The year 1990 has entered its second half. One six-month period has ended, making way for the second. An analysis and assessment of its results are more than necessary at this moment. This six-month period we have embarked upon carries a somewhat special weight. It brings to a close not merely a year but an entire five-year plan. The foundation on which it rests is also made up of the achievements of these past months. But how strong is this foundation, and what do these achievements represent? This is not about drawing up a simple balance sheet of figures and statistics within the walls of the planning and finance offices. The issue calls for in-depth analysis, with a militant critical spirit and a sense of responsibility, under the motto: “What have we done, what have we not done, and what must we do?” Those who have a strong work record—the ones who have made progress—find this analysis easier to carry out. There are many of them. On the contrary, thousands of enterprises and agricultural cooperatives, districts, sectors and branches of the economy fulfilled their six-month targets and are ensuring that the year, too, will end with good results. These achievements are undoubtedly a practical reflection, in words and deeds—in other words, through work—of the Party organizations and their levers, of the communists and workers, in response to the decisions of the 9th and 10th Plenums, the laws adopted by the People’s Assembly, and the programmatic speeches of Comrade Ramiz Alia. This is the basis for the achievements in producing such important products as ferroalloys, nickel iron, basic nickel carbonate, [text continues outside the frame] … machinery and equipment, spare parts, metal materials and goods for general use, edible fats, etc. But the balance is not satisfactory everywhere, nor is it what was expected. The plan was not fulfilled for many indicators. In certain branches and sectors, some levels are below those of last year. The Party organs and organizations, the government and economic bodies in the districts and ministries must not accept this situation of deficits and shortfalls. This is all the more true when the measures taken to democratize the country’s overall life and introduce the new economic mechanism have enlivened the driving forces of production and stimulated workers’ interests and creative thinking. In other words, they have created opportunities and opened up new prospects for the development of production and the effectiveness of the economy, and for better meeting the people’s needs. These advantages have not been used to their full effect. In addition to the difficulties, there have been problems, particularly because of the conditions created by the [unclear]. But not every deficit or shortfall should be blamed on the lack of electrical power. It has indeed affected the export and import balance and the level of production in several sectors closely connected with it. However, it would be regrettable and alarming if, behind this, we failed to see shortcomings in organization and management, complacency and comfort-seeking, and the tendency of some administrations and managerial bodies to make excuses and [unclear]. The level does not correspond to the [text cut off]. These amount to millions of lek. Or, at the enrichment plants in Bulqizë, the state of technical readiness is unsatisfactory, while production is 10 percent below plan; at the plant in Krastë, the situation is much worse. Are these not reserves that should be exploited quickly, without wasting time? The tasks to be addressed must be understood and defined by the managerial cadres themselves in every enterprise, district and department. But some problems take priority and require a greater commitment of scientific and qualified expertise, and more comprehensive and rapid solutions. Thus, in the oil sector, by making more effective use of investments in existing oil fields than has been done so far, the decline in the daily oil-extraction quota must be halted. In the chromium industry, the geological service must improve its investigation of geological conditions and ensure reserves, while mine workers must increase the effectiveness of operations and solve problems with underground ore transport. To normalize the situation in copper extraction, work is being directed as a priority toward rich ore bodies, but in some of these deposits this direction is not matched by the efforts of the respective districts to provide the necessary workforce. The pace of construction must more rapidly meet the major objectives of this sector by concentrating the designated forces more effectively and setting the order in which projects are to be completed. Priority must be given to projects scheduled to come into operation this year. Good results have been recorded in the agricultural sector during this first half-year, both in production indicators and in financial ones. Many districts and agricultural economies have fulfilled their obligations in supplying fruit, including for export. Thus Sometimes a few small but essential items are missing because of the producers or because work and measures are not coordinated between them and the domestic and foreign trade bodies to secure raw materials or replacements when products are damaged, or because pricing powers are not used, etc. Greater agility and flexibility are needed, with decisions and action guided by economic logic—the logic and responsibility with which the Party has addressed and continues to address the problems of supplying the people. It is with this logic that workers and bodies in the food industry, especially now, ahead of the peak of agricultural production, must work to absorb these products and increase their variety and quality. The second half of this year has a special feature. Around 100 enterprises became pioneers of management on the basis of independent accounting, beginning the experiment on July 1. Meanwhile, the other enterprises are preparing for January 1991, when the new mechanism will be put fully into operation. The tasks are great and far-reaching. Fulfilling the plans creates the material and financial basis for implementing this mechanism. But that is not everything. Above all, what matters is clarifying convictions and concepts, finding paths not yet taken, creating organizational foundations and eliminating shortcomings inherited from the old mechanism. All this requires mobilization and work by all employees, with cadres and specialists at every level and link, in local units and ministries, at the forefront, so as to implement the Party’s guidance and directives as effectively as possible. Thus, by completing the fulfillment of targets for this half-year and the whole year, a good step will be taken toward the year of the five-year plan that lies ahead.

