INFORMATION ON ALBANIAN COOPERATIVES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R005000520003-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 19, 1999
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: June 20, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

INth~ t OF~X lit
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE OF
INFO.
C SSIFICAaTION GO. FI ~ITIAL 25X1 A2
Approved For Relea '89S/~ffi~1.9.If3gW~ EIQ 00457R ppQI Q /A
INF MAT O REPORT
CD NO.
Albania TMMS44DAT-E DISTR. 20 JUN 5i
Information on Albanian Cooperatives NO. OF PAGES s
25X1A6a
25X1X6
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
There are four kinds of cooperatives functioning in Albania toddy:
a? Consumers' cooperative (for buying and selling) in the villages.
b. Consuw?s' cooperative (for employees and laborers) in the cities,
c. Cooperative for trade unions.
c:. Farm cooperatives ("kooperativc bujgosore" ).
These cooperatives are directed by a Central Comr.4i.ttee which belongs to
the Labor Communist Party of Albania, as does its sub-groups in the otios
and vi:i-1a,~;es. The gove'in.rent s tronr ly subsidizes the cooperatives, which
it considers as helpful instruments in its strugt;lo a;:,ainst "capitalistic
economy" as well as in educating the riasses in the "collective" i.ay of
life.
Consumer Cooperatives in the villages
...M Until the and of 1948. the consumers' cooperatives of the villages had as
their principal aim the buying of produce fran the peasant at low pricer,
the selling of these products at low cost in the cities through the con-
sumers' cooperatives there, and supplying the peasant in turn with manu-
faobrred goods.
The sale of goods to the cooperative was voluntary; however, as none of
the peasants offered their products for sale because of the low prices,
they were forced to do so '~y the agents of the Peoples' Security. Beginning February 1949 the cash market for the products of the peasant
was abolished and the barter system was substituted tir'hereby the peasant
gives his products and receives industrial goods not essential to him and
his family (sic),, 1 or these he goes to the warehouse of the cooperative
with his products for exchange, The warehouse man receives his products,
lists them an a receipt in diplicate,, and signs it. This duplicate reoeiptf
which is used by the consumer cooperatives, is as follows:
STATE
Ankfill I
Ap
NAVY
AIR
CLASSIFICATION COY IDIAL
NsRO_
FB!
DISTRIBUTION
This document is ;reeky reg.aded to
in accordance with the
letter per 1978 from the
Director c ers En:ch.gence to the
Archivist os united States.
rW? Feg '' IgMe 1999/09/0
Document N
No Cha
N9 Decl s
ss. CFs
5000520Q
Dye --- -
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CU. 'j VI DrIAL
C i:TRAL IIJT ,LLIC>.;;NC :z Gi 1TCY
25X1A2g
"Cooperatives e shit-biorjes i;rsoL ne a . . ? .
(Cooperative of selling and buying) (ursoke on, . ? a A)
(Ilar;ie of city or- village) Erseke
L It a tY ark n. i a . ? . a
(Receipt No. . . . . a
~~ : ? . ? . . . . ? . . a dorezoj xnai lrat a po8htc shonurara:
(ulr a ? ? . . es ? . a a dGavo the f oll0winr, articles: )
T
~..~
lstnraurxt )...- ~. _(. j of ;oad ja ~....m ......(},rice ).. - _ "D st n Cdr of -I -W7
Sasia .m ~. Lluz i r allit Gnx, ._ .~ .. _. Sham lek ~..~
4 (sic) K,gr (butter)gjalp 12,55 5 0 0
(The seller)
Fahatura shites
Si gnatur e
(The warehouseman)
MuCazinieri
Sir;naturz"
Prices for products are uniformly established for all of Albania, and are
atanounc?d in a circular to the cooperatives issuaci by the Ministry of
Corziercea The prices dosicna.ted by the 11ini-stsy of Co n.= roe at Tirana
are based upon the best quality of the various products a
7. A clerk at the cooperatives is ii charge of grading the quality of the
goods. He has the authority to lower the .pricy fixed by the llir.istry by
20 percent if the quality of the given wads 3.s not high enough.. For ex p1a,
in the receipt above, the 8 (sic) kilopraris of outLer according to the price
list b. the Ministry of Cora~.orce is 150 lck per Iaa.loCyam, but the ewrarehousenan
of the copa.?ative priced it at 125 lak pF: ? kilofrtu,,, because it was not of
the beat quality. Source points out that the ,:;oohs of those who aro not partyr
members are priced lower than those who are* lie also states ucncerning this ea aoi-
tati.on that althour;h the caoperrxtivo buys butter at the ate tt price, 150 lek
(approximately iS S. ti; ,UO) par kilogram, in the black market: the srxie butter is
sold for 1$300 lek (approximately Una k'2C.00). Other examples of exploi-
tation are the pries of oranges (one kilo?;ram costs 15 1?,,) and potatoes
(one kilogram costs 5 1c k), ; hich the t;ur thousEF:.an has tho right to decrc: aco
20 aor?cont; they become 12 anc: 3 (sic) lak the kilo, while on the black
market they are priced very hi. h. The duplicate receipt for the products
of the peasant is retained at ;ceadquartors, while a copy is kept by the
peasant who appears v;ith it before the account'.. .at of the cooperative. Af-Uer
tote aceoun'LhYnt verifies the receipt, he pays the peasant the value of the
given goods for which the peasant signs; the signed receipt remains in the
h ;adquarters of the accountant as a receipt of payment made. The accountant
then turns to the back sheet of the receipt the so-called "account quota",
which deals with tho quota of goods to be given to the peasant ..for every
product that he has givoxa, CooR ratives of Industrial V orkers and Trade Unions
These cooperatives function in cities and vi11af;es and those who belong
are classed according to industrial skill (tailors, shoemaker;, etc.).
