By Belina Budini
Part Two
Memorie.al / A letter can turn your life around and this is what happened to Koço Tashko, the protagonist of Albanian communism in the early years, a Harvard graduate, then seduced by communist ideas and the son of one of the noble families of Korça at the time, the Tashkos. It is about a letter that Koço Tashko sent to the Comintern (Communist International) but that never reached the Comintern. Destined to inform this organization that united and led all the communist parties of the world and that had its headquarters in Moscow, it arrived where it was not supposed to. In the hands of Enver Hoxha and Miladin Popovic. Fatality.
Continued from the previous issue
Koço Tashko’s letter sent to the Comintern
Continuously to this day, Mustafa Kruja carries out the greatest anti-communist activity among Kosovars. The highest fascist personalities (including Mustafa Kruja himself) went there to spread their hatred against communism, without mentioning a single word about Nedic (the head of the collaborationist government of Serbia), Kosta Pešance (the Yugoslav collaborator, Nedic’s collaborator) and their Chetniks. He spoke against Mihajlovic only when he was convinced that he was collaborating with the partisans.
Mustafa Kruja was therefore able to recruit Albanian Kosovars for the fight against the partisans of Montenegro and there is a great danger that the Kosovars will descend on Albania against us (one of the battalions that had surrounded Myslimi in Peza on September 29, 1942, were Kosova militia). Despite the “solution” that we have given to the Kosovo issue and our silence on this issue, Mustafa Kruja has systematically used them to distance the nationalists and the Albanian people in old Albania from the Albanian Communist Party.
On the other hand, the members of the Party in their propaganda have been completely in the dark about this issue and have not been able to respond to the fascist press, which is beating this issue almost daily, with the tip of the arrow always pointed against us. The nationalists, they have also asked us for explanations and we have not had anything concrete to say to them.
I warned the comrades and comrade Miladin, as soon as I saw that proclamation, describing it as a mistake that will have negative consequences for us, because I do not know that there are two communist parties declared in one country and the declaration of two parties in such a case means that that country needs its own organization and as an internationalist solution and not a Kosovar national liberation.
I told Comrade Miladin that the Comintern had a Kosovo Committee near the “National Liberation” (democratic organization of anti-Zogist Albanians in exile (Vienna), created in 1937, successor to Konara) in Berlin and I proposed that either a Kosovo communist organization be created for Kosovo, or at least a Kosovo National Liberation Council.
I expressed my conviction that the word of the Yugoslav Communist Party cannot raise a bar for the Albanians of Kosovo, just as the word of the Albanian Communist Party cannot raise a bar for the Serbs of Kosovo. Comrade Miladin pledged to give an answer, but he did not give me an answer, except that this is the work of the Yugoslav Communist Party and we do not have to get involved and should not be allowed to get involved…!
Since then and until today, with the continuous silence of the AKP, Kosovo has become a very important source for armed reserves in the service of fascism. We are therefore faced with the task of preventing fascism from benefiting from this source, by neutralizing the Albanian Kosovars, and possibly making our reserves our own.
The hatred and fear of the Kosovars towards the Serbs and Montenegrins is very great, but let us not forget that they have a hatred for Fascist Italy, which they call “burracaca” and “kaure” and the faith they had in Hitler, as their savior from Serbian rule, has begun to be shaken. In addition, the economic situation there has become as difficult as the situation in Albania.
On September 12, at a meeting of comrades in Peza, two days before the opening of the Conference with the nationalists, it was emphasized that the Kosovo issue could not be left in silence, that the nationalists would raise this issue, as they did. At this meeting, comrade Miladin said that the Comintern had decided that the Kosovo issue was an issue that would be resolved only by democratic Yugoslavia and democratic Albania.
To this statement we replied that we could not present the Kosovo issue to the nationalists in this way and that our immediate task was not to wait until Albania and Yugoslavia became democratic states, but to mobilize all Albanian forces to make Albania democratic.
Kosovo should not become the enemy’s reserve, to suppress us and the partisans of Montenegro and Serbia, but rather it should become our reserve to suppress the enemy, or to neutralize it so that it does not hinder the enemy’s suppression and, therefore, to try to achieve a democratic Albania, for which the Comintern is fighting, we are fighting.
In addition, the meeting also revealed the fact that in Albania there are many members of the Communist Party of Kosovar origin, who could be much better appreciated in Kosovo, where, as Comrade Miladin admits, there are very few communist Albanians. The statement of a member of the Central Committee, that for the Albanians of old Albania, the problem of Kosovo does not exist, does not correspond to the truth, but is only an attempt to justify our resignation from that problem, until today.
Comrade Miladin’s statement that it is better for Kosovo to remain under the Yugoslav Communist Party, that Yugoslavia will be liberated before Albania, was a sweet prophecy of this comrade, coming from his heart, but not at all revolutionary, because with that prophecy the forces of the anti-fascist revolution are not mobilized, nor are the undecided forces in Albania neutralized, which could serve the enemy, to make the realization of that prophecy impossible.
The conclusion reached at this meeting was that a National Liberation Council should be formed for Kosovo, which would be in connection with the National Liberation Council that would be formed and was formed in Albania, and that this solution should be popularized as widely as possible. For my part, I think that this solution is not sufficient, because in Kosovo, the Council there will speak simply with National Liberation slogans and in its own name, and therefore, the communist face and the fact that only the Communist Party can ensure the full realization of the national rights of the people will not appear except with the intervention of the Yugoslav Communist Party.
Whereas a communist organization for Kosovo will eliminate this defect and will be able to truly unite the struggle of the different elements in Kosovo. The communist organization for Kosovo could eventually be linked to the Yugoslav Communist Party and, therefore, if comrade Miladin’s statement is true, that the territories of the Yugoslav Kingdom should remain as before, in the Yugoslav Communist Party, this rule is not broken, and at the same time the current defect is corrected.
