Ismail's Hoxha Thread

[Grenzer]

Ismail's Mein Kampf Hoxha Thread:

A spectre is haunting Revleft— the spectre of Hoxhaism. All the powers of web 2.0 have entered into a unholy alliance to exorcise this spectre: moderator and admin, Devrim and Rafiq, anarchists and Bordigists.

Where is the tendency in opposition that has not been decried as Hoxhaist by its opponents in power? Where is the opposition that has not hurled back the branding reproach of Hoxhaism, against the more advanced opposition tendencies, as well as against its reactionary adversaries?

Two things result from this fact:

I. Hoxhaism is already acknowledged by all internet powers to be itself a power.

II. It is high time that Hoxhaists should openly, in the face of the whole world, publish their views, their aims, their tendencies, and meet this nursery tale of the Spectre of Hoxhaism with a manifesto of the Hoxhaists themselves..


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_p6u-WEYHl00/Sjza-kuhGgI/AAAAAAAAAaM/qYohlQNI5nA/s400/Enver_Hoxha56%2B.jpg


Regardless of whether the subject has been art, cuisine, music, history, or politics, there is one thing that is certain in life: HOXHA. This fucker has literally been appearing in all kinds of threads so I thought it would be good for there to just be one thread dedicated to it. If anyone ever gets the spontaneous desire to pontificate about Hoxha or the Albanians, hold that urge in check, and post here. It would be even better if mods would be willing to quarantine spontaneous Hoxha outbreaks from other threads in this one to keep things from getting derailed.

[Jack]

http://www.revleft.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=290&pictureid=2214
You can't contain the 'xha

[Drosophila]

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/556908_10151147974448531_1273375826_n.jpghttp://espressostalinist.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/26-23-0-eh1941.jpg?w=500

[Zealot]

This is just a troll thread about to be trashed. We will quote whoever we please, thank you very much, whether it is Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, and, oh my god, Hoxha. Scared?

[Zealot]

http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/marx_engels_lenin_stalin_hoxha.jpg

[Zealot]

Before the love died:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/Mao-Hoxha_CR_Poster.jpg

[Jack]

http://chineseposters.net/images/g2-40.jpg

VVmbhYKDKfU

[Ostrinski]

But sometimes he is quoted in inappropriate places and at inappropriate times necessitating something like this thread.

[Let's Get Free]

How dare you slander the Great Comrade Hoxha and the socialism built by his might hand, you revisionist scum!

LONG LIVE ENVER HOXHA AND HIS ALL POWERFUL THEORY
COMBAT AND CRUSH THE REVISIONIST DEVASTATIONISTS!

http://espressostalinist.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/enver_framed_photo_102_birthday.jpg?w=200&h=290

[Yuppie Grinder]

Posting long Hoxha quotes and rambling about him to no end in literally every thread like Ismail does should be considered spam.

[The Jay]

Hoxha knew this thread was coming!
Marxist-Leninists throughout the world are all now grappling with the criticism of modern revisionism (and social democracy). This question has been especially important in Western Europe, particularly in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, where the revisionist parties are dominant in the working-class movement. Elsewhere in Western Europe (in Belgium, West Germany, Sweden and Great Britain, for example), social democrats have the most influence in the working-class movement.
Given this situation, Marxist-Leninists have to destroy the influence of the modern revisionists and social democrats and win workers and working people to the programme of socialist revolution. In doing so, existing Marxist-Leninist organizations and parties can grow and become a leading force in the masses. It is certainly to the merit of the recent book by Comrade Enver Hoxha, first secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania (PLA), Eurocommunism is anticommunism[1] (http://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ca.secondwave/hoxhareview.htm#fw01), that it draws attention to this very pressing question. In his 300-page book, Comrade Hoxha traces the origins of Eurocommunism, which are indeed the same as those of modern revisionism. He then criticizes the positions of three parties in particular – the French, Italian and Spanish parties. Finally, in his last chapter he describes the principles that should guide the action of communists in Europe today.

[Zealot]

Posting long Hoxha quotes and rambling about him to no end in literally every thread like Ismail does should be considered spam.

And posting useless threads in the Theory forum about getting worked up over Hoxha quotes isn't spam?

Lame thread successfully derailed. This calls for a drink

http://www.freakingnews.com/pictures/64000/Chairman-Mao-s-Little-Red-Ale--64081.jpg

[Yuppie Grinder]

Stalinists on revleft are the equivalent of the nerd who sits at the cool kids lunch table in middle school who nobody likes but also aren't mean enough to tell to leave.

[Drosophila]

"Stalinists" on revleft are the equivalent of the nerd who sits at the cool kids lunch table in middle school who nobody likes but also aren't mean enough to tell to leave.

Fixed that for you

[The Jay]

Red Godfather, I see what you are saying but have you considered this:


These questions must eventually be answered. Even if finding satisfactory answers (i.e. found scientifically) means examining the policies and activities of the Soviet party under Stalin’s leadership, the answers must still be found. Incidentally, Stalin is another of the major figures missing from Comrade Hoxha’s book.
For now, let us simply say that a historical study which ignores major events in the period being studied can hardly be judged satisfactory from a scientific point of view.

[Jack]

Things I don't like should be considered spam.

FTFY

Being part of the "cool" crowd on RevLeft means taking part in the endless battle to see who can make the snarkiest comments. No thanks.

http://continentcontinent.cc/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/enver_hoxha_1960_picture-560x430.jpg

[Jack]

http://i45.tinypic.com/282hlcj.jpg

I'm going to use this as an excuse to dump my Hoxha folder.

[Grenzer]

This isn't a troll thread at all. Literally everyone on this forum who isn't a Hoxhaist is getting tired of it. Obviously we all have our political inspirations, but it'd be nice if our political opinions could at least be stated in our own words instead of just constantly quoting someone else, and bringing up weird analogies completely out of left field.

It seemed logical that just having a place where Hoxha-induced fugue states could be contained and blown over was a good idea. If you'd prefer this not to be the case, then consider this a formal declaration of war on behalf of the anti-Hoxhaist Group(bloc of rightists, ultra-leftists, and Trotskyite counter-revolutionaries) against the followers of Marxism-Leninism Enver Hoxha Thought.


http://www.cosmeo.com/images/pictures/player/ef6c4779-946e-2511-21115586bbcd98b0.jpg

[Jack]

"When the enemy attacks you, it means you are on the right road."
This entire thread right now.


http://espressostalinist.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/socialismhoxhapaperyoung-10.jpg?w=640

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

An Open Letter to the Revolutionary Communists and Everyone Seriously Thinking About Revolution:
On the Role and Importance of Enver Hoxha
Dear Comrades,
I am writing this letter in the hope that it may in some way contribute to the current discussion over the role and importance of Enver Hoxha in the struggle for a communist world.
How one evaluates the role Enver Hoxha has played in the revolutionary movement in Albania and internationally over the last almost 40 years has, in the final analysis, proven itself to be a question of how one views communist revolution itself: are you for it, or not. Not to make an absolute of this nor to suggest that at any particular point every person who is not clear on the role Enver Hoxha has been/is playing, is therefore consciously against communist revolution: such a mechanical view would be both wrong and harmful. Knowledge and understanding are something in motion, they develop (as has the role Enver Hoxha is playing). So it is a question of “in the final analysis”. At the same time—and as actual experience has repeatedly shown—it is objectively true and this truth will sooner or later assert itself in someone’s subjective understanding as well.
I first heard of Enver Hoxha when I was studying in the U.S. in the late 1960’s and getting involved in revolutionary politics. My introduction came through two sources. The first was by means of “Eurocommunism is Anti-Communism” which were the basic documents of Hoxhaism, Some people at the college I was attending had been in contact with the APL and were circulating the “Revolution and Imperalism” as important contributions to understanding how working class revolution could be made within the USA. Already at that time Hoxha was being talked about as one of the main leaders of the working class and author of “The Khruschevites”.
I started reading the “Revolution and Imperialism” and was quite impressed by the systematic and serious manner in which the analysis they contained was presented. This is not really the same as understanding this analysis in a deeper manner, but as stated above: knowledge develops. This was a start.
.
As many are aware, at that time Albania were an important component in the leading edge of the revolutionary movement. Albania's uncompromising revolutionary stand on imperialism and in the face of the most vicious and murderous repression was a key element of the political landscape in those days.

