Something we were told about an economist at one of the agricultural enterprises in Krujë sounds like an anecdote. A cart driver made a “modification” to his cart. Instead of wooden wheels, he fitted tires. With this, he nearly doubled his output, and the stable workers stopped complaining about supplies. When it came time to receive his reward, the finance economist expressed doubts: “How is that possible?” So far, so good. When the cart driver explained, the economist replied that he could not approve this work, because it was not supported by the manuals. The solution? The cart driver had to remove the tires from the cart immediately and put the wooden wheels back on! Naturally, this example seems a little extreme, and many names could be given. But it is more than true that the administration, with its fixed rules and requirements that are in no way suited to the times, etc., often becomes a brake on the development of production. And this is what “bubbles up” at meetings, staff gatherings, collective assemblies about plans, output, quality and cost. In other words, it is interested in increasing production and fulfilling the plans, but is just as much a brake. On the one hand, it applauds innovators for what they do and for the solutions they propose in production; on the other, even the funds the state has made available to encourage their work and ingenuity are not used even halfway. On the one hand, praise is handed out at events for production reforms that stand out from the broader mass; on the other, changes to their compensation come only in dribs and drabs. And they are asked to reduce something, though they have never even achieved it. But this gap exists among us. That was the justification. We understand that there will be further adjustments later. But these are now the major tasks of the ministry, not only of the planning specialists. Otherwise, tomorrow we will again see the most familiar practice: ministry employees rushing out to the grassroots, to the executive committees and the Party. Lists of requests are even kept. But what do they do? The grassroots managers and employees are told things they know perfectly well. Meanwhile, the enterprise administration continues going back and forth between ministry offices and contracting agencies. Managers thus become a channel into which all kinds of requests are poured; their offices become supply offices, and ministry employees sign documents to provide this or that basic material, equipment, or even a certain number of bearings from a warehouse. These, too, are matters of working methods, encompassing large and small organizational issues. They do not concern individual employees alone. They extend beyond them, and what is commonplace thus becomes a phenomenon. Naturally, the measures adopted at the 10th Plenum do not offer partial solutions; on the contrary—they are major solutions that will provide practical answers to many problems that have emerged in new circumstances. The creation of enterprises operating on their own accounts will undoubtedly further increase the responsibility and interests of producers and production administrations. Nevertheless, these new practices that are being introduced and expanded are not merely formal matters. They must be sought within this very process. The point is for this technical thinking (if it is integrated with economic thinking as well) to become a necessity. In a casual conversation, an agricultural specialist made this comparison for us: “To build an apartment block, you need so many bricks, sand, cement and iron. If even one thing is missing, the building will remain unfinished until the missing item arrives. But in agriculture, what is missing today is no use tomorrow. Then we leave room for chance and subjectivism. At the ministry, around it, and at the grassroots.” These are not minor problems. But neither are they so insurmountable that offices and officials should give way everywhere to the logic of “this is all we have, so this is all we can do.” It should not be this way. Why should agriculture leave work undone because of shortages of fuel? It is not as if it truly saves anything that way. The land is still plowed and planted. Nowhere have we heard of ox-drawn plows being brought in to replace tractors. So why not work with reserves? Why not ensure that the necessary discussions take place where they should? Why should this or that piece of equipment not arrive when production needs it? To be clear, I am not confusing abundance with shortages; there are shortages. The issue is making more realistic assessments, and making them in time, instead of shouting for a year about something while no one listens, until someone suffers the consequences and then an alarm is raised to bring this or that item by plane! When? After foreign currency has already gone down the river here and there?! These practices, given how widespread they are, require their own “maneuverers.” The person who copes best with them gets the highest marks. Then, from among these, people are selected and become directors, chairpersons, etc. And yet they also become directors of scientific institutions. Why? Because they have distinguished themselves here and there. With the exception of science (certainly through no fault of theirs). The recent appointment from outside of some of these managers to several agricultural institutes illustrates this: an overvaluation of practice, which is also empiricism, to the detriment of the demands of genuine science. How much room there is to discard so many practices! Outdated, obstructive ones. Then new individual talents in the fields of organization and management will flourish even more. ...production, on the other hand, the funds the state has made available to stimulate their work and creativity are not used as intended. At meetings, materials are distributed to recognize production records that differ greatly from those of the broad masses; on the other hand, changes in their remuneration are made only drop by drop. And so on. These data may be a little outdated, one might say. Perhaps. But they have not been overtaken. Look: the plan for next year is now being prepared. Everyone knows the weight this plan carries and what interests it arouses among people, especially under conditions where each is held to account. Nevertheless, even here the plagiarisms of the past in planning are obvious. We were told at the Laç Chemical-Metallurgical Combine, in the smelting plant: “We draw up the draft plan on the basis of the previous plan. Otherwise, the ministry won’t allow it. For ten years, changing suppliers has not brought us the raw materials in the required quantities. What are we to do? Surely Fushë-Arrëzi, Repsi, etc., will...” ...we wrote, we saw newly introduced agronomic practices, we saw agronomic practices at a new, higher level. countries. Other areas of cooperation could include the surveying of new lands, irrigation, the reclamation of new land, irrigation through the construction of artificial reservoirs, zoning and other specific features. In exchanging views on these issues with our comrades at the Ministry of Agriculture, we agreed to give concrete form to and implement met many capable specialists with a high level of professional expertise. This points to further progress. ...solutions, large-scale and carefully considered, through which many problems that have emerged in new situations will be answered in practice. production administrations. However, these new practices that are being introduced and will expand are not magic solutions. There must be room to develop qualified thinking, both in working methods and in the imagination needed to find effective solutions dictated by circumstances. In this work there have been, and will be, no ready-made solutions. Indeed, with intensive cultural development and widespread training, new opportunities arise for a diversity of approaches in these areas as well. We speak of the advantages of economic thinking in management methods. We all accept it as a condition for new advances. But there can be no genuine economic thinking without qualified technical and scientific thinking. A fu-

