Much has been said and written about streamlining staffing structures and reducing the number of employees, generally those working outside the sphere of production, to the indispensable minimum, but the problem remains unresolved. Whenever the Party has called attention to the struggle against bureaucratism and liberalism, concrete action in these directions has not been lacking either: the «shears» have removed surplus and incapable people from the apparatuses and administrations, because it is known that those who work in them serve the elected officials, to help them in their work and not to replace them. The more capable and politically, ideologically and professionally prepared the former are, the more easily and effectively the latter can do their work. This is what practice to date has shown. Our society has always had, and continues to have, an interest in placing educated people at the head of affairs and keeping its staffing structures as flexible, maneuverable and dynamic as possible. But it is a fact that there are still quite a few cadres and specialists with an outdated approach who, although they make no effort to advance, are nevertheless difficult to move to other jobs. This is true even of first secretaries of Party committees: if a committee chairman or a director does not properly feel responsibility for the task assigned to him and is guided by petty personal interests, then no solutions can be expected. The right of recall applies. A capable cadre does not worry about a position, but about the work. Nevertheless, if the opposite happens, there is no reason to wait until someone decides that they ought to ask to be moved themselves. The collective, followed by the Party’s primary organization and the higher body, should act. Some time ago a large number of deputies in ministries, executive committees, and so on, in institutions and enterprises, were cut and moved to equally important jobs, directly in production or as close to production as possible. But it is a fact that the struggle against bureaucratism and the work of streamlining staffing structures are not everywhere and always understood at the level demanded by the times, nor are they carried out continuously. This happens because staffing structures are curtailed then and there, but within a short time they grow again. Specifically, in place of deputy ministers in some ministries, for example in the Ministry of Agriculture, the «shears» are closed, then reopened. But is such a short period justified as proof of the opposite, as a return to the staffing level of one or two years earlier? In our opinion, choosing cadres properly, expanding staffing, or appointing a competent cadre to an apparatus or administration does not mean entrenching deputies, assistants or people in acting positions, creating one department, one directorate after another, or concentrating as many powers as possible when this would mean having more people at the grassroots. Cutting staff must entail removing surplus personnel and retaining the capable, who prove themselves through passionate work for emancipation and for increasing the effectiveness and productivity of the living labor of the body responsible for major and minor decisions. Would it not be better for some cadres who have sat in chairs for over 10 years in apparatuses and administrations at every level—becoming settled in routine work without standing out or attracting notice—to be moved, and for young cadres to be boldly promoted to their chairs, so that their talent can emerge? The «difficulties» can be overcome by the Party’s primary organizations and collectives, without sentimentality. The tasks set are great. The dedication to work of the Communists, cadres and all the masses must be great too, so as to work harder, implement the historic decisions of the 9th Plenum of the Party’s CC, improve welfare and strengthen the line and vigilance. Meanwhile, the number and activity of elected cadres in the country’s other institutions are being tightened, including those of some artists and performers who are criticized for insufficient productivity, when the right to freelance work could be given to some young people at the height of their creativity. There is no reason for a profession to be free and lifelong. In this context: would it not be worthwhile for the Party Committee of Region No. 1 to review its staffing structure too, since its work has diminished because it no longer follows the life of Party organizations in the ministries? Would it not be worthwhile to review instructors and inspectors in the personnel offices of committees, ministries and elsewhere for possible cuts, because now the collectives, rather than office staff, must do most of the work? In such cases, and collectives, without sentimentality, so that positions go to those who are productive and effective. If a number of cadres and specialists are cut, it should be done in such a way that, as production and effectiveness rise, employment and the preservation of values also increase, as demonstrated by the work itself. ... and to keep the staffing structures themselves as flexible, adaptable there are still many cadres and specialists with an outdated approach who, even though they make no effort to advance, hesitate to assign them to other suitable jobs, appropriate to what they can do and the pay they deserve. The notions «we have filled the staff structure», «if we cut those positions, we have nowhere to place them in jobs», «nobody will take the incapable ones» are wrong and, as such, deserve criticism, because they seek to portray the situation as having no way out. This is why, in ministries, institutions and economic enterprises, there are cadres and specialists who are not fully occupied with duties and spend most of their time wandering around or doing routine work. In this respect, the decision of the 9th Plenum of the Party’s Central Committee sets tasks of particular importance for communists and cadres, collectives, primary organizations and higher bodies. Limiting the practice of maneuvering people around or creating management posts is clearly necessary, but in cases where an adviser, a deputy, or a ... ... takes time, it is not carried out consistently. And for over 10 years, cadres who vegetate unnoticed, doing routine work and frozen in courage—young cadres with education and a sense of what is new—? The sound policy of promoting young people to positions of responsibility and advancing cadres presupposes fighting manifestations of conservatism and choosing not only suitable, devoted and capable cadres, decisive in judgment and action and energetic, but also establishing proper proportions, as the Party instructs, between those who are Party members and those who are not. Therefore, on this issue too, there is a need for guidance to be provided more quickly. What kind of retirement can it be called when certain directors and scientific employees of the Academy of Sciences, the Institute of History, the Institute of Linguistics and Literature, etc., retire but remain in the same jobs, simply so that their pay is never fixed? One can contribute a great deal to science while being outside the institution too, by leaving one’s place to someone capable and younger, since the conditions have been created and secured both for age and for salary. The same ... ... at all levels to move some cadres from the historic chairs of the 9th Plenum of the Party’s Central Committee, in order to raise prosperity and strengthen vigilance. Meanwhile, as the number and activity of elected cadres have increased, reductions in administrative apparatuses are also necessary. The issue is to find ... their streamlining should continue, so that they become as flexible as possible, and the productivity and active work of cadres should be strengthened to meet growing tasks. As comrade Ramiz Alia emphasized at the 9th Plenum of the Party’s Central Committee, the struggle against bureaucratism must be continuous. This means that it is necessary—as he points out—to review certain issues ... «reducing the number of clerks and salaried employees, that is, cutting administrative apparatuses, and so on. The times and present-day conditions do not tolerate bureaucratic centralization. It must be brought to an end, and the sooner the better. Let us do this, if we are to ...

