By Filip Guraziu
The sixth part
Continues from last issue
The action of cleaning “black pits”, as after the Chinese example, Gur i Black, 1968
Memorie.al / The breakdown of political-economic relations with the Soviet Union, and the communist states of Eastern Europe, after 1964, forced the Albanian communists to unite with Mao Zedong’s China. At that time, mutual delegations visited People’s China and Socialist Albania, and the Chinese experiences in building the new order were propagated with great enthusiasm among the people. It remains “historical”, for the humor it contained, the response given by the senior cadres of the Chinese People’s Army to the concern of Comrade Beqir (Balluku), regarding the possibility of an attack from abroad against Albania (from the Warsaw Pact, or American imperialism), which was shown with great enthusiasm and pride by the cadres of the Albanian army and the party at that time:
“You don’t have to worry at all, – they told him, – because the Chinese people will not leave you alone! Do you know that China has nearly 1 billion inhabitants? But what does it cost us, to send to Albania, sister, one hundred million soldiers? Let’s face it, ten million soldiers died on our way from fatigue, diseases and accidents, and ten million more were killed by us, but eighty million still remain, who continue the march, until the complete liberation of Albania from the enemy! Who can stand before this army”?!
Someone who listened to these stories, like fairy tales, was also enthusiastic; many others retold them, like a bracelet job!
Following the Chinese example, in Albania, too, “sheets of lightning” began, against “foreign shows”, religion was outlawed, cadres with scientific degrees were sent to the “base”, in order not to become bourgeois, their ranks were removed in the army, everywhere slogans “against personal comfort”, etc.
In the agricultural field, special attention was paid to the Chinese experience of fertilizing agricultural lands. The Chinese friends told their Albanian partners that, in the agricultural cooperatives of China, the urine and feces of the cooperatives were used as a basic element for the composting of organic manure. “In a Chinese agricultural cooperative, millions of cooperators live, – they argued, – think how much urine and faces accumulate…”! But, this also required organization, they, the Chinese, had also built collective toilets, where they could thousands of people performed their personal needs at the same time and thus with little expenses for pipes, etc., a large amount of raw material for organic fertilizer could be collected.
Their reasoning was logical, valuable and priceless; The party ordered the implementation of the Chinese experience for the collection of urine and feces of citizens as well as peasants in agricultural cooperatives.
The order passed from top to bottom and arrived at the base, at the cooperative brigades. It seems that the Albanian peasants were not convinced of this type of organization and that in the basic organizations of the party, there were long discussions on the subject.
At that time, no one could directly oppose the party’s order, but it seems that the hesitation to implement the collection of feces was motivated by the lack of tradition of the Albanians, for this type of organization, tue vue in the foreground the ” cedar ” of the peasants, therefore, from the base needed understanding, not for the opposition, but for the mentality that prevailed in the psychology of the peasants!
But, the order of the party cannot be ignored! The fertilization of agricultural lands meant increased production, that is, bread for the people!
The old mentality must be fought, with the example that the intellectuals working in the countryside can set! So, the teachers of the area should be invited for the implementation of the party’s action, for the collection of feces in the houses of the villagers!
On a beautiful day in November, 1968, the director of the Black Stone school, in accordance with the order he had received, informed the teachers that, next Sunday morning at 8:00, they should be at school (with spare work clothes), to carry out the action of feces, as per the order of the party…
On Sunday, all the teachers, at 8:00 a.m., were present in front of the Black Stone School. The organization of the action was very serious, as hundreds of cooperative villagers gathered in the field in front of the school, as spectators in the action of feces. The leaders of the cooperative and the party were also present.
All the teachers, in turn, would demonstrate to the villagers, an action they had never done in their lives: cleaning the “black holes” of the peasant families and depositing them in the designated place for composting. Under the gaze of a senseless curiosity… even infantile, of those who were present and through an absolute silence, the teachers, one after the other, performed their duty; the black holes were cleaned in an exemplary manner, leaving no fecal matter in them!
In conclusion, the secretary of the Party congratulated the teachers for the realization of the action, tue vue apparently the demonstration of high partisanship, in the process of cleaning and depositing feces. After that day, I never felt or understood that in the Black Stone cooperative, feces from the black pits of peasant families were being collected for organic fertilizer!
Time proved that this action did not have any effective significance, but only formal, perhaps to prove publicly, that the leaders at the base had implemented the Party’s order, as according to the Chinese model. The others…, such as manure composting, agricultural land fertility, yield, bread, etc., have just passed my turn…! But, in one direction, my action achieved its goal; the teacher’s dignity was stained with the feces of “black holes”!
Do you do it or not?
