Subversive Pessimist
12th October 2004, 12:01
Thanks to Tarasi for posting this at E-G.
ECONOMIC PLANNING IN ALBANIA
The fact that production and the development of the economy take place
in accordance with a single state plan expresses one of the great
advantages which our socialist order has over that of capitalism. The
possibility of such centralised planning rests,of course, on the
socialist base of our economy (that is to say, on the social ownership
of the means of production), while its correct application leads to
the continuous strengthening of this socialist base.
On the other hand, the essence of the "liberal economic reforms"
introduced by the revisionist leaders of such countries as Yugoslavia
and the Soviet Union was to replace centralised planning as the
regulator of production by the profit motive; the experience of these
countries has demonstrated that any weakening of the principle of
centralised planning in this way leads to the degeneration of the
socialist order into one of capitalism.
Since the Albanian Party of Labour has consistently followed
Marxist-Leninist principles with regard to state economic planning, a
study of the various stages of the development of such planning in the
People's Republic of Albania has an international significance.
After Liberation the democratic power of the working people was
established in our country and during the years 1945-46 the principal
industrial means of production, the means of communication and of
wholesale trade, were transformed into socialist property and the
state monopoly of foreign trade was established. The exploitation of
man by man disappeared from our country.
During the process of the socialisation of the means of production,
Albania went through two stages in the development of economic
planning. At first, when socialist ownership was still not the
dominant form, planning could only be partial; but when socialist
ownership began to become the dominant form, there came into force the
planning of the economy on the basis of a single state plan.
The first general planning organ established in Albania was the
Economic Council, set up in January 1945; in 1946 this was transformed
into the State Planning Commission.
The experience gained in the first state plan of 1947 served as an
important base for the second state plan of1948, which was much wider
in scope than its predecessor. However, the 1948 plan had to be
amended as a result of the economic damage resulting from the rupture
of relations with Yugoslavia.
Albania then passed from the annual state plan to the biennial state
plan of 1949-50, which was still more embracing than that of 1948.
And in 1951 we passed to the stage of long-term planning -- the
principal and most important stage in the development of scientific
state planning. Experience has confirmed that such long-term planning,
on the basis of Five Year Plans, is the most effective for a socialist
economy.
It became necessary to amend the first Five Year Plan of 1951-55
during its course as a result of the disproportion which developed
between the pace of development in agriculture and that in industry.
This disproportion has not due merely to subjective factors; it had an
objective base in that industry and agriculture had up to this
timedifferent social bases. But since the completion of the
collectivisation of agriculture, conditions have been created in which
agriculture has also deve-loped at a rapid pace.
The 3rd. Congress of the Albanian Party of Labour drew the conclusion
that the principal task of the first Five Year Plan -- namely, the
transformation of Albania from a backward agrarian country into an
agricultural-industrial country -- had in the main been achieved;
while in 1938 industrial production constit¬uted only 9,5% of total
production, in 1955 it formed 43.5%
The second Five Year Plan of 1956-60 had the principal aim of
developing in depth the various branch¬es of the economy, particularly
those of industry. The level of planning during this period was
significantly higher than during the period of the previous planning
period and embraced a number of new sectors. This plan, like the
first, had to be amended during its course -¬but this time the
amendment was due to the discovery of new resources permitting an
increase in production greater than had been envisaged. During the
course of the second Five Year Plan, industrial production increased
from 43.5% of total production (1955) to 57.1% (1960).
During the third Five Year Plan (1961-65) our country had to face the
blockade not only of the Western Powers, but also of the Soviet Union.
But in spite of the resulting difficulties, thanks to the correct line
of the Party, the bringing into use of internal reserves and the
internationalist aid of the People's Republic of China, Albania was
able to surmount the obstacles and attain the principal targets laid
down in the plan.
Among the weaknesses that were revealed in our planning methods at
this time were a tendency to see problems sometimes as purely
technical rather than primarily political, as well as a tendency to
excessive centralisation. Thus the fourth Five Year Plan (1966-70) was
based on the need to struggle against bureau¬cracy, to mobilise to a
greater extent than before the broad masses of the working people to
participate in the elaboration and operation of the plan, and without
weakening central planning -- to give greater scope for initiative at
local and enterprise level.
The more intensive participation of the masses of the people in the
elaboration of the fourth Five Year Plan is illustrated by the
increase in the number of proposed amendments to the plan which came
from meetings of work-teams: 141,000 as against 33,000 at the time of
the preparation of the previous Five Year Plan.
Our whole experience of socialist economic planning confirms that the
decisive factor in obtain¬ing economic results is the political
consciousness
of the working people; advanced technical experience plays an
important but secondary role.
Besim Bardhoshi
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THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ALBANIAN ALPHABET
By Shaban Demiraj
The first attempt to introduce a single alphabet for the Albanian
language took place in 1887, when Albanian patriots meeting in
Istanbul agreed on an alphabet of thirty-six letters. This alphabet,
which has passed into history under the name of "the Istanbul
alphabet" was based on the principle that each sound should be
represented by a distinct letter; its weaknesses lay mainly in the
fact that it was heterogeneous, being made up principally of Latin
letters but with some Greek letters and some specially created
letters. It therefore presented difficulties for publishers.
Nevertheless, the Istanbul alphabet became widely used in central and
southern Albania, as well as among the Albanian colonists in Bucarest,
Sofia, etc.
In northern Albania this alphabet was little used. The catholic clergy
continued to use the traditional alphabet of the old northern writers.
In 1899 the "Bashkimi" (Unity) Association was founded in Shkodra and
developed a new alphabet based on Latin letters completed by some
specially created letters. In 1901 the "Agimi" (Dawn) Association,
also in Shkodra, introduced another new alphabet based entirely on
Latin letters, some having diacritical signs. Thus in 1901-08 in the
single town of Shkodra there were in use no less than three different
alphabets.
Besides these three northern alphabets and that of Istanbul, the
Albanian publishing houses in Bucharest, Brussels, Sofia, Boston,
Cairo, etc., each had their own alphabet, based principally on Latin
letters but all having differences between them.
Following the Young Turk revolution and the promulgation of the
Turkish constitution, a certain degree of Albanian cultural activity
was permitted, and in these more favourable circumstances the Albanian
patriots decided to convoke a congress on the question of the Albanian
alphabet.
The congress was held in the town of Monastir from November 14th. to
22nd, 1908, and was attended by 32 delegates with voting rights,
representing 22 associations and clubs. The principal item on the
agenda of the Congress of Monastir was the question of the alphabet,
but purely political questions were also discussed, mainly in secret
session. Even the issue of the alphabet was to some extent a political
issue, since the development of national consciousness and national
unity was being held back by the absence of a single alphabet.
In the first two days of the Congress it was agreed that the new
alphabet should be based upon Latin letters (like the three alphabets
then in most common use -- those of Istanbul, "Bashkimi and "Agimi").
The Congress found no difficulty in agreeing on the letters
corresponding to sounds represented by the Latin alphabet, but the
delegates were unable to agree on the letters to be used for Albanian
sounds not represented by Latin letters. Eventually a compromise was
reached. The Congress decided that two alphabets should be adopted:
one was a modified form of the Istanbul alphabet; the other,
recommended for use in the publication of books and journals outside
Albania and for cables to foreign countries, made use only of
Latin-type letters. The Congress recommended that both these alphabets
should be taught in schools.
The Congress of Monastir achieved positive results in reducing the
number of alphabets in use to two. Nevetheless, the compromise
solution left the door open to a continuation of divisions: for in
practice the Istanbul alphabet continued to be used for most purposes
in the south and the "technical" alphabet for most purposes in the north.
But what the Congress of Monastir was unable to resolve in its
deliberations was resolved by the Albanian people themselves. The
Istanbul alphabet was found to be more awkward in practice and
gradually disappeared from use, leaving the "technical" alphabet,
composed purely of Latin-type letters, to become the national alphabet
of modern Albania.
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THE MURDERER
A short story by Sotir Nagi
I was twelve years old when it happened. My mother had died some years
before, and I lived with my father in the little village of Pinez. It
stood on the edge of a lake, surrounded by dense forest and with high
mountains behind it down which fierce streams rushed to hurl
themselves into the lake.
My father was a woodcutter, and every few days he would take a load of
wood over the mountains to sell in the town --for townsfolk liked to
be warm and would pay well for such fuel in winter. But that year all
the paths over the mountains had been completely blocked by deep
drifts of snow, and no-one had been able to reach the town for more
than a month. The villagers, of course, gathered their own fuel and
had no need of our wood, so that we had not eaten at all for several
days -- for my father was too proud to beg, as he put it.
It was the middle of January the snow seemed to hang over the village
like a dark blanket, so that the countryside -- even at midday -- was
lit by a dim bluish light like that from an oil-lamp. It was bitterly
cold, and even the fast-running mountain streams were fringed with
icicles, while snowflakes swirled continually in the air like tiny
pieces of cotton-wool.
That day was marked in the church calendar as "the day of the blessing
of the waters". The priest would bring the silver cross out of the
church and hurl it into the waters of the lake; whoever recover¬ed it
would, it was said, have great good fortune. My father was convinced
that if he found the cross, all our troubles would be over. "God sees
everything from on high", he would say; "who knows, perhaps it is our
turn to be rich!
"No, father", I would urge; the water is freezing. Don't do it."
He shook his head. "At least we shall have something to eat", he said
-- for the priest always arranged that whoever recovered the cross
from the lake was given a little feast from all the food the villagers
could spare.
"But it 's so silly", I said; "why should anyone want to throw a cross
in the lake in the middle of winter?" "Be quiet, my boy", replied my
father; "it has always been done".
I remember holding my father's big calloused hand as we walked over
the frozen ground to the lake. The wind cut into my face like a knife.
I thought of the one man in the district who always had plenty to eat,
the Aga. Why, I asked myself, should God have chosen him of all people
to reward?
When we reached the lake, the priest was al¬ready standing on the
great rock which overhang the water, holding the cross in his hand. He
had a brownish face, the colour of tea, and his thick, bushy eyebrows
half concealed eyes which people said were those of a saint. A few
people, as warmly dressed as they could afford, stood at the water's
edge and watched as the priest murmured a few words and then threw the
cross out into the lake.
No-one moved except my father who, after squeezing my hand
affectionately, waded out into the water and then swam to the place
where the cross had disappeared. He dived beneath the surface and it
seemed hours before his head reappeared above the grey water. He
looked towards me, shook his head, and dived again. The third time he
came to the surface I could see that his whole body was shaking
violently, but he dived again and this time, as he came up, he raised
his arm above his head to show that he held the cross.
He began to swim slowly and heavily towards the shore. As he came
nearer I saw that the movements of his arms were becoming more and
more difficult, and a few yards from the shore they stopped altogether
and he sank slowly to the bottom. I cried out and, with two men who
had been standing on the bank, ran out into the shallow water where he
lay. We raised him gently and carried him to our hut; his whole body
was quite blue, and the drops of water in his hair turned to ice in
the freezing air. Although we dried him and covered him with blankets,
he died that afternoon without opening his eyes or saying another word
to me.
That evening, as my father's body lay cold and still on his narrow
wooden bed, I glanced out of the window and saw the black, crow-like
figure of the priest walking up the path towards the church. I
re¬member, my eyes filled with tears, screaming out through the closed
window: "Murderer!" But he did not hear. . . .
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BIOGRAPHY:
MIHO TIVARASI, architect (14th. century)
In the early Middle Ages Albania produced a number of building
experts. So developed was this tradition and so renowned were these
experts that they were com¬missioned to travel all over the Balkans to
use their ability in the construction of houses, churches, bridges and
fortresses. In the 14th. century there came from one district of
northern Albania alone dozens of skilled architects, sculptors and
painters whose works can be found all over Dalmatia. Beautiful
creations in silver, gold, copper, ivory, coral and mother-of-pearl
spread from here throughout the Balkans and the whole Mediterranean
region, along with weapons and charmingly embroidered garments.
