Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes some archival documents extracted from the Central State Archive (fund of the former Central Committee of the ALP), which contain the secret diaries of the former leader of the Albanian Labor Party, Enver Hoxha, who belong to January-February 1961, when the conflicts between the senior leadership of the ALP and official Moscow, were intensified, especially on the eve of the holding of the IV Congress of the ALP. What the former main leader of communist Albania writes in his diaries about the new political line that the Kremlin leader Nikita Khrushchev was following, the process of de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, relations with Albania, as well as official Tirana relations with some of the country’s other Eastern Europe and those of the Marxist-Leninist parties of Western countries, such as Dolores Ibarruri, etc. Along with the secret diaries, Memorie.al publishes some rare photos of Enver Hoxha and the senior leadership of the ALP, where they appeared during their visits to the Soviet Union and some other communist countries of Eastern Europe, such as Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, etc.
“The Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has been working for five days. The Plenum asked him why he had taken on the appearance of a large cadre rally. Reports are being kept there by all the party secretaries of the Soviet republics, from which it is clear that there are very serious mistakes. in agriculture. But this time Nikita cannot blame Stalin, because the “new line” in agriculture has not only formulated, but also led himself since the day he took power. However, even in this plenum, Nikita has: found and is following another path: he blames the party and the secretaries of the republics for his wrong line. Scandalous! This is not a Marxist working method! Khrushchev intervenes 15-20 times in each discussion and confuses the secretaries, the cadres, the party. Khrushchev is a terrible destroyer of cadres and the party. He only threatens and discredits. And the plenum – “laughs”, that it cannot cry, applauds, listens, while Khrushchev criticizes, thunders, curses, “guides” and “directs”. What Khrushchev is doing is a shameful, anti-Marxist working method, it is destroying the party. When people make mistakes, they should be criticized, but the path that Khrushchev follows is sometimes unprecedented. He has put the plenum under his feet, while he has put himself in privileged positions. “No one can criticize him, neither the line he followed, nor his method of working and leading in that great -fair- he has gathered in the hall of the Supreme Soviet.” This is what the former communist leader of Albania, Enver Hoxha, wrote, in the notes kept in his diary dated January 6, 1961, in which the aggravated conflict between the senior leadership of the ALP and that of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, led by Nikita Khrushchev, conflicts which had their origin in the new political line pursued by the then Kremlin leader and mainly the process of de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, which had begun with the Congress of The twentieth century of the Bolshevik Communist Party, where Khrushchev and his supporters began to condemn the ‘individual cult’ of Josif Visarianovich Stalin. Regarding these strained relations between the senior leadership of the ALP and official Moscow, as well as the relations that communist Albania had at that time with some other Eastern European countries, such as Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, East Germany, etc., and some from the main leaders of the Marxist-Leninist communist parties of Western countries, such as Dolores Ibarruri of Spain, etc., know these archival documents published by Memorie.al, where the secret diaries of Enver Hoxha are located. Along with the secret diaries, Memorie.al publishes some rare photos of Enver Hoxha and the senior leadership of the ALP, where they appeared during their visits to the Soviet Union and some other communist countries of Eastern Europe, such as: Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, etc.
Excerpts from Enver Hoxha’s secret diaries, for the period: January-February 1961
FRIDAY
6 JANUARY 1961
SOVIET ECONOMIC PRESSURES BEGUN
The Soviet Embassy in Tirana handed us a note from the Soviet government asking us to send a high-level party and government delegation to Moscow to resolve “economic issues” in relations between the two countries for the period 1961-1965. Such an attitude of the Soviet government is neither fair, nor orderly, nor in a friendly spirit. Our highest-level delegation has been in Moscow for a long time and there we talked to the Soviet side and together we decided in principle everything. Then why do they ask us to go back to an already solved problem? The truth is that through this request the Soviet leadership puts economic and political pressure on us on the eve of our IV Congress. We must not and will not accept the proposal of the Soviet government, which smells of pressure.
THURSDAY
12 JANUARY 1961
TO UNMASK THE ECONOMIC-POLITICAL PRESSURES OF THE SOVIET
I talked to comrades Hysni and Ramiz to prepare a letter from the Central Committee of the ALP to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in response to the Soviet government’s note on economic relations between the two countries. The letter should reject the economic and political pressures that the Soviet government is exerting on the Party and our country and expose the bad intentions behind these pressures.
SUNDAY
15 JANUARY 1961
HRUSHOVI – DESTROYER OF STAFF AND PARTY
The Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union has been working for five days. The Plenum asked him why he had taken on the appearance of a large cadre rally. Reports are being kept there by all the party secretaries of the Soviet republics, from which it is clear that there are very serious mistakes. in agriculture. But this time Nikita cannot blame Stalin, because he has not only formulated the “new line” in agriculture, but has also led it himself since the day he took power.