We will resolutely follow the road we have chosen ourselves — FROM THE TELEGRAMS SENT TO COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA — Our entire people continue to express their great indignation at the actions of some hooligans on the night of July 2 in Tirana. Numerous telegrams have reached the First Secretary of the Party’s Central Committee, Comrade Ramiz Alia, in which communists and workers from all over the country strongly condemn these disgraceful acts and at the same time express their readiness to carry out the tasks arising from the decisions of the Party Central Committee’s recent Plenums. In its telegram, the workforce of the polygraphic combine in Tirana stresses, among other things, that we learned with deep indignation of the acts of thuggery committed by a group of vagabonds, who caused disturbances in the capital. The work collectives of our combine express their profound anger and outrage at these disgraceful actions. The processes of democratizing the life of the country, they state further, have won the support and backing of all working people; therefore, no matter how much external or internal enemies try to obstruct them, they will not succeed. We, whose work carries the voice of the Party and of you, Comrade Ramiz, throughout the country and abroad, support the decisions of the Party’s 9th and 10th Plenums and will fight with all our strength to ensure that they are implemented as fully as possible. On this occasion, we pledge to respond to these disgraceful actions with all-round work to fulfil every task, and to be ready at all times and in every situation to defend our socialist order. In their telegram, the workers of the textile combine in Berat state, among other things: Outraged by the actions of some hooligans in the squares, driven by patriotic feeling and seeking to obstruct our democratic processes, we promise the Party and you, dear Comrade Ramiz, that we will sharpen our vigilance and will always be in the front ranks in implementing the Party line and the instructions of the Party Central Committee’s recent Plenums. For every honest worker in our country, nothing is dearer than defending the Party line, because in it we see our life, joy, nobility and civilization. It is as clear as daylight to us, the workers and communists of the combine, that everything built with blood and sweat will be defended with our lives and those of our children. Such acts of hooliganism neither frighten nor divide us; on the contrary, they make us close ranks more tightly and join hands and hearts more firmly, so that we may follow the road we have chosen ourselves. Like the rest of the country, we have mobilized as never before to implement the decisions of the Party Central Committee’s recent Plenums, the laws adopted by the People’s Assembly and your instructions, Comrade Ramiz, write in their telegram the personnel of the “Abdyl Frashëri” military unit in Përmet. In these historic decisions, we see the Party’s constant concern for the people and for strengthening and guaranteeing freedom, independence and socialism. We were deeply outraged when we learned that a group of hooligans and vagabonds want to disrupt our peaceful and happy life, as well as attack the good relations we have with friendly states. To preserve the sound situation that prevails throughout our country, we fully agree with the swift measures taken by the people of Tirana and our public-order authorities. We promise you, Comrade Commander, that the personnel of the united “Abdyl Frashëri” unit, together with all the people of the area where we are stationed, will always remain vigilant and combat-ready, will train intensively in keeping with the demands of the times, and will democratize life in our units.

— DIBËR — Over the past two or three days, many conversations have taken place in Dibër homes, both in the town and in the villages, about the actions of some hooligans in the streets of Tirana. With the same anger and indignation, the PAM drivers in Peshkopi also asked to stop for a few minutes, take a stand and express their outrage at these actions. “De- [text continues outside the frame] “They want to shame us in the eyes of the world—a group of shameless vagabonds want to cause disorder, disturb our peace and undermine this democracy that we built with our own hands. They can think again. We will close ranks even more tightly around the Party,” says worker Isak Plaku. Others speak up after him. Each angrily says what he thinks about these acts of thuggery. “We do not live in abundance, but everything we have is the fruit of our sweat, and now we are preparing to reach new levels of democracy and well-being,” someone else says. Apparently, this does not please those whose eyes have been blinded by foreign propaganda. Who are these peo- For us, those who know them will say: “Well, that’s the song? The dregs...” And if we are told about the others, how they have worked, and are told about their behavior, surely the very same people will emerge—those who have continually caused trouble for the city, the neighborhood, the school where they studied, or the collective where they worked, if they ever worked at all. Because they are the same ones who want to gain without working, without sweating, through theft and deceit. They have nothing in common with the people; they stand against its future. “Some of them are young,” adds a worker. Young people in this collective also include Mendush Miftari, Agron Kumbace, Astrit Ceka, Ajet Deva, Met Saliu and dozens of others in the depot. But the young people demonstrate their dignity and moral integrity through their work and their admirable conduct. So there are young people and young people, as the saying goes. Our youth is wonderful. FRANO CAKA

