Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al/After the breakdown of relations between Albania and the People’s Republic of China, which became public on July 29, 1978, when the top communist leadership of Tirana published in the newspaper “Zeri i Popullit” a long letter in response to official note of the Chinese (announcing the cut off aid and loans for Albania), submitted to the Albanian embassy in Beijing on July 7 of that year, many leaders of the Marxist-Leninist communist parties of different countries of the world, who until that had long had close ties to both the communist leaderships of Tirana and Beijing, publicly speaking out on the side of the Communist Party of China and coming out openly against Enver Hoxha and the ALP.
One of them was Reg Birch, the chairman of the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) of Britain and at the same time chairman of the trade unions in that country, who through an article published in the English newspaper “The Worker” (party organ that he led), opposed the ideological line and the political course that the ALP led by Enver Hoxha was following, exposing them from the positions of a sister communist party.
This is best seen in some archival documents (ALP Fund), where in a daily meeting with ALP secretaries, Enver Hoxha informs them about Birch’s article (which defended Mao Zedong) , making a detailed analysis of the accusations he makes against him and at the same time opposing him as an “agent of world imperialism”. We are publishing some parts of the minutes of that meeting in this article, where, among others, Enver Hoxha has expressed his views on the methods of some Red Brigades, which entered the Parliament of Nicaragua armed and ordered all parliamentarians to raised their hands up.
Although the former communist dictator of Albania at that meeting spoke out against these terrorist methods, he did the opposite, financing them with hundreds of thousands of dollars, through the Solidarity Fund that he and the ALP had set up specifically for that…
ENVER’S CONVERSATION WITH IRON ISAIN AND PROKOP THE WALL
Comrade Enver Hoxha: Last night I read an article by “Zhenminzhibao”, in which Lin Biaoja and the “gang of four” were criticized. This article states that “every sentence is true”. “Every sentence that President Mao says is true and carries as much weight as ten ordinary sentences.” This whole article has been prepared against us, that Lin Biao is used only as a Turkish head and if read carefully, one notices that this article completely coincides with the article of Reg Birch.
Comrade Hekuran Isai: I have not read the article.
Comrade Enver Hoxha: Reg Birch published an article on August 10 this year in the body of the party he leads.
While here, he spoke with Comrade Ramiz, who shared his thoughts on Birch’s remarks on Imperialism and Revolution, and when he left, he left his views in writing. Now that I was on holiday in Pogradec, as I was reviewing the book “Imperialism and Revolution”, I asked to be sent the remarks made to me about this book by the comrades of the Marxist-Leninist parties, whom we gave to read. I carefully read all the remarks made by them. But when I read what Birch had to say, I put my hands on my head. It is clear that he is an agent of English imperialism. Birch comes out against the criticism leveled at Mao Zedong.
“Why are you writing this material,” Birch asks, “it is up to you to do this,” he says. And he goes on to say: “I know I met Mao Zedong and Chu En Lai and they made a good impression on me.” A little further on, Birch continues: “But why do you deal with ghosts?” That is, according to him, all of them, from Stalin, the Comintern to Mao Zedong, taking their name in their mouths are ghosts. All, according to him, are dead people, etc … The remarks made by Reg Birch show that he is a masked man, a revisionist. After getting acquainted with his remarks, I wrote a long letter from Pogradec to Ramiz, that he too had not read and analyzed everything that Reg Birch had said. So, as I told you above, Reg Birch’s article was published in the English newspaper The Worker.
What is the content of this reactionary article? At first it is said that the power of the Soviets was the first power of the proletariat, founded and led by Lenin, whose path was continued by Stalin, who led the working people of the Soviet Union to socialist victories and the fight against fascism, etc. This was simultaneously a great victory for the whole working class and for the world revolution, the article says. Then there are rejected the efforts of some revisionist bourgeois intellectuals, the last servants of imperialism to rehabilitate the group of Bukharin and other anti-Marxists who have tried to obscure the work of the great Stalin, who led the peoples in their struggle for liberation and so on. And despite the betrayal of the Khrushchev revisionists, the article says, the power of the Soviets and the great work of Lenin and Stalin remain indelible, undeniable. Okay so far.