However, even in this plenum, Nikita has: found and is following another path: he blames the party and the secretaries of the republics for his wrong line. Scandalous! This is not a Marxist working method! Khrushchev intervenes 15-20 times in each discussion and confuses the secretaries, the cadres, the party. Khrushchev is a terrible destroyer of cadres and the party. He only threatens and discredits. And the plenum – “laughs”, that it cannot cry, applauds, listens, while Khrushchev criticizes, thunders, curses, “guides” and “directs”.
What Khrushchev is doing is a shameful, anti-Marxist working method, it is destroying the party. When people make mistakes, they should be criticized, but the path that Khrushchev follows is sometimes unprecedented. He has put the plenum under his feet, while he has put himself in privileged positions. No one can criticize him, neither the line he followed nor his method of working and leading in that great -fair- he gathered in the hall of the Supreme Soviet.
How does the Communist Party of the Soviet Union tolerate these anti-Marxist and Trotskyist methods?! How does the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union endure these illegal, destructive actions?! All these party cadres have a heavy responsibility before their party and before international communism. Nikita Khrushchev has violated every Leninist norm in working with cadres, whom he intimidates and urges to resign within a year from their functions.
Faced with such a discrediting situation, these people, these cadres live and work in fever, can neither be corrected at work nor learn from their mistakes. This is not a Leninist policy of the cadres, on the contrary, this is their destruction, it is confusion, insecurity and strain not only for the cadres, but for all the problems of the party.
TUESDAY
JANUARY 17, 1961
I DISMISSED ULBRICHT’S DEFENDANT CHARGES
We submitted the letter of our Central Committee, the Central Committee of the German Socialist Party, regarding the slanders and accusations made against us by Walter Ulbrihti in the speech held in the 11th plenum of K.Q. on the results of the meeting of communist and workers’ parties in Moscow. This paper, in which we are accused of being “dogmatic and sectarian”, was published in the press of the German Democratic Republic. Our letter firmly rejects the baseless allegations made in Ulbricht’s paper, and, among other things, says that we are surprised that Comrade Walter Ulbricht, although he had every opportunity to express his views on the attitude at the Moscow Meeting of the Albanian Labor Party at that meeting, he said nothing and preferred to choose a harmful path to make baseless allegations against the Albanian Labor Party and its leadership. In our letter we also emphasize that Walter Ulbrihti, not only distorted the position of the delegation of the Albanian Labor Party at the Moscow Meeting, but, acting in that way, we think that he did not adhere to the Moscow Declaration of 1960.
WEDNESDAY
JANUARY 18, 1961
CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF P.K. TE B.S. YOUR ANSWER WAS SUBMITTED
Through our ambassador in Moscow, Comrade Nesti Nase, to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, a letter was delivered to the Central Committee of our Party, in response to the note of the Soviet government a few days ago on the issue of economic relations. Our letter is about the shameless pressure that the Soviet government is exerting on our Party and Government, demanding that we send to Moscow a delegation of the highest-level party and government, to settle the credit issues according to the agreements that have been established and signed. previously by our delegation of the same party and government level. We reject these proposals, requesting at the same time that the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and chairman of the State Planning Commission go there, only to sign the clearing agreement for the years 1961-1965, which has remained unsigned. Everything else between the two parties has been arranged before. In this letter we make it clear that the demand placed on us is the culmination of the humiliation inflicted on us by the Soviet leadership before our IV Congress. By asking us to come to Moscow, Khrushchev intends to put economic pressure on us and dictate his anti-Marxist will and views to us. In other words, he, at the request he makes, means “either your 4th Congress must take place in full harmony with what I will dictate to you, or the economic agreements we have signed before, not they are worth more”. Thus, our Congress, in the opinion of this adventurer and blackmailer, cannot take place. But we are not afraid of the threats of Soviet revisionists. We will make the Congress and give a good political-ideological blow to the Khrushchevites.
THURSDAY
19 JANUARY 1961
SELF-CRITICISM OF IBARRUR?
I received an autograph from Dolores Ibarrur, Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Spain, together with a copy of the “History of the Communist Party of Spain.” The letter, which was delivered to our embassy in Moscow on January 11, 1961, begins with the words “Dear friend Enver Hoxha …” and closes thus: “I take this opportunity to express to you the feelings of deepest respect. Friendly greetings, Dolores Ibarruri”. The letter has no date, but it may have been written by her after the Moscow Summit, where Ibarruri from the Spanish comrades, perhaps they must have re-read the speech I gave at that meeting, must have reflected on what I was freezing and reached right conclusions. You can. And, if so, is this letter as self-criticism on the part of Ibarrur? Time will tell. What matters is that our path is straight, Marxist-Leninist.
