Memorie.al / After the severance of official relations with Nikita Khrushchev’s Soviet Union in 1961, Enver Hoxha’s communist Albania formed a close alliance with the People’s Republic of China, led by Mao Zedong, a friendship that official Tirana maintained until 1978. Following this, the high leadership of the PLA (Party of Labor of Albania) and Enver Hoxha personally were left with only “two sister parties” as friends: Vietnam and North Korea, with which ties had been established as early as the 1950s. In this context, the former head of North Korea, Kim Il-sung, visited Albania in 1956 (June 29 to July 1), a visit that Enver Hoxha returned three months later (September 7, 1956) when he headed a large delegation of the high leadership of the PLA (including Ramiz Alia, Fadil Paçrami, Liri Belishova, etc.) to visit North Korea.
Regarding this, the “Wilson” International Center for Archives has published a conversation held between Enver Hoxha and a government delegation from North Korea that visited Albania in 1959, which we are publishing in this article.
June 6, 1959
Notes taken during the meeting between Enver Hoxha and the head of the Presidium of the People’s Republic of Korea, Choi Yong-kun
Enver Hoxha and Choi Yong-kun discuss industry and socialist developments in North Korea, and condemn revisionism. Albanian side: Hoxha, Mehmet Shehu, Hysni Kapo, Beqir Balluku, Liri Belishova, Spiro Koleka, Haki Toska.
ENVER HOXHA: We are very happy to welcome you, Korean comrades, because your people are a heroic people and we have great admiration for your Workers’ Party and for our dear friend, Comrade Kim Il-sung. When Comrade Kim Il-sung came to Albania, the Albanian people were extremely happy and will never forget the visit, just as Albanians who visit Korea never forget the warm and sincere reception. How are comrades Kim Il-sung and Pak Jong-ae?
CHOI YONG-KUN: They are very well. Comrade Kim Il-sung asked me to convey his sincere greetings to you, Comrade Enver Hoxha, to Comrade Mehmet Shehu, and to the other comrades of the party and the Central Committee. We take advantage of this visit to thank all of you, on behalf of the Korean people and the Workers’ Party of Korea, for the assistance you gave us during the war and afterwards.
ENVER HOXHA: Our assistance was very small, but what mattered most was that we held the Korean people in our hearts and cherished a love for them that, as the Albanian saying goes, “not even a cannon can shake.” Now the Albanian people are working well and we can say that we have achieved some good results, not only in industry and agriculture, but also in the fields of education and culture.
Thanks to the efforts and tireless work of our people, the support of the Soviet Union and other brother peoples of the People’s Democracies, such as Korea, we have raised the living standards of Albanians. We have built our industry more or less, whereas previously it was incalculable. We are developing the mining industry, especially oil, and we are carrying out the collectivization of agriculture. Next year, collectivization is expected to be completed in the low-lying plain areas.
We have done a lot of work and continue to work on land drainage. This will bring great benefits to Albania because in the past many fields were swamps, but we are building drainage canals, just as you are doing in Korea. Of course, our projects are smaller than those in your country. However, we are building many of them and our people are mobilized for their completion, as they see the advantage and the improvement in their lives. Our party is strong, just like yours.
CHOI YONG-KUN: That is the most important thing.
ENVER HOXHA: Our party is committed to the path of Marxism-Leninism, united with the people, with the Soviet Union, and with the other sister parties. It is unwavering in its struggle against revisionism and especially against Yugoslav revisionists and opportunists of various stripes. Our party is particularly vigilant against the revisionists closest to home.
The Yugoslav revisionists are brutal enemies of communism and of our entire socialist camp. But our party and our people stand united in a single fist. They have endured all the attempts of the Yugoslavs, and those attempts have only made our unity stronger. During the past few days, our people celebrated the special occasion of Khrushchev’s visit to Albania, which was met with unspeakable joy. Our people seized the opportunity to express their love for the Soviet Union, for the great party of Lenin, and for Comrade Khrushchev. Comrade Khrushchev went everywhere in Albania, met with workers, peasants, intellectuals, and youth.
He saw the economic achievements in industry and agriculture and praised them. This was a great encouragement for our party, but of course we will not let it swell our heads, because we know we have much left to do, and that there are weaknesses and mistakes in our work. Therefore, we must continue our efforts. But Comrade Khrushchev’s visit escalated our endeavors. He told us that Albania, no matter how small, is very important.
