We have entered the second six-month period of the final year of the five-year plan. The three Plenums of the Party’s Central Committee held since January were each more important than the last, and all three together represented a continuation and deepening of the irreversible process of revolutionizing and democratizing society as a whole. They enlivened the life of the Party and the country and opened up new prospects for development. Precisely during this period, our developments were opposed by external and internal enemies seeking to create destabilization and disorientation in order to overthrow the people’s power and the socialist system. This summer’s altered [?] weather, with significant consequences particularly in energy and agriculture, has been accompanied not only by a hot natural climate but also by a heated political one. Foreign-trade conditions have become more difficult than ever before. In these exceptional and difficult circumstances, the people and the Party worked to fulfill the demanding plans for the first half of the year. The tasks were generally completed, and new experience was gained. In particular, the supply of foodstuffs to the market improved, construction continued on the main projects, the economy and the social and cultural sectors were funded normally, and a number of measures were approved and are being implemented in the fields of economic mechanization and raising living standards. Despite these achievements, which inspire us, it must be made clear to Party committees and grassroots organizations, to government and economic bodies from the local level to the center, and to all communists and workers, that the second six-month period has begun in a situation requiring extraordinary commitment and mobilization. This is dictated by the demanding plan targets, the significant deficits carried over from the past, particularly in certain sectors and important production indicators, and the unfavorable objective and subjective conditions and factors under which we are obliged to work. Therefore, we must work according to the motto: “Let no day leave a deficit behind; let each week and month make up for the previous one.” The objective must be to fulfill all the tasks for the second six-month period—in industrial and agricultural production, construction and overall social development, and the foreign-currency balance. The 10th and 11th Plenums approved a series of measures to democratize relations in production; transfer authority from the center to the grassroots; introduce self-financing and worker participation in the distribution of profits; increase wages and procurement prices; reorganize handicrafts, essential services and trade; develop the cooperative household plot; and take action in other areas. The essence of the decisions adopted in these fields is to broaden the scope of economic levers in order to promote growth, increase the interest of workers, cooperative farmers and specialists in their work, raise productivity and efficiency, and improve the living conditions and well-being of the people. Let us all get to work to implement these important decisions, with their far-reaching impact, conscientiously, boldly and in a creative spirit. There are and will be difficulties and obstacles; problems have arisen and others will arise. All can be overcome through work, oversight and persistent effort, with everyone committed to the task and front assigned to them. The Party and the state are doing everything possible to support enterprises with secured material resources and raw materials, and with electricity even under the most difficult and unfavorable conditions. Opportunities for contacts and economic cooperation with the outside world are expanding, material incentives are being felt more strongly, and wage supplements and improvements are being introduced, and so on. It is therefore the duty of Party organizations and their forums, of government and economic bodies from the grassroots to the center, to bring all their strength and energy, all their organizational and leadership abilities to bear, and to ensure that no one—no employee or official—is allowed to delay or obstruct the implementation of decisions and directives. The new economic mechanism that we have begun to implement requires us to fight formalism and shallow understanding, to free all enterprises from ministerial control and ensure they are better supported by the ministries, and to identify and solve problems locally. Districts should establish operational teams to monitor the progress of this revolutionary process; the investment structure should be changed according to conditions; experience should be summed up; and firm foundations should be laid in the draft plan for 1991. Reorganizing services and handicrafts, expanding trade and private initiative, and issuing clear and precise decisions and laws require active public information and awareness-raising, as well as a new style and method of work. They can no longer be directed by orders and administrative methods, but by economic logic and laws, by effective levers and incentives, and by flexible financial oversight. Everyone must be at the forefront of the work and play their part. The Ministry of Agriculture and executive committees in the districts must promote and encourage agricultural and livestock production through the reward schemes adopted by the 7th Plenum, through allocation and rational production structures. Alongside its efforts to ensure regular supplies and further invigorate the market, the Ministry of Trade must encourage the rapid procurement of products, especially vegetables and fruit, through an active pricing policy down to the retail outlet. The Ministry of Construction must also give impetus to building homes with citizens’ own financial resources, while viewing this as inseparable from its major and primary responsibilities to complete all industrial, social and other projects on time and to the required standard. Such major and important tasks lie ahead for all the other ministries, for Party committees and executive committees in the districts, for cadres and specialists, and for the press and propaganda media. Everywhere, strong organization and discipline are needed, as is a fight against laziness and the habit of taking things too easily, against indifference and working at a leisurely pace. Everywhere, the spirit of delay and slackness, bureaucratism and apathy must be dealt a severe blow. We must face difficult situations with courage and a clear mind, with knowledge and tireless work, and with unshakable confidence that there is no objective that cannot be achieved. Throughout this work, the political eye must remain vigilant. With every step they take to democratize life, the Party and the people strengthen the country’s ties, independence, prosperity and progress, and foil all those who would put a spoke in the wheel of our progress and our security. Fulfillment of all plans and tasks is a state and social duty. But today, fulfilling them is also a great patriotic duty. The Party has continually emphasized that the economy is the foundation for the sound development of domestic conditions. In the circumstances we are going through, the links between the economy and politics are direct and felt every day and every week. Results in the economy, in production, in culture and the arts, in strengthening the market, employing the new active workforce, tightening [?], and invigorating services are among the principal and primary tasks. They provide powerful and convincing support for political and educational work, strengthen people’s confidence and sense of security, and increase the people’s trust in the Party and its Central Committee, headed by Comrade Ramiz Alia.

