Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes an archival document issued by the Central State Archive in Tirana (fund of the former Central Committee of the ALP), which contains a letter from the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the ALP dated June 13 of the year 1953, sent to the Party Committee of the Durrës district, where it analyzes all the work that had been done up to that time by that committee that until then had been headed by the first secretary, Nonda Baka, originally from the village of Vuno i Vlora, who was fired along with some of his subordinates, because he had softened the class war and did not implement the directives of the Central Committee of the ALP, regarding the fight to be made against “enemy elements”, etc. The full report of the Central Committee of the ALP, on the work of the first secretary of the Party Committee of the Durrës district, Nonda Baka, which states, among other things: “The class struggle in the city in the first place, the first secretary of had forgotten. He had forgotten that in the city of Durrës there is a refined trade bourgeoisie, that the Italian, Yugoslav and other foreign agencies work in Durrës, which is the largest port of our country. Here is how he himself expressed himself on this issue: “I have underestimated the work of the enemy. “As enemies I have known mainly the fugitive criminals and I have forgotten to appreciate the work of the commercial bourgeoisie, which had its base in our city.”
“Enemy and undesirable elements have been placed in the apparatus of the executive committee and in various enterprises. The basic organization of NISH-Cigarettes and the directorate of this enterprise had decided the dismissal of P.B., who graduated from the Pope’s University in Rome and has a runaway brother. But N.B. says to the secretary of the organization, when he insisted that that element be fired: “Do not dismiss him, as it helps in cultural activities.” So, from the former first secretary of the Party committee, the tone of attitude towards the enemy of the class and the undesirable element was given. Elements with unclean and inappropriate biographies were uploaded for verification and exchange of documents. Here is a typical case: A very good friend, secretary of the basic organization, with a very good past of himself and his family, was fired as a verifier and a 1952 party member was appointed, who was removed from the Department of Foreign Affairs. Interior, as an unsuitable element. “Even in terms of the beloved and loyal weapon of the Party and the people, the Security Weapon, the former leader of the Party in the district of Durrës has shown carelessness for him and has even underestimated him.”
This is stated, among other things, in a letter of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the ALP dated 13 June 1953, sent to the Party Committee of the Durrës district, which analyzes the work done so far by the committee that was headed by the first secretary, Nonda Baka, originally from the village of Vuno in Vlora, who was accused of “softening the class war, not implementing the Party directives for the war to be waged against the enemy element”, etc., etc., and as a punishment was sent as chairman of the agricultural cooperative of the village of Vuno in Vlora, which was also his birthplace. For more about these facts and events, the document in question introduces us to the letter of the Politburo that Memorie.al publishes in full and for the first time in this article.
Letter of the Central Committee of the ALP “On the mistakes made in the leadership of the Party Committee of the Durrës district”.
June 23, 1953
DURRË DISTRICT PARTY COMMITTEE
For notification:
ALL PARTY COMMITTEES OF THE POLITICAL DIRECTORATE OF
POPULAR ARMY POLITICAL DIRECTORATE OF INTERIOR MP
The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the ALP took into consideration once again the sick work carried out by the former leadership of the Party of the district of Durrës and considers that the work of the Party organization of this district, badly directed by the old bureau of the Party committee, has had very harmful results for the Party, has put the Durrës Party organization on a crooked path. This work in all its main colors and shapes is contrary to the Party line. The former leader of the Party Committee of the Durrës district, with the first secretary N.B. at the top, has worked contrary to the Party line, in the following main directions:
- In directing the class struggle in the countryside and in the city, the resolution of the 1st Congress of the SNP states: “The party will work tirelessly to preserve the victories of the people’s war, to preserve national independence and power. popular mercilessly fighting all the attempts of internal and external enemies. In this regard, the Party will lead the class struggle… “. But the former leadership of the Durrës Party Committee did not consider this basic directive of the Party. Her work in this direction has been characterized by a pronounced political blindness, by opportunistic attitudes towards the class enemy in the village and in the city. It is known that the policy of our Party in the village is oriented by the slogan “strong support of the Party to the poor peasantry, alliance with the middle peasantry and unceasing struggle for economic restraint and political isolation of the kulak”. The former leadership of the Party Committee of the Durrës district has worked contrary to the Party line in this regard. She has supported the kulak elements, hit the middle peasants as kulaks and has not relied enough on the poor peasantry. In the letter of comrade Enver Hoxha “To correctly implement the Party’s policy in qualifying the kulaks in the village”, the former leadership of the Durrës district was drawn to the incorrect implementation of the Party line in the class struggle in the village. The letter states, among other things: “Regarding the class struggle in the village, we find that you do not attach due importance to this problem as instructed by the Central Committee. We find that in this regard, you make mistakes either from the right or from the left and you have not studied this important problem and continue not to study it with due seriousness. “This leads to a lot of injustice and the Party line in defining the kulak and in its economic constraint is not properly implemented.”