Before the decision of the meeting to form a National Liberation Council for Kosovo, comrade Miladin declared that there is a National Liberation Council in Kosovo. When I asked him why the proclamation of that Council had not been announced, he replied that the Council was in the process of being formed, that is, that it had not been formed yet. Comrade Miladin believes that self-criticism destroys prestige, while I believe that prestige is better maintained with an open face.
In the meantime, I can recall that in the resolution of the Conference for the election of the General National Liberation Council there is this slogan: “Long live free, indivisible, independent and democratic Albania”. The nationalists at this Conference emphasized that with indivisible Albania, they cannot understand anything other than the Albania of the new borders.
The Question of the Albanian Army
At the end of July, the Central Committee issued a series of directives. We quote these two paragraphs verbatim:
“Considering the political situation in which we find ourselves, the Central Committee is sending to all the circulars and cell leaders, who are to inform the cell members of the directives below, which must be strictly implemented by all Party organizations (the emphasis is the author of the letter).
“The guerrilla actions must be continuous, the enemy’s depots must be burned, the centers of the militia, the carabinieri, the SIM must be attacked, the barracks, the assembly of troops, the columns on the march, the radio stations, the telephones, the officers, the Italian carabinieri, groups of soldiers, and all the agents of the Fifth Column, especially the spies and militiamen, must be mercilessly killed” (the emphasis is in the text to which the author of the letter refers).
The expression is quite confusing, the differentiation between the Albanian and Italian armies does not exist, does not there is no sufficient differentiation between the formations of the armed forces, either Albanian on the one hand or Italian on the other. It is emphasized that the directive must be implemented precisely, so that flexibility is limited.
The members of the Party understood from this directive that the Party instructs them to attack the Albanian army on the March, gatherings of Albanian troops, and clusters of Albanian soldiers; also barracks with Albanian army and Albanian officers without differentiation. Fortunately, the Albanian communists, except for those with a prominent leftism or, with strong remnants of past gangsters, understand that the Albanian army is entirely ours.
It has participated in our demonstrations, has held its demonstrations, has deserted in the war with Greece, it cannot be used against the partisans of Montenegro, nor against a people outside the borders of Albania, it is kept locked up whenever there is any action by the Party in Albania, it has deserted when we have given it the directive, it has come to our partisan detachments and the only complaint it has against us is that it has not we could keep it or use it, when they came to us as deserters from the army.
We can say that the only part of the Albanian people that may be ready to enter into actions with us against the occupier is the Albanian army. We should not therefore force them to defend themselves against us and lead them from the side of fascism. They should be attacked with tracts and not with bombs.
The partisans of Skrapar, who have gained glory, not only have not attacked the Albanian army, but according to the latest news, have released the Albanian carabinieri they had taken prisoner, without disarming them, and the Albanian militia they had taken prisoner, whom they released, after disarming and undressing them. As a result, a large group of militiamen went over to the side of the partisans and the persecutions against the liberated lands of Skrapar, at least temporarily, have ended.
Before the protests of the comrades, comrade Miladin said that the directive does not have that meaning that every action must be studied before. It is true that every action is studied beforehand, but the study is mainly technical. As for the political part, the squad is guided by the general political principle presented in the directive. Another comrade of the Central Committee told me that there will be some printing error. On the other hand, comrade Taras (Enver Hoxha, editor’s note), wrote to me verbatim as follows:
“We must also attack the Albanian soldiers, every tool or person that serves the enemy, to suppress our Movement. But this directive is not that we must kill the Albanian soldiers tomorrow because it is the easiest thing to do. We, with the formation of squads, will strike, the enemy will take measures. From measure to measure, of course, the work will worsen and the situation will take another turn.
The day will come when the enemy will also use our soldiers and our carabinieri, to strike us and we will respond to them. Events will bring about that we will raise the slogan: “Either with us or against us”. “The directives stipulate that we cannot even kill Italian soldiers, but we will kill them tomorrow, tomorrow we will also kill Albanian soldiers, if they become tools of the enemy.”
But the directive is given for today and not for tomorrow. The day that “Tarasi” mentions has not come. When it comes, we have time to give the directive. Now we have other tasks towards the Albanian soldier, the task of how to get into the company and the task of giving the members clear instructions on the Albanian army and not instructions that could encourage “leftism” and the remnants of gangsterism that we have inherited from past groups.
Both in the Kosovo issue and in this issue, it seems to me that we are seeking to accelerate actions beyond the possibility of the objective situation in Albania, and even contrary to this situation, based on a conviction of some that the war will end in a very short time in our favor, and therefore, there will be no time for the reaction to explode furiously against us.
We all want a quick victory and surprises are not excluded. For example, the revolution in Germany this fall, but the best strategist does not work only for good weather, but also for rainy weather and we cannot forget that our contribution to the destruction of fascism will be great, if we do not separate ourselves from the popular masses and do not forget that even after the victory on the Soviet Front, we will have another period of civil war inside Albania, because the Soviet Union has not given a guarantee that it will be able to send the Red Army to all the countries occupied by fascism, within a few days after the victory.
The above-mentioned slogan that puts all Italian and Albanian soldiers in a reactionary bag like a leftist injection in the publications of the Tirana Regional Communist Party, which two weeks ago (beginning of September) issued such a slogan: “Either with the people for the liberation of the Fatherland, or with the enemy for the enslavement of the Albanian people”.
From the text, this slogan seems to have meant: “Either with us, or against us”. The confirmation came three or four days later in another publication of the Regional Committee, which said: “We will continue the war until the end even without having many claims from the people”. And again two or three days later another: “Here are the militia and the police against the people, here are the people against the militia and the police”./ Memorie.al
