The Rights of the Minority People in Albania Are Fully Applied

– Enver Hoxha –

From the speech delivered on March 22, 1978, at the meeting with cadres of the agricultural cooperatives of Vrisera and Grapsh[1]

The patriotism of the people of the zone of Dropull is great, a socialist patriotism. At the meeting which I attended a few days ago with cadres in Gjirokastra, a comrade put it correctly when he said that chauvinism in the relations between the people of the minority and the Albanian people has long been eliminated. I agreed with his judgement and said that in our country there would never be either Greek chauvinism or Albanian chauvinism. There is no reason why Dropull should be different from Gjirokastra, Vlora or Shkodra. The time has gone when the Albanian people were oppressed by feudalism, by the despot Ahmet Zogu, by the beys and aghas who also oppressed the minority population.

The warm words of those who spoke at that meeting express very well the sentiments of the heroic people of the minority whose hearts beat with the same rhythm as the hearts of all our people. We Albanians and people of the minority are an indivisible whole. I am utterly certain that no minority in any other state in the world enjoys the rights which the minority enjoys in the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania. Other genuine socialist countries which apply a Leninist policy towards their national minorities no longer exist in the world. For purposes of demagogy, the bourgeois and revisionist constitutions proclaim the equality of rights of national minorities, but in fact real equality does not exist. Only in Albania, where Marxism-Leninism is applied consistently, are the equal rights of the minority with the rest of the population fully guaranteed.

There are national minorities in Yugoslavia, Romania, Hungary and elsewhere, but even when those countries were considered socialist, the rights of national minorities were only formal proclamations on paper. In the Soviet Union, where the revisionists have destroyed the socialist order, they claim that they are building communism. But what kind of communism is it when the indisputable facts show that the Khrushchevites have turned the Soviet Union back again into a prison of nations and have re-established capitalism there. We will never turn back; we will further strengthen socialism in our country. And socialism is strengthened, the masses are developed politically, ideologically and morally in the process of raising the level of culture and spreading it among the people, along with the all-round development of the economy, the ceaseless improvement of the well-being from one stage to the other, etc., etc. Eventually, at a more advanced stage, our society will pass into communism. Arrival at communism depends on us, but also depends on the external conditions, on the international circumstances and on the revolutionary situation of other peoples.

I am not going to speak at length about Yugoslavia where the Albanians living on their own territory have been cruelly persecuted and killed. There, even to this day, “democratic” ways and means have been found to oust the Kosovars, to disperse them all over Yugoslavia and to send them to Turkey and elsewhere, far from their own territory. Kosovars have emigrated all over Europe. In these circumstances it is idle to speak of any equality of rights with the other nationalities, which they allegedly have.

In Albania, proletarian internationalism finds its complete application and the rights of the minority are fully applied. On the basis of the Constitution of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, national minorities are guaranteed the development of their culture and folk traditions, the use of their language and teaching of it in school, and equal development in all fields of social life. Any action which infringes the rights of the minority is punished by law.

In Dropull, secretaries of the Party organizations, members of Party bureaus, chairmen of cooperatives, chairmen and members of people’s councils, doctors, midwives and teachers are from the minority. The day before yesterday I read in the papers that in Yugoslavia a meeting is to be held of the committee of the Autonomous Province of Kosova at which the leading organs and delegates to the 12th Conference of the League of Communists of Kosova will be elected. The report to the meeting of the leading body of the provincial committee of Kosova, which was “chaired” by an Albanian, was delivered by Petar Jakšić from Serbia, while the report on the changes in the Constitution and the cadres was delivered by Vojislav Popović, also from Serbia. This means: You Albanians don’t speak, but “mind your own business” as they say about Qaqe, to whom they said: Don’t you speak, but mind your own business!…

I had an uncle called Hysen Hoxha, who was mayor of Gjirokastra. I was a small boy when the Greek troops came,[2] but I remember that Janaq Shkrapi and many others came to my uncle and said to him: “Mulla Hysen, stay on as mayor, don’t be afraid, because you have us to back you up and we will not allow them to do you any harm.” In those times there was no party and people were divided into Christians and Muslims, but the sentiments of the Greek minority people, of Christians and Muslims, were so sincere and kindly that the unity of the minority with the people of Gjirokastra was not broken. Nothing bad was done and there was no one from the minority who said: “Now, we will be OK, because our brothers have come from over the border.” What does this show? This shows that the sincere feelings of good folk do not alter, either in good times or bad, they feel close together because he who has a good heart does not wish harm on anyone else. On the contrary, he who is evil wants to harm another, because he wants to lord it over him.

No people wants to dominate or to be dominated by another, but wants to live in friendship with the others.

The hardships we have suffered have made us draw lessons and always be ready to defend ourselves. We must be able to organize our defence and our economy well simultaneously. We must understand both the economy and defence politically and ideologically. The interests, desires and sentiments of the minority in our country are not in any way different from those of the whole Albanian people. The Albanians and the minority people together will continue to defend this great reality which exists in Albania.

The economic and political strengthening of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, its upholding of the banner of Marxism-Leninism, have enhanced our authority in the world. We are not conceited about the successes we have achieved, but encouraged by these successes. It is our duty to assist our friends and the revolutionary peoples to the extent of our possibilities. It is precisely the understanding of the correct policy of the Party, the political and ideological understanding of the new and more advanced form of our collectivized agriculture, which has brought these successes to you as to the higher-type cooperative of Grapsh.

The Albanian people made great sacrifices for the freedom of the Greek people at the time of the war. You know that because we defended the Greek partisans and allowed them to retreat into our country, our Homeland was placed in danger from the forces of the British General, Scobie, nevertheless, our people agreed to make sacrifices in favour of the Greek people.

We have never wished any harm to come to Greece, therefore, we have told the members of its government that no evil comes from us. I and all the comrades are convinced that the Greek people, too, never wish us any harm, because they love freedom as we do.

We have exchanged opinions openly with the government leaders of Athens, they know our stands and know by what ideology we are guided. They approve our stand in the field of foreign policy. We think that neither the United States of America nor the Soviet Union have any reason to meddle in the affairs of Cyprus. Those two great powers ought to leave the Greek people and the Turkish people on that island to reach agreement with one another on their own. The Greek government, the government of Cyprus and that of Turkey approve this correct view of ours. Who was it who stirred up the Greek and Turkish communities on the Island of Cyprus to feud with one another? The imperialists. And now the American imperialists and the Soviet social-imperialists, for their own interests, are putting pressure on Greece and want to set it quarrelling with Turkey, because each of them wants to dominate the Mediterranean.

Each of the superpowers is trying to secure the Mediterranean for itself, without in any way considering the interests of the Greek people or other peoples of this zone. When they see that the Greek government resists their intrigues, in order to exert pressure, they turn their attention to the Turkish government, or vice-versa. Being aware of this filthy activity of these two superpowers, we say that they are the main enemies of the peoples, therefore, the peoples must keep their eyes open…

In conclusion, I express my confidence that you will successfully accomplish all the patriotic, economic and organizational tasks which the Party has set to you. I promise you that when I return to Tirana, I shall tell the comrades of the Political Bureau and the Central Committee about all that I have seen in Gjirokastra and this higher-type cooperative.

I tell you sincerely that my impressions about you are very good. I have long had a very great love for the people of the minority, but I shall never forget what I saw and experienced here today when no one moved from his place despite the ceaseless rain.

I wish you success in your work!

Goodbye, dear comrades!

Notes

[1] Comrade Enver Hoxha held this meeting after the rally of the people of the zone of Dropull.

[2] In 1912-1916, the Greek army occupied the southern regions of Albania.