The left-wing alternative was conceived as the coexistence of conservative ultra-communism with the slogans of contemporary Eurosocialism. Since this alternative was built in a compromised manner by activists of Bolshevik militancy, based on the principles of all-embracing corruption and surrounded by the faded trappings of the principles of the left-wing movement, it was destined to sink into a complete and complex drama. The demonstration of communist morality, in the form of defending red corruption, symbolized by Nano’s broken cross, and by the cries of Ruçi, Brokaj, etc. for a return to Enver’s decades, caused the socialist electorate to boycott the PS’s red pyramid. The instinct of self-preservation before the law led the corrupt leaders of the PS to take to the streets with Enver’s slogans on their lips; likewise, the morality of Albanians, who oppose theft and injustice, stood against this failed march of the red gang, leaving Nano, Ruçi, Brokaj and other Bolshevik janissaries alone. They were mocked by people in the streets and stadiums of Albania. The socialist electorate in Elbasan, Fier, Tepelenë, Dibër and Fushë-Krujë believes in democratic socialism, not Nano and Ruçi’s slogans: «Enver’s Party, we are always ready», «Long live E. Hoxha», etc. The socialist electorate manifested its sense of revolt and impatience with the ultra-communist revanche within the party. True socialists who believe in democracy cannot join the communist chorus of the PS, which seeks to perpetuate the power inherited from their fathers—the power built on the blood and lives of Albanians. From the outset, the platform of the ultra-communist wing of the PS, represented by Nano and Ruçi, as a powerful current dominating the PS’s philosophical thinking, directed the PS toward revanche and settling scores. This band of thugs, who have never wanted to understand the theory of European social democrats, printed their communist platform in the pages of «ZP» with primitive ferocity. It was precisely this change of course toward E. Hoxha’s theory of proletarian revolution that caused the socialist electorate to break away from Nano as early as his failed «operation», in which Nano, Ruçi and Brokaj sought to protect the PS bosses’ corruption in the name of the PS. The genuine socialist electorate, the intellectual wing of the PS, has nothing to do with corruption and nothing to do with the Leninist principles on which the PS operates today. It is therefore to the honor of the PS intellectuals to reorganize and formulate left-wing thought in the country’s political and social life. For as long as the PS is led by descendants of Hoxha and his clan, the left-wing alternative in Albania will remain in crisis and manipulated. This crisis was also manifested in recent days by the true socialist electorate’s boycott of the theorists of neo-communism and the thugs on the PS leadership. Finally, it must be emphasized that movement, it was destined to sink into a complete, complex drama. of the red gang, leaving Nano, Ruçi, Brojken and other Bolsheviks Dibër, Fushë-Krujë, etc., showed that it had no intention of being tainted by the theft of the communist leadership. It also showed that it judges calmly the crimes committed by the dictators of the PP(S), and that it has no intention whatsoever of identifying itself with the corrupt, the former Sigurimi men, or the executioners of the dictatorship, who seek to use the Albanian electorate as their shield. break away from Nano during his «winter operation», in which Nano, Ruçi and Brokaj sought to overthrow the democratic state through violence and bloodshed. This was Lenin’s scheme for the victory of the proletarian revolution. This brought about—or, rather, marked—the first break by the socialist electorate from F. Nano’s communist theory and practice, a break that deepened even further in recent days, as the conservative leaders showed beastly zeal for ferocity. This shift in course by activists of Bolshevik militancy, founded on the principles of corruption throughout, the left-wing movement, The vision for the future of the Albanian left is shrouded in total darkness by the theft and crimes of Nano, Ruçi and company. Therefore, the true socialists’ distancing themselves from this catastrophe of crime and corruption in order to build a contemporary party is, above all, a historic responsibility. MUJE BUÇPAPAJ

Message from the President of the Republic on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Mukje Assembly The Mukje Assembly, considering the time at which it convened, the strategy it set out and the objectives it established, will remain in the history of Albania and the Albanian nation as one of its most notable events. It was an assembly of pan-Albanian understanding. Wise men of differing convictions, all guided by great national ideals, reached agreement with one another like brothers on all the major issues that would determine Albania’s future. The Mukje Assembly was the assembly of freedom. There, the paths and means of liberating the country were determined, and the resolve of all Albanians to liberate their territories from all old and new occupiers was expressed. Mukje was the assembly of Albanian pluralism. Different political forces were represented there, and together they decided that the Albania of the future would be a pluralist state. The Mukje Assembly was the great assembly of democracy. The wise men who took part in that assembly voted for a democratic Albania, integrated into the community of developed Western democracies. In a word, this assembly approved the platform and strategy of a genuine war of liberation, to establish a democratic state in Albania and place our country among the true democracies of Europe and the world. But