- Our people express their profound indignation at the inhuman crimes being committed against our Kosovar brothers - The Kosovars are in the right; they will prevail over both tanks and fire At around 8 p.m., the streets and promenades of Tirana are almost deserted. People gather early in their family homes and follow the developments in Kosovo with extraordinary interest on their television screens. Dead and wounded, innocent people beaten to death, piles of automatic-weapon shell casings, tanks and airplanes heralding even more dreadful bloodshed... What is there to see! The cities and villages of Kosovo are under the unrestrained chauvinist terror of the Greater Serbs. Smoke and tear gas everywhere. Rubber batons everywhere: against the elderly, against schoolchildren! And everywhere the unconquered voice of an entire people: «Democracy, democracy!» «What blindness! It was inevitable. The peaceful protests of the Albanian population in Yugoslavia for their legitimate rights are being answered by the Greater Serbs with violence and terror,» the writer Agim Cerga told us. «For years the Kosovars have been terrorized, persecuted, imprisoned and discriminated against; everything is denied them. I trust that the poets, writers, all the artists of Yugoslavia, and the cultural figures of its republics and provinces will be deeply shaken and appalled by this unprecedented tragedy, and will stand beside our Kosovar brothers with all their strength. Our hearts have been broken these past few days! I do not think there can be peace in Yugoslavia until the Kosovo crisis is resolved through democratic dialogue. But whom does this serve? I therefore want people of art and culture in the Balkans and Europe to join their voices with those of the Kosovar intelligentsia and the Albanian population living in their own lands in Yugoslavia.» Events in Kosovo: Albanians are demanding the right to enjoy equal rights with those enjoyed by other citizens in Yugoslavia, and those rights are being trampled under tank treads and with chains around their hands. «We, citizens of the People’s Republic of Albania, who truly and fully enjoy democratic freedoms and rights,» mathematician Jorgo Malita, a lecturer at the University of Tirana «Enver Hoxha», told us, «feel immensely what our Kosovar brothers are enduring as their rights are trampled in such an inhuman way. For the Greater Serbs, terror is their answer. I would call it death. I would call it democracy: oppression. Dialogue, a meeting and conversation—answered with automatic weapons and the chests of the young. I am convinced that my progressive and democratic colleagues in Europe, and student youth within Yugoslavia, in the Balkan and European countries, will immediately speak out in support of the demands of our Kosovar brothers.» «I just wanted to mention one fact,» Sokol Agaj, a final-year student at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, told us. «In what country today can you not find Kosovar emigrants? From Sweden to Turkey... They have their own lands, and it is there that they want to live, work and die. They have taken to the roads of countries and continents precisely because of this violence, because of this terror inflicted on them by the Greater Serbs. Is this freedom? Is this democracy? In what country in the world today can a person be put in the dock and imprisoned for singing a song in their mother tongue? The unprecedented happens only in Yugoslavia. Its authors are the Greater Serbs, who, whether from history or from today’s events, must know this: Albanians will never submit when it comes to their rights and freedom.» «All the writers and artists are profoundly indignant,» Nasi Lera, secretary of the League of Writers and Artists of Albania, told us, «at the bloodshed taking place in Kosovo. The tragedy of these days must end immediately. The ways to stabilize the situation are open: meet the Kosovars’ legitimate demands. Respecting the norms of a state based on laws means respecting the will of the people. But this cannot be achieved with bullets and bloodshed. This is our judgment, but it is also the judgment of democratic and progressive opinion within Yugoslavia and of world opinion. February 5, 1990. Events in Kosovo: when we hurry home to our families to watch on television the end of this tragedy, will Kosovo’s call for democracy be respected? PËRPARIM XHIXHA

