Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes some archival documents extracted from the Central State Archive (fund of the former Central Committee of the ALP), which contains the report of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Albania, Enver Hoxha, held at the Plenum IV on October 17, 1945, in the framework of the electoral campaign for the elections of December 2, 1945 for deputies in the People’s Assembly. The whole speech of Enver Hoxha in that meeting where he stopped and made a detailed summary from the period of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War, putting in “balance” the reports of the Communist Party of Albania and the National Liberation Army led by it with the British allies. the United States and the Soviet Union, the war of these allies with Nazi Germany, official Tirana relations with the Balkan countries and beyond, such as: Yugoslavia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary, etc., the escape from Albania of high nationalist exponents of Balli and Legality and their shelter by the Anglo-Americans, the armed resistance of the “leaders of the reaction” in Northern Albania, such as: Muharrem Bajraktari, Fiqri Dine, Gjon Marka Gjoni, etc., their arrests and convictions by the courts , Soviet aid to Albania in tons of wheat and admission of the first contingent of Albanian students in schools, universities and military academies of the Soviet Union, etc.
“The pursuits by our forces do not leave any opportunity for Bajraktar leaders such as: Muharrem Bajraktari, Fiqri Dines, Gjon Markut, etc., to be organized and armed. It is true that they have escaped our forces and this should concern us strongly, but it is a fact that they are moving with great difficulty. These elements, of course, cause us headaches, why in many Northern provinces, our work has been and continues to be poor. Sometimes there their slogans take place and there are still people still waiting for the events. They will be strongly connected with this government, only an intensive political work on our part and the direct interest of the government in solving their problems in a concrete way. The strength of the reaction lies not only in the armed gangs; we will see it manifested in other elements and in various forms, who, supported by the external reaction, are preparing the resistance against our democratic power. This process of aggregation of the reaction is not a simple development. “For us, who run the politics of the Front and the government, it will be a big mistake to do the math and to idealize our internal situation and our power.”
This is what the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Albania, Enver Hoxha, said in his speech at the meeting of the IV Plenum held on October 17, 1945, in the framework of the electoral campaign for the elections. of 2 December ’45. For more about this, we will meet in this article, which Memorie.al publishes for the first time and in full.
Followed by the last number
Speech of Enver Hoxha held at the IV Plenum of the Central Committee of the Albanian Communist Party, on October 17, 1945
War and politics with detached individuals of the clergy is necessary. There have been moments when the Catholic clergy has been in open war with us, even fighting us with weapons. We responded and hit it off. But the Catholic clergy is not so naive as to insist on an open war with our power, when its positions are weak and threatened and when the international position is not favorable to it. The clergy, being our enemy, know how to do politics not for the good of the people, but to strengthen their positions. It will be political immaturity on our part, if we do not know how to take advantage of cases and circumstances. We need to make a smart policy with the Catholic clergy. In this policy we must not lose the measure and jump from one extreme to another, a mistake that comrades often fall. The whole toy of reaction, of the leaders who fled through the highlands, of the dissatisfied and the unexplained, will be centered around the maneuvers of the clergy. Here will appear our political maturity to know the political line of the Front, to know how to adapt it to different situations and places to disperse the accumulation of reaction and gain strong positions for us. The strata of wealthy merchants and those of wealthy beys and aghallars, directly affected by the just laws of power, are increasing the ranks of the dissatisfied.
The first category, in the first days of tax collection, resisted in an organized manner, but had to pay before the measures taken by the government. This does not mean that they obeyed and became the most willing payers, on the contrary, they try to escape the rest of the tax. The internal situation will not be complete unless we show how strong we are, where our strengths and our weaknesses lie. We will emphasize this below when we talk about the Front and power. But here I will say that, with such opposing forces, which we must not underestimate, we are in the current situation and before the general elections. For the elections, then, we must fight and in order to win, we must know well the political line of the Front and apply it properly. Applying the Front line does not mean just holding a conference, but applying it in practice, in different circumstances and in different categories of people, to whom you know the mentality, thoughts, goals. To apply the political line well in practice means to understand well what power is and how it works; to know the laws well, to respect them first and to apply them properly, to understand and implement the policy of the government in every field of activity and being in close contact with the masses of the people. Let us base propaganda and agitation on sound foundations and make them concrete for the people, that is, based on the various realizations of power, where the educated and politically elevated people have actively participated. Only in this way does the Front become a reality, it becomes an organization of the masses that protects and supports all power.
