By DASHNOR KALOÇI
Memorie.al / Following Enver Hoxha’s speech, held on March 15, 1973, in the apparatus of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, where the main topic was “The fight against foreign and liberal manifestations and their influence on art, culture, literature, and the entire life of the country” – a speech that had been preceded by the one held in the Political Bureau in January of that year, where he criticized and attacked for the first time the 11th National Song Festival on Radio-Television –, besides the party organizations and committees in Tirana and throughout the country, which began numerous meetings “in the spirit of Comrade Enver’s speech,” the organs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Security also undertook a campaign of arrests and “discoveries of hostile groups.”
Regarding this, etc., mention is made in a “Top Secret” document, taken from the Archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, part of a voluminous file of the former State Security from 1974, which tells how several hostile groups were discovered and struck, such as: “Gargarelët” (The Garglers), “Holls” (The Halls), “Sirena e fitores” (The Siren of Victory), and “Fafajc” (Fafaic), from Tirana, Lezhë, Durrës, Korçë, Berat, Shkodër, Fier, Elbasan, Tropojë, and Tepelenë, which carried out agitation and propaganda and threw tracts and leaflets against the communist regime, where, among other things, it is stated: “The groups ‘Holls’, ‘Fafajc’, and ‘Sirena e fitores’ had pronounced organizational nuances; they had replaced the membership cards of the BRPSH (Albanian Labour Youth Union) with the group’s booklets, paid membership fees, worked to create a financial fund, had appointed a commissar and a group leader, used nicknames, various slogans and counter-slogans, each to connect with one another…”
According to the document in question, which is a summary of a voluminous file where all the work of the State Security regarding these “hostile groups” is “documented” for the period 1973-’74, in reality, they were nothing more than some adolescent youths, or groups of young people who at that time followed fashion, wore long hair, watched programs on foreign television channels of neighbouring countries, etc., whom the State Security labelled and accused as “hostile groups” that “had thrown tracts and leaflets with hostile content.”
THE SECURITY DOCUMENT ON THE DISCOVERY OF THE “HOSTILE GROUPS” “GARGARELËT”, “HOLLS”, “SIRENA E FITORES”, AND “FAFAJC”
During the second half of 1973, 10 hostile groups with over 50 members operating in the districts of Tirana, Korçë, Durrës, Vlorë, Shkodër, Berat, Fier, Elbasan, etc., were pursued, discovered, and struck. It appeared that “Holls,” which was created as early as 1971 in the Medical High School in Vlorë and later spread to several districts, “Sirena e fitores,” created in Durrës, “Fafajc,” created in Lezhë, “Gargarelët” in Tirana, etc., initially had tendencies towards vagrancy, debauchery, following fashion and the Western way of life, listened to and watched programs on foreign radio and television, and gradually moved into hostile activity in agitation and propaganda and sharp hostile action.
Initially, they carried out their activity as individuals, even in groups of two or three, and gradually expanded their ranks with other young people who manifested foreign manifestations in their behaviour. The groups “Holls,” “Fafajc,” and “Sirena e fitores” also had pronounced organizational nuances; they had replaced the BRPSH membership cards with the group’s booklets, paid membership fees, worked to create a financial fund, had appointed a commissar and a group leader, used nicknames, various slogans and counter-slogans, each to connect with one another.
From simple actions that did not initially appear hostile, they gradually moved to committing hostile acts, preparing and throwing leaflets, letters, and anonymous tracts with pronounced hostile content against the Party and the people’s power. Thus acted the group “Sirena e fitores,” which threw tracts in the High School of Agricultural Mechanics in Shkozet, Durrës, through which they called for rising up by force against the people’s power; “Gargarelët” threw leaflets in Tirana, etc.
In all these groups, there existed a desire to flee abroad. They also came out against the speeches of Comrade Enver Hoxha and the 4th Plenum of the PPSH (Party of Labour of Albania), taking the enemies of the people, Fadil Paçrami and Todi Lubonja, under their defence. A characteristic was their spread and expansion throughout the country in a short time. Thus, like “Holls,” “Sirena e fitores,” “Gargarelët,” etc., from the 2-3 members they had initially, within 2-3 months they increased to 7-10 members.
They did not initially appear with counter-revolutionary nuances, since 90 percent of them came from families with a good political standing, some of whom had parents who were communists, which greatly hindered the work of the Security officers to discover and strike them in their infancy. Another characteristic was the interweaving of this hostile activity with that of anti-party and déclassé elements, and that the hostile activity of these degenerate elements was more widespread in cities than in villages.
The difficulty in the work of the State Security Organs for the timely discovery and striking of this activity was that while the activity spread quickly among their ranks, it could not be detected from the first steps with counter-revolutionary nuances and goals, because most of the young people involved had a good political and moral standing. Nevertheless, breaking them down was easier than with older people, but it was not easy to detect at the outset.