- GJIROKASTËR - Qafa e Pazarit in Gjirokastër has historically been a popular gathering place for thought and discussion. In the veterans’ club, so characteristic of the town, people discuss life and the times. Conversations about Kosovo have been heated. The peoples of Yugoslavia must stop this unprecedented violence in the heart of Europe, and they have the strength to stop it. In the finishing department of the leather factory, worker Agim Basha, chairman of the enterprise’s professional committee, says: «The working class and other progressive Albanian forces in Kosovo are being driven out to demonstrate today by the policies of oppression and denationalization imposed on them. We support their demands, which they want to achieve democratically, through constitutional means. It is inhuman—open genocide—to answer their natural demands with violence.» (Continued on page 2)

- KORÇË - «Do you see this memorial here in the Demonstrations Square?» Vaskë Koli, veteran activist, tells us. «We all know it. It commemorates the massacre of September 9—»

Qafa e Pazarit in Gjirokastër has historically been a popular gathering place for thought and discussion. times. Conversations about Kosovo have been at the center of attention these days. «The great crime is what the Greater Serbs are doing to Kosovo,» say Nexhmo Kokona and Resul Malina. «Some of the veterans you see here fought there as partisans and shed blood alongside the Yugoslav peoples. All of us who live in Gjirokastër, this town surrounded by a minority, where national problems have been resolved so justly, as throughout our country, are not only saddened, but are»

- SARANDË - The people of the Sarandë district, too, are experiencing these days the unprecedented terror inflicted by the Greater Serbs in Kosovo, the killing of young men and women who have taken to the streets and squares of the cities and villages of Kosovo to demand freedom and democracy. Yesterday we spoke with several residents in different parts of the district. «I am a mother, and my heart aches when I hear such terrible news,» Athina Xhani from Piquerasi told us. «I have read in the newspaper and seen on television what is happening in Kosovo these days. The massacres against the young and all Albanians make every honest person shudder, wherever they may be. The Greater Serbs are acting savagely and without reason. They forget that a people never erases anything from its memory. So, in the name of mothers, I say to them: sto—» (Continued on page 2)

