Dashnor Kaloçi
The first part
Memorie.al publishes some archival documents extracted from the Archive of the Ministry of Defense which belong to 1974 and are about several meetings held at the Ministry of People’s Defense at that time, where were discussed and analyzed “The hostile activity of the group coup of Beqir Balluku ”, where the Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu would communicate the decisions of the Politburo to the main leaders of the Ministry of Defense and a number of other senior military of the Albanian Army. Mehmet Shehu’s speech at the December 3, 1974 meeting with the commanders and directors of the Ministry of Defense and the resolution of the party assets of that ministry were published for the first time, where Shehu accused Balluko and his two deputies, Petrit Dume and Hito Çako., as well as some of the senior military of the Albanian Army.
“The traitors of the Party and the people, Beqir Balluku and Hito Çako, with certain deeply hostile intentions, locked the Theses on Folk Martial Arts in the safe, leaving the army to work with old regulations. At the same time, Beqir Balluku and Hito Çako widely introduced foreign hostile literature into the army, thus spreading the bourgeois revisionist ideologies.
A reprehensible and extremely dangerous work in introducing revisionist poison in the army has been done by the Political Directorate, the General Staff, as well as the Institute of Military Studies, headed by Comrade Sadik Bekteshi, and the Second Directorate, headed by Comrade Andon Sheti”.
This is stated, among other things, in the resolution of the meeting of the Party Assets of the Ministry of People’s Defense, held on November 16, 1974, just one month before that meeting on December 12, 1974, where the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Mehmet Shehu would communicate to them the decisions of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the ALP on: “The hostile activity of the coup group of Beqir Balluku” and would take out of the meeting room some of the highest military of the Albanian Army , whom Enver Hoxha and the senior leadership of the ALP considered as: “Enemies and supporters of Beqir Balluku’s group”.
In addition to this resolution of the Party Assets of the Ministry of Defense (Central Archive of the Armed Forces, Fund 100. Year 1974. File 301), a part of which we are publishing below in this article, from the archival documents available to Memorie.al, yes, we also publish a part of the speech of the former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Mehmet Shehu, held on December 3, 1974 with the commanders and directors of the Ministry of Defense in Tirana.
What is further stated in that resolution of the Active Party of the Ministry of Defense and what are the concrete accusations made against the highest leaders of the Ministry of Defense, Beqir Balluku, Petrit Dume, Hito Çako, as well as some of the former generals famous of the Albanian Army? What is Mehmet Shehu’s accusations against Petrit Duma at the December 3, 1974 meeting with the commanders and directors of the Ministry of Defense?
With these and other unknown things about the so-called “Coup group of Beqir Balluku”, we are introduced to the materials we are publishing below in this article, which shed light on some of the darker sides of the communist regime of Enver Hoxha, and in this case, the ridiculous accusations with which Balluku, Dume and Çako, victims of the paranoia of the communist dictator of Albania, were executed.
Resolution of the Assets of the Party of the Ministry of Defense
In the archival document entitled: “Resolution of the Asset Collection of the Party of the Ministry of People’s Defense” (Tirana 16. II. 1974), among others it is written:
The Party activist of the Ministry of People’s Defense, who carried out the works from 22 to 25 November 1974, after studying and listening carefully to the analysis and conclusions of Comrade Enver Hoxha at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the ALP, dated October 10, 1974, as well as in front of the military cadres on the topic: “To clean with an iron broom the hostile activity of Beqir Balluku. To draw lessons for further strengthening the work of the party in the Army “, he discussed with a high spirit of partisanship, approved them unanimously and considers them documents of great historical and saving importance for the fate of building socialism and defending the country.
They constitute a great program of work and war to increase more and more the leading role of the Party in the whole activity and life of our army, for the deepening of the proletarian, Marxist-Leninist spirit of the Armed Forces and all the military people, and for make it invincible for life the defense of our socialist homeland. In active, through the analysis of facts and events, it turned out that the hostile activity of Beqir Balluku has not been closed, but has spread to varying degrees in all spheres of life of the army.
With full of arguments it was proved that in all this activity, Beqir Balluku had as a permanent collaborator and Hito Çako. Both of these sworn enemies of the people, of the Party and of socialism, acting consciously, as conspirators and seasoned diversionists, as coup plotters and two-faced people behind the back of the party leadership, worked consequently to revise the general line. of the Party, to weaken the combat readiness and undermine the fates of socialism.
Many of them have often been absent in the Marxist-Leninist preparation with the communists and cadres. These and other party organizations in the directorate, command and institutions under the influence of foreign concepts on their leadership role, have been removed from the leadership activity for the most fundamental problems of ideological and military education of the effective. They have not dealt with the activity of the main staff of the Ministry, with their promotion and transfers. Likewise, committee reports, especially those of Party conferences, had to get their stamp; even the problems to be discussed in committee were sometimes dictated by them.
In addition to all this, the Party information has been distorted or missing at all. For this serious situation the main responsibility falls on the committee and the basic organizations of the party. The party committee has not fought consequently to increase the leading role of the basic organizations of the Party to cut the way to the hostile activity of Beqir Balluku and Hito Çako, who got on his neck and made the role of his authority a rag.
