Speech delivered by Comrade Hardial Bains at the meeting held on October 14, 1985, in Toronto, to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the birth of Comrade Enver Hoxha
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Comrades and Friends,
We have gathered here today in a Commemorative Meeting on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of the birth of the great Marxist-Leninist, Comrade Enver Hoxha. This anniversary falls in the same year that Comrade Enver Hoxha died, and there is a deep feeling of loss felt by all the Marxist-Leninist communists. Even though we are foreign communists, the life and work of Comrade Enver Hoxha have great significance for us. He had and continues to have an important place in the life of our Party and in the advance of the working class movement. This significance will always remain and continue to grow as time passes. This place which Comrade Enver Hoxha holds for us communists will always remain.
Comrade Enver Hoxha was no ordinary individual. He was the greatest personality whom the Albanian people gave birth to. The entire history of present-day Albania bears the mark of his personality. This epoch of modern Albania, the epoch of the Party of Labour of Albania (formerly the Communist Party of Albania), is inseparable from the life and work of Comrade Enver Hoxha. At every great event in the life of modern Albania from the time of the founding of the Party on November 8, 1941 to the day of his death, Comrade Enver Hoxha was present. His personality arose in the period of the great battle of the Albanian people for national and social liberation. The founder and organizer of the Communist Party of Albania (today the Party of Labour of Albania) in the dark days of the fascist occupation and enslavement of Albania, he emerged at the head of the Albanian Party and the Albanian people whom he organized and inspired to plunge into battle. His life and work are synonymous with the past 40 years of people’s power and socialist construction in Albania. But Comrade Enver Hoxha’s importance as a personality was also of international significance. He carried out his work in one of the most trying and complicated periods, beginning with the period of the Second World War in the struggle of the peoples against the fascist beast. Following the Second World War, he carried out his work in the conditions of the most savage offensive by world imperialism against the advance of the cause of the revolution and socialism. U.S. imperialism emerged as the gendarme of imperialism with an openly aggressive policy, while at the same time it carried out an anti-communist crusade, a campaign of ideological aggression, against the Marxist-Leninist theory. The peoples faced the treachery of Titoite revisionism and, after the death of J.V. Stalin, of Khrushchovite revisionism and the world-wide counter-revolutionary activities of Soviet social-imperialism and the attacks on Marxism-Leninism and the world revolutionary struggles for national and social liberation by Chinese revisionism and Mao Zedong Thought, and by Eurocommunism. This period of the past 45 years has been one of the most complicated periods in the annals of proletarian revolution, and the most difficult in the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat. This period is also glorious in terms of the struggle waged against modern revisionism of all hues, in defence of the purity of Marxism-Leninism and in the further strengthening of the International Marxist-Leninist Communist Movement. The name and work of the Party of Labour of Albania and Comrade Enver Hoxha are inseparably linked with the tempering of the revolutionary forces and the strengthening of the unity of the International Marxist-Leninist Communist Movement throughout this period.
The life and work of Comrade Enver Hoxha, his heroic deeds, are known by facts; they are embodied in real accomplishments in life. This is why his name and work are immortal and will remain in the annals of the revolution and socialism, of the international proletariat. It is a name, life and work which will remain a great inspiration to the future generations.
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At the time of the death of Comrade Enver Hoxha, the delegation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) went to Tirana to express the sincere condolences and profound grief of all the Canadian Marxist-Leninists. Our delegation, together with the other delegations of the fraternal Marxist-Leninist Communist Parties, in those days of extreme grief and profound sorrow for the Albanian people, heard Comrade Ramiz Alia, the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania and President of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, tell us that the Albanian Party and people will always remain loyal to the name and work of Comrade Enver Hoxha; Socialist Albania will always march on the road opened up by the PLA with Comrade Enver Hoxha at the head.
We shared these deep feelings and sentiments. We were greatly moved to see the very great place which the name, life and work of Comrade Enver Hoxha have amongst the entire Albanian people. The day of the funeral procession, the skies were filled with clouds. Even the heavens cried that day, the people said, and their grief was etched on their faces as they came in their hundreds and thousands from all over Albania to pay the last homage to their great leader who had emerged at such a decisive time in the history of the centuries-old struggle of the Albanian people. We saw in Tirana the pouring out of the most precious, pure and deep feelings which are found in the human breast. They were all poured out for Comrade Enver Hoxha. The young and the old, people from all walks of life and from every corner of the country, every Albanian, expressed the most profound sentiment for Comrade Enver Hoxha.