This is where the enemies are hitting: the government, the Front, the army. There is no need to emphasize in detail in the report the maneuver of the international reaction in these moments of the elections. The main point where he hits is the accusation he makes against our government by saying that it is a communist government, therefore there is no democracy here, here there is a one-party dictatorship, i.e. of the Communist Party and therefore elections are held under unfree conditions. Based on these fabricated accusations, the Anglo-Americans want to sabotage this election in a thousand ways or to intervene directly. This tactic of international reaction has, of course, become the tactic of our internal reaction. The words of Gjergj Kokoshi at the last Council Meeting show the whole program of the reaction. In Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romania, the external reaction in cooperation with the internal one is very active, and here it has just started. Let us not fall asleep saying that here we cannot act like elsewhere, because the conditions are different. This is true, the situation is always presented with variants, but also the reaction tactics have variants. The first signal of the Anglo-American offensive against us on the occasion of the elections was given by Tajar Zavalani, although not yet concretely. “Ballons d’essaie” are being thrown like “Zogu has gone to Cairo”, “an Albanian government is being formed”, etc. General Hodgson writes me the first letter and asks me if we will leave all British officers free to freely control the election campaign on election day. This is the beginning; the rest will undoubtedly come after.
On the other hand, Gjergj Kokoshi, who had the courage to show the point of view of the reaction, is on the move. He tries to extend his influence, of course, to the strata of intellectuals and the dissatisfied bourgeoisie, to the strata of capitalists and merchants. Definitely Gjergj Kokoshi and his friend who has just returned from exile, Mirash Ivanaj, ostensibly known as opponents of the Catholic clergy, will try to direct this force of reaction in Shkodra against us. The creation of a party outside or inside the Front is not yet apparent, although slogans are being issued here and there for attempts to create parties. However, the campaign for abstention in the elections is being done by them, propagating as I said above: “There is no freedom here”, etc. Gjergj Kokoshi resigned from the Front, but the question arises: Did Gjergj Kokoshi not have friends of the same opinion with him in the Front? We should not have illusions that all nationalists without parties on the Front are one hundred percent with us. There are those who are very close to us and who have linked their fate with that of our Party, there are shaky ones, that a sound work on our part will make them always be with us but there are also those who s ‘think like us and tomorrow we will have opponents. These people do not feel strong enough to come out openly against the Front, nor does it seem so far, any serious attempt to form any group or party within the Front. These people in a very large percentage will continue to stay • in the Front, until the end of the elections, and under the banner of the Front to be elected in the assembly.
The creation of the group, or party, the creation of the opposition, will certainly be done within the assembly and the Assembly. Here it seems that there was a dispute between Gjergj Kokoshi and other shaky and opposing people who are still on the Front, namely a dispute over tactics. The conduct of the election campaign will better clarify to us the tactics that the reaction is using to undermine power and sabotage the elections. In the face of this situation, therefore, our Party must mobilize all forces and the Democratic Front must become a reality. We have laid the political line of the Front many times, so I am not repeating it. To work in the Front, which is the duty of every communist, means to work with the people, to work even outside the duty you have in power or in the army, to do the special work of the party and, most importantly, to educate the masses. Sadly, this thing has been looked at very closely by party comrades. Let’s start the issue from political work with the masses. Working at the Front is understood in this way: you decide to hold a conference every fifteen days and you have finished the task assigned to you by the Party. This is a small part of the work, but alas, even this small work is not done with the seriousness that a communist should do. The lower those friends who hold the conference, the less prepared they are. They recall that the public is obliged to listen to their “tale” prepared half an hour in advance.