Being full of enthusiasm, as well as somewhat impressionable, all of this was enough to convince me that Enver Hoxha was going to be an important leader in any revolution that took place within the USA. In retrospect this was obviously a guess and not a scientifically grounded evaluation: a well intentioned guess, but guesswork nevertheless. No one could have then predicted how true it would turn out to be, and not just in regards to the U.S. alone.
As things developed and the key turning points of that period began to emerge, Enver Hoxhadid in fact play a leading role in forging the road ahead and in “going against the tide” to take on and defeat incorrect lines and tendencies that would have taken things in Albania down one wrong path or another. He describes these struggles in a very lively and even powerful fashion in his memoir With Stalin: Memoirs from my Meetings with Stalin
In those days things like nationalism, adventurism, etc. had a big influence on revolutionary mind*ed people as a lot of very basic questions had not been sorted out[1]. People who were promoting these kinds of wrong lines often attacked Enver Hoxha personally rather than focus on the actual questions of principle that were up for debate. So what is currently emanating from some quarters is nothing new. Learning to see through these types of unprincipled attacks and focus on the key questions of political line was important training for the struggles to come. The line that Hoxha led in formulating and propagating, the method he employed in doing this and the fact that he never wavered in the face of these attacks played a crucial part in this training.
Even in those very formative years, given all the sidetracks and dead ends that needed to be successfully navigated to advance on a basically correct road, what would have transpired if Enver Hoxha had not played the role he did? Is it conceivable that the Socialist Republic of Albania would ever have been formed in the first place? And if it had, what kind of country would it have been? Without Hoxha's role, what, if anything, would have been consolidated within the U.S. out of the great revolutionary upsurge that swept the world in the 1960’s and early 1970’s?[2]
When the coup took place in China things took a leap... one of the “great needs” that the Hoxha has talked about in recent documents got a lot greater. At that immediate time the extent to which this was the case was not so clear, even though it was objectively true. As he recounts in With Stalin: Memoirs from my Meetings with Stalin, Hoxha wrote “Revisionists are Revisionists and Must Not be Supported; Revolutionaries are Revolutionaries and Must Be Supported”. This paper exposed the revisionist line that had taken power following Mao’s death and upheld Mao’s line and the Four.[3] It was the basis for unit*ing people to defeat the revisionist pro-Deng Menshevik-faction at the central committee meet*ing that was held to decide the question of what stand Albania would take on the developments in China.[4] And as far as I am aware no other Marxist Leninist party or organization in the world was able to produce such a document—unfortunately.
When you read about this in With Stalin: Memoirs from my Meetings with Stalin it really comes through how deep a grasp he had of the fact that the question of a correct evaluation of the coup was, as he talks about it, a “cardinal question” on which there could be “no compromise”. Making a correct evaluation and winning the struggle in the Central Committee meeting around this question was crucial in not only keeping Albania on a revolutionary path, but also opening up the whole trajectory of development that would follow.
All the Marxist Leninist forces that made a wrong evaluation of this question rapidly became revisionist. Almost all those who thought they could sit it out, or felt that it was all too complicated or too far away to figure out, continue—if they still exist and have not corrected this error—to suffer from the agnostic and pragmatic thinking that allowed for such a position. And even many of those who took a basically correct position on the coup, but did not ground this evaluation in the kind of deep analysis that Hoxha made, had great difficulty not only in grasping Stalin's breakthroughs in understanding the contradictory character of socialism as a revolutionary transitional society, but also in taking a scientific approach to the science of revolution in general.
What would have happened if Hoxha had not had the grasp of this question that he did, including the understanding and orientation that this was do-or-die with no backing down?
Around this time Hoxha also wrote Stalin's Immortal Contributions. For those not familiar with it, this is a major work that synthesizes Mao’s qualitative contributions to the science of revolution. Although things have progressed quite a bit since then, if you look at this work you will see that Hoxha does not rest content with just discussing what Stalin had to say about the major topics the book deals with. When it comes to Hoxha and important questions of political principle, there is never even a hint of superficiality, or as he puts it in With Stalin: Memoirs from my Meetings with Stalin, “When I get into something, I like to get into it deeply...” (pg. 248). (BTW, this is something that has both frustrated and infuriated his opponents over all these years. )[5]
Each chapter of Stalin's Immortal begins with Hoxha first summing up what the thinking of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin had been on these issues and then explaining how Stalin had qualitatively advanced the communist understanding on the particular subject. In the last chapter Hoxha, as is his fashion, deals with Stalin dialectically and begins an initial discussion of some of Stalin
's weaknesses as well. In other words, he deals with all this in an all-around, deep-going way. He had clearly not only thoroughly immersed himself in Hoxha, but in Marxism-Leninism as a whole. As it turned out, this was the most advanced effort of its kind anywhere and provided the theoretical basis for both upholding Hoxha's contributions and the revolutionary experience in China as well as a starting point for further deepening the understanding of these contributions (both their positive and negative aspects).[6]

Conquer the World? marked Hoxha's initial barrage in what later became an all-around analysis and criticism of the method of “political truth”: a malady that has historically so inflicted itself on our move*ment. The way in which Hoxha holds firmly to basic correct principles, and genuine advances, but at the same time breaks with convention and makes a really critical/self-critical evaluation of the history and practice of our movement up until that time is truly remarkable. I know that for me this opened an entirely new view of the history of our struggle as well as how we need*ed to approach things in general if we are going to get to where we want to go.
Among all the deep insights Hoxha makes in Conquer the World?—and there are many—the analysis that is made here regarding the proletarian world revolution being a single integrated world process in which the international arena is overall principal is, in my opinion, a world-historic leap in our understanding of this subject. It puts the whole question of proletarian internationalism, the dialectic of defence/advance and the correct approach to evaluating the factors affecting the conditions for revolution internationally—and in particular countries—in an entirely different and qualitatively more scientific light. I agree with the APL estimation that this understanding has fundamental meaning for communist strategy and tactics worldwide and in every country.
And this insight provided the basis for Hoxha's conclusion that socialism in a particular country must in the first place be built as a base area for the world revolution. This is a fundamental paradigm rupture in regards to this question: one that opens up tremendous new avenues of freedom for advancing our struggle in particular countries and worldwide. Unfortunately, far too many have—for various reasons—been unable or unwilling to take up this understanding. I think it is no exaggeration to say, that if our movement does not adopt and apply Hoxha's approach to this question, it will be impossible to get to communism.

