Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes some archival documents extracted from the Central State Archive in Tirana (fund of the former Central Committee of the ALP), where is the speech of Enver Hoxha held on May 30, 1960 with the first secretaries of the Committees of The party of the districts and some of the most important cadres of the Central Committee of the ALP, where he stopped and informed the participants in that meeting, regarding the great contradictions and disagreements that had arisen between official Tirana and the senior leadership. of the Kremlin led by Nikita Khrushchev, where the biggest problem was that of the Vlora Military-Naval Base, where the Soviet side still had 150 sailors and officers, who “created daily incidents.” Enver Hoxha’s speech regarding the letter sent by the Soviet leadership at the meeting on March 28 and 29 of that year with the representatives of the Warsaw Pact member states, this Commander-in-Chief of the United Forces, Marshal Grecko, had found as a pretext for to take full possession of the Vlora Base, the incident of the Albanian policeman on the Izvor River with three Soviet women, who had asked them for their ID cards, otherwise they would have problems… ?!
“In the end, we underlined that Grecko’s proposal had no basis and stressed that the reasons he put forward for taking these measures were all slander and fabrications. The only “reason” that Grecko presented in his letter about the measures he proposed, was that the living of Soviet sailors at the Vlora naval base had allegedly become impossible. According to him, the conditions were created for the Soviets on such a bad basis that they saw no other way but for us Albanians to leave our base and be taken over by the Soviets, because only in this way, according to them, would be avoided. every incident! An “incident”, according to them, was that a policeman on the Izvor River, controlling a bus with three other Soviet women traveling, told them that, after going to Vlora, they should have their ID cards with them, because in city, not knowing them, could bring them obstacles. This intervention of the police has aggravated our relations and affected the Soviet “pride”. “This ‘incident’ was one of the decisive reasons for us to take over all the ships from the Soviet side.”
This was stated, among others, by Enver Hoxha in a meeting with the first secretaries of the Committee of the District Party and with a number of key cadres of the Central Committee of the ALP, held on May 30, 1960, where he was stopped. and informed the participants in that meeting about the great contradictions and disagreements that had arisen between official Tirana and the senior leadership of the Kremlin headed by Nikita Khrushchev, where the biggest problem was that of the Vlora Military-Naval Base. , where the Soviet side still had 150 sailors and soldiers, who “created daily incidents.” Regarding this and all the speech of Enver Hoxha in that meeting of May 30, 1960, we know this document that Memorie.al publishes for the first time and without any cuts.
Enver Hoxha’s unknown speech with the first secretaries of the district Party committees in the Central Committee of the ALP on May 30, 1961
I would like to inform you about recent events. I am not starting from the Moscow Meeting of the 81 Communist and Workers’ Parties, because you are informed about this, many of you are even aware of the last meeting of the representatives of the Warsaw Pact countries, which took place in Moscow on March 28-29 this year. The main purpose of the last meeting of the Warsaw Pact was to attack the Central Committee of the Party and our Government. This was the goal of Nikita Khrushchev and his comrades, and the agenda of this meeting provided for a report on the moral and political situation of the armed forces of the states that are part of the Warsaw Pact and their armament. But in fact, these issues were not discussed. The problem of arming the armies of the Warsaw Pact member states was previously discussed in various meetings with the military representatives of these countries, and even lists were prepared for the needs of each army, as well as the sources of the countries where these would be taken. armatime.
Thus, at the last meeting of the Warsaw Pact the issue of arming armies was only formally and in fact this was not even discussed at all. The representative of the Party and our Government also discussed in this meeting. In his discussion he addressed the international situation, the moral-political situation, the armament of our army, presented the views of our Party and Government on the measures to be taken, and made proposals for the further strengthening of the socialist camp and our armies. Except for our representative’s speech, all other speeches were just attacking against us and none of the leaders of the other socialist countries who discussed addressed the issues related to the agenda. They attacked and asked why the representative of Albania did not speak about the letter sent to us by the Commander of the Joint Forces of the Warsaw Pact, Marshal A. A. Grecko. You should know that this was a letter delivered in the last hour, as the Soviet leadership practices in all international meetings; they intend to put the other in a difficult position, so that there is no time to carefully examine the material.