A moment during work at the metalworks in Gjirokastër. (Photo: N. Xhufka) A moment during work at the metalworks in Gjirokastër. (Photo: N. Xhufka)

After 6 stages, «Vllaznia» leads the team standings and Spar[a?]k Musha of «17 Nëntori» leads individually Yesterday, the 6th stage of the 46th Tour of Albania was held: an individual time trial, Gjirokastër–Jergucat and back, 36 kilometers long. First place went to cyclist Selim Çelm[e?]ta of «Dinamo», with a time of 50 minutes and 48 seconds, averaging 42.16 km per hour and improving the previous time by 49 seconds. Agim Tafili of «Vllaznia» placed second, with a time of 51 minutes and 22 seconds, and Ardian Feraz[a?]i of «Partizani» placed third, with a time of 51 minutes and 46 seconds. After 6 stages, «Vllaznia» leads the team standings with 43 hours, 38 minutes and 0.5 seconds; «Partizani» is in second place and «Dinamo» in third. At the top of the individual standings after 6 stages is Spartak Musha of «17 Nëntori», with 13 hours, 50 minutes and 45 seconds; second is Qemal Manko of «Traktori», with 13 hours, 51 minutes and 0.9 seconds; and third is Selim Çelm[e?]ta of «Dinamo», with 13 hours, 55 minutes and 19 seconds. Today the 7th stage, Gjirokastër–Berat, 159 kilometers, will take place. (ATSH) The national spartakiad of secondary schools has concluded For 6 consecutive days, the finals of the national spartakiad of secondary schools were held at Enver’s «Qemal Stafa» pioneers’ holiday home and at the facilities of the sports palace in Durrës. In this event, they tested their strength. (Continued on page 3)