- KORÇË - «Do you see this memorial here in Demonstrations Square?» says Vaskë Koli, veteran activist. 9, 1943, when the fascists fired savagely on the bodies of mothers and children who had come out to demonstrate. That blood, after so many years, is not forgotten. The deployment of tanks in Kosovo is brutal and wounds the dignity of an entire people.» «Throughout these days, at meetings, the residents of the “Rilindasit” neighborhood have expressed their indignation at the calamity the Greater Serbs are wreaking in martyred Kosovo,» Niko Porciçi tells us. «The pain pierces our hearts. And together, the voice of sound reason rises in outrage: “Is this how it should be, instead of peaceful and democratic dialogue—tank noise, bloodshed, violence?!”» «In the years after Liberation,» says People’s Artist Kristo Kono, «I composed the symphonic poem “Borova the Martyr.” An entire village was reduced to ruins by the Nazis. Borovë and [the text is unclear] Borovë [?]—Kosovo is being transformed, that Kosovo which rose up in its entirety and fought against the Nazis alongside the peoples of Yugoslavia, in the name of freedom and democracy. We all stand united with our brothers. We are convinced that everyone in the world who considers themselves civilized will defend the rights of the Kosovars.»

- Talks are being held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - At the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of Albania, Finland’s State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ake Wihtol, arrived in Tirana yesterday. He was accompanied by Ilkko Ruso, Director of the Directorate for Economic Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and foreign policy adviser Hannu Vusi Videkas. The delegation is accompanied by journalists, as well as a group of journalists from various press organizations and Finnish Radio and Television. At Rinas Airport, those who had come to receive the delegation included ... Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sokrat Plaka and other officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Talks began yesterday afternoon at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between the Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs delegation, headed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sokrat Plaka, and the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs delegation, headed by State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Ake Wihtol. During the talks, which

The delegation of the General Council of BPSH returned to the homeland, headed by the secretary of this Council, Namik Dokle, who, at the invitation of Cuba’s General Workers’ Center, took part in the 16th Congress of that center. During its stay in Cuba, our delegation was received by the Chairman of the Council of State and the Government of the Republic of Cuba, Fidel Kastro, who, after thanking it for participating in the congress, said, among other things: «I know the struggle and work of the Albanian people for freedom and independence. They have struggled and worked in difficult conditions, but have always been determined to defend their cause». The BPSH delegation also held talks with leaders of the Cuban Workers’ Center and met with senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Transport, etc. During these meetings, a shared desire was expressed to further develop relations between the BPSH and the Cuban Workers’ Center, and to increase the role of the two trade-union organizations in continually strengthening the friendship between the Albanian and Cuban peoples. The delegation also visited workplaces and production centers, institutions, museums, social and cultural centers, etc. At Rinas Airport, the delegation was welcomed by Strati Marko, secretary of the General Council of the BPSH, and other comrades.

The activities taking place within the framework of the «Month of Science» in the secondary schools of the district of Vlora have enlivened school life and increased the role of youth organizations in providing young people with the fullest possible scientific education, based on independent and persistent work. In their annual reviews, the scientific circles of the «Ali Demi», «Jani Minga» and «Shqyri Alimerko» schools, as well as those in Selenicë, Himarë, etc., have focused on achieving the set objectives, especially discovering and encouraging new talent in various fields. At the thematic afternoons held in the secondary schools in Burrel, Klos, Lis, Sus, etc., the young people of Mat presented various scientific topics prepared by students and teachers themselves, and competitions were held in chemistry, biology, physics and agricultural subjects. The geography club students at the «Haki Fejza» secondary school in Burrel prepared a report on the book «Geographical Discoveries» and read various scientific curiosities from the magazine «Science and Life». The students took part in experimental research and chemistry activities and held competitions, in which they demonstrated their passion for these subjects through various experiments. (Continued on page 3)