for our national tragedy, just as Mukje was great and important, bright and full of hope, so too would what followed Mukje be fierce and cruel, ominous and macabre. This was because the Communist Party of Serbia destroyed Mukje and its platform in the very first days of its existence. It had extended into Kosovo and Albania, alongside the black occupation, its own red occupation, which, as Albanians experienced, was the most terrible and savage occupation the Albanian nation had ever known. This party led the most hated dictator of Albanians of all time, Enver Hoxha, the servile lackey of Miladin and Mugosha, of Tito and Stalin, of Lin Biao and Çan Çini, who tore up the Mukje agreement. With this criminal act, this dictator also killed the great hopes of a martyred and noble nation. With this barbaric act, Enver Hoxha committed the greatest act of national treason, one that history will never forgive him for. By this act, he committed a great betrayal, which Albania and the Albanians will remember forever. By denouncing Mukje, he set out to sever Albania from the family of democratic nations and countries and place it under the complete control of Serbia and later Russia and Stalin, ultimately turning it into a European experimental plot for the monstrous and inhuman ideas of Lin Biao and Çan Çini and the other ideologies of China’s Cultural Revolution. By denouncing Mukje, Enver Hoxha succeeded in building in Albania the most dictatorial and savage regime Europe has known in modern times. Nevertheless, the paranoid dictatorship never succeeded in completely defeating Mukje’s ideals. They survived even through the most difficult times, triumphing in the 1990s and remaining alive forever. Ladies and Gentlemen! The Mukje Agreement was indeed torn up, but its message and lessons are, and will remain, eternal for us. This message invites all Albanians who hold the ideals of democracy sacred, while always preserving and respecting diversity of opinion, to remain in full agreement on the great national question. The lessons of Mukje teach Albanians that Enverism, the most fanatical and Byzantine variant of Stalinism, was an entirely inhuman, anti-Albanian and anti-national ideology and practice. It was the ideology of persecution and oppression, fratricide, collectivization, deceit, treason and national injustice. Therefore, liberating the Albanian spirit from the remnants of this distorted ideology is essential to consolidating democracy in Albania. The message of Mukje defines Albanian society as a democratic pluralist society, whose broad spectrum has, and must have, room for every individual with differing religious and political convictions, on condition that they do not threaten but respect the freedom of others. The message of Mukje places Albania among the democratic and developed countries of Europe, a place the Albanian nation deserves with dignity—not only because it is among the oldest peoples of this continent, but above all because, over the centuries, through its creative genius and in struggle and great efforts, it has preserved and developed the values of Western civilization. Therefore, for all these reasons, I believe that by honoring Mukje and those enlightened Albanian men who signed the agreement of that assembly, we honor history—not only our past, but also our present and future. Warm greetings, SALI BERISHA

In the pages of «ZP», as well as at rallies organized through concentrated action by the PS leadership headquarters, it is clearly stated and easily understood that Fatos Nano and his most loyal associates are prepared to sacrifice not only the PS but Albania as well. Their demagoguery, based especially on the specter of Ballism and fascism, on the lack of deep democratic convictions among some people or groups, and on their impatience with the temporary hardships of reform, has managed to drug quite a few people and turn them into recruits for their anti-democratic campaign in defense of the PS’s corrupt leader, Fatos Nano. This daily, intensive dose has been taken voluntarily and eagerly above all by nostalgic elements, followers of Enver Hoxha and his era, who were pampered and privileged, who carry on their consciences a burden of guilt, sins and crimes, and who see no other way to salvation and survival than a return to that Enverian era—even though they are not being pursued either by their victims or by justice. These people and their revanchism are not only pathological, but are also presented as an expression of advanced democratic tolerance. Instead of hiding away in the spacious apartments they secured through servility and submission to the party, they throw themselves into the fray with the energy, blindness and Don Quixotism of the past. Accustomed for 50 years to seeing the party embodied in the name and image of Enver Hoxha or Ramiz Alia, they now see the PS behind portraits of Fatos Nano, manufactured in PASOK’s laboratories under the banner of national treason. They are guided more by the logic of «ZP» than by conviction: if Fatos Nano falls, disaster will strike, the whole PS will be lost, and all Albania will be lost; Albania, their bodies and their lives must therefore be defended, as must the life of chairman Nano. But is it right, logical, lawful, and worthwhile to sacrifice oneself for Fatos Nano? No—absolutely not. Fatos Nano should be counted among the offspring of the families of the Bllok—not the wider Enverian bloc. He grew up with every advantage, even during the period when the children of the people, including ordinary communists and today’s socialists, were deprived of or did not even know many things that were commonplace and had become boring luxuries for Comrade Thanas’s circle. Thanks to his inheritance and cultivated