Dashnor Kaloçi
Memorie.al/ publishes some archival documents labeled “Sekret” taken from the Central State Archive in Tirana (the fund of the former Central Committee of PPSh), which belong to the year 1970 and are part of a file where it is located a correspondence, between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tirana and the Department of Foreign Relations, near the apparatus of the Central Committee of the PPSh, in one of the documents of the file in question, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Reiz Malile, through a report – the information, informs the senior leadership of PPSh, regarding the expulsion from Albania, of the French journalist Jean-Jacques Bovantr, of the newspaper “Valeurs Actuelles” (who had come with the tour groups of the company “Contrel”), for the reason that: “in one block, they found notes that constituted military secrets for our country, as well as defamatory notes about the situation in Albania”. In the file in question, there are also two other documents, where the first contains the letter of the French citizen, Jean Maria Leon, who visited Albania in 1970, (as a member of the ‘Group 4188’), sent to the Foreign sector, near the apparatus of the Central Committee of the PPSh, he complains, since the Albanian side did not give them the opportunity to carry out the full program of their visit, etc. While in the second document, there is a letter from the citizen from Great Britain, D. Lesli, (who had come as a visitor to Albania in 1970, together with a group of his compatriots with communist ideas), sent to the governing bodies of ALBTURISM, where he complains that, during his visit to different cities, such as: Tirana, Durrës, Shkodër, etc., he and the other members of the group were not allowed to use the camera and the people they wanted to photograph were they responded with bad behavior!
The document with the information report drawn up by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Reiz Malile, sent to the Central Committee of the PPSh, regarding the French journalist Jean-Jacques Bovantr, of the newspaper “Valeurs Actuelles”, who was expelled from Albania, as undesirable person
I N F O R M A T I O N
On August 28, 1970, the French journalist of the “Valeurs Actuelles” newspaper, Jean Jacques Bovantr, born in 1946, was deported from Albania as an undesirable person, who came to our country once, on August 4, 1970, and the second time on August 18, 1970. , with tourist groups of the company “Contrel”.
His expulsion was done because in one block, they found notes that constitute military secrets for our country, as well as defamatory notes about the situation in Albania.
Today, the adviser of the French embassy was called to the ministry and was informed about the above, saying that our competent bodies had enough documents to arrest the journalist, but we limited ourselves to deporting him.
The French councilor thanked for the way the case was handled and the closure of this incident, and said that he would immediately notify his center.
Reiz Malile
Tirana on 29.8.1970
The letter of the French citizen, Jean Maria Leon, who visited Albania in 1970, as a member of the ‘Group 4188’, sent to the External Sector of the Central Committee of the PPSh, regarding their visit to Albania,
Organizations of the Party of Work of Albania, responsible for the tourism policy and study trips of militants
Albturism that welcomed us and with whom we had many discussions.
Embassy of Albania in France, which provided us with information and preliminary contacts for this trip.
This year, 6 groups of Frenchmen have visited Albania, 3 groups were militants, which proves the enthusiasm and interest aroused by Marxism-Leninism practiced in Albania. At least at the level of these three groups, during the trip to Albania, some problems arose. We thought it would be fair to clarify these issues for us.
Our group, composed of militants mainly working on different fronts such as cultural (theatrical work), university (fight against bourgeois education), housing (action against bourgeois conditions in housing), wanted to recognize Albania as the only socialist country in Europe, with in order to develop an effective propaganda on socialism.
We say “Effective Propaganda”, because it seems to us that there are other propaganda possibilities than the pamphlet texts of countries like China and Albania, other possibilities in closer connection with the development of the movement of the revolutionary masses in France, and in order to this type of propaganda, be concrete and alive.
Following the many meetings we had with members of the Albanian embassy, during the previous months of our trip to Albania, they had advised us to prepare a program where the visits and conferences we wanted to have during our stay would be shown. .
And this program would be discussed with the Albanian officials. During the month of July, we gathered in working groups to study, with the help of Albanian texts, the main aspects of socialism in Albania, the history of the wars for national liberation, the history of the ALP, the establishment and consolidation of the relationship in production, the birth and development of socialist education culture.
We came to Albania with the conviction that this propaganda is effective in advancing the issue of the French revolution. But we also know that this propaganda is incomplete and diminished socialism, because the journey we took did not allow us to deal with all aspects of life that socialism has created.
This is what happened on all three fronts of the war for production, a vital issue for national independence and the existence of socialism in Albania. On the factory front, a visit like the one we made to the Tirana Tractor Factory was enthusiastic. Our visit lasted 4 hours.