— DECISION OF THE POLITICAL BUREAU OF THE CC OF THE PPSH — At its meeting of 26.7.1990, the Political Bureau reviewed the implementation of the decisions of the 10th Plenum of the Party’s Central Committee on improving supplies to cooperative farmers by transferring livestock from the collective herds to their private household plots. It noted that this measure was welcomed everywhere by the farming population and had increased their interest in expanding the number of head of livestock and agricultural and livestock production. In order to further strengthen and encourage these developments, which are in the interests of the farming population and the entire country, the Political Bureau Decided: 1. To recommend that agricultural cooperatives, according to their specific circumstances, review the size of the cooperative household plot as follows: a. In hilly and mountainous areas, except for household livestock-raising cooperatives [?], each cooperative family may have up to two dynym of land for producing fodder for livestock kept on its private household plot and for vegetables. Where the area of cultivable land is limited, the villagers should decide where and by whom new land will be opened up, or where part of the meadows and pastures may be used jointly. b. In the lowland areas, each cooperative family may have up to two dynym of land, including the garden around the house, to use for producing fodder for its own livestock and for vegetables. c. These measures are to be implemented everywhere without delay, through village discussion and decision-making. 2. In agricultural enterprises, in line with the growing need for livestock products, vegetables and potatoes, the strengthening of small livestock herds and small cultivated plots is to continue. Based on experience, these may also be organized at village or sector level. The Political Bureau expresses its conviction that the farming population and the working class in agriculture will intensify their efforts to meet their own needs for agricultural and livestock products and to improve the supply to the market, thereby contributing to better living conditions in the countryside and the city. FIRST SECRETARY OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE PARTY OF LABOUR OF ALBANIA RAMIZ ALIA

THIS SIX-MONTH PERIOD BRINGS THE FIVE-YEAR PLAN TO A CLOSE

— Maximum attention to those sectors and enterprises where there are fluctuations—with shortfalls — In the first six-month period, the working class in the Lushnjë district exceeded the plan targets by 8.8 million lekë. Overall industrial production, construction volume for the district as a whole, road and rail transport in ton-kilometers, exports, procurement of goods and other targets were met and exceeded. The main concern at the enterprises now is to preserve these achievements and build on them during this six-month period, and to reduce as much as possible the deficits accumulated in some sectors until they are eliminated. This truly requires a great commitment and dedication from everyone. There is no more time to wait. Time must be filled with active work; it must not be allowed to slip away without bringing new changes and effective solutions. Specifically, what does the picture look like now? As they told us in the planning section of the Executive Committee of the District People’s Council, despite the growing efforts, there are two trends: most economic enterprises, with a few exceptions, are maintaining and increasing their work rates through discipline. As a result, the targets for the first 25 days of July have been met, and for the whole of July the district is expected to produce 2.5 million lekë worth of goods above plan. Yet within this overall picture there are enterprises that are not doing well. There has been some decline, for example, at NPN. Is it a cause for concern? I think so. This concerns a workshop employing 60 workers, where a deficit of 200,000 lekë has arisen. The deficit was caused by a shortage of materials, such as fabric and textiles, which are available domestically. The managers should not think that this is a small deficit; they must insist on obtaining the materials, not only to eliminate the deficit but also to exceed the targets. The section also... (Continued on page 2)

— MIRDITË — During the first 25 days of July, as tradition dictates, the geologists and copper smelters in Mirditë continued to set an example. The seven-month period at the monolithic geological enterprise is expected to close at 107 percent. July’s targets, too, demonstrate strong performance, good organization and effective management. By meeting July’s targets regularly, the copper smelters expect to exceed the seven-month target by 2 percent. The miners of Spaç are alongside them. (Continued on page 2)