While the traces of Albanian craftsmen are found everywhere in the
Balkans, unfortunately most of their names have been lost since, in
the Middle Ages, little account was taken of individual artists.
One of the first Albanian craftsmen to have Dome down to us out of
this mediaeval anonymity and obscurity is Miho Tivarasi, an architect
and sculptor of the 14th. century, whose work is preserved in the
monastery in Ragusa -- as an inscription carved on the side of a
pilaster bears witness:
"S. DE MAGISTER MICHA PETRAR D. ANTIVAR QUI FECIT CLAUSTRUM CUM
OID-JIB SUIS"
(The grave of Master Miho, stone-cutter of Antivari, who built this
cloister and everything connected with it).
Unfortunately the inscription is not dated, but other evidence makes
it certain that the monastery, one of the finest in Dalmatia, was
built about 1380.
We know too little of the life and work of Miho Tivarasi for even the
simplest biography; we know in fact on]y the city of his origin and
that of his death. But the Albanian nationality of this
master-craftsman is admitted by Dalmatian historians (such as G.
Gelcich) and by British experts such as T. G. Jackson.
It is said that Miho Tivarasi worked also in Holland, but for the
moment we know of no work of his except this monastery. The
architectural scheme of this building -¬its arches, the colonnades in
the cloister, the ornament¬al motifs on the capitals -- are of the
Romanesque style with Gothic elements. The square courtyard is
surrounded by a beautifully proportioned cloister with thirty-two
colonnades, and the cornices are forcefully decorated with all kinds
of surprising zoomorphic figures quite unrelated to the religious
purpose of the building.
The monastery at Ragusa is one of the works which testify to the role
of Albanian artists in the history of Dalmatian art; but we can only
guess at the number of works created in foreign lands by our craftsmen.
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BOOK REVIEW
F. N. Pipinelis:
"EUROPE AND THE ALBANIAN QUESTION";
Chicago; 1963
by ARBEN PUTO
Before dealing with the book itself; a few words about the author seem
desirable. F. N. Pipinelis is a Greek career diplomat. His diplomatic
career began before the Second World War, and in the 1930s he was for
a time Secretary of the Greek Legation in Tirana. After the war he
rose into the higher ranks of the Greek hierarchy, becoming Prime
Minister for a time. Since 1967 he has been Foreign Minister in the
ultra-reactionary government which came to power followingthe
"Colonels' Coup".
It goes without saying that the publishers find this career the most
solid recommendation for the author ! The book itself also has an
interesting history. It was written at the end of the Second World War
with the manifest aim of presenting a "historico-scientific"
justification for the territorial claims placed by Greece before the
Paris Peace Conference of 1946. The present work is the second
edition, published in the United States in 1963 under the auspices of
the "pan-epirot Federation of America". This organisation of Greek
chauvinists has not only found shelter in the U.S.A. hut has had
placed at its disposal substantial means to carry on a systematic and
unbridled propagaganda campaign directed against the independence of
Albania.
"An Artificial Creation"
Pipinelis begins his book with the categorical declaration that,
before 1912, the idea of an indep¬endent Albanian state was"not
seriously entertained by anybody" (p. 9)
He cites as witnesses in support of this statement the British
Minister in Belgrade, Ralph Paget (who found the Albanians "unruly")
and the German Kaiser, Wilhelm 11 (who described the Austro-Hungarian
project for an independent Albania as "folly").
Since, according to Pipinelis, "the idea of an independent Albania was
not even deemed worthy of discussion" (p. ID),
Albanian independence was
"an artificial creation" (p. 15)
begotten by
"political expediency" (p. 15).
The parent of this "artificial creation" was, asserts Pipinelis,
Austria-Hungary and the Austrian thesis was "a fatal error" and the
principal cause of the Second Balkan War. For the Serbo-Bulgarian
Treaty of February 1912 provided that Serbia should annex northern
Albania and, when this was rejected, Serbia refused to withdraw her
troops from certain districts of r1acedonia which had been allotted to
Bulgaria. Thus, argues Pipinelis, if Albania had been sacrificed on
the altar of the Balkan Alliance, if Serbia had been permitted to
annex northern Albania, war "with its incalculable consequences for
the future of the Balkans" (p _ 17),would have been averted!
A Handful of Adventurers"
To support his fantasy of Albanian independence as "an artificial
creation", a gift with which the Albanians "did not know what to do"
(p. 31), Pipinelis is compelled to dismiss the Albanian national
movement as limited to the publication of some journals in the
Albanian language outside Albania and to "irresponsible acts by a
handful of adventurers" who wished to deceive the world into believing
that they headed a movement! (p. 19-20)
Pipinelis descends into the crudest chauvinist slander when he implies
that, not a few individuals, but the Albanian people as a whole were
corrupt.
"When Count Ciano had arrived at Tirana in the previous April, he had
stood on his balcony scattering banknotes to an enthusiastic crowd".
( p. 33).
"Northern Epirus"
The author reaches the core of his argument when he deals with the
subject of southern Albania -- under the name of Northern Epirus".
He argues that this region had belonged to Greece "from earliest
times" (p. 65). But the quotations he cites from Strabo and other
writers of Greek classical antiquity refer to "Epirus", which is not
to be identified with present-day Greece.
Pipinelis supports his claim about the continuing Greek character of
this region by citing "statistical data" on the composition of its
population submitted by Venizelos in a memorandum to the Peace
Conference of 1919: 120,000 Greeks, 110,000 Albanians. But the author
does net find it at all unnatural to add that the memorandum
considered as "Greek" all orthodox Christians, irrespecti veof
language, etc.
"In conformity with the view that, in the Balkans, religion was the
factor finally determining nationality" (p. 66).Realising, perhaps,
the absurdity of seeking to replace ethnical by religious criteria in
relation to frontier questions, Pipinelis goes on to assert that the
decisive factor in the Balkans is not human at all, but geographical.
In this respect, Northern Epirus" must be considered entirely Greek":
"Its geographical natural features, the lines of its landscapes, the
appearance of its inhabitants, the conditions of life, all wear a
Greek aspect. As one journeys from the sullen regions of central
Albania towards the gentler and more gracious land of Northern Epirus,
as one meets the inhabitants and comes into contact with their daily
life, that is eltogethermore civilised and more urbane, one can no
longer doubt that one has entered 'purely Greek lands".. (P. 70)
And this is the "case it of ,the Greek chauvinists for their
territorial claims against Albania!
Pipinelis's "solution":The Dismemberment of Albania
Pipinelis reaches the conclusion of his argument when he states:
"All the nations have lost by the experiment
in Albanian independence, and the fact alone surely
suffices to convince everyone that, if the Albanian
problem is to be solved in the near future in
a manner consonant with the interests of the
Balkan countries, the basis of that solution must
be a differen tone". (p. 93)
And the solution proposed by Pipinelis?
"Her (i e., Albania FS) integration within the political and economic
system of the Balkan countries -- of one, or more, or even all of
them. " ( p. 93),
or, in other words, the dismemberment of Albania, pure and simple.
But the Albanian people will never accept such a "solution" to "the
Albanian question". 'Their reply was given by Enver Hoxha from the
tribune of the 4th. Congress of the Democratic Front in September 1967:
"The Greek monarcho-fascists and their Balkan and extra-Balkan allies
seek to restore the long-past epoch when chauvinist cliques, supported
by the imperialist powers, hurled themselves upon Albania, dismembered
it, tore from it vast territories and placed large sections of its
people under foreign yoke.
We say to the Greek monarcho-fascists and their allies: Beware, for
history does not repeat itself. He who violates the sacred frontiers
of our country will meet death!
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THE CHANGE OF GENDER IN ALBANIAN NOUNS
by Shaban Demiraj
One of the linguistic phenomena common to both the Albanian and
Rumanian languages which has attracted the attention of philologists,
particularly in recent years, is that whereby certain nouns change
their gender in the plural number.
Albanian: MALL I MIRE (masc.) (a good commodity)
MALLRA TË MIRA (fem.) (good commodities)
TREN RAPID (masc.) (an express train)
TRENURI RAPIDE (fern.) (express trains)
This phenomenon is found also in other languages, including Czech,
Slovak, Polish and Italian. In all these languages the ambigenderous
nouns behave as masculine in, the singular number and as feminine in
the plural number, the gender of any qualifying adjectives being
adjusted correspondiny. In Albanian, however, this change of gender to
feminine in the plural affects also nouns which are neuter in the
singular.
In Albania ambigenderous nouns are distinguished by two essential
characteristics: Firstly,they designate either innanimate objects
or plants, never animals (including human beings); Secondly, they
form, the plural number by means of the inflective terminations -E or -A
Only if both these conditions are satisfied is a noun ambigenderous.
Thus, the nouns BURRE (man) and DERR (pig): have the plural forms of
BURRA and DERRA but they are not ambigenderous because they do not
satisfy the first condition. On the other hand, GUR(stone) and THUA
(claw, nail) represent inanimate objects, but they have the plural
forms GURE and THONJ, and so are not ambigenderous because, they do
not satisfy the second condition.
A similar state of affairs exists in Rumanian, where the change of
gender occurs only in nouns which designate inanimate objects or
plants and which form the plural number by means of the inflective
terminations -URI or -E The fact that this phenomenon is common to
both Albanian and Rumanian has led some linguists to postulate a
common origin for it.Gabinski, Togeby and Rosette conceive of Thracian
as this common origin. But, as we have seen, this phenomenon occurs
also in other languages (such as Czech,Slovak, Polish and Italian)
where it is impossible to envisage any Thracian influence. In any
case, we have no knowledge of the Thracian language.
Patrut on the other hand, conceives of Latin as the common origin of
this phenomenon in Albanian and Rumanian. In this connection it must
be noted that ambigenderousness is found very rarely indeed in the
vernacular of the Albanian ethnic groups in Italy and Greece,whose
speech patterns preserve many archaic features of the Albanian
language. From this and other evidence we may conclude with reasonable
certainty that while the phenomenon is relatively old in Albanian, it
is not so old as to make it possible to postulate a Latin influence.
In any case, the influence of Latin on the grammatital structure of
Albanan was very limited indeed.
In our view, the origin of the phenomenon of ambigenderousness in the
Albanian language is to be found in grammatical analogy. We must note
that typical Albanian feminine nouns form their plurals by means of
the inflect1ve terminations -E or -A (NUSE, bride; NUSE, brides;
VAJZE, girl;VAJZA, girls). It seems most likely, therefore, that
masculine and neuter nouns forming their plurals with these inflective
endings should come to be regarded as feminine whether they
represented inanimate objects (in which sexuality does not exist) or
plants (in which sexuality is often not obvious), but not when they
represented animals (in which sexuality came to be recognised it at a
very early stage of human social development).
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AN ILLYRIAN PREHISTORIC PAINTING
By Myzafer Kortkuti
During archaeological investigations at Trenii in Korça district, here
was recently discovered on a cliff face a prehistoric painting
depicting hunting on horseback. The line figures (4 horsemen, 4
hunting dogs and a deer) are painted in a light-brown pigment and are
represented as moving diagonally from left to right. (continued on
page 21)
The Treni painting, which dates from about 1,000 B.C., is the only
prehistoric hunting painting yet discovered in the whole of the Balkan
peninsula and represents one of the earliest and finest examples of
llyrian art.
THE NEW OIL REFINERY
by Stilian Pili
In August 1968 the new automated oil refinery at Fier came into
operation. While the Cerrik oil refinery, with one-third the capacity
of the new plant took five years to construct, using foreign equipment
and assisted by dozens of foreign specialists, the Fier refinery was
designed and constructed entirely by Albanian labour in only eighteen
months.
Equipped with a workshop for turning out 4,000 metal barrels a day,
the Fier refinery has an annual refining capacity of 500,000 tons of
crude petroleum a year. Its staff has been trained entirely in Albania.
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BIOGRAPHY:
THEODHOR ANASTAS KAVALIOTI, philosopher,
c . 1718 - 1797
The most interesting phenomenon in the development of Albanian thought
in the 18th. century was the spread of the ideas of the Illuminists,
who reflected the general economic and social progress of the country
at this time and the development of contact between Albania and the
democratic movements of other Balkan countries and western Europe.