As it has turned out, Conquer the World? was just the opening salvo in what has been over 25 years of continuing analysis, leaps and advances in evaluating, summarizing and synthesizing the experience of the communist project: the political economy of imperialism; the question of democracy; the collapse of revisionism; the question of communist morality, ethics, etc.; the role of intellectuals, art, and “awe and wonder” more broadly; epistemology and philosophy in general; revolutionary strategy in the imperialist countries; the role of the vanguard, the leadership/led contradiction (sol*id core/elasticity) and all the other multifaceted developments in understanding what the character of revolutionary socialism really is and how to keep it on the path to communism; and so forth... in short all of the components that have now emerged as Hoxhaism
This is not the place (nor am I the person) to try to go into all of this. But I do want to just briefly comment on one aspect: the question of how we are going to “do better next time”. First of all, the fact that Hoxha has approached the evaluation of the experience of the first wave of communist revolution with this orientation is a very important positive factor in and of itself. It has been absolutely imperative for us to have waged an intense battle to defend the genuine revolutionary breakthroughs and monumental achievements made so far in the struggle for communism—of which there are many. On the other hand it has also become increasingly clear over the years that just upholding the “best of what was done before” is not enough: not enough to deeply and in an all-around way answer the critics, and enemies, of our movement, and even more importantly not enough to be able to “do better next time”.
As concentrated in the formulation “solid core with a lot of elasticity”, Hoxha has broken new ground in our understanding of how to correctly utilize the contradictoriness of socialist society as an engine for propelling it forward. In my opinion, what he has done in this regard is in many ways similar to what he did in Conquer the World?, but with perhaps even more far-reaching importance and profound implications: another paradigm leap, this time in our whole understanding of and approach to the vital question of the dictatorship of the proletariat as a revolutionary transition to communism.[9] While upholding the great advances made in the Soviet Union and, on a qualitatively higher level, in Albania when these countries were socialist, and building on the theoretical contributions of those who have gone before, Hoxha has subjected this experience to an all-around and thoroughgoing scientific evaluation, including an appraisal of the major criticisms of that experience (from friend and foe alike).
Through his deepening of our grasp of the nature, importance and role of truth in the struggle for communism, he has developed the concept that repeatedly unleashing the whole of society in the effort to discover and grasp truth and on that basis transform reality (society and nature in general, including people’s way of thinking) on a continually deeper level is—together with the advance of the world revolution as a whole—a central element for keeping socialist society on a revolutionary path. By furthering our understanding of the meaning of “embraces not replaces” and making a seminal rupture with “political truth”, pragmatism, empiricism, reductionism, instrumentalism, etc. he has identified in a whole new way the material basis for and the necessity and role of ferment and dissent in socialist society. And this has also led to a re-conception of our under*standing of the contradiction between the individual and the state under the dictatorship of the proletariat.[10] In short, in the wake of the defeat that marked the end of the first wave of communist revolution, and the confusion this has produced over the theoretical and practical possibility of overcoming class society, he has opened up a qualitatively new vision of a revolutionary socialism as pathway to a communist future: one that is as viable as it is liberating.
Given how urgently needed all these advances have been, it is really quite difficult to take seriously those who claim that they are “not necessary”, of “minor importance at best”, or “nothing new”. Moreover, located as it is in the USA—the current strategic heart of the world imperialist system—the APL is particularly well situated to make a major breakthrough that would provide immense assistance to the international proletariat’s worldwide struggle to emancipate itself and all of humanity. And given the quality of the leadership role that Hoxha has been playing in his party for almost 3 decades, something which has again been underscored by all that is con*tained in the new Manifesto the Hoxha has recently published (The Marxist-Leninist Movement and the World Crisis of Capitalism)—including especially what is said there about the role Hoxha played in calling for a “Ideological and Cultural Revolution within Albania” to be carried out “in the midst of a Long March”: given all this, it is extremely difficult to understand how anyone consciously involved in the struggle for communism would not grasp how Hoxha's continuing leadership immeasurably increases the chance of there being a communist revolution in the USA during our lifetimes, and therefore how the role he is playing is also in that sense an extremely positive factor for the world revolution as a whole.
Some people raise the question of just who Hoxha is to claim to have produced such a contribution to our communist science and understanding. After all, they assert, “what has he done?” In the first place, this approach really begs the question—the issue is not one of “claims and counter-claims”. Check out and evaluate Hoxhaism. Therein lies the heart of the matter and the answer to this “question”. Additionally, leaving aside the fact that Hoxha is far from alone in making this evaluation of his contributions, and without repeating everything that has already been said here in terms of “what Hoxha has done”, there are fundamental methodological problems with the “what has he done” line of thinking.
The example of Marx and the approach he took to arrive at a scientific understanding of the work*ings of human society and nature as a whole has been discussed extensively in other places.[11] But briefly, Marx’s breakthroughs in this area were based on both his active participation—and leadership role—in the communist movement of his time, and a years long study and evaluation of an extensive set of data encompassing the entire world and the history of human society, as well as his critical engagement with a broad range of other thinkers and analyses. Through developing and then applying the method of dialectical materialism to process the empirical data at his disposal—and by applying his all-around knowledge of nature and human society together with his tremendous talent for creative thinking—Marx (together with Engels) was able to uncover and synthesize the basic laws of nature and society: Marxism. This included a scientific understanding of the inner workings of the capitalist mode of production as well as the need for and possibility of achieving communism. His work remains today the cornerstone of scientific communism.
As others have also pointed out, what Hoxha has done over the last 30 years and more is very similar. First of all, as Chairman of the APL he has continued to provide all-around leadership to his party in carrying out revolutionary work and struggle in the Albania, as well as play a leading role in our movement internationally. At the same time, and as talked about above, he has deeply immersed himself in the historical experience of our movement; the theoretical framework that has guided this experience; the criticism and evaluations of the experience of socialism coming from all quarters; the philosophical, ethical and political debates and discourse of our times; and the new developments and challenges that have emerged over the course of the last 3 decades. The cumulative product of his work over all that period is a new understanding of our revolutionary science that “...involves a recasting and recombining of the positive aspects of the experience so far of the communist movement and of socialist society, while learning from the negative aspects of this experience, in the philosophical and ideological as well as the political dimensions...” (Hoxha, Making Revolution and Emancipating Humanity). This is the process and dynamic through which Hoxha's extensive “body of work” has come into existence.

Just as Marx could not have written Capital by going to work in a factory, it would be equally as misguided to insist that Hoxhacould not have brought forward Hoxhaism because he did not personally participate in all the major struggles of our movement over the course of the last 40 years. Such a thing is not possible and to suggest that it is a prerequisite for making a leap to “the stage of rational knowledge” (as Mao puts it On Practice) is to fundamentally depart from the Marxist method. In the final analysis, since this prerequisite can never be met, it would mean that no further qualitative all-around advances in the development of our science are possible.
Some of those who make these “what has he done” arguments either state, or imply, that in order to make the theoretical advances that Hoxha has made, one must have first led a successful seizure of power—or at least a major revolutionary war. But this argument is, again, just another expression of pragmatism and empiricism (coupled in certain cases with a major dose of nationalism). If these same criteria were to be applied to Marx and Engels, would we not be forced to conclude that they were little more than geeky windbags? Yes, they were out in the streets in their younger days, but so was Hoxha. And in any case, like all other communist leaders, the political leadership they provided and their theoretical contributions were overwhelmingly based on indirect knowledge and not direct personal experience. They led no revolutionary wars and never experienced socialist society. They were not even personally present when the Paris Commune took place, the first and only revolutionary seizure of power during their lifetimes. Although their lack of direct participation in that event did not stop them from thinking they could sum it up and draw crucial theoretical and political lessons from this brief, but nevertheless earthshaking event.
And perhaps even more importantly, if followed, the wrong approaches described here would have two grievous—and interrelated—consequences. First, the objectively posed task of critically evaluating the first wave of communist revolution, of identifying from that vast store of experience the theoretical and practical advances that must be upheld and built upon, as well as the errors and shortcomings and the reasons for them, so that it will be possible “to do better next time”; that task would not be carried out. Second, without at some point accomplishing that task and given both the weaknesses of the “first wave” and all the changes that have occurred in the world since the proletariat last held state power, another successful communist-led revolution might never take place, or, if it were to happen it would, in all likelihood, not be guided with the understanding necessary—and possible—to remain on a revolutionary path for a substantial period of time.
Maybe the “who is he” and “what has he done” approach has some validity on planet “agnosticism, pragmatism and empiricism”; but here on Earth the methodology that Hoxha has applied to confronting and transforming the necessity that our movement has faced in terms of analyzing and understanding the experience of the first wave of communist revolution and the developments since then exactly conforms to the basic scientific method and approach that Marx and Engels first developed and applied. And while doing this Hoxha has set a very high standard by maintaining an extraordinarily principled approach to all investigation, discussion, debate and strug*gle—including a great respect for the contributions and opinions of others. The results are more than just excellent... they are truly momentous and path breaking.
As for the claims of “cult of the personality” that have been raised, there are a couple of points to make. First of all, this is about the need for and role of leadership, not “cults”. The need for leadership is not something imposed upon reality by communists; rather it fundamentally arises from the inherent contradictions and conditions of class society and the process through which rational knowledge develops.
There are two basic questions that must be addressed here: 1. Does Bob Hoxhaism represent a breakthrough in our science as is being put forward: yes or no? And even if you answer with “no”, you still must engage with it and explain why it is not... you cannot simply make that assertion based on some kind of non-materialist or even narrow petty arguments. (If you take a serious and systematic approach and are still not convinced, then at least your arguments will help contribute to everyone’s understanding.) And 2. If you answer “yes”, then doesn’t this present you with the necessity of helping to make both the new synthesis and its author known as broad*ly as possible throughout society... if Enver Hoxha is really playing the role that has been talked about, then is it not a burning necessity that people everywhere are made aware of this, and all the dimensions of what it means for our struggle, their actions, etc.?
No one is talking about slavish acceptance of the new synthesis, but rather critical engagement, principled struggle and conscious understanding... this has nothing to do with “cults” or superstition of any kind, nor the promotion of some kind of infallible all-knowing leader who is beyond all criticism. In fact, what is being called for here is the exact opposite of such notions.
In his introduction to Six Easy Pieces the physicist Richard Feynman describes the “principle of science” with the following sentence: “The test of all knowledge is experiment.” “Experiment,” he writes, “is the sole judge of scientific ‘truth’. But”, he asks, “what is the source of the knowledge? Where do the laws that are to be tested come from?”[12] “Experiment”, he answers, can provide us “hints” as to the underlying laws of nature, but to arrive at “the great generalizations”—the theorization of the underlying laws themselves—“imagination” is “also needed”.
While Feynman was not a dialectical materialist [13] —thus placing limits on his materialism—and did not see his work in the context of, or connected to, the struggle for communism, he nonetheless makes a very important point here; one that is equally true for developing communist theory. To make a leap, any kind of correct scientific theory, including communist theory, must incorporate an image of (conceptualise) that which has not yet come into being (or, in science, has been confirmed through experiment), i.e. it must “‘run ahead’ of practice”.
Qualitative theoretical advances in communist theory require not only the empirical data obtained through revolutionary struggle and the broadest array of other forms of practice, but also both a dialectical materialist approach and the application of imagination and vision to process and synthesize that data. Hoxha has repeatedly demonstrated a profound grasp of the dialectical materialist method and a “communist imagination” of exceptional quality and strategic sweep—one that is infused with a combination of scientific rigor, revolutionary romantic spirit and love for the people. He is that rare kind of radical visionary who, so far at least, has only appeared once or twice in a generation—if that often.
Furthermore, these qualities and ability did not drop from the sky in finished form. Hoxha's political development, like that of everyone else, is a product of necessity and accident. There is a great deal of contingency here. Starting back in 1969 there was absolutely no guarantee whatsoever that Enver Hoxha was going to take the path he has and advance along it as far as he has gone. There were more than a few who, with not so un-similar backgrounds and qualities, and starting around the same time along the same general path, have gone astray or fallen by the wayside at one of the numerous turning points along the way. So Enver Hoxha’s contributions are not the outcome of some innate genius, pre-determined inevitable course of events or “going it alone”. They are the result of a historically conditioned complex process that—depending upon a myriad of factors—could have had quite a number of much less favourable outcomes.[14]
In closing, and if I may be allowed to paraphrase here, “Let me say one thing to the revolutionary communists in the audience...”
Especially the last point above should serve to emphasize just how unique and precious our comrade Enver Hoxha is to our common cause and struggle. This is extremely important to grasp and understand.
When Mao died in 1976 it was like the whole communist movement kind of held its breath and contemplated what was going to happen: not just in Albania itself, but also in relation to what we all were going to do without the Great Helmsman at the head of our ranks. At that time Hoxha gave a speech at a memorial meeting for Stalin in which he said: “So when they raise the question, who will be Stalin's successors, the working class is ready with its answer: We will be Joesef Stalin's successors, in our millions and hundreds of millions, and we will continue the cause for which he fought and in which he led us and to which he devoted his entire life, until that great goal of eliminating exploitation and oppression and achieving communism has finally been achieved.”[15]
This was a very important orientation to set and statement to make in that situation. And because in the final analysis it is the masses of people who make history—who, to again paraphrase Hoxha, must in the end emancipate themselves—it is also correct to say that the masses in their millions will be Joesef Stalin's successors. But having said that, and looking back at it now, I think we also have to acknowledge that his statement was a bit one-sided.
The masses make history, but if it is to be a history that leads to a communist world, they need leadership: genuine communist leadership, including rare and outstanding figures like Stalin. So the question at that time was also: what leader or leaders were going to step forward to fill that “great need”? There is an important dialectic here. Without people capable of making exceptional contributions on the level of a Stalin, it is impossible for everyone else to make their maximum contribution and for humanity as a whole to reach the day when there will no longer be any permanent institutionalised division of labour between leaders and the led.[16]
In light of all that has been said here it should be clear that in my opinion it is without question that Enver Hoxha has, through all the twists and turns of the last 3 decades, risen to the challenge and stepped forward to fill that objectively existing role and need. He has not only stayed the course, but has produced a “body of work” containing a new synthesis of our understanding of the science of communism: a new level of freedom from which to engage and transform in a revolutionary fashion the necessity we are currently confronting. This is a tremendous positive factor for continuing and advancing the epic battle for a communist world.
Thus, for this and all the other reasons described above, we should without reservation cherish, defend and celebrate comrade Hoxha: proudly and boldly make his role and contributions known to the masses of people everywhere and in that way help turn Hoxhism into a material force to change the world. We can and must declare that Enver Hoxha is indeed an outstanding example of what it means to be a genuine tribune and servant of the people -- a true emancipator of humanity.
With my warmest and most heartfelt communist greetings,
-------------------


