THE SPECIALISTS REMIND US By tradition, because of the share it represents among bread grains and our agricultural potential, we have tended wheat—and will continue to tend it—with particular care. In these few lines, the point is not to teach farmers and specialists their trade, but rather to share a present concern about the condition of the wheat and the care it is receiving. As a specialist at a dedicated agricultural institute, I notice irregularities in its condition and uneven development between plots and within them throughout the whole plain area, as well as in some mountain farms. I do not agree that we should rest easy, as we see some specialists and managers doing, as though these signs concerned only particular plots classified as weak or in average condition. From what I see, I consider it reasonable to propose to my colleagues a thorough reassessment of how the plots are developing. On this basis, differentiated treatments should also be carried out, or the drainage network further improved. This is not the first time we have paid dearly for such drainage defects, through plants being affected by disease or through the ineffectiveness of fertilizer use, which can amount to 10–15 percent. In the cold zone, measures to protect wheat from the cold by rolling and earthing up with organic manure have proved highly effective. This is nothing new, but the point is that the work is not being done properly. Depending on the condition of each plot, in both the plain and mountain areas, differentiated nitrogen fertilization has a significant effect on plant growth and development. This year, with its abundant and intense rainfall, nitrogen applications in larger, more widely spaced doses have proved more suitable, bearing in mind that by the onset of stem elongation around 35 percent of the total quantity should have been applied. For wheat sown in the more fertile plots, particularly the «Dajti» cultivar and some others with vigorous growth, treatment with cycocel would be very effective in preventing lodging, which is often one of the main limiting factors in production. A very important task is the coordinated, comprehensive chemical and mechanical control of weeds, whose damage to wheat production is considerable. Weeds are widespread on many farms in the coastal area, so I cannot ignore some clumsy practices that are being observed. Plant-protection specialists must sound the alarm loudly. Every district and farm that needs it has the means—and there are also achievements—to develop and apply suitable technology according to the condition of the wheat and the climatic conditions, so that we can obtain what we have planned for. But this coordination cannot be achieved without taking action and seriously mobilizing managers and specialists. ALFRED XHOMO Doctor of Science

The collective of the embroidery department at the Gjirokastra NPV is among the most distinguished. IN THE PHOTO: the group’s deputy head. (Photo: N. Xhufka)

● In the agricultural farms of the Gjirokastra district, more than 39,500 lambs have so far been added to the flocks. Goat kidding is also continuing throughout the district. So far, a further 10,345 kids have been added to the flocks. ● By achieving 101 percent of its industrial production target, the workers of the food enterprise in Çorovodë have met the objectives for this period two days ahead of schedule. (According to ATSH) the objectives for this period. (According to ATSH) I am telling you how I wrote with the feeling of a communist militant, with love for our Party of Labour, and with great respect for Albania’s leader, Comrade Ramiz Alia, who is devotedly leading the struggle towards democracy. YMER LUMSHI Gramsh (text cut off at the upper edge) according to the condition, so that we may obtain what we have planned. But this cooperation cannot be achieved without allowing, without seriously mobilizing the managers and specialists. (text cut off at the upper edge) ... to the wheat and the climatic conditions, edge) ... to the wheat and the climatic conditions, the managers and specialists. (text visible in the upper columns) If work altogether. Could it perhaps come and establish itself, or are we going to import national well-being and happiness from foreigners? I am thinking: if we act this way, Albania will no longer be ours. Should we ourselves make and establish it? We will lay new foundations; we will appoint the educated person, who is not lacking among us, the scientist, the patriot, the humanist. We must not scorn the past, for then we deny our development and put democracy in question. The people have observed that many managers of enterprises and institutions have remained archaic. They have distanced themselves

— Excerpts from letters to the editorial office — The deepening of democracy is a quest I understand the process of democratization; I like to understand it not as the mere democratization of words, but as the deepening of this process as a whole, because it is the latter that we, as a nation, need. There are people who seek to deny everything we have built, whereas I think we must learn lessons from history and show new ways to deepen the process of democratization. Indeed, to know, to be capable of explaining the process of deepening democratization, and to keep pace with Europe, we must say something new, something that has not yet been said, correct what has not been corrected until now, and offer new solutions. This is what the times demand today; this is what our nation demands; this is what national unity demands. This nation, this unity, never calls for starting all over again from the beginning. ASRIT KOLA, methodologist at the pedagogical office in Burrel. The motive that inspires us: love — Two schoolgirls write to us — You may quite naturally ask why we are writing this letter, what the reason is, what inspired us, or what else might prompt someone to write something. And we can answer without hesitation: — Love. This is a word that may express more than can be said aloud. It is love for our Party of Labour that inspires us. We are now 16 years old, and we clearly understand the true meaning of these words. As if in a dream, the lines of a student come to mind: Mother rocked me in the cradle of sleep, You rocked me in the cradle of dreams... ...At the threshold, mother always embraces me, When life begins, you are always waiting for me... We understand that over a 50-year road, mistakes may also have been made, but the aims have always been good. The Party emerged from this people, created by its sons, to keep it standing and take the country further forward. MARINELA SOTA LINDITA LUZI «Jani Nushi» school, Lushnje

