Non-Communist Rule Begins in Albania : Eastern Europe: The new leadership faces stiff economic and political challenges after 47 years of Stalinist control.

This nation on Wednesday inaugurated its first non-Communist government since World War II, marking the end of 47 years of hard-line Stalinist rule and the beginning of efforts to heal Europe’s most devastated economy.

Former Communist Ylli Bufi was named to lead a 22-member “government of national salvation” until new elections can be held early next year.

Bufi vowed to quickly chart a course of economic and political reform to dig Albania out of the mire resulting from decades of rigid communism and self-imposed isolation.

In a speech presenting the new government’s program to Parliament, the 45-year-old Bufi, a former food minister, painted a gloomy picture facing Albania as it struggles to back away from social chaos and industrial collapse.

“The countryside is in crisis,” Bufi said. “Agriculture is not producing. If we do not halt this process, there will be an economic tragedy.”

He warned Parliament that Albania has food reserves to last only a few days and said that desperately needed foreign aid has slowed to a trickle because of political instability.

In a major turnaround in the leadership’s attitude toward free-market reforms, Bufi underscored the need for rapid privatization to revitalize moribund state industry and step up food production. But he said more than $100 million worth of imports are needed to carry Albania through its rough transition.

A Communist government headed by Prime Minister Fatos Nano won overwhelming endorsement in elections only two months ago but collapsed last week under the strain of a three-week general strike and widespread unrest.

The new Cabinet named Wednesday retains nine former Communists, but the key ministries are dominated by independent and opposition figures.

Sali Berisha, leader of the pro-Western Democratic Party, the largest opposition party in Parliament, expressed optimism that the new Cabinet’s clear-cut stance had received support from parties across the political spectrum.

The opposition’s virtual takeover of ministries dealing with the economy has galvanized hope that free-market reforms, which made little progress under the Communists, can now be tackled.

Another top Democratic Party official named to the leadership, Deputy Prime Minister Gramoz Pashko, lashed out at the legacy of poverty and underdevelopment bequeathed by communism.

“The Communists have left Albania’s economy in a state of disaster,” said Pashko, a leading economist. “They have created a mess of overwhelming proportions. But someone has to clean it up, if only for the sake of our children.”

Berisha repeated the opposition’s determination to stick to the letter of a power-sharing accord reached last week with Communist President Ramiz Alia and independent trade union officials.

Under the agreement, no member of the new government will be able to run for office in the next elections, retain party membership or found a new party. It also calls for a ban on all strikes for the duration of the new government, a provision that could prove difficult to enforce if acute food shortages and factory shutdowns persist.

Despite the predictable displays of optimism from the political parties that drew up the accord, Western diplomats expressed doubts over the new Cabinet’s ability to create a climate of confidence and enforce its decisions in local districts still dominated by old-style Communists holding tightly to power and privilege.

Doubts were renewed over the willingness of the Communists to change when a key party congress failed to select a new leader at what was supposed to be the concluding day of the once-every-five-years gathering.

The 50-year-old organization changed its name from the Albanian Party of Labor to the Socialist Party of Albania, but in view of the vocal challenge of party conservatives, the change may be purely cosmetic.

At the congress that opened Monday, a strong majority refused to adopt a resolution blaming the late Enver Hoxha, who ruled Albania for 41 years, for the “mistakes of the regime,” a key demand of party reformers.

Led by Dritero Agolli, a prominent poet and one-time chronicler of the Hoxha personality cult, the reformers shocked the congress with a venomous condemnation of Hoxha for building one of the world’s most brutal police states and leading a “paranoid” policy of total self-reliance and isolation.