Independent economic accounting and measures for self-financing expanded socialist reproduction will give economic levers a decisive role in management. They will occupy an increasingly important place in the enterprise’s economic and production activities. This will also require economic reasoning and thought to precede the country’s development processes. Naturally, the effects of these measures being taken by the Party will not be achieved either mechanically or with a “magic wand”; therefore, production organization will be subject to strict control over the amount of work and compensation, production and its distribution, investment and the use of accumulation, etc. The law “On the Enterprise” expressly establishes the administration’s obligation to strengthen internal control to safeguard and administer socialist property and to enforce legality in the areas of production, distribution, wages and other technical, economic and financial indicators in the enterprise and its economic units. There are many levels of control, and their capacity to exercise control is extensive. They are able to carry out highly effective activities to strengthen order and discipline in the economy. Control is also assisted by the use of economic levers in the production process. As economic factors gain precedence in management, they become incentives and aids to internal control, whose value increases when it is properly organized and directed. Being an important element of management, internal control is an integral part of organizational work in enterprises and agricultural cooperatives, and of the entire administration of a unified [ap?a?]ratus. The field of internal control is broad and encompasses all economic, financial, technical and technological activities in an enterprise; consequently, every worker has their own duties regarding oversight of the implementation of laws, decisions and other subordinate legal acts regulating this activity. Independent accounting presupposes that every branch or body within an enterprise is responsible not only for production but also for its entire purpose; systematically realizing its objective, it becomes an incentive and a preventive factor against any negative phenomenon that may arise in the process of carrying out plan tasks. Thus, instead of dealing with consequences and administrative measures, we fight the cause and undertake and implement economic solutions that prevent damage to or misuse of the people’s property. The managerial ability of cadres will be put to a difficult test, since it will be subject to the oversight of measures whose own interest will be to produce more, better and more cheaply. The role and work of internal control take on new value, so they must qualitatively meet the demands of the times. Naturally, forms of organization and management change across space and time, and therefore control at all levels, particularly internal control, will be organized in accordance with this evolution. In any case, internal control, as systematic and continuous oversight, must give timely warning of disruptions and take swift measures to change the situation. Managing an enterprise with independent accounting requires skilled work, with a pencil in hand. It is time to change the thinking of some who regard control as an “excess burden” and reduce it simply to financial auditing or an auditor’s inspection. Control duties and functions apply generally to everyone, from the gatekeeper to the director. As is known, the economy has suffered major losses, and socialist property has been damaged and appropriated even though internal control has not functioned as it should. Complaints and excuses can no longer account for these losses. Any damage to property detected in time must be subjected to a thorough and comprehensive analysis within the workers’ collective, where people must be called to account and give an account to one another. Under these conditions, enterprise internal regulations must precisely define every worker’s and every level’s obligation to exercise control, and each person’s responsibility for failing to carry out this duty. Enterprises and agricultural cooperatives have much to do to strengthen internal control... of the State. Besides providing methodological assistance, we believe these bodies, while avoiding duplication of internal control, should take up those matters that require more specialized work and long-term solutions. The audit and inspection bodies can and should study certain problems relating to the topics, quality and substance of control. STEFAN PAPAGJONI Deputy Chairman of the State Control Commission ...ction in an enterprise; consequently, every employee has their own duties in monitoring that regulate this activity. Operating on one’s own account presupposes that every department or unit in an enterprise is accountable not only for production, but also for its results. Management and control form a single pair. By this we mean that the technologist or agronomist should not merely “observe,” but should monitor and be accountable for strict compliance with the process or technological specifications; that the product should be produced in the required quantity and quality; that the economist or rate-setter should not merely record facts, but should monitor and provide economic solutions for the efficient use of living and embodied labor; that the supplier, instead of “complaints” and excuses, should monitor and be accountable for fulfilling contractual obligations, and so on. A system of control...