The feelings for Comrade Enver Hoxha were such that the whole of Albania wept, mourning the loss of their son, beloved leader, comrade and teacher, the greatest loss which the people suffered. They pledged together with one voice that Comrade Enver Hoxha will always be by their side; they will always be guided by his example, his teachings and his instructions. Through his life and work, Comrade Enver Hoxha had become one with the aspirations, sentiments and feelings of the nation. And that new nation, those people, will always have in them Comrade Enver Hoxha, a man of rare qualities, seldom found in a single individual: those of a Marxist-Leninist, a revolutionary fighter and an extremely cultured personality; a scientist and military strategist; a statesman, diplomat, publicist, a Marxist-Leninist thinker and man of action. In every field, Comrade Enver Hoxha displayed a profound ability in dealing with affairs concerning all humanity.
Those days in Tirana have left an indelible mark in our minds. It was a very stirring reminder that we must march forward on the road on which Comrade Enver Hoxha marched, one with the working class, one with the people. Comrade Enver Hoxha’s stature was such that in recent history there has not been a single personality on the world scale whose death has prompted so many letters of condolences, so many poems and outpourings of deeply felt sentiment. Not only in Albania, but on the world scale, progressive humanity wept.
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In his life-time, no one since the death of J.V. Stalin has been equal to his stature, equal to his courage, equal to his dedication to Marxism-Leninism and the cause of the working class and people on the world scale. Individuals are not the makers of history; history is the work of the masses. But the times bring forward individuals who give the times the stamp of their personality. This is only possible where the individual reflects the aspirations, sentiments and feelings, the aims, for which the masses of the people fight. Comrade Enver Hoxha is such an historical figure, a product of the people, one with them, their worthy son.
The name of Comrade Enver Hoxha and that of the Albanian people have been one for the past 45 years. It is impossible to talk about the Albanian people, their heroism, their exploits, without speaking of Comrade Enver Hoxha. At the same time, it is impossible to speak of Comrade Enver Hoxha without speaking of the multitudes of the Albanian people. He was one Albanian amongst the entire Albanian people, but in him are reflected the aspirations of them all, while the Albanian people cherish him for what he accomplished at the most crucial times — both in the struggle for national liberation and in the period of the people’s power and the construction of socialism.
Even though Comrade Enver Hoxha was the leader of the Communist Party of Albania (today the Party of Labour of Albania) from the day of its founding, he never put himself above the Party. Even though he emerged as the leader of the Albanian people, he never put himself above their cause. As a true disciple of Marxism-Leninism, he applied these teachings to the concrete conditions of Albania. As a true son of the people, he applied these teachings for a definite aim, for national and social liberation. As a true internationalist, he looked at the situation, the struggles of the peoples of all lands, in the same manner, as a disciple of Marxism-Leninism, and with the same aim, dedication and commitment. Comrade Enver Hoxha was never divorced from the trials and tribulations of the international proletariat, the oppressed nations and peoples, and he emerged as a leader of international stature just as he led the Party of Labour of Albania with a sure hand for more than 40 years in all the most complicated and difficult conditions.
In the International Communist Movement, when the time came, when the conditions cried out, he raised his fist against the enemies of Marxism-Leninism, against the enemies of the revolution and socialism. He guided the International Marxist-Leninist Communist Movement to reject all forms of revisionism and opportunism. During the 1950s, after the death of J.V. Stalin, there was euphoria in the ranks of imperialism, the bourgeoisie and world reaction. They had already had success in counter-revolution in Yugoslavia, and they thought that with the success of the counter-revolution in the Soviet Union, it would not be possible for socialism and communism to survive anywhere. They nurtured hopes that from then on, the international proletariat, the International Communist Movement, the peoples fighting for national liberation, would cease their struggles, stop striking death blows against imperialism, the bourgeoisie and world reaction. In those dark and dangerous moments for the cause of the people, when such enormous pressure was being exerted against their struggles, Comrade Enver Hoxha stood up. The defence of the revolution and the advance of socialist construction was carried out despite all the savage imperialist-revisionist encirclement. The PLA, with Comrade Enver Hoxha at the head, waged the struggle against all the attempts of imperialism and revisionism to enslave the Albanian people, and they also defended the cause of freedom and progress of the peoples on the world scale.