- But even after this letter there was no improvement. The class struggle in the city in the first place, the first secretary had forgotten. He had forgotten that in the city of Durrës there is a refined trade bourgeoisie, that the Italian, Yugoslav and other foreign agencies work in Durrës, which is the largest port of our country. Here is how he himself expressed himself on this issue: “I have underestimated the work of the enemy. “As enemies I have known mainly the fugitive criminals and I have forgotten to appreciate the work of the commercial bourgeoisie, which had its base in our city.” But could a first party committee secretary be allowed to forget the class struggle and think that way? This is not allowed to any ordinary citizen of our People’s Republic and not to a first secretary of the party committee. In the letter of comrade Enver Hoxha “On a pronounced lack of vigilance in the basic organization of the Party in NBSH ‘8 Nëntori’ Sukth”, addressed to the district of Durrës, the former leadership of the Party committee was instructed in this way: “You must keep in mind that the country ours is geographically surrounded by sworn enemies of socialism and of our people. In the period of transition to socialism, in which our country finds itself, the class struggle does not soften. Internal and external enemies will not soften their fight against popular power and our people, but will redouble their efforts to sabotage the construction of socialism in our country. That is why it has been and is always necessary that you make the issue of strengthening the revolutionary vigilance, the issue of preserving the victories of the people and our Party the main task of all communists and all working masses. But they, as before this letter and until they were removed from the leadership, worked not to strengthen the revolutionary vigilance, but to extinguish it in the Party organization and in the working masses of the Durrës district, which acted contrary to the instructions of the Central Election Committee. and setting the framework. In the apparatus of the Party, the government and the economic sectors, hostile and undesirable elements have been supported and sound elements of the Party have been hit. There has also been a marked lack of vigilance in the ideological sectors. Inadequate elements have worked in the apparatus of the Party committee itself. From 1950 to December 1952, in the apparatus of the Party committee, worked as an instructor of the industry section an element with bad attitude. N.B. the position of this element has been informed since 1950 by a member of the bureau of the Cologne Party Committee. In 1951, the Party Committee of Kolonjë officially informed the Party Committee of Durrës about this element, where, among other things, it said: “As for the attitude before and after the war, it was not good; have sympathized with the ‘National Ball’ and helped it. This self was mobilized in December 1944 in the partisan ranks. His family is considered kulak today. We are of the opinion that he should not stay at work near that committee “. In January 1952, N.B. receives an unsigned letter informing him of the same matter, and in July 1952 the person in charge of certifying the documents of this person also gives him the same information. But this element, kulaku son, leaves the apparatus of the Party committee only in December 1952 when it is officially written to him by the Organizing Directorate of the Central Committee of the Party. There have also been other flagrant cases. Enemy and undesirable elements have been placed in the apparatus of the executive committee and in various enterprises. The basic organization of NISH-Cigarettes and the directorate of this enterprise had decided the dismissal of P.B., who graduated from the Pope’s University in Rome and has a runaway brother. But N.B. says to the secretary of the organization, when he insisted that that element be fired: “Do not dismiss him, as it helps in cultural activities.” So, from the former first secretary of the Party committee, the tone of attitude towards the enemy of the class and the undesirable element was given. Elements with unclean and inappropriate biographies were uploaded for verification and exchange of documents. Here is a typical case: A very good friend, secretary of the basic organization, with a very good past of himself and his family, was fired as a verifier and a 1952 party member was appointed, who was removed from the Department of Foreign Affairs. Interior, as an unsuitable element. Even in terms of the beloved and loyal weapon of the Party and the people, the Security Weapon, the former Party leader of the Durrës district has shown carelessness for him and has even underestimated him. Such an underestimation of the Security Weapon by the former leadership of the Durrës Party committee, made that instead of intensifying the struggle of the Party and the people against the class enemy, it rather weakened it. Comrade Enver, in his report before the First Congress of the Party, said: “State security is the sharp and beloved weapon of our Party because it protects the interests of the people and of our socialist state against internal and external enemies… “As such, every member of the Party must love and help the Security Weapon, and our people must also love and protect this weapon, because it protects its vital interests.” So, from what we said above it is clear that in the direction of the class war in the village and in the city the former leadership of the Party committee of the Durrës district, instead of strengthening every day more and more the revolutionary vigilance in the Party and in the mass’s worker, has worked to extinguish this vigilance and has made way for the enemy of the class to harm us further.
