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Description
Sami Frashëri’s epochal work “Albania: What Is Was, What It Is and What Will Become of It?” was published in 1899 as the centre-piece of the Albanian National Renaissance, a political program and testimony of an ancient people who had endured five centuries of occupation after the death of their leader Skanderbeg and the capture of the last citadel of Albanian resistance — Shkodra — in 1479. Its central thesis was that any people, no matter how small, and especially the Albanian people who have a rich history and were known for their heroism, bravery, daring and excellence throughout world history, can use their talents in the service of their Homeland and smash to pieces any who seek to touch it. Albania, Sami Frashëri stated, had everything to come out into the light, educate its people and become modern purely through the work of their own people. To allow it past the Ottoman censors, he wrote out of necessity that Albania would not break off relations with the Ottomans, but should the empire die — an impending prospect of no surprise to anyone — they would be able to go about building up their Homeland without any help.
For the entirety of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War, Comrade Enver Hoxha kept a copy of this book in his bag, where he even quoted it against the traitor Mithat Frashëri, Sami’s nephew, who betrayed his father and uncles as a lackey for the nazi-fascist occupiers. Though Sami Frashëri’s program for political action took nearly five decades to realize, the triumph of the People’s Revolution on November 29, 1944 and the socialist construction over the next four decades brought world-historic honour to the Albanians, who needed not rely on anyone but themselves. The watchword of that period was “self-reliance,” which all the imperialists — especially the two superpowers, no matter their facade — attempted to strangle. Nobody ruled the Albanians but themselves, and today this experience and this writing are only more important. It is more than possible; it is a necessity.