BY BOBBIS MISAILIDES
ATHENS, Greece - Thousands of working people gathered at the Square of the Flag in Vlore, Albania, on May Day to demand the ousting of President Sali Berisha. The protest was organized by the Committee for the Salvation of the People to press for the president's resignation and warn imperialist forces occupying Albania not to reinforce Berisha's ongoing hold on power.

Three days later, the Italian garrison in Vlore was fired on, in the first direct assault on the imperialist troops in Albania. No one was injured in that incident.

Vlore remains at the center of the working-class rebellion that erupted in early February against the results of the "market reforms" of the pro-capitalist Berisha administration. The confrontation was sparked by the collapse of fraudulent investment schemes, known as "pyramids," which the Berisha government had backed. The revolt has caused a deep crisis in the bureaucratic caste that has controlled political power in this Balkan workers state for decades.

Since their landing in Albania in mid-April, imperialist forces have continued to spread their detachments around the country from the initial camps they set up in Tirana, Durres, Fier, and Vlore. On May 5, 300 Romanian troops, accompanied by Italian and French soldiers, moved into Gjirokaster, in southern Albania. Greek troops were deployed from Tirana to Elbasan. The 6,500 foreign troops, led by Italian army units, are collaborating with the government of "national reconciliation" to press for the dissolution of rebel councils in the south and the disarming of the population.

The ultimate goal of the intervention is to speed the day when imperialist powers can do away with the remaining gains of the 1944-46 socialist revolution and re-impose the complete domination of capitalism. The Italian, Greek, French, and other forces are carrying out this mission under the pretext of guaranteeing distribution of "humanitarian aid."

Many working people hold illusions that the imperialist troops may help bring security and guarantee fair elections in Albania, now scheduled for June 29.

Nevertheless, the efforts by the imperialists and the government in Tirana to end the revolt once and for all are running into trouble. At 2 a.m. on May 4, three men fired on the Italian San Marco military camp in Vlore. Lt. Colonel Giovanni Bernardi of the Italian army called the attackers "criminals." Reuters quoted Bernardi saying, "The men on duty fired back into the air in the general proximity of the criminals without trying to kill them... No one was injured and there was no damage."

Rifts continue between Berisha's Democratic Party and Prime Minister Bashkim Fino's Socialist Party, the main groups in the coalition government that represent competing layers of the ruling caste.

After a recent meeting with Berisha and Fino in Tirana, Franz Vranitzky, the European Union envoy in Albania, said there were divisions between the two on how to proceed with parliamentary elections. Fino reportedly hopes to convince the rebel councils to dissolve and accept the authority of previously elected mayors and city councils before the elections. But facing stiff opposition from working people, Fino and the imperialist forces have retreated from their earlier demands to disarm the population in the insurgent cities in the short term. Berisha, meanwhile, insists that planned elections can take place "only after the rebel committees are disbanded" and weapons collected by authorities in Tirana.

Fino has asked the European Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to oversee the elections, including the drafting of a new electoral law. Even SP ministers now state the election will probably be postponed. "June 29 is too early and August 1 too late," Albanian justice minister Spartak Negla told the Greek news daily Kathimeriní.

Organizing "fair elections" is increasingly becoming the pretext for extending the imperialist intervention. According to the May 6 Eleftherotipía, one of the main Greek dailies, the Italian-led force is now planning to extend its mandate for another three months and beef up the troops. Rome, which has already deployed 3,000 men, will reportedly send another 2,000 soldiers who will be deployed largely in the insurgent southern part of the country.

Meanwhile, Berisha has continued to organize vigilante gangs that terrorize the population. The May 3 New York Times reported that Agim Shehu, the former head of the national police the government was forced to fire, "has organized a private militia loyal only to Berisha."

At a meeting in Vlore on April 25, the National Front for the Salvation of the People, the coalition of 28 rebel councils, reiterated that its affiliates will not disband "until Berisha's dictatorship falls, a new government is elected and has a chance to present its program, and legal guarantees are provided that the government will return 100 percent of the funds" Albanians lost after the collapse of the pyramid schemes.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home