Workers from the work and production centers and residents of the nearby neighborhood also joined the plant workers, united together. And to the sounds of folk melodies, a group of the plant’s well-known amateur artists—workers, men and women—[performed]. They chatted cheerfully with one another; everyone’s eyes and hearts shone with joy. “We are immensely happy,” says the young communist Gëzim Leka. Our leader is doing us a very great honor. These are heartfelt words spoken by everyone on this memorable day. Powerful cheers for the Party burst from the workers’ breasts as Comrade Ramiz Alia arrived here. At the entrance to the Plant, he was received by the director, Hamit Shanku, the secretary of the plant Party Committee, Leonard Tefa, and workers, cadres and specialists. Also present were members of the Political Bureau of the Party’s Central Committee, and the ministers of Mining Industry and Energy, Comrade Besnik Bekteshi; the First Secretary of the district Party Committee, Comrade Pirro Kondi; the chairman of the district People’s Council Executive Committee, Comrade Llambri Gjeprifti; and Central Committee member Pilo Pe- [part cut off] (Continued on page 2)

Impressions Every person has unforgettable events in their life. So does every collective, and an entire people. Deeply rooted in the minds and hearts of the workers at the auto-tractor plant will remain January 15, 1990. It will remain for all 5,400 workers of this plant as an ordinary working day, but also as a beautiful day of celebration and joy. All of them [text unclear]. Burbuqe Kapllani will remember it as the day she stood with a bouquet of flowers to welcome and present it to the beloved leader of the Party and the people, Comrade Ramiz Alia. We saw her overcome with emotion. She would be among the first to greet him: “Welcome!” She could barely manage to exchange a few words with him when, just then, the songs and dances, the cheerful conversations of the workers, were interrupted, and everyone together burst into fervent cheers. “Comrade Ramiz has arrived! Long live Comrade Ramiz Alia!” At every such meeting between workers, the people, and their beloved and dear leader, Comrade Ramiz Alia, one experiences deep emotions. When you see up close how a young person throws their arms around him affectionately, when a worker shakes the hand of their leader and

Our Albania moves forward, resolute on the socialist path. The fundamental fact is that it is a free and independent country, a country with a solid internal situation, where the people are masters of their own destiny.

– SPEECH BY COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA – I consider it a special pleasure that this year I am beginning my meetings with workers with you, with the fighting collective of the auto-tractor plant, which bears the name of the glorious leader of our people, Comrade Enver Hoxha. On behalf of the Party, I wish you another successful year, full of achievements and creativity. Your plant is the country’s largest and most advanced center of mechanical industry. One quarter of the total output of enterprises in this system is produced here. This output keeps the country’s entire fleet of agricultural machinery and transport vehicles operating efficiently. It is very good that you have now also entered the foreign market with your products. I would especially like to congratulate you on the fact that the use of domestic components has increased greatly at your plant. As the comrades told me, they account for more than two thirds of the components used at the plant. Your collective is respected everywhere as a collective of masters who have undertaken important initiatives. Among you are renowned innovators and talented technicians and specialists, who make this enterprise not only a vanguard in production, but also a distinguished center of scientific creativity. For a number of years, a range of technical-economic and organizational operations have been tested at your plant. The concentration and specialization of production according to technological similarity have yielded valuable results. Without this measure, it would not have been possible to simplify and manage the still extensive and burdensome range of products manufactured at the plant. Specialization opened the way to producing complete assemblies and units for tractors and automobiles. There is scope to do more in this field, and more must be done, because this is the path to progress, to improving quality and increasing the effectiveness of mechanical industry—the path to transforming it into a machine-manufacturing industry. But experience shows that specialization, too, has its limits. It is necessary and productive for important parts and components, but not for every nut and bolt. The same can be said of standardizations and [unclear]? [sic]. Where the capacity and ability exist to establish effective cooperative links, concentration is unnecessary. Through cooperation, mechanical industry can and should function as a whole, without the need to place it under a single administration. In this sense, your plant itself can continue to preserve the unity of its production activity while granting greater autonomy to its constituent units and strengthening their economic and financial accounting as separate units. It is well known that mechanical industry needs continuous technological renewal. These needs will, of course, be reflected in the state plan, as they have been in the past. But in important centers such as your plant, you should look more to your own capabilities. We expect mechanical industry not only to carry out this renewal, but also to become a leading factor in renewing technology in other sectors of the economy. It cannot achieve this without developing the capacity to renew itself. This becomes necessary and possible when one considers that existing technologies are being used mainly with extensive indicators, at a time when the economy is taking sure steps along the path of intensification. Our economy as a whole needs progress. What matters is that, step by step, the Party and the people have created the possibilities for this. Now the decisive question is how we use these possibilities, how fully we exploit them in order to accelerate the overall development of the economy. We base the country’s all-round progress on past achievements, on the advantages of the social order, and on the correct line we follow. To give this process a further impetus, a Plenum of the Party’s Central Committee will convene soon. It will discuss and report on the implementation of the tasks set by the 8th Plenum, and will also determine the necessary measures to further revolutionize the life of the Party and the entire country, deepening socialist democracy and increasing the role of the working masses. Socialist development requires increased production in every field. Our aim of continuing the investment program at the necessary pace and taking sure steps to raise the people’s standard of living confronts us with major tasks. The working class is the principal agent of all this work. It is capable and fully prepared to shoulder greater responsibilities both in production and in the country’s governing activities. Without this role, it cannot stand at the forefront of society, at the vanguard of socialist construction. In this context, we must also consider the need to strengthen workers’ control over everything, without interruption. People’s readiness to work in an offensive spirit and their ability to create useful things for the people must be accompanied by strict controls exercised by the class itself. We have waited, but we can wait no longer: its contribution in this field must become decisive, and its control must be exercised without any obstruction. Everything workers say and demand for the benefit of socialism must be embodied in development plans and policies. Whoever holds power has the right to make decisions. If workers are left only with the right to make proposals and suggestions, their role in society will fade. Our Party must not—and will never—allow this. Dear comrades, Everything the Party has inspired and continues to inspire—the growth of production and the development of the mass line, the raising of culture and technological progress, the strengthening of the material-technical base and the improvement of socialist relations in production—has aimed and continues to aim at improving the life of the people, in town and countryside. At present, we have the means to make increased production of consumer goods by light and food industries, the supply of the market with agricultural and livestock products, and the expansion of essential services priorities of the day. These priorities, set out in the directives of the Party’s 9th Congress, will be more fully reflected in the development plans for this year and next. More material resources and financial and foreign-currency funds will be placed at the service of these priority fields. We began 1990 after closing a year marked by notable achievements. Last year, social production and financial income grew at relatively high rates. Capital construction accelerated everywhere, the people’s purchasing power increased, economic stability was strengthened, and the market was supplied and enriched. Increased exchanges with the world became (Continued on page 2)