From the processing carried out, these characteristics were arrived at, and it became possible within 3-4 months to document, strike, and prevent this hostile activity. Of the 50 main members of these groups, only 11 main ones were struck, while the others were counselled and unmasked in the presence of their families, in mass organizations, workplaces, and schools. Although the majority of the group members were of good political and moral background, this did not become an obstacle to acting without delay, as was done with the “Holls” group. Although the problem was centralized at the centre, there was a delay both by the sector in the Ministry and by the Internal Affairs Branches in Tepelenë, Tropojë, and the Army Security.
“If the influences and manifestations of the revisionist way of life are not fought in their infancy, they open the way to the debauchery and degeneration of people, which are so dangerous for the cause of socialism,” said Comrade Enver Hoxha at the 4th Plenum of the Party’s Central Committee. It appeared that behind the young people of good moral and political composition stood and hid the hand of the class enemy, who incited and encouraged them for pronounced hostile activity. The fact that within the composition of this group were several hostile elements, who were the main ones who incited and led others to sharp hostile actions, demonstrated the necessity of pursuing to the end the connections and threads of this activity with hostile elements from other directions.
From this, it is concluded that moral degeneration leads to political degeneration. Thus, the majority of the groups discovered and struck in 1973-’74 had been motivated by vagrancy, moral debauchery, which led them to actions of a political character. The hostile work of the conspirators who were at the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs also influenced this, and in practice, in most cases, problems were divided: “This is simple, it belongs to the police; this is an object of work for the Security,” etc. The Party, observing this distorted practice, criticized it and assigned tasks for strengthening cooperation between the organs, the sector for following up on crimes at the centre and districts.
Better, the dynamics of raising the processing of elements of young ages and of hostile origin and current stance should be followed, because the age up to 25 years occupied the largest number of processing, and déclassé elements were not properly evaluated and followed in this regard. Instead of taking such elements into processing, in fact, those who were not enemies but were influenced by enemies were taken. Attention, the Party emphasized, should be concentrated more on the ranks of the déclassé, to go deeper, in order to study, resolve, and attract them into service as qualified collaborators, performing more operative actions.
THE SECRET ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS WITH THE OPERATIVE COMMUNIQUÉ DATED DECEMBER 11, 1973, NOTIFYING THE ARREST OF EIGHT PERSONS IN THE LEZHË DISTRICT, WHO HAD CREATED THE ORGANIZATION “FAFAIC”
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA Secret
MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Copy No. 1
DIRECTORATE OF ADMINISTRATION AND STUDIES Tirana, 11.12.1973
OPERATIVE COMMUNIQUÉ No. 291
LEZHË
On 10.12.1973, at 18:00, the following were stopped:
1). Ramadan Abaz Zhejani, age 18, born in the village of Melgushë, Shkodër, and resident in Lezhë, with 11 grades of education, his father a worker, with good political standing;
2). Festim Sefer Meta, age 17, born and resident in Lezhë, with 9 grades of education, his father has been an officer of our organs, now working in NBSH (probably State Insurance Institute), worker, political standing good;
3). Themi Ismail Rama, age 15, born and resident in Lezhë, with 8 grades of education, his father a tailor, family with good political standing;
4). Agim Riza Përgega, age 15, born and resident in Lezhë, with 10 grades of education, his father a party member, working in the Agricultural Enterprise Lezhë;
5). Agron Xhemal Bërdica, age 17, born and resident in Lezhë, with 8 grades of education, working at PTT Lezhë (postal service), (mail distributor), his father an employee (accountant), family with good political standing;
6). Jorgo Koço Fedho, age 16, born and resident in Lezhë, his father a party member, former officer of the People’s Army, now working in the Collection Enterprise, family with good political standing;
7). Çlirim Beqir Mujo, age 16, born and resident in Lezhë, with 6 grades of education, father a party member, working as a baker;
8). Gegë Prend Loci, age 21, born and resident in Ishull – Lezhë, released from the army in November, currently unemployed, with 6 grades, father a member of the agricultural cooperative, family with good political standing.
The stopping was done because the aforementioned have created a vagrancy organization, with the pseudonym “Fafaic”. According to their preliminary depositions, they intended to commit acts of vagrancy, had assigned a task and a pseudonym for each member of the organization.
They held their meetings in an old bunker outside the city, where several old bags, pieces of plastic, and bottles of alcohol were found. The case is being investigated by the Branch’s investigative unit. Details will be provided later.
DIRECTOR
PILO SHANTO
HANDWRITTEN NOTE OF THE HEADS OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS ON THE OPERATIVE COMMUNIQUÉ, REGARDING THE “FAFAIC” ORGANIZATION IN LEZHË
First Directorate
Assist the Branch to bring this matter to a quick and complete end.
Examine the measures carefully.
Notify Comrade Hysni and Comrade Bajram in advance. / Memorie.al
