We discuss the ALP electoral program — Solutions must be sought by correcting our conceptions of the responsibilities involved in organizing production, and by developing all forms of cooperation simultaneously. — An acute problem in the profound and comprehensive reform of the economic life of our society is agricultural cooperativism. Without wishing to dwell on or polemicize against the views recently expressed by specialists or amateurs in this field, I too will offer some judgments arising from my professional convictions. Sixty-five percent of the country’s population lives in the countryside. Cooperatives use more than 3/4 percent of the agricultural land and, together with cooperative members’ household plots, account for over 70 percent of total agricultural production. Significant economic and social transformations have led to substantial increases in production yields; nor can the achievements in transforming ways and standards of life be ignored—in education, electrification, telephone access, expansion of the road network, health services, etc. However prosaic these may seem because we all know them, we are obliged to mention them, since they neither existed before nor came down from heaven. One result of agricultural development is that most of the people’s food requirements are now supplied domestically, as are industry’s needs for domestic agricultural raw materials. Cooperative agriculture has made an important contribution to agricultural exports. These achievements, publicized by our propaganda for years, cannot conceal the not inconsiderable problems and concerns that have received little attention. These include unsatisfactory growth rates in total agricultural production over the last decade and, in certain years, an absolute decline in this indicator; production costs rising faster than output and income; and slow growth in income per capita, per worker and per workday, etc. This economic situation has also been accompanied by the departure of workers, particularly from hilly and mountainous areas, and their settlement on the outskirts of large cities and industrial centers. There has also been an increasingly evident decline in interest in cooperative work, an situation in the countryside has considerably affected the ability to meet domestic-market demand for essential food products. In the plains, in the areas prioritized for intensification, and in some high-type cooperatives elsewhere, the situation is better; nevertheless, they represent a comparatively small share of the country’s cooperatives and of the production obtained from them. In our view, cooperative agriculture is characterized by a large share of manual labor and an inadequate technical and technological level. The social development of the countryside lacks sufficient material support, and its working-age population exceeds the needs of production in its own territory. What might be the causes of this situation? I believe they should be sought in several aspects of the agrarian economic policy that has been pursued. First, I would point out that the policy of “ownership homogenization”—that is, the policy of hastening the unification of ownership toward state ownership, as well as the relatively rapid, premature and wholesale conversion of the entire individual economy into cooperative ownership—could not but have adverse consequences in other respects. For a long time, the notion was fostered that the highest forms of socialized ownership could quickly solve all the social problems of society. I believe this is where the tendency to imitate ownership by the whole people in every branch and sector of the economy originated. It is also a fact that the convergence of group ownership with ownership by the whole people often did not result from a logical accumulation of the necessary technical and economic preconditions, but became an end in itself. Under conditions of limited productive capacity, a direct consequence of the steps mentioned above, I believe, was also insufficient interest in work in the cooperative, in production and common property, and its low economic efficiency. The centralization in the budget of a significant portion of the income generated by cooperatives for supervisory needs, while purchasing agricultural and livestock products at low prices—often even at cost—led to a narrowing of their internal resources for expanded reproduction. The consequences of this financial policy would have been less severe if agricultural economies had been allowed freedom over their crop structure, production development, distribution, etc. The solutions adopted to accelerate the development of hilly and mountainous areas—such as budget financing, increased and expanded long-term credit, etc.—were also not very effective, since they encouraged expectations that all problems would be solved by the state more than they encouraged increased production and income in these cooperatives. In a way, they reinforced—without results—the impact of low prices, which did not ensure the necessary profitability or caused considerable losses on many products. In mountainous areas, I believe a more carefully studied policy could and should have been implemented, based on opening up new land. Despite the good intention of increasing the country’s productive capacity, the campaign undertaken and the earlier declaration of an all-out effort to open up new land should have been carefully weighed, as should the structural changes it would entail and its effects on livestock, etc. Above all, a limit should have been set beyond which opening up new land would be considered economically unprofitable. Much has been said about the collectivization of livestock. I would like to point out that, as a result of restrictions on the number of head permitted in cooperative members’ household plots, the situation was never known accurately. Apparently, the household plots held considerably more livestock than was reported in official statistics. Therefore, the economic effects of this measure were truly burdensome. Many may seek these causes in detail in the very essence of the cooperative system. I do not think so. Cooperativism as an economic system is very old, older than socialism itself. Nor is it inherently unproductive. It has proven itself, and continues to prove itself, in developed and underdeveloped countries, near and far. If there is a low level of development in various areas of our country, this should be attributed to the economic policy being pursued. And economic policy can be corrected, provided that as few experiments as possible are conducted and good experience is drawn upon wherever it may be found. Society (the state), in the profound reform now being undertaken, must change its relations with agricultural cooperatives. We believe these relations should be made simpler and more straightforward— (Continued on page 2) ZEF PREÇI

