Recently, there have been several work stoppages by collectives in various branches of the economy... Recently, there have been several work stoppages by collectives in various branches of the economy, accompanied by economic demands, particularly concerning working conditions and the treatment and welfare of employees. In any case, even if the state may not currently have the economic means to meet some of these demands, in most cases they are reasonable, and sometimes they have been overdue for some time. It is the workers’ right—a right supported by the Party of Labour—to put forward their demands and seek to have them met in accordance with the state’s economic resources. More than once, even in the past, the basic organizations of the Party of Labour have insisted on resolving workers’ legitimate demands. All the more so today, under conditions of political pluralism, when political forces are trying to bring collectives raising legitimate demands against state and economic bodies under their influence: the organizations of the Party of Labour have a duty to stand among the workers, support them forcefully, and ask the relevant bodies to meet demands that can be met. Otherwise, we leave room for manipulation and speculation. But even when workers’ demands cannot be met, Party organizations should not simply distance themselves from them. On the contrary, they should explain the situation to the collectives, always in opposition to state and economic bureaucracy. Naturally, there are different ways and means of meeting demands, and the solutions must not harm society, the economy, or the workers themselves. In an economy like ours, with great difficulties and widespread shortages, work stoppages are paralyzing and have serious consequences. Let us recall that the work stoppage in the Batres and Krashtë mines alone cost 750,000 dollars—which would have been enough not just for the 11 buses given to them, but for 20–30 such buses. We would like workers’ demands to be made known and fulfilled without such work stoppages. This is in the hands of the workers’ collectives, their trade unions, and political parties, but no less in the hands of economic and state bodies. Indeed, these latter bodies bear even greater responsibility. Why? We do not want to revisit past problems, but with bureaucratic attitudes, as well as work stoppages, [text continues beyond the edge of the photo] [Next column] a movement is felt, while everything was still being viewed as before, from offices. The rigid attitudes of managers, detached from workers’ hardships and concerns, who pass every demand “upward” and expect everything to come back from there, are the “seeds” for “sowing” strikes and work stoppages. There are also problems that can and should be resolved from above. Workers want to know, for example, what is happening with the study on wages and prices. The government is responsible for ensuring that the relevant commission completes the study quickly, and it should also report how far the work has progressed. This is an issue that concerns everyone; if people are not informed, rumors take hold. In many branches, work is stopped because of a lack of imported raw materials; the need for them is great. Foreign-currency resources to obtain them are lacking. The government and ministries can and should do more. Foreign capital cannot come in when we so often put bureaucratic obstacles in its way, with one link obstructing another. Let us take the difficulties foreign businesspeople cause us as a lesson. Shouldn’t ministries respond better to the demands of workers in their branches? Ministry specialists have indeed visited, for example, the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy specialists in Bater and Krastë, but how do they talk with the workers? If they said, “This can’t be done because there are no funds, but your demands are justified,” then you would have sown a strike. The point is not to “appease” the workers. Such approaches are even more bureaucratic than the previous ones: mere insistence. The point is to have a calm discussion with workers about what possibilities might be found to meet their demands, and to involve them in generating foreign-currency funds and carrying out the tasks. The Ministry of Domestic Trade bears even greater responsibility for workers’ living and treatment conditions; its oversight and assistance to the NFPs are inadequate. The issue is not that workers were poorly served for one day, but that there are old and new shortcomings, extending as far as abuses in workers’ food and treatment. The law need not even speak to such conduct; it has everyone’s support. We have often pointed out that the enterprise is the basic cell of the economy. Production takes place here, but with the new powers enterprises have within the framework of the economic reform we are implementing, solutions to social problems also begin here. In almost all cases of strikes, the bureaucratic attitude of enterprise administrations and managers’ indifference to resolving even problems that could be resolved have become apparent. It is true that in quite a few cases these bureaucrats have caused workers’ strikes, but this has brought hardship, lost production, and lost income. Shouldn’t those who cause these consequences also be held legally responsible? Administrators, do not play with the workers’ feelings and toil! Live with their hardships! This is the appeal of the times, an appeal to which everyone must respond. MEHDI KOXHAJ which everyone must respond. J... ... as many as 30 of them. met without such interruptions to work. This is in the hands of less so in the hands of economic and state institutions. Indeed, it is even more in the hands of the latter. Why? We do not want to delve into the problems of the past, but bureaucratic attitudes and a one-sided approach to issues of production and working and living conditions have led to the accumulation of many grievances. Not infrequently, the enterprise director—even in the mines—and officials in the districts, right up to the ministries, have insisted on fulfilling production targets, and rightly so, but when it came to working conditions, they thought only of themselves. Their offices, which have sometimes taken up more floor space than a dormitory for miners or sawmill workers, are a reflection of this “concern.” It is understandable that the accumulated problems concerning working and living conditions, remuneration, and ensuring continuity of production cannot be solved in a day, or even in a month or a quarter. Anyone who thinks otherwise is unrealistic. But workers are concerned, and rightly raise their voices, when they do not