The main centre of the Illuminists was the town of Voskopoja, near
Korça, which underwent a tremendous expansion in the years 1720-69.
The youth of the more well-to-do families were sent to study at
universities abroad, and they returned to form the stratre of lay and
ecclesiastical intellectuals who founded the Academy of Voskopoja and
made it the centre of propagation of the new Illuminist ideas.
One of the most important figures in this stratum was Theodhor Anastas
Kavalioti. He was born about 1718, of an Albanian father and a Vlach
mother. He learned as his mother-tongues Albanian, Vlach and Greek.
"We do not know for certain where he received his education. It is
probable that he received his first schooling in his native town,
passing from there to one of the colleges in Janina, where he came
into contact with Cartesian philosophy, which became the foundation of
his own thinking.
Kavalioti commenced his creative activity about 1740, when he began to
teach in the modernised school at Voskopoja, and in 1743 he wrote his
first work,"Treatise on Logic". The cultural movement in Voskopoja was
supported by the patriarchate of Ohrid, under the ecclesiastical
jurisdiction of which the town lay. The Ohrid hierarchy was, for its
own reasons, opposed to the islamisation of the population and so gave
its support to movements directed against the Turkish domination. It
was this Patriarchate which appointed Kavalioti a protopope.
While in charge of the school at Voskbpoja he wrote, in 1752, his
"Physics" and "Metaphysics". The "Physics" is progressive for its
time, since it is directed against scholasticism and is permeated with
the view that knowledge of the world can come only from scientific
investigation, not from tbeological dogma. However,Kavalioti's
philosophy as a whole is idealist -- based on the dualism of Descartes.
In 1750 Kavalioti supervised the publication at the Voskopoja printing
works of a Greek grammar written by himself. He continued his activity
after the liquid ation of the Patriarchate of Ohrid in 1767 and the
sacking of Voskopoja by the Turkish authorities in 1769. Denied the
possibility of publishing his writings at home, he had printed in
Venice in 1770 his work in Greek, "Protopoeira", a school manual
which includes a trilingual glossary of 1,700 words in Albanian, Vlach
and Greek. In 1774 he published, also in Venice, a new edition of his
Greek grammar, to which he added six poems by teachers from the Korça
region who had become his disciples.
In the years 1780-90 Turkish repression of Albanian thought forced him
to resign both from the school and from the church, and in 1784 he
entered commerce with his son Anastas. He died at Voskopoja in 1797.
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IN SEARCH OF KOLA
A short story for children by Shaban Vani
(The Albanian expression "working like Kola" corresponds
roughly to the English "working like the devil").
Vehap could not remember when he had heard for the first time the
words: "working like Kola", but it must have been when he was quite
small. And, as the years passed, the more he wished to meet this Kola.
When he got up the day after he left school, his mother said: "Son,
the clock has gone wrong. Take it and get it repaired -- otherwise we
shall be having supper at lunch time". "Now that", said Vehap to
himself, "is a wonderful idea for a career. I will become a clock
repairer. I can sit down all day screwing and unscrewing wheels, and
shall probably meet the great Kola!"
So the next morning he went to the clockmakers' cooperative and
applied for a job. "Since I was a small boy", he told the manager, "I
have been fascinated by clocks, and have already taken four to pieces".
When he put on his white coat on his first morning at work, be felt
very grown-:up -although he could see no trace of Kola. But when he
had cleaned his first clock, everybody laughed. "Vehap is
over-fulfilling the plan already", they said; "he has enough parts
left over for another clock".
That night in bed, Vehap pondered over the day's events. "This is not
for me", he thought, "to spend day after day with a glass in my eye
listening to my life ticking away. In any case, clocks are
old-fashioned things; Kola is probably an electrician".
The state building enterprise did not recognise Vehap's inherent
qualities and made him only a lowly apprentice electrician. On his
first day he was sent to assist in wiring a new house. "Just screw
these switches on the wall over the chalk-marks", said the electrician
'who was obviously too senile to know much about electricity. When
Vehap had performed this menial task, he decided todemonstrate his
unrecognised abilities by wiring up the switches. All went well until
he took hold of a particular wire which bit him savagely and threw him
to the floor with a cry of pain that could be heard a mile away.
"Obviously", said Vehap that night, "Kola is not in this kind of
work", and the next day he asked to be transferred to bricklaying.
"Very well", they said, "you will start as a bricklayer' s labourer
and go to night school to learn the trade". That afternoon Vehap and
the bricklayer to whom he had been assigned were sent to work, not on
the new Palace of Culture with its hewn blocks of marble, but to
rebuild a small chimney which had blown down in a gale. "Take these
bricks up the ladder to the roof", said the bricklayer(who seemed even
older than the ekectrician of the previous day) and I will come up in
five minutes to lay them". Vehap did so. "But there's nothing
difficult about laying bricks", he said to himself; "you just put some
mortar on them and place them one on top of the other.
When the bricklayer climbed the ladder to the roof, he found Vehap
buried beneath a chimney that had for some unaccountable reason fallen
down on top of him. His leg hurt badly. "Clearly", said Vehap, Kola
must be working in administration. . . .
----------¬
TOWN PLANNING IN ALBANIA
by Sabri Pilkati, Director of the State Design Institute.
The towns of Albania, some of which go back to antiquity, largely grew
up piecemeal, without any overall planning. But soon after Liberation
in 1945, the first town planners were trained and town planning
offices were established in every district.
Up to the present long-term development plans have been drawn up for
90% of our towns, and partial studies made for the rest. The urgency
of completing these preparations is illustrated by the rapid growth of
many Albanian towns: as compared with 1938, the population of Tirana
has grown 6.8 times, that of Durres 5 times, that of Vlora 5. times,
that of Fier 4.1 times, that of Korça 2.2 times and that of Shkodra
2.0 times. In addition, a number of completely new towns have been
built near newly discovered mineral deposits -. such as Cerrik, Maliq,
Patos, Memeliaj, Bulqiza, Kurbnesh. Pishkash and Laç.
Before final adoption, each plan was placed before the citizens
concerned in the form of drawings and models, and broad discussions
held in order that the views of the working people might be fully
taken into account. Every effort has been made in these plans to blend
the new harmoniously with the old and historic, without sacrificing
the requirements of modern architecture and building techniques.
Up to 1967, in addition to the reconstruction of war-damaged buildings
and the erection of schools, hospitals, theatres, palaces of culture
and other public buildings, more than 40,000 flats and 100,000
dwelling houses had been built in accordance with these development
plans. The rents for these dwellings average 1.7% of the average
family income of the occupiers.
---------¬
THE LEAGUE OF PRIZREND
By W. B. Bland
In March 1878, following its defeat by Russia in the war of 1877-78,
Turkey was compelled to sign the Treaty of San Stefano. Under the
terms of this treaty, Albania was to remain for the most part under
Turkish rule, but considerable portions of its territory were to be
handed over to Montenegro, Serbia and Bulgaria. However, the Great
Powers refused to accept the Treaty of San Stefano as valid and forced
Russia to agree that a revised peace treaty should be drafted by a
Congress of all the principal European powers, to meet in Berlin in
June of the same year.
With the aim of averting the dismemberment of their country, Albanian
patriots summoned an assembly, to which delegates were invited from
all parts of the country. This assembly held its first meeting in the
town of Prizrend on June 10th., 1878 -- three days before the opening
of the Congress of Berlin. Under the leadership of Abdyl Frasheri, it
at once set up a centralised political organisa tion, headed by an
executive committee, to be known as "The League", and proposed that
volunteer armed forces should be raised to resist the annexation of
Albanian territory. It also addressed a note of protest on this
question to the Congress of Berlin.
The Congress completely ignored the Albanian protest -- Bismarck, the
chairman of the Ccngress, denying that any Albanian nation existed.
And although the provisions of San Stefano were modified to meet the
interests of the Great Powers, the Congress reaffirmed the partition
of Albania. The League accordingly proceeded to recruit volunteer
fighters through¬out Albania in preparation for resistance.
The first documents issued by the League -- the Kararname (Register of
Resolutions), approved on June l8th., 1878, and the Kanun (Canon),
approved on July 2nd, of the same year -- reflected the strong
influence of the pro-Turkish beys and pashas, for these documents
defined the League as a Moslem organisation which recognised the
authority of the Turkish Empire over Albania. As a result, the Sublime
Porte at first looked benevolently on the League, seeing it as a
weapon to mitigate the demands of the Great Powers.
However, before the end of the year relations between the League and
the Istanbul government had seriously deteriorated. In August the
government sent to Jakova its former delegate to the Congress of
Berlin, Marshal Mehmed Ali Pasha, to try and persuade the Albanians to
hand over to Montenegro the areas allotted to it by the Congress of
Berlin.
The local committee of the League requested the Marshal to return to
the capital and when, protected by six battalions of Turkish troops,
he refused, it ordered its volunteer forces to lay siege to the
Marshal's headquarters. After two days of heavy fighting, on September
6th, 1878, the Turkish forces surrendered and Mehmed Ali Pasha was
executed.
These events created conditions which enabled the radical members of
the League to defeat the influ¬ence of the pro-Turkish nobles within
the organisation.
In September 1878 a secret committee of Albanian of patriots in
Istanbul, headed by Abdyl Frasheri, drafted a new programme which was
published on September 28th., 1878 in Sami Frasheri's newspaper
"Tercuman- i -arkil (The Interpreter of the East). This programme was
based on the principle of an autonomous Albania within the Turkish
empire and included the following demands:
1) that all the districts of Albania should be
united into a single vilayet; "
2) that the administrators of Albania should be
Albanian-speaking;
3) that public education in Albania should be in
the Albanian language;
4) that a General Assembly should be established
for Albania; and
5) that an adequate portion of the revenues raised
within Albania should be used for the needs of the
country.
This programme was adopted by the League on November 27th., 1878 and
reflected the transformation of the League into a genuine instrument
of Albanian nationalism.
The fact that the Albanian nationalists were demanding at this time
not independence for Albania, but autonomy within the, framework of
the Turkish empire reflected considerations both of an internal and of
an international character. Within the country itself the great landed
proprietors were still very powerful, while the emerging urban
capitalist class was still only in process of formation and very weak.
The class of semi-feudal landlords depended to a great extent on
Turkish rule for the retention of its privileges, and the demand for
autonomy rather than independence was successful in neutralising the
opposition of his class in the early stages of the development of the
national movement and in enabling the widest possible national front
to be formed. In the international arena Britain and and
Austria-Hungary regarded the integrity of the Turkish empire as, in
this period, essential to their interests. Of the Great Powers, only
Russia was interested in the dissolution of the Turkish empire, having
the aim of partitioning Albania among its Balkan allies.
The demand for autonomy thus enabled the fullest advantage to be taken
of the contradictions between these Powers, while the demand for
complete independence would have aroused the outright opposition of
Britain and Austria¬Hungary. Also, in face of the threat of
dismemberment of Albania, the question of maintaining the territorial
integrity of the country (even under Ottoman domination) was of the
greatest importance for the Albanian national movement.
It must also be remembered that the Albanian nationalists regarded
autonomy not as the end of the road, but as a step towards full
independence – and this course of development was, in fact, typical of
the actual experience of most of the Balkan countries.
In February 1879 Turkey withdrew its forces from the districts ceded
to Montenegro by the Congress of Berlin, but when the Montenegrins
arrived to take over the districts of Flava and Gucia they found the
volunteer forces of the League in occupation. After demanding without
effect that Turkey should eject the Albanian forces from the area, in
October Prince Nicola of Montenegro ordered his armies to occupy them
by force. After a series of battles which continued for several
months, in January 1880 the Montenegrin forces suffered an ignominious
defeat at the hands ofthe Albanian volunteers and were compelled to
withdraw.
