By Admirina Peçi
-The evidence for the campaign of violence that was practiced in the schools of Shkodra, against the children of political opponents, in the first years after the war!-
Memorie.al / Those who had a past opposition to the communists, or who did not embrace the forms of the communist regime, in the first years after the war, were included in the category of reactionaries, enemies of the people, or as they were otherwise called, the enemy element. A school child who came from such a family did not enjoy the same rights as the children of communists. The regime had even prepared the ground for how they would break, through violence and other forms, all school children who came from families that opposed the communist regime. The document that we bring today belongs to the year 1948 and is a report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, sent to the Central Committee, about a campaign of violence that was being exercised in the schools of Shkodra, against the children of political opponents.
The communist regime had declared open war against this category, especially in Shkodër, and through this letter from the Ministry of the Interior, it is known that until then, that is, in 1948, they had not been tough enough with these “elements”.
After this finding, the structures of the Communist Party in Shkodër consulted with the Security section and it was deemed reasonable to take rigorous and more efficient measures from those that had been undertaken until then.
From the entire informative report, which talks about this problem, it can be seen how they nurtured violence in the school, as a means of inciting and strengthening the class war, where the word beating, grabbing by the throat, banging the head against the wall, etc., it is articulated by the party people, as something common and normal.
In a fragment of the report, it is written: “It was decided to exclude up to 6 reactionary elements from the organization and to prepare the ground for the beating of these elements by the students.
After that, the other more visible reactionary elements were caught by the good students of the organization and severely threatened. Even the director had to threaten some reactionary professors and after that, they had to be handed over to the Executive Committee, so that they could be reprimanded this one too. For all these decisions, the school Secretariat had to make a plan on how to proceed”.
After this plan, public beatings and threats ruled the schools of Shkodra. “…some young communist students and Party members in the schoolyard capture and beat some apparently reactionary elements. After that, about 13 reactionary elements were called to the school’s secretariat room by the president, organizational secretary and other members of the secretariat, where they were threatened, banging their heads against the wall, or grabbing them by the throat…” – it is written in the report, adding that the violence was also extended to the professors, who were considered as an enemy element. “The director called several reactionary professors and threatened one of them, grabbing him by the nose or throat…”!
But in the report of the Ministry of the Interior, the problem was raised that in this campaign of violence, some mistakes were made, that they should have been more organized in these acts of violence and more determined. That it was wrong to call them to school and beat them, while they could have been caught and beaten on the street.
The campaign was followed by the opposition they had encountered with the families of these students, who had stopped their children from going to school, asking for safety for them.
While the Ministry of the Interior proposes a plan of measures for the next year, to have more efficiency in these campaigns of violence against the political opponents of the regime, in fact their children in schools. Below is the complete document from 1948.
Full document
RELATION TO THE ADVERSE ELEMENT IN THE SCHOOL OF SHKODRA
In recent times, the opposing element in the Shkodra School had gained enough courage and had increased activity in all matters. This was due to the fact that the fight against these organizations was not efficient.
The exposure of all their actions in front of the students, as well as the advice given to those elements that were in the ranks of the organization, did not frighten them. They called this attitude of the organization a weakness, because it could not take other measures.
Added to this is the mistake made by the city secretariat, which did not approve the decision of the school’s asset, for the exclusion of reactionary elements from the organization, under the pretext that “they had not filled the cup”!
For such a position, the city secretariat also consulted with the Security Section. The reactionary element used this attitude as a weakness of the organization, that it could not take measures against them.
They increased their activity without fear, spoke openly against the organization and order in the school, made decisions in their meetings, to beat the members of the organization, etc.
Before this situation, it was necessary to take rigorous and more efficient measures than those that had been taken until then against the opposing element.
For this, the Party Committee of the city and a delegate of the Central Committee of the Party who was in Shkodër, gathered the school cell to examine this issue.
Here it was decided to exclude up to 6 reactionary elements from the organization and to prepare the ground for the beating of these elements by the students.
After that, the other apparently reactionary elements were caught by the good students of the organization and severely threatened.
Even the director had to threaten some reactionary professors and after that, they had to be handed over to the Executive Committee so that it could remove the warning. For all these decisions, the school Secretariat had to make a plan on how to proceed.
The schoolmates immediately began to implement these decisions, but the path they followed was not what was said above, but there were mistakes.
Without making any preparation among the students, the afternoon the cell gathered, the president and organizational secretary of the school tried to beat a reactionary student, who got away with it. The next day, a friend of his, in the political information of the class, spoke against the leaders, saying:
“In what point of the Statute of the People’s Republic, it is said that the members of the organization should be beaten”?! The leader of the active group, without clarifying his statement in front of the students, told him to go out, following him from behind.
At this time the other reactionary elements, remembering that the class president was going to hit their friend, moved against the class president. Soon after, some young communist students and Party members, in the school yard, capture and beat some apparently reactionary elements.
After that, about 13 reactionary elements were called to the school’s secretariat room by the president, organizational secretary and other members of the secretariat, where they were threatened by pushing their heads against the wall or grabbing them by the throat.
Likewise, the director called several reactionary professors and threatened one of them, grabbing him by the nose or throat. Late, after 45 days, the reactionary elements were expelled from the organization.
During the process, many mistakes were made. These measures that were to be taken against the reactionary element were not well utilized and the school secretariat did not make a plan how to proceed, but acted in a disorderly manner, as it came to each one’s hand.
The decisions of the cell were not implemented in the order they were set. It was not right to take that reactionary student out of political information, but to attack his point of view and thus prepare the ground to beat him.
It was also not right that the president and secretary of the school caught a reactionary student to beat him, because this allowed the reactionary elements to attack the organization.
All the more, the beating of reactionary elements in the school yard was wrong, because those reactionary elements use it saying that; “at school there is anarchy and terror, there the directorate does not lead, but the organization, and the directorate cannot maintain order”, etc.
In addition, after the beating, most of the reactionary elements did not go to school and their parents asked the directorate to make sure that their children were okay, and then allow them to come to school.
Calling the reactionary elements to the secretariat room and banging their heads against the wall, the organization became just like the police, while these reactionary elements, we could very well be threatened by good members of the organization, being caught on the street.
The director’s gesture was the same when he threatened and grabbed a reactionary professor by the nose. The beating of reactionary elements has been used by the organization to threaten other reactionary elements.
Now they have stopped their activity as before, but still after the beating, two slogans were written on the walls of the school.
The school’s secretariat was also wrong because, in order to take all these measures, it did not consult the city’s secretariat at all, nor to inform it of what is being done at the school.
For this reason, the Political Secretary of the Party Committee admits the mistake that they did not inform the city’s youth secretariat, to help the schoolmates to implement the decisions made correctly.
The reaction is being prepared to have bases in schools next year as well. For this, the reactionary elements work with their brothers or cousins, in order to have them in secondary schools for the next year.
In order not to have this situation in the schools of Shkodra next year and to not introduce other reactionary elements into the school, it is necessary to take the following measures:
Next year, 20-30 of the most reactionary elements should not be admitted to the school. This year, they will remain in the classroom, because they did not learn on purpose and besides, they were the most undisciplined in the school.
Do not accept in the school all those reactionary elements, which come from uniques.
Remove all those reactionary professors who are local and bring professors from other cities.
To improve the composition of the first classes, introducing here all the healthy elements that are unique to Shkodra.
They should not be allowed to go to other schools, such as in the Technical Institute, etc. Memorie.al