CHOI YONG-KUN: Before leaving for here, I met with Comrade Khrushchev in Budapest, who told me that when I went to Albania, I would meet very special people. While talking with Comrade Haxhi Lleshi during the reception for the visit, he informed me about the successes achieved by the Albanian people in building socialism. I had the chance to visit the Textile Combine, meet the workers, and get acquainted with the successes of the facility.
The warm reception by the workers left a very good impression on me. We noticed that discipline was very good, even though the combine is still new. I began to think about our two peoples, Albania and Korea. We have suffered a lot in the past, and we still face powerful enemies. Our peoples are the ones who must lead the struggle against the enemies.
ENVER HOXHA: We are at the forefront of the struggle.
CHOI YONG-KUN: Our peoples are strong because they are strong ideologically, because they share a common ideology, Marxism-Leninism, which is why the paces of work in Albania and Korea are the same. Just like the Albanian people, the Korean people inherited no industry from the past. The older generation left us weak and primitive. While visiting your combine, I was thinking about how we can make more progress with the help of the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.
Of course, our people live at low living standards, but nevertheless we can advance to reach the level of developed countries. Now we have many chances for this, and our peoples are ready to follow this course. In the past, Korea’s agriculture was primitive, but within a short time it became an agricultural-industrial country, and within 4–5 years, we will be a developed industrial country.
Now all socialist countries are following the same course, initiated by our parties. During our visit to the combine, we heard that labor efficiency since last year has increased by 15%. This shows that the pace of development in Albania is very great. In 1956, a counter-revolution occurred in Hungary, but nevertheless, there was no tremor in Albania, even though it borders capitalist countries like Yugoslavia.
Comrade Khrushchev has said that Albania is a strong fortress in the defense of the Socialist Camp. This means that Albania is strong and stands at the helm of the defense of our camp and of peace in the Balkans. In our party in 1956, there was a conspiracy to destroy it from within. But thanks to the vigilance of the party, the conspirators were uncovered and eliminated. The situation in our country is stable.
Today, it is not important whether a country is small or large, but whether it maintains a healthy stance or not. Despite the fact that our peoples are small, their strength is great, which is why I propose a toast to the further strengthening of the socialist camp.
ENVER HOXHA: In Korea, I have no doubt there are many changes since I was last there in 1956, whether in the industrial sector, agriculture, or other fields.
CHOI YONG-KUN: Yes, there are many changes.
ENVER HOXHA: We continue to read in the press that many factories have been built, new agricultural cooperatives, and large irrigation and land-reclamation projects. You have completed the collectivization of agriculture, thanks to the great strength of your people and your party. Comrade Khrushchev has said that the international situation is also developing in our favor, while our imperialist opponents are weakening.
We have achieved humanity’s greatest hope, that of avoiding wars, and the credit for this belongs to the Soviet Union. How can the peoples of the world not adore the Soviet Union, which strives to eliminate wars between peoples and weaken those forces that cause wars, which are capitalism and imperialism? This is being made possible solely thanks to the Soviet Union and the powerful camp it leads.
CHOI YONG-KUN: If we continue for another ten years or more without wars, they can be avoided forever.
ENVER HOXHA: The imperialists, especially the capitalists surrounding us, never imagined that little Albania, which in the past they used as small change for their bargains or attacked at will, is now as untouchable as a fortress.
Let us bear witness now to this era when Albania cannot be touched, just like Korea or any other socialist socialist country. For three consecutive years, imperialists like the US, Britain, France, and even the Turks who are our neighbors have constantly attacked the People’s Korea, but they received a powerful blow from the heroic Korean people.
The peoples of the socialist countries will never forget the sacrifices of the glorious people of Korea and their army. We have seen with our own eyes how many towns and villages were destroyed by the war and how they were rebuilt even more beautifully than before. This was made possible by the great strength of the people and the party, and by unwavering faith in Marxism-Leninism.
When we visited Korea, we met many mothers who had lost their sons and daughters in the bloody war of the imperialist enemies, but they stood strong like a granite rock. Our people have heard about these stories and have felt in their hearts the tragedies of the liberation war.
CHOI YONG-KUN: I have seen the fighting spirit of the Albanian people with my own eyes.
ENVER HOXHA: On this matter, the feelings of the Albanian people are similar to those of your people; only the language differs.
CHOI YONG-KUN: It is true, our peoples have many similarities. / Memorie.al
