– Comrade Ramiz Alia and other Party and state leaders take part – (Photo: ATSH) On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the birth of Comrade Hysni Kapo, leaders of central institutions, veterans of the war and of work, representatives of [text continues outside the frame] close family members, fellow villagers from Tërbaç, workers from workplaces and production centers, central departments and mass organizations, military personnel, young men and women. The participants applauded the entrance into the hall of the First Secretary of the Party’s Central Committee and Chairman of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, Comrade Ramiz Alia, and of other Party and state leaders: Comrade Adil Çarçani, member of the Political Bureau of the Party’s Central Committee and Chairman of the Council of Ministers; members of the Political Bureau of the Party’s Central Committee Besnik Bekteshi, Foto Çami, Hajredin Çeliku, Hekuran Isai, Lenka Çuko, Manush Myftiu, Prokop Murra, Simon Stefani; candidates for the Political Bureau of the Party’s Central Committee Kiço Mustaqi, Llambi Gegprifti, Pirro Kondi and Qirjako Mihali; member of the Party’s Central Committee and Chairwoman of the General Council of FDSH, Comrade Nexhmije Hoxha; Comrade Vito Kapo; as well as members of the Party’s Central Committee, the Presidium of the People’s Assembly and the Government. The commemorative meeting was opened by Comrade Hekuran Isai, member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of the Party’s Central Committee. The commemorative address was delivered by Comrade Foto Çami, Central Committee. Professional and amateur artists from the Opera and Ballet Theatre, the National Folk Song and Dance Ensemble, the “Hysni Kapo” Palace of Culture and the Tërbaç cooperative in the district of Vlorë presented the guests with an artistic program of songs, dances and recitations dedicated to the life and revolutionary work of Comrade Hysni Kapo. (ATSH)

For its time, Tirana’s Ring Road was a landmark in urban development. It was the final project of the first 20-year master plan, drawn up in 1957. Tirana’s Ring Road was, for its time, a landmark in urban development. It was the final project of the first 20-year master plan, drawn up in 1957. It also constituted, to some extent, the limit of Tirana’s expansion. So it was natural that it should also fire people’s imaginations and prompt descriptions such as the one written many years ago about “a journey along Tirana’s Ring Road.” Any contemporary making this journey was astonished by the transformation of Tirana in the 1970s. Where was the Tirana of adobe houses? Where were the meadows, groves and fields where children once played? The rapid construction had erased everything old and given the capital a new, modern silhouette. Indeed, the 1957 projections had been far surpassed. (Today there are as many people with higher education as there were inhabitants of Tirana in 1938.) Such rapid growth could not be kept enclosed within the Ring Road. Many new buildings were springing up beyond it. Meanwhile, there was—and still is—much to correct and complete within the old city itself. Today, more than ever, intensive development is needed, including upwards. High-rise apartment blocks were no longer just a fantasy. To walk across Tirana from one end to the other today takes two hours. Over the past 20 years, an average of 1,500 apartments have been built each year. Including other economic and socio-cultural construction, Tirana’s growth is at the average level of construction in European capitals. But how will development proceed from here? How far will Tirana expand? These and many other questions are now awaiting answers. The 1957 plan could provide answers up to the 1980s. Tirana needed—and now has—a second master plan, one that looks ahead to the city envisioned for 2005. Recently, this plan was approved by the Council of Ministers. Fred Luarasi, Tirana’s chief architect, does not seem at all self-satisfied as he explains it. Everything is realistic and credible, even though quite a few of the projections have already taken shape. Everyone now knows that a new industrial zone is being created, anchored by the “Dinamo” plant and also involving the relocation of other enterprises from the city center. Meanwhile, the large residential blocks along the Lana River, extending toward Dajti; those in Laprakë and Selitë e vogël; and those on the hills near the “Studenti” city, among others, are expanding the capital’s breadth. Comrade Llambi Geprifti, chairman of the District People’s Council Executive Committee, tells us: “This year alone, Tirana has launched a project to build 3,200 apartments—1,200 more than in any other year of the five-year plan. It is only natural: more people means a greater need for housing. Let us not forget: in the buildings to be constructed, each family will have an additional 5–10 square meters of living space. In other words, it has been decided that the new homes will be more spacious. According to the projections, this year’s pace of housing construction will set the course for building more apartments in the future.” In any case, the wealth of information in the explanatory material for the new master plan fires the imagination. Even now, one wants to imagine and look forward to a journey along Tirana’s other ring road, which we call the Great Ring Road. Given the way it has been designed and the terrain it crosses, it may serve both as a thoroughfare and as a scenic tourist route. Who has not gone out to Sauk [continues on page 3]