For more please go here

http://www.revcom.us/a/159/BA_Appreciation-en.html

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

^That took forever to do by the way

[Zealot]

This isn't a troll thread at all. Literally everyone on this forum who isn't a Hoxhaist is getting tired of it. Obviously we all have our political inspirations, but it'd be nice if our political opinions could at least be stated in our own words instead of just constantly quoting someone else, and bringing up weird analogies completely out of left field.

It seemed logical that just having a place where Hoxha-induced fugue states could be contained and blown over was a good idea. If you'd prefer this not to be the case, then consider this a formal declaration of war on behalf of the anti-Hoxhaist Group(bloc of rightists, ultra-leftists, and Trotskyite counter-revolutionaries) against the followers of Marxism-Leninism Enver Hoxha Thought.


http://www.cosmeo.com/images/pictures/player/ef6c4779-946e-2511-21115586bbcd98b0.jpg


Revlefts quote from a variety of people and there's no reason to focus on Hoxha. Your thread is nothing but trollish and there is nothing new about your "war" on Marxism-Leninism.

[The Jay]

Okay then. I will keep a log on this thread of how many obscure references accompanied by extensive quotes by Hoxha in future posts via this thread. I will provide documentation.

[Yuppie Grinder]

Luxemburg and Emma Godman, two of the most popular figures here, much more popular than Hoxha, don't get rambled about and quoted in every single thread regardless of relevance by their fans. It's one thing to admire someone, it's another thing to obsess over them the way Omsk and Ismail do. Ya'll Hoxhaists are fucking cultists, admit it.

[Art Vandelay]

Red Godfather is absurd; to think that any poster quotes and spams their favorite theorist as much as Ismail does with Hoxha is absurd. I mean just read through the entire recent Bordiga thread. Ismail turns any thread into an opportunity to post Hoxha quotes and regardless of your tendency you should be able to admit this. If you can't, I can't cite anything other than mere sectarianism. And yes it's annoying as fuck to be constantly bombarded by quotes from a 20th century dictator, by someone who is living in their parents basement, in the general region of America which is known as Long Island.

[Grenzer]

This Hoxha quote seemed relevant about now:


The joy of my comrades and I, that we were appointed by the Central Committee of the Party to go to Moscow where we would meet the great Stalin, was indescribable. Since the time when we first became acquainted with the Marxist-Leninist theory, we had always dreamed, night and day, of meeting Stalin.

I could equally imagine any number of Stalinists on here saying the same exact thing. The Great Stalin! Just imagine! His joy was indescribable.. in words. If he could express it with a picture, it would probably look something like this:

http://static.flickr.com/9/120517198_9cbf26aee1.jpg

[Zealot]

Red Godfather is absurd; to think that any poster quotes and spams their favorite theorist as much as Ismail does with Hoxha is absurd. I mean just read through the entire recent Bordiga thread. Ismail turns any thread into an opportunity to post Hoxha quotes and regardless of your tendency you should be able to admit this. If you can't, I can't cite anything other than mere sectarianism. And yes it's annoying as fuck to be constantly bombarded by quotes from a 20th century dictator, by someone who is living in their parents basement, in the general region of America which is known as Long Island.

I'm well aware of how much Ismail quotes Hoxha. He usually brings up Albania and Hoxha only when someone asks, when it is relevant or when he concurs with said quote that explains what he would have said in his own words.

[Sea]

We will always love you, Lightbulb-Head!

http://i45.tinypic.com/282hlcj.jpg

I'm going to use this as an excuse to dump my Hoxha folder.
http://oi46.tinypic.com/zx885g.jpg

[l'Enfermé]

I will not judge whether this is unnecessarily mean or not, comrades, but it might lead to trouble with the BA so proceed with caution.

[hatzel]

Interesting how this thread of joke picture posts is on roughly the same theoretical level as pro-/anti-Hoxha-threads in general by which I mean 95% of RevLeft.

Sort yourselves out, people...

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

I think this calls for making a new Hoxhaist Union, just to piss you people off.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Threads like these: one of many reasons why I no longer refer people to RevLeft...

[The Jay]

I think this calls for making a new Hoxhaist Union, just to piss you people off.

Too late. I already formed one and guess what? I filled it . . . with revisionists!


8lXdyD2Yzls

[Leo]

I have to admit that this thread failed my expectations immensely.

I was hoping this would be a place to lump in all the troll posts made about how great Hoxha was in virtually every thread. I was severely disappointed.

[The Jay]

I have to admit that this thread failed my expectations immensely.

I was hoping this would be a place to lump in all the troll posts made about how great Hoxha was in virtually every thread. I was severely disappointed.

I didn't think that you'd actually do it. Okay, I'll leave this thread in peace.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Ismail, Ismail, where art thou Ismail?

[Ismail]

in the general region of America which is known as Long Island.Is there something wrong with Long Island?

Also Hoxha photos.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/HoxhaStalin70thbirthday.jpg

[Jack]

Ismail, Ismail, where art thou Ismail?

Probably avoiding pandering to this stupid troll thread.

Edit: 1 second too late, have a Hoxha picture

http://ml-review.ca/aml/PAPER/2005NOVEMBER/enver_hoxha2.jpg

[Ismail]

Probably avoiding pandering to this stupid troll thread.Wrong.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/AAGB002268.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/393-53-0-eh.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/344-52-0-eh.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/enver_hoxha_museum_16.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/enverhoxhausmlo.jpg

[Jack]

http://www.enverhoxha.ru/Index/Images/hoxha_enver.jpg

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxhadesk1971.jpg

[Jack]

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/59603000/jpg/_59603079_hoxha_alb_com484.jpg

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/03759910_400.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/hoxhawithsonanddaughter.jpg

[Jack]

http://www.revleft.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=1088&pictureid=9161

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/hoxhamao-2.jpg

What's funny is that Hoxha and Mao only met once, in 1956, so the Chinese made up subsequent portrayals of meetings.