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THE DRAFT PROGRAM OF THE ALBANIAN PARTY OF LABOUR IN A DEMOCRATIC SPIRIT AND IN KEEPING WITH CONTEMPORARY DEMANDS Rapid renewal strengthens confidence - ELBASAN - “The Party’s draft program is not only restructured, but also contemporary. A critical look at the past and a commitment to the national democratic ideal, the protection of people’s democratic freedoms and rights, and integration into European processes without prejudice are stronger guarantees that, alongside cooperation with the country’s other political forces, a modern society can be built.” This assessment was highlighted in one of the reports received from meetings of the Party’s basic organizations in the Elbasan district. But a review of some of these reports brings to attention the commitment to finding ways to overcome the crisis of confidence that has emerged among some Party members and some of its sympathizers. Various opinions are offered on this, with reference to the draft program, while additions are also proposed for inclusion in it or in the draft statute. The view is expressed that decisions should be initiated by the grassroots—that is, by the Party organizations—and not dictated from above, as has often been done in past practice. This is what the psychology of “I” looks like: issuing only orders and instructions that cannot be questioned or discussed and must be obeyed without fail. Setting aside this practice will bring a renewed release of the energy and thought of Party members. SEDIN ÇEKANI

- TROPOJË - As opinions are sought on the program of the Albanian Party of Labour among its members in the Tropojë district, there is clear full approval, as well as a demand for it to be implemented as quickly as possible. There is a steady stream of communists and people elected to the leading bodies of the district’s Albanian Party of Labour entering and leaving the office of Hysni Osmani, the Party’s first secretary in the district. What is concerning so many people? The opportunity to discuss and contribute opinions, and to consult one another on how the draft program can be improved further. Members of the Party of Labour at the SMT have one concern: the program is comprehensive, but its implementation need not wait for the conference, since many measures set out in the draft program have already begun to be implemented. But there are often hesitations and delays in implementing them, and all the renewal the Party of Labour has undertaken over the past year, so well expressed in the draft program, seems to fade as a result of the delays often seen, especially in the economic sphere. What happens then? It seems as though someone, some other force, is driving the changes, as if the Party were being forced to make these “concessions”; whereas the truth is that it is the Party itself that is guiding the necessary changes, adapted to democratic circumstances. Many members of the Party of Labour in the village of Selimaj approve of the Party program, considering its implementation essential—as the surest path to the country’s progress and to the comprehensive democratization of life, carried out in practice as the people want. There is, however, also an occasional criticism, especially concerning the further expansion of the powers of the Party’s basic organization, not only in admitting members but also in imposing disciplinary measures. A- ... the chairman of the Party of Labour; those whose actions appear to warrant it should be removed from its ranks and openly exposed for having undermined the Party’s ties with the masses. The people have expected, and continue to expect, above all, concrete action from members of the PPSH to change things and to fight bureaucracy. This work must be overcome, because today bureaucracy is the most dangerous potential enemy of all democratization, and it seeks to shelter under the umbrella of the Party of Labour. HAILL BUÇPAPAJ

- KORÇË - What is my position, my attitude? What vision does the draft program give me? What must I cast off within myself, and what views should I embrace for today and tomorrow so that I can act in a concrete, realistic way and be credible to the masses, in striving to meet their aspirations for democracy, progress, and social well-being, while emerging from the crisis gripping the country? These are the themes of ... [text continues beyond the edge of the photo] ... J... these issues of the day, the main topic of conversation among members of the Party of Labour and its supporters. The draft programme and draft statute are documents which, in what they set out, constitute the prelude to that historic turning point in the life of the Party of Labour and its transformation, which will undoubtedly be definitively sealed by the congress to be held. Here, let us bring you details of a conversation we had with Agim Shani..., head of the light and food industry section at the executive committee of the district KP, who had just also been elected secretary of the basic organization ...

