By Xhevdet Shehu
Part Two
Memorie.al / The well-known translator Myfit Mushi, along with two others, were the official translator of the Albanian People’s Party delegation led by Enver Hoxha at the meeting of 81 communist parties in Moscow in 1960. And from that meeting, so important for the time, he can tell endlessly. But, although in his old age, he remembers with admirable clarity everything about another meeting in China…! In August 1967, right at the height of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the two Albanian translators are unexpectedly invited to a secret meeting with the chairman of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong, in a secret region of Southern China, near Shanghai, where he lived far from the noise of Beijing.
Continued from the previous issue
Mr. Mushi, did Mao show any interest in Albania during the meeting with him?
– Yes. In the course of the conversation, we explained that we had been sent to Beijing on behalf of Enver Hoxha, to publish the book with Mao’s quotations in Albanian.
“What do you need my quotations for?” – Mao Zedong asked to our surprise.
“They have great value for our country”, – I replied.
“And what value can my quotations, which are based on the life, practice and conditions of China, have for the Albanian people? For you they have no value”, – he replied.
– How did you react when you heard these words of Mao?
– One can imagine the surprise and difficult situation that such an unforeseen reaction created in us. For a moment we thought that we were being rejected, that all that work of several months was going in vain and I decided to “defend” my opinion once again.
“Our party attaches great importance to them,” I added, “Comrade Enver has been personally interested in them. I can even tell you that initially their circulation was set at 20 thousand copies, but in recent days, at our suggestion, Tirana requested that this circulation be increased to 100 thousand copies and this because of the interest they represent for Albania as well.”
“I tell you frankly,” Mao continued after my answer, “I have given a firm order that no quotations from my speeches be published in China, but that selected quotations from the works of Marx, Engels, and Lenin be published, but these people, – here is Comrade Yao Wen Yuan, – these people have not implemented my orders.”
He cast a reproachful glance at Yao, who, being in a tight spot, did not open his mouth at all. But after that Mao made a long pause and said: “Enver Hoxha should always be mentioned as a great Marxist-Leninist”, – continuing to speak respectfully about him, about his role in leading the country during and after the War.
The interesting and unexpected meeting with Mao Zedong was over. Mao himself accompanied us to the car. This 90-minute encounter with him left us with the best impressions of this well-known leader and great personality, who was respected and adored by all his people.
– And then, how did the events unfold? Was there any echo about that meeting?
– After a few days we returned to Beijing. The first thing I did was to transcribe (put on paper) the stenographic notes I had taken during the meeting with Mao Zedong, which our embassy urgently sent to Tirana. Later they were used in one of Enver Hoxha’s books.
Now, after nearly 47 years, I am unable to decipher those messages of that long conversation, to complete and clarify this part of the memoirs, which are generally accurate, but still incomplete…!
However, I can tell you that the next day, after arriving in Beijing; we were informed that Kan Shen, one of the main leaders of the Cultural Revolution, had requested an urgent meeting with us. We were surprised by this request before leaving for our homeland. We were even a little worried that they would give us another extension of our stay in China, as had happened a month earlier.
The meeting was held in the House of People’s Assembly. The Albanian ambassador in Beijing, Vasil Nathanaili, was also present. Kan Shen took the opportunity to apologize to him for not being invited to our meeting with Mao, explaining that it was simply a misunderstanding. Despite this, we all knew the reason: the secrecy of Mao Zedong’s whereabouts.
And in fact, Shen told us in confidence that only members of the Politburo knew about Mao’s whereabouts: “The utmost secrecy is maintained in this regard,” he told us. Then Shen got down to business, addressing me: “During the meeting with Chairman Mao, you took detailed notes. During the conversation with you, the Chairman elaborated at length on the tasks and further development paths of the Cultural Revolution, its strategy and tactics.
Mao Xu’s thoughts on the Revolution are of extraordinary importance to the Party and the Chinese people. We must acquaint the Party leadership with them and analyze them. Therefore, please give me a copy of your notes.
I believe you know that he sometimes expresses his new thoughts on various important problems in meetings with personalities he meets. This was the case this time too, but neither Yuan Wenyuan nor Fan took notes. That is why I ask you to give me a copy of your notes.”
I promised to fulfill his request within a day, and I did so. Kan Shen said that it is a very meaningful fact that the leadership of the Communist Party of China, as well as the state leadership, will receive the new very important instructions of Chairman Mao through an Albanian comrade. We parted with Kan after mutual congratulations.
– Can you tell us about your return to your homeland?
– The meeting with Kan Shen also marked the end of our mission in China. On August 22, we left for Tirana. A few hours after departure from Beijing, we heard a communiqué being broadcast from the sound center on the plane. We could see the great attention of the people who were listening in silence, but we could not understand anything. We would learn the content of the communiqué a few minutes later, when a stewardess entered with a stack of “Renmin Zhibao” newspapers, which she began to distribute to the passengers.
In the middle of the front page was a large photo of Chairman Mao Zedong’s meeting “with two Albanian specialists.” According to the press release, the meeting, which took place “in a cordial atmosphere,” took place yesterday, August 21, in Beijing.
In fact, as I explained above, our meeting took place in Shanghai on August 16. Apparently, this was also understandable given the situation at that time in China, where keeping Mao’s whereabouts secret was a major concern of the Chinese government.
A Chinese woman sitting next to me, looking at the photo on the front page of the newspaper, shouted out loud: “Nidi!” (“You”? in Chinese.) “Te” (“Yes”), – I replied. At that moment, many others around came to look at me with curiosity and some touched my hand, some my shoulder. It was as if we were people of another species.
My colleague, Vangjeli, was sitting in the front rows and did not notice, did not stand out at all. But soon the word spread on the plane and we both became the object of friendly glances, while my neighbor began to speak English to me, a language that, unfortunately, I did not understand.
What I understood from this curious episode was that the Chinese had not received any information about the health status and whereabouts of their admired leader for months. Something that could not but surprise two Europeans who were living that very specific and unrepeatable situation in the China of the Cultural Revolution. / Memorie.al
