Dashnor Kaloçi
Second part
Memorie.al publishes an archival document issued by the Central State Archive in Tirana (fund of the former Central Committee of the ALP), which belongs to May 8, 1981, which contains the political diary of the communist leader of Albania, Enver Hoxha, with notes on the events of Kosovo which had begun in the first days of the spring of that year, first with the protests and demonstrations of the student youth and then of the people of Kosovo, who rose to demand freedoms and their legal rights, as well as all other peoples and ethnicities that were then in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The complete diary of Enver Hoxha, from the messages given to Ramiz Alia to send all the pages of foreign newspapers from all over the world that had covered and commented on the events in Kosovo, the preparation for an article in the newspaper “Zeri i Popullit” regarding with those events in the period March-April 1981, the response to the politician and former Serbian diplomat, Milos Minic, a member of the Presidency of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, who had made a dangerous provocation against our country, “stating that “The Albanian leadership, through the activity of its intelligence and diplomacy bodies, including its embassy in Belgrade, revealed its full commitment and complexity in the events that took place in Kosovo”, etc.
“The statement made by Mr Minic is a problem for us, so the position to be taken should be discussed. During the conversation, Ramiz told me that this statement of Minic and the statements made by other Yugoslav leaders require a reaction from us. He said it right, but I do not think we should make an official public protest by our Government, nor any statement by ATSH. The latter could be a variant to publicly express our view. Yet both last night and today, I have thought a little deeper into this issue. First, the stance taken by Titoist leaders of every level cannot be left without an answer on our part. But before we do that, before we answer, we must analyze why Yugoslav leaders do so. This action of theirs, which is accompanied by all sorts of accusations against our country, I consider a provocation, which they make us fall into it and not just remove our ambassador from Yugoslavia, doing so to give them right for all those who have acted against us, but to go even further, to withdraw our embassy from Belgrade, because Miniçi did not say the Albanian ambassador, but the Albanian embassy. This is a great provocation, except they want the consequence it brings, not to do it ourselves, but urge us to do it. What they do is punishable. “We even condemned him, so we do not fall into their provocation.”
This is stated, among other things, in the political diary of the leader of communist Albania, Enver Hoxha, dated May 8, 1981, where he kept notes about the events in Kosovo, which had begun in the first days of March. that year, when the student youth of Kosovo came out in protests and demonstrations which were later joined by the people of Kosovo, demanding their freedoms and legal rights, like all other peoples and ethnicities that were in Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. For more about this and all the attitude held by the leadership of communist Albania and personally Enver Hoxha towards the communist leadership of Yugoslavia, we know this archival document that Memorie.al is publishing in full starting from this issue.
Enver Hoxha’s political diary of events in Kosovo, May 1981
Did Moshe Pijade want to give a fist to the Yugoslav Federation or undermine Yugoslavia? There is no way it can be so, as Mr. Minic claims, when the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania and the Albanian Labor Party are wrongly accused of not making this request, of not giving this serious blow to the Yugoslav Federation, and have not committed any brutal act of interference in the internal affairs of Yugoslavia. These documents found in the archives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia are legal and cannot be deleted. But have they been implemented? No, they are not fully implemented. After that, in parentheses, we must put the quotations of how during the war the people of Kosovo and Metohija, who were represented by the Albanian National Liberation Front of Kosovo and Metohija, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia of the Province of Kosovo and Metohija, held the meeting his first in Bujan, where he made a decision (and here this to be quoted), which, being considered as a decision of the representatives of the people of Kosovo in the fight against the occupiers in 1944, was presented in Belgrade, exactly where he was dismissed. Then put the letter of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia sent to the Kosovo-Metohija Regional Committee, explaining that the decision taken by the Bujan’s meeting was not entirely right and give the reasons why it is not right (the reasons that written on paper).
