The winter of this year has a right to enter history. But how it will enter it is still uncertain. We are at a crossroads: we all long for and call for spring, but some, through their actions and conduct, seem to be pushing it further away rather than bringing it closer. Indeed, no Albanian wants the destabilization and ruin of the country (except for external and internal forces whose aims, amid fog and chaos, would be served by the principle of the wolf). For decades Albania developed in an atmosphere of peace and stability. It is the historic merit of the Party of Labour that it managed to keep the Albanian people united around its program. By saying this, I do not at all wish to deny the establishment of political pluralism, or the emergence of other political forces and parties, which, with their programs and paths, have entered into competition with the Party of Labour to establish democracy and rapidly advance the country. We have suffered from the lack of opposition and of debate over the different paths for the country’s progress. Now we have them. Let this serve us to build faster and better, along the most effective path, according to the mandate the people will give. But one thing is clear: without unity as a people and as a nation, it will be difficult to move forward. Political parties are a relatively new phenomenon in Albania; Albania and its people are much older. However large a party may be, it cannot encompass the whole people in ... ... achievement, by their own will, the representatives of the political parties before the president a few days ago, for the stopping of strikes and rallies; and the next day someone from the Democratic Party calls for an agreement and calls it an “honor” that one party does for the Party of Labour, which is in power. The question rightly arises: whose honor is this, then, and in whose interests was the agreement reached? A newly created party so quickly managed to do the country an “honor.” Before loving the Party whose representatives we are, we love Albania more and, above all, Albania. We must not let our minds and reason be swept away so that we do the opposite. Otherwise, pity the minds we have. Political parties, hungry for power, especially those that have not yet tasted it, instead of helping Albania may put its eyes out. For when the fever for office and power takes hold, the eyes are the first to be blinded. While contributing to democracy, let us not also contribute to the destabilization of the country—that is, to its consequences, which will certainly be catastrophe and dictatorship. One of the fundamental factors that keeps the people united is also their love and respect for their country and its history, especially for the protagonists of our national history. We are pleased to see that some figures from our national history and culture, forgotten or not appreciated as they should have been, are emerging into sharper relief. This is a merit of the democratic times that are ... Such a perspective is at the same time an awakening of the feelings of generations of an entire people. At rallies and conferences, the slogan “We want Albania like all of Europe” is being loudly promoted. We have loved and love the world, and Europe even more, since we are part of it. We defended European civilization with our blood. But how much has Europe loved us, and how has it loved us? Let us read and learn history before, from rally platforms, we portray today’s Albania to the people as “hell” and Europe as “paradise.” Whom do we serve in this way? Love for the country, or the national hemorrhage that has been gnawing at us for several months? And furthermore, economic refugees are suddenly proclaimed “heroes of democracy”?! The West is praised to the skies and the East is insulted, while dangerous insinuations are made about the foreign policy pursued by the Party of Labour. But major facts are forgotten: many actions were undertaken and interests defended for reasons far beyond ideology and party politics, namely national interests. The year 1948 is forgotten, when the Party of Labour cut off the hands of the Yugoslavs who wanted to make Albania the “seventh Republic,” or the year 1960, when it gave Khrushchev and the Soviets a firm “no.” Before defending party interests, the Party of Labour upholds national interests, and that is why the people support it without hesitation. We stress this because today some people are emerging as “saviors” of the nation. National unity is not secured by slogans and rallies, by grand declarations. Albania ... will be reborn through agreement, not confrontation and division. Let us respect our historical tradition: in difficult moments, at great crossroads, together we will more easily find the way out of the present situation. Let us not forget the saying of a wise man: “When there is unity, even the small grows; when there is division, even the great falls apart.” Let the refrain of our folk song be our own: “I love Albania more.” Let the parties be a means of building Albania, not destroying it. One thing, however, nation, it will be difficult for us large a party may be, it cannot include the entire people in its membership. Under pluralism, just as the entire people should have only one mother, so too should the parties: Albania; they should have one compass—the interests of the people. In these circumstances, the various parties and political groupings can—and are on the verge of—reaching a historic agreement. Without an agreement there can be no democracy and no national unity. For the sake of the people, for the sake of Albania, narrow partisan interests and the lust for power must be sacrificed. But it seems that some signs are not so auspicious. The ink has not yet dried on the agreement that was signed and presented as a historic compromise for the unification of our national history. We are pleased to observe or insufficiently appreciated, are now emerging into relief in a fuller light. This is a merit of the democratic times in which we are living. But let us be democrats to the very end and not swing from one extreme to the other; more precisely, let us not promote some figures while pushing others aside. In this way, national culture and history do not gain but lose. But apparently partisan egoism and partisan prejudices are raising their heads here too. The Party of Labour is not in favor of myths and legends, but of a realistic and objective assessment of history. Those who portray the recent history of Albania after the Second World War as «black» are passing a colossal judgment on history and national unity.