- For the direction of the Party organization. The work of the former leadership of the Durrës Party Committee in running the Party organization has been characterized by the following impermissible acts: violations of collegial leadership, stifling criticism and self-criticism, especially criticism from below, weakening of Party discipline, paralysis of the apparatus of the Party committee and underestimation of the basic organization of the Party. It is known that collegial leadership is the only method of leadership in our Party, but N.B. with friends had violated with both feet this basic principle of our Party. The Party committee bureau had been placed in prominent familial positions and a privileged group of people had been created in leadership. Mutual compromise between group members had become quite apparent. Former member of the party committee bureau comrade I.SH. puts it this way: “I did not criticize N.B., because I was right with him and if I criticized him, my weaknesses would come out.”
Even N.B. he had put himself on the bureau of the Party committee, as he himself had said, “that I solve problems better.” Thus, very important issues were not known to all the comrades of the Party committee bureau and sometimes issues that belonged to the committee bureau were decided outside it by the secretaries. The plenum of the Party committee was completely underestimated, even N.B. had managed to hold such a contemptuous attitude towards him that in a flagrant case, contrary to the decision of the Party committee (January 1953), concerning the Sukth event, which he gave to N.B. remarks with a note on the registration card, he removes from this decision the measure taken by the plenum against him and neither the assets of the Party nor the basic organizations are informed about this. N.B. and his comrades suppressed criticism from below, drowning out the voice of the Party mass and the workers. “I,” said N.B., called myself less erroneous than others and did not value remarks and criticism.
Typical in this case is the attitude of N.B. and other former secretaries of the Party committee against Comrade Abaz Kondo, one of the first communists in the Durrës district, who has consistently courageously criticized N.B. with friends for opportunism against enemy elements. For this right attitude of the party of comrade Abaz Kondo, the former secretaries have persecuted him by dismissing him, they even managed to expel him from the Party ostensibly for “seeking to reduce the authority of the leadership”. Only the intervention of comrade Enver Hoxha stopped them from carrying out this measure. N.B. and his comrades practiced two disciplines in the Party, one for leaders and the group on the one hand, and one for ordinary members and those who criticized them on the other. The apparatus of the Party committee was not well run and care was not taken by the former secretaries for his education. The seminars were not conducted properly, the instructors were not assisted and checked for the work they were doing at the base, there was tenderness and lack of accountability, a pronounced lack of discipline and numerous omissions. Basic organizations were underestimated.
The Bureau of the Party committee and especially the three former secretaries did not know well the life of the Party and of the grassroots organizations and have maintained weak ties with both the Party base and the working masses. The first secretary and other former secretaries had never been to the Cotton Plant in Rrogozhina, etc. According to the Statute of the Party, based on democratic centralism, the basic principle of building the Party, the decisions of the highest bodies of the Party are binding on the lower bodies. But the facts show that the former leadership of the Party Committee of the Durrës district has violated this basic principle of building the Party, by not consciously accepting the directives of the Central Committee of the ALP and by not implementing them. N.B. and his comrades did not follow the directives of the Central Committee and underestimated his help. Comrade Enver Hoxha’s letter “To correctly implement the Party’s policy in qualifying the kulaks in the village”, addressed to the district of Durrës, is not worked in the plenum of the Party committee and is not taken into account at all Comrade Enver Hoxha’s letter “On lack of vigilance the basic organization of the Party in NBSH ‘8 Nëntori’ Sukth ”, addressed to the district of Durrës, which works in the basic organization of the Sukth farm only after 4 months. The same was done for other decisions and instructions of the Central Committee.