abilities, he was considered a promising talent. And, in fact, he did not disappoint. He was made prime minister and chairman of the PS, and justified their care and confidence by steering the family and the entire state of Enver and Ramiz, keeping it aloft and soiling the flag of communism. During his two shortened terms as prime minister, and especially while serving as chairman of the PS, he led the Enverian crowds in carrying out a scenario drawn up in Tirana, approved and paid for with millions of dollars in Belgrade: the complete economic reanimation of Albania, only to leave it to the democratic forces as a ruin with four walls, setting them against the impatience of a people demanding the swiftest possible change. But events such as 2 April 1991 in Shkodër, the 38 victims of Fushë Arrëz, and the organized destruction in Laç, Pogradec, Lushnjë... are also associated with his name and his post as chairman of the PS. Ah, what a sin and crime it would be to criminalize the entire PS for things organized and directed by a headquarters with direct or secret links to R. Alia and the PS leadership under Fatos Nano’s banner. The facts show that F. Nano has sullied this force’s flag and turned it into a PS group. Should ordinary PS members with pure socialist ideals agree to coexist—and, worse, to take directives and lessons from a leader like Fatos Nano? Should they agree to become accomplices or defenders of Fatos Nano’s profiteers? Logic and our wish say «no». Through what he has done, Fatos Nano has thought only of himself and his clan. So why should these idealistic socialist members think of him and sacrifice themselves for him, while he and his associates did not fight even a single inch for their armchairs and millions? While ordinary socialists were forced to toil every hour to survive on low wages and pensions, Fatos Nano and his associates spent without restraint on lavish lunches and dinners at the Dajt Rest House, the «Dajt» hotel and other expensive venues in Tirana. Their salaries could not possibly carry them through even a week, let alone a month, given the huge sums they spend on banquets and weekends away. Naturally, it is clear from what «river» or stream the communist-socialist machine has been filled and continues to be filled. For what Fatos Nano has done, he should be held responsible and give an account himself. Let him defend himself. He lacks neither judges nor some of the best defense lawyers. If he is found innocent, he can take the chairman’s seat again. If the facts leave him with no answer and wash their hands of him, the stain of shame should remain only on him and the clan that inspired, supported and protected him. OLTION BARDHI

In its latest issue, «Alternativa SD» publishes, under the headline «Skënder Gjinushi answers the BBC», an interview with Mr Gjinushi given to an anonymous representative of that radio station. Among other things, Mr Gjinushi is asked: «The Socialist Party and the Democratic Party, in your view, are no longer opponents but enemies. Where do you stand?» The anonymous BBC interviewer’s framing of the issue in this way is extremely deliberate and tendentious. The Democratic Party has not considered, and will never consider, any of the legal parties, whatever they may be, an enemy. Respect for democracy and the law is at the foundation of the Democratic Party. The time when dissenting opinion and an opposition stance were regarded and punished as enemy activity in Albania is over once and for all. Reframing the issue, bringing terms and positions from the archives of the dark era of the dictatorship of the proletariat—the accursed shadows of the «enemy», and so on—does credit neither to the anonymous author of the interview nor to the newspaper that publishes such fantasies. It is true that today, under democracy, former Sigurimi agents and others, extremists and nostalgics for dictatorship, move about freely and engage in political activity. This phenomenon is also part of democracy. But even in this case, one cannot speak of enmity or hostility. One thing should be clearer: the Democratic Party has neither confused, nor previously confused, nor will ever confuse the healthy part of the Socialist Party with the corrupt elements that have taken their place in that party. To think that an anonymous BBC representative would say this is to remain trapped in the criminal communist concepts of class struggle, to have failed to free oneself and to remain a slave to the communist mentality that brought Albania to its present condition and the Albanian people to complete ruin. If one speaks of enmity or enemies, the Democratic Party is the sworn enemy of the ideology that carries such practices within it.

On 2 August 1993, a meeting was held in the district of Krujë with the participation of local authorities, enterprise managers, intellectuals, trade unionists, etc. The Government was represented by Ministers Tritan Shehu and Dashamir Shehi, and the Chairman of the Committee for Science, Maksimonomi. They discussed issues concerning economic reform, disengagement and techniques for developing our society. Answering numerous questions about the political situation in the country, Mr Tritan Shehu explained that, Fatos Nano and his friends among the other PS leaders, who are responsible not only for corruption at Levante Companisë but also for many other crimes, such as the events in Shkodër, the burning in Fushë-Arrëz, the destruction in Pogradec and Lushnjë, the mass exoduses and other tragedies of enormous scale, are prepared to criminalize the entire PS and lead its membership into crime in order to save themselves. It is clear that this can no longer be called a complete breakaway from the PS. Their desire is to create (Continued on page 6)