The new PSSH program “is based on the principles of Marxism” It is neither a slip of the pen nor empty sensationalism; it is “ZP” that is publishing the new PSSH program, whose introduction states verbatim: “The PSSH program is based on general principles that serve as a guiding orientation for the policy and practical activity of its members.” Someone among them may say that the introduction to the PSSH program does not mention, as before, the teachings of Marxism-Leninism, but only Marxist principles. The debates we have heard so often among the “dissidents” of the PSSH may also begin: Marx was right, but Stalin ruined it. of its members. These principles stem from the legacy of progressive Albanian social and political thought, from the inherited historical experience of humanity, and in particular from humanist and Enlightenment philosophy (Marxist), as well as from the currents of democratic socialist thought of our time. Its members. These principles stem from the legacy..., from historical experience..., in particular from humanist, Enlightenment and Marxist philosophy... It would be hard to find a more significant statement than this introduction to the “new” PSSH program for the renewal of this party. These are the words found in every work by E.Hoxha and in the introductions to the history of the PPSH. As stated in the program’s introduction, its authors have also relied on “the legacy of Albanian social and political thought” and, of course, on “historical experience” and “humanist,” Enlightenment and Marxist philosophy... Similar debates are also held about “our classics”: Enver did well, but Ramiz ruined it. All Albanians were forced to study the teachings of Marx, or those of “the founders of scientific communism.” Albanians also experienced what it means to apply Marx’s theories. So did all those peoples unfortunate enough to live in countries established on the basis of those principles, whether “Stalinist” or “revisionist.” To take part in the wealth that is created and distributed.” But do all people have the same opportunities? The hopes of the socialists’ “equality” depend on the answer to this question. And then they look for people who will believe them. In section 1.1.3, Justice, the quotation “to ensure the necessary minimum even for those who do not attain it for particular reasons” is incomplete. Does it explain how many people there will be (those who do not even have the minimum) if the PS governs? Because under the rule of its left-wing predecessor, PPSH, an entire people did not have “the necessary minimum.” As for the PS’s solidarity, it is a peculiar kind: “Our solidarity is expressed by our willingness to unite around the same goals and ideas”; meaning: others who share goals and ideas with this political force do not enjoy its solidarity. What lovely solidarity! But Albanians left outside this solidarity found the most touching words: “We (the socialists—editor’s note) are in solidarity with all the peoples of the world.” After the incomprehensible phrases” Changing the laws and returning to where we were: the greatest goal of the Albanian social-communists The socialist leader states in the PSSH program: “...We will seek to change the laws that have been passed” passed” “Right from the introduction to the PSSH program, indeed in its very first lines, an attentive reader cannot miss the fact that the PS is afraid of its own birth: the words ‘founded on 12 June 1991’ and ‘the birth and emergence of pluralism’ are deliberately not specified as having taken place ‘at the 10th Congress of the Albanian Party of Labour.’ A little further on, one finds a classic example of the hypocrisy of Albanian ‘socialism’: in section 1.1.1, ‘Freedom,’ passages from the Law on the Rights and Freedoms of the Individual are written down, even though the socialists did not vote for it last year. The utopia of Marxism is embodied in section 1.1.2, Equality, which contains the statement: ‘equality is achieved when everyone has the same social and civil opportunities to obtain a share of the social look for people who will believe them. ‘We socialists are convinced that a market-economy society, which has not established the rule of law and in which true pluralist democracy exists... allows socialist ideals to be affirmed?!’ (Section 1.3). Here come contradictory statements within a single quotation: ‘We seek to replace domination through bureaucratic economic power with democratic relations based on solidarity and cooperation (1). We demand that the public sector and state, political and cultural mechanisms play an important role in society’s development’ (1 and 2 presuppose opposing concepts on the same issue). The socialists’ insistence on including in their program ideas that contradict their actions today as an opposition is astonishing: ‘free elections under constitutional control as the only mechanism for coming to power’ (section 2.1), whereas now, when elections are legally scheduled once every four years, they are demanding new elections (since 23 March)... Farmers, private citizens: be vigilant, the PS promises to expropriate you. As for violations of the law—meaning corruption, etc.—the PS has a special solution (section 2.3.1): “Anyone who decides (the reference is to officials—see above) knowingly to break the law must be prepared to bear the legal consequences as well.” No comment. “We support a social market economy in which the state plays a certain role,” section 3.2 says, but it does not explain what that role is, or how and to what extent the state intervenes. Anyone would be entitled to think this means a state that seeks to centralize power in its own hands. A familiar 50-year experience in Albania. As for democracy within the party, section 6.3.1 says: “We are against the party... among the most distinct...” There could be no clearer denial of the democratic principles governing a party’s organization and functioning. Let no one think of a path—and certainly not of factions. And immediately afterward comes the section on the Euro-socialists and... their place within the PS’s organizational structures is emphasized. The stifling of thought that opposes the socialist leadership’s strategy. This is what the PS offers for the situation in Albania. The propaganda about the Constitution and other issues is simply demagoguery. The familiar goal: “Early elections.” To come to power, “change the laws,” deepen division, “turn the martyrs into family members,” “show the place to the scoundrels” (the politically persecuted, according to Hajdaraga’s description), celebrate Liberation with calls for Enver Hoxha, “we must not let the prepared bride be taken by street thugs” (we must not give the Constitution to the people), etc.—these are what occupy the socialist leaders today, usurpers of an entire political party. It is difficult to find this kind of language about the PSH movement. These are the words you would find in every work by E. Hoxha As stated in the introduction to the program, its authors also drew on the “heritage of Albanian social and political thought” and, certainly, on the genes of that heritage, as well as on the experience of PS leaders, many of whom, if they were not directors of the infamous Institute of Marxism-Leninism, completed their studies at the Party School. by E. Hoxha of Marxism-Leninism, completed their studies at the Party School.

