We have achieved our victories through hard work. We will not allow anyone to lay a hand on them. MONTATORI ANDON BUKUROSHI AT THE BRIDGE FACTORY IN FIER: - I was listening to Comrade Ramiz speak, I read his speech, and I said: “This is how the Party has always thrown it in the enemies’ faces.” An Albanian does not carry dust on his shoulders, as the saying goes. We call the enemies’ lies and slanders what they are, by their proper name. They only increase our hatred and contempt, because we tear off their masks even more and expose their old and new, 45-year-old aims even further. Of course, they also make us more vigilant. We alone will enjoy these works that we build with our own hands, because we are building them for ourselves. With higher work rates, builders and assemblers are fulfilling their tasks in keeping with our commitments, so that the project will be completed six and a half months ahead of schedule. January’s two targets are completing the electric power supply system and the water supply system. We will complete these on time. HERO OF SOCIALIST LABOUR, VALIAS MINER RAMAZAN PASMAÇIU: - How can I sum up what my comrades have said? We have chosen our own path, and no one can shake us from it, because it is the path of our freedom and happiness. We answer best with our work, plainly showing that we can walk on our own feet. Let me speak instead about our work. Our zone had pledged to produce 100 tons above the quota. After learning about the objectives set by the workforce of the “Misto Mame” wood-processing combine, we pledged to increase this target by a further 300 tons. The Party’s words spur us to close our ranks, strengthen our unity, and deepen our hatred of those who have always regarded Albania as a thorn in their side. Among miners, the Party has always had, and will always have, a vanguard detachment defending freedom and socialism. It is also defended by fulfilling our tasks on every front. COOPERATIVE MEMBER QENAN KAFEXHIU FROM POTOM OF SKRAPAR: - We feel deeply the people’s saying quoted by Comrade Ramiz Alia: “The wind cannot move Tarabosh, for it is made of mountains of blood and sweat; that is why they are sacred and untouchable.” We had set targets for this year, but inspired by Comrade Ramiz’s words, we will review them so as to make our economy the most advanced in the district.

WORKERS DISCUSS COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA’S SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE “ENVER HOXHA” AUTOTRACTOR COMBINE AND AT THE GEOLOGICAL FACTORY IN TIRANA. (Photo: E. Hoti - ATSH)

- Yesterday at the “Enver Hoxha” autotractor combine Sefed Shkëmbi, lathe operator on line no. 4 of the new factory “I came up happier this morning. Comrade Ramiz’s meeting with us made us happy and inspired us; it spurred our mobilization and our work drive. The Party has looked after us, and that makes us strong as steel. The call that I and all my comrades are making to ourselves today is: ‘work and vigilance.’ As one of the oldest lathe operators in the factory, I feel it is my duty not only to lead by example myself, but also to help the young people become skilled and qualified, so they can meet the great tasks facing the combine. Syrja Muhameti, line supervisor - When we discussed with our comrades the new tasks, which are 5 percent higher than last year’s achievements, we had one concern: how would we deepen the prospecting that we have won? Now this concern is joined by the new tasks the Party has set before us. The aim is to satisfy users, and to satisfy and strengthen the economy. If the combine successfully met export demands last year, this shows that it is capable—

WORKERS DISCUSS THE WORDS SPOKEN YESTERDAY BY COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA AT THE «ENVER HOXHA» AUTOTRACTOR COMBINE. YESTERDAY AT THE GEOLOGICAL WORKS IN TIRANA. (Photo: E. Hoti - ATSH) THE LIES AND EMPTY TALK ARE THEMSELVES DISPROVED BY OUR REALITY In Vrisera we met Foto Praso from Pepel. He had come down to the center of the region to telephone his relatives in Janina. “I want to speak with my cousins in Greece,” he told us, “to ask them and let them ask me, and also to tell them not to believe those who are saying such things there about my four children. No one can tell them the truth about my children better than I can, their father, who has them safe and sound at home, as healthy as apples. My people, and the others too, will believe me.” Foto is the father of four young members of the minority from Pepel, about whom the reactionaries concocted their slanderous scenario. It was refuted and collapsed, like every fabrication put together for vile purposes and interests. This scenario is collapsing, and so will the other slanders and fabrications woven by today’s anti-Albanian propaganda and its campaign. Yesterday we were in Dropull again. Made happy and enthusiastic by Comrade Ramiz Alia’s meeting and speech to the workers of the «Enver Hoxha» Autotractor Combine in Tirana, people discussed matters and expressed their indignation and anger at the utterly stale slanders and empty talk. But they are used to them. And we know who they are. Without lowering our vigilance, here, as everywhere in our country, calm, dignity, culture and work are expressions of the solid state and situation of Albania. So too is the rare unity of the Greek minority with the Albanian people, with the Party of Labour and with socialism. Taqi Nika from Zervati and Vangjel Pulla from Sotira are veterans who have devoted their entire lives to work and contributions to society. They said: “They claim to be concerned about us, the Greek minority in Albania. We are happy. To explain our unity, one must explain what has bound us to the Albanian people. Suffering, emigration, struggle and the blood we shed together, side by side—these are what have bound us. Yesterday a member of the minority was despised; the hand of the Party and Comrade Enver Hoxha brought us into the light, into life, into civilization.” Theodhori Konini, secretary of the Party bureau in Vrisera, said: “We watch Greek TV, listen to the radio, and visitors come to us just as they do there, including people from among our own. It has been days now that we have been hearing these slanders. The most fair-minded people were indignant and revolted. Yesterday the Party and Comrade Ramiz gave them the answer they deserved, at the right time, striking them hard, as they deserved. Our words are also in that answer. The achievements of our society make us happy; we see them in our economy and in what belongs to everyone and is for everyone. But they also commit us.”