“... Go down to Staravec and meet Lutfí Trupa. Do you know what motivates Lutfí in his work? No. ‘Albania like all of Europe too,’ he says, but ‘Let us make Albania like all of Europe.’ Not with hands and two fingers raised, but with both hands joined in work. For months now the people of Bellovë have been avoiding his gaze and taking a roundabout route. They have reason to. With heads bowed, one does not talk to another. The drought has silenced conversation in the guest room. Their harvest is not small: from 27,000 to 6,000 quintals, with nearly 21,000 quintals fewer potatoes than a year earlier. ’90 was an extremely dry year, compared with ’89, a year of satisfactory rainfall. How can one’s tongue not be tied by this economic and psychological stress? He knows all this, just as he knows the work Bellovë’s people do on the land in those entirely mountainous areas, on those plots where mechanization is almost impossible, and with that absent irrigation system which has been shown a hundred times to be highly worthwhile, but which bureaucracy continues to deny them. He knows, and that is why his heart does not urge him to take the road toward those snow-covered mountains. He knows, and so he is surprised when Gani Lami, Hero of Socialist Labour, comes up to him: ‘Come to Bellovë,’ he says, ‘come and hear how the people respond to those who want to ... — Notes — destroy the cooperative.’ There was something magnificent in the hero’s words, something to which there was no way to say no. I will go to Bellovë, to its four villages that together make up the most mountainous cooperative in the country. I say the most mountainous because, several years ago, a chairman from Lekbibaj in Tropojë told his comrades: ‘Well, here, where you plant an ear of corn and get wheat and potatoes, Bellovë—you would never think anything could be planted.’ I will go and write a report on how Bellovë overcomes drought, snow and frost; how it has clung to the mountain to take from it what it could not take the year before; how it is fighting to succeed. This is not an upbeat report. It is a report that, to borrow the words of Riza Shehu, the chairman from Peshkopi whose pension booklet was credited day by day by the ‘Old Bellovë’ cooperative for yesterday and the day before, will tell you everything. I want, after ... Some of those who, from a Tirana café, think about dismantling the mountain cooperatives should follow me. In fruit-growing there is an agronomic rule: a tree accepts only the pruner. Only he knows where to put the shears, which branch to prune and which lightly or more heavily, where the saw must go and how to smooth the wound. That is the rule for knowing where and how to use an axe. These are things the fruit-grower’s manuals clearly specify. It would not hurt some writers, poets, journalists, archaeologists... who once found some old axe and now want to destroy the orchards, to read them too. I think those who want this will find it difficult in the mountains of Dibër. In the 1960s, the largest fruit-growing blocks in the country were established here. There are no fewer than a million trees. You have seen how Dibër’s apples turn red. Their trunks cannot be cut down with an axe or with the cries of agrarian inquisitors. It is difficult to climb up to Lurë, but if you are determined to leave behind warm words, stop first at Kroj-Lurë. Ask where the tower of Zefi i Preng Rrajës is; in January he completed the year in which he turned 120. Ask his son, Gjergji ... (Continued on page 2)

— Excerpts from letters to the editorial office — We chose the symbols ourselves The pickaxe and rifle symbolize Albania’s finest sons and daughters, who shed their blood in the fire of the war against the occupiers, against the collaborators, beys and aghas, the tools of fascism; those sons and daughters of Albania who rebuilt Albania on the old ruins, those who transformed the entire people and have been commemorated for 45 years. We needed to place the pickaxe beside the rifle as a symbol, because with it we would crush people and forever destroy the old medieval obscurantism of Zog’s regime. But the pickaxe is not only a tool for destruction; it is also a tool for laying the foundations of Albania’s ... To establish these symbols took several decades, but another symbol is now appearing, one that many civilized countries of the world apparently have today: the “shovel.” I would think differently about the shovel. Do some people need it as a symbol with which to bury what has been built and created through the people’s labor and sweat over these 45 years?! PETRIT GJONI economist at the State Planning Commission Let us keep faith in people alive I am a simple teacher who has taught mathematics and physics for a quarter of a century. I am not a member of any party, nor do I intend to apply to join one now, at the age of 45. Following events, particularly those of the last few months, I wanted to share some of my thoughts. I was born after Liberation and experienced neither the war for the liberation of the homeland nor the struggle to rebuild the country; nevertheless, I still vividly remember those childhood years when we lacked even the most essential thing for life: bread. These hardships toughened me and made me value greatly what we have achieved. I do not intend to preach, but denying everything that has been achieved seems absurd to me. By this I do not mean to ... I do not deny the mistakes that have been made, the excessive politicization and the often unfounded euphoria that dominated our propaganda, but by denying everything, one thinks one is helping the homeland and the nation. No! One helps them through work: let us remove what stands in our way and keep faith alive in the progress of our people, because lamentation has never done anyone any good. We have no way of denying our respect for Mother Albania and the efforts made to raise her up. DEDE KOKA Mirditë