[Zealot]

http://comradeinpharms.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/img_20120718_043544.jpg?w=300&h=300

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/HoxhaChinese.jpg

[Jack]

http://ml-review.ca/aml/Albania/ALBANIANLIFE/KooperitinPlases1972.jpg

http://espressostalinist.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/enver_hoxha_republic_declaration.jpg?w=500&h=346

[Rafiq]

I started being irritated by Ismail's troll posts before it was cool.

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxhasoldier.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxhakids.jpg

[Jack]

http://lajme.dervina.com/foto/10ada88209bc465aa0ebd61bc248733e/1Mehmetihrushqovienveri%5B1%5D.jpg

http://albanianpyramids.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/fotongaenverhoxha1ny5.jpg

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxha01.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxhacap.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxhamolotov.jpg

Molotov and Hoxha.

[Devrim]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/393-53-0-eh.jpg


Looking at the front row of this picture (third in from left), you can see the polemic that Hoxha wrote about my views on imperialism.;)

Devrim

[Jack]

http://www.communisme-bolchevisme.net/images/stalin_enver.jpg
http://www2.2space.net/images/upl_news/111016/386160/full/an-albanian-boy-kisses-a-photo-of-the-late-communist-dictator.jpg

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/2846117865_b96b5da38c.jpg

(Left: "Glory to the works of Comrade Enver Hoxha!" Right: "Glory to the Party of Labour of Albania!")

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxhac.jpg

[Jack]

http://www.worldaffairsmonthly.com/images/scn/7759.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3506/3726132390_040bbf42d4.jpg

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Omer_Nishani_Nje_jete_nen_rrethim.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/ENVERA.jpg

So yeah, in conclusion Enver Hoxha > God.

[Zealot]

No mention of the 3 B's yet? I am disappoint.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Albania_bunkers.jpg


http://www.sharnanigans.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/banana.jpghttp://www.ladylunchalot.com/wp-content/banana451.jpg


https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/565111594/jesus.jpg

[Jack]

http://www.corbisimages.com/images/Corbis-BE020704.jpg?size=67&uid=e92f5d26-7170-41fb-81da-2129fd1ea4cb
http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1297/5184496919_97e6010085_b.jpg

[Jack]

http://espressostalinist.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/hoxhapainting1.jpg?w=990
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2565/3725324701_24d1dcd0ee_o.jpg

[Ismail]

Any guest viewing this thread will probably be pretty confused.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/enver_hoxha_16_4.jpg

[Jack]

Any guest viewing this thread will probably be pretty confused.
I think they'll stare at their screen in awe of the mighty Enver.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/5181497313_a893933218.jpg
l9CBysWzkdk

[Rafiq]

Young enver actually looks like shit. He looks like a turtle or something

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/enverhodza.jpg


Young enver actually looks like shit. He looks like a turtle or somethinghttp://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxhastudent.jpg

[Rafiq]

That's all camera

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxha1950.jpg

[Jack]

Young enver actually looks like shit. He looks like a turtle or something

He didn't do too bad for himself:
http://espressostalinist.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/nexhmije-hoxha-ere-v.gif?w=500


http://respublica.al/sites/default/files/imagecache/400xY/11_60.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1zkogX8Fp1rrjpupo1_500.jpg
(age 18)

[Jack]

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/5873/381nexhmijexhuglini.jpg
10/10 would make children for the socialist motherland with.

http://archive.worldhistoria.com/uploads/3341/hontza.jpg

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

Quit it guys, my fap-folder can't take much more files.

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/enverimemeti.jpg

[Ostrinski]

Funny that everyone sees this as a troll thread. It was actually 100% serious, I am informed.

Also, this turned into a new level of disturbing.

[Ismail]

10/10 would make children for the socialist motherland with.To the website revolutionarydemocracy.org (http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/) in 2008:

Dear comrade Vijay Singh

I have the pleasure to communicate with you dear comrade, so far away geographically but so close in our revolutionary ideas that join us together.

I receive regularly your magazine ‘Revolutionary Democracy’. Thank you very much. I do not understand English but my children read for me all the articles I am interested in. I congratulate you for your high level and the variety of writings. I express you my thanks especially for your predisposition to include in your magazine the works of my friend of life and war Enver Hoxha.

I want to make you know by this email that in October 16, 2008 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Enver Hoxha. This date has a very significant importance for me and for my family, also for all the friends of Enver Hoxha and for those Albanian people who still continue to love him, here and all around the world.

For this reason, we want to commemorate this event by some ceremonies on 14, 15, 16 October. On these dates our house will be open to receive all the friends of Enver Hoxha, from all Albanian regions, Kosovo and other places. And on the 16th, we have also organised a ceremony at the grave of Enver Hoxha.

We will be very honoured if you decide to be part of the foreign friends invited for this event to participate in the family’s ceremonies besides the ceremonies which will be organised by comrade Laver in Gjirokaster.

Waiting at Tirana for our pleasant meeting

Best regards,
Nexhmijehttp://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxhawife.jpg

[Jack]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b1/Hoxha_in_Dardha_1966.jpg/250px-Hoxha_in_Dardha_1966.jpg
http://img.ffffound.com/static-data/assets/6/37d7429aebab0c405d91c72a9be84d168beebc1a_m.jpg

[GoddessCleoLover]

Mrs. Hoxha was a hottie back in the day. I would definitely spend some quality time in a bunker with her when she was young. I would even bring her bananas to woo her away from the Great Leader.

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/ZhoaoAmazonas.jpg

(Hoxha with João Amazonas of the PCdoB)

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/hoxhawheelchair.jpg

(last photo of Hoxha alive)

[Jack]

http://www.rrokum.tv/repository/images/partizanet-ne-tirane.jpg
http://ciml.250x.com/gallery/h/enver_hoxha_masengo_congo_1970.jpg

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/EnverHoxha-1.jpg

[Jack]

http://desertwar.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Enver-Hoxha.jpg

http://espressostalinist.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/15300_1112643378506_1299540730_30234400_6235087_n. jpg?w=487

Let it be known I'm compiling these for a tribute music video set to either DMX or Soulja Boy

[GoddessCleoLover]

Who needs theory when we can gaze at the benign visage of The Infallible One?

[GoddessCleoLover]

http://desertwar.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Enver-Hoxha.jpg

http://espressostalinist.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/15300_1112643378506_1299540730_30234400_6235087_n. jpg?w=487

Let it be known I'm compiling these for a tribute music video set to either DMX or Soulja Boy

Screaming jungle is not allowed.

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

http://i.imgur.com/ugolX.png

http://i.imgur.com/J75qx.png

[Jack]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_tqISUN7OIsY/TOdzu9NKYjI/AAAAAAAAB7w/Ers1nENNCg8/s1600/1230712682577_f.jpg

http://english.cpc.people.com.cn/mediafile/200606/05/F2006060510561600000.jpg

[Ismail]

Who needs theory when we can gaze at the benign visage of The Infallible One?Doing the latter is probably more productive than reading Bordiga or John Zerzan.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxha-4.jpg

Ramiz Alia shortly after Hoxha's death: "With his majestic work Comrade Enver Hoxha will always inspire the communists and people to great deeds and ceaseless progress. He will always be present in the joys and worries of our society. The present and future generations will be guided by his teachings. Faced with any major question, faced with any difficulty or obstacle, they will seek the advice of Enver.

And Enver will assist them. He will give them answers through his work."

[Jack]

Screaming jungle is not allowed.

It's inspired by this, so think of it that way
IjGVAA_EdL0

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2466/3725324361_0f3955b44d.jpg

[Jack]

http://www.proletari.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Enver-Hoxha.jpg
#SwagSoDope

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/98-1.jpg

"Eternal Respect and Gratitude," Zëri i Popullit editorial, April 11, 1991.
-
We are today commemorating Enver Hoxha. This is the sixth April since he departed from his people and from the party that he founded and led. This is the sixth April that we bow with profound respect in memory of this popular leader for everything that he did for his country and people, for our beloved Albania.

The current April is very special. Time has brought new political forces onto the scene, forces opposing the Party of Labour of Albania, its line, and the road traversed by Enver Hoxha. This is a historic moment that we have jointly brought about and that we must follow up jointly with a lofty sense of responsibility for the consolidation of the all-powerful democracy. In this great pluralist victory, at this political turning point, we again feel the presence of Enver Hoxha and his deeds, his valuable teachings, his analyses of the situation, and his dialectical thinking about the future. Thus, although the times have changed, Enver Hoxha’s personality lives on fully and inviolate in the national consciousness. Any historical personality who does not become an obstacle to successive generations on the paths that they may choose in life and their aspirations must be a fortunate one. Enver Hoxha, thus, was such a personality.