But we immediately understood Khrushchev’s low intentions with friends and managed to give the deserved answer to Marshal Grecko in time, orally and in writing. Grecko’s letter demanded that we agree to wash our hands of the Vlora base and, according to him, of all its ‘hinterland’, which would be placed under Soviet rule; that the armed forces of the Albanian Navy be withdrawn from this territory and that all naval warships, auxiliary ships, etc., be taken over by the Soviet crews. We responded properly to this letter, always maintaining composure, because that is the characteristic of Marxist-Leninist justice. So, our letter was written in a calm tone, in a friendly spirit, based on Marxist-Leninist principles, proletarian internationalism and the agreements signed between our two governments. We therefore replied that this proposal was unacceptable to us, because in the first place it was neither friendly, nor internationalist, nor fraternal, nor based on the agreements we had.
We replied that our naval forces, at all times and from all points of view, have shown the ladies to direct every naval means of warfare. In the end, we underlined that Grecko’s proposal had no basis and stressed that the reasons he put forward for taking these measures were all slander and fabrications. The only “reason” that Grecko presented in his letter about the measures he proposed, was that the living of Soviet sailors at the Vlora naval base had allegedly become impossible. According to him, the conditions were created for the Soviets on such a bad basis that they saw no other way but for us Albanians to leave our base and be taken over by the Soviets, because only in this way, according to them, would be avoided. every incident! An “incident”, according to them, was that a policeman on the Izvor River, controlling a bus with three other Soviet women traveling, told them that, after going to Vlora, they should have their ID cards with them, because in city, not knowing them, could bring them obstacles. This intervention of the police has aggravated our relations and affected the Soviet “pride”. This “incident” was one of the decisive reasons for us to take over all the ships from the Soviet side.
In addition, a series of other slanders were made on paper about very small things and without any basis, because they did not happen, but were deliberately fabricated by them. It is clear to us that these attitudes of the Soviet leadership, which are being held after the Bucharest Summit, have their own political and ideological basis. Before Bucharest, especially at the base, not the slightest disagreement had occurred between the two sides, there was complete harmony. After Bucharest, all these fabrications were hatched by the Soviet leadership, the Soviet embassy in Tirana, especially by the Soviet officers who came to the Vlora base, the apostates for hostile purposes. After our speech at the Warsaw Pact meeting, all the attacks against us started. When Khrushchev stood up and asked the Albanian representative why he did not speak about this letter, we replied that this was not the place to speak, because in this meeting we came for other problems and not to respond to correspondence between ministries. of defense. But they were prepared for this work, so what they did not say against us: “You have put yourself out of the Warsaw Pact”, “you are anti-Soviet”, “you Albanians are against unity” and others. These attacks are so numerous that they cannot be said.
But the answer they received was so right and so strict that Nikita Khrushchev was forced to stand up twenty times to speak, because all their facts and arguments were baseless, and these attitudes clearly showed their false, anti-Marxist position., anti-Albanian, unfriendly and not at all internationalist. Finally, after everyone spoke against us, but we also did not hold anything back, they came up with a decision to hand over the Vlora base to the Soviets and to connect directly with the Soviet commander of the Warsaw Pact Joint Forces., and put the issue to the vote. Everyone approved of this decision, only we voted against and described it as a decision that has no basis and is not permeated at all by the internationalist spirit. In addition, at the March meeting of the Warsaw Pact, other attacks and interventions were made against us, especially for the trial to be held against the traitor Teme Sejko with comrades, who organized a counter-revolutionary plot and a coordinated armed intervention. with the American Fleet VI, with the Greek monarch-fascists and with the Yugoslav revisionists, because, apparently, this trial was very hot.
At this meeting, the trial against these traitors became the problem of the day. According to them, this was a fabricated, false trial, because Albania has not been attacked by anyone. Therefore, according to them, a commission should be formed to check the documents of our investigation whether they are true or not. Khrushchev, Gomulka, Zhivkov and others spoke in this spirit. They were caught by the “fact” that “why did you not inform us about this problem”. Of course, we also rejected this view and responded as it deserved. Characteristic is the fact that the leaders of the Warsaw Pact member states at this meeting had come up with plans of blackmail and threats against us not to punish the spies and traitors we had caught and who we had declared we would bring to justice. To achieve this goal, they intimidated us with the liquidation of the military-naval base of Vlora. By putting pressure on us by removing the base of Vlora, in case we would bring these traitors to justice, they openly defended the traitors of the Party and our homeland.