I am from Tropoja. As it happened, I was in Tirana and witnessed a moment of the hooligans’ unrest on July 2. “May their faces be black, may their bread be forbidden,” we highlanders say. I completed my secondary and higher education in Tirana, so I have many friends here. But even someone who [text continues outside the frame] might have come to Tirana for the first time would have had no difficulty understanding who carried out such acts: thieves, unemployed people, troublemakers. I remember the words of a foreign journalist: “You have things the world seeks and cannot find at any price: peace, freedom, the security of the citizen wherever they may be.” What ignorance, what spiritual and intellectual poverty it is to destroy your own ideal in life. One should build one’s homeland with a few rags. Whoever wants to may leave, but the day will not be far off when people will crowd the doors of our embassies around the world to return to their homeland. GUXIM KOJELI

— GJIROKASTËR — “If there is one thing Albania has no ‘tradition’ of, it is precisely hooliganism and terrorism,” young people Arti Ismaili and Visalalj Zaro told us yesterday morning in Gjirokastër. “We do not know those 300 or 400 young people, but we know for certain that they are people full of wickedness. We are outraged by their thuggish actions.” Anger catches in their throats as they speak, but these young people have strong eyes and hearts. Like all the youth and the people. Among the first people we met when we entered the garment-production enterprise were young people. With these words, spoken from the depths of their hearts, they showed us that they represent the working youth of this collective admirably. Vasillaqi is from the minority, but he sa- (Continued on page 2)

These days, the Italian vice-senator, Franko Salvi, Deputy Chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Commission, arrived in our country for an official and friendly visit. Yesterday morning in the capital, he was received by Rita Marko, Chairman of the People’s Assembly. Rita Marko received Italian Senator Franko Salvi at the headquarters of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, and held a warm and friendly conversation with him. During the reception, they spoke about the friendship linking the Albanian people with the Italian people, the good relations existing between the two countries, and the role played by parliamentarians, as the direct representatives of the peoples, in strengthening ties and cooperation in various fields between the two countries. (ATSH)

. It will take part in the Nantes International Festival and give several other performances. (ATSH)

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the ATSH correspondent that reports by several foreign news agencies claiming that there had been fatalities during the events of July 2, 1990, when a group of hooligan elements tried to force their way into a foreign embassy in Tirana, were entirely fabricated. Speaking about the issuing of passports and visas, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that, under the new decree on this matter, citizens are entitled to obtain passports for travel abroad. We regret that the foreign press is making a commotion and speculating as if the competent Albanian authorities are not issuing passports to those who wish to travel. This is not at all true. The fact alone that more than 1,400 passports have been issued in the last 10 days proves the opposite. These passports have been issued for travel to the following countries: Italy, Greece, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Poland, the USA, France, the Soviet Union, Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Switzerland, Israel, Australia, etc. To make it easier to obtain visas, starting on July 2, 1990, all diplomatic representations of various countries in Tirana and our citizens were informed that the latter would obtain their visas directly from the respective diplomatic representations. At present, a large number of passports belonging to Albanian citizens are held at several diplomatic representations, where their owners are waiting to receive visas. At a time when Albanian citizens are being issued passports to travel abroad under the new decree, it is entirely unjustifiable for our citizens to remain in foreign embassies and continue to be kept there by them. A considerable number of people who were in several foreign embassies in Tirana have left of their own accord. Some have returned to their families and are continuing their lives normally; others have applied for passports in accordance with the regulations, received them and their visas, and departed. Still others are waiting to travel abroad. The Albanian authorities are ready to issue passports, in accordance with the decree, to citizens who are still in “foreign” embassies and request one.