Changing the laws and returning to where we were: the greatest goal of the Albanian social-communists The socialist leader states in the PSSH program: “...We will seek to change the laws that have been passed”

PRESIDENT BERISHA RECEIVED FRENCH ADMIRAL LANXADE YESTERDAY “Your visit to Albania is an important event for cooperation between our two countries and our armed forces,” President Berisha told Admiral Zhak Lanxade, Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces, welcoming him. “I wish to emphasize that Albania is very interested in strengthening friendship and cooperation with France in all areas, including military exchanges. We consider security and defense to be of primary importance. In this regard, we see...” Berisha said that tensions were rising every day and that the withdrawal of UN protection forces would have tragic consequences and could be accompanied by an all-out war, not only in Bosnia but beyond that republic as well. In this context, Kosovo remains a delicate problem. It is essential to begin dialogue, with a third party, between Belgrade and the legitimate representatives of Kosovo. To ignore Kosovo, President Berisha said, would mean increasing tension and risking an explosion of the conflict. The Constitution of Albania is more areas, including the military sphere. We consider security and defence to be matters of primary importance. In this regard, we see cooperation with your army and your country as a real opportunity to strengthen them. I also thank you for your willingness to assist our army, and I wish to assure you that Albania is ready, both bilaterally and within the framework of the NATO Partnership for Peace, to participate in joint exercises and programs. Regarding the situation in the region, the President of the Republic of France in all region, the President Welcoming the arrival: I would like and cooperation with France in all region, the President expressed satisfaction that his visit had created a positive atmosphere of cooperation between the two countries. It is essential to begin a dialogue involving Kosovo. To ignore Kosovo, President Berisha said, would mean increased tension and the risk of the conflict exploding. For his part, Admiral Lanxade said that France pays close attention to stability and development in the developments in our region. “I want to underline,” he said, “that serving not only the development of your army but also cooperation with its counterparts in NATO member countries and others.”

While Albania awaits the Constitution as a historical necessity for the present and the future, at the round table the parliamentary parties and those represented by independent MPs are failing to find common ground. The opposition parties have adopted a firm position against the referendum, calling it unconstitutional, while at the same time not only accepting the referendum’s result but attempting to manipulate it politically. Logic allows only one truth, not two about the same thing at the same time. The referendum is either unconstitutional and therefore its result is not recognized, or it is constitutional and, consequently, its result is accepted. Namik Dokle goes so far as to insult and humiliate precisely the people who took part in the November 6 referendum, calling them hooligans, even though 53% voted that day, and he and his party are manipulating the “no” vote every day. At the round table, when the deputy chairman of the PD, Ali Spahia, was speaking, when the PD was interested in a good draft, Dokle [said] about a good draft: “The bride has been prepared, but you mustn’t marry her to a wage-earner” (ZP, 8 December 1994, p. 1). According to Mr. Dokle, the essence of the constitutional draft is for the PD to take measures for the streets (the popular referendum). This is the indifference and lack of respect that the leaders of the PS have for the people. This regard for the people is also shared by the leaders of the PS, and the chairman of the parliamentary group’s remark is neither a slip of the tongue nor a momentary lapse. It expresses the real concept that the PS leaders have of the people, because, as continuers of the policy of the Party of Labour, they see them as a mob. The leaders of the PS have repeatedly taken insulting positions toward the people. The number-one leader of the PS, Nano, at the failed 1993 rally in Peshkopi, because the people of Dibër did not greet him with flowers and cheers but told him the truth about who he was, insulted them, tossing metal coins left and right at their feet while stammering, “Old mob, take your reward.” Perhaps it was the PS deputy chairman who insulted the people of Krujë. Luan Hajdaraga was the one who called the people of Krujë a mob of hooligans because they would not accept his words. Now it is another PS leader, Dokle, who goes even further by calling the entire Albanian people hooligans. At rallies and in public statements, the PS makes a show of concern for the people, doing everything to suggest that it works and thinks only for the people, as a renewed, Western-style socialist party. All of this is a demagogic façade for electoral consumption. The leaders of the PS’s true regard for the people—their real conception of them—is as a blind mob, a rabble. All these views match the old PPSH slogan: “The masses build socialism; the Party makes them conscious.” So, today, this is what we learn from Nano, Hajdaraga, Dokle: the people = a mob of hooligans.

