From Sulejman Gjana
Part Three
Report-Information of Major Abaz Kupi and Professor Gaqo Gogo, on Developments in Albania during World War II
Memorie.al / The ‘National Organization of the Legality Movement’ offers a viewpoint and another version of the political-military developments during World War II, completely different from that of official communist historiography. Through a 31-page typewritten report to King Zog, then in London, written from Cairo and dated August 2, 1945, the Chairman, Major Abaz Kupi, and the General Secretary of the NOML, Prof. Gaqo Gogo, give us an extremely interesting overview of the anti-fascist resistance and major political and military developments in Albania during the period: April 1939 – November 1944. The clarity of thought, the beautifully written and extremely figurative language, the emotional nuances in describing the developments, the concrete work, and the political stances of the NOML, mark a culmination of epistolary journalism and the philosophical and political conception of one of the three parties that represented and dominated political life in Albania during World War II.
Letter sent to King Zog by Major Abaz Kupi and Professor Gaqo Gogo, on October 28, 1944
Your Majesty!
Great battles were caused with very poor armament, with insufficient effectives, against an adversary who was armed with all means. The battles, with all their great shortcomings, have been bravely faced by our comrades, who did not lose hope, but fought all winter and waited for summer to fight openly alongside the Allies, who were always hoped would land. The action of our army without uniform, destroying war material, food, bridges, communications, has added obstacles, caused the enemy to lose men, and forced them to keep troops in Albania.
Occupation troops, police forces, and other agents, all of which reduced the potential for other fronts. Our sabotages were very successful and filled the gaps that could not be achieved by RAF operations (British Royal Air Force), and all of these were achieved without many losses by our special squads. The army of our Movement would have been able on the day of the landing, which was so strongly anticipated and so greatly desired, to play a very useful role, naturally according to the measure to which the allies would trust it and according to the possibility of aid they would give it to take part in the war of freedom.
What have we of the Legality Movement sought and why do we seek it?
After our incessant efforts, our Movement was heard of only for the wars it waged and wages against the occupier, and for the successes it had in those wars; its opponents exploited our unostentatious stance and secretly carried out a systematic propaganda to the disadvantage of our Movement.
Our activity, with the successes it had on the battlefields that entered the National History of Legality, was equated with the Liberation Movement of Albania. As much as the opposition of various political currents began, we strived for the complete union of all political tendencies to fight the occupier, and on September 10, 1942, the Pezë Conference was held, to which all Albanian nationalists and communists were called.
In this Conference, the exponent of our Movement, Mr. Abaz Kupi, openly declared to the delegates of the Conference that: “I have joined you, to work for the good of Albania and to fight every occupier, but in case parties are formed, I am the defender of Legality, as I have been since before April 7, ’39, I am with King Zog I.” After this Conference, the “Balli Kombëtar” Organization appeared. On the occasion of the appearance of this Organization, Mr. Abaz Kupi asked the delegates to gather and study the New Organization.
On June 25, 1943, the Labinot Conference was held, where Mr. Abaz Kupi proposed unification with the “Balli Kombëtar”; Mr. Kupi’s proposal was deemed reasonable, and a delegation was decided upon for discussions and agreement with the New Organization of “Balli Kombëtar”. The meeting was held in Tapizë, where a General Conference was decided upon in Mukaj, for a “Union.”
On August 2, 1943, the “Union for the Salvation of Albania” was decided and proclaimed at the Mukaj Conference. A little later, it was understood by everyone that the decisions unanimously taken in Mukaj were not respected, and this caused the deterioration of relations between the two parties: the National Liberation and the “Balli Kombëtar”.
Our Movement had not yet officially come out into the open as a separate political Organization. It worked quietly and without advertisement. Many times, the name of its actions was taken by others; but we saw that this situation could not continue. The Albanian horizon had begun to darken. “Balli Kombëtar” and the National Liberation had sharpened matters. It was clear they would clash. Fratricide, with all its evils, was unavoidable.
The Mukaj Union was not successful. The members of our Movement persistently demanded the adoption of a clear and defined stance. This caused: 1) The release of a special tract by Mr. Kupi, addressed on 19.XI.’43, to the National Liberation Council, and; 2) The gathering on 21.XI.’43 in Herraj, of the National Congress of the Legality Movement.