The deputy chairman of the committee, Comrade Nane Kutra, his deputy, Shefqet Muça and Ndreko Çabeli, as well as other comrades of the committee have special responsibilities. Comrades Petrit Dume, Sadik Bekteshi, Rahman Parllaku and Halim Ramohito also have heavy responsibilities, who have led very important sectors in the Ministry of People’s Defense and in the Army. The Party activist tried to delve into Comrade Enver’s speeches, but considers this only as a beginning.
He instructs that it is necessary in this regard to make a carpet, to study and re-study, to set up the Party organizations, the youth and all the effective for the further revolutionization of the army, to wipe with an iron broom the hostile activity of Beqir Balluku and Hito Çako, for further strengthening the work of the Party in the army.
Through this war to harden the moral figure of the communist and the revolutionary military, so that they are simple, courageous and fight every privilege. The MMP Party activist strongly condemned the hostile, anti-party and revisionist activity of the conspirator Hito Çako, this loyal collaborator of Beqir Balluku, who not only did not self-criticize, but, as a consistent and seasoned enemy, maintained a negligent attitude, tried to be negligent. responsibility and as a vicious provocateur, made a diversion to the Party leadership.
The activist unanimously proposes his expulsion from the Central Committee and the Party and, together with Beqir Balluku, to be handed over to the judicial bodies for criminal prosecution. Comrade Petrit Dume, in his activity and arrogance, has brought great damage to the work of the Party in the army and the defense of the country. Considering that it has entered the path of deepening and reflection, as well as that it promised to deepen further in the future to understand ideologically and politically its mistakes and faults, the asset proposes to be expelled from the Plenum of the Central Committee and be assigned to a lower task.
Comrade Sadik Bekteshi has made serious mistakes in implementing the Party line in the army. The sector he leads has spread foreign ideological and military literature, revisionist-bourgeois and has worked on black materials. Given the fact that he has heavy responsibility for all the proven errors and that he did not make any self-criticism about it, the asset proposes to be expelled from the plenum of the Central Committee and to be released from the army.
The activist harshly criticized Comrade Rahman Parllaku for the fact that he only tried to make self-criticism about the concepts on our defense, which are foreign to the military and political line of the Party for the army and ordered him to deepen to uproot the roots of careerism. to be more open and honest, to look at his being in the Plenum of the Central Committee of the ALP”.
The speech of Prime Minister Shehu with the commanders and directors of the Ministry of Defense: “Petrit Dumja did only for a gang commander”!
In his speech at the meeting of December 3, 1974 with the commanders and directors of the Ministry of Defense, where it was discussed: “The hostile activity of the coup group of Beqir Balluku”, former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Mehmet Shehu, between of others said:
“You have turned into tourists. The chief driver is the director or commander, to whom the wandering up and down has entered to the blood without any result. I do not understand how it is possible for a director or a person in charge of a command to spend 250 days on “Gaz”. What is the result? This is walking. Your function is only turned into a walker. Barren. We will not allow you to do that. Even if you want to leave, we will not let you.
We will first give you the competencies in this regard. We will also give you the number of days that you will leave. In order, with composure and awareness for the good of the work, we will now first take your competencies, we will wait for your initiative in this direction, until we see that everyone understands, reflects, takes himself. To the one who will recover faster, we will release the powers little by little, until he gets them completely.
We will not let you walk down. It was the method of Petrit Dume and Beqir Balluku, of people who are not capable of leading. I, too, am one of those who erred in my assessment of Petrit Dumes because I called him a godly military man. But now that I am analyzing the issues in more depth, based on the analyzes that are being done down in the Party organization and everywhere, as well as in practice, I see that Petrit Dumja, militarily, has been in front of the cast. You know what pre-casting means, fake? He had no leadership skills, not for the army, but not for a brigade.
Militaryly he could only be valid as a gang commander. Nothing more. But this is not how the army is run. And the worst example was given by Petrit Dumja, as well as Beqir Balluku himself, who really moved less. But still he did nothing, just walked, did not run anything. You have followed this example. They have imposed it on you too. But he also loved you. That was the motto of your work and responsibility, and all the bad he had down, the basis. Put down with a big sword, just to catch with “leeks in your hands” the command of the corps, or the brigade or the battalion, etc. and to list all the evils. You gave no help and you fled, you left. This was the method of “control” and “huri” for subordinates, not a method of real help and control.
It is extremely dangerous that at the same time, two weeks in a row in a corps, in that of Gjirokastra, there were five control teams from the ministry. And how would that corps be able to lead? … But now we will not allow anyone to do so. I asked Nikollaq Sallabanda: “You were the corps commander in Gjirokastra, then in Fier, then you came to the ministry. In the last 7-8 years, have you done any lectures with your staff, at the Academy, or at the United School, on the dismantling of the Defense Council Theses? ” No, I did not, ‘he told me. Then I said to him: ‘What kind of staff are you, what kind of teacher are you with your subordinates?’ (This question is not only for Comrade Nikollaq, but for everyone). “I do not have time,” he told me, “the orders took my soul.” “Okay, okay,” I say. “Are you, Nikollaq, in charge, or am I?” “You are in charge,” he tells me. ‘Then why do I have time to make a 47-page report for the Free Military School in three days, while you write 15 pages for 15 days, yes on this issue?! And for that report I have browsed Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong and Enver Hoxha, to see what they had said on a matter of this character. “For three days I locked myself inside, hung up the phone and studied.”/Memorie.al
Continues tomorrow