Montenegro immediately appealed to the Great Powers for the
enforcement of the Congress decision, but so implacable had been the
Albanian resistance that the Powers renounced their first decision and
in April 1880 allotted to Montenegro, in place of Plava and Gucia, the
districts of Hoti and Gruda -believing that the predominantly Catholic
population of these districts wopld not oppose transfer to "Christian"
Montenegro. On April 22nd. the Turkish forces withdrew from Hoti and
Gruda and the armies of the League at once moved in. The Montenegrin
armies again attempted to take possession of their spoils, but were
once more decisively defeated by the Albanian volunteers at Ura e
Rzhanices and forced to withdraw.
On a further desperate appeal from Montenegro, the Great Powers
renounced their secon4 decision also, and allotted to Montenegro the
district of Ulqin in place of Hoti and Gruda.
On September 27th., 1880, immediately following the Turkish withdrawal
from Ulqin, the Albanian volunteers moved in to take possession of the
town.
This time, however, the Great Powers presented an ultimatum to Turkey,
declaring that unless the Turkish government secured the handing over
of Ulqin to the Montenegrins they would forcibly occupy the port of
Smyrna. In the face of this threat, the Turkish authorities began the
mass arrest of League members and in November a Turkish army of twenty
battalions under Marshal Tervish Pasha -- assisted by an international
fleet of 20 warships and 7,000 men under the British admiral Seymour,
which had arrived off Ulqin -- established a blockade of the town by
land and sea. At last, on November 23rd., 1880, this superior military
force succeeded in breaking the resistance of the Albanians, and three
days later, still in the presence of the international fleet, Ulqin
was handed over to Montenegro.
However, this Turkish intervention against the Albanian volunteers
enabled the radical wing of the League to oust from its directing
organs the pashas and clergy who stood for appeasement of the Istanbul
government. Under its new leadership the League pro¬claimed itself the
Provisional Government of Albania and organised a new army under the
command of Sulejman Vokshi. Beginning in January 1881, the army of the
League forced out the Turkish administrators from the whole of
northern and eastern Albania.
The Turkish forces did not at first intervene inthese developments
because of the threat of war with Greece. But in March 1881, following
the signature of a Turkish-Greek accord, the Sublime Porte despatched
a strong expeditionary force of 24 battalions under Dervish Pasha. The
pro-Turkish beys and pashas had now turned openly against the League
and organised the attempted murder of Abdyl Frasheri.
As a result of their influence, the League succeeded in raising only a
small army and the major part of this -- 6,000 men-¬was sent to defend
Prizrend.
The first encounter between the Turkish and Albanian armies took place
on April 16th., 1881. For four days the Turkish attacks were repelled,
but on April 20th. heavy artillery fire forced the Albanians to
retreat with heavy losses and the Turkish army was able to occupy
Prizrend.
Although the League succeeded in raising fresh forces which held up
the Turkish advance for some days, within a matter of weeks the
Turkish authorities had been successful in re-establishing their
administration over the whole of Albania. A reign of terror was
introduced under martial law and, by means of the most savage
repressive methods, the League was crushed.
Although the three-year armed struggle of the League of Prizrend could
not at that time achieve independence for Albania, its place in
Albanian history is an important one. The League brought forward for
the first time "the Albanian question" into the international arena,
and this did not cease to appear as an issue at international
conferences until Albanian independence was finally achieved in 1912.
It demon¬strated the power of even a limited people's war in the cause
of national liberation. It left its mark, not only upon Albanian
folklore, but on the politico-¬military strategy of the later stages
of the Albanian struggle for national liberation.
------¬
WE, THE SONS OF THIS NEW AGE. . . .
A poem by Migjeni
(Millosh Gjergj Nikolla, 1911 - 1938)
We, the sons of this New Age, leaving our elders to grow grey
in the service of "holiness",
raise our fists
to fight and win
new battles.
We, the sons of this New Age,
will tolerate no more
a land watered with tears
where the sweat of our brow flows in the prey of foreign greed.
We, the sons of this New Age, brothers in poverty,
one glorious hour will cry:
"Enough! "
No more defeats for us,
but only victory
and liberty!
We will no longer be
pawns in the bloody game of history, victims of "holiness"
chanting its hymns of love
while thrusting a spear
into the heart of man.
We, the sons of this New Age,
even if it cost our lives
will win this victory.
i- - - - - - - ¬
THE SONG OF MY TOWN
A sketch by Migjeni
>From early morning till late at night the streets of my town are
filled with song. It can be heard above the hurrying footsteps of the
passers-by as they walk along, and above the rumble of the
carriage-wheels on the cobbled wheels.
"Please, sir! Spare a coin, sir!, runs the song of my town.
Who could have composed such a beautiful melody? A Beethoven? A
Mozart? No, only on the pavements of my town could this song be
created, and only the inhabitants of my town can enjoy it.
It begins at dawn, as the sun's rays creep up over the shadowy
buildings. But it is especially prominent at nightfall when, having
enjoyed the pleasures of the day, people are looking forward to the
pleasures of the night. The sky takes on the blush of innocence;
lovers walk hand in hand -- and all this romantic happi¬ness is
accompanied by the perpetual moving refrain: "Please, sir!, Spare a
coin, sir!"
A lad of about ten years of age, in ragged clothes, bounds alongside a
well-dressed gentleman like a puppy trying to lick his master's hand.
He pulls on the hem of the gentlema'ts coat -- very gently so as not
to arouse his wrath -- and chants the song of my town: "Please, sir!
Spare a coin, sir!"
But the gentleman's thoughts are elsewhere, for the shops are carrying
a new fashion in embroidered waist¬coats. And so, failing to attract
his attention, the lad sinks into the vilest of crimes: he tugs on the
gentleman's coat a little too hard. The victim of his assault raises a
ringed hand and strikes the pale face of the aggressor, saying in
cultured tones: Get away, you dirty little urchin!"
But the boy does not cease his song. From the pave¬ment where the blow
has caused him to fall, he raises a small outstetched hand and cries:
"Spare a coin, sirl Please, sir!"
The gentleman's heart is finally touched by this pitiful persistence.
He feels in his pocket and takes from it a penny, to hurl it with all
his force in the face of the boy before he walks on. The boy's hand
darts quickly out to grasp the coin before it can be lost for ever
down the drain. He raises his head, from which blood is flowing into
the gutter, and cries:
"Thank you, sir! God bless you, sir!"
------------¬
THE EXPORT OF GRAIN FROM ALBANIA
IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEETH CENTURIES
by Bogumil Hrabek
Like other mountainous countries, Albania does not produce cereals of
the highest quality. Nevertheless, this ,did not prevent, in the
period of pre-Ottoman feudalism, the export of surplus Albanian grain.
In the 14th. and 15th. centuries, the only sources of this exported
grain were the productive plains along the sea-coast and the banks of
the larger rivers; grain from the interior reached the coast at this
time only with great difficulty, since trans-continental trans¬
port was costly and unreliable.
Albanian grain is mentioned in the Statutes of Dubrovnik (1272) and it
can safely be assumed that the export of Albaan cereals had attained a
permanent and stable character by the last third of the 13th. century.
During the 14th. century it attained a considerable volume, and this
state of affairs continued until the last third of the 15th. century
(the period of the complete Turkish conquest ofnorthern Albania and of
the Turkish-Venetian wars), when little grain was exported from
Albania. This latter situation remained unchanged until 1494 when,
following a succession of poor harvests, Dubrovnik once again became
interestedin buying wheat and millet from Albania. And in 1501, during
the Turkish-Venetian war, Albania was permitted to sell grain to Venice.
During the earliest period, wheat of somewhat inferior quality was
exported. By the middle of the 14th. century millet had been added and
ecame the principal export of mediaeval Albania. Barley was of little
sig¬nificance, and beans and other leguminosa are not mentioned in
connection with Albania at this period. Towards the end of the 15th.
century, however, the chick-pea was added to Albania's exports.
At the beginning of the 14th. century the best known Albanian export
port was Vlora, while the port of Spinaritza in the south was also
very busy. Durres, separated from its hinterland and the subject of
continuous conflict between the families of Thopia, Balsha and
d'Anjou, not only did not export grain at this time, but had to import
it from Italy for its population. It was only at the beginning of the
15th. century that Durres and Lesh, now Venetian enclaves, became
export ports for grain. By the end of the 15th. century the export of
Albanian cereals was concentrated in the three ports of Vlora, Durres
and Lesh.
The principal purchasers of Albanian grain in this later period were
Venice and Ragusa; the Republic of St. Mark (which had possessions in
Albania and a powerful war-fleet in Albanian water s held in
particular a very strong position in the Albanian grain market. Later.
grain export to Dubrovnik became very considerable and in this trade
Italian merchants played an important role.
---------¬
THE BURIAL PLACE OF SKANDERBEG
by Frano Prendi
According to his biographer Bar1etius, Skanderbeg died at lesh and was
buried "in the cathedral of St. Nicho1as, which was later transformed
into a mosque".
Ippen (1907) believed that this cathedral was situated within the
fortress of Lesh, but this view may be discounted. Firstly, it is
difficult to believe that the principal church for the citizens of
16sh would have been built so far from the town, and in a closed
military area. Secondly, the only mosque within the fortress gives no
indication of having been constructed above an earlier building.
Thirdly, historical records show that in the middle of the 16th.
century there were only Moslems within the citadel, while the
Cathedral of St. Nicholas is mentioned as a functioning church until
the end of the 16th. century.
Bizzi (1610) believed that Skanderbeg was buried in the Church of the
Anunciation, a pre-Ottoman building on which was later built the
Church of Dom Llesh. But records establish that the Church of the
Anunciation was functioning at the same time as the Cathedral of St.
Nicholas, indicating that the two hed a separate existence at the same
time. Furthermore, this hypothesis is in conflict with the reliable
and almost contemporary testimony of Barletius.
Popular belief has long identified the Cathedral of St.Nicholas with
the little Church of St. Nicholas that stands near Lesh on the banks
of the Drin. But the small size of the building, its position well
outside the town, the relatively recent date of its construction, the
absence of any trace of Moslem architecture -¬all these factors make
it impossible to identify this tiny church with the former cathedral
of the same name.
Having excluded the above hypotheses, we concentrated our attention
upon the Selimie Mosque at Lesh, named after one of three Sultans of
Turkey and situatedon the highway to Shkodra.
First inspection revealed that the building is constructed along an
east-west axis, which is very uncommon for Moslem edifices of this
kind. And once we had excavated the foundations, we found conclusive
evidence that the mosque had been constructed on the remains of a
Christian church of the Byzantine period (15th.-16th. centuries) with,
below this the found¬ations of an earlier buildimg of indeterminate
function dating from the 3rd. century.
This archaeological evidence is in complete con¬formity with the known
historical facts concerning the Cathedral of St. Nicholas. The first
church on the site was destroyed towards the end of the 1440s,probably
by the Turks but this is not certain. In 1457 Pope Calixtus 11 sent an
epistle to the faithful of Lesh asking them to rebuild "the ruined
church of St. Nicholas" and about 1459 it was reconstructed as a
cathedral. The great fire of Lesh in 1506 caused serious damage to the
cathedral (extensive burn-marks can still be seen on the excavated
walls). In the 1580s it was transformed into a mosque and in the 1620s
it was abandoned and fell into a ruined state. The present Selimie
Mosque was built on these ruins towards the end of the 18th. century.
On the walls of the second constructional layer we discovered a
damaged fresco depicting the figure of a saint in episcopal dress,
encircled by a wavy border. We believe this to be the figure of St.
Nich¬olas, patron saint of the cathedral.
As further substantiating evidence must be mentioned the small
cemetery discovered near the altar, its graves open and empty. This
discovery is in accordance with documentary evidence that the Turks,
having transformed the church into a mosque, exhumed the bones of the
dead and threw them contemptuously in the Drin.
The perfect accord between the archaeological and known historical
data in our view establishes in striking manner, in our view, that the
Cathedral of St. Nicholas, in which our national hero lies buried}
stood on the site of the Selimie Mosque in Lesh. The tomb of
Skanderbeg has not been discovered, nor will it be, since it is
recorded that in 1478 the Turks de¬spoiled his tomb and used his bones
as amulets.
