COMMENT OF THE DAY “You get the vote, we get the world” The unions, the entire trade-union movement in the country, also face today’s reality. As is known, there are two large trade-union groupings. On one side, the confederations; on the other, BSP. Shouldn’t they also have a program for joint action? Without cooperation, the trade-union movement will have a harder time defending workers’ interests. So what is holding things up? If the two centers are an obstacle, or are hesitant, then let the two “grassroots” organizations begin cooperating. Then, of course, “Muhammad is often forced to set out on the road to the mountain.” Can Socialists join BSP? Certainly, wherever the confederations’ trade-union councils do not exist at all. They can also make a major contribution within BSP. How, specifically? you may ask. Quite simply: by putting forward a new alternative for every problem that needs a solution. Eliminating the 80 percent, as proposed in the Meksi government’s program, is one alternative. But that does not mean there is only one possibility, only one way out. If specialists in every enterprise and production unit, in every district or economic sector, put forward arguments for a new alternative—one in which workers see a more concrete and realistic defense of their interests, without obstructing implementation of economic reform—then there is no reason to hesitate to say: Here, this is the alternative defended by PSSH. If the trade-union movement embraces this alternative, then it will fight to implement it by democratic means and methods, pressing the government to adopt it. First through dialogue, understanding, patience, and without the slightest sectarian gesture; but if action is taken to the contrary, then... How about strikes?! Yes, strikes too. Because nobody takes part in them for fun or out of pleasure. Every issue that is simmering in the country today can be considered in this way. Putting forward a more effective alternative takes skill and ability. So, Socialists, make these alternatives known, and let the trade-union movement put them into action itself. Its voice will also be the voice of the PSSH parliamentary group. Its voice will be everyone’s voice. Because it is more beneficial for the nation to support one more advantageous alternative than another that has also been included in the government’s program. Does the PD government have to do what PSSH says?! many may ask. The answer would be: — Away with party pettiness and petty-bourgeois party egoism. Let what best serves the people and Albania be done. In this way, the path will also be blocked to empty, unfounded, unattainable promises, which gave rise to the aphorism: “You get the vote—we get the world.” One might also ask: “You may be right, sir—or comrade—but the leaders of our movement might ‘sabotage’ us. Then what should be done?” This could happen too, but not because of everyone. The government’s pampered favorites will be few, and they are powerless. K. KODHELI

On the occasion of the May 24 elections, the Assembly of the Republic of Albania extended its best wishes and congratulations to its brothers in the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo. The Assembly of the Republic of Albania, on the occasion of the May 24 elections, extended its best wishes and congratulations to its brothers in the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo. These elections once again manifested the wisdom, good sense, and ancient civic spirit of the Albanian people, a people who, though martyred for decades under foreign occupation, knew how to preserve their national and cultural identity and created a powerful and healthy Albanian spiritual and material culture. They demonstrated with undeniable force the people of Kosovo’s desire to determine their own fate peacefully, and once again proved the legitimacy of the Albanians’ national right, in full accordance with international documents. Through their peaceful conduct and moderation, the Albanians of Kosovo made clear to the eyes of the whole world the manliness of the weapons fired at the lives of innocent people in the Balkans by Millosheviçi and the primitive political circles of today’s Serbs. The Assembly of the Republic of Albania firmly supports the efforts and political struggle for self-determination. (Continued on page 4)

A REPLY IN THE STYLE OF “SOCIALDEMOCRAT” Since I am currently unemployed again, as I was during the first dictatorship, I decided to take part in your contest. You should have offered a prize, gentlemen Social Democrats, since even today’s government, in which you participate, is not giving us any pension, despite its grand promises. If you had given us the 550 lekë promised by five prime ministers, I would have bought 5 kg of tomatoes a month and written novels. Here are my answers, along with your questions. 1. Is the PS Congress the I, II, or XI? Answer: Since you held the X Congress together, it follows that all the parties have to begin their congresses from the beginning. 2. Is PS the PPSH? Where did PPSH go—did it disappear? Answer: Nothing disappears, gentlemen—that is what the exact sciences tell us. PPSH broke away, and 20 parties emerged from it, supposedly including the Social Democratic Party, where one of the former PPSH ministers and a PPSH parliamentary candidate, Mr. Skënder Etherm Gjinushi, is an active member, as is the Marxist-Leninist of the former opposition, Lisienko Bashkurti. Since I do not belong to any party, I answered as a persecuted intellectual. I wanted to add, gentlemen, that it is not dignified to pretend to be fools in order to deceive the people. That was my answer, and I have waived the fee for it. FREDERIK RRESHPJA