I am an unaffiliated intellectual; I belong to no political party. The times we are living through, with their intensity, prompt me to speak about what I feel and think. I have taken the title from Bardhyl Londo’s latest poems to express my concern—and not only mine—about the manner in which opinions are expressed, debate, dialogue, their ethics, and so on. Precisely in these heated times, I would call the calm and clear mind the people, while I would call delirious passions—when one talks more and does not know what one wants, when one’s head steams from the tension of «democracy»—the crowd. I am convinced that the clear-minded people, despite their great troubles, will know how to find their bearings at this historic turning point, so as not to be deceived either by fine words or by the traps of malicious comments and words at home and abroad. They will know how to look the truth in the eye; they will know how to weigh the 46-year history, with its good and bad, in order to enter Europe without guilt complexes toward one another, without labels and resentment that would do nothing but obstruct the joint efforts of the whole people to build a modern Albania. GURI BIÇAKU Tiranë

Who are these writers, these «saviours» of the nation, who have apparently been repressed until now, and who give interviews on various radio stations about their great concern for the people and their desire to save them from «evil»? Who are these «writers», these «saviours» of the nation, who have apparently been repressed until now, and who give interviews on various radio stations about their great concern for the people and their desire to save them from «evil»? What are they doing—trying to democratize every aspect of life in the country, or sowing the bitter seeds of division, confusion, insecurity, demobilization, repression, fear, revenge, greed, and reconciliation with the ideas of the enemies of the Albanian nation? I wrote these lines leader, Comrade

Democracy in Albania is the work of the Party of Labour. We all know this. We will all accept it. We will all rejoice in it. But how? You hear a dizzying barrage of talk and slogans everywhere. Indeed, things are written to the point that work is abandoned altogether. Could it perhaps come and establish itself on its own, from foreigners? If we think this way, we have gone badly astray. We must not build walls; we must tend to the country. But first there must be a distancing, beginning with our own conscience and our most basic actions. The incapable, the slogan-mongers, the «baxhanë» must urgently leave their posts, whether they want to or not. They should be replaced by the educated person, who is not lacking among us—the scientist, the patriot, the humanist. We must not scorn our past, because then we deny our development and call democracy into question. The people have observed

— From a conversation with Vilson Ahmeti, Secretary General at the Ministry of the Food Industry — Question: Cooperation with foreign countries is a field of great interest to our country’s economy. What concrete achievements have there been so far? Answer: The “curiosity” to work with the outside world on their own has brought enterprise managers into the field. Directly or through cross-border trade, they have concluded their first contracts and seen the fruits of their efforts in the foreign currency they have secured through the bank or in the goods they have obtained directly through trade exchange. This is what Duhan Cigaria in Shkodër, the food enterprises in Pogradec, Kukës, Elbasan, Sarandë, Korçë and Lezhë, NGP Mirditë, the canning enterprises in Durrës, Kavajë and Vlorë, and the oil-and-beverage enterprise in Shkodër, among others, have done. Question: Will every enterprise be able to handle these matters itself? I have in mind not only drawing up its foreign-currency balance, but also dealing directly with foreign firms. Answer: For now, I think it would be difficult for them to work directly with the firms on their own, since they might spend more than they earn. Today, they sell their goods through the foreign-trade enterprises Agroeksport, while cross-border trade and their own direct contacts have helped with transactions involving the small quantities they have sold. A fair question arises: what is the point of a foreign-currency balance for an enterprise when its plan is with Agroeksport, which in turn buys its goods, separating it from the sale price and the foreign-currency proceeds? I believe we should not hesitate to let each enterprise have its own foreign-currency account at the bank, so that the producing enterprise itself owns the foreign currency it earns. To export and