ECONOMIC PLANNING IN ALBANIA
The fact that production and the development of the economy take place
in accordance with a single state plan expresses one of the great
advantages which our socialist order has over that of capitalism. The
possibility of such centralised planning rests,of course, on the
socialist base of our economy (that is to say, on the social ownership
of the means of production), while its correct application leads to
the continuous strengthening of this socialist base.
On the other hand, the essence of the "liberal economic reforms"
introduced by the revisionist leaders of such countries as Yugoslavia
and the Soviet Union was to replace centralised planning as the
regulator of production by the profit motive; the experience of these
countries has demonstrated that any weakening of the principle of
centralised planning in this way leads to the degeneration of the
socialist order into one of capitalism.
Since the Albanian Party of Labour has consistently followed
Marxist-Leninist principles with regard to state economic planning, a
study of the various stages of the development of such planning in the
People's Republic of Albania has an international significance.
After Liberation the democratic power of the working people was
established in our country and during the years 1945-46 the principal
industrial means of production, the means of communication and of
wholesale trade, were transformed into socialist property and the
state monopoly of foreign trade was established. The exploitation of
man by man disappeared from our country.
During the process of the socialisation of the means of production,
Albania went through two stages in the development of economic
planning. At first, when socialist ownership was still not the
dominant form, planning could only be partial; but when socialist
ownership began to become the dominant form, there came into force the
planning of the economy on the basis of a single state plan.
The first general planning organ established in Albania was the
Economic Council, set up in January 1945; in 1946 this was transformed
into the State Planning Commission.
The experience gained in the first state plan of 1947 served as an
important base for the second state plan of1948, which was much wider
in scope than its predecessor. However, the 1948 plan had to be
amended as a result of the economic damage resulting from the rupture
of relations with Yugoslavia.
Albania then passed from the annual state plan to the biennial state
plan of 1949-50, which was still more embracing than that of 1948.
And in 1951 we passed to the stage of long-term planning -- the
principal and most important stage in the development of scientific
state planning. Experience has confirmed that such long-term planning,
on the basis of Five Year Plans, is the most effective for a socialist
economy.
It became necessary to amend the first Five Year Plan of 1951-55
during its course as a result of the disproportion which developed
between the pace of development in agriculture and that in industry.
This disproportion has not due merely to subjective factors; it had an
objective base in that industry and agriculture had up to this
timedifferent social bases. But since the completion of the
collectivisation of agriculture, conditions have been created in which
agriculture has also deve-loped at a rapid pace.
The 3rd. Congress of the Albanian Party of Labour drew the conclusion
that the principal task of the first Five Year Plan -- namely, the
transformation of Albania from a backward agrarian country into an
agricultural-industrial country -- had in the main been achieved;
while in 1938 industrial production constit¬uted only 9,5% of total
production, in 1955 it formed 43.5%
The second Five Year Plan of 1956-60 had the principal aim of
developing in depth the various branch¬es of the economy, particularly
those of industry. The level of planning during this period was
significantly higher than during the period of the previous planning
period and embraced a number of new sectors. This plan, like the
first, had to be amended during its course -¬but this time the
amendment was due to the discovery of new resources permitting an
increase in production greater than had been envisaged. During the
course of the second Five Year Plan, industrial production increased
from 43.5% of total production (1955) to 57.1% (1960).
During the third Five Year Plan (1961-65) our country had to face the
blockade not only of the Western Powers, but also of the Soviet Union.
But in spite of the resulting difficulties, thanks to the correct line
of the Party, the bringing into use of internal reserves and the
internationalist aid of the People's Republic of China, Albania was
able to surmount the obstacles and attain the principal targets laid
down in the plan.
Among the weaknesses that were revealed in our planning methods at
this time were a tendency to see problems sometimes as purely
technical rather than primarily political, as well as a tendency to
excessive centralisation. Thus the fourth Five Year Plan (1966-70) was
based on the need to struggle against bureau¬cracy, to mobilise to a
greater extent than before the broad masses of the working people to
participate in the elaboration and operation of the plan, and without
weakening central planning -- to give greater scope for initiative at
local and enterprise level.
The more intensive participation of the masses of the people in the
elaboration of the fourth Five Year Plan is illustrated by the
increase in the number of proposed amendments to the plan which came
from meetings of work-teams: 141,000 as against 33,000 at the time of
the preparation of the previous Five Year Plan.
Our whole experience of socialist economic planning confirms that the
decisive factor in obtain¬ing economic results is the political
consciousness
of the working people; advanced technical experience plays an
important but secondary role.
Besim Bardhoshi
---------¬
THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ALBANIAN ALPHABET
By Shaban Demiraj
The first attempt to introduce a single alphabet for the Albanian
language took place in 1887, when Albanian patriots meeting in
Istanbul agreed on an alphabet of thirty-six letters. This alphabet,
which has passed into history under the name of "the Istanbul
alphabet" was based on the principle that each sound should be
represented by a distinct letter; its weaknesses lay mainly in the
fact that it was heterogeneous, being made up principally of Latin
letters but with some Greek letters and some specially created
letters. It therefore presented difficulties for publishers.
Nevertheless, the Istanbul alphabet became widely used in central and
southern Albania, as well as among the Albanian colonists in Bucarest,
Sofia, etc.
In northern Albania this alphabet was little used. The catholic clergy
continued to use the traditional alphabet of the old northern writers.
In 1899 the "Bashkimi" (Unity) Association was founded in Shkodra and
developed a new alphabet based on Latin letters completed by some
specially created letters. In 1901 the "Agimi" (Dawn) Association,
also in Shkodra, introduced another new alphabet based entirely on
Latin letters, some having diacritical signs. Thus in 1901-08 in the
single town of Shkodra there were in use no less than three different
alphabets.
Besides these three northern alphabets and that of Istanbul, the
Albanian publishing houses in Bucharest, Brussels, Sofia, Boston,
Cairo, etc., each had their own alphabet, based principally on Latin
letters but all having differences between them.
Following the Young Turk revolution and the promulgation of the
Turkish constitution, a certain degree of Albanian cultural activity
was permitted, and in these more favourable circumstances the Albanian
patriots decided to convoke a congress on the question of the Albanian
alphabet.
The congress was held in the town of Monastir from November 14th. to
22nd, 1908, and was attended by 32 delegates with voting rights,
representing 22 associations and clubs. The principal item on the
agenda of the Congress of Monastir was the question of the alphabet,
but purely political questions were also discussed, mainly in secret
session. Even the issue of the alphabet was to some extent a political
issue, since the development of national consciousness and national
unity was being held back by the absence of a single alphabet.
In the first two days of the Congress it was agreed that the new
alphabet should be based upon Latin letters (like the three alphabets
then in most common use -- those of Istanbul, "Bashkimi and "Agimi").
The Congress found no difficulty in agreeing on the letters
corresponding to sounds represented by the Latin alphabet, but the
delegates were unable to agree on the letters to be used for Albanian
sounds not represented by Latin letters. Eventually a compromise was
reached. The Congress decided that two alphabets should be adopted:
one was a modified form of the Istanbul alphabet; the other,
recommended for use in the publication of books and journals outside
Albania and for cables to foreign countries, made use only of
Latin-type letters. The Congress recommended that both these alphabets
should be taught in schools.
The Congress of Monastir achieved positive results in reducing the
number of alphabets in use to two. Nevetheless, the compromise
solution left the door open to a continuation of divisions: for in
practice the Istanbul alphabet continued to be used for most purposes
in the south and the "technical" alphabet for most purposes in the north.
But what the Congress of Monastir was unable to resolve in its
deliberations was resolved by the Albanian people themselves. The
Istanbul alphabet was found to be more awkward in practice and
gradually disappeared from use, leaving the "technical" alphabet,
composed purely of Latin-type letters, to become the national alphabet
of modern Albania.
--------¬
THE MURDERER
A short story by Sotir Nagi
I was twelve years old when it happened. My mother had died some years
before, and I lived with my father in the little village of Pinez. It
stood on the edge of a lake, surrounded by dense forest and with high
mountains behind it down which fierce streams rushed to hurl
themselves into the lake.
My father was a woodcutter, and every few days he would take a load of
wood over the mountains to sell in the town --for townsfolk liked to
be warm and would pay well for such fuel in winter. But that year all
the paths over the mountains had been completely blocked by deep
drifts of snow, and no-one had been able to reach the town for more
than a month. The villagers, of course, gathered their own fuel and
had no need of our wood, so that we had not eaten at all for several
days -- for my father was too proud to beg, as he put it.
It was the middle of January the snow seemed to hang over the village
like a dark blanket, so that the countryside -- even at midday -- was
lit by a dim bluish light like that from an oil-lamp. It was bitterly
cold, and even the fast-running mountain streams were fringed with
icicles, while snowflakes swirled continually in the air like tiny
pieces of cotton-wool.
That day was marked in the church calendar as "the day of the blessing
of the waters". The priest would bring the silver cross out of the
church and hurl it into the waters of the lake; whoever recover¬ed it
would, it was said, have great good fortune. My father was convinced
that if he found the cross, all our troubles would be over. "God sees
everything from on high", he would say; "who knows, perhaps it is our
turn to be rich!
"No, father", I would urge; the water is freezing. Don't do it."
He shook his head. "At least we shall have something to eat", he said
-- for the priest always arranged that whoever recovered the cross
from the lake was given a little feast from all the food the villagers
could spare.
"But it 's so silly", I said; "why should anyone want to throw a cross
in the lake in the middle of winter?" "Be quiet, my boy", replied my
father; "it has always been done".
I remember holding my father's big calloused hand as we walked over
the frozen ground to the lake. The wind cut into my face like a knife.
I thought of the one man in the district who always had plenty to eat,
the Aga. Why, I asked myself, should God have chosen him of all people
to reward?
When we reached the lake, the priest was al¬ready standing on the
great rock which overhang the water, holding the cross in his hand. He
had a brownish face, the colour of tea, and his thick, bushy eyebrows
half concealed eyes which people said were those of a saint. A few
people, as warmly dressed as they could afford, stood at the water's
edge and watched as the priest murmured a few words and then threw the
cross out into the lake.
No-one moved except my father who, after squeezing my hand
affectionately, waded out into the water and then swam to the place
where the cross had disappeared. He dived beneath the surface and it
seemed hours before his head reappeared above the grey water. He
looked towards me, shook his head, and dived again. The third time he
came to the surface I could see that his whole body was shaking
violently, but he dived again and this time, as he came up, he raised
his arm above his head to show that he held the cross.
He began to swim slowly and heavily towards the shore. As he came
nearer I saw that the movements of his arms were becoming more and
more difficult, and a few yards from the shore they stopped altogether
and he sank slowly to the bottom. I cried out and, with two men who
had been standing on the bank, ran out into the shallow water where he
lay. We raised him gently and carried him to our hut; his whole body
was quite blue, and the drops of water in his hair turned to ice in
the freezing air. Although we dried him and covered him with blankets,
he died that afternoon without opening his eyes or saying another word
to me.
That evening, as my father's body lay cold and still on his narrow
wooden bed, I glanced out of the window and saw the black, crow-like
figure of the priest walking up the path towards the church. I
re¬member, my eyes filled with tears, screaming out through the closed
window: "Murderer!" But he did not hear. . . .
--------¬
BIOGRAPHY:
MIHO TIVARASI, architect (14th. century)
In the early Middle Ages Albania produced a number of building
experts. So developed was this tradition and so renowned were these
experts that they were com¬missioned to travel all over the Balkans to
use their ability in the construction of houses, churches, bridges and
fortresses. In the 14th. century there came from one district of
northern Albania alone dozens of skilled architects, sculptors and
painters whose works can be found all over Dalmatia. Beautiful
creations in silver, gold, copper, ivory, coral and mother-of-pearl
spread from here throughout the Balkans and the whole Mediterranean
region, along with weapons and charmingly embroidered garments.
While the traces of Albanian craftsmen are found everywhere in the
Balkans, unfortunately most of their names have been lost since, in
the Middle Ages, little account was taken of individual artists.