Yesterday the delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of the Arab Republic of Egypt left our country. It was headed by the First Deputy Minister of Agriculture, prof. Mamdouth Sharaf El-dih, who, at the invitation of the Ministry of Agriculture, made an official and friendly visit to our country. Before his departure, prof. Mamdouth Sharaf Eldih gave the following interview to Albanian Television and the press: “Everywhere we went in Albania, we felt as if we were in our own home. The Albanian people are very warm-hearted and open-hearted. Agriculture in Albania is making great progress. We saw this in the olive groves, vineyards and citrus plantations as well. In the walnut crops and fruit cultivation, wherever we went in Albania, we saw a high level of agricultural technology. Some problems that require specific solutions in areas with saline soils can be addressed through fruitful cooperation between our two countries. Other areas of cooperation could include the reclamation of new land, irrigation through the creation of artificial reservoirs, zoning and other particular features. We exchanged views on these problems with our comrades at the Ministry of Agriculture and agreed on giving concrete form to and implementing the tasks set out in the joint protocol. We also met many capable specialists with a high professional level. This speaks to further progress. (ATSH)

At the invitation of comrade Vito Cami, chairman of the Standing Commission on Foreign Affairs of the People’s Assembly, a delegation of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament, headed by its chairman, Flamino Pikolli, will soon make an official and friendly visit. (ATSH)

- LIBRAZHD - The livestock breeders of the Librazhd district fulfilled their five-month targets for livestock production ahead of schedule. Here too, the economic mechanism is bearing fruit. Production is expected to exceed the five-month targets by 12 percent for milk and 14 percent for meat. Compared with the same period last year, more than 7,000 quintals of milk were produced; and although this year the agricultural enterprises set up more than 20 new dairies for processing, over 2,000 quintals more milk were delivered than a year ago. Meat deliveries exceeded the target by 30 percent, and the market was supplied with more than 310,000 eggs above the target. “Investments in livestock farming are like a short-term loan, whose effects are quickly repaid,” says Fatmir Kodrari, the district’s chief specialist. In recent years, priority has been given to herd renewal and the feed base. Last year alone, herd renewal increased by 27 percent among small livestock and by 13 percent among cattle. How was this achieved, when deficits were by no means insignificant during the same period last year?

- SARANDË - A few days ago, the district’s most outstanding livestock breeders gathered for an exchange of views. The balance sheet they presented and the experience they shared were rich. Across the district, milk production for this period has exceeded the target by 10,000 quintals. More than 80 percent of the small-livestock flocks have already fulfilled their annual plan. The milk-production target has been met not only for small livestock, but also for cows—unlike in the past, when a shortfall in cows offset some of the overachievement. “The outstanding performers in milk production are not numerous,” says the district’s chief livestock specialist, Sotir Qesari. “The Vrina Agricultural Enterprise has fulfilled 120 percent of its target for the period, Vërgoi 124 percent, the Stjar Agricultural Enterprise 120 percent, and the Muzina cooperative 133 percent. All the enterprises are considerably ahead of the daily schedule. What does this experience tell us? The work of renowned shepherds—Thanas Kapurani, Ilia Xoga, Resul Mullai, Zaim Ademi, Koço Zoga and dozens of others, who have already exceeded the annual plan—shows that this year’s success is not...” ...is due not only to the weather, but above all to the care taken to secure the feed base, the reorganization of the flocks, shelter and, above all, the shepherds’ hard work and the innovative thinking of specialists. Material and moral incentives for every increase in production have spurred the pride of workers in this sector. In addition, reducing the size of the flocks and increasing the number of shepherds to sustain production, extending grazing time, milking and re-milking have also proved fruitful. That is why the shepherds view the results achieved so far with reservations, convinced that they will reach new targets. Thus, for cows, the silage-preparation target has been exceeded, ensuring a high, steady level of production throughout the year. In flocks where numbers increase, the aim is to obtain 10–15 kg of milk per head from sheep and 20–30 kg of milk from goats. The achievements in milk production, together with the number of lambs, as well as the target for fulfilling the wool-production plan, mean that livestock breeders have been exceeding their targets throughout this period.