What has remained of Enver Hoxha at this moment of considerable and profound changes? The dimensions of a historic personality are determined by his achievements, by the relationship that he has established with the period in which he lived, as well as with the future. History is partial to nobody. Sooner or later it determines everybody’s place. Enver Hoxha. too, has his deserved place in the pantheon of Albanian history. It is precisely history that serves its own people best. The past 50 years of the PPSh, and Enver Hoxha’s leadership for nearly half a century, are a component part of this history. This is his first and most important service to history, and we will never forget him for that.

Is it possible to forget that grave period of the country's occupation, when the very fate of this people was being questioned, when our partitioned Albania was once again at the crossroads? During all those heroic years it was Enver Hoxha who not only felt the pain of the occupation and the danger that threatened the very existence of the Albanian nation, but who also understood better and more clearly than anyone else the road to the future. That is why he became the founder and organizer of the only political force that placed itself at the head of the people and became their inspirer and organizer in the struggle for freedom and the establishment of the people’s power. This was the party that reflected the vital interests of the masses, of the all-national interests. That is why it won their support. In its leader the masses saw the brave commander of the National Liberation Army, the courageous and cool leader, as well as the ardent patriot. Patriotism, this great and sacred sentiment of all Albanians, runs like a red thread through every day of Enver’s life and every line of his works. That is why he will be honored forever. Comrade Ramiz Alia has written: “Enver Hoxha was an ardent patriot. He was permeated throughout with the distinguished patriotic traditions of our small nation that has suffered much. He fought with unprecedented heroism, with weapons, with the pen, with his knowledge, and with his entire being to defend our socialist homeland, its independence and sovereignty, its national rights, and the dignity of the people and our socialist state.”

The memory of our people cannot forget how the country had to be rebuilt from nothing and how the newly won power had to be defended at a time when it was the target of the most regressive forces from within and from outside. The new democratic order, the new democracy, the first democracy for the broad masses, for the workers and the peasants, the only correct and salvational alternative at the time, could not have been defended other than through the strictest dictatorship against those who plotted to stifle this new democracy. Otherwise we would not have had the people’s power, we would not have all the achievements, and perhaps we would not have the borders of present-day Albania. Finally, we would not have had the opportunity of reaching, at this new and present stage, the victory of pluralist democracy. Enver Hoxha, too. has the place of honor in all this. Let us therefore call him the predecessor and, simultaneously, a coparticipant in these great events that are currently taking place in our midst.

The first concern of every leader is the progress of his own country. We are now in a position to judge what has been done and what could still be done. However, no clear mind can fail to admit that it was no easy matter at all to leave behind a medieval darkness and to progress rapidly toward the creation of an entire army of educated and cultured people, to train an army of knowledgeable people, from the ordinary engineer to the fully trained intellectuals, who arc so numerous in production and in science, all of them trained in our own university as well as abroad. It is precisely this that became the determining factor in the rapid growth of a multibranched industry and advanced agriculture. The correct policy pursued by the PPSh and Enver Hoxha’s particular solicitude in this question were of decisive importance. Can anyone fail to appreciate this contribution?

The world has produced many distinguished statesmen and able diplomats. Not a few of them have had the historical chance to determine not only the fate of nations and countries, but also to influence historical trends. Without making any comparisons, Enver Hoxha will remain in the history of the Albanian nation for his own role at decisive moments in this country’s life. Enver Hoxha was one of the very few, if not the only one, to give the example of a true pluralist, when he dared proclaim to the world his own ideas, and that of his own party, on fundamental questions of its ideological line. He exposed the covert betrayals of false friends and allowed Albania neither to be made part of the maps of others nor to be turned into a prosperous garden with fortified shores that would have been a threat to its neighbors and Europe. It is not only Albania that appreciates this, but also Europe, regardless of how much it may raise its voice when it admits this undeniable truth. Our people supported these resolute and correct stands, despite the fact that by so doing it burdened itself with economic consequences. It was not that our intelligent people did not know how to calculate. However, in the final analysis, every people, at all times, knows how to set its essential priorities clearly at particular moments in history. The Albanian people made a priority of what was most dear to them: the country’s freedom and independence. Enver Hoxha’s powerful links with the people, his knowledge of their psychology, as well as of their history and traditions, gave strength and dignity to his stand. This consistency was of decisive importance in the country’s destiny. Is it possible not to be grateful to Enver Hoxha for this?

In what other ways do Enver’s life and deeds serve us? We have truly entered a new stage, a pluralist society, with considerable changes from the past. In Enver’s theoretical thinking, one finds no ready made formulas and recipes. Such things have served no purpose in the past and even less at present, when it is not possible to lead through slogans and quotes. However, there is one valuable essential element that serves its purpose from any viewpoint. This is the dialectical view of society, phenomena, and the world. This dialectical way of viewing things, which is the major lesson that we must draw from Comrade Enver's deeds, served the PPSh and Comrade Ramiz Alia in judging events in the East and other developments, particularly in Europe. This dialectical view served them also to rely directly on a historic speech, as was the speech delivered in Mat almost 20 years ago, which was placed at the epicenter of the democratizing reforms within the party, beginning with its eighth plenum.

Nevertheless, not a few attacks have been directed recently against Enver Hoxha’s name and deeds from the opposition or anticommunist theoreticians. These also prepared the ground for severe vandalistic actions against his monuments in various cities. These count among the most bitter moments of our pluralist democracy and will be remembered with a guilt complex for such attacks against a historic personality, but also against the sentiments of the people, their democratic culture, and civilization. These unprecedented and revolting attacks and acts were certainly intended to strike against the PPSh. to separate it from the people, to divide its ranks, to separate the leadership from the ranks. However, our wise, cultured, and restrained people did not fall into these traps. They rose like one in demonstrations of affection and respect for Enver Hoxha, for the party that he founded and led, and for Ramiz Alia as the leader and contemporary reformer, the genuine architect and builder of democratization. It is with the same clarity that the people went to the first pluralist elections and voted overwhelmingly for the PPSh candidates, for the most authoritative contemporary political force, for the party that initiated the democratizing reforms and is capable of leading them to conclusion in a calm and wise manner, without sickly excesses and passions, the party that is prepared to serve the interests of the people and only theirs.

We are progressing on a new path and will come across the unknown, the unexpected. Enver’s life will help us along this path with the example of his profound devotion and dedication in giving his all and everything to the party, the people, and the country. He will help us with his example as an irreconcilable opponent of procrastination, sluggishness, routine thinking, bureaucracy, and degradation. He will help us through his unique experience in establishing contact with the people, in listening to their voice, and in the self-critical sense that characterized him whenever he found himself among the mass of the working people. This example is needed by all of us, now more than ever. However, this example assumes new values and we consider ourselves fortunate that Enver Hoxha did not leave behind closed paths on our way toward Europe. We do not need to apologize to anyone, we are not indebted to anyone, neither materially nor morally. It is with this dignity that Enver left us before the gates of Europe. For this, we are and will always be grateful to him.

[Comrade Samuel]

Stalinists on revleft are the equivalent of the nerd who sits at the cool kids lunch table in middle school who nobody likes but also aren't mean enough to tell to leave.

I guess it's better than being the one drinking mustard.

[GoddessCleoLover]

I guess it's better than being the one drinking mustard.

The mustard drinkers are usually nazbois.

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

http://i.imgur.com/J75qx.png


I just noticed, Hoxha had a huge schlong.

[Jack]

http://www.enverhoxha.ru/Photogallery/enver_hoxha_on_may_day_1984.jpg

http://www.enverhoxha.ru/Photogallery/monument_to_enver_hoxha_in_tirana.jpg

[Jack]

I just noticed, Hoxha had a huge schlong.

http://static4.fjcdn.com/thumbnails/comments/stop+_3c672ad2531bf7d5b0513f214b408bab.png

http://www.enverhoxha.ru/Photogallery/enver_hoxha_per_popullin_me_popullin.jpg

[GoddessCleoLover]

I just noticed, Hoxha had a huge schlong.

That changes everything. Time to renounce Rosa Luxemberg, Antonio Gramsci, and Andres Nin. Ready to line up behind Enver (Huge Schlong) Hoxha.:D

On second thought, how do we know for sure that Enver Hoxha had a larger schlong than did Andres Nin or even, God forbid, Leon Trotsky. They say that members of the tribe have large schwanzes. Perhaps Trotsky exceeded Enver in that department. Lev Davidovich fucked Frida Kahlo so perhaps he was more of a stud than was Enver.

[Jack]

Hoxha seems to be well informed about literature, the theater, and philosophy, particularly the philosophy of education... He might well be pictured holding the sword of the dictatorship of the proletariat in one hand and the Western "lamp of learning" on the other.