FRIDAY
JANUARY 20, 1961
HUNGARIANS SHOW SIGNS OF SOLIDARITY
The comrades of the Socialist Workers’ Party of Hungary continue to show more openly their solidarity with the right attitude of our Party: Yesterday the Hungarian government informed us that for the third five years it will give us free consumer goods worth 15 million rubles. A few days ago, Prime Minister Ferenc Munich, among other things, told our ambassador in Budapest that we have great respect for Albania and its leadership, “your leadership works with temperament … its temperament is necessary.” Today came the new Soviet ambassador to Albania, J.V. Shikin. He was accompanied by the first adviser of the embassy, who has the rank of powerful minister.
SATURDAY
21 JANUARY 1961
THE SOVIETS STARTED TO WITHDRAW THEIR SPECIALISTS
Today, the Soviet government, through a GUES official, announced to our Minister of Industry, Adil Çarçanin, that it was withdrawing 20-25 Soviet specialists working in the oil sector, under the pretext that “their stay had expired.” The term of stay of these specialists in Albania is really ending, but it has been four months since we officially asked the Soviet government to extend this term. The Soviet official told Adil that within five days, Soviet specialists would leave Albania. The same thing happens with a group of military technicians at the Vlora base. Even before the work was completed, because the necessary materials had not arrived from the Soviet Union, they were announced to leave our country. These actions, taken by order of the Soviet leadership, show that hostile pressures before our Congress are intensifying. It is therefore necessary that we unmask their every hostile act, as it deserves, and put all this on paper with the Soviet leaders so that they bear responsibility for everything they are doing in this regard.
SUNDAY
JANUARY 1961
A TOURIST AMBASSADOR
Behar Shtylla reported to me that the new Soviet ambassador to Albania, J.V. Shikin, went to the chief of protocol of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to prepare the procedure for submitting credentials. He stayed there for almost two hours and talked only as a tourist, about the beautiful weather, about Dajti, about hunting.
ENEMY ACTION OF THE POLISH GOVERNMENT
Behari also reported to me that the Polish government had declared our ambassador to Poland, Musin Kroin, an undesirable person. We will study the measures that we must take on our part in this case. I was informed that the talks of our trade delegation with the Hungarian trade delegation went very well, very warmly and everything ended properly.
TUESDAY
JANUARY 24, 1961
SELF-DEMASCATION OF THE SOVIET LEADERSHIP TOWARDS OUR COUNTRY
Today before day the new Soviet ambassador, J.V. Look, presented the credentials to the Presidium of the People’s Assembly. The word kept there by him is very bad. Not even an ambassador of Western countries has delivered a speech as dry and offensive as the Soviet one. This shows once again the unfriendly attitude of the Soviet government towards the Party, the Government and our state. In the face of Comrade Haxhi’s speech, which expressed, as we Albanians feel and apply it, the line of friendship with the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, an internationalist, fraternal and communist line, the speech of the Soviet ambassador is a self-disclosure for ta.
FRIDAY
JANUARY 27, 1961
LETTER, FROM AN OLD BOLSHEVIK
Yesterday I received a letter from an old Soviet Bolshevik, a member of the Cornish Party of the Soviet Union since 1919. He wrote to me from Moscow that “Soviet communists fully agree with everything put forward by the delegation of the Albanian Labor Party at the Moscow Meeting.” and at the same time thanks us for our staying there. The letter came by mail and is signed by Horoharem Mihail Vasilievic, Prodolni Pereullok Nr. 3 Ap. 17 Moscow G. 314.
MONDAY
JANUARY 30, 1961
APPEARANCE OF SOVIET MEGALOMANIA
Today the Soviet ambassador, J.V. Shikin paid a protocol visit to the Prime Minister. In the conversation he had on this occasion, his friends noticed a very rude attitude towards him. This is a dirty tactic on their part. Instead of discussing the issues that needed to be raised and giving them solutions, he asked for “protocol assistance” to get to know the country and our people! The ambassador’s stay on this visit fully reflects the megalomania of the Soviet government towards our state. He also points out that Soviet leaders have decided to walk the path of pressure, to force us to kneel before them and their great mistakes. They think we will violate the principles because of Soviet economic aid. But they are wrong because they think like revisionists. Even the request made by their ambassador, apparently, aims, in the framework of the Soviet government’s attitudes, to “get in touch” with our people in a revisionist way, as his predecessor, Ivanov, tried to do. The Soviets are seriously mistaken in their attitudes and actions towards us, and if they do not change their ways and tactics, then they themselves will be exposed to the mistakes they are making./Memorie.al
Continues tomorrow