Direct discussions with employees, translation of all flyers, all slogans, canteen visits, etc. All these constitute very vivid announcements about the proletarian power in the enterprise. On the contrary, the other two visits, the one to the Textile Factory in Berat, and to the Copper Wire Factory in Shkodër, where groups of tourists constantly pass by, made possible non-close contacts and a superficial political cooperation.
On the front of state-owned agricultural enterprises, the only possibility is that of Sukthi National Agricultural University, where the visit was limited by an interesting presentation by the person in charge who welcomed us. This type of concentration of agricultural production (unknown in capitalist France), is one of the “steps forward”, which allows the solution of the agrarian question, and it was interesting to explain to you all the transformations it brings.
On the cooperative front, we were surprised as nothing had been foreseen to make this important production sector known. We are very grateful to the Albanian officials who accepted the request of the three groups for the visit to Shijak, a visit that was outside of the tourist agenda, but which taught us the way of life in cooperatives.
But socialism in Albania is not only the struggle for production, as it is all aspects of life that the revolution has transformed in this country. From this point of view, the visit to the work site in Elbasan has excited us. She made us touch closely the happiness of the Albanian people and the building of the country.
But how many other aspects of the country’s life were passed by and that we could not see up close. So in Tirana, visiting a new residential neighborhood, we saw the socialist transformation in the life of the neighborhood. The propaganda that we would have been able to do by visiting the nurseries, talking to the Neighborhood Council, would have been very important and important.
We would have liked to get to know the revolutionization not by conferences, but by talking to village doctors, as well as by watching the performances of theater groups in cooperatives. But actually we saw only one theater performance in Durrës?!
We want to formulate all these criticisms on the lack of this type of travel in a brotherly manner, taking into account our militant needs, without understanding what is possible or not for Albania.
However, let Albania allow you to foreign militants, how the creative force of the people rules over all aspects of social life, which in capitalist countries translate into oppression and exploitation. This is an important contribution that Albania can give to the struggling peoples.
Group 4188
(Coretel Trip, August 1970)
Note: For any eventual correspondence, write to
Jean Marie Leon
24 Bd Colbert
Sceaux 92. France
The letter of the citizen from Great Britain, D. Lesli, who came as a visitor to Albania in 1970 together with a group of his compatriots, sent to the governing bodies of ALBTURISM, where he complains that during his visit to various cities, he and the leading group were not allowed to use the camera!
ENGLISH TOURIST GROUP
“MAJESTIC” HOTEL
DURRES, SEPTEMBER 7, 1970
Dear friends:
I am visiting your interesting and stimulating site for the second time, but I have encountered the same difficulties that I complained about on my first visit. After returning home, I sent you a letter about these difficulties, but you cannot be sure whether you received the letter or not, as I have not received any reply.
My first visit was marred by the attitude of your people, who refuse to be photographed by visitors, and by the anger and dissension which they manifested openly and clearly whenever the camera was pointed at a target, especially when this target also included people.
The camera cannot take pictures in any direction, even when photographing children in kindergartens and schools, dressed elegantly, without causing concern, opposition, and open interference from any person.
On this second visit, these difficulties became clearer than ever, even that the objection to the use of the camera, instead of being improved, has grown worse.
We traveled from Durrës to Tirana and passed through a number of small centers and saw demonstrations against the use of cameras in Shkodër, so this practice is widespread and not limited to one place or another.
Friends, it is clear from the excellent hotels you have built and from the perfect service that you are making efforts to develop the tourism trade and to ensure that as many people as possible come to your country, to attract the brilliant rays of the sun and from the coast, which nature has forgiven.
We have met Germans, Danes and other English people here, and on this visit we also met a group of 40 Chinese, many of whom had cameras with them. And the more visitors you would expect from other countries, the more cameras there will be in your country.
Many people now consider the camera as an indispensable tool in every trip or visit they make. What thoughts can they have when one of their most natural amusements or pleasures is met not only with indignation, but also with open hatred and interference?
The visitor comes to see your country, cities, people, customs, and life in general. Anything that differs from that of the visitors arouses interest in photographing, clothing, transportation systems, anything that is new or old, in fact, the appearance of all your people and places.
Friends: I am a communist and have been a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain for over 40 years. I want to spend my vacations and spend my money in the countries of socialism and I come with the friendliest feelings for all your people and for the feeling of closeness, to you and to all socialist aspirations.
Therefore, I beseech you, do all you can to change the attitude of your common people about our ways and curiosity in coming among you, and do not induce us to spend our visits, against our will, among other people and to ignore us, all that we have, to offer us and arouse interest and pleasure in us.
I greet you with the heartiest sentiments of friendship and social congratulations. Memorie.al
Yours faithfully
- Leslie
4 TS Leonard’s bank
Edinburgh – SCOTLAND
