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Although there is no evidence this side of the Iron Curtain that Puppet Premier Enver Hoxha is disloyal to Moscow, Strongman Shehu may replace him. Recently the Russians imposed a new system of food distribution: henceforth crops will be forcibly collected from the peasants, put in a central pool at Tirana. Peasants will then buy back food for their own use under the same rationing conditions and at the same high prices as city dwellers. By making Hoxha personal sponsor of the measure, the Russians made him the scapegoat of enraged farmers. Russian food policy, confiscation of property and police terror have made his regime the most hated in Albania's history.
Word from King Zog. Since 1948, about 500 Albanians have escaped into Yugoslavia, many of whom have found haven in Titograd, the new provincial capital the Montenegrins are building on the ruins of Podgorica, which was razed by British bombers in World War II. Sipping thick Turkish coffee in a Titograd café last week, one of the refugees, a country storekeeper, said: "Police came to me and demanded 2,000,000 lek [$4,000]. I told him I didn't have it. They sent me to jail in Scutari. They chained my arms together underneath my knees and threatened me with electric wires. I was sentenced to four years."
Resistance to the regime inside Albania has been getting outside encouragement. Despite antiaircraft fire, strange planes have been flying over Albania dropping leaflets with the message: "Long live Albanian liberty. Do not lose faith. You will be freed soon." After each leaflet raid Shehu's police try to hold residents indoors until all leaflets have been picked up. Sponsor of the leaflets is the Free Albania Committee, whose headquarters is in New York City and which wants to bring back King Zog, now in exile in Egypt. Who supplies the aircraft is a Balkan mystery. Yugoslavia anxiously disclaims all responsibility, points out that trouble in Albania might be an easy excuse for Russia to make trouble in Yugoslavia. No one in the Balkans has forgotten the repeated promises in Moscow's Pravda that the Red Army will march into Albania when necessary.