One of the first Albanian craftsmen to have Dome down to us out of
this mediaeval anonymity and obscurity is Miho Tivarasi, an architect
and sculptor of the 14th. century, whose work is preserved in the
monastery in Ragusa -- as an inscription carved on the side of a
pilaster bears witness:
"S. DE MAGISTER MICHA PETRAR D. ANTIVAR QUI FECIT CLAUSTRUM CUM
OID-JIB SUIS"
(The grave of Master Miho, stone-cutter of Antivari, who built this
cloister and everything connected with it).
Unfortunately the inscription is not dated, but other evidence makes
it certain that the monastery, one of the finest in Dalmatia, was
built about 1380.
We know too little of the life and work of Miho Tivarasi for even the
simplest biography; we know in fact on]y the city of his origin and
that of his death. But the Albanian nationality of this
master-craftsman is admitted by Dalmatian historians (such as G.
Gelcich) and by British experts such as T. G. Jackson.
It is said that Miho Tivarasi worked also in Holland, but for the
moment we know of no work of his except this monastery. The
architectural scheme of this building -¬its arches, the colonnades in
the cloister, the ornament¬al motifs on the capitals -- are of the
Romanesque style with Gothic elements. The square courtyard is
surrounded by a beautifully proportioned cloister with thirty-two
colonnades, and the cornices are forcefully decorated with all kinds
of surprising zoomorphic figures quite unrelated to the religious
purpose of the building.
The monastery at Ragusa is one of the works which testify to the role
of Albanian artists in the history of Dalmatian art; but we can only
guess at the number of works created in foreign lands by our craftsmen.
--------¬
BOOK REVIEW
F. N. Pipinelis:
"EUROPE AND THE ALBANIAN QUESTION";
Chicago; 1963
by ARBEN PUTO
Before dealing with the book itself; a few words about the author seem
desirable. F. N. Pipinelis is a Greek career diplomat. His diplomatic
career began before the Second World War, and in the 1930s he was for
a time Secretary of the Greek Legation in Tirana. After the war he
rose into the higher ranks of the Greek hierarchy, becoming Prime
Minister for a time. Since 1967 he has been Foreign Minister in the
ultra-reactionary government which came to power followingthe
"Colonels' Coup".
It goes without saying that the publishers find this career the most
solid recommendation for the author ! The book itself also has an
interesting history. It was written at the end of the Second World War
with the manifest aim of presenting a "historico-scientific"
justification for the territorial claims placed by Greece before the
Paris Peace Conference of 1946. The present work is the second
edition, published in the United States in 1963 under the auspices of
the "pan-epirot Federation of America". This organisation of Greek
chauvinists has not only found shelter in the U.S.A. hut has had
placed at its disposal substantial means to carry on a systematic and
unbridled propagaganda campaign directed against the independence of
Albania.
"An Artificial Creation"
Pipinelis begins his book with the categorical declaration that,
before 1912, the idea of an indep¬endent Albanian state was"not
seriously entertained by anybody" (p. 9)
He cites as witnesses in support of this statement the British
Minister in Belgrade, Ralph Paget (who found the Albanians "unruly")
and the German Kaiser, Wilhelm 11 (who described the Austro-Hungarian
project for an independent Albania as "folly").
Since, according to Pipinelis, "the idea of an independent Albania was
not even deemed worthy of discussion" (p. ID),
Albanian independence was
"an artificial creation" (p. 15)
begotten by
"political expediency" (p. 15).
The parent of this "artificial creation" was, asserts Pipinelis,
Austria-Hungary and the Austrian thesis was "a fatal error" and the
principal cause of the Second Balkan War. For the Serbo-Bulgarian
Treaty of February 1912 provided that Serbia should annex northern
Albania and, when this was rejected, Serbia refused to withdraw her
troops from certain districts of r1acedonia which had been allotted to
Bulgaria. Thus, argues Pipinelis, if Albania had been sacrificed on
the altar of the Balkan Alliance, if Serbia had been permitted to
annex northern Albania, war "with its incalculable consequences for
the future of the Balkans" (p _ 17),would have been averted!
A Handful of Adventurers"
To support his fantasy of Albanian independence as "an artificial
creation", a gift with which the Albanians "did not know what to do"
(p. 31), Pipinelis is compelled to dismiss the Albanian national
movement as limited to the publication of some journals in the
Albanian language outside Albania and to "irresponsible acts by a
handful of adventurers" who wished to deceive the world into believing
that they headed a movement! (p. 19-20)
Pipinelis descends into the crudest chauvinist slander when he implies
that, not a few individuals, but the Albanian people as a whole were
corrupt.
"When Count Ciano had arrived at Tirana in the previous April, he had
stood on his balcony scattering banknotes to an enthusiastic crowd".
( p. 33).
"Northern Epirus"
The author reaches the core of his argument when he deals with the
subject of southern Albania -- under the name of Northern Epirus".
He argues that this region had belonged to Greece "from earliest
times" (p. 65). But the quotations he cites from Strabo and other
writers of Greek classical antiquity refer to "Epirus", which is not
to be identified with present-day Greece.
Pipinelis supports his claim about the continuing Greek character of
this region by citing "statistical data" on the composition of its
population submitted by Venizelos in a memorandum to the Peace
Conference of 1919: 120,000 Greeks, 110,000 Albanians. But the author
does net find it at all unnatural to add that the memorandum
considered as "Greek" all orthodox Christians, irrespecti veof
language, etc.
"In conformity with the view that, in the Balkans, religion was the
factor finally determining nationality" (p. 66).Realising, perhaps,
the absurdity of seeking to replace ethnical by religious criteria in
relation to frontier questions, Pipinelis goes on to assert that the
decisive factor in the Balkans is not human at all, but geographical.
In this respect, Northern Epirus" must be considered entirely Greek":
"Its geographical natural features, the lines of its landscapes, the
appearance of its inhabitants, the conditions of life, all wear a
Greek aspect. As one journeys from the sullen regions of central
Albania towards the gentler and more gracious land of Northern Epirus,
as one meets the inhabitants and comes into contact with their daily
life, that is eltogethermore civilised and more urbane, one can no
longer doubt that one has entered 'purely Greek lands".. (P. 70)
And this is the "case it of ,the Greek chauvinists for their
territorial claims against Albania!
Pipinelis's "solution":The Dismemberment of Albania
Pipinelis reaches the conclusion of his argument when he states:
"All the nations have lost by the experiment
in Albanian independence, and the fact alone surely
suffices to convince everyone that, if the Albanian
problem is to be solved in the near future in
a manner consonant with the interests of the
Balkan countries, the basis of that solution must
be a differen tone". (p. 93)
And the solution proposed by Pipinelis?
"Her (i e., Albania FS) integration within the political and economic
system of the Balkan countries -- of one, or more, or even all of
them. " ( p. 93),
or, in other words, the dismemberment of Albania, pure and simple.
But the Albanian people will never accept such a "solution" to "the
Albanian question". 'Their reply was given by Enver Hoxha from the
tribune of the 4th. Congress of the Democratic Front in September 1967:
"The Greek monarcho-fascists and their Balkan and extra-Balkan allies
seek to restore the long-past epoch when chauvinist cliques, supported
by the imperialist powers, hurled themselves upon Albania, dismembered
it, tore from it vast territories and placed large sections of its
people under foreign yoke.
We say to the Greek monarcho-fascists and their allies: Beware, for
history does not repeat itself. He who violates the sacred frontiers
of our country will meet death!
---------¬
THE CHANGE OF GENDER IN ALBANIAN NOUNS
by Shaban Demiraj
One of the linguistic phenomena common to both the Albanian and
Rumanian languages which has attracted the attention of philologists,
particularly in recent years, is that whereby certain nouns change
their gender in the plural number.
Albanian: MALL I MIRE (masc.) (a good commodity)
MALLRA TË MIRA (fem.) (good commodities)
TREN RAPID (masc.) (an express train)
TRENURI RAPIDE (fern.) (express trains)
This phenomenon is found also in other languages, including Czech,
Slovak, Polish and Italian. In all these languages the ambigenderous
nouns behave as masculine in, the singular number and as feminine in
the plural number, the gender of any qualifying adjectives being
adjusted correspondiny. In Albanian, however, this change of gender to
feminine in the plural affects also nouns which are neuter in the
singular.
In Albania ambigenderous nouns are distinguished by two essential
characteristics: Firstly,they designate either innanimate objects
or plants, never animals (including human beings); Secondly, they
form, the plural number by means of the inflective terminations -E or -A
Only if both these conditions are satisfied is a noun ambigenderous.
Thus, the nouns BURRE (man) and DERR (pig): have the plural forms of
BURRA and DERRA but they are not ambigenderous because they do not
satisfy the first condition. On the other hand, GUR(stone) and THUA
(claw, nail) represent inanimate objects, but they have the plural
forms GURE and THONJ, and so are not ambigenderous because, they do
not satisfy the second condition.
A similar state of affairs exists in Rumanian, where the change of
gender occurs only in nouns which designate inanimate objects or
plants and which form the plural number by means of the inflective
terminations -URI or -E The fact that this phenomenon is common to
both Albanian and Rumanian has led some linguists to postulate a
common origin for it.Gabinski, Togeby and Rosette conceive of Thracian
as this common origin. But, as we have seen, this phenomenon occurs
also in other languages (such as Czech,Slovak, Polish and Italian)
where it is impossible to envisage any Thracian influence. In any
case, we have no knowledge of the Thracian language.
Patrut on the other hand, conceives of Latin as the common origin of
this phenomenon in Albanian and Rumanian. In this connection it must
be noted that ambigenderousness is found very rarely indeed in the
vernacular of the Albanian ethnic groups in Italy and Greece,whose
speech patterns preserve many archaic features of the Albanian
language. From this and other evidence we may conclude with reasonable
certainty that while the phenomenon is relatively old in Albanian, it
is not so old as to make it possible to postulate a Latin influence.
In any case, the influence of Latin on the grammatital structure of
Albanan was very limited indeed.
In our view, the origin of the phenomenon of ambigenderousness in the
Albanian language is to be found in grammatical analogy. We must note
that typical Albanian feminine nouns form their plurals by means of
the inflect1ve terminations -E or -A (NUSE, bride; NUSE, brides;
VAJZE, girl;VAJZA, girls). It seems most likely, therefore, that
masculine and neuter nouns forming their plurals with these inflective
endings should come to be regarded as feminine whether they
represented inanimate objects (in which sexuality does not exist) or
plants (in which sexuality is often not obvious), but not when they
represented animals (in which sexuality came to be recognised it at a
very early stage of human social development).
-------¬
AN ILLYRIAN PREHISTORIC PAINTING
By Myzafer Kortkuti
During archaeological investigations at Trenii in Korça district, here
was recently discovered on a cliff face a prehistoric painting
depicting hunting on horseback. The line figures (4 horsemen, 4
hunting dogs and a deer) are painted in a light-brown pigment and are
represented as moving diagonally from left to right. (continued on
page 21)
The Treni painting, which dates from about 1,000 B.C., is the only
prehistoric hunting painting yet discovered in the whole of the Balkan
peninsula and represents one of the earliest and finest examples of
llyrian art.
THE NEW OIL REFINERY
by Stilian Pili
In August 1968 the new automated oil refinery at Fier came into
operation. While the Cerrik oil refinery, with one-third the capacity
of the new plant took five years to construct, using foreign equipment
and assisted by dozens of foreign specialists, the Fier refinery was
designed and constructed entirely by Albanian labour in only eighteen
months.
Equipped with a workshop for turning out 4,000 metal barrels a day,
the Fier refinery has an annual refining capacity of 500,000 tons of
crude petroleum a year. Its staff has been trained entirely in Albania.
-------¬
BIOGRAPHY:
THEODHOR ANASTAS KAVALIOTI, philosopher,
c . 1718 - 1797
The most interesting phenomenon in the development of Albanian thought
in the 18th. century was the spread of the ideas of the Illuminists,
who reflected the general economic and social progress of the country
at this time and the development of contact between Albania and the
democratic movements of other Balkan countries and western Europe.
