By DASHNOR KALOÇI
Memorie.al /The year 1967 marked a dramatic turning point not only for the map of the Middle East but also for the political rhetoric of communist Albania, led by Enver Hoxha. While the entire world closely followed the aftermath of the Six-Day War between Israel and Arab countries – otherwise known [erroneously in some contexts] as the “Yom Kippur War” – official Tirana, through its propaganda, used this crisis as a platform to strike what it called the “imperialist-revisionist alliance.” The following documents, extracted from Enver Hoxha’s “Political Diary” and one of his articles published at the time in the newspaper Zëri i Popullit, belong to the summer of 1967 (the June-August period). Published here for the first time by Memorie.al, they offer a rare look at the harsh analysis the Albanian leadership applied to the Moscow meeting and the role of the Soviet Union, intertwining these diplomatic developments with “concrete measures for the military defense of the Albanian coast.”
Thus, while the smoke of the Arab-Israeli war had not yet cleared, in the high offices of the Albanian state, defense plans and denouncing speeches were being drafted. This exclusive material reveals the behind-the-scenes of a tense period where Albania openly accused the Soviet Union of a “stab in the back” against the Arab peoples. From Enver Hoxha’s strict instructions for the fortification of the Karaburun Peninsula and the entire coastline of Vlora, to the sharp analyses of the Kosygin-Johnson meetings, the writing in question takes us back in time to a moment when Albania “challenged the two world superpowers,” declaring that: “Vlora and Durrës are two primary objectives of our enemies; therefore, we must make them impassable, make them invincible fortresses where the enemy breaks their head from the very first days. We will strike the enemy at sea, before they approach our shore.”
But how did the Albania of 1967 view the conflict in the Middle East, and why did the leadership of that time, headed by Enver Hoxha, believe that Moscow and Washington were “dividing spheres of influence” at the expense of small nations? Through harsh and blunt language, the documents of the time reveal the fears of the communist regime in power regarding a potential military aggression on our shores and the unshakable conviction that the unity of Arab countries was the only way to salvation.
A living testimony of a time when Albanian foreign policy was read through the principles of the “struggle against revisionism” and “vigilance for the defense of the homeland from a potential military attack from the sea and air landings”? The documents in question, which Memorie.al publishes in full as a historical parallel in the context of the current conflict in the Middle East, provide more insight into this.
REVISIONIST CHITTER-CHATTER WILL NOT DECEIVE THE ARAB PEOPLES
Article published in the newspaper Zëri i Popullit
June 14, 1967
The primary leaders of the revisionist countries of Europe gathered in Moscow on June 9 “to examine the situation in the Near East.” At the end of the meeting, with the exception of the Romanian leaders – who even in this instance maintained their special position – they published a declaration announcing the conclusions of the talks.
The declaration, most of which is occupied by the names and official titles of the revisionist leaders, constitutes another document proving their grave betrayal of the Arab peoples, and their shameful fear and capitulation before imperialism and reaction.
The revisionist farce of the new Moscow meeting and its stale declaration – filled with generalities, undefined propaganda stances, false solidarity, and empty promises – is a desperate attempt to place an old patch on the prestige of the Soviet Union, which was heavily struck as a result of the betrayal and the stab in the back that its renegade leaders have now dealt to the Arab peoples.
From the manner and timing in which they called the meeting, when the majority of Arab states had accepted the ceasefire and the Soviet Union had fully expressed its capitulating stance at the UN, it is clear that the revisionist chiefs had no intention whatsoever of giving the UAR (United Arab Republic), Syria, or other Arab countries any concrete aid to oppose Israeli aggression.
Their aim was to use a new demagoguery of solidarity, empty promises, and boasting to wash away as much as possible the filth that remained on their hands and faces when they left the Arab peoples in the lurch and stabbed them in the back. The cutting off of diplomatic relations with Israel by the Soviet government and some of its followers – like a basket after the harvest [too little, too late] – serves this same purpose.
On May 23, the Soviet government issued a statement full of solemnity and bombast. It stated: “No one should have any doubt that he who would dare to erupt an aggression in the Near East would encounter not only the united force of the Arab countries but also the determined opposition of the Soviet Union and all other peace-loving states.”
But lo and behold, Israel and its Anglo-American supporters “dared” to erupt the aggression in the Middle East. The peoples of the world were witnesses these days to the heroic resistance of the Arab peoples. But what became of the “determined opposition of the Soviet Union”?
Not only was the “opposition” nowhere to be seen, but the shameful revisionist betrayal, the cooperation, and the joint Soviet-American plot in support of Israel came to light, which was concretized in joint resolutions and their unanimity in the Security Council.