Behind the curtain “SPECTACLE” IN PARLIAMENT — EVERYONE EXCEPT THE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT KNOWS WHO WILL BE ELECTED BY A SECRET BALLOT AS DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF RTV? — We heard the expression we used as the subtitle of this article the day before yesterday, after the matter was discussed in parliament

— So far, Skënder Gjinushi and Lisien Bashkurti have been found... — There are many difficulties in finding some of the former members of the PP, due to the destruction and burning of docu- There are many difficulties in finding some of the former members of the PP, due to the destruction and burning of documentation. Some of them have also gone off to an unknown destination. It has not been confirmed, but people say that one of them has even become a president (whether a president of the republic or the president of a private company is still unclear); others, according to unconfirmed informants, hold the green cards of the mazhora[n]cës in their hands. Their documents were found very easily because they were among the youngest members of the PP and because fate decreed that they left its ranks at the very last moment. Just out of curiosity, one document in their files read: “I WILL BE FAITHFUL TO THE PARTY AND TO THE TEACHINGS OF COMRADE ENVER HOXHA UNTIL DEATH.” We will inform you of other, more detailed facts.

— APART FROM THE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT, DOES EVERYONE KNOW WHO WILL BE ELECTED BY SECRET BALLOT AS RTV’S DIRECTOR-GENERAL? — We heard this expression, which we have put as the subtitle of this article, everywhere after the new RTV governing council was discussed in Parliament. Before saying that whoever this director may be, let us recall that the former governing council of this institution was elected only a few months ago with the PD’s “këmëbëlgjulen.” Now the political situation in the country has changed, and the new council will have not 17 but 11 members. As we heard, all the former RTV executives have been removed from it, including the director-general, the heads of internal radio, the director of external radio, and the list has retained “for special contributions” only the former deputy director-general. Why this haste to change RTV’s governing council, and consequently the executives of this institution, when everyone knows what “role” depoliticized RTV played in the country’s recent political processes? Apparently, even the PD, along with its extreme, is feeling stirred up. With this change, the deep purge operation will begin here, to carry “depoliticization” through to the end, because local-government elections and so on lie ahead. But Parliament has hit a snag over the election of the new RTV council. The day before yesterday, a “spectacle” took place that showed this very clearly. Many of the majority’s MPs, that is, the PD’s, had forgotten what the law says, although they claimed to be its best-informed interpreters. Thus, instead of the chairman of the relevant committee, Mr. T. Keko, taking the floor to propose RTV’s new council on behalf of that committee, as the law requires, the proposals were made by the parliamentary groups. This was rightly called a violation. But why did Mr. T. Keko not come forward? What stopped him? He said that, as a committee, we had certain reservations, and therefore did not put forward the candidacies ourselves. About whom did he have reservations? About the candidates put forward by the Socialists and Social Democrats? No. The troubles are within the ranks of the PD. In Parliament, behind the scenes, people say that RTV’s director-general has already been decided outside Parliament, even though this body itself has that right. Indeed, it is said that instructions about this came from “the building opposite,” using on this occasion an expression by Mr. S. Berisha when the government of stability fell apart. That is why, behind the scenes, people say that RTV’s director-general could even be someone the committee does not want, and whom Parliament may not want either, but who must have been a patriot of communism, a former “head of a central press organ,” who today presents himself as persecuted and is on good terms with those up above, as always.” TELE KRONISTI

Yesterday I was especially struck by an elderly man whom I had seen several times at the Socialist Party committee. I noticed a kind of old shock in his eyes and in his face, weather-beaten by time; his hair had gone gray. We call him Pandu Teto. I asked him what he was writing. He took the opportunity to speak to me himself. “I have come to submit an application to join the Socialist Party. I have no material interest, neither for myself nor for my career. I am an employee. But in my heart I want to do something, honestly, peacefully. I am asked to be shaken, and I feel undervalued. I have been thinking about the people, about the homeland. I was admitted to the Party in June 1944. But in 1953 they expelled me from the party, supposedly because my wife had an uncle who had fled abroad, although he had emigrated back in 1936. Later I applied again for readmission, but they forced me to give up forever. It wasn’t that I had not been deceived in the party as a legitimate leader, but they had driven a bullet into my soul. Now, as I apply to join the Socialist Party at the age of 69, I say that I am too old for advice, and I am joining the ranks of the PS, which has righted the long-standing injustices done to me. Do I believe it? With all my heart, I ask the Party—and I wish many more people would believe.” SOTIRQA GJORDENI