The main centre of the Illuminists was the town of Voskopoja, near
Korça, which underwent a tremendous expansion in the years 1720-69.
The youth of the more well-to-do families were sent to study at
universities abroad, and they returned to form the stratre of lay and
ecclesiastical intellectuals who founded the Academy of Voskopoja and
made it the centre of propagation of the new Illuminist ideas.
One of the most important figures in this stratum was Theodhor Anastas
Kavalioti. He was born about 1718, of an Albanian father and a Vlach
mother. He learned as his mother-tongues Albanian, Vlach and Greek.
"We do not know for certain where he received his education. It is
probable that he received his first schooling in his native town,
passing from there to one of the colleges in Janina, where he came
into contact with Cartesian philosophy, which became the foundation of
his own thinking.
Kavalioti commenced his creative activity about 1740, when he began to
teach in the modernised school at Voskopoja, and in 1743 he wrote his
first work,"Treatise on Logic". The cultural movement in Voskopoja was
supported by the patriarchate of Ohrid, under the ecclesiastical
jurisdiction of which the town lay. The Ohrid hierarchy was, for its
own reasons, opposed to the islamisation of the population and so gave
its support to movements directed against the Turkish domination. It
was this Patriarchate which appointed Kavalioti a protopope.
While in charge of the school at Voskbpoja he wrote, in 1752, his
"Physics" and "Metaphysics". The "Physics" is progressive for its
time, since it is directed against scholasticism and is permeated with
the view that knowledge of the world can come only from scientific
investigation, not from tbeological dogma. However,Kavalioti's
philosophy as a whole is idealist -- based on the dualism of Descartes.
In 1750 Kavalioti supervised the publication at the Voskopoja printing
works of a Greek grammar written by himself. He continued his activity
after the liquid ation of the Patriarchate of Ohrid in 1767 and the
sacking of Voskopoja by the Turkish authorities in 1769. Denied the
possibility of publishing his writings at home, he had printed in
Venice in 1770 his work in Greek, "Protopoeira", a school manual
which includes a trilingual glossary of 1,700 words in Albanian, Vlach
and Greek. In 1774 he published, also in Venice, a new edition of his
Greek grammar, to which he added six poems by teachers from the Korça
region who had become his disciples.
In the years 1780-90 Turkish repression of Albanian thought forced him
to resign both from the school and from the church, and in 1784 he
entered commerce with his son Anastas. He died at Voskopoja in 1797.
----------¬
IN SEARCH OF KOLA
A short story for children by Shaban Vani
(The Albanian expression "working like Kola" corresponds
roughly to the English "working like the devil").
Vehap could not remember when he had heard for the first time the
words: "working like Kola", but it must have been when he was quite
small. And, as the years passed, the more he wished to meet this Kola.
When he got up the day after he left school, his mother said: "Son,
the clock has gone wrong. Take it and get it repaired -- otherwise we
shall be having supper at lunch time". "Now that", said Vehap to
himself, "is a wonderful idea for a career. I will become a clock
repairer. I can sit down all day screwing and unscrewing wheels, and
shall probably meet the great Kola!"
So the next morning he went to the clockmakers' cooperative and
applied for a job. "Since I was a small boy", he told the manager, "I
have been fascinated by clocks, and have already taken four to pieces".
When he put on his white coat on his first morning at work, be felt
very grown-:up -although he could see no trace of Kola. But when he
had cleaned his first clock, everybody laughed. "Vehap is
over-fulfilling the plan already", they said; "he has enough parts
left over for another clock".
That night in bed, Vehap pondered over the day's events. "This is not
for me", he thought, "to spend day after day with a glass in my eye
listening to my life ticking away. In any case, clocks are
old-fashioned things; Kola is probably an electrician".
The state building enterprise did not recognise Vehap's inherent
qualities and made him only a lowly apprentice electrician. On his
first day he was sent to assist in wiring a new house. "Just screw
these switches on the wall over the chalk-marks", said the electrician
'who was obviously too senile to know much about electricity. When
Vehap had performed this menial task, he decided todemonstrate his
unrecognised abilities by wiring up the switches. All went well until
he took hold of a particular wire which bit him savagely and threw him
to the floor with a cry of pain that could be heard a mile away.
"Obviously", said Vehap that night, "Kola is not in this kind of
work", and the next day he asked to be transferred to bricklaying.
"Very well", they said, "you will start as a bricklayer' s labourer
and go to night school to learn the trade". That afternoon Vehap and
the bricklayer to whom he had been assigned were sent to work, not on
the new Palace of Culture with its hewn blocks of marble, but to
rebuild a small chimney which had blown down in a gale. "Take these
bricks up the ladder to the roof", said the bricklayer(who seemed even
older than the ekectrician of the previous day) and I will come up in
five minutes to lay them". Vehap did so. "But there's nothing
difficult about laying bricks", he said to himself; "you just put some
mortar on them and place them one on top of the other.
When the bricklayer climbed the ladder to the roof, he found Vehap
buried beneath a chimney that had for some unaccountable reason fallen
down on top of him. His leg hurt badly. "Clearly", said Vehap, Kola
must be working in administration. . . .
----------¬
TOWN PLANNING IN ALBANIA
by Sabri Pilkati, Director of the State Design Institute.
The towns of Albania, some of which go back to antiquity, largely grew
up piecemeal, without any overall planning. But soon after Liberation
in 1945, the first town planners were trained and town planning
offices were established in every district.
Up to the present long-term development plans have been drawn up for
90% of our towns, and partial studies made for the rest. The urgency
of completing these preparations is illustrated by the rapid growth of
many Albanian towns: as compared with 1938, the population of Tirana
has grown 6.8 times, that of Durres 5 times, that of Vlora 5. times,
that of Fier 4.1 times, that of Korça 2.2 times and that of Shkodra
2.0 times. In addition, a number of completely new towns have been
built near newly discovered mineral deposits -. such as Cerrik, Maliq,
Patos, Memeliaj, Bulqiza, Kurbnesh. Pishkash and Laç.
Before final adoption, each plan was placed before the citizens
concerned in the form of drawings and models, and broad discussions
held in order that the views of the working people might be fully
taken into account. Every effort has been made in these plans to blend
the new harmoniously with the old and historic, without sacrificing
the requirements of modern architecture and building techniques.
Up to 1967, in addition to the reconstruction of war-damaged buildings
and the erection of schools, hospitals, theatres, palaces of culture
and other public buildings, more than 40,000 flats and 100,000
dwelling houses had been built in accordance with these development
plans. The rents for these dwellings average 1.7% of the average
family income of the occupiers.
---------¬
THE LEAGUE OF PRIZREND
By W. B. Bland
In March 1878, following its defeat by Russia in the war of 1877-78,
Turkey was compelled to sign the Treaty of San Stefano. Under the
terms of this treaty, Albania was to remain for the most part under
Turkish rule, but considerable portions of its territory were to be
handed over to Montenegro, Serbia and Bulgaria. However, the Great
Powers refused to accept the Treaty of San Stefano as valid and forced
Russia to agree that a revised peace treaty should be drafted by a
Congress of all the principal European powers, to meet in Berlin in
June of the same year.
With the aim of averting the dismemberment of their country, Albanian
patriots summoned an assembly, to which delegates were invited from
all parts of the country. This assembly held its first meeting in the
town of Prizrend on June 10th., 1878 -- three days before the opening
of the Congress of Berlin. Under the leadership of Abdyl Frasheri, it
at once set up a centralised political organisa tion, headed by an
executive committee, to be known as "The League", and proposed that
volunteer armed forces should be raised to resist the annexation of
Albanian territory. It also addressed a note of protest on this
question to the Congress of Berlin.
The Congress completely ignored the Albanian protest -- Bismarck, the
chairman of the Ccngress, denying that any Albanian nation existed.
And although the provisions of San Stefano were modified to meet the
interests of the Great Powers, the Congress reaffirmed the partition
of Albania. The League accordingly proceeded to recruit volunteer
fighters through¬out Albania in preparation for resistance.
The first documents issued by the League -- the Kararname (Register of
Resolutions), approved on June l8th., 1878, and the Kanun (Canon),
approved on July 2nd, of the same year -- reflected the strong
influence of the pro-Turkish beys and pashas, for these documents
defined the League as a Moslem organisation which recognised the
authority of the Turkish Empire over Albania. As a result, the Sublime
Porte at first looked benevolently on the League, seeing it as a
weapon to mitigate the demands of the Great Powers.
However, before the end of the year relations between the League and
the Istanbul government had seriously deteriorated. In August the
government sent to Jakova its former delegate to the Congress of
Berlin, Marshal Mehmed Ali Pasha, to try and persuade the Albanians to
hand over to Montenegro the areas allotted to it by the Congress of
Berlin.
The local committee of the League requested the Marshal to return to
the capital and when, protected by six battalions of Turkish troops,
he refused, it ordered its volunteer forces to lay siege to the
Marshal's headquarters. After two days of heavy fighting, on September
6th, 1878, the Turkish forces surrendered and Mehmed Ali Pasha was
executed.
These events created conditions which enabled the radical members of
the League to defeat the influ¬ence of the pro-Turkish nobles within
the organisation.
In September 1878 a secret committee of Albanian of patriots in
Istanbul, headed by Abdyl Frasheri, drafted a new programme which was
published on September 28th., 1878 in Sami Frasheri's newspaper
"Tercuman- i -arkil (The Interpreter of the East). This programme was
based on the principle of an autonomous Albania within the Turkish
empire and included the following demands:
1) that all the districts of Albania should be
united into a single vilayet; "
2) that the administrators of Albania should be
Albanian-speaking;
3) that public education in Albania should be in
the Albanian language;
4) that a General Assembly should be established
for Albania; and
5) that an adequate portion of the revenues raised
within Albania should be used for the needs of the
country.
This programme was adopted by the League on November 27th., 1878 and
reflected the transformation of the League into a genuine instrument
of Albanian nationalism.
The fact that the Albanian nationalists were demanding at this time
not independence for Albania, but autonomy within the, framework of
the Turkish empire reflected considerations both of an internal and of
an international character. Within the country itself the great landed
proprietors were still very powerful, while the emerging urban
capitalist class was still only in process of formation and very weak.
The class of semi-feudal landlords depended to a great extent on
Turkish rule for the retention of its privileges, and the demand for
autonomy rather than independence was successful in neutralising the
opposition of his class in the early stages of the development of the
national movement and in enabling the widest possible national front
to be formed. In the international arena Britain and and
Austria-Hungary regarded the integrity of the Turkish empire as, in
this period, essential to their interests. Of the Great Powers, only
Russia was interested in the dissolution of the Turkish empire, having
the aim of partitioning Albania among its Balkan allies.
The demand for autonomy thus enabled the fullest advantage to be taken
of the contradictions between these Powers, while the demand for
complete independence would have aroused the outright opposition of
Britain and Austria¬Hungary. Also, in face of the threat of
dismemberment of Albania, the question of maintaining the territorial
integrity of the country (even under Ottoman domination) was of the
greatest importance for the Albanian national movement.
It must also be remembered that the Albanian nationalists regarded
autonomy not as the end of the road, but as a step towards full
independence – and this course of development was, in fact, typical of
the actual experience of most of the Balkan countries.
In February 1879 Turkey withdrew its forces from the districts ceded
to Montenegro by the Congress of Berlin, but when the Montenegrins
arrived to take over the districts of Flava and Gucia they found the
volunteer forces of the League in occupation. After demanding without
effect that Turkey should eject the Albanian forces from the area, in
October Prince Nicola of Montenegro ordered his armies to occupy them
by force. After a series of battles which continued for several
months, in January 1880 the Montenegrin forces suffered an ignominious
defeat at the hands ofthe Albanian volunteers and were compelled to
withdraw.