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania, Muha…met Kapllani, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic, Antonis Samaras, exchanged congratulatory messages on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. In his message, Samaras, says that since 1971 bilateral relations have followed a steady upward course, while over the past three years the improvement in the political climate in the Balkans has been based primarily on Greece and Albania. At this transitional stage, the contribution of Athens and of… (Continued on page 4)

Fatos Nano, appointed by the President of the Republic of Albania, Ramiz Alia, as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, yesterday received, in separate meetings at the headquarters of the Council of Ministers, representatives of the Party of Labour, the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the National Unity Party, the Ecological Party, the Agrarian Party, and the Social Democratic Party. At these meetings, the prime minister briefed them on the country’s grave economic situation and the main points of the government program platform that will be submitted to the People’s Assembly for approval, and exchanged views on ways to emerge from this situation. He stressed that the country needs a government founded on the spirit of national unity. The good of the homeland requires this to be put into practice through cooperation among all parties, including the participation in government of their experts from every field. The representatives of the political parties gave their views and assessments of the country’s economic and social situation and made suggestions regarding the work of the new government, as a government of experts free of party prejudice, in order to find the most effective ways to stabilize the situation and open up an optimistic future. The representatives of the Party of Labour expressed their readiness to form a governing coalition with the other parties, seeing this as a guarantee of unity and social peace. The representatives of the Democratic Party emphasized that their party would take part in all parliamentary life and in the committees to be established by parliament. “We have no doubt that the prime minister’s invitation for the Democratic Party to join a governing coalition is free of prejudice. Our rejection of this offer is also free of prejudice, but we believe that our position as an opposition party outside the government is a historical necessity,” they said. The representatives of the Republican Party underscored the need for experts from all parties, as well as non-party experts, to cooperate with the government, but expressed opposition to the idea of a coalition government, explaining this position by the fact that their party has no seats in the assembly. The representative of the National Unity Party, after noting that his party did not yet have experts capable of participating in the government, spoke in favor of the participation of other parties in the government. The representatives of the Agrarian Party stressed the need for well-considered solutions to ownership issues in the countryside, which would prevent the furtive restoration of the old boundaries of private plots, without underestimating the need for, and managerial role of, cooperatives conceived and reorganized as production and trading organizations under a market economy. The representative of the Ecological Party was of the opinion that the country needs a coalition government to serve the national interest. The representative of the Social Democratic Party said that a coalition government comprising all the parties that would have a place in a pluralist parliament would truly be in the country’s best interest. (ATSH) ... in a coalition in National Unity Party, after pointing out that his party still had no experts within its ranks capable of taking part in government, expressed support for reducing the participation of other parties in government. solutions to property issues in the countryside, so as to prevent the surreptitious return of the old boundaries of private yards, without underestimating the need for, and the administrative role of, cooperatives conceived and reformed as production and trading organizations under market-economy conditions. that the country needs a coalition government in the interests of the nation. The representative of the Social Democratic Party said that it would truly be in the country’s interest to have a coalition government comprising all parties that would have representation in a pluralist parliament. (ATSH)

Yesterday, the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, Aleks Luarasi, received a group of representatives of the union council of the northern and southern mines of Bulqiza, who briefed him on the demands they had submitted a few days earlier on behalf of the miners at these mines. The Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy, Drini Mezini, also attended the meeting. The miners’ demands concerning working conditions, adjustments to the wage system, transport, housing, living conditions, health services, employment, etc., were deemed legitimate. As Minister Drini Mezini informed them, instructions were given for those within the competence of the relevant department to be resolved immediately, while it was agreed, and the government undertook, to organize an interministerial meeting concerning the others, in order to set them on the path to resolution as soon as possible. The miners’ representatives insisted that these reasonable demands be addressed precisely, emphasizing that they are fully aware of the difficult economic conditions our country is going through. At the same time, they criticized the traders and the organs of state power that

Addressed to the President of the Republic, Ramiz Alia Dear Mr. President, On the occasion of your election as President of the Republic of Albania, I send you my congratulations. Greece is absolutely certain that during your presidency the positive course of your country toward democratization will be successfully pursued, to the benefit of the friendly people of Albania. Mr. President, Greece has always eagerly looked forward to the further development of relations between our two countries in every field. This is essential for the lasting coexistence of the two nations and for the prosperity of the Greek communities in Albania, for whom I express... Please accept, Mr. President, my wishes for success in carrying out your duties for the benefit of your country. KONSTANTIN MICOTAQIS Prime Minister of Greece To Comrade Ramiz Alia President of the Republic of Albania Tirana I extend my heartfelt wishes and warm greetings to you Republic of Albania. I wish Albania prosperity and the people happiness. YANG SHANGKUN Chairman of the People’s Republic of China