For the help given to him by the Central Committee through the instructors of his apparatus, N.B. has expressed the view that “they are coming from above to catch us, so let us defend ourselves.” This harmful work has made the district of Durrës to be one of the most backward districts in the implementation of economic plans in industrial centers and especially in the countryside. N.B. and his comrades had no faith in the realization of economic plans, and this spirit of capitulation and demobilization had been tried to instill in the grassroots organizations. Regarding the non-realization of the plan in the production centers in the city, they were justified “for the lack of non-fulfillment of materials by the departments” and regarding the non-realization of the economic plans in the village with the “drought”. This spirit of demobilization had taken him down. The former bureau of the Party committee and mainly N.B. is responsible for this situation. and S.B. The self-criticism of these two has been enough to turn a blind eye.
The Political Bureau of the Central Committee therefore concluded that such elements could not remain in the ranks of the Party and decided to expel them from the Party and to communicate this measure to the whole Party. On the other hand, the Politburo approved the measure taken against Comrade E.K., remarks with a note on the registration card, his dismissal from duty today. The Political Bureau of the Central Committee decided this measure to differentiate the activity of the first two with comrade EK, whose fault is not at that level and that he in the plenum of the Party committee and in the Party conference of the Durrës district, so and in the Politburo of the Central Committee has made better self-criticism. The Party organization of the Durrës district must help the Central Committee to fully clarify this situation, and it, although hit twice in a row after the liberation, in 1946 by the Trotskyist-factional group of Hysen Ballhysa with friends and from work harmful current, has the right vitality and is able to normalize the condition. The Political Bureau of the Central Committee instructs the new committee of the Party and all the basic organizations of the Durrës district to consider the following important tasks:
- The new Party committee must make the whole Party organization of the district fully aware of the fair assessment and consequences of the harmful activity of the former leadership of the Party committee, which has taken root in the Party organization. Therefore, the Party committee should shake up the Party organization and mercilessly fight all the weaknesses that have been proven by establishing democratic centralism, order and discipline in the Party, strengthening the internal democracy of the Party, collegiality in leadership, strengthening every day more and more. revolutionary lens, state discipline and listening more to the voice of the Party mass. To protect the Party, state and economic apparatuses from the enemy element, to work harder to raise the political and ideological level of the Party to make the Party organization aware of these dangers.
- To strengthen every day more and more the connections with the working masses of the city and the village. In solving all the problems of the Party and the government, the new leadership should rely on the mass of the Party and the people, the working class and other working masses of the city, the poor and middle peasants, and cooperate closely with the Branch of Labor. Interior having it a strong weapon in the hands of the Party committee and the executive committee for fighting the enemies.
- The Bureau should work, according to the rules of the Party, collegially for each problem and based on the instructions of the Central Committee on how to prepare meetings, study and review draft decisions in meetings and to better organize the work to determine the responsibility personal. The Political Bureau of the Central Committee is convinced that the Party organization of the Durrës district and the new leadership have every opportunity to rectify the situation. This event should be a great lesson for the leadership of the Party and for the entire Party organization of the Durrës district. The new leadership of the Party, resolutely relying on the working class and the patriotic peasantry of the district, firmly relying on all the working masses of the city and the village, under the leadership of the communists, to make the district of Durrës out of the situation backward and put in the ranks of the advanced districts of the Republic. All Party organizations in the field and in the army should learn from this event. Based on the decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee, this letter should be worked on in the plenum of the Party committee and in all the basic organizations of the Durrës district, as well as in the plenums of the Party committees of all districts. /Memorie.al
