By continuing with this alternative, Albania will soon reach acceptable levels for the European Community Mr. Tritan Shehu continues his visit to Italy Mr. Andreata undertook to have his party influence the Italian government so that it would make cooperation with Albania a priority, be active in resolving the Kosovo problem, and continue its initiative to sign an association agreement between Albania and the European Union. p. 2

. For the Socialist Party, this period is one in which its crisis of personalities is on full display. Although its complete lists of candidates have been drawn up, so far it has decided not to publish them in most cases. Thus, with the exception of the Tirana candidates, who are an example of this party’s intellectual hemorrhage, the other major lists for all the districts of Albania are still being kept under wraps. The presentation of Socialist alternatives has relied on unknown people and people with no reputation, who, in any case, have the opportunity to serve only within the ranks of a dubious party like the Socialist Party. The history of the candidate lists is the herbarium of the Socialist Party leadership, which is a collection of clans within this party. The file bears the face of Ruçi, who in any case has his own history, stretching from the militant teacher described as ... who spat into his students’ mouths, to Alia’s chief of security, who now pretends to be a clandestine minister in the face of the massacre the regime of that time carried out in Shkodër. The PS candidates are the pitiful face of this party, which had the practical capacity to sterilize, in the service of its conservative clan, those in front of it who were unaware of the regressive policies in Albania. The PS offices in Tirana have not only ignored the demands of the grassroots, but have also put people at the top who constitute a major provocation for the Socialist rank and file. Ruçi had previously lined up the senior Socialists of the South to educate them in the new spirit of the lists, or, as they are now otherwise called, with the experience of the “cuneks.” They are as innocent as they are unknown—even to a Socialist present at the various forums of this party. They are neither peasant Socialists nor urban Socialists, but Socialists like Ruçi. That is enough to make an unexpected career. There have also been suggestions from Kico Mustaqi, from Osman’s Square in Athens, that in some towns Socialist mayors with no political substance or contribution to this party should be imported from that square. Those who have carried papers bearing Nano’s face on their backs have been forgotten, unless his living face itself has also been forgotten. What can such candidates do with the Socialist electorate? They can only talk to them about the coffees they have had with Ruçi, and excuse themselves for having forgotten his instructions. There can be no question of an alternative. Faced with such candidacies, alternatives, even when they exist, disappear into their unconsciousness, only to return once again, untouched, to Ruçi’s embrace. Meanwhile, the Socialists will experience the era of the ready-made candidate, who is brought around the villages and towns like a gift that can be returned, and who shortly afterward will return to the ranks of the office Socialists, beginning with Ruçi or Islami. The candidates put forward by the PS either fall under the law on the verification of political figures or the genocide law, like their chiefs Ruçi and Pellumbi; or they are former functionaries of the dictatorship, like Sinani and some other ideologue from the Marxism Institute, such as Kureta; or they are doctors, like Dobrovoda (Ulqini), Brace, etc.; or they are unknowns, like the candidates from Fier and Vlorë. All these categories are rejected by the times, while the civilized electorate represents the Socialist Party in this election campaign. The incorporation of unknowns into a party, as well as the incorporation of doctors and criminals, is an insult primarily to the already disappointed Socialist electorate, but also to the electorate in general. p. 2

Tuesday, 23 January 1996 The Socialist delegation. These days, a contingent of journalists from the “independent” Koha Jonë is expected to be co-opted as candidates for the Socialist Party’s parliamentary seats. So far, the newspaper’s correspondent in Shkodër, Jetmir Shpuza, has been confirmed, but, in view of their contribution to this party, other journalists will not be left out either. It is thought that the editor-in-chief of this newspaper, Aleksandër Frangaj, is also in the process of being selected, while Qirjako Mihalli’s prison memoirs by Martin Leka will not go unused either. Apparently, following the funding of this newspaper, said to come from Serbia, the Socialist Party must have been ordered to bring onto its staff the large deposits that the Serbian secret service has contributed to this newspaper. It is no coincidence that on its pages a certain Mugoshi, who came down from Mirditë and whose first name is Frrok, said that he had surveilled Mark Krasniqi’s albums, while some time earlier he had counted how many times Fehmi Agani had gone to the bathroom. The newspaper “Koha Jonë” is a dossier from which Serbian psychological schemes for stimulating anti-Kosovar sentiment in Albania can be verified very easily, while alongside these articles the photograph of Socialist leader Fatos Nano was published. This newspaper has met the criteria of an open society for Serbia when it declared, through other “froks,” what the Albanians of Kosovo want in Tirana. Naturally, someone has the right to ask what such writers are doing in the middle of Albania and not in the middle of Serbia. The Socialists’ independent MPs will know how to preserve their independence from the Albanians and Albania’s interests to the very end. They will know how to occupy themselves with other rewards. Meanwhile, Froku, as a specialist, will keep watch on how often some other LDK leader empties his pipe.