The speech delivered by Comrade Ramiz Alia at the meeting with the workers of the «Enver Hoxha» Autotractor Combine is an inspiring and optimistic message, just as the entire path our people have travelled over these 45 years of comprehensive political, social, material and spiritual development has been. Despite its deep historical roots and the unceasing struggles it had waged to survive, to advance, and to be free, independent and sovereign, it was only after the victories of the people’s revolution that our people, led by the Party, entered a new path of development for the first time, becoming masters of themselves and fully in control of their own destiny. This was the path to realizing the age-old dreams of generations of fighters and ardent patriots, who took up pen and rifle to restore national dignity, cultural identity, inviolable and inalienable freedom and independence; it was the path to building a truly democratic and just society, with real social equality and well-being for all the people, without exploiters, without rich and poor. They chose this path of their own free will, consciously and with complete faith, and experience has convinced them that the ideas and objectives that characterize socialism are immortal, despite the efforts now being made by its enemies, united in a front, to proclaim it “a failed experiment.” Since taking the socialist path, our country has been developing and advancing without interruption, harnessing the people’s colossal energy for constructive and creative work; the people’s power has become a mighty force, and all social life has been in motion. Prof. HEKURAN MARA (Continued on page 2)

Yesterday morning, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, Adil Çarçani, received the director-general of the French firm «Cegelec», Marc-André Rivet. Yesterday morning, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, Marc-André Rivet. Comrade Adil Çarçani praised the signing of the contract with the firm «Cegelec» for the delivery of equipment for the Banja hydroelectric power plant, as well as the cooperation to date with this firm on the construction of the «Enver Hoxha» hydroelectric power plant in Komanit. He also spoke about the friendly relations between Albania and France and expressed the desire to develop them further in various fields of mutual interest. The meeting also discussed the real possibilities for further developing cooperation between the firm «Cegelec» and the respective Albanian enterprises. Also present at the reception was the minister attached to the Presidium of the Council of Ministers and chairman of the Committee for Economic Cooperation with Foreign Countries, Farudin Hoxha. Also present was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic in Tirana, Mishel Bulmer. (ATSH)

- Impressions from Shkodra - On arriving in Shkodra, I pause for a few moments by the monument to the Heroes of Vigu. They stand beside one another, shoulder to shoulder. Their eyes do not flinch. It is a symbol, and so we say: “Look, this is how the entire Albanian people stand together today, united in heart.” “An Albanian dies once and rises again eight times,” we old men of the Great Highlands say, Elez Ujka Dashi, an 80-year-old communist, tells us. He puts his arm around us several times, clasps our hands, nods thoughtfully, and suddenly his eyes grow wide, taking on an unusual brightness. Then, in a gentle, fatherly voice that our hearts will want to hear again, he tells us: “We will send our enemies an answer from our highlands: the Albanian has been cast from the mould of the rifle. They know this answer; we have sent it to them before, but let them hear it again.” I felt like shouting out loud so that everyone could hear: “They feel sorry for the horsemen whose legs gave out!”—as the men of Col Cufi say. But I was also filled with deep anger when I heard that call from Radio Titograd. We highlanders say: “If the enemy gets on your back, don’t give up the road to him.” When I finally went to bed, very late, my wife—this Nure Col Dashi—said to me: “Why, Col, don’t you know the song of Oso Kuka that the Serb chauvinists sing?” History is long, ancient, centuries-old, yet in people’s hearts it is summed up in just a few words: “We have never accepted death at the hands of the Turks; we have accepted an honoured death in front of our homeland.” I went back and found people at his house. Perhaps it was a coincidence, but visits like this to Col’s house today, on this very day, also carry great meaning: his house is always a gathering place for men, a place for councils. For 20 years he was chairman of the Koplik cooperative, and on a day like this, people—comrades and friends, relatives and veterans—want to exchange a few words, man to man. His cousin Idriz Tare arrives, one of the cooperative’s and the district’s most outstanding brigade leaders. “Well,” Col says to him, his voice somewhat raised, “shall I give the Serb chauvinists an answer?” “We’ll give them a strong one!” “How?” “The Party’s answer. We also sent our leader our greetings: whenever you need us, you’ll find us on our feet, with our powder dry and at the forefront of the work.” In the men’s gathering place, a song begins, with everyone joining in: “Dear Party, may your eye be blessed, No one dares touch your border—” Col looks at us as we write a few words in our notebooks. “It’s a great shame for those who write: ‘Last year, the Koplik cooperative distributed 15.5 lekë per workday, or 6,800 lekë per worker. Not a single production target was left unmet; all were achieved and exceeded. Livestock farming also made a profit.’” We were unable to note who had provided these figures. “Good, good! Exactly as the Party advises us: let us express our indignation and anger through results, through our work,” one of the young men joins in. The students and lecturers of the «Luigj Gurakuqi» Higher Pedagogical Institute also listened with great interest, several times, to Comrade Ramiz Alia’s speech broadcast over loudspeakers and on television. They found their own hearts and aspirations in this speech and gained new strength to prepare capable and devoted people for our national education. More than ever, the institute’s collective has something sound and healthy, reflected in its smooth functioning, its work and its life. (Continued on page 2)

Our people have chosen their own path of development, and only they—and no one else—know and decide what must be done and what steps must be taken, what changes the times and the process of socialist development demand.

- Patriotism is a centuries-old sentiment for us Albanians, to which the Party gave new dimensions. Where and how is it expressed? Once again, we felt it yesterday at that enthusiastic workers’ rally in Tirana, and in every word of the youth organizations as they took on new tasks to improve the quality of studies and strengthen physical and military training.