In human society, ingenuity and intelligence coexist and have no limits. People of normal intelligence are rightly amazed at the scientific discoveries made by individuals of above-normal intelligence, and at the same time, they are also amazed and surprised by the stupid things that other individuals do.
The event I am recalling, as incredible as it may seem, happened in a classroom at Guri te Black School, at the beginning of 1969, where I was present.
At the behest of the Party, the organization of the Professional Unions of teachers in the area, Guri te Zi, organized a “very important” meeting, at least that’s what we were told, that would take place in one of the school’s classrooms, after the end of the teaching day. .
No one was enthusiastic about this announcement, because the schedule of the meeting coincided with the time when the bus passed in front of the school and took the teachers to Shkodër, however, “the order is the order”, and the participation in the meeting was full.
On the podium were the secretary of the party and the chairman of the Professional Unions (local level). The meeting was opened by the secretary of the party, who with a slightly annoyed face, but with a strong voice, said:
“Dear teachers, today, we have gathered for a very serious event, with a moral and political character, that happened in our area, with the protagonist of the teacher of Rragam, named T.M. By order of the Party, friend L.S., brigadier in Rragam, they gave me a personal example, towards the emancipation of the peasant woman, two days ago, she had gone to work wearing pants and a skirt over them, but this outfit, it seems, was not approved by the teacher T.M, who did not appreciate the orders of the Party (as a result of his political declassified origin), he took a bad stand for the emancipation of peasant women, he demonstrated an immoral act, at the exact moment when Brigadier L.S.” happened to pass in front of him! (in the meeting she did not were present, neither the teacher T.M., nor the brigadier L.S).
“Fellow teachers, – continued the secretary, – today, we ask for your opinion on this ugly event that is against the policy of the Party for the emancipation of women, as well as on the measure of punishment for the teacher T.M. Can you serve me in education T.M., after this event”?!
Silence in the assembly hall…, no teacher spoke! Perhaps also for the simple reason that, although the secretary gave a rather long lecture, no one understood what, specifically, teacher T.M. had done to get punished.
After a while, someone asked: – “Okay, secretary friend, we are giving our opinion about the teacher T.M., but what did you do, this T.M., that we didn’t understand?” The secretary said: – “He demonstrated the lowest behavior, what my mouth doesn’t do, they told me”!
The second ghost, from the hall: – “Tell me, man, that we are not teenagers, what has happened to the teacher T.M., to her friend Brigadier L.S., in the eyes of ours?! Hopefully didn’t eat it with her teeth”?! Laughter in the hall, the situation was taking a different path…!
The secretary started to get nervous, and intervened quickly: – “More, do you understand that T.M.’s gesture is so dirty, that morality does not allow me to declare it, in front of you, in the meeting”!
The third ghost, from the hall: – “Is there a witness to such a scandalous event, which T.M. just did?”
Secretary: – “No, there is not, we only have the denunciation of the brigadier, L.S.”!
The fourth fairy, from the hall: – “What about teacher T.M., what does he say?”
Secretary: – “He, T.M., denies everything”!
The fifth expert, from the hall: – “It’s pointless, secretary friend, that you are asking for our opinion on an event, which is not clear to us, because there are no witnesses, but you are primarily to blame for not You have explained it to us, make it short and straight: what low gesture is the teacher T.M. accused of?!
Faced with the request of the right of the hall, the secretary fell down, he wanted to speak to me, but he didn’t arrive because his mouth was taken, he was sweating, but finally, he gathered himself and shouted in a voice as loud as someone who was not in his right mind. , not at all collected, even scared.
-“Yes, yes…, you are forcing me…, teacher T.M, has…, yes… dh, Brigadier L.S.”!
Laughter in the hall, the meeting had already become a show… well, when this situation starts, let’s stop it!
A voice from the hall: – “Maybe… teacher T.M., he did it with his mouth, and not with…”?!
Answer, on the spot, from the hall: – This is even more serious, because he didn’t send them, but he did it on purpose…
Collective laughter in the hall…but, some hard knocks, on the table, instantly returned the seriousness; was the chairman of the Professional Unions, who addressed the hall:
– “Friends, I ask you to treat the problem seriously”!
Immediately there was an intervention from the hall: – But seriously, do you know that you gathered us in vain? No one proves “did he do it; did he not do it”, teacher T.M., and since we were not present and you have no witnesses, we are not convinced about the event, therefore, today we cannot don’t give any thought, I’m getting up and going, that’s enough…!
That was it, after him ours were taken on foot, and the meeting ended without making any decision. The secretary of the party, I didn’t think he was so sorry for the failure of the meeting; after all, he had done his job, as per the order from above…/Memorie.al
Note: The initials T.M., and L.S., are unrelated to the characters’ real names
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