Comrade Enver Hoxha carried out deep-going theoretical work of a broad character, combatting the imperialist-revisionist offensive against the Marxist-Leninist theory, the theory which makes it possible to define correctly the strategy and tactics of the revolutionary struggle. Comrade Enver Hoxha’s theoretical work dealt with the national and the international situation. He exposed the causes of the degeneration in the Soviet Union, drawing lessons from this to prevent a similar tragedy from befalling the Albanian people. He analyzed in a profound manner the counter-revolutionary strategy of imperialism and social-imperialism, defending the validity of the Leninist theory on the revolution, and waged an all-sided struggle against every variant of modern revisionism which set itself against the cause of the revolution and socialism. This work, which has become inseparably linked with the name of Comrade Enver Hoxha, made it impossible for imperialism, revisionism and world reaction to take over Albania, to turn it into a vassal state and to bring back darkness and slavery there. This work made it impossible for imperialism, revisionism and world reaction to achieve their aim of destroying the International Marxist-Leninist Communist Movement.
The place of Comrade Enver Hoxha in the annals of proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat is that of a true revolutionist of the calibre of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin who constitute the classics of Marxism-Leninism. As their worthy disciple, Comrade Enver Hoxha further enriched the treasury of Marxism-Leninism and he made an outstanding contribution to the further development of Marxism-Leninism and its defence against revisionism and opportunism of all hues, proving the vitality of Marxism-Leninism and the truth of the classics. In very difficult and complicated circumstances, he emerged as the leader of the Albanian people and of the international proletariat in the struggle for the victory of the revolution and socialism. With unswerving loyalty to principle, he applied Marxism-Leninism to the concrete conditions of Albania and to the contemporary international situation.
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Comrades and Friends,
To honour Comrade Enver Hoxha means, for us, to be true friends of the Albanian people, of Socialist Albania, of the Party of Labour of Albania, of Comrade Ramiz Alia, the present leader of the Party of Labour of Albania, and of all Albanian communists. With clear conscience and with pure feelings and sentiments, with deep love and devotion as friends of Albania, we honour the place and the people that gave birth to Comrade Enver Hoxha. We declare from this rostrum that we will always stand firmly on the side of Socialist Albania and the Party of Labour of Albania with Comrade Ramiz Alia at the head. Not only will we defend Socialist Albania, the Party of Labour of Albania, Comrade Ramiz Alia and the name and work of Comrade Enver Hoxha, but we will show this through our own deeds within our national conditions and in the international arena too. Together with all the Marxist-Leninists, all the fighting forces, we continue this fight against our common enemies. True friends, under no conditions and circumstances do we create doubt, either about Marxism-Leninism or about our friends, or about the future of socialism which awaits mankind. With this feeling and sentiment, we express our friendship towards Socialist Albania.
We consider that the life and work of Comrade Enver Hoxha and his teachings are also a guide to us in our work both under the present conditions and for the future too. The enthusiasm and deep feelings which our Party had and continues to have for Comrade Enver Hoxha and the Party of Labour of Albania were expressed on that great day in November, 1976, when the eyes of the Marxist-Leninists of the world were turned towards Tirana, where the Seventh Congress of the Party of Labour of Albania was being held. Amongst us, there was not a single communist who was not eager to hear what Comrade Enver Hoxha had to say. And when he said it, there was a great cheer; a hurrah! went up amongst us. “Yes! In Tirana, Comrade Enver Hoxha has defended Marxism-Leninism, has defended the cause of the revolution and socialism, has put an end to the treachery and betrayal by Chinese revisionism and its ‘Three Worlds’ theory.” The spirit of that day will last forever for our Party. On that day, the Party of Labour of Albania and Comrade Enver Hoxha spoke, not because they were eruditionists, not because of any peeve, but because from 1941 onwards, they had defended revolution, they had defended socialism, they had applied the teachings of Marxism-Leninism. It was only natural that under those conditions of a Sino-American attack on Marxism-Leninism and the world proletariat, Tirana would speak, and Radio Tirana spoke that day. Imperialism, social-imperialism, the bourgeoisie and world reaction have not recovered from the attack of that day, nor will they recover in the future either.