Now the revisionist leaders come out again and tell us that “no one should have any doubt” that “if the government of Israel does not withdraw its troops within the ceasefire line, the socialist states that have signed this declaration will do everything necessary to help the peoples of the Arab countries give a decisive response to the aggressor,” etc., etc.
Enough with such chitter-chatter! The Arab peoples do not need condolences, nor such false support and solidarity. The matter is about concrete, fast, defined, and effective measures, which the revisionists can never take, as they are renegades, capitulators, and deceivers.
The Soviet leaders are now trying to co-opt the just demand for the removal of Israeli troops from occupied lands and their withdrawal to the ceasefire line. But anyone understands that this demand in the mouths of revisionists is simple speculation, as they will do nothing for its realization.
Even when Israeli troops withdraw – which will definitely happen – it will be due to the struggle, bravery, and determination of the Arab peoples and no one else. Israel and its American partners will undoubtedly make every effort from positions of strength to impose their dictate on the Arab countries.
This is the aim of Israel’s maneuver, which seeks the resolution of old problems and those arising from the current conflict directly with the Arab countries, temporarily calculating a supposedly won battle. But such a dictate, as they imagine it, will be a new defeat for the imperialists, whether immediate or in the future.
Those who think they can impose such a fascist dictate on the Arab peoples are gravely mistaken. Matters can only begin to be resolved when Israel has completely ceased aggression and has withdrawn to the positions it held before June 4.
Any other tactic, whether by the UN or the Israeli aggressors themselves, will not last long, because neither the United Nations Organization nor Israel has the right to intervene without the first withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territories occupied as a result of their current aggression against Arab countries.
By coming out now with a sensational declaration for the Middle East, the Brezhnev-Kosygin clique and those who follow them seek to lower the wave of anti-revisionist hatred that has erupted in all Arab countries and which is taking on wider proportions every day.
They seek to pose as innocent, claiming that in the future they will do something, that they are friends of the Arab countries, that they are anti-imperialists, etc. But this is a desperate attempt. The Arab peoples are already convinced by their bitter experience of what such “friends” are worth.
And this experience does not only concern what happened these days, but also the stances and goals of the Soviet revisionist leadership in the future. In their June 9 declaration, the revisionist chiefs state clearly that they will try to funnel the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict through UN mechanisms—that is, to place it on the table of Soviet-American bargaining for the division of spheres of influence and world domination.
The fact that Tito, this old and seasoned agent of American imperialism, participated in the Moscow meeting is quite significant. As an almost official observer for the USA, he surely tried – and facts show it – to ensure the results of this meeting were in line with the American path. It is no coincidence, for example, that the declaration does not openly affirm or condemn the concrete participation of American and British military forces in combat actions alongside Israel. The Soviet revisionist clique, on the eve of the aggression, did its best to de-mobilize the Arab peoples, to lower their vigilance before the immediate danger.
When the aggression began, it plotted with the USA to extinguish their resistance and, through Security Council resolutions, tried to create favorable conditions for Israel to pursue its policy from positions of strength.
Now it seeks to profit from the suffering of the Arab peoples to strengthen cooperation between the two great powers and to become a partner, or to lead, in the name of the Arab peoples, the future diplomatic and political struggle for the regulation of the Arab-Israeli conflict. But no matter how many efforts and maneuvers the revisionists make, the Arab peoples, as Algerian President Boumediene declared the day before yesterday, will never allow a second Munich.
The Arabs, like all honest people in the world, cannot fail to see that the Khrushchevite revisionists have degenerated into unprincipled politicians who trample on the vital interests of the people, selling and buying them like any ordinary market commodity. The betrayal of the Soviet leaders for the Arab peoples has been grave and has brought them great damage.
But on the other hand, it has also provided a good service: it has shown the peoples how wrong and dangerous it is to lean even the slightest hope on the revisionists. It revealed and showed with facts not only the existence of the imperialist-revisionist alliance but also its concrete action.
The torn mask of the revisionists, who posed as supporters of the people’s liberation struggle, was ripped even further. Now the peoples have the opportunity to see even better the true face of the revisionists as allies and collaborators of American imperialism, dangerous enemies of the liberation, freedom, and independence of the peoples.
The current temporary difficulties, which came as a result of the treacherous Israeli aggression, gave the Arab states a great lesson, from which they will profit to better consolidate their unity before the imperialist and Israeli enemies.
And there is no doubt that the day is not far when the imperialists and Israelis will find themselves before a steel-like unity that will condemn and destroy them, when neither surprise nor the intrigues of imperialism and Israel, nor the betrayal and demagoguery of the revisionists will find suitable ground to damage the freedom, independence, rights, and undeniable aspirations of the Arab peoples.