Another great undeniable victory for the working class and for the revolution, – is written below in this article of Birch, – is the war of the Albanian people, who without the help of anyone defeated the enemies, did this and that deed, built socialism, so and so on. Gone and this. The article talked about China. The Chinese people, under the leadership of Mao Zedong, fought for the liberation of the country from imperialist aggression, made the revolution and China of 800 million eradicated hunger, eradicated poverty, disease and all other evils. And finally comes the “bouquet”: Given the situations that have passed, namely the emergence of revisionists in China, it would be a hostile job to accuse Mao Zedong and Chu En Lai of not being on the path of Marxism. – Leninism. This is a great slander, he points out.
They do such a thing, ideologically they join the ranks of the Bucharest’s elements, of the revisionist intelligence that has been put in the service of capital, and so on. And the conclusion of the whole Birch article is this: Russian and Chinese friends have opened new paths for us, through which we will all walk.
Comrade Hekuran Isai: Oh this, this is very dirty!
Comrade Enver Hoxha: Posi, he is very dirty. It is clear, I also wrote to Ramiz about this, in the letter I sent to him from Pogradec, that Birch is a variant of the Hill of Australia or that both are agents of the “Intelligence Service”, because the bourgeoisie needs such people, it is interested to protect Mao Zedong. Let’s go back to the article of “Zhenminzhibao”, which was given by HSINUA.
It is the same view. The Chinese pose the problem that Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong’s ideas are one, that Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong is a complete and integral system, and whoever divides this into phrases and sentences is, according to him, anti-Marxist. All this shows that the Chinese are aware of the analysis we have made of these problems in our material, and they want to explain this by the antagonistic way of developing things, namely victory-defeat, defeat-victory, practical experience, make laws, as Mao Zedong said, disturb the water, etc., etc. Lin Biaoja and the “gang of four” – the article continues, – it is true that they did many bad things during the Cultural Revolution. Thus, for example, Mao’s statement in the 1950s that “the main danger is empiricism”, ostensibly to oppose idealistic empiricism, they used in the 1970s to counter the revolutionary cadres who had great experience. It is clear that by this the Chinese revisionists want to say that the idealistic empiricists are not the ones who came to power, but Lin Biao with the “four”, that the pragmatists are not these, but Lin Biao with friends.
This shows that they are aware of our blows directed against Mao Zedong’s theory, which is horny eclecticism. The current Chinese leaders try to explain things with the processes of developing contradictions, with the famous vulgar contradictions of Mao Zedong! So, these things, in order to capture the main link in the events that take place for the Chinese revolution to proceed in this way, until they find a place, according to them, are normal for us. Now, I have the issue here, that Birch takes a stand against the current Chinese leaders who have deviated from Marxism. He says that they are traitors, but on the other hand he is in favor of Mao Zedong with friends, who, according to him, are all Marxist-Leninists. So are Lenin and Stalin great Marxists, and today’s Soviet revisionist leaders are traitors, says Birch.
Comrade Hekuran Isai: He makes an analogy with this.
Comrade Enver Hoxha: Yes, he makes an analogy and continues: Who are those who insulted Lenin and Stalin? Bukharinites. So, it is now, those who criticize Mao Zedong are Bucharestists! But we know very well what Bukharinism is and what Lenin says about Bukharinists. But Birch’s attack has its source in the issues that we have told him and written in the book “Imperialism and Revolution”, that the current unions in bourgeois countries are under the direction of capital, the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy. I do not agree, Birch told us, for this you are against the organization of the working class, you are a Bucharest etc. The fight will now be over this issue. These, Ten Siao Pini with friends, were burned, therefore maocedun idea must be defended, that this the bourgeoisie must preserve for its own purposes.
Comrade Prokop Murra: Yes, because the Chinese revisionist leaders who came to power were concretely discredited and now efforts are being made to capture and preserve well the ideas of Mao Zedong.
Comrade Enver Hoxha: Yes, to preserve Mao Zedong, because this is now the only revisionist theory dressed in Marxist clothes to deceive the proletariat and the world. Soviet revisionism has been unmasked, Titoism has also been unmasked, as has Eurocommunism. Even the revisionism of Hua Kuo Fen is being unmasked with all these things he does with friends, therefore maocedun idea must be preserved. This, then, is the path of Americans and capital. Hilli is on the block with Hua Kuo Fen and Mao Zedong. Birch and his clients are divided on this issue, they are in favor of Mao Zedong, so they do not agree with us, they are also against the “four”.