Where there is discipline, there are results DURRËS While in some work collectives a slackening of work is evident, attributed solely to a lack of raw materials, without considering other aspects such as better work organization, stronger discipline, full use of internal reserves, and the fullest possible securing of supply sources, we find these and other concrete measures being implemented increasingly well in several other enterprises in the district. They too face no small difficulties. But today, more than ever, the times demand that we confront these difficulties directly rather than retreat, complain and do nothing but complain. If you act that way, you create slackness even where there are opportunities to meet the plan. The Agricultural Mechanical Plant is a powerful enterprise that depends heavily on imports for many materials. Having properly grasped the situation and monitored it hour by hour and day by day, the entire workforce overcame the difficulties and secured the necessary materials; work during January produced positive results. The production plan at UMB was fulfilled at 101 percent. The workforce of the fishing enterprise is working with unprecedented perseverance. Everything can be achieved through work, not words or lamentations—that is the workforce’s conviction. But does it have everything it needs? Are the fishermen free of shortages? They have shortages, and many of them. They are right to ask for what they need. But by living with the situation, understanding it correctly and trusting that the problems will be resolved gradually, in January they to resolve some shortages of basic supply of raw ma- (Continued on page 2)

PËRMET January’s figures reflect the good work of Përmet’s workers. Across the district, the target for goods sold was fulfilled at 117 percent, exceeding it by 800,000 lekë. This overfulfillment resulted not only from achieving 101 percent of industrial production, but also from the production stock available at the beginning of the month. Production of export goods, construction and land-reclamation work, mechanized work, municipal services, and the production and delivery of milk, eggs and vegetables all significantly exceeded their targets. These overfulfillments have also ensured stable supplies to the market. Only the freight fleet failed to meet its January plan, creating a deficit of 6,000 tons of freight. This has also affected the distribution of goods, as in the case of the NPD, which fulfilled its target for goods sold at 81 percent; shortages of timber transport have also created difficulties in supplying citizens. February is also proceeding normally. There have been some shortages, but workers, aware of the situation they are going through, have insisted that their justified demands be met by the administration while fulfilling production targets. Thus, at the NPN, where a disagreement arose between the workers and the administration, the district People’s Council executive committee intervened to resolve it. After analyzing the problem and establishing the administration’s responsibility, the director, the head of the planning department and several other staff members who did not meet the requirements of the new economic mechanism were dismissed. PËRPARIM MUSTAFAJ

On February 5, 1991, the Agreement on the Exchange of Goods for 1991 was signed in Cairo between the Ministry of Foreign Trade of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania and the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade of the Arab Republic of Egypt. The agreement was signed on behalf of the Albanian side by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, Kostandin Ho-xha, and on behalf of the Egyptian side by the Deputy Minister for Economy and Foreign Trade, Dr. Adel Shukri. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania to the Arab Republic of Egypt, Alikyz Ce-rga, and members of both delegations also attended the signing ceremony. Under the agreement, our country will export tobacco, ferrochrome, tomato paste and other goods, and will import phosphate rock, rice, various synthetic fibers, textiles and other goods. The delegation was received at a separate meeting by the Minister of Economic Cooperation, Dr. Moris Makramalia, and by the Minister of Industry, Dr. Mohamed El Wahab. During its stay in Egypt, the delegation held talks with the Egyptian side on further expanding relations of mutual interest. (ATSH)