This profound and correct stand of the PLA and Comrade Enver Hoxha shook the very theoretical foundations of imperialism and social-imperialism in their onslaught against the peoples of the world. Imperialism and social-imperialism pontificate that no nation and no people in the world can live without the support and assistance of a big power. The imperialists and social-imperialists speculated that Albania’s friendly relationship with and attitude towards China and the Chinese people had an ulterior motive, and that Albania could not live without aid from China. In November, 1976, the Albanian people spoke through their Party and Comrade Enver Hoxha, just as they had spoken to the Titoite revisionists and the Khrushchovite revisionists in the past, declaring that they have no such motive. The Chinese revisionists had no reply except to spread rumours amongst the peoples internationally that Albania had attacked Mao Zedong and had insulted China. Of course, the Party of Labour of Albania and Comrade Enver Hoxha who had attacked the “Three Worlds” theory had no pursuit to insult some country or to attack some individual. But the Chinese revisionists knew that their mask had been torn off. Even though the “Great Helmsman” had died, they wanted to use his name for their ulterior purposes, to strike an alliance openly with U.S. imperialism, to further develop and strengthen it in pursuit of their own megalomaniacal cause of emerging as an imperialist superpower. On that day, Albania spoke not only in defence of her own cause, for socialist revolution and construction within her own country, but also for the cause of revolution and socialism on the world scale. It took the Chinese revisionists one and one-half years or so of machinations, manoeuvres and intrigues to cut off the so-called aid they provided to Albania, in July 1978. Seven years have passed since that “aid” was cut. Has Albania gone backwards? Has Albania been brought to her knees? Has Albania gone into the arms of this or that superpower? Far from it.
This year, the Albanian people are working to meet the targets of the Seventh Five-Year Plan ahead of schedule and to overfulfill the plan in many aspects. This plan has been carried out based entirely on the resources of Albania with no foreign aid or assistance of any kind. This year, discussions are also underway to set the targets for the next five-year plan, a plan which will see the Albanian people scale new heights. This is the result not only of the decades of sweat and blood poured out for socialist construction, but also of the correct Marxist-Leninist line which the Party of Labour of Albania with Comrade Enver Hoxha at the head has followed all these years.
The experience of socialist construction in Albania has proved again that socialism can be constructed in one country — the Leninist thesis which was first proven by the construction of socialism in the Soviet Union under the leadership of Lenin and Stalin. The experience of socialist construction in Albania has also proven that socialism can be constructed in a small country as well; it can be constructed in different conditions and even in an economically backward country. The experience of socialist construction in Albania has furthermore proven that socialism can be defended, that it is not necessary that capitalist restoration will take place, despite imperialist and revisionist encirclement and pressure.
The Albanian communists, led by their Party with Comrade Enver Hoxha at the head, give proof to what Marx advanced more than 130 years ago, that class struggle necessarily leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat, and that the dictatorship of the proletariat itself is merely a transition point on the road to communism, classless society. This proof of the validity of the teachings of Karl Marx is itself a great contribution to spur the further development of the International Marxist-Leninist Communist Movement. Faced with the great exploits of the Albanian working people, led by their Party and the teachings of Comrade Enver Hoxha, the whole of world reaction spends its time and energy trying to belittle the meaning of these exploits and their place in history. And in attempting to belittle these exploits, they are also trying to belittle the discoveries and teachings of Karl Marx, and to eliminate the national and social liberation struggles of the peoples. Last year, at a time when the 40th anniversary of the complete liberation of Albania and the victory of the people’s revolution was being celebrated, the Chinese revisionists issued a statement that the teachings of Karl Marx do not apply to China. At that time, Comrade Enver Hoxha issued his message of congratulations to the Albanian people and reiterated with the fiery oratory for which he was known that only Marxism-Leninism has worked for Albania and will work in the future as well. The Chinese revisionists, behaving as swaggering social-chauvinists, speak in a language which does not behoove anyone who has dignity and honour. They try to belittle Marxism, the life and work of Karl Marx, by saying that, after all, Karl Marx did not have anything to say about “accounting”. By trying to belittle Marx, the Chinese revisionists hope to elevate themselves above Marx, but even the most perfidious individuals could not succeed in this attempt. All this perfidious activity of the Chinese revisionists cannot eliminate the fact that Karl Marx discovered both the general law of motion of society and the specific law of motion of capitalist society. And once those laws have been discovered, what is left? “Accounting”? No. The only thing that is left is to overthrow the bourgeoisie, which Marx predicted would be overthrown, by the proletariat which is the gravedigger of the bourgeoisie, and to build socialism and advance to communism.