Montenegro immediately appealed to the Great Powers for the
enforcement of the Congress decision, but so implacable had been the
Albanian resistance that the Powers renounced their first decision and
in April 1880 allotted to Montenegro, in place of Plava and Gucia, the
districts of Hoti and Gruda -believing that the predominantly Catholic
population of these districts wopld not oppose transfer to "Christian"
Montenegro. On April 22nd. the Turkish forces withdrew from Hoti and
Gruda and the armies of the League at once moved in. The Montenegrin
armies again attempted to take possession of their spoils, but were
once more decisively defeated by the Albanian volunteers at Ura e
Rzhanices and forced to withdraw.
On a further desperate appeal from Montenegro, the Great Powers
renounced their secon4 decision also, and allotted to Montenegro the
district of Ulqin in place of Hoti and Gruda.
On September 27th., 1880, immediately following the Turkish withdrawal
from Ulqin, the Albanian volunteers moved in to take possession of the
town.
This time, however, the Great Powers presented an ultimatum to Turkey,
declaring that unless the Turkish government secured the handing over
of Ulqin to the Montenegrins they would forcibly occupy the port of
Smyrna. In the face of this threat, the Turkish authorities began the
mass arrest of League members and in November a Turkish army of twenty
battalions under Marshal Tervish Pasha -- assisted by an international
fleet of 20 warships and 7,000 men under the British admiral Seymour,
which had arrived off Ulqin -- established a blockade of the town by
land and sea. At last, on November 23rd., 1880, this superior military
force succeeded in breaking the resistance of the Albanians, and three
days later, still in the presence of the international fleet, Ulqin
was handed over to Montenegro.
However, this Turkish intervention against the Albanian volunteers
enabled the radical wing of the League to oust from its directing
organs the pashas and clergy who stood for appeasement of the Istanbul
government. Under its new leadership the League pro¬claimed itself the
Provisional Government of Albania and organised a new army under the
command of Sulejman Vokshi. Beginning in January 1881, the army of the
League forced out the Turkish administrators from the whole of
northern and eastern Albania.
The Turkish forces did not at first intervene inthese developments
because of the threat of war with Greece. But in March 1881, following
the signature of a Turkish-Greek accord, the Sublime Porte despatched
a strong expeditionary force of 24 battalions under Dervish Pasha. The
pro-Turkish beys and pashas had now turned openly against the League
and organised the attempted murder of Abdyl Frasheri.
As a result of their influence, the League succeeded in raising only a
small army and the major part of this -- 6,000 men-¬was sent to defend
Prizrend.
The first encounter between the Turkish and Albanian armies took place
on April 16th., 1881. For four days the Turkish attacks were repelled,
but on April 20th. heavy artillery fire forced the Albanians to
retreat with heavy losses and the Turkish army was able to occupy
Prizrend.
Although the League succeeded in raising fresh forces which held up
the Turkish advance for some days, within a matter of weeks the
Turkish authorities had been successful in re-establishing their
administration over the whole of Albania. A reign of terror was
introduced under martial law and, by means of the most savage
repressive methods, the League was crushed.
Although the three-year armed struggle of the League of Prizrend could
not at that time achieve independence for Albania, its place in
Albanian history is an important one. The League brought forward for
the first time "the Albanian question" into the international arena,
and this did not cease to appear as an issue at international
conferences until Albanian independence was finally achieved in 1912.
It demon¬strated the power of even a limited people's war in the cause
of national liberation. It left its mark, not only upon Albanian
folklore, but on the politico-¬military strategy of the later stages
of the Albanian struggle for national liberation.
------¬
WE, THE SONS OF THIS NEW AGE. . . .
A poem by Migjeni
(Millosh Gjergj Nikolla, 1911 - 1938)
We, the sons of this New Age, leaving our elders to grow grey
in the service of "holiness",
raise our fists
to fight and win
new battles.
We, the sons of this New Age,
will tolerate no more
a land watered with tears
where the sweat of our brow flows in the prey of foreign greed.
We, the sons of this New Age, brothers in poverty,
one glorious hour will cry:
"Enough! "
No more defeats for us,
but only victory
and liberty!
We will no longer be
pawns in the bloody game of history, victims of "holiness"
chanting its hymns of love
while thrusting a spear
into the heart of man.
We, the sons of this New Age,
even if it cost our lives
will win this victory.
i- - - - - - - ¬
THE SONG OF MY TOWN
A sketch by Migjeni
>From early morning till late at night the streets of my town are
filled with song. It can be heard above the hurrying footsteps of the
passers-by as they walk along, and above the rumble of the
carriage-wheels on the cobbled wheels.
"Please, sir! Spare a coin, sir!, runs the song of my town.
Who could have composed such a beautiful melody? A Beethoven? A
Mozart? No, only on the pavements of my town could this song be
created, and only the inhabitants of my town can enjoy it.
It begins at dawn, as the sun's rays creep up over the shadowy
buildings. But it is especially prominent at nightfall when, having
enjoyed the pleasures of the day, people are looking forward to the
pleasures of the night. The sky takes on the blush of innocence;
lovers walk hand in hand -- and all this romantic happi¬ness is
accompanied by the perpetual moving refrain: "Please, sir!, Spare a
coin, sir!"
A lad of about ten years of age, in ragged clothes, bounds alongside a
well-dressed gentleman like a puppy trying to lick his master's hand.
He pulls on the hem of the gentlema'ts coat -- very gently so as not
to arouse his wrath -- and chants the song of my town: "Please, sir!
Spare a coin, sir!"
But the gentleman's thoughts are elsewhere, for the shops are carrying
a new fashion in embroidered waist¬coats. And so, failing to attract
his attention, the lad sinks into the vilest of crimes: he tugs on the
gentleman's coat a little too hard. The victim of his assault raises a
ringed hand and strikes the pale face of the aggressor, saying in
cultured tones: Get away, you dirty little urchin!"
But the boy does not cease his song. From the pave¬ment where the blow
has caused him to fall, he raises a small outstetched hand and cries:
"Spare a coin, sirl Please, sir!"
The gentleman's heart is finally touched by this pitiful persistence.
He feels in his pocket and takes from it a penny, to hurl it with all
his force in the face of the boy before he walks on. The boy's hand
darts quickly out to grasp the coin before it can be lost for ever
down the drain. He raises his head, from which blood is flowing into
the gutter, and cries:
"Thank you, sir! God bless you, sir!"
------------¬
THE EXPORT OF GRAIN FROM ALBANIA
IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEETH CENTURIES
by Bogumil Hrabek
Like other mountainous countries, Albania does not produce cereals of
the highest quality. Nevertheless, this ,did not prevent, in the
period of pre-Ottoman feudalism, the export of surplus Albanian grain.
In the 14th. and 15th. centuries, the only sources of this exported
grain were the productive plains along the sea-coast and the banks of
the larger rivers; grain from the interior reached the coast at this
time only with great difficulty, since trans-continental trans¬
port was costly and unreliable.
Albanian grain is mentioned in the Statutes of Dubrovnik (1272) and it
can safely be assumed that the export of Albaan cereals had attained a
permanent and stable character by the last third of the 13th. century.
During the 14th. century it attained a considerable volume, and this
state of affairs continued until the last third of the 15th. century
(the period of the complete Turkish conquest ofnorthern Albania and of
the Turkish-Venetian wars), when little grain was exported from
Albania. This latter situation remained unchanged until 1494 when,
following a succession of poor harvests, Dubrovnik once again became
interestedin buying wheat and millet from Albania. And in 1501, during
the Turkish-Venetian war, Albania was permitted to sell grain to Venice.
During the earliest period, wheat of somewhat inferior quality was
exported. By the middle of the 14th. century millet had been added and
ecame the principal export of mediaeval Albania. Barley was of little
sig¬nificance, and beans and other leguminosa are not mentioned in
connection with Albania at this period. Towards the end of the 15th.
century, however, the chick-pea was added to Albania's exports.
At the beginning of the 14th. century the best known Albanian export
port was Vlora, while the port of Spinaritza in the south was also
very busy. Durres, separated from its hinterland and the subject of
continuous conflict between the families of Thopia, Balsha and
d'Anjou, not only did not export grain at this time, but had to import
it from Italy for its population. It was only at the beginning of the
15th. century that Durres and Lesh, now Venetian enclaves, became
export ports for grain. By the end of the 15th. century the export of
Albanian cereals was concentrated in the three ports of Vlora, Durres
and Lesh.
The principal purchasers of Albanian grain in this later period were
Venice and Ragusa; the Republic of St. Mark (which had possessions in
Albania and a powerful war-fleet in Albanian water s held in
particular a very strong position in the Albanian grain market. Later.
grain export to Dubrovnik became very considerable and in this trade
Italian merchants played an important role.
---------¬
THE BURIAL PLACE OF SKANDERBEG
by Frano Prendi
According to his biographer Bar1etius, Skanderbeg died at lesh and was
buried "in the cathedral of St. Nicho1as, which was later transformed
into a mosque".
Ippen (1907) believed that this cathedral was situated within the
fortress of Lesh, but this view may be discounted. Firstly, it is
difficult to believe that the principal church for the citizens of
16sh would have been built so far from the town, and in a closed
military area. Secondly, the only mosque within the fortress gives no
indication of having been constructed above an earlier building.
Thirdly, historical records show that in the middle of the 16th.
century there were only Moslems within the citadel, while the
Cathedral of St. Nicholas is mentioned as a functioning church until
the end of the 16th. century.
Bizzi (1610) believed that Skanderbeg was buried in the Church of the
Anunciation, a pre-Ottoman building on which was later built the
Church of Dom Llesh. But records establish that the Church of the
Anunciation was functioning at the same time as the Cathedral of St.
Nicholas, indicating that the two hed a separate existence at the same
time. Furthermore, this hypothesis is in conflict with the reliable
and almost contemporary testimony of Barletius.
Popular belief has long identified the Cathedral of St.Nicholas with
the little Church of St. Nicholas that stands near Lesh on the banks
of the Drin. But the small size of the building, its position well
outside the town, the relatively recent date of its construction, the
absence of any trace of Moslem architecture -¬all these factors make
it impossible to identify this tiny church with the former cathedral
of the same name.
Having excluded the above hypotheses, we concentrated our attention
upon the Selimie Mosque at Lesh, named after one of three Sultans of
Turkey and situatedon the highway to Shkodra.
First inspection revealed that the building is constructed along an
east-west axis, which is very uncommon for Moslem edifices of this
kind. And once we had excavated the foundations, we found conclusive
evidence that the mosque had been constructed on the remains of a
Christian church of the Byzantine period (15th.-16th. centuries) with,
below this the found¬ations of an earlier buildimg of indeterminate
function dating from the 3rd. century.
This archaeological evidence is in complete con¬formity with the known
historical facts concerning the Cathedral of St. Nicholas. The first
church on the site was destroyed towards the end of the 1440s,probably
by the Turks but this is not certain. In 1457 Pope Calixtus 11 sent an
epistle to the faithful of Lesh asking them to rebuild "the ruined
church of St. Nicholas" and about 1459 it was reconstructed as a
cathedral. The great fire of Lesh in 1506 caused serious damage to the
cathedral (extensive burn-marks can still be seen on the excavated
walls). In the 1580s it was transformed into a mosque and in the 1620s
it was abandoned and fell into a ruined state. The present Selimie
Mosque was built on these ruins towards the end of the 18th. century.
On the walls of the second constructional layer we discovered a
damaged fresco depicting the figure of a saint in episcopal dress,
encircled by a wavy border. We believe this to be the figure of St.
Nich¬olas, patron saint of the cathedral.
As further substantiating evidence must be mentioned the small
cemetery discovered near the altar, its graves open and empty. This
discovery is in accordance with documentary evidence that the Turks,
having transformed the church into a mosque, exhumed the bones of the
dead and threw them contemptuously in the Drin.
The perfect accord between the archaeological and known historical
data in our view establishes in striking manner, in our view, that the
Cathedral of St. Nicholas, in which our national hero lies buried}
stood on the site of the Selimie Mosque in Lesh. The tomb of
Skanderbeg has not been discovered, nor will it be, since it is
recorded that in 1478 the Turks de¬spoiled his tomb and used his bones
as amulets.