Stability in egg production KORÇË In an interview he gave to the television newspaper on the evening of February 5, the Minister of Internal Trade, Pajtim Ajazi, expressed more or less the following view: the better the districts meet their obligations to supply the population (he had mentioned milk, vegetables, eggs), the easier it is for the government to shoulder the burden of supplying important food products, a large share of which are imported. The explanation is simple: a shortage of one product increases demand for another food product. To examine the district’s annual contribution, we took an interest in egg production at the poultry-farming enterprise in Korçë. Today this enterprise has entered its 11th year. From 2.5 million eggs produced in its early years, it now has a capacity of 16 million eggs a year. Last year the enterprise ensured a steady supply of eggs to the market, also delivering a quantity outside the district. In January, 1 million 165 thousand eggs were produced, against a target of 1 million 85 thousand. Production targets have also been met well in these first days of February. Each day, an average total of 39 thousand eggs is supplied to the city market and institutions. At present, the managers send 30 thousand eggs to the market, or 4 thousand more eggs per day than the average sent last year, when eggs could be seen on the counters of the shops almost all day. But, one buyer might say, yesterday I went around the shops and couldn’t find any eggs. That happens too. The shortfall is due to the way they are distributed, not to a drop in production or to eggs no longer being delivered. Will this trend be maintained in February and thereafter? The possibilities are there, says the enterprise director, Irakli Fritri. He says that attention has been paid to the disciplined application of technologies and to maintaining the health of the hens throughout the complex. In addition, the progress of egg production depends on securing feed supplies. Thanks to the measures taken by the Government, we have not experienced shortages of protein-rich feed, such as soybean meal, fishmeal, etc. KOSTAQ DUKA

A moment at work in the economic data-processing center in Gjirokastër. (Photo: N. Xhufka)

VIENNA? [?] TIRANA

TELEGRAM COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA, FIRST SECRETARY OF THE CC OF THE ALP TO COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA FIRST SECRETARY OF THE CC OF THE ALP TIRANA At a broad meeting of the cooperative members of Upper Koplik, we condemn the flagrant provocations displayed at the Democratic Party rally in Bajzë and by individuals who evoked Llesh Marashi and others as democrats, bandit chiefs and fascist criminals. They were murderers of the people’s sons, alongside the Gestapo, and organizers of counter-revolutionary actions in Bajzë and Koplik to overthrow the people’s power in January 1945, killing Jonuz Nace and Myftar Skolo and wounding other guardians of public order and peace. Expressing our support for the ALP as the leading political force of our people in the National Liberation War and as the organizing and inspiring force behind the victories of socialist construction, we are a group steadfastly committed to the path of democratization, and we ask the Democratic Party to distance itself immediately from these elements and to state its programmatic demands more clearly. We also consider its demands for the dismantling of agricultural cooperatives unjust, because our peasantry, through cooperative organization, has embarked on the path to securing prospects for a prosperous and cultured life. We wish you, First Secretary of the ALP and Chairman of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, success in your political and noble activity to strengthen national unity and to lead our people toward the best and fastest solutions to their economic, political and social problems. FROM THE EXPANDED MEETING OF THE PEOPLE OF UPPER KOPLIK, SHKODËR 6. 2. 1991

TELEGRAM COMRADE RAMIZ ALIA, FIRST SECRETARY OF THE CC OF THE ALP OF THE ALP TIRANA Dear Comrade Ramiz. We, the people of the Vëndreshtë e Vogël agricultural cooperative in the Skrapar district, are living through the circumstances our country is experiencing in the process of democratizing all aspects of life. On this occasion, we express our solidarity with the measures being taken and implemented by the Labour Party under your leadership. Some television programs and articles in the press about dismantling cooperatives worry us immensely. Those who prescribe such solutions to these problems do not know the reality of the village. We stand in solidarity with your reply addressed to the cooperative members of Kuç in our district. We want television programs and the press to discuss ways of strengthening the cooperative and its composition. We are deeply indignant with all those who blacken reality and smear the image of Enver Hoxha. We invite them not to give interviews to foreign radio stations, but to express their views on our affairs and lives in our radio and television programs and in the pages of the press, in open and comradely dialogue. THE PEOPLE OF THE VËNDRESHTË E VOGËL AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVE, SKRAPAR 6. 2. 1991 [Text continues from another article:] radio cooperative, the increase in thefts, damage, etc. Under these circumstances, the economic situation in the village has had a considerable effect on meeting the domestic market’s demand for essential food products. Understanding the situation correctly and also having confidence that the problems will be resolved gradually, [the workers] in January increased their mobilization and fulfilled the plan at 138 percent. A very good start to the year. Well done! For its part, the ministry should respond better and more quickly to resolve some shortages of material supplies at this enterprise. In Rrogozhinë, the oil-and-soap enterprise stands out. It fulfilled its January targets at 130 percent. But its distribution must be improved as much as possible, organized, with transport, concentrated deliveries and the best and most ample supply of raw ma- (Continued on page 2) (Continued on page 2) ZEF PREÇI

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