And yet, the “Democratic Alliance” is a “party with a powerful electorate” The presidency of the Democratic Alliance, led by Neritan Alia, set out yesterday afternoon, following an announcement made the day before in the newspaper “Aleanca” about a meeting with students in Democracy Square, apparently preoccupied with the speeches they would deliver on that occasion. Neritan Alia, Preç Zogaj, Arben Imami, and company arrived at the platform in “Democracy” Square at 3:40 p.m. In front of them stood only 10 people and 5 police officers, who were ensuring the orderly conduct of this “rally,” which someone might call a silent film. That was because during the 15 minutes they remained on the platform, nobody spoke—not even the Alliance’s president, who kept turning his head left and right to see where the students had gone. For four days, the students had filled the square and the streets of the Student City under the organization of the FRPD. At that moment, everything was empty and sad. After 15 minutes, the Alliance’s presidency left the Student City for the quiet of its headquarters. Meanwhile, the students were gathered at an event organized by the FRPD in the square in front of the university’s main building.

At the ceremony held to name the street in the Student City “Arben Broci Street,” there must have been some “ZP” journalist hiding somewhere, who, under a pseudonym, dares to write about December ’90. Every journalist has the right to attend all events and report on them, but it cannot be allowed for a “ZP” journalist to dare, today, to mock and write cynically about December and the martyrs. We know very well how much they like December, but for them to dare to write against December today crosses the bounds of tolerance. Writing about the “Decemberists,” the “ZP” journalist dares to mention the martyrs of democracy with cynicism as well. “The Decemberists are in South Carolina, Italy, Germany, Greece, in the grave...,” writes ZP. You’re wise to hide your name, you journalist-thug, because know this: those whose lives were taken by the bullets of criminals, who were directed by the same boss who directs you today, will rise up if they see your kind flourishing again. Do not dare touch December or defile it in the pages of your newspaper, or you will soon learn that the Decemberists are everywhere and will be everywhere whenever you dream of the criminals returning to power.

In particular, the Council of Ministers focused on measures to cope with the 1994–1995 winter season. Prime Minister Meksi drew the attention of several ministries to taking measures concerning the means to be used to distribute kerosene to the population, putting 20,000 stoves on the market and reducing the price of kerosene stoves to 5,000 lekë; liquefied gas will cost 50 lekë per liter, and excise duties on kerosene and liquefied gas are to be abolished in both the state and private sectors. The most efficient possible use is also to be made of rail transport to distribute kerosene. Mr. Meksi also called for measures to block the illegal movement of kerosene into the northern areas, strengthen controls to prevent the waste of electricity, and install electricity meters, since it has been found that more than 300,000 households nationwide do not have such devices. This issue will be resolved with assistance from the World Bank and the Swiss bank. The government meeting continued with discussion and approval of an amendment to the draft law “On Customs Tariffs,” as well as several amendments to the law “On Personal Income Tax.” Subsequently, an addition was made to the decision “On approval in principle of the agreement between the Government of the Republic of Albania and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany on financial cooperation for the commodity-aid project,” which consists of using the monetary equivalent obtained from the sale of the goods for the project program to establish the (Continued on page 2)

In connection with a statement recently made by several newspapers that the President of the Republic had decorated Hamit Matjuaqin, we inform you that, according to a verification by the Decorations Office at the Presidency, no such decoration has been awarded and the above-mentioned statement has no basis.