The first half of September was marked by shortfalls. Productivity continues to remain low in many branches of the economy. The branches with the greatest production deficits, naturally, across the entire pyramid of plan indicators, were mining and metallurgical industry, the chemical industry, construction materials, and light industry. The pace of work is where it was, if not even lower. The third quarter is counting down its days. This means that the work must be made up and the steps taken must be longer and faster. There are difficulties, some will be quick to say. There are, certainly, and we know them well, but that is no reason to use them as a shield on every occasion. The greater they are, the greater our mobilization must be. If they are interconnected, coordination must be just as closely interwoven. In the economy, declarations do not get us anywhere; it is equally true that we cannot make progress with grumbling and complaints. We will solve our own difficulties and problems, right where they arise, by taking on greater burdens and responsibilities. Powers are being transferred down to the grassroots. This must be understood deeply, with all the weight it carries. Solutions are being transferred down to the grassroots, while higher up—in the Planning Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the ministries and the executive committees—the work is becoming more qualitative and more difficult. The time has come for this reorganization to be put to the test at full capacity. There is nothing to wait for. This is not the beginning of the year, when some managers, not infrequently, console themselves with such reasoning and excuses instead of mobilizing. Summer passed with no small difficulties in many branches of the economy, also because of the drought. But if in some cases there is a shortage of energy or raw materials, that should not become a reason for disrupting work. Or is someone troubled by the mindset: “The plan won’t be fulfilled now, so let’s just drag things out however we can”? So many times, at meetings, mass gatherings and in the press, we have spoken about making use of existing capacities. But the point is not that the newspaper mentions this fact merely to do its duty. This is the call of the times, of the demands of each of us as consumers, and also of the concrete possibilities we have. How can we say that we have pushed everything to the limit?! How can we accept that this is all the productivity we can achieve, that there is nothing else we can save?! An initiative is undertaken to improve and set in motion the process of raising the quality of production. Every person has potential within them, but it must be awakened, organized and put to use. The active engagement with people, which the Party insistently calls for, cannot be carried out from offices. Dynamism and initiative are needed. “The model of communist work must be multiplied by communists themselves, by the basic organizations and by Party committees. In this way, concrete militancy will no longer remain a meeting-room phrase, but will become a reality for everyone.”

In the food industry Last year, a contract was signed with the Greek company FOOD LIMITED for the installation in Durrës of a modern production line for tin cans for preserves, based on their coating. The equipment has been delivered and the installation work is nearing completion. The cost will be repaid over a short period, 66 percent with products from this line and the remainder in foreign currency. According to discussions with the company BULGARGTABAK, the tobacco and cigarette manufacturing industry will be technologically upgraded at the relevant factories in Durrës, Shkodër, Gjirokastër and Elbasan through the installation of Bulgarian machinery and equipment. Repayment will be made in tobacco and cigarettes. This step is also intended to further the cooperation already begun with the company to produce cigarettes using materials ordered and selected later. A line for producing pectin by processing orange and apple waste was also discussed with the Bulgarian company PEKTINA-PERNIK. An opportunity to build a starch factory in Shkodër has been arranged with the West German company FBT. KRISTAQ KOKA

- Observations by our correspondents in the districts - - SHKODËR - It is the first day of the week. At the Shkodër geological enterprise, it is striking that before it is even 10 o’clock, the employee at the gate can tell you who is responsible for work in all the geological teams, as well as which managers and specialists are not at the enterprise at that time. The director is with the geological team at Vau i Dejës, the chief specialist is in Gomsiqe, and two other specialists have just set out for Palaj. The regular observance of work discipline, demonstrated by every manager, is one of the reasons the enterprise is among the most distinguished in the whole country. But it was not always like this. Dozens of excuses for failing to meet tasks were raised and repeated, ranging from the material base and various shortcomings in imports to worker training. Director Osman Deli says that behind these excuses lay another shortcoming: managers wasting time. It was taken for granted that work could be left to go to the canteen or the club. Workers saw it, and there was no workshop where the managers’ poor example at work was not reflected. Everything began with establishing order in the enterprise directorate and then in each geological team. The interruptions stopped, and Osman was the first to set the example. Now the enterprise is also distinguished by a particular feature: collective responsibility and the daily monitoring and enforcement of tasks. This did not happen by itself, but through a better understanding of the law: discipline is a legal norm, not a matter of choice. That same day we are at the industrial oil-and-beverage enterprise. It is one of its busiest periods, because the procurement of raw materials has just begun and all managers must make an even greater effort. In other words, it is a period when each hour must count as a day, and every unavoidable absence must not interrupt a production line or show up in the work. Here one can see how discipline makes a difference. Nevertheless, there is a relaxed atmosphere in the enterprise’s administrative offices. A meeting has just begun to divide up the fund for voluntary assistance, attended by almost all the managers and specialists. Is this really the way to act? What is more, this meeting could easily have been held after working hours. In the planning department, we ask about the day’s absences. They do not know. They do not even know about those from the previous day or earlier. The reason? The factories do not report them, they tell us. We ask about absences in the administration. Why? They do not know, because the administration has no person responsible for this! “When we demand proper accountability from the factories, they report the absences; and when the Committee asks us every day, we follow up more carefully,” they say in the planning department. And yet there are various absences in the factories. Have the managers here still not learned that work discipline and tracking absences are not a matter of choice? BEDRI ISLAMI