Since there was no possibility, after many attempts for National Union, based on the demands of the delegates of all the regions of our Homeland, the desire of all classes of the people was directed to take decisions of importance, imposed by the critical moments the country was passing through.
Thus, the National Legality Movement Organization came out into the open, which began to have a completely independent life, with a determined program of its own. The leaders were elected, the regional committees were organized, and propaganda was given a boost. The organ of Legality, the newspaper “Atdheu” (Homeland), came out.
The emergence of our Movement with a defined program caused, initially by the leaders of other Organizations, a deaf, underground war. Later, this war severely intensified; but why, because we are not with them, and according to their opinion, we had to disappear. The position of our Movement has been and is in conformity with national interests. Our Movement’s birth is on April 7, 1939.
On that date, the Albanian Resistance was born. Criticism against the legal regime justified the Italian occupation. National Honor demanded the return of the Legality regime. We of the Legality Movement are not tired of preaching: “Sincere Union.” Our program has satisfied the aspirations of the most ardent nationalists: complete independence of the Homeland, the demand for our ethnic rights, the return of the legal regime.
We condemned fratricide and showed its countless damages. We have never been against the parties; we have hailed their existence and have only thought that the legal regime of Albania was removed by the foreigner, along with its independence. Mussolini, when he occupied Albania through Guzzoni, declared that he saved our people from a bad regime.
To say, therefore, that the regime established by the Albanian people itself was bad is equivalent to justifying the work of the fascists. We have striven for “national honor,” which required that together with freedom and national independence, the regime established by the Albanian people also be returned to Albania.
Then its change could be considered and demanded, in case the majority of the Nation would like it this way. The spirit of our Movement was born on April 7, ’39. Because that day, the Albanian people showed how loyal they were to the Homeland and the King. The members of our Movement have consistently resisted and fought against the occupier. The importance of their actions crossed the borders of Albania and was duly appreciated by the Great Allies. The Movement has its martyrs, its heroes; it has the majority of the Albanian people.
The National Liberation Organization did not fight the occupier as much as its opponents did, and it did so only to seize power. Our predictions and notices, made to the respective missionaries of the allied countries, were confirmed in the most spectacular way by many politicians of different nations. The miserable situation in Albania has been caused by the Albanian National Liberation.
The Nac-Lib. Organization is the cause of fratricide. The fratricide that continues in Albania and has caused damage to people and materials is much more than the enemy did during the occupation. At the beginning (at the start), with Mr. Abaz Kupi also featuring in this Organization, the Albanian people had approached the ranks of this one too closely, but now only a minority remains, because the people understood that that Organization is not striving for its Homeland.
To strengthen our notices near the missions that had been accredited near our Movement and to better highlight the goals of the Albanian communists, who hide under the name “National Liberation,” we have excerpted some parts of a secret circular of the Center of the Albanian Communist Party, addressed to its organs in the districts.
Its instructions reveal the goals of the National Liberation war, and we have published it in our newspaper number 15. Based on the speeches of Mr. Churchill and Attlee, we showed the Albanians the right path. The director of the Legality organ, for the article he wrote in “Atdheu,” is sought by special German squads to be captured. Our Movement is based on the political, legal, and social principles of the Atlantic Charter.
Towards the end of May 1944, in support of the declarations made in the House of Commons by Mr. Attlee on the resistance Organizations in Albania, and when Mr. Churchill from the platform of that House delivered a slap to the National Liberation Movements of the Balkans, this official stance of the men directing England’s policy has not seemed strange to us at all, although the English themselves have helped these Movements with weapons and money.
They themselves encouraged them; their radio stations have hailed the declarations of Mr. Churchill against the Greek EAM and those of Mr. Attlee to the skies. From these speeches, it became clear that Great Britain and America cooperate with all the resistance Organizations, regardless of their color, but sharply condemn the Organizations which, under the mask of the war of freedom, are waging a war for the preparation of political, social, and economic changes, contrary to the principles of the Atlantic Charter.
The National Liberation Movements in the Balkans began their activity with a nationalist program, demanding that the country be freed from the occupier and then the peoples choose their democratic regimes, according to the principles of the Atlantic Charter. It was confirmed that the National Liberation Movements of the Balkans were led by foreigners (in Albania: by Dushan and Miladin, two agents of Tito), inspired by Moscow’s policy, and strived more strongly to prepare the seizure of State power, to stabilize Soviet-dictatorial governments.