... destroyed, but also a tool for laying the foundations of Albania’s ... What prompted me to write this was a trip from Tirana last week. People were traveling by train toward Ballsh, sitting in the seats opposite me: people of different professions and ages. A student at the University of Tirana (mathematics department), a worker from Elbasan, and a pensioner. The discussion began calmly, but the atmosphere turned sour toward the end when the student said bluntly to the pensioner: “Uncle, how many years have you worked? How much do you have in your savings account?” And then came the unexpected, bitterest question: “Where did you have those fingers cut off, and who cut them off?” The implication was clear. “Come on, boys, what are you saying? What is wrong with you? You really have touched the wound on my body, but I got it myself, through my own carelessness at work. The Party and the government healed my wound.” From what we understood, the pensioner was a cultured man, seasoned by life, because he added: “When a scholar was asked what he had gained in this life, he replied: ‘In old age, what brings a person joy is not acquiring wealth, as some say, but being honored.’ And we are honored and content with life when we are more knowledgeable and more capable than we are today.” PERLAT ARAPI Neighborhood No. 5, Memaliaj

The Chairman of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, Comrade Ramiz Alia, sent the following congratulatory telegram to Ranasinghe Premadasa, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka: “The celebration of the anniversary of the proclamation of Sri Lanka’s independence gives me the opportunity, on behalf of the Albanian people and in my own name, to send you warm greetings and to convey to your people my best wishes for their well-being and for the continued development of their country.” (ATSH)

At the Davos conference, discussions continued on the progress of political and economic reforms in the countries of Eastern Europe and the West’s positions toward them. Representatives of various states presented their discussions on the difficulties encountered by economic reforms in their respective countries and on the need for support from Western states. Discussing this problem, Albania’s Deputy Chief Secretary of the Council of Ministers, Fatos Nano, stressed that this support should not exclude Southeastern Europe and the entire Balkans, a highly sensitive region whose economic and political stability affects the whole region and directly affects Europe’s stability. He emphasized our country’s commitment to a process of democratic reforms affecting both politics and the economy, and expressed its readiness for fruitful cooperation with Europe and the world. During these days, our country’s delegation has also held meetings with the World Bank’s Vice President, Vilfrid, P. Talwitz; Austria’s Minister of Finance, Ferdinand Lacina; the Hungarian Minister for Foreign Economic Relations, Bela Kadar; the President of the Forum, Klaus Schwabh; the President of Croatia, Franjo Tuxhman; the Vice-President of the Commission of the European Community, Leon Brittan; the Director General of GATT, Arthur Dunkel; and other prominent figures from economic and financial organizations. (ATSH)

Yesterday, a press conference was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tirana, attended by journalists from press organizations, the Albanian Telegraphic Agency and Radio Television. At the conference, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Sazan Bejo, spoke about Albania’s recent contacts and diplomatic activities in several European countries, provided information about a delegation from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that will visit Tirana in the coming days, the future establishment of an international press center in Tirana, etc. Speaking about recent developments in the Persian Gulf, among other things he stressed that the war in the Gulf carries the risk of escalation and expansion to a scale that would subsequently be difficult to control and would call into question international security itself. Albania once again stresses that the war must be brought to an end as soon as possible and the law must be upheld; therefore, we call on citizens not only not to participate in this case, but also to help the law-enforcement forces carry out their duty normally. (Continued on page 4)

After being asked about the conduct and actions of the law-enforcement forces at the rally organized by the Democratic Party in the city of Burrel on February 3, 1991, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Isuf Baça, explained that the police had taken all the necessary measures to ensure that the rally proceeded normally. After the Democratic Party rally ended, a number of irritated citizens tried to organize a counter-rally. The law-enforcement forces then intervened, in accordance with the law, to disperse the demonstrators and fully achieved their aim. No one was injured, and no citizen has come to the police to lodge a complaint. Counter-rallies of every kind are illegal, and the law-enforcement forces will intervene against their participants in order to enforce the law. We therefore call on citizens not only not to take part in such events, duty normally. (ATSH)

The «New Albania» Film Studio, as part of cultural exchanges between the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania and the Italian Republic, also organized the opening of the «Italian Film Week» event in the concert hall of the Palace of Culture in the capital. Those attending included Çapajev Gjokutaj, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Culture and the Arts; Bashkim Dino, a directorate director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and other comrades. Also present were the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Italian Republic to the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, Xhorxho De Andreis, and other embassy officials. Taking this event as an opportunity to learn more about Albanian-Italian cooperation in the field of cultural relations, our editor VIRO[N?] GJYMSHANA held the following conversation with NIKOLA FIRMANI, the cultural relations attaché for our country at the Italian Embassy in Tirana. — What does this event represent in the context of bilateral cultural relations? — It is only a small part of an activity that is continually growing. I say this because, not long ago, on January 17 of this year, a bilateral protocol on cultural relations for the three-year period 1991–1993 was signed in Rome. It provides for numerous exchanges between the two countries, such as concerts, exhibitions, cultural exchanges between young people from the two countries, and so on. — Have any concrete details been decided, such as names, dates, etc.? — Italian Film Week will be followed by the joint staging of «The Barber of Seville», which will be performed on your stages from February 19 to March 10. Our contribution will include four opera singers, the conductor, the set designer, and an artistic and theatrical consultant, who will also give an overview of world opera, Italian opera, and Rossini; the other artists will be yours. Likewise, the conductor Marcelo Abado, already well known in your country, together with two other pianists, will give a series of concerts at the end of March on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s death. The second Italian book fair and an exhibition of contemporary Italian painting will also be organized. (Continued on page 3)

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