- DIBËR - Work discipline has been a problem at the food enterprise and the various-products enterprise in Peshkopi. We are referring not only to discipline related to entering and leaving the enterprise and making use of working time, but also to supply and distribution and the creation of new areas of work. Xhelil Cibaku has been managing the food enterprise for several months. Among other things, the workers appreciate him for the demands he makes of himself and for his high level of work discipline. “He is demanding,” the workers say of him warmly, “and gives you all the credit you deserve. He comes to check on you as a manager and comrade when you least expect it: at midday, when production is at its peak, but also after midnight, when someone leaves their workplace—at the start of a shift, and at its end.” The manager’s high standards of discipline paved the way for discipline among individual managers and workers alike. At first, the number of people called before the enterprise’s technical council and the collective for “measures” was rather high. Now they are called in only rarely. Complaints have virtually disappeared. The workers see how the director works and what he achieves for discipline, and act accordingly. His example is a mirror in which everyone can see how they should act. If you want to meet Remzi Pahuni, get up early and go to the various-products enterprise. He is the first to start work, as its director. He inspects the situation in every department and determines what measures must be taken so that nothing is lacking. He meets workers and managers at their workplaces. This “habit” of the director, this aspect of work discipline, has been reflected in the conduct of the workers and managers—not only in their arrival and departure times, but especially in supply. Remziu quickly makes his way to the forestry enterprise and the agricultural cooperatives, as well as to enterprises and institutions outside the district. He secures the necessary material base and, through his suggestions, helps launch new activities. More than 70 workers have been put to work in the new activities that the NPN has opened during these months. These managers in Peshkopi set an example of high work discipline. Their modest but significant example has been reflected in the fulfillment and overfulfillment of production and export targets. ABDURRAHIM ASHIKU

- SARANDË - Morning. Five to seven. The gatekeeper at the NPN is getting ready to close the gate. A worker who is running late hurries into the enterprise. This opening creates the impression of order and work discipline. But what happens from the time people arrive until the end of work, throughout the eight-hour day? How is working time observed and used? To find out, we returned to this same enterprise at 10 o’clock. The gate opens again—but this time for people to leave. For 15–20 minutes, 10–15 female employees gather in the yard. They work in different specialties: seamstresses, sales-department employees and staff in auxiliary activities. “Where are you going?” we asked them. “Nowhere,” one of them says. “We’re just taking a little break.” Another says, “A new model of athletic shoes has come on the market, and we’re going to buy some for the children.” Here, as can be seen, interrupting the work process is treated as something normal, even though lost time can never be recovered. We tell the women employees this too. “Where else can we go? The shops are there.” Gravel and clay continue to be dumped, despite the condition of the heavy vehicles. Some change their appearance hour by hour and day by day, growing taller and taking on a different shape as they move toward the finished form they will have at completion. Others are being fired; the final work is being done on the sides. The workers are filling them with gravel and clay. They stand out for their dedication and initiative and for the activities being carried out and the fulfillment of legal and railway duties, with managers such as Agim Dumanaj and …?

This year, the sugar production season at the Maliq combine began early. The new agricultural cooperatives in the Elbasan district were the first to knock at the doors of this combine, urged on by high temperatures that had extremely harmful effects on the quality of the freshly uprooted beet. But as the flow of beet from Elbasan increased, the combine, while making no claims about quality, had no complaints about quantities. The storage yards before processing were always full. Meanwhile, with the arrival of beet at the combine from the Elbasan district—and in the hope that, after some rainfall, the beet might gain a little weight—the fields of Korçë seemed to come to life only sluggishly. The figures make this observation clear: from 11 to 14 September, deliveries ranged from 448 tons to 1,338 tons. And here is the result of this delay: although the combine has put both factories into operation, with a processing capacity of 2,200 tons per 24 hours, it has processed an average of only 1,600–1,700 tons a day during these days. Is this an effective use of machinery, energy, water and steam? The combine cannot wait. Delays in sending beet from the fields cause additional losses, which were inevitably made worse by the drought. KOSTAQ DUKA