These goals came fully to light, from the fact that the Nac.-Lib. left the war against the occupier and started the war against other organizations, regardless of the fact that they too were fighting the occupier, and perhaps better than the communists, and were on the side of the Anglo-American Allies.
Our Movement, from the beginning of the occupation, has waged war only against the occupier and has reaped admirable successes in this field. Our Movement has been kept away from provocations that led the country to fratricide. No instance has appeared where our detachments have acted against Albanians and their property. The Nationalism of our Movement is measured and far from the two extremes. It has left the issue of the regime in the second place of its program. Our main goal has been the liberation of Albania.
The realization of this goal will bring the return of the legal regime, which was not overthrown by any constitutional act emanating from the Albanian people. We have always preached that when the time of the calm atmosphere of won freedom comes, and based on the laws of the State, the people can express themselves on the regime they desire, therefore we declare that the program and effective position of the National Legality Movement have a strong support in the political, legal, and social principles of the Atlantic Charter.
Why have we preached the “National Union” of all Albanians around the National Legality Movement?
As a small people as we are, we must prepare in time to face the dangers that may come after the end of the war and, united, secure the strongest possibility to morally and materially better protect our vital rights. The Albanian people should be allowed to think about their future and take the necessary measures required for the defense of national interests.
Why do we think that our Flag is the most suitable?
The most suitable Flag under which the “Union” can be realized most easily and in the interest of the Homeland, we think is that of the National Legality Movement, because our Movement has always stayed far from the internal fratricidal war and has shown itself many times ready to intervene for reconciliation between the parties fighting among themselves.
Its political position allows it to better protect the vital interests of the Homeland. Its legal status presents it before the whole World as the Legal Representative of the Albanian State. Its leaders are in a position to speak inside and outside the State, with the authority given to them by the high official capacity they had before the Italian occupation.
What have we sought?
We have sought a priori the return of Albania to the situation before April 7, ’39. Why? Because before that date, our Albania, with the entire apparatus of a sovereign State, was recognized de jure and de facto by the whole World. The brutal aggression of April 7, ’39, not only does not change that situation from the point of view of International Law, but even strengthens it, because the legal basis of such a problem is the “Status quo ante” doctrine.
By seeking the return of legitimacy and the monarchical form of the regime before April 7, 1939, we of Legality do nothing but seek what everyone had recognized for us. In this way, in the bosom of the Peace Conference that will gather when the war ends, our position will be so strong that our enemies will not find the argument to fight us.
Let’s come to the matter of Your Majesty’s Person!
The decision of the April 12, 1939 Conference, as it does not change the form of the State proclaimed by the decision of the Constituent Assembly of September 1928, also does not change Your Majesty’s right to the Throne of Albania at all. Your Majesty departed from the Homeland due to consequences that did not depend on your will, or on that of the people. Your Majesty did not abdicate, and since you did not abdicate, but even ordered resistance as a sign of protest at the moment of departure, your right cannot be denied without violating the honor of the whole Nation.
Your absence, Majesty, has been felt by everyone!
These are the main reasons why our Movement is striving for the return of the former legal regime, besides the national and international reasons that must be taken into account if we want the good of our country.
Terrorist Provocation
On July 5, 1944, our Organization was provoked with gunfire by the National Liberation Organization. This provocation is one of the greatest crimes. For two weeks, a preparation has been going on by the terrorists, with the aim of attacking the regions of Central and Northern Albania. The General Commander of the Legality Movement Forces, being almost certain that the Nac.-Lib., considering the bad consequences that a war started by them without cause could have for their forces, had been removed for the needs of the Movement and according to advice.
On July 9, 1944, Mr. Kupi returns from a meeting he had in Lumë, and on July 12, ’44, he started the attack to protect our areas in the direction of Qafë e Shtamë-Murrizë. The opposing forces withdraw. On July 26, ’44, the terrorist forces are defeated. The balance of the clash has been closed with blood, with dead and wounded, with ruins; to these evils must be added the strengthening of hostility. In all the places where the trace of the Nac.-Lib. terrorists appeared, it strived to sow the seed of division in the ranks of the national forces, using terror, slander, and discredit as weapons. Memorie.al
General Secretary of the Legality Movement | Chairman
Prof. Gaqo GOGO | Major Abaz KUPI
Cairo, August 2, 1945
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