In connection with 7 March – Teachers’ Day – TIRANA – On the occasion of 7 March, Teachers’ Day, numerous activities are taking place in the schools of the Tirana district. At meetings and discussions held in the “Qemal Stafa” and “7 Nëntori” secondary schools, as well as agricultural and technological schools, [unclear text] of the foreign-language district presented a program of recitations, songs, etc. Students and teachers from the “Jordan Misja,” “Kongresi i Përmetit” and other schools have given concerts featuring works by our authors and progressive foreign authors. Fato[së?],

Comrades, 75 years ago, Comrade Hysni Kapo was born: a distinguished leader of the Party and the state, a close associate of Enver Hoxha, and a prominent figure throughout the history of the new Albania. On this memorable day, the people and the Party, all of us who were his contemporaries during the years of the struggle for freedom and the building of our country, remember and honor his valuable work and contribution, his tireless activity and complete dedication to the progress of the fatherland and the happiness of the people. Personalities like Hysni Kapo have a special advantage: more than belonging to the past, they belong to the present and the future; their activity is not merely an indelible memory, but a valuable experience for generations and for the entire movement of social progress. Hysni’s name and work speak to us, above all, of what concerned him then and of true communism: high ideals and exemplary steadfastness, loyalty and militancy in the great cause of the Party, the people and the fatherland. Precisely for Kapo, this commemorative meeting is not merely a simple and sincere tribute to the outstanding communist militant; it is also an affirmation of the ideals for which Hysni Kapo fought until his last breath, and an expression of our determination to carry them forward. The memory of Hysni Kapo, Comrade Enver Hoxha has said, will remain immortal for our Party and people, because it inspires us to work and fight as he worked and fought intellectually [continues on page 2] Kapo, with that determination and intelligence, with that lofty spirit of sacrifice and pure proletarian conscience. The life of every truly worthy person, of every communist and leader, acquires meaning and is judged by the relationship they forge with history and with the fate of their country and people. Wherever freedom, the people’s interests and the nation’s destiny called, was the brave man of Labëria, Hysni Kapo, not at the forefront of the struggle? The youth of Vlorë saw him as their voice and hope; from its founding and for decades thereafter, the Albanian Communist Party would have him as one of its unshakable pillars; the struggle for national and social liberation would have him as commissar of Plakë and commissar of a partisan brigade and corps; the new socialist society would have him as a wise statesman, organizer and talented leader; the communists and the people would have in Hysni a peerless leader and comrade who knew how to win people’s hearts, give them confidence and lead them forward. Enver Hoxha and his comrades would have in him a proven collaborator and firm support through every storm. His passionate commitment amid the decades of struggle, throughout the course of national events—so difficult and yet so glorious—through which Albania would forge ahead, gave Hysni Kapo’s biography and image the dimensions of a personality who left a profound mark on the broad historical movement. During the war years, Hysni Kapo was found wherever the situation was most difficult, where the enemy was fought face to face, and also wherever action had to be undertaken with determination, devotion and discipline: where national liberation councils were being established or partisan battalions and brigades formed. The National Liberation Anti-Fascist War brought forth in him a distinctive personality, outstanding not only for rare courage, but also for wisdom and intelligence, steadfastness and unparalleled loyalty. At the head of the Vlorë District Committee, in the First Operational Zone, in the Fifth Brigade, in the First Corps and in the army’s political directorate, he displayed exceptional abilities everywhere as an organizer and political and military leader. His talent shone in the battle of Drashovicë, in the struggle to liberate Tirana and in countless other battles; it also showed itself powerfully in organizing and modernizing our people’s army in the years following liberation. The communists, as the finest sons of the people, shouldered the nation’s destiny and gave their blood and inspiration to the people’s age-old aspirations. The Party demanded that communists be at the forefront of the struggle, on its most difficult fronts, and they carried out this lofty mission honorably, sparing nothing—not even their lives. The Party knew communists like this during the war, and it continues to demand the same of them today: that they always remain bound to the fate of the people and the fatherland, at the head of the work, wherever difficulties are greatest and problems most urgent. This is the name and the great message that Comrade Hysni Kapo conveys to us through the example of his life and activity. It was no coincidence that the Party and the people’s government entrusted him with important and responsible duties in some of the most vital sectors of the country’s life: organizing and leading the Party, agriculture, diplomacy and strengthening the defense of the fatherland. He answered these demands of his time like a true man. The example of his militant commitment and his methods and style of work teaches us that every task is carried out at the required level not only through persistent and tireless work, but also through conscious efforts to study and reflect on its substance, and to seek and find the best political, ideological, social and economic solutions—solutions consistent with our principles and path, which ensure the swift and high-quality achievement of the Party’s great goal: strengthening the independence of the fatherland and raising the people’s well-being. During the war, the times demanded that Hysni Kapo become a capable commissar and military man; the years of socialist development demanded that he become a leader and organizer, help shape the science of leadership and government, take an active part in defining the strategy of economic and cultural development, and put it into practice creatively. In this activity and in his lively and active participation in the magnificent work of the Party and the people, Hysni Kapo was an outstanding example of a person who devoted his moral and physical energies, his spiritual will, to the cause—a person for whom nothing was greater than the beautiful present and the bright future of his people. He followed this development step by step, knew where it had begun and how far it had come, and understood the difficulties and obstacles that had to be overcome. Alongside him was a program with recitations, songs, etc. [unclear text] and progressive foreign authors. Fatos, Enver’s pioneers, young men and women have visited the “Enver Hoxha” Museum and other museum centers, and gone on excursions to historic sites and tourist destinations, such as Mount Dajti, etc.

