– Notes of D. S. Chuvakhin –
No. 149
From the diary of D. S. Chuvakhin, USSR Envoy to Albania. Record of a conversation with E. Hoxha concerning the struggle within the leadership of the Communist Party of Albania1
Tirana
20 May 1946
SECRET
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“At the Berat Conference,” Enver Hoxha continued, “all the measures that I had undertaken in the course of the struggle were sharply condemned by Stojnić, with the tacit consent of certain members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Albania, who cited them as examples of the existence of terrorism within the Albanian Communist Party, of the Party’s dictatorial methods and of its isolation from the masses. Subsequent developments, however, demonstrated that these ‘dictatorial measures’ and this ‘terrorism’ were in the interests of the Party and of the national liberation struggle. Concerning many of those who were executed at that time, we later learned that they had been agents either of the Albanian reaction or of the Intelligence Service (such as Mustafa Gjinishi and others).”3
Enver Hoxha also blamed Sejfulla Malëshova for the adoption of erroneous decisions at the Berat Conference. According to Hoxha, Malëshova had taken no part whatsoever in the partisan movement, having remained abroad and burdened the Party only with demands that money be sent to him. Hoxha stated that Sejfulla Malëshova appeared at the Berat Conference as an “educated” Marxist and “theoretician.” In his speech at the conference, Malëshova vehemently denounced the Party, declaring that there was not a single leader in the Albanian Communist Party who had emerged from the people. He accused the Central Committee of the Albanian Communist Party of banditry and terror and demanded that all Party leaders be brought before a military tribunal.
Enver Hoxha observed that he had recounted all this in order to draw our attention to the connection between the current mistakes of the Party leadership and the Berat Conference. He further pointed out that attempts were now being made within the Party to invoke the Berat Conference and to use the erroneous decisions adopted there against him, since he was the only remaining member of the leadership who had borne responsibility for that period in the history of the Albanian Party.
Enver Hoxha emphasised that after the Berat Conference he had been removed from active leadership of Party affairs, although formally he remained the Party’s First Secretary. According to him, actual leadership of the Party passed into the hands of the Cadres Commission headed by Koçi Xoxe. As a result of the erroneous decisions of the Berat Conference, Hoxha continued, and because, at Stojnić’s insistence and with the tacit consent of Koçi Xoxe, incapable individuals had been introduced into the Politburo (Bedri Spahiu, Tuk Jakova, Pandi Kristo and the opportunist Sejfulla Malëshova), dualism was now flourishing within the Party: the Party acted and worked on its own, while the government functioned on its own. This dualism was likewise evident in the work of the Party Central Committee and the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. Such a situation, Hoxha continued, was fraught with serious consequences. Its effects were already becoming apparent, particularly in relations between the Central Committee’s Cadres Commission and the leadership of the Communist Youth League’s Central Committee. At this point Hoxha spoke of the achievements of Albanian youth and of the merits of the Youth League Central Committee, which in many respects was ahead of the Party leadership itself. However, the initiative shown by members of the Youth League Central Committee (Liri Belishova, Fadil Paçrami and others) in raising a number of pressing issues encountered sharp opposition from officials of the Cadres Commission and from certain members of the Politburo. An exceptionally unhealthy atmosphere had developed in which speeches by Youth League officials at plenary sessions of the Central Committee were ignored and greeted with laughter by certain members of the Central Committee (Nexhmije Dume and others).
Enver Hoxha attributed this situation within the Central Committee entirely to the harmful influence of the former representatives of the Yugoslav Communist Party, Stojnić and Dizdarević (the former First Secretary of the Yugoslav mission in Tirana).
Enver Hoxha emphasised that he was relating all this so that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) might gain a better understanding of the internal situation within the Communist Party of Albania. He doubted whether Manchkha, a representative of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) who had recently visited Albania, had succeeded in fully acquainting himself with the situation within the Communist Party of Albania. Moreover, Hoxha was not certain that Comrade Manchkha had been able to obtain completely objective and comprehensive information here concerning conditions within the Albanian Communist Party.
In conclusion, Enver Hoxha stated that the Albanian Communist Party was on the eve of its First Congress.4 This represented a significant stage in the life of the Party. Comprehensive preparations had to be made for the congress. The Party needed to approach the congress united, strong and with entirely clear views on a number of pressing issues. He expressed concern that certain members of the Politburo of the Central Committee (Koçi Xoxe) and the Cadres Commission, despite being devoted Party workers, failed to appreciate the full seriousness of the situation that had developed within the Party and were not paying sufficient attention to the antagonism that was emerging even between individual members of the Politburo (between Koçi Xoxe and Nako Spiru).
In this connection, Enver Hoxha stated that he doubted the advisability of Koçi Xoxe’s trip to Moscow, since he feared that Xoxe was not sufficiently prepared to present to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) a complete picture of the current state of affairs in Albania and in the Albanian Communist Party, or to formulate correctly the Party’s immediate tasks. Hoxha declared: “We are awaiting with great anticipation the day when we shall be invited to Moscow, a place to which we must go in a completely ‘clean shirt.’ For each of us, it is a great privilege to appear before the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks).”
Enver Hoxha sought to emphasise that it was of no importance to him which of the leaders of the Communist Party of Albania travelled to Moscow. What mattered above all, he stated, was that the individual who went should be thoroughly prepared and capable of providing a comprehensive account of the actual situation in Albania and of the immediate tasks facing the Albanian Communist Party.
Following the conversation with Enver Hoxha, one gains the impression that relations within the Politburo, particularly between Enver Hoxha and Koçi Xoxe, were not entirely healthy. It was evident that Hoxha feared that at the forthcoming Party Congress Koçi Xoxe would attempt to organise a campaign against him, making use of the decisions of the Berat Conference and thereby further strengthening his own position within the Party.
There can be little doubt that, even before the Party Congress, Enver Hoxha wished to secure our support. Although he did not state this directly, both the tone of his remarks and the manner in which he raised these issues suggested that he would not have objected to travelling to Moscow himself in order to discuss all matters in detail with the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks) prior to the congress of the Albanian Communist Party.
Comrade Sokolov was present during the conversation.
USSR Envoy to Albania
D. CHUVAKHIN
Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation (AVP RF). Fond 067, Opis 14, Papka 104, Delo 6, fols. 33–36.
Original.
(Translated by the November 8th Publishing House from the Russian original: Volokitina et al., Vostochnaia Evropa v rossiiskikh arkhivov, 1944-1954, Tom I, 439-41.)
Notes
1 Circulated to V. Molotov, V. Dekanozov, L. Lavrishchev and filed.
2 Sections of the document containing information on Communist Party policy during the war years have been omitted.
3 The accusations against M. Gjinishi were fabricated by the then leadership of the Communist Party of Albania and, according to critics of Enver Hoxha, by the General Secretary himself.
4 The Fifth Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Albania resolved to convene the First Party Congress on 25 May 1946. However, the intense struggle within the Party leadership, fuelled by Yugoslav “advisers,” resulted in repeated postponements. The congress was ultimately held only in November 1948.