Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al publishes the rare interview of Sadik Premte from Paris, one of the most potential political opponents of Enver Hoxha who lived in the West, given to the French magazine “Le drapeau du socialisme”, in 1982 after the event that took place in Albania with the so-called Xhevdet Mustafa gang ”, where he speaks and gives his considerations for the communist regime of Tirana, for the event of the elimination of Mehmet Shehu and a prognosis of what would happen in the senior leadership after the death of Enver Hoxha ….
We publish an interview of Sadik Premte, given to the French magazine “La drapeau du socialisme” (organ of the IV Communist International, to which Sadik Premte himself adhered for years) in 1982, after the event that took place in Albania with what is now known as “Xhevdet Mustafa gang”. It seems that the newspaper in question was intrigued by that news and ran to get a statement from Sadik Premtes, one of the founders of the Communist Party of Albania, which headed by Enver Hoxha continued to hold power since 1944. What stands out in Sadiku’s answers given to the newspaper in question, is the cold and unhurried analysis he makes of the communist regime in Albania and the policy line that was followed by official Tirana, headed by Enver Hoxha, where he has made a forecast accurate about the future of that country from where he had left since 1944, to escape his safe physical elimination, as well as most of the members of the founding meeting of the Communist Party of Albania. Also, what is most interesting in his answers to the newspaper in question, is the part where Sadiku talks about himself, his family and also about Enver Hoxha, regarding the political course he was expected to follow at that time. For more, we know the interview of Sadik Premte, which we are publishing according to the translation made by Mr. Zija Lepenica.
Sadik Friday Interview
“A gang of fugitive Albanian criminals commanded by the bandit Xhevdet Mustafa has been liquidated,” the Albanian News Agency announced on September 28th. Strange landing attempt, from late 1949. Mysterious impressions of intent to rule, in a country slightly larger than Sicily, stuck between Yugoslavia and Greece.
The history of this popular democracy is confused with that of the civil wars, the secret of which is Enver Hoxha. The latest “suicide” is nine months old, when the 27-year-old prime minister was ousted.
To try to learn more about this country of 2.5 million inhabitants, which has the lowest level in Europe, we met one of the founders of the Albanian Communist Party, today a political refugee in France.
Sadik Premtja, called Xhepi, in 1941 participated in the creation of the Albanian Communist Party. Refusing to obey Hoxha’s orders, he left Albania in 1944 to avoid certain death. In Albania he had left his wife and a little girl, 3 years old.
38 years passed without receiving any news from his family, but they had not forgotten, two assassination attempts in Paris: the first, in 1951 and the other in 1954.
His brother, who lived in his hometown, born in Vlora, has been in prison for a long time, although he was only 7 years old when Xhepi left his country. Meanwhile, every ALP congress regularly condemned Xhepi as a traitor to the homeland. Even Hoxha’s book, translated into French “In the face of revisionism”, constantly scolds Xhepi.
“Albania is a very big bunker.”
Question: What do you think about this landing attempt, about the Albanian fugitives?
Answer: The son of the former king of Albania reclaimed the action, of course, they were Zogists (Royalists). Assisted by US, British secret services, those who participated in the landing. A beautiful provocation! The CIA knows that with 30 people it could not overthrow the government, not even with 3000 it could not destabilize it. It is simply an act of cold war, they probably thought that a landing would incite dissatisfied measures against the regime, it means to quickly forget that Albania today is a big bunker.
Question: Do you think today about Enver Hoxha’s successor?
Answer: Yes, that is why he killed Mehmet Shehu, the former prime minister. He was said to have killed himself in a moment of depression. “Je l’ai bien connue”. He had a lot of courage and was not the type to commit suicide. He was buried as if he were a dog even though he was the second person of the state. His wife, who held an important post (president of the Higher School of Communist Party cadres), was imprisoned. There has long been a rivalry between the two, Hoxha-Shehu. Both ambitious, each wanted to govern himself.
Question: Could this cleanup be an ongoing policy?
Answer: In fact, it has been several years since the Minister and Deputy Minister of Defense were liquidated, as well as the political commissar of the Army, along with several hundred officers. Some time ago they did the same with the Minister and the Deputy Minister of Culture.
Question: How do you explain the political isolation in which Albania lived?
Answer: It first broke with Yugoslavia in 1948, then with the USSR in 1963, and finally with China in 1978. In all cases, the Albanians have justified their policy of defending the figure of Stalin.
You know that the SNP was formed in 1941 with the participation of the leaders of the Yugoslav Communist Party. After the war the heroes of the people were Hoxha and Tito. Hoxha chose the biggest camp when Tito broke up with Stalin.
At the beginning of the destabilization of the USSR in 1956, Khrushchev came to Albania to explain that it was Stalin’s fault and that the regime should now be overthrown. The militants of the Communist Party of Tirana section held Hoxha accountable for the crimes committed. Hoxha initially admitted, then arrested them and disappeared without a trace.
Today Hoxha is afraid of a political softening, he cannot go back, he definitely has to go to the end.
Only Vietnam maintained good relations with Albania, as he (Vietnam) wanted to maintain relations with all the countries of the socialist camp.
Question: So, there is nothing positive in this regime?
Answer: Yes, there is. Illiteracy disappeared and this agricultural country recognized the beginning of industrialization. But in order to have currency, to buy industrial materials, practically all agricultural production had to be exported to Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy or France. So, people had to fasten their belts. My mother worked until the age of 75, to meet her needs. Socialism to mourn!
Question: Do you believe that you will ever return to Albania?
Answer: Yes, I am 68 years old, Hoxha 74. His death will undoubtedly bring a clan war. From the old team that founded the Communist Party, we are left with only the two of us and the president of the union, a mediocre one. After two leaders killed during the war, the others have been liquidated.
I hope change will come from within, without pressure from the Russians or the Chinese.
I met people who were able to leave Albania (young boys), they told me that parents do not have the courage to speak, in front of their children. This is true barbarism! However, good sign, people (young people) discuss among themselves when they trust each other, they always criticize the regime.
These young people believed that I was dead, even though they had never seen me and since elementary school, they were told that I was a traitor./Memorie.al