Today, speculation about Marxism-Leninism is connected with speculations about Socialist Albania. Will Albania be diverted from its course? Will imperialism and revisionism succeed after the death of Enver Hoxha where they failed before? Such vile speculation, which is the stuff of bourgeois journalism, does not behoove any revolutionary. To speculate in any way means in the first place to become an agency of imperialism, social-imperialism, the bourgeoisie and world reaction. Second, it means to belittle the life and work of Enver Hoxha, the work which built the PLA as a monolithic Marxist-Leninist Communist Party and left it pure, and which cemented the unshakeable Party-people unity.
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Comrades and Friends,
In the turbulent and complicated international conditions, the two superpowers are exercising their dictate in a broad way. They have adopted an extremely warmongering and bellicose course. They have stepped up an all-round militarization of the economy and are carrying out frenzied imperialist war preparations. They are threatening the world with a cataclysmic imperialist world war. Under these tense and complex international conditions, the foreign policy of the state of Socialist Albania, under the leadership of the PLA with Comrade Ramiz Alia at the head, following the teachings of Comrade Enver Hoxha, plays a vital role in awakening the masses to the dangers which the two superpowers pose. Through their Marxist-Leninist foreign policy, with Marxist-Leninist wisdom, they are isolating the two superpowers in the Balkans, in various ways thwarting their intrigues and conspiracies. As a part of the European peoples, they are arousing the European peoples against the danger which comes from turning Europe into an arms depot of U.S. imperialism and Soviet social-imperialism, into a base for their troops and other effectives, and against the presence of their fleets in the Mediterranean, as well as against the dangers which spring from membership in NATO and the Warsaw Pact, the military and political blocs of the two superpowers.
Under the present conditions, Albania has an important and honourable position in international affairs, where it is known for its principled, just and progressive foreign policy. The voice of Socialist Albania finds its echo in many countries. It finds its echo in the United Nations and on the world stage. It is the voice of all the working people and all the oppressed, all the progressive and democratic forces who want peace, who want security, who are fighting for freedom and progress, for the highest ideals of mankind.
Today, although deeply saddened by the death of Comrade Enver Hoxha, the Albanian people have wiped away their tears and are carrying on on the same road which Comrade Enver Hoxha charted. A revolutionary movement has developed to emulate the teachings of Comrade Enver Hoxha, the movement of “Standard-bearers in Implementing the Teachings of Comrade Enver Hoxha”. The working class, the cooperativist peasantry, the people’s intelligentsia are all engaged in the work of socialist construction, and a vibrant life prevails in all spheres.
Thus, nationally, Socialist Albania carries on on the road of revolution and socialist construction, while internationally, it also puts forward a progressive and internationalist foreign policy in favour of the revolution and socialism.
Our Party is extremely proud to be friends with Socialist Albania, the PLA and its leadership. We consider the victories of Socialist Albania as our own victories. Our Party educates us that the struggle which the international proletariat is waging in each individual country provides the necessary support not only for the revolution in every other country, but spurs the entire world revolutionary process. This work which the working class in each country carries out, which each and every Marxist-Leninist Communist Party carries out, expresses unshakeable proletarian internationalism. It gives rise to that unity and strength of the workers and oppressed masses of all lands which no imperialism, social-imperialism, the bourgeoisie or world reaction can wipe out. No agencies of imperialism, no revisionist or opportunist, can smash such a unity and strength.
In this complex international situation, while there are dangers posed by the two superpowers and their military blocs, there is also the development of the revolution, the awakening of the masses. A broad mass movement has already emerged against the imperialist war preparations in Europe and North America, as well as in Oceania, in Japan and other places. The working people are fighting for their livelihood, against the shifting of the consequences of the crisis onto their backs. The peoples are everywhere fighting for their dignity, for their honour and for their future. Within this situation, the Marxist-Leninist Communist Parties are organizing the working class and building the unity of the working people with the broad masses of the people in order to develop a broad proletarian front for the cause of the peoples, for freedom and progress. At this time, it finds its expression in the struggle of the people for peace, against the shifting of the burden of the crisis onto their backs, against the danger of fascism and for national and social emancipation.