This is how these pressures and threats can be understood. Only these people know why they protected these traitors and spies. But we have a very clear issue. We are very clear about the fact that N. S. Khrushchev defended Panayot the Elder. This traitor sent a letter to Khrushchev, demanding the liquidation of the leadership of our Party. N. S. Hrushovi has also defended the traitors, Dali Ndreu, Liri Gega, Tuk Jakova and others, in a word all the traitors of our Party. We also know that Khrushchev talked to Sophocles Venizelos and agreed to communicate to us his views on the so-called issue of the autonomy of “Vorio Epirus”. We know these things, that is why we have openly criticized Nikita Khrushchev for these attitudes, in a Marxist way. The question may arise: Why did the appearance of the spies and traitors of the Party and of our homeland burn them in the last trial? They know that. Why did they want to intervene and look at the files of our traitors? They know that too. We know one thing to always be vigilant about. Time and history are ruthless, they will bring these things to light and explain why the Soviet leadership has taken the traitors of the Party and our state under its wing.
They cannot scare us with the pressures they put on us for the Vlora base, because we are on the right path in every direction. Being the base of Vlora serves not only the defense of Albania, but the whole camp of socialism. For this purpose, the Military-Naval Base of Vlora was created, which is reflected in the historical documents signed by both parties. The facts have shown that our people who worked at the base, directed the naval vehicles best, and those who work today at the base have become very skilled in their work, even more skilled than many Soviets who had allegedly come here. to instruct our people. Even in terms of bravery, the Albanian people, communists, officers and soldiers have shown when the time has come. Therefore, the decision taken at the last meeting of the Warsaw Pact was an act that violated all accepted norms for agreements between states, that violated the interests of the socialist camp, that harmed and endangered the protection of Albania and the camp as a whole.
We have bluntly stated this view to Soviet leaders and all the leaders of other socialist countries in Europe, so they have a heavy historical responsibility on their backs, primarily Nikita Khrushchev, but others have as much responsibility as he does. . Time will tell and it is showing what vile crimes are being committed. In the future, she will show even more clearly the vileness of the revisionists. No matter what, they continue on their anti-Marxist path to complicate matters. Only the composure of our Party has so far avoided unpopular actions. The Soviet leadership, after a meeting, addressed a letter to the Central Committee of our Party signed by Kosygin. Half of this letter talks about the aid provided by the Soviet Union to Albania. This whole part is not permeated by a friendly, fraternal, internationalist spirit, but by the anti-Albanian goals of the revisionist group led by Khrushchev. From this part of the letter also comes the conclusion that these aids that our country has received, have not served the Albanian leadership to lower its back against the views and decisions of this revisionist group.
In short, the aid given to us by the Soviet people and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, according to Khrushchev’s group, must be understood as a factor to be persuaded, to submit to his revisionist Trotskyist views. The letter also contains a lot of fabricated slanders against the Vlora base, including the “incident” that our police officer had asked three Soviet women traveling on the bus to carry their ID cards with them, and that this would have been a “great tragedy” for him. , therefore this letter required the Albanian Government, which was charged with full responsibility, to implement the decision to convene the Warsaw Pact. Through a letter, we responded to the Soviet government, particularly on the issue of the decision. We reiterated our views calmly, confirming all the facts and told them that the decision to convene the Warsaw Pact is unacceptable to us and there is only one solution, that the military-naval base of Vlora remain in the hands of the army. Albanian. There is no other solution.
This means, we emphasized in the letter, to implement the agreement signed by both parties. How was the agreement being implemented? According to the agreement, we had full delivery of naval warships, which were piloted by our officers, while the other ships, since August last year, had to be taken over by our crews, as they were already trained, trained and fully ready to take delivery. However, after the Bucharest Meeting, the Soviet side, under various pretexts, that allegedly the time had not yet come, etc., was not handing over the ships on the basis of the agreement. We pointed out to the Soviets that our sailors are fully able to pick up the ships and steer them, because they have been learning for several years and have been better trained by those you sent us and that only one year have that have been introduced into the navy. It is understood that their purpose was not to hand over the ships to us, because, if we followed the schedule set by agreement, they would have delivered them to us on time. Following the decision of the Warsaw Pact, we demanded that the status quo be maintained. We told you this categorically. We also told you that if you want to implement the agreement reached in advance, according to which the ships will be delivered to our crews after they are ready, you are free to leave. Even the Soviet state, a year or so ago said that “Albanian crews are prepared”./Memorie.al
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