The “Puna” (“Work”) society of Korça was founded (1933-1937), a professional organization of workers. About 500 construction workers and craftsmen participated in it: masons, carpenters, plasterers, lime makers, brick and tile workers, carpenters, tinsmiths, electricians, etc. That’s why it was called the professional association of masters for construction of buildings, “Puna”. Petro Papi, a member of the Communist Group of Korça, was appointed Chairman of the Society. Its purpose, according to the legal statute, was the protection, moral and material assistance of its members and the preservation of the dignity of workers. The charter stated that the Society would not engage in political activity. The “Puna” society developed a wide and intense activity for the protection of workers’ rights, from interventions in cases when its members were not paid a salary or were paid less than the agreement, to the organization of strikes for improving their working conditions and living standards. It was the most organized and militant labor society in that time. The “Puna” society was headed by a management council headed by Pilo Peristeri. The constant demands of the society: against unemployment, against the arbitrariness of the employers who threw the workers on the streets, for the control of the grain trade, flour and bread prices, for the reduction of working hours, for the improvement of working conditions, for the replacement of the system in road maintenance with progressive taxes in cash, for the opening of world works beneficial to the country’s economy, etc., put the government in a difficult position. The “Puna” society also participated in the fight for the democratization of the municipal council, that of the Chamber of Commerce, in the elections of elders and deputies, etc. The government, considering the activity of the society harmful and dangerous, dissolved it on February 27, 1937. (In the photo: Panoramic view of the city of Korça, beginning of the 20th century.)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2512-2513.
Graphic processing: AHCF