Old labels for Albanians, such as “backward,” savage people, “hot-blooded,” “uncultured,” have recently been joined by another equally grave insult: “lazy.” This is not the occasion to analyze who is reviving these epithets, nor to determine or explain what drove Albanians to take actions that call their national characteristics into question. It will take time for reason to prevail over the impressions formed inside and outside the country about the events of recent years. But while history can wait for the facts to settle, the economy cannot. That is why the exhortations seem more provocative to us: “let’s get down to work,” as well as the “scolding” remarks, “unless you work yourselves, don’t expect others to help you.” Are Albanians lazy?! Years ago we heard this “sincere” observation from a former member of the Political Bureau, who, speaking “about the wonderful conditions created by the Party,” which “were not being fully utilized,” concluded by lumping everyone together: “we Albanians are lazy.” Now this description is being repeated, directly or indirectly, by our government officials as well as foreign experts. Perhaps insulting someone for their temper, temperament, or intelligence is not such a great insult, because these are momentary manifestations. But to insult someone over their work is to insult them for their whole life, to kill them outright, to deny them. When you generalize it to an entire nation, it is even graver. To call lazy the Albanian who lays asphalt in the middle of July, who digs a quarry with a pickaxe as in the Stone Age, who crawls like a mole into the 60-centimeter shafts of the mine, who hoes corn in the peak of the heat, is truly deeply insulting. The accusation is even more unjust when one considers that the wages for this work were extremely low, ridiculous. The 80 percent is blamed, and the prime minister admits that it “hung like a millstone around the neck of our economy.” So it is admitted that until 1990 the economy was alive, despite having been “made for the poor.” But who hung the millstone around its neck? Do the gentlemen in power devise the “theory of reducing to zero,” the “beating of the comrade”? Do they devise the general strike of May last year, which paralyzed everything, while the strikers were paid by the state for what they had done? In this way, they said that work continued, they saw that everything was heading for a dead end, and they reached a silent agreement. The administrations were paralyzed too, yet the wages kept coming. Who was interested in saying this?! Why have the gentlemen only now remembered to call for work in those enterprises that last year “were supposedly being destroyed”

ridiculous. (Continued on page 3)

Anyone traveling toward Shkodër will see a great ruin—the former Kamzë livestock complex. It never supplied us with as much milk as it should have. Perhaps this is where the massacre began. Now we contemplate the calm landscape—one of the most spectacular sights of the “zero option.” Infants won’t accuse us of depriving them of a drop of fresh milk. No. We’ll tell them about its low profitability (at one unit, they could barely manage to obtain up to 4,000 liters). We’ll tell them of the abundance of “powdered” milk from aid provided by the world. What a life! And, yes, the many cooling units, since once there was a source of fresh milk on the outskirts of Tirana. SH. M

After buying luxury cars, quite a few enterprise managers have also started engaging in trade that is legal, semi-legal, or entirely illegal. After satisfying their curiosity about seeing the world with their own eyes (is there really any department head left who hasn’t gone abroad, while workers were being paid 80 percent?), they thought they would become like the rest of the world in the blink of an eye—that is, get rich. The ways of getting rich are, of course, varied. One of them is buying various goods from so-called private traders or their intermediaries. In recent days, following several tips, the audit and inspection section of the Elbasan district found that the management of the brick factory had bought 10 tons of nails from a private individual. An activity outside the enterprise’s designated purpose had been opened. Meanwhile, trading in nails was resulting in a loss for the enterprise itself. So, what logic prompted this “trade”? How could a private individual be helped at the expense of the enterprise and its workers? Are the managers so generous? Apparently, when they started this “loss-making trade,” the managers had also thought about their own share of the profit for the “sacrifice” they would make. The audit and inspection service was unable to prove this, but the logic of the actions taken itself leads to such a conclusion. Indeed, this conclusion is reinforced by the other unlawful actions at this enterprise, which once again leave traces of corruption. Isn’t this a sign that, unfortunately, the roots of corruption have also spread through some enterprises? At least in Elbasan, this is not the only such sign. What was found at the brick factory has happened elsewhere too. We believe this finding applies more broadly as well. Indeed, it is an invitation to the State Control Commission. Perhaps its work will show who some of the people are who got rich or put money aside during this difficult transition period.

Wife — Dear husband, it’s true you’ve become a minister, but you should make the family happy with something... At least let’s buy an electric stove. Husband — Absolutely not! No unnecessary spending... We must save every penny, at least for tomorrow’s daily bread...

The former real opposition seeks full power