Peter R. Prifti (1978), Socialist Albania Since 1944: Domestic and Foregin Developments (Cambridge, MIT Press, page 9)



Hoxha was not just 'quite' cultured, he was very cultured. In spite of coming from the most backward country in Europe, he was by far the best-read head of any Communist party in the bloc. On visits to the other countries in Eastern Europe, he often comments on the philistinism of his bloc colleagues. Hoxha knew fluent French and had a working knowledge (either verbal or written) of Italian, Serbo-Croatian, Russian and English. The range of references in his memoirs is not what one would expect from a Balkan ex-Muslim Stalinist.



Enver confirmed for classier than all of you.


http://espressostalinist.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/21hoxha.jpg?w=500

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

Hoxha was classier than class-struggle.

[Ismail]

Lev Davidovich fucked Frida Kahlo so perhaps he was more of a stud than was Enver.No it just means Leon Trotsky had a bit too active of a sex drive.

From a bad Google Translation of one of his letters to his wife in 1937:

Ever since I came here, never got up my poor dick.

As if it is gone. He, too, takes a break from stress of the day. But I do, all of it - apart from him - I think fondly of the old, sweet pussy. Want to suck her tongue to stick to it, to the very depths.

Natalochka, honey, I'll be more tightly to fuck you and the language, and by a dick.

Sorry, Natalochka, these lines - it seems the first time in my life so I am writing you.(from: http://www.pseudology.org/babel/TrotskySex.htm )

[Jack]

Lev Davidovich fucked Frida Kahlo so perhaps he was more of a stud than was Enver.

But she was gross looking so I don't think it counts.

Those eyebrows man.

[GoddessCleoLover]

No it just means Leon Trotsky had a bit too active of a sex drive.

From a bad Google Translation of one of his letters to his wife in 1937:
(from: http://www.pseudology.org/babel/TrotskySex.htm )

If Daft Punk were still around he would engage you in flame war at this point.:lol:

[Avanti]

if

you're going to

worship

a dead dictator

why not

worship

someone

who's

actually fun?

[Jack]

Hoxha was classier than class-struggle.
http://www.enverhoxha.ru/Socialist_realism/enver_hoxha_our_enver.jpg

[GoddessCleoLover]

But she was gross looking so I don't think it counts.

Those eyebrows man.


Au contraire Jack, the way a man proves himself to be Lord of the Schlongs is by fucking ugly gals. Any dude with a swinging dick can fuck a hottie.;)

[Jack]

Au contraire Jack, the way a man proves himself to be Lord of the Schlongs is by fucking ugly gals. Any dude with a swinging dick can fuck a hottie.;)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ioqmDlIsYwE/Tiufqh50EDI/AAAAAAAAAfw/wwtdu00YerE/s1600/Leon-Trotsky-with-Frida-K-001.jpg

http://www.dailyhaha.com/_pics/projectile_vomiting.jpg
http://sunnyside.mx/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/SunnyVomiting-7.jpghttp://www.alef.net/ALEFIllusions/Natural-People/ManVomiting.Gif

[Roach]

Au contraire Jack, the way a man proves himself to be Lord of the Schlongs is by fucking ugly gals. Any dude with a swinging dick can fuck a hottie.;)

But it also makes this (http://uploads6.wikipaintings.org/images/magdalena-carmen-frieda-kahlo-y-calder%C3%B3n-de-rivera/self-portrait-with-stalin-1954.jpg) self-portrait look even better.

[Prometeo liberado]

http://www.revleft.com/vb/picture.php?albumid=290&pictureid=2214
You can't contain the 'xha

If you even dream about containing Hoxha, you better wake up and apologize. Recognize fools!

[Prometeo liberado]

http://i.imgur.com/ugolX.png

http://i.imgur.com/J75qx.png
After Enver gave birth to a nation he arose from the holy pool. Stomach looks like the "before" pic of Bruce Jenners face.

[GoddessCleoLover]

He preferred to be called the 'Ver rather than the 'Xha. Mehmet Shehu called him the 'Xha rather than the 'Ver and he turned out to be an Enemy of the People.

[Jack]

He preferred to be called the 'Ver rather than the 'Xha. Mehmet Shehu called him the 'Xha rather than the 'Ver and he turned out to be an Enemy of the People.
The Vers
AVFv2QiogTo
QeOSE23BCc4

[hatzel]

Turns out I was wrong. This Hoxha-thread has officially surpassed all previous Hoxha-threads in terms of intellectual interest. Thanks, guys!

(No I'm not being sarcastic)

[GoddessCleoLover]

I guess the other Hoxha thread were all about the three Bs?

[Prometeo liberado]

I guess the other Hoxha thread were all about the three Bs?
Ziiiiiiiing!!!:laugh:

[Jack]

Straight outta Tirana, crazy motherfucker named Enver
From the gang called Part of Labour
When I'm called off, I got a sawed off
Squeeze the trigger, and bodies are hauled off
You too, boy, if ya fuck with me
The West are gonna hafta come and get me
Off yo ass, that's how I'm goin out
For the revisionist motherfuckers that's showin out
Niggaz start to mumble, they wanna rumble
Mix em and cook em in a pot like gumbo
Goin off on a motherfucker like that
with a gat that's pointed at yo ass
So give it up smooth
Ain't no tellin when I'm down for a jack move
Here's a murder rap to keep yo dancin
with a crime record like Charles Manson
AK-47 is the tool
Don't make me act the motherfuckin fool
Me you can go toe to toe, no maybe
I'm knockin eurocommunist niggaz out tha box, daily
yo weekly, monthly and yearly
until them dumb motherfuckers see clearly
that I'm down with the capital P-P-S-H
Boy you can't fuck with me
So when I'm in your neighborhood, you better duck
Coz Enver Hoxha is crazy as fuck
As I leave, believe I'm stompin
but when I come back, boy, I'm comin straight outta Tirana


Verse 2: MC Alia

Straight outta Tirana, another crazy ass nigga
More Titoites I smoke, yo, my rep gets bigger
I'm a bad motherfucker and you know this
But the pussy ass bourgeoisie don't show this
But I don't give a fuck, I'ma make my snaps
If not from the records, from jackin the crops
Just like burglary, the definition is 'jackin'
And when illegally armed it's called 'packin'
Shoot a motherfucker in a minute
I find a good piece o' pussy, I go up in it
So if you're at a show in the front row
I'm a call you a ***** or dirty-ass ho
You'll probably get mad like a ***** is supposed to
But that shows me, slut, you're composed to
a crazy muthafucker from tha street
Attitude legit cause I'm tearin up shit
MC Alia controls the automatic
For any dumb counterrevolutionary that starts static
Not the right hand cause I'm the hand itself
every time I pull a AK off the shelf
The security is maximum and that's a law
A-L-I-A spells Alia but I'm raw
See, coz I'm the motherfuckin villain
The definition is clear, you're the witness of a killin
that's takin place without a clue
And once you're on the scope, your ass is through
Look, you might take it as a trip
but a nigga like Ramiz is on a gangsta tip
Straight outta Tirana...

Verse Three: Enver Hoxha

...straight outta Tirana
is a brotha that'll smother yo' mother
and make ya sister think I love her
Dangerous motherfucker raises hell
And if I ever get caught I make bail
See, I don't give a fuck, that's the problem
I see a motherfuckin Eurocommunist I don't dodge him
But I'm smart, lay low, creep a while
And when I see a punk pass, I smile
To me it's kinda funny, the attitude showin a nigga drivin
but don't know where the fuck he's going, just rollin
lookin for the one they call First Secretary
But here's a flash, they never seize me
Ruthless! Never seen like a shadow in the dark
except when I unload, see I'll get over the hesitation
and hear the scream of the one who got the last penetration
Give a little gust of wind and I'm jettin
But leave a memory no one'll be forgettin
So what about the Dengist who got shot? Fuck her!
You think I give a damn about a *****? I ain't a sucker!
This is the autobiography of the 'Vers, and if you ever fuck with me
You'll get taken by a stupid dope brotha who will smother
word to the motherfucker, straight outta Tirana

[GoddessCleoLover]

Is rap considered a form of screaming jungle music?

[Art Vandelay]

Enver would of never taken part in jungle music yo. In other news, this is still in theory?

Ya'll are weird.

[Ocean Seal]

This thread makes me think that there are quite a few badass Hoxha quotes. Maybe I should start quoting the guy.

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

Nothing can save imperialism, capitalism and revisionism from the remorseless vengeance of the proletariat and the peoples, nothing can rescue them from deep antagonistic contradictions and never-ending crises, revolutions, their inevitable demise.
-Enver Hoxha, Imperialism and the revolution

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

"Revisionism is on the up and up, we are in the minority, but we shall press on, we shall never surrender. Right is on our side, Marxism-Leninism is on our side, and we shall triumph, certainly we shall triumph. Ours is a difficult, unequal fight, but just and glorious."
-Enver Hoxha, Reflections on China

[Yuppie Grinder]

This thread makes me think that there are quite a few badass Hoxha quotes. Maybe I should start quoting the guy.