– TIRANA – On the occasion of 7 March, Teachers’ Day, numerous activities are taking place in the schools of the Tirana district. “7 Nëntori” secondary schools, as well as agricultural, technological and other schools, veteran teachers have spoken about the development of education during the years of people’s power, in accordance with the teachings of the Party and Comrade Enver Hoxha, and about the work being done to implement the tasks of the Party’s 9th Congress and Comrade Ramiz Alia’s instructions to raise the qualitative level of educational work. At the “Sami Frashëri” secondary school, a thematic afternoon was organized in honor of the students who had excelled in their studies and social activities over the years; meanwhile, members of the foreign-language circle as Mount Dajti, etc. – BAJRAM CURRI – Veteran teachers in the district of Tropojë have held discussions about the development of education in our country, and particularly in this district, where more than 90 percent of pupils completing the eight-year school... (Continued on page 2)

In the artists’ studios The creators of Përmet are working on works of a higher artistic standard, so that they can be properly presented at all the activities taking place this year. Thus, the creator Kina Tyto has completed a volume of folk songs from Përmet, which has been sent for publication. With passion and care, the young composer Vasil Tole has collected, arranged and prepared many old songs for performance, and continues to do so, combining them with new compositions as well. Dhimitër Miti has completed a volume of stories, which will be published this year. Liko Nano’s volume of stories has been warmly received. In addition to artistic works, readers will also have three brochures by creators from the district: one about the village of Odrican, as the headquarters of the General Staff of the National Liberation War, one about the People’s Heroes and one about the martyrs of socialist construction. The poets’ event for Poetry Day, which will be held in May in Frashër, is eagerly awaited. The League of Writers and Artists could also help give this event a more national character. The activity of the painter-creators is also intensive. The solo exhibition of painter Minella Tanellari, together with the paintings “In the Mountains of Dangëllia” by painter Josif Bushi, who also won a national prize, have raised expectations for further works. An exhibition by the district’s painters and another featuring young talent are now being prepared. PËRPARIM MUSTAFAJ

— The Cultural Week of Tirana Region No. 1 in Durrës — It was a useful initiative by Tirana Region No. 1 to organize Cultural Week in the Durrës area. It was also an example of how well the comrades in Durrës supported and developed the week. The aim was to make the creative work of the comrades from Tirana known, [unclear text] cultural activities, and also to learn from one another. The events were accompanied by discussions on how such activities could be improved in the future. Every day of the week, all the main halls in Durrës, Shijak and Kavajë were occupied by events attended by thousands of art lovers. An exhibition of visual art by students of the “Jordan Misja” secondary art school opened at the Durrës Art Gallery. Interest was great, and the students and painters of Durrës exchanged views. Visitors also offered their opinions. At the “Aleksandër Moisiu” Palace of Culture, the string ensemble of the “Jordan Misja” secondary art school gave a concert, conducted by Zh... (Continued on page 2)

(Photo: ATSH)