In the present situation, imperialism, social-imperialism, the bourgeoisie and world reaction carry out activities against the forces of revolution. They want to befuddle the minds of the people, to fool them that the fate of mankind is determined by the two superpowers and the negotiations between them. They want to divert the masses of the people from their own struggle, in defence of their own aims, waged on the basis of their own strength. They want the masses to believe that the forces which are preparing for war are also for peace. Imperialism, social-imperialism, the bourgeoisie and all reaction and the revisionists and opportunists in their service are not quiet on these matters. It is they who are creating all the illusions about the prospects of the Reagan-Gorbachev Summit. They have gone so far as to award the Nobel Peace Prize to their front-line fighters for the services they render in creating confusion and diverting the masses from achieving their aims, and so as to give them credibility. At every opportunity such forces are provided with credibility and their activities are touted as being of a very high calibre, of a quality which should be enshrined in the annals of civilization.
Revolution is not an activity which can be thwarted or eliminated by the awarding of a Nobel prize. However, this activity by imperialism and social-imperialism and their agencies shows that they are not oblivious of or indifferent to the revolutionary forces, to the awakening which is taking place in the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, or to the emergence of the broad proletarian front in North America and Europe. They are acutely aware that for them to launch an imperialist war for world domination, they must make the people passive, resign them to their fate. They must have people who believe in them, follow them and put their fate in their hands. Thus, a broad counter-revolutionary strategy is carried out by imperialism, social-imperialism, the bourgeoisie and world reaction. The central thrust of this counter-revolutionary strategy is against Socialist Albania, against Marxism-Leninism, against the Marxist-Leninist parties, and against all the fighting forces. Within this situation, to create any doubt about the victories of socialism, as it is built in Socialist Albania, is to actively support imperialism, social-imperialism, the bourgeoisie and world reaction. We, the Marxist-Leninist communists of Canada, express our unity and friendship with Socialist Albania without any hesitation, with no speculation of any kind, as fighters for the same cause which the Party of Labour of Albania holds high, the cause for which Comrade Enver Hoxha fought all his life. This fidelity in our friendship for Socialist Albania has great importance for us. We express our proletarian internationalism, our friendship for Socialist Albania and our love for the great Marxist-Leninist revolutionary life and work of Comrade Enver Hoxha through the struggle we wage in our own country, on the basis of unswerving fidelity to the principles of Marxism-Leninism.
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In the national conditions today, with the deepening and broadening of the all-sided crisis with economic crisis at the base, the bourgeoisie is organizing many attacks against the working class movement and against the progressive and democratic forces. Today, the bourgeoisie responds to the sharpening of the class struggle by lulling the people to sleep under the slogan of “national consensus”. According to the bourgeoisie, the masses do not have to struggle for their aims. All they have to do is write a brief, send it to the government, appear in court from time to time to “challenge” this or that policy, and so on. This is what the bourgeoisie describes as “room” for “legitimate protest”. But such protest is not so legitimate because it only legitimizes the activities of the enemies of the working class and the broad masses of the people. It inculcates a spirit in the working class and the broad masses of the people which will be suicidal to their cause and their future. It is not merely a harmless “alternative” view which the bourgeoisie is putting forward. Far from it. It is a frontal attack on the struggle of the working class and the broad masses of the people.
Our Party, under no conditions and circumstances, agrees with such things. From the day it was established, and earlier, in the period of creating the conditions for the founding of the Party, our Party raised its voice against the capitulation to the bourgeoisie advocated and practised by the modern revisionists and opportunists of all hues. If this was the case in the past, then how is it possible that today, after more than 15 years of glorious struggle on broad fronts which our Party has carried, we could become scribblers who pick up pen and paper to appeal to the financial oligarchy to listen to us as well? Our message is not conveyed by snivelling appeals but by waging the revolutionary class struggle with the aim of overthrowing the rule of the class enemy and establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat and the socialist system.
Many tales are told about the nature of bourgeois democracy and the state structures. Tales are told that the bourgeoisie is very magnanimous, shown by the fact that it permits the working class to defend its aims through the state structures which are allegedly above classes and in the service of all. But where are the examples of the aims in favour of the working class which are defended through the bourgeois state structures? While it is not possible to make a case for such a claim, it is very clear why the bourgeoisie carries out propaganda for this claim. Its interests are served when the workers limit their struggles to the confines which are acceptable to the bourgeoisie and, in this way, it seeks to confine the working class movement to the doldrums forever. It is as if the bourgeoisie could put the working class movement into a “rest home” where it would live off of the grants provided by the bourgeoisie. A grand illusion is being created that the bourgeoisie actually lives for the sake of the working class. How many times is it heard that the bourgeoisie carries on production and invests for the purpose of providing jobs and a living to the working class? This propaganda, which has nothing to do with reality, is carried out for a definite purpose — to crush the struggle of the working class, to make the working class go to sleep so that when the decisive battles come, the working class will not know what to do.