To further quote Miladin Popovic and say that in the archives of the Central Committee of the Albanian Labor Party are his manuscripts and one of these documents is also in the archives of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. After the liberation or on the eve of liberation, Miladin Popovic was killed in Pristina by an agent of the UDB or OZNA, as he was called at the time. After this event, the army went to Kosovo, the Albanians gathered their weapons there and filled the concentration camps with them. Below is the quote from Dusan Mugosha, who went to Belgrade and “on behalf of the people of Kosovo” demanded that the province of Kosovo be annexed to Serbia. This is the first document where Dushani says, in fact, that he did not get the consent of the people of Kosovo due to the military siege, but he will get it later. So, he did not bring there the voice of the people of Kosovo, but the voice of a Serbian chauvinist. Later, after three months, comes the other document that Dushani presented at the meeting, where he claims that he had obtained the consent of the people of Kosovo, to join Serbia, remaining one of its provinces. Here we note the organization of the lie about the so-called will of the people of Kosovo and “self-determination”. Based on all these events, the peaceful demonstrations in Kosovo should be explained, which later turned into political demonstrations. All these events, which are documented, the gentlemen of Belgrade hide, so do not try at all to say that their perpetrators or organizers are “reactionaries”, “irredentists”, “nationalists”, “chauvinists”. But what are all these that we noted above?
And why was this analysis not done in the Central League Committee? What are the accusations against the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania and the Albanian Labor Party, which has never raised territorial issues. Having said all this, let us conclude: We think that the Yugoslav leadership has lost its composure, which is not at all in the interest of Yugoslavia itself, nor in the interest of its relations with Albania, nor in the interest of security. Balkans and Europe, for which the Yugoslav leadership, which is one of the “most prominent” protagonists of the Helsinki movement, is making a lot of noise. On this occasion we can express once again the idea that socialist Albania has declared and is determined that, in case Yugoslavia is attacked by an aggressive imperialist power, it will be found side by side with it. It should be noted that the Yugoslav leadership must understand that the Albanians, be they of the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania, be they of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo or the Republic of Kosovo, as well as those of Macedonia and Montenegro, will necessarily be on the side of side by side with the peoples of Yugoslavia to protect the borders of the Federation. To say that the Albanians of Yugoslavia cannot be even against the people of Yugoslavia, much less against their Albanian brothers, with whom they will fight in a trench.
The Yugoslav leadership does not want to understand this, but the logic of this just policy of the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania is this and cannot be other. Yugoslav leaders who do not like this situation and have other goals on their side may think otherwise. Yes, they are wrong, so they will punish the Yugoslav people. Looking at this problem through this prism, we say that the Albanians of Kosovo and other Albanian areas of Yugoslavia constitute a stabilizing factor in any state status that may be in Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav leadership, it should be said in the article, will do its best to make the Albanian people of Kosovo and other parts of Yugoslavia, for the good of the country, a friend on the right path and not an enemy. We, their brothers in the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, also fight to be friends with the brotherly peoples of Yugoslavia, so we tell them to be friends with them. Then use what Tito said when I raised the issue of Kosovo and other areas inhabited by Albanians in Yugoslavia, that “now is not the time to raise state borders” and then went on to say that “they are territories that belong to Albania”, while later he told the Kosovars that, if you stayed in Yugoslavia, they will be the same as if they were in Albania. With this Tito does not deny the issue that Kosovo and other areas in Yugoslavia inhabited by Albanians cannot be in Albania, but then there was such a situation that this “was hindered by Serbian chauvinism, therefore this right could not be realized”. Tito even says this to the Albanians that “you are an important factor in strengthening the Yugoslav Federation”. It seems to me that in this context we are giving another complementary and overwhelming answer to the Yugoslav leadership. With the arguments we have the article should become stronger and even calmer than the first two. I agreed with Ramiz to publish the article by the end of next week.