On Sunday, the people of the Vlora district celebrated the 47th anniversary of the first frontal engagement against the Nazi occupiers at Drashovicë, one of the most glorious battles of the National Liberation Anti-Fascist War. On this occasion, numerous commemorative activities were held here, including discussions by war veterans with young men and women from the town and the countryside about the importance and popular character of this battle; musical and literary montages were presented, documentary films were screened, and so on. Thousands of workers from the town and from the cooperatives of Kurvelesh and Mesapliku, Topallia and Myzeqeja, veterans, deputies and council members, members and relatives of martyrs’ families, military personnel, young men and women, and Enver’s pioneers gathered on the plain of Drashovicë. Also present were the candidate member of the Political Bureau of the Party’s Central Committee, comrade Piro Kondo; the chairman of the Executive Committee of the District People’s Council, comrade Hoxha; leading Party officials from the Tepelenë and Gjirokastër districts; and other guests. Wreaths were laid at the “Drashovicë 1920–1943” monument on behalf of the Party’s Central Committee, the Party Committee and the Executive Committee of the District People’s Council, as well as the district committees and the towns of Tepelenë and Gjirokastër, and others. The rally organized on this occasion was opened by Halil Hasko, First Secretary of the District Party Committee. Comrade Pirro Kondo conveyed greetings to the participants on behalf of the Party’s Central Committee, the Council of Ministers, the General Council of the Democratic Front of Albania, and personally on behalf of comrade Ramiz Alia. Among other things, he emphasized the importance of the glorious Battle of Drashovicë, one of the high points of the National Liberation Anti-Fascist War, where the great heroism and blood-forged, unbending will of the fighters stood out and contributed to the richness of history. In this battle, comrade Hysni Kapo … the Party; comrade Hysni Kapo … the people’s unbreakable strength before the enemy in their struggle for freedom … as a historic message to the present and future generations of socialist Albania. Speaking of the patriotic and freedom-loving traditions of the people of Vlora and the district, comrade Pirro Kondo said that nothing—not even their own lives or those of their families—has ever been placed above freedom and independence by Albanians; they have stood proudly, and their victories, won and defended with their blood, are a legend of the nation’s martyrs. After highlighting the achievements and the unity of the Albanian people, strong as they are, he recalled in his address a remarkable monument to resistance and patriotism, of great national importance, a lofty and popular monument of free Albania, translated into foreign languages and celebrated as a tribute to the patriotic, freedom-loving people of Vlora and socialist Albania. Nothing—not even their own lives or those of their children—has ever been placed above freedom and independence by Albanians; they have stood proudly, and their victories, won and defended with their blood, are a legend of the nation’s martyrs. After highlighting the achievements and the unity of the Albanian people, strong as they are, he recalled in his address a remarkable monument to resistance and patriotism, of great national importance, a lofty and popular monument of free Albania, translated into foreign languages and celebrated as a tribute to the patriotic, freedom-loving people of Vlora and socialist Albania. (Continued on page 2)

Berat, one of the oldest centers of the Illyrian tribe of the Desaretes, a city where life has never ceased, is celebrating the 2,400th anniversary of its founding. As part of “Berat, 2,400 years old” week, a beautiful ceremony was held yesterday morning in the city’s central square, attended by workers from enterprises and production units, patriots and veterans, military personnel, young men and women, and Enver’s pioneers. Also present were Hysen Shahu, First Secretary of the District Party Committee, and other comrades. To the sound of the National Anthem, representatives of those attending the ceremony hoisted the National Flag. The city’s artistic groups then performed a program of songs. Yesterday afternoon, a relay marathon was also held, with young men and women taking part; the winners were presented with emblems of the city. During this week, on 21 and 22 September, the national symposium “Berat—The Value and Restoration of the Masterpiece” will be held. Various activities will also be organized, including visits to museums, excursions to archaeological sites, scientific sessions of the district association of historians and archaeologists, meetings with historians, writers and artists, a day of sports and folk games, and so on. (According to ATSH)

These days in Banjë

Intensive. The managers of the Banjë hydroelectric complex have also been more optimistic. Now the pace is slower. Although the targets have been met steadily, it could still go faster, say the managers in Banjë, if supplies from the ministry were more regular, including tires and other spare parts for the heavy machinery that carries almost the entire burden of transporting material for the dam embankment. The supply of technicians and other personnel is also unsatisfactory. As a result, the pace of construction is slower. Nevertheless, by mid-September the target had been met by 101 percent. After fulfilling the commitment to provide agriculture with 160 million cubic meters of irrigation water, excavation work has so far been carried out at the intake structure portal and at the tunnel exit portal. The rock formations on both sides of the tunnel are unstable and prone to landslides; nevertheless, the difficulties will be overcome and tunnel excavation will begin boldly. Preparations are therefore under way to begin tunneling from both directions. Gravel and clay continue to be dumped at the dam, despite the condition of the heavy vehicles. Some change their appearance hour by hour and day by day, growing taller and taking on a different shape as they move toward the finished form they will have once completed. Others are being fired; the final work is being done on the side faces. The workers are filling them with gravel and clay. They stand out for their dedication and initiative, for the work being carried out and the fulfillment of statutory and railway-related tasks, with managers such as Agim Dumanaj and …?