So as to preserve its rule and system, the bourgeoisie works to create the impression that it is immortal, the superior force which is required by the society to govern all its affairs. To push this counterrevolutionary strategy, it has worked to create definite strata amongst the population which identify their interests with those of the bourgeoisie, because their very existence depends on the preservation of its rule and system and they eke out their living as its champions. The ground work for this was laid in the 1960s and, today, such strata actually suggest that they are the only ones interested in doing something to alleviate, and even solve, the problems of the society. To divert the workers and people from taking up the solution to the major problems facing them, through which all the other ills of the society will be tackled as well, funds are allocated to “eliminate illiteracy”, “save the seals”, provide for the handicapped, guarantee “affirmative action” for women and the national minorities, and so on. The atmosphere is filled with debates on the pros and cons of euthanasia, abortion, capital punishment, and so on. The problems of the youth are presented in the same way. Not only are the funds allocated, but laws are passed, institutions are established and the air waves and pages of the written media are filled with this diversion. A whole host of constituencies are being brought into being through such funding, constituencies which cut across every economic, social and other division in the society in an arbitrary manner. These are called “special interest groups”. Each and every one of these “special interest groups” makes only one distinct and uncompromising statement: they are all against the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), against Marxism-Leninism, against socialism and against violent revolution. The bourgeoisie is very interested in having the “special interest groups” in an honourable position in the society. These groups are then called upon to “consult” with the bourgeoisie as they allegedly represent everyone in every way imaginable. Who would dare oppose groups which are for nuclear disarmament, against pollution, against poverty, illiteracy and so on? Thus, the conditions which preserve the arms race, which perpetuate the degradation of the environment in pursuit of profit, which intensify exploitation and increase the divisions between rich and poor are perpetuated by the activity of the very ones who posture as having the greatest intentions to end these problems.
Such policies are also advanced on the world scale by imperialism, social-imperialism, the bourgeoisie and world reaction. The aim of the whole counterrevolutionary strategy nationally and internationally is to ensure that the masses of the people are not organized and aroused so that when the decisive battles take place, a disaster will be created for the people. Within these conditions, Socialist Albania stands as a bulwark which rejects everything that imperialism and social-imperialism throw at the world’s people. Socialist Albania opposed the fraud of “European security”, and was the only European country which refused to participate in the Helsinki Conference on the Security of Europe, and has continued to oppose this fraud of “European security” which has carried on for more than a decade. Socialist Albania has denounced and exposed the fraud of “Balkan security” and the fraud of a so-called nuclear-free zone in the Balkans. Socialist Albania has exposed the fraud of superpower bargainings and the fraud of superpower concern about disarmament which masks an increasingly frenzied arms race.
The work of Socialist Albania and the PLA, of our Party, and of the other Marxist-Leninist Communist Parties and all the fighting forces stands as one, a single revolutionary drive against imperialism, social-imperialism, the bourgeoisie and world reaction. Because our aim, our ideology and, in many essential ways, our revolutionary experience, are the same, we are friends. We do not accept any pragmatic manoeuvres, which can never serve the cause of the proletariat, the cause of revolution and socialism. This cause can only be served by fidelity to our principles, by defending the purity of Marxism-Leninism, by applying Marxism-Leninism to the concrete national and international conditions, and by carrying out revolutionary actions in inseparable unity with the working class and broad masses of the people.
Socialist Albania, the PLA and Comrade Enver Hoxha have set a brilliant example in this respect. On the question of the strategy and tactics of revolution; on how the Party-people unity should be built; on the relationship of the working class to the broad masses of the people, and so on, Socialist Albania, the PLA and Comrade Enver Hoxha have shown how the content of the revolution is set at a particular stage of revolution and how all the forces are mobilized and deployed for the solution of the problems of revolution at that stage. Moreso, the PLA and Comrade Enver Hoxha solved the problem of the creation of the people’s state power. At the same time that the epic of the National Liberation War was being written, the groundwork for the new people’s power was laid in Albania under the leadership of the Communist Party of Albania with Comrade Enver Hoxha at the head. After the people’s power was established, Comrade Enver Hoxha and the Party led the people to fight against any encroachments on their sovereignty, and this was carried out on the basis of proletarian internationalism, in unity with the workers and oppressed peoples of all lands. Not a shred of narrow national feeling was aroused in Albania under the leadership of the Party and Comrade Enver Hoxha.