SATURDAY 9 MAY 1981
HOW TO DENIAL AND DESTROY THE ANTI-ALBANIAN ACCUSATIONS OF THE TITIS RELATED TO THE EVENTS IN KOSOVO
Thoughts (continued)
We have felt it, we feel it and we will feel it as a permanent duty to defend Marxism-Leninism. We have fought and will fight against revisionist, opportunistic, reformist theories and views of any color. This is our right, just as all anti-Marxists and the various parties of the bourgeoisie have the right to fight us, and in this respect, they do nothing. We have every right to defend our system of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Others have the right to protect their systems. Hence the natural and inevitable ideological struggle. You claim that you are not waging this war against us. This has neither been nor is it true. We do it and we declare it, and you do it and hide it. You claim that such an ideological war weakens state, trade, cultural relations. We say and conclude that these have not been weakened, but rather strengthened and not only for your will, but also ours. Neither you nor we have made ideological concessions to each other, but we have agreed on those things that the common interest demands and we have not agreed on those issues on which we can never agree. State relations based on the well-known principles of good neighborliness have advanced. We want it to continue like this in the future. If you do not want to, no one will stop you from doing otherwise. We will try to find with you a modus vivendi without violating the principles. You claim that you have “reduced vigilance” against the so-called hostile actions of the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania against the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
This is not true, why did you wage the ideological war openly. You claim to have been “generous” for the sake of continuing good relations between the two countries. This, too, is not true: you do not suffer from generosity nor from the lack of ideological warfare against our basic doctrine, Marxism-Leninism, and our regime of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Why are you hiding this? But with all this reality, the other reality of the continuation of good neighborliness and state relations continues and we want it to continue and progress. These recently give you the impression that you want to limit these relationships. For this you take responsibility. The baseless and wrong anti-Albanian campaign that you have set up recently, but which is neither new nor weak, you want to strengthen and you will raise it to a higher degree. Do it, we are not against. You make yours, we will make ours. You hypocritically claim that you have not informed the Yugoslav public and your youth about the “misery that reigns in Albania, about the lack of freedoms and rights of the Albanian people, about the demolition of churches and mosques, about the closing of the doors of Albania to the hordes. Huns, for closing our gates to the Soviet war fleet and for the numerous political camps and for prisoners” etc.
We, for our part, will talk even more than we have talked about the “Yugoslav paradise”. We have spoken about this “paradise and economic, spiritual and ideological prosperity” of Yugoslavia, but we will refresh the memory of our people and youth for all the evils that the Albanian people have seen at your expense, both before the war and even after the National Liberation War. This is in the logic of the war things you want to create. You have wrongly claimed, and the historical facts prove the opposite, that Yugoslavia had defended Albania. Currently in the plenum of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, which was held only to strike Kosovo and attack the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, among other things were heard many “authorized” voices that “Federal Yugoslavia is the defender of The Socialist People’s Republic of Albania”. This is a “paternalistic” and one-sided statement, why it was forgotten and not without purpose and from the megalomaniac positions of a larger state, that socialist Albania is also a strong defender of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. We oppose the current foreign and domestic policy of Yugoslavia, because we consider it full of risks for Yugoslavia itself, for Albania, for the Balkans and for Europe, regardless of the circumstances and the bombastic words. but deeply mistaken of self-government, the policy of “independent” and that of “non-engaged”.
Every government and every person who understands politics and who follows the situations that develop in the world, sees how wrong and fraught with risks this course of Yugoslav politics is. This policy is exposed in Yugoslavia to the greed and possible aggression of American imperialism and Soviet social imperialism. This threat is the dangerous offspring of this short-sighted policy that is causing instability within Yugoslavia. Yugoslav leaders not only preach, but also recommend to others their self-governing system as the “most perfect form and system” of socialism. Yugoslav leaders preach their foreign policy as if it would destroy and disarm the aggressive imperialist powers and bring peace and prosperity to the world. This policy is not only naive, but it is a hoax, which is unmasked by world events every day. Yugoslavia considers it a great merit that it is in debt. He calls this “economic independence”. It calls for the preservation and protection of its independence and “non-alignment” when multinational imperialist and Soviet societies were legally provided with 50 percent of the profits from Yugoslav joint ventures. She calls “smart, open, candid” the entry of foreign tourists and the spread of Yugoslav economic emigration to all the capitalist countries of the world; calls it a “gesture of kindness” that allows Soviet warships to anchor, repair and supply Yugoslav ports; calls inevitable and almost “normal” the great economic crisis that has plagued Yugoslavia, the sharp rise in inflation, the high cost of living of the working masses.