Comrade Hekuran Isai: In this case, the bourgeoisie also makes its policy, that if Hilli, who is in the bloc with the Chinese, burns, then he has as a reserve to turn Birch and his comrades against us.
Comrade Enver Hoxha: Yes, yes, he divided them.
Comrade Prokop Murra: Exactly, this is their big strategy, maocedun idea should be preserved.
Comrade Enver Hoxha: Yes, maocedun idea must be preserved and all means are being used for this. There will definitely be a reason, as they are caught behind Mao Zedong. With this they will try to divide the labor movement and the Marxist-Leninist parties. And they will make absurd parallels about this. Just as the Khrushchevites attacked Stalin, so you are attacking Mao Zedong, they will tell us. Khrushchev was a revisionist, but even Ten Hsiao Pini and Hua Kuo Fen are revisionists, and this is clear, but after that we part with you, they continue, because you are attacking Mao Zedong, which you should not do. Why do you attack these ghosts, they tell us? Is it up to you to take on such a heavy burden, says Birch? Dale, that you are small! Why do you start attacking Mao Zedong? It is clear that now the Chinese saw that Hilli was burned and no one listens to him anymore, so they told Birch to come out, that maybe the Albanians are restrained, maybe you have a friend.
Comrade Hekuran Isai: This, apparently, from what he said, had his own strategic plan with us. He once said do not attack China, why take responsibility. So, Birch made us cry a lot!
Comrade Enver Hoxha: One should never think that Birch was honestly saying those things, that he was crying for us. No, no no, he is the man of the bourgeoisie, of the unions run by the English bourgeoisie to realize its aims! For a moment, to cause a rift, he brings out the other as if he were a pure Marxist Leninist, then he does it again, as he is doing with Birch, for example. The bourgeoisie tells this there is no way you can oppose Mao, we need this, therefore Mao Zedong must be defended to deceive honest people. Such a thing requires us to be very vigilant, and we comrade of the Marxist-Leninist parties, we must be very careful, prudent and patient, because among them there are good comrades, but there are also comrades who they still do not fully understand the dangers of Chinese revisionism. There are then people like Birch, of whom I am conscientiously convinced, that he is connected with the bourgeoisie, he is even an agent of it. But there may be people who are not agents, but are behind, do not understand well the scientific theory of Marxism-Leninism. We tell them that all these things have been done in China, which are not in the Marxist-Leninist way, when Mao Zedong himself was at the head of the Communist Party. So how were these done? Yes, they say that even in the Soviet Union, how did they do?
Comrade Hekuran Isai: Then we have in mind that our peasantry had some other characteristics.
Comrade Enver Hoxha: That’s right, our peasantry had other characteristics. But even if it had only the national feeling, the revolt against the occupier, the party would still struggle to have the peasantry with it, just as it struggled to enlighten it with the ideals of the working class, with the Marxist-Leninist theory. Therefore, we say that workers must fight to achieve political and economic victory, but especially in the political field. This is how the workers should act and become aware of their forces, that a great strike of the coal workers took place in England and there the whole life of the country was paralyzed. What if other sectors go on strike, without looking at how the work will be done then. Occupy the factories of the capitalists, you working class, and tell them that we do not let them go, without seeing what happens next. In our country, the working class was small in number, compared to the peasantry, while in other countries it was very large, so we have to work hard with them. But there is savage terror in the cities, some might say. Of course, one would think that there is terror, but we must fight against terror, against white terror and against “red” terror. Here are two or three red brigades, for example, in Nicaragua entered the Parliament and ordered all parliamentarians: Raise your hands! We are against these forms of war; the issue is to fight on the basis of a platform and on the basis of a plan. We must move forward in the war. One should not act like Birch, who is the chairman of the trade unions in England and the chairman of the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist), like Austi in Germany. When Birch is told what Engels said in his time, in a letter to Marx, that the English working class itself is being bourgeois, let alone the aristocracy of this class, he tells us that I do not agree. But we are not against the working class, but against the aristocracy of the working class and against the oppression that capitalism exerts on that class. Therefore, we say that workers must fight to achieve political and economic victory, but especially in the political field. Good, good friends, good day. /Memorie.al
