dominant force in the coalition government and the undisputed reformist actor in the country. Against economic reform and the new government, they have used an entire arsenal of instruments, from psychosis and the panic of shortages to the blocking of work and the sabotage of the economy.
Against reform have been and are furious those who have plundered and profited from the long-standing backwardness of our economy: leaders of organizations, old bureaucrats and disqualified technocrats, former leaders and activists of the front, youth and women's organizations, incompetent officials of the governing apparatus, former Sigurimi agents and fanatical communists.
2. The mobilization of conservative communists took a major leap with the arrival at the head of the communist revanche organization of the former propaganda apparatus of the PPSH; they used the apparatus of their former Central Committee, the party organization in the districts and the remnants of the mass organizations. The so-called independent press, in which a part of the intellectuals and so-called specialists lined up in due time, was entirely put at the service of slander and the discrediting of the government. Most of all they exploited, and continue to exploit, the figures of officers with high ranks and posts, whom reform and the democratization of the army are hindering.
To this day, hatred toward reformers and the policy of market reform is bringing yesterday's and today's conservatives together in a common front against the government of reforms.
3. The mobilization of conservative communists against reform is taking place at a time when real developments in Albania are closely linked to the success of reform and to the elimination of the consequences of the economic catastrophe inherited from the old system.
Above all, as reformers and a government of major changes, we are doing everything possible to ensure that economic reform produces tangible results for our people and, moreover, under conditions of a deep crisis. Instead of helping the government in these processes, the conservatives act every day to sabotage it and to present the situation as gloomier than it really is.
A telling example is their activity to create artificial shortages in the market, to stir panic among consumers, and to frighten people with catastrophic forecasts. Through their old networks in the administration, in enterprises and in the local apparatus, they have obstructed important decisions, delayed the implementation of privatization measures and stirred social discontent.
On the other hand, while having partial control over information, they have deliberately spread false and fabricated news against the government and the reforms. This effort aims to create an atmosphere of distrust and demoralization, so that efforts for the democratic transformation of the country fail.
At the same time, the conservatives have sought to use the difficulties of the transition as evidence against reform, forgetting that it was precisely their policy of yesterday that brought Albania to this state. They fear the market, competition, transparency and accountability, because these strip them of the privileges they gained under the old system.
If reform moves forward, then they lose their old economic, political and psychological base. Therefore, their fight against reform is essentially a fight to preserve the remnants of a failed order.
(To be continued on page 4)