According to the Yugoslav leadership, all this has nothing to do with self-government, “independent politics” or “non-engagement”. These are two issues that do not influence each other, the first is not the consequence of the second, say Yugoslav “theorists”. The fault lies with the Albanians living in Yugoslavia and the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania, which “encourages” them with its “statist-bureaucratic-Stalinist, nationalist, irredentist policy”. No, Yugoslav leaders, do not be afraid of the truth, be a little realistic, because it is not as you claim. You want us to follow your path. This will never be done. We can live poor, but we want to live free and build well-being. ours that grows every day. We do this with our own forces. We do not owe anyone, we do not sell the land to foreign capitals of the United States of America, the Soviet Union, etc. We are not closed in on ourselves, we are doing honest trade with mutual benefit. The fact is that with you we are increasing trade every year. We are an important factor of stability in the Balkans. Let it be guessed by whoever it would be, what it would be like, if the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania opened its doors to Soviet, American and other capitalist countries, what it would be like if the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania opened to the Soviet warships the ports of Saranda, Vlora, Durres, Shengjin, as Yugoslavia does? It is certain that if this were done, not only the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania would be endangered, but the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Republic of Greece, the whole Balkans and the whole of Europe.
We have never done this and we will never allow it. The Soviets and anyone else will not even look at our ports with binoculars, and whoever dares to dare to do so must first pass over our troops. The Albanian people have saved Europe once, read about Skanderbeg’s wars. He is prepared and determined to save her again, if need be. The capitalist and imperialist world has done a lot of harm to the Albanian people at all times. Even now she tries to distort the truth about Albania, she has robbed her property and does not want to return it, she killed our people with iron and fire and burned Albania and now refuses or hesitates to pay the war damages when he has given them to everyone else. And this is why we, a small people, want to live free, independent, sovereign in our country and we have not harmed anyone, but they have seen good from the Albanian people. No one and no force can defeat us in our legitimate rights. Leading Yugoslav gentlemen, let go of your sick passions for a moment and think calmly: does this policy of the Albanian state endanger, or does it protect the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia? We have declared and declare officially and universally that, if the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is attacked, we Albanians of the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania will fight together with the people of Yugoslavia. Does this protect or undermine the Yugoslav Federation?
Do you think that at this supreme moment, when the Albanian people of the Socialist People’s Republic of Albania, united with the peoples of Yugoslavia, will fight side by side, as it did in World War II, against an enemy or aggressive enemies and invaders of both our countries, the Albanian people living in their lands in Yugoslavia will turn their guns on us and turn against us by taking the side of the Soviet-Bulgarians or any other aggressor? Why, Yugoslav leadership gentlemen, do you distort our statements and try to put into our mouths things we did not say? We have stated and continue to state that we have neither displayed nor display territorial claims. Why do you accuse us of chauvinists, of instigators of irredentism, of nationalists? By making these accusations to us baseless, baseless and untrue, you certainly want to hide something serious and unjust of yours. We have no interest in weakening the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, on the contrary, we want it to be strengthened, but not at the expense of Kosovo Albanians and this or that republic. The weakening of the Federation pleases the revisionist-aggressive Soviet Union and the Bulgarian revisionist leadership. We say this truth openly, while you are afraid to say it. Moreover, you have raised the trumpets that the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania wants to undermine the Yugoslav Federation. /Memorie.al
Continues in the next issue