All the specialists work in partnership but their compensation does not
c.epend upon Cains made and they work without salary. Any profits are used
for purchasing Soviet-typo equipment. Although there have been instances
ewwhers'profits from the cooperatives were distributed among its members;,
the amount was very, littleo There cooperatives opet?ato for the purpom
mainly of separating the workers from private production and for educating
them in the collective way of work and productions
14. Farm Cooperatives
The fare cooperatives of Albania are similar to those in the Soviet Union
functioning by the wno of kolhoz, The Tirana Government pays particular
attention to their establish.-lent, retarding their prevalance as a basic
factor in making Albania communistic, The far>a cooperatives of Albania
are formed and administered as follows:
as General Assembly
(1)
The General Assembly is the highest governing body of the farm
cooperative,
(2) The General Assembly performs tho followix ; functions.-
(a)
Passes on the entrance of nor members and on the expulsion
of members who do not conform to the rules.
Judges the yearly report of the leaders of the cooperatives.
Approves the contract with the nechani zed tillage depot (ST)
.
Judges the plan of production and economic acrni.tistration.
Passes on the internal laws of the cooperatives.
insets the leaders of the coopera.tivesy, its own leadership
and the Conttol Committee*
(3) The decisions of the General Assembly are valid when more than
half of the merabers of the cooperatives are present, In the ors?vs
of the election of the chief and other leaders, and the designation
of credits and eviction of meribers, at least two.-thirds of the
members must be present. Decisions are made by majority votes which
are taken openly.
be Chief of the Farm Cooperative
The chief is elected by the General Assembly for P. term of two years.
At the same time he is chairman of the 1xecutivc Committee. The chief
and the iJxeeuti ve Coma ;ittee jointly name the p cjrsons responsible for the
various sections of the coopsr?ative d and also for the "brigadiers" of
C(Thr' IDi AL
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CX)l,i~' ri a LL,
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the labor brigades that viork for the cooperative. ?>icy also appoint
an accountant fror. the Lxccutive Cor.L ittec or f roi.: o ttsido,, All
documents of the coo erative are aail;ned oy the accout:';ant and the chief',
in the absence of the latter, b; ::is aasnis;ant?
The Executive Co ri rtes is res onsible to tl a Genera'. Assembly for
the operation of the cooperative and for the fulfil?agent of the obii-
gations of the cooperative to the State. llesending ulon the size of
the cooperative, membership ranges from fi?rc cc'a nine ly, -sons. Ii embors
are elected by open voting by the .: moral its e c3ratiily for a term of two
ears. On nomination by the chief of the t-oopoi-,tivee t1 o j xecutive
Committees elects his assistant (sic).
Tile Control Coin ittee is expected to make : ri invc: r-l;igaxtior. of the
cooperative at least four times a ; ;are It investigates nc:: only
the financial maznager:ent but also the condi`ti.on o.' all the t,iods
held by the cooper:.tivo 9 The Ccnn ittee pre e is 10s findirt4:
immediately after the reading of the annual report by the Bz ~cutivee
Coru:mittee? Including the chief and the acc(tintunt "secretsr.-) m rie
worship varies from three to five persons, d ipendin.t,, upon the size of
,he cooperative. The Control Co ;7ittee is e:tcted '.y the Gonr,,.,al
ALssotr_bly f'or a period of two years, Selectic -i o l' m n.ibers must invariably
have the a :~_.roval o- the 1,x~::eutive Ccmriit,teo jf the -eoplo''s Cot,lcil
of the region in which the cooperative is lock. tad,
o Labor Brigades
(1) The :'xecutive Com ittee of the cooporativa: is formel from tha
members of the "labor brigades" and ;groups Tho heat of the
"brigade" designates the work for the mei.I.ers. The ' ";rigadic;r"
keeps a. book in. which he records the daily production of each
aaaorkor0 At the end of every year the da;i_':y work recor' of each
member is placed on a kind of chart? If the yield of t peasan'.
or of a cattle-raising "brigade" is good and surpasses lie quota
planned' then the chief of the cooperativ3 can increase .he ntmib),,?
of days' work of the members of the "brigade;" up to 10 ,, co,-cent of
the entire number of days which they vior'sed all yoird Wthe oL-Iir
hand, if the yield is lower than the quo k a plannod, then : ; can
decrease the number of working days by 10 porcont,
(~) 3he profits of the cooperative are distrib;ted at 'the end ,F the
year among; the members a according to the c a ly grodu,;ticn i?e coi?d
of each. A member can receive a payment before the distrib t;ion not
to exceed 50 percent of the anticipated pro.'.'it for each i ror.
At the end of the year a member can receive an adve;.ce pa.4 atit of
only 10 to 15 percent of the anticipated dis'?.ributic?i.
(5) The chief can impose punisIm ont such as fines and tor.poraary suspension
from work for any violations of rules or for Ltd work, For die,
ouodience the chief may ask for dismissal of a worker from the '..eneral
Assembly. Source repor-.;s cases there members of cooperatives t9 ;,?e
taken to court because of economic sabotage.
Nembershi in the Farm Cooperative
(1) It person :;ho desires to become a member must submit a ijritt;sn
requost in w:iich he staa:.es that he will accept all c:Mdi.tior.s
of the cooperative. The General Assembly decides upcri the a;pli-
ciitions. Both sexes in their 16th year may apply.
ja.ny _:artnor taaho is dismaisseci frown a ft:rm cooperative catt appeal
to the Control Corm.ittee of the Peoplo s Council in the: area , The
oahief is also present;; and they docide whetner? or not his dig:;