This has caused the conferences not to be attended with so much pleasure and the cause should not be sought in the passivity of the masses, but in the ignorance, in the negligence, in the contempt of the masses by the conference and when this is done by a party comrade it is a mistake that does not. falet. But how can a conference be prepared to turn out well? This, I am convinced, many friends have not yet realized that, if they knew, this would be simple and the conferences would become interesting. The conference is not prepared by collecting newspaper articles or papers of others. I understand when a conference of a scientific nature is prepared, but when it comes to mass agitation and of that character, that almost all our conferences take place, (why for scientific conferences, alas, we have covered that chapter) the topics of the conferences, the thoughts that will lay down and beat in front of the public, he will find them only in the lives of the people and not in newspapers and magazines. But this book where he will be taught to become a good agitator is set aside, he does not live with the people, he does not know the troubles, he does not know the problems, he stays in the air and his conference is a « avaz i muka ». But the masses of the people are not satisfied only with words. The masses can gladly listen to a good conference, but what was said there, she will see realized in practice, touch them with her hand. This is characteristic of the masses.
The strength of our Party lies in the realization of things. Here I do not bother to say how the conferences are prepared, but I am talking about the half-hearted methods by which we educate the people. Many times, they are heard by party members: “Ś I do not have time, my office work is covered, I cannot be there by myself, I cannot do this”. At this point I am categorical and say that this, in 90% of cases, is not true. From me to the ordinary member of the Party, if we do a revision of conscience at work, we will see that we can find the time. It is impossible not to have time for a party member to do the task assigned to him by the Party outside the official one; but, even if he has not, he must find it; remove it from the night’s sleep. Such people should be us. I have reasons why I emphasized this. This is a great disease that we must fight because it causes our weakening, here is the source of all political omissions and mistakes. I understand and honor that party member who is overwhelmed with work and he is the only one, who despite all his hard work, never leaves the lack and special work of the Party. But this is not the case with everyone. With such a mentality and with such a spirit we cannot move forward. Under the pretext that they are supposedly very busy, their friends avoid the task, even the task they perform, they do not perform it correctly. If you ask a certain political secretary of the district, he will say: “I have a lot of work”, meanwhile in the organization he leads there are many disliked and anti-party things and he sees these, when all the people see them; some secretary general of the ministry says he is busy with work, but when he asks for something for clarification, he is either unable to tell you anything, or fixes a false and uncontrolled statistic.
This is one. Second: peers do not try to learn and excel; it is generally being counted in the country. The people in power and our comrades in the first place do not know and do not learn the laws of power. Strange things seem like, to count them, it takes days. One sub-prefecture allegedly self-governing, through the council, does not accept either the district or center instructions. It becomes a “separate republic”; the other county creates mushroom sub-prefectures to re-germinate after three months. Taxes, one collects them like this, the other like that, one respects the law, the other violates it completely and forgives the taxes, because that is how he sees it as “reasonable” in his province. Such things are common, but there are also more critical cases: lack of respect for power, disregard for government orders. The center can make twenty telegrams to a county and it does not even respond. Why does this happen? This is because some comrades have not yet understood what power is, what centralism is, how the Party directs its power and responsibilities before the Party and before power. And above all, a dangerous mentality is beginning to emerge that must be fought quickly: upon joining the party, the communist grows in mind. He becomes authoritarian, he works less than others and calls himself untouchable and that he can be allowed to do anything. I said these remarks to think deeply about these things and to eliminate them because, if we do not improve in this regard, the Front will be weak and the power will be weak as well.