— LEZHË — Solely through cost reductions since the beginning of the year, the employees of the Water and Land Reclamation Enterprise in the Lezhë district have gained 90,000 lekë. “Especially after the 10th and 10th Plenums,” says director Dodaj, “we have no staff shortages. We are not even talking about ordinary underachievement, but only about employees doing the work assigned to them.” This is connected with a more accurate understanding of the situation, and therefore there is no sector or project that is failing to meet its targets. None of them is falling behind in work or profit. The water sector, which last year, when it was a separate enterprise, recorded 1.7 million lekë in unjustified expenses, has now reduced expenditure by 760,000 lekë. The construction sector, etc., has made a profit of 235,000 lekë. These results have caused the enterprise’s net income to increase 1.8-fold, while costs, which had been planned at 2.56 percent, have been reduced by 5 percent. Gjon Kuçi, head of the finance department, tells us: “In implementing the recent decisions, we have reorganized the enterprise; 210 employees benefit. For this six-month period alone, the workers will receive more than 49,000 lekë, or an average of 80–90 lekë a month.” There have also been problems with work discipline in the Water and Land Reclamation Enterprise’s expenditure [?] sector, but they believe that implementing the decisions of the Plenum and the latest decisions of the Party’s Central Committee has brought complexity to the enterprise [?]. The enterprises in question are reducing their workforce in line with work and production [?]. Each worker is entitled to a wage supplement. These supplements are reflected for about 180 workers, distributing them... (Continued on page 2)

The team of the paper-production department is among the most distinguished at the “Misto Mame” wood-processing combine in Tirana. (Photo: N. Xhuika)

Reportage They say the July heat burns even stones. But there is something even more unrelenting than that, at the furnaces where the glass batch is poured. The smelters, molders and mold-makers at the glass factory in Tirana cannot stop working even for a moment; they can hardly even turn their heads to see who enters and leaves the workshop. The process is a continuous chain [?]. The temperature near the furnaces rises to 55–60 degrees Celsius. Every workstation is staffed. That means nobody is absent. In place of worker Shaban Hoti, a life filled with [?] and determination has taken shape [?]. He is the truck [?]; this man has been at the furnace, serving it, at the forefront, says Shaban, speaking as he [?] describes the work. Not here with us. The problem has been the supply of raw materials, but we have coped with it. For six months, «Vlora»’s PVC has produced 500 tons of soda. So far we have fulfilled the plan, but we could have exceeded it even more. As for shortages, do you know what is missing? Those who are fussy about work choose and pick. This is especially true among those who have been found there, including the supporters of those who want an easy life—we call them that here. “That’s right,” says workshop supervisor Xhehat Çamta. “What kind of work can it be if, on the one hand, you chat for hours as if we were tape recorders, and on the other, you turn out products?” This is not the only team in Tirana with discipline and a strong work pace. There are dozens of “pillars.” We say that a miner’s profession is easier than a smelter’s. There are dozens. Some are miners from Krrabë who are expected to exceed the plan by more than 120 percent. They are Mustafa Kasa, Agim Durollari, Sami Çera, Petrit Hyballiu, etc. “A miner works well especially when he is responsible and motivated, and when the urgent instructions come not from the group above ground but from the person at the face of the gallery, the one who has two [?],” zone-one supervisor Shtyli Rumbullaku tells us. “Take the sector supervisor, Muço Vasili: he is so full of life that he never takes his miner’s helmet off his head. Before going to the office, he goes over to the face. When he goes there, he knows that it isn’t the miner who brings the work to a halt, but the wagon or the shortage of support frames.” The Krrabë sector had several workers meeting the plan for the six-month period. But over the 25 days, the deficit reached 300 tons. It was not due to shortages, but because technical difficulties arose at an poorly equipped work face. This sector, with all its bright prospects, cannot tolerate this disgrace. So how will it finish the seven-month plan? Each person must show more than ever that work is the best measure of devotion to the Homeland and the Party. We find them in the midst of preparations for Sunday’s work action. And they say confidently that they will make it in July. But one cannot say that there is the same level of interest at the Valias mine as at Krrabë. The shortages are evident; those who say “I’m on sick leave” or “I want an easy job” have become among the least committed workers in one sector. The reasons for this situation vary, from shortages of fuel and spare parts for electric locomotives arriving through the supply chains, to dynamos and thermostats [?], which someone equips the miners with very cheaply, under the motto “one job, one person.” But how can the workers have been so unexpectedly demoralized when in the previous month they fulfilled their quota by 150–200 percent? If Valias is to complete the seven-month plan, it will have to produce tens of thousands [?], on top of the 6,400 tons of coal in the previous months. There have also been problems with work discipline in the Water and Land Reclamation Enterprise’s expenditure [?] sector, but they believe that implementing the decisions of the Plenum and the latest decisions of the Party’s Central Committee has brought complexity to the enterprise [?]. The enterprises in question are reducing their workforce in line with work and production [?]. Each worker is entitled to a wage supplement. These supplements are reflected for about 180 workers, distributing them... (Continued on page 3)

The National Gallery of Figurative Arts and the sculpture department of the Ministry of Culture have opened the national painting exhibition “Landscape 1990.” It includes paintings in the exhibition gallery, beginning with the exhibition of 16 artists of “Landscape 1990.” It presents 90 works by artists from all the districts of the country, in various techniques such as oil, pastel, acrylic, tempera, etc. (Continued on page 3)