“KJ” gets the lion’s share The Russian agency “Itar-Tass” reports: For “KJ,” the lion’s share The independent Russian agency Itar-Tass returned once again, on 7 February, to the scandal of Serbian funding for the newspaper “Koha Jonë.” According to this agency, the Tirana newspaper “Koha Jonë,” officially classified as an independent newspaper, reflects the pro-Communist views of the former Albanian secret police and is therefore funded with money from the secret services of Serbia and Montenegro. The report from Itar-Tass says that 20 million dollars were obtained for this purpose. Thus, according to a former secret police agent quoted by the agency, “in this way we have the opportunity to create a situation favorable to us in the country’s public opinion.” [Russian text printed in the news box] One million dollars for the “KJ” printing press As sources inside the “KJ” editorial office report, the director of this newspaper, N. Lesi, has just returned from Germany, where he had gone to buy a printing press. The estimated price of this printing press is one million dollars. Thus, the new offices, expenses at the “Rogner” hotel, countless cars, etc., are now joined by another one million dollars for the printing press. No further comment is necessary.

Interview with Deputy Minister of Education Mr. Koço Bode, member of the National Council of the PDSH The departure of intellectuals and their refusal to run as candidates for the SP are connected to the very origins of this party, since it can be seen as nothing other than a continuation of the PP. This party still carries the legacy of its past, as a continuation of this sect. It can never show signs of renewal; rather, it has suffered a crisis in which the role an opposition should play has been important in exposing the constructive-type clan. I think the activity and exposure of Ruçi’s clan at its head are among the main reasons why intellectuals have left and refused to become involved in this party’s structure. p. 2

Such “intellectuals” will be on the SP lists if they are chosen by Ruçi, who punished his students by spitting into their mouths Islami knows very well the names of the intellectuals who refused, since he personally begged many of them to accept the candidacy The most telling fact showing how discredited the SP is is the connection with the refusal of most of the intellectuals who were asked to run for that party: they refused. This is the fact that “protestor” and skull-breaker Kastriot Islami is protesting. “It is reported that a not insignificant number of intellectuals have refused to run for you,” he was asked by the newspaper “KJ”. Kastriot Islami, who rejected this fact, replied: “The SP’s main problem is choosing among a very large number of intellectuals,” says Islami, thinking the truth can be covered up with empty slogans. If the SP is supposedly being overwhelmed by intellectuals, how is it that the SP’s candidate lists include even people convicted of being ordinary thieves?! The problem seems to lie in the concept of an intellectual held by the SP leadership; otherwise, ridiculous beings such as Musa Ulqini and most of those on the SP lists could not be given the title of intellectual. But that is what happens when “intellectuals” are appointed by the dysentery lab technician Gramoz Ruçi, who punished his students by spitting into their mouths (after ordering them to open their mouths). These kinds of “intellectuals” will fill the SP lists as long as they are chosen by the journalist of the Professional Unions, the “intellectual” in overalls, Namik Dokle. Islami knows very well the names of the intellectuals who refused, since he personally begged many of them to accept the candidacy. This is not about those whom Ruçi removed from the list, such as Loshi, Zeneli, Cani, etc., but about intellectuals who had not previously been involved in politics. That is why it stings Islami so badly when people remind him about the intellectuals. E. PALOKA The most telling fact showing how discredited the SP is...

From the PS heritage fund Minutes of the meeting of the 6th Plenum of the Central Committee of the 6th Congress of the PPSH, dated 16–17 December 1974 (Balluku, Dume, Çako) p. 7

“Privatization will be corrected (annulled) by law,” he said p. 3