The front is not something detached from practical reality. The political line of the Front finds concrete realization in the affairs of power, in the realization of power. If we do not. properly understand the political line of the Front will be difficult for us to properly understand the policy of the government in. all areas of action and vice versa. Front policy and government policy are two things that go. together. We have said that we must expand the Front, we must convince the dissatisfied, we must activate all the people. We have not done this enough and properly; there is sectarianism and routine at work, insists on old methods, suitable for the past two years, we do not go with the development of time and events. We forget that issues can now no longer be resolved by mountain ways; we forget that the method of work must change not only in form but also in essence; we forget that the people now ask you for many things, the things you promised them; he has begun to seek in a year, those which have not been met for hundreds of years; the most lost village requires school, but it also requires electricity because there is a water line nearby. We fought and liberated the country, this is a great triumph for us.
This is our greatest support, but it is not enough; now we have to work straight and hard, why else the laurels darken. The Party was faced with a host of problems, in addition to the important issue of the Front. The problem of power and the implementation of government policy in various areas of social and economic activity dominated during this period of liberation and continue to be always at the forefront of the agenda. Everything will be best resolved when we have our Party strong and day by day we see improvements in it. It will touch on the issue of power and government policy in general terms. With power we will solve everything, here lies our strength. We must know how to perfect the power and use it best. Our Party runs the power and it flows by itself that the stronger the Party, the stronger the power. Before we get to the heart of the matter, comrades need to understand one thing: that our Party wields power through its people, who are everywhere in key command posts. All decisions are processed in the Party and implemented by the government. The people of the Party bring these decisions of the Party to power. It depends on the members of the Party how they will present them, in front of the people in power, in front of the people of the Front. Here it seems how much we have understood the Party line and how we implement it in the Front and in power. In addition, the Party member must know that the Party is where he works and is at the same time accountable to the Party and to the government, to his superiors in power, whoever they are, party members or not. The ability of a Party member is known and appreciated for the work he does where the Party has established him; it shows how good he is, how disciplined he is, how loyal he is to the Party.
Misunderstandings stem from mistakes such as: disrespect for power and hierarchy in power, violation of the law and failure to perform duties; hence sectarianism on the Front and in power. These flaws exist in our friends and that is why we do not have such strong power and mistakes happen. First of all, the bases of power, which are the village councils, continue to be weak, chosen not with a sound criterion and do not yet know properly their role in the village. These tips are not helped enough by friends, especially in the North. In form, power in the North, is presented more or less as we want it; but in practice the old work is being done, I mean that the interest of the sub-prefecture council is very little, if at all; even the laws and instructions almost do not go at all. Also, the press, agitators and propagandists rarely go. This weakness of the basic councils definitely causes that both the district councils and those of the sub-prefectures are not at the right height. The county councils are not able to properly run the whole province, all the sub-prefecture councils. There is no sound connection between them and a working coordination. Our friends are young, they lack experience, they lack prospects and they are not so organizers. Many times, issues look rigid and narrow, small jobs get in your way and put capital problems aside. Friends do not make serious efforts to learn and exalt themselves; for many of them the laws are unknown or superficially known.
The problems of the country are not studied seriously and very few suggestions or proposals the center receives from them. They are generally not up to date, as contacts with the center are formal and this causes their work plan in the county not to be well coordinated with the general government plan. Many times, they fall into the positions of a section of the people and by misinterpreting the spirit of the law create unfounded and unnecessary administrative divisions; see issues and problems in the local spirit without studying the problem as a whole. All this causes us to have weak power in some centers. This causes the people not to mobilize properly around power and to become their biggest helper, especially at this moment when the economic and financial situation is not at all flourishing. Hence the bureaucracy at work, lack of responsibility and neglect of work. The comrades did not understand the importance of power, the importance of organization, the importance of leadership. There is an evolving process and this can go to our disadvantage, in case we go with dreams; power can get out of our hands, if we are not god. There is a sectarian spirit in many branches of government. Many of those who are not communists and master science are not used properly. These are engineers, doctors, agronomists, various technicians, without whom cars cannot walk. It often happens that incompetent and incompetent communist comrades are in power and, in order to hide their incompetence, they misbehave with these cadres./Memoire.al