DURRËS, TUESDAY, JULY 11, 1967
The speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the People’s Assembly should generally be short, concise, and should have neither a journalistic form nor a narrative form of events; it should be balanced and strong. Importance should be given to the Arab-Israeli issue because it is an imperialist aggressive action.
If the struggle of peoples for liberation and the aggressive armed efforts of American imperialism to suppress peoples are treated in the speech, starting from objective reasons, then we will have to treat primarily the struggle of the Vietnamese people, and then others in order (of course, these should always be treated within the framework of our Party and Government policy – meaning our support and the reasons why).
In such a treatment, the ideas must emerge and be linked that, in this current situation, the dominant positions of American imperialism and Khrushchevite revisionism have weakened; the ground is burning beneath their feet. Unable to face this fighting momentum of the peoples with demagoguery and deception, the former is creating local hotspots to lead to a world war, and the latter tries to demoralize the peoples, giving his “distinguished contribution” to force peoples to capitulate to the American aggressor; in other words, he prepares the ground for the American ally in calming, or rather in bringing to heel, these forces and rear-guards, so that both of them can think and work for the final preparation of the attack against socialism and communism on a world scale.
Viewed through this prism, the Arab-Israeli conflict also takes on an exact meaning. It is a new hotspot of fire and conflicts for the benefit of the Americans and the Soviets, for their dominance over oil and key shipping routes, and for the subjugation of the Arab peoples to them; it is an encouragement of small aggressors, of their tool such as Israel, which – through unsolved problems kept raised specifically to prepare aggressions – they incite and throw into local wars to create turmoil, conflicts, wars, and tense diplomatic situations.
The issue being presented this way, then the problem of the Arab-Israeli conflict can be emphasized with all its military, political, and diplomatic features. As a conclusion to this matter, the following should emerge, among others:
- The American-Soviet agreement.
- The domination of the UN by the two great powers.
- The true demagogic purpose of bringing this issue to the UN by the Soviets, highlighting that the main and only goal is the Kosygin-Johnson meeting.
Objectives of this meeting:
- The balance of benefits for both from the Israeli aggression, the paths to be followed further to fully realize their expansionist and colonizing plans.
- Taking the problem to the Security Council means giving time for maneuvers to realize their devilish plans.
- The Vietnam problem, the main problem for both imperialist leaders.
- The extinguishing of revolutions in the world and particularly in Latin America (Kosygin’s trip to Cuba).
- The consolidation of the American-Soviet nuclear “monopoly.”
(All these problems should be presented as real political conclusions.) As a perspective for the Arab peoples, besides our firm friendly stance toward them, we must say that it is their duty to strengthen vigilance against imperialism and Soviet revisionists.
The hope of victory lays in their peoples, in the unity of these forces – the only guarantee for overcoming every difficulty – it lies in the unity of Arab countries against the imperialists and modern revisionists, not allowing this great and vital unity to be hindered by second-rate political-economic problems.
The Arab peoples should never consider themselves isolated and detached from the movements of the peoples of the world; they should never think that situations are so dire that only relying on the Soviet revisionists will pull them out of these situations. This would be the greatest mistake. No concession to these enemies. Concessions and full freedoms to the peoples, because only in this way is the true unity of the people forged with the patriotic leadership. There is no other way; the other way is subjugation to foreign powers. It is possible that for other issues that I do not touch upon, clear and full definitions and formulations can be made.
DURRËS, TUESDAY, JULY 25, 1967
Being influenced by the latest developments of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East, I gave several instructions to the Minister of Defense to further strengthen the defense of Vlora, to withstand any potential air-sea attack. Vlora and Durrës are two primary objectives of our enemies; therefore, we must make them impassable, make them invincible fortresses where the enemy breaks their head from the very first days. We will strike the enemy at sea, before they approach our shore.
But with special provisions, we must well-secure Karaburun from an air landing. Secure all defense points of Vlora so that no enemy can pass. Let them find certain death in their very first steps. Therefore, the designated points should be covered with machine guns, artillery, and mortars. For the defense of the coast, the land reclamation (bonifikimet) works we are doing in these zones should also be utilized.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1967
I notified the Minister of Defense that regarding the development of international events, especially in the Middle East region, which is located not far from us, and with the danger threatening our homeland, in addition to the measures we have taken, we must:
- The border regime must be strict, in no way careless, and the possibility of armed provocations “to create the atmosphere” they need must not be underestimated.
- Everything that happens at the border and beyond must be observed with the greatest care; every observed movement must be reported to us quickly.
- The response to provocations must be controlled and ordered from above. Border guards should beware of enemy provocations, be eagle-eyed, vigilant, and in full readiness.
- Workers of the security organs and the people must be vigilant within the border against groups of saboteurs and spies that external enemies may send./Memorie.al