Every day we are experiencing rapid developments, which delight young and old alike. Yet, along this extraordinary path, “thorns” also appear—those that want to trip us up, that want to divide our forward march. Rumors are among them. Sometimes they are presented as true events, sometimes as reliable information. We hear them here and there, in the streets and in cafés, even in family conversations. We have picked out one of them to examine its substance, its truthfulness, its purpose... Word has been going around Shkodër these days that “Tirana is in an uproar.” Communists, by the dozen—or perhaps by the day—are handing in their party cards and leaving the Party of Labour.” “And what are you doing here?” some Shkodran communist is asked by colleagues, comrades who share his passion, in an effort to create tension and uncertainty. It is understandable that communists, as well as ordinary, honest people, might believe them. Such rumors may have hastened matters: the ranks of the Party of Labour have grown considerably. In two months, 154 people were admitted, while another 200 have applied. The figures are once again on the positive side. This is not the place to dwell on the numbers, but we want to tell the gentlemen spreading disinformation—the ones who say that the communists of Tirana and their organization are finished—that their ranks are growing, not shrinking. Often, to make rumors seem credible, their inventors find some example. “So-and-so left... and didn’t hand in his party card?” they say. But at the Party Committee of the Tirana district, where we learned the number of members admitted to the Party over these two months, we also learned that only 5 people have handed in their party cards. And five people are not dozens or hundreds, as people would have you believe. There is no “uproar” over five people, as the authors of these malicious fabrications would like. Truth has wings to spread, but, on the other hand, rumors have a short life, like butterflies that are born and die within 24 hours. There is another reason why nobody should believe these rumors. Communists work in every sector of life. Tirana has communists from ’41, people who did not see the war only in films, but saw it with their own eyes, and had it etched into their bodies and souls, into their convictions. Tirana has communists who spent decades of their lives facing the hardships of the fronts of the country’s construction. Others have gone through many trials and hardships, and have earned a respected name in the community through work and living alongside others. How could they easily leave their Party? Well, that is what those who have always been cut off from contributing to society and from difficult work imagine. That is why they cannot know true communists. And they cannot help slandering them, as they have done in this case. The truth is that in Tirana, since this December, the authors of these malicious fabrications would like. FRANO CAKA

The processes that have begun have not only been set on the right track, but will also be carried through, because broad masses have joined them—and are even at their forefront. But I do not know what some people are, what they represent, or where they want to get to when they endlessly harp on bureaucracy (and rightly so), while not uttering a single critical word about laxity, which is no less dangerous to the present and future of democracy. Someone has even “found” the exact number of bureaucrats, while movements, lack of discipline, and so on—things that today are nearly paralyzing production—are spoken of in sweet, indulgent words, as if they were a baby not yet able to stand. I do not want to wrong anyone, but it would be appropriate for other qualified forces, as well as journalists, to engage more and better with the concerns of our time (by which I mean society’s real concerns in every field), so that they can both build ties with the people and understand ... the wave of unity, the preservation of calm, and productive work. Objectively, we are called upon to reflect, individually and collectively, for progress. We are living through times when we must also reflect on those who cultivate and sow confusion in our democratic era, and make claims about issues that have not been clarified among the people. The circumstances require us to strengthen unity, preserve calm, and work productively. not been clarified among the people. Someone says that anger is one’s own worst enemy, and they are right. But what can you say about someone else who considers everything that has been done to be wrong, even the creation of the country’s hydroelectric system? That person is entirely wrong, and, above all, this stokes anger. That is why, in many circles, the view has taken hold that some are acting deceitfully toward democracy and progress. This includes not only bureaucrats. FILDAN DRAKO Malia, Korçë

In the village of Shqefën, in the Shëllir agricultural cooperative in the district of Mat, which falls within electoral zone no. 151, the candidates for the People’s Assembly were announced that day. The residents of the village had gathered in its center, with everyone in attendance. After the candidates had been introduced one by one, Beqir Mecuku, a resident of the village, took the floor. Among other things, he said in his remarks: “I support the candidate put forward by PPSH, Petrit Çuka, a former deputy for this constituency. As always,” Beqiri said, “I will cast my vote for the Party of Labour, because thanks to it our country has undergone many transformations in a very short time. How do I remember my village, and what is it like today?” Beqiri asked. “We had nothing, whereas today we have a primary school, a nursery, a kindergarten, a cultural center, a trading outlet, a tailor’s shop, and so on. The village’s standard of living has improved; every home now has the necessary furnishings, such as a radio-television, a sideboard, sofas, and so on. Thanks to PPSH, we have also embarked on the path of democratizing life in the country. Aren’t all these achievements to the credit of PPSH?” FERIT METUKU

We are in an era in which seriousness, maturity, and wisdom are required of everyone, in every field. More than ever, this is a time when everyone’s conscience calls for concrete efforts through work, for the progress of our people and our country. In this era, the homeland calls on us to take responsibility for it, so that these words do not remain merely in the pure blood of the best sons and daughters of this people; let us safeguard them with a stronger unity than ever, for true democracy. To ask everyone to do something, or to tell them to ... is like watching dreams with your eyes open in broad daylight. NASIP DRAÇI Berat