The socialist Soviet Union and J.V. Stalin had an honourable place in the eyes of the Albanian Party and Comrade Enver Hoxha. They stood side by side with the socialist Soviet Union and with J.V. Stalin. After the death of J.V. Stalin, it was Comrade Enver Hoxha and the Party of Labour of Albania that defended the life and work of J.V. Stalin. After the rise of Khrushchovite revisionism and the restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union, it was Comrade Enver Hoxha and the Party of Labour of Albania which rose up to defend the cause of revolution and socialism. The PLA and Comrade Enver Hoxha always stood with the just causes, the cause of the revolution and socialism, of the peoples fighting for freedom and progress. In this period of more than 45 years, not a bit of national arrogance, or national self-centredness ever appeared, either during the National Liberation War or during the period of 40 years of people’s power and the construction of socialism. The enemies of Socialist Albania accuse Albania of being “nationalist” and “isolationist” because de jure and de facto Albania refuses to allow any imperialist “aid” or “credits” or foreign investment of any kind. Her sovereignty is not for sale, nor does she open her doors to imperialist cosmopolitanism, the imperialist and social-imperialist cultural aggression which precedes and accompanies their economic, political and military intervention all over the globe. In this regard, Socialist Albania stands for bringing to the fore what is best in the Albanian national traditions, while she also upholds the accomplishments of progressive world culture and pays first-rate attention to the development of science and culture guided by the Marxist-Leninist teachings of Comrade Enver Hoxha. The charge of “nationalism” is lost on the Albanians, especially in the light of the fact that those who are levelling such charges are themselves the tools of U.S. and Soviet cosmopolitanism, those who have raised their hand against the culture and traditions of their own peoples.
Socialism cannot be built in the skies. Albania has a definite, recognized, territory. Her people have evolved historically, with their own national characteristics, psychology, traditions, language and culture. Her people also live in other parts, such as the more than one million Albanians who live in Kosova and other parts of Yugoslavia, but it is within the borders of the Albanian state that socialism is being built. This state has Marxism-Leninism as its official ideology. Under no circumstances and conditions, no matter who charges them with “nationalism”, do they deviate from the Marxist-Leninist principles. Nationalism and chauvinism are the characteristic features of imperialism, social-imperialism and reaction. The revisionists and opportunists in their service issue pompous meaningless phrases about “internationalism” and “socialism” so as to oppose the national liberation struggles of the peoples and the cause of the revolution and socialism. They even claim that “if the immediate aim of the national liberation struggle is not socialism, then it should not be supported”. It is very easy to say such things, but in a profound and deep-going way, to carry out revolution and the construction of socialism on an uninterrupted basis, then it is necessary to base oneself on the concrete conditions which exist in the specific country where one works. It can only have its expression within that nation, and it can be said with a lot of pride and enthusiasm that the national expression of Albania and the Albanian people is revolution and socialism. This is what has emerged. The ideology of the Albanians, both in the juridical sense as well as in terms of their consciousness, is Marxism-Leninism. Their proletarian internationalism inspires the Marxist-Leninists and fighting forces everywhere. It is not a phrase, but the profound realization of the aims of the international proletariat within the definite national and international conditions which prevail. The People’s Socialist Republic of Albania is a new society built by the people shedding their own sweat and blood for the highest ideals of mankind, the ideals which are reflected in our Marxist-Leninist ideology.
Comrades and Friends,
The works of Comrade Enver Hoxha are considered by our Party as an integral part of its theoretical foundation. On behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), on this occasion of the 77th anniversary of the birth of Comrade Enver Hoxha, I announce that in order to perpetuate the name and work of Comrade Enver Hoxha, the Party school for the Marxist-Leninist education of the Marxist-Leninist communists is to be established under the name: Enver Hoxha Party School of Marxist-Leninist Education.
Under no circumstances and conditions will the name of Comrade Enver Hoxha disappear from Canada or anywhere else in the world. As long as there are mountains and as long as there are rivers, as long as there is civilization, the name of Comrade Enver Hoxha will always have a position of great honour.
The Name and Work of Comrade Enver Hoxha Will Live Forever!
Long Live the Party of Labour of Albania, with Comrade Ramiz Alia at the Head!
Long Live the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)!
Glory to Marxism-Leninism!