Memorie.al / No national movement in Albania has had the life and vitality of Balli Kombëtar. No political party has stood with work, with struggle, and with open pride like the party of Mid’hat Frashëri. No social movement has defined such a clear direction for the improvement of Albanian life as Balli, born in war, grown in war, matured, and kneaded with sweat and blood in the time of fatal captivity.
The fate of the Homeland willed that Balli Kombëtar should be born in the house of Lumo Skëndo. In that house where Albanian culture was gathered in thousands of volumes, collected and preserved for brighter days, where Albanian nationalism was renewed, where rivers and streams of national resistance flowed, where special energies melted, where good wills were pressed and stuck together, and in the light of a lamp, the first national principles of the Eight Points of Albanian Nationalism sprang from the pen of the Elder.
Later, the ideas of the time were elaborated in the famous Decalogue, on which the noble soldiers of the homeland swore “with one desire, with one purpose.” National resistance willed that Balli, for 68 years, should be the unbending, unbreakable axis of all historical developments inside and outside Albania.
The characteristic of the Kastriot resistance of the League of Prizren was not to calculate the strength of the enemy but to stand until the end with inherited weapons. The characteristic of Balli Kombëtar has been and is to walk straight on the good path, regardless of the war against the occupiers and the obstacles of political opponents, without being moved by the misunderstandings of friends, without being weakened by the dry branches that fall during the wild storm.
For this reason, the wars of Balli Kombëtar speak for themselves, fighting against the occupier, in Tirana, in Gjorm of Vlora, in Ruzhdije, in Berat, in the district of Korça, in Reç of Shkodra, Mallakastër, Lushnje, Elbasan, and throughout Albania, regardless of the enemy’s power. For this reason, we have seen and read the press of Balli Kombëtar, flourishing with brave and sound ideas in times of fear.
For this reason, until 1943, only the gun and the pen of Balli Kombëtar were heard in the mountains and squares of the heaving homeland.
Since the League of Prizren, a voluntary armed force of 15 thousand people had not been seen in Albania that could confront and constrain the opponent as Balli Kombëtar did. Even when communism raised its head at the end of 1941 to help the Russian front, and when the increased ranks of Moscow’s agents became a danger to Albania, only Balli Kombëtar said “Stop” to the deniers of the nation.
If there had not been a Balli Kombëtar with a patriotic spirit, the resistance against foreign frameworks would have been an undertaking with rigid episodes that make history. Only Balli Kombëtar broke the boundaries of individuals and regions, broke the old links of rusty ideas, and shone in the light of guns on the darkest days of the nation.
The communists feared the guns of Balli Kombëtar as much as they feared its ideas! Of course, the struggle for freedom also brings with it unwanted and uncontrolled gatherings. But these inappropriate attachments to the healthy body of Balli Kombëtar came and fell away on their own whenever dangerous situations arose. Thus, Balli Kombëtar remained the army of the brave who do not think of themselves whenever the voice of the homeland calls.
Thus, Mid’hat Frashëri’s party was carved as a timeless creation in the hearts of Albanians; this is the true patriotism of Albanianism. “Our party is Albania” – the servant of Albania left as a testament. And the Albania of Balli Kombëtar did not emerge as a mutilated body with unjust treaties, but as a living land, where the heart of three million Albanians beats, from Kosovo to Chameria.
The Albania of Balli Kombëtar is not the country of those who only know how to work for themselves, but it is the homeland of soldiers, farmers, workers, and thinkers, who by working for freedom and democracy, give spirit to progress, give strength to reforms, and give endurance to good wills.
The path of Balli Kombëtar has been and is the most difficult path of the nation. Only those who renounce themselves can understand this path, only those who are not dulled by sacrifices can follow it, and only those who have faith in the fate of Albania can contain it. This is our determination for the future to continue on this bright path, defined by the servant of Albania, the great Mid’hat Frashëri.
Albanian Nationalism
The name itself is nothing more than the Albanian translation of the Nationalist Party. Like any organization in any other country, Albanian Nationalism has the duty to preserve and value the heritage of our grandparents, leaving to our great-grandchildren a more perfected and prosperous state.
Even the title “The Nationalist Party,” at the beginning, meaning as early as April 1939, the day after Italy’s occupation of Albania, was not accepted without a long and detailed discussion. It was a natural thing, therefore, that in its first steps, the organization would take care of everything related to Albanianism, to Albania, to the nation.
This principle encouraged it to try to approach political parties, more or less of importance that were in Albania at that time. From the very first days and as soon as the existence of a communist group within our land became apparent (and this became apparent the day after Russia entered the war against the Axis), Balli made an attempt to talk and reach an agreement with the communists.
Later, the organization took the initiative for the meeting of Mukje, in which it hoped that the communists would be educated and become a slightly valuable element for Albania. Balli offered cooperation to achieve the full independence of the country and without harming the politics of internal parties, which would be felt after the main goal, was achieved.
But the communists had openly taken their hostile stance against the nationalists and did not hide their effort to exterminate every Albanian feeling and to achieve their goal, for Albania to become a vassal of the Slavic states, starting from Yugoslavia and ending with Russia.
Again, from this spirit of Balli Kombëtar, stems its care to foresee and prepare the conditions that bring about the moralization and progress of the nation, every reform that will result in the happiness and enlightenment of the nation.
The Nationalist Party will want to defend and apply the social and economic reforms of Albania, and in this way strengthen human freedom and equality among all Albanians.
These projects are mandated to us by the need that Balli Kombëtar feels, to achieve the realization of a progressive and flourishing state, through moral and human efforts, always having patriotism as its foundation. The idea that our organization has founded is that Balli Kombëtar should be completely in the service of Albania.
Platform of Balli Kombëtar
In this era of such great importance, Albanians must also feel their responsibility with deep consciousness. The world is on fire; we cannot remain indifferent.
Albanian Nationalism raises its voice, and this voice must resonate in the heart of every Albanian. We say “of every Albanian,” because our nationalism is not a party. It is not even a group.
It is the great gathering of the entire Albanian nation; it is the bond of the entire Albanian race, of all the people who speak the Albanian language. This race, this nation, this people feels itself a brother and inseparable from each other. And it has one single goal. This goal is:
- To have a free and independent Albania.
- To ensure a progressive Albania, capable of living, honorable and fraternal.
- To preserve its ethnic borders, to wrap its sons in one HOMELAND.
- To be ready, the sons of this nation, for any sacrifice to achieve the common goal.
- To achieve this goal, we must first have all our hope in ourselves. We must save ourselves, with our sacrifices, with our efforts, with our will, with our desire. And God will help us.
- Albanian Nationalism wants to have friendly relations with neighboring nations and states, to live in harmony with them. This friendship must be based on the respect for the rights of both parties.
- Albanian Nationalism does not intend to harm anyone, but it also does not want anyone to harm the Albanian nation: it wants to defend itself.
- Albanian Nationalism does not engage in any ideological struggle. Its principles are patriotic, and it strives to increase and strengthen this patriotism.
Today, even the country in which ideology has found an application, even that country is striving for nationality and for the homeland. Therefore, Albanian nationalism also advises all our people to leave ideologies aside and strive only for Albania, around the flag of Skanderbeg, with unwavering patriotism.
This is the sacred goal of Albanian nationalism. This is and this will be tomorrow, and always. This path must be followed with enthusiasm and energy; because for this, those who left us this will, this LAND, have worked, struggled, and given their lives. To follow this path today we are giving our Albanian PLEDGE./Memorie.al
Albania, APRIL 1939