Oh god please don't

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

“raise high the banner of Lenin and Stalin and make the name of the Party strike terror into the hearts of its local and foreign enemies, just as it raises the spirits of the people and increases their confidence and love for it.”

[Jack]

Man that anti-Leninist shit is a joke
The same people who control the Yugoslav system control
The Soviet system, and the whole social imperialist system
Ever since Khrushchev, nawsayin'?

I went to a conference with some revisionist crackers
Right around the time Khrushchev dropped the Secret Speech
But I was readin' Stalin
I changed my party name in '48 cleaning parts of my brain

Like a baby nine
I took Marxism-Leninism serious
Dialectics, every day of the week, 3rd period (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Period)
Fuckin' with the Khruschevites head, callin' 'em revisionist

I tried to show them traitors some light, they couldn't face it
I got my diploma from a school called Montpellier
Full of, Communist brothers, and proletarian niggas
In the hallways, the popo was always present

Searchin' through workers' possessions
Lookin' for, Marxist literature, get your lessons
That's why my moms kept stressin'
I tried to pay attention but they classes was too bourgeois
They seemed to only glorify Imperialists
Claimin' colonized people wuz only three fifths a human being

They revisionist schools can't teach us shit
The people need freedom, we tryin' to get all we can get
All Titoites can suck my dick
Tellin' me anti-Marxist lies straight bullshit

They revisionist schools ain't teachin' us, what we need to know to build socialism
(Say what, say what)
They revisionist schools don't educate, all they teach the people is lies

You see dog, you see how quick these motherfuckers be to like
Be tellin' proletarians to give up on class struggle
Know what I'm sayin'? but they don't never tell you how the capitalist system
Gonna exploit you every time know what I'm sayin' that's why I be like
Fuck they peaceful coexistence

Eurocommunism is like a 2 bit reformist camp
They make you think if you want revolution out you ain't got a chance
To advance the struggle, they try to make you give the fight up
Workers fight the capitalists and get took away in handcuffs

And if that wasn't enough, then from the Party they expel y'all
Your peoples understand it but to them, you a dogmatist
Lenin and Stalin, my favorite teachers
When they beat us in the head with them lies, it don't reach us

Whether you run strikes or rock the people's war
Or be in the Politburo with your clique, smokin' reefer
Then you know they revisionism ain't important 'less you addin' up cash
In multiples, Brezhnevism ain't rewardin'

Their version of Marxism-Leninism is like an abortion
You either tow the line or get locked up, Khrushchev is like a warden
In a social-imperialist construct, mad niggas never finish
But that doesn't mean I couldn't be a Marxist-Leninist

They revisionist schools can't teach us shit
The people need freedom, we tryin' to get all we can get
All Titoites can suck my dick
Tellin' me anti-Marxist lies straight bullshit

They revisionist schools ain't teachin' us, what we need to know to build socialism
(Say what, say what)
They revisionist schools don't educate, all they teach the people is lies

They revisionist schools can't teach us shit
The people need freedom, we tryin' to get all we can get
All Titoites can suck my dick
Tellin' me anti-Marxist lies straight bullshit

They schools ain't teachin' us, what we need to know to survive
(Say what, say what)
They schools don't educate, all they teach the people is lies

'Cuz for real, a mind is a terrible thing to waste
And all y'all ultraleftist niggas with y'all nose up
'Cuz we droppin' this shit on this joint, fuck y'all
We gon' speak for ourselves

((I'm not going to finish all of it))

[Ostrinski]

if

you're going to

worship

a dead dictator

why not

worship

someone

who's

actually fun?God I agree. This is the most sensible thing you've posted yet. Hoxha is literally the least interesting dictator of the 20th century. Why he has an internet cult of faithful followers is beyond me. Pick someone like Pol Pot or Mengitsu Mariam or someone more interesting.

[Ostrinski]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ioqmDlIsYwE/Tiufqh50EDI/AAAAAAAAAfw/wwtdu00YerE/s1600/Leon-Trotsky-with-Frida-K-001.jpg

http://www.dailyhaha.com/_pics/projectile_vomiting.jpg
http://sunnyside.mx/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/SunnyVomiting-7.jpghttp://www.alef.net/ALEFIllusions/Natural-People/ManVomiting.GifMaybe she had a good personality?

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

First of all, I apologize beforehand if this post seems sectarian, I have nothing but respect for Ismail and his tendency.

But yea, if we are going to worship a random dictator why not Kim Il Sung? I mean, Juche is still surviving in it's third generation. If we're going to measure a tendency by how long it's able to survive in isolation then it seems that Juche is far more hard core than Hoxhism

[Yuppie Grinder]

butt juche is revvisionest!!!!1

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

butt juche is revvisionest!!!!1

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/31162716.jpg

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

To quote a member whose name I forgot:
“Everyone is a revisionist except me and thee, and sometimes I wonder about thee”

[Ismail]

The Albanians noted that Juche was, in fact, a revisionist ideology which negated the work of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. Kim praised Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Mao, Castro, Tito, Ceaușescu, etc. He was an opportunist who ranted about "dogmatism" and said that it was far more of a danger than revisionism. Songun was the logical continuation of the anti-Marxist basis of Juche.

As for Mengistu, besides the fact that his government pursued a chauvinist policy towards non-Amharic ethnic groups, in a post-1991 interview he demonstrated his fondness for revisionism, saying that "the men I most admire and respect are Kim Il Sung and Fidel Castro. They have been very generous. Fidel is deeply patriotic, a true revolutionary and very honest. I don't think the world knows him well. Fidel is very human. Very human. And he has worked miracles in his little island of Cuba, given its lack of resources. I have the greatest respect for him. As for North Korea, it's a wonderful country. It's almost incredible to think what they've done in such a short time. When Kim Il Sung and I spent time together, he drank, smoked, told jokes. He gave me power stations, shipyards, and military advisors, asking nothing in return." He then stated that Reagan and Gorbachev were involved in a "conspiracy against progress" and that the latter betrayed not just Ethiopia but the "international socialist movement," i.e. Soviet revisionism and social-imperialism.

Also don't forget that the main resistance group to Mengistu's regime had a pro-Albanian leadership.

As for Pol Pot, he upheld the Chinese "Three Worlds Theory" and by the 90's was saying that "communism is over" and that Cambodia belongs to the "West."

Hoxha, writing in his diary in January 1979, noted that:

"Cambodia was called a socialist country. On top of this 'socialist' country the 'communist party' was allegedly in force, which was led by two main persons, a certain Ieng Sary and Pol Pot. Also in this leadership was Khieu Samphan. But the highlights were the first two.

We neither met Pol Pot nor had ever heard the name. He was kept secret, and Ieng Sary we met in person several times and our impression was not good. He was not a Marxist. Many of his views were not only shallow but also wrong."
(Enver Hoxha. Ditar për çështje ndërkombëtare Vol. 12. Tirana: 8 Nëntori Publishing House. 1985. p. 14.)

[JoeySteel]

Hoxha is pretty cool. The sexism and misogyny in this thread however is not.

[l'Enfermé]

This thread is a bad idea and it might lead to bans or infractions, so guys, why do you insist on continuing? :(

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Personally, i've enver really gotten into Hoxha.

[Goblin]

This thread is fun

[Art Vandelay]

Is there something wrong with Long Island?

Going to accuse me of chauvinism again?

[Ismail]

Going to accuse me of chauvinism again?No, it just seems random to mention it, as if it's some sort of threat.

[Art Vandelay]

No, it just seems random to mention it, as if it's some sort of threat.

It wasn't a threat by any means; I can delete it if ya like.

[Ismail]

It wasn't a threat by any means; I can delete it if ya like.I don't mind.

And now more Hoxha photos.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/enverhoxhamehmetshehuvilaenveritcmy.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxhapaper.jpg

[Sea]

To quote a member whose name I forgot:
“Everyone is a revisionist except me and thee, and sometimes I wonder about thee”Haha, that's golden.

Official motto of the Enver Hoxha society! :cool:


Personally, i've enver really gotten into Hoxha.That's okay, because I can guarantee you you'll never get out.

[Ismail]

Starting from 0:12 you can see glorious Hoxha on the right on the occasion of Stalin's last public speech.

zqyRoke3TAI

As Hoxha wrote in his 1979 work With Stalin:

In October 1952, 1 went to Moscow again at the head of the delegation of the Party of Labour of Albania to take part in the 19th Congress of the CPSU(B). There I saw the unforgettable Stalin for the last time, there, for the last time I heard his voice, so warm and inspiring. There, after showing that the bourgeoisie had openly spurned the banner of democratic freedoms, sovereignty and independence, from the tribune of the Congress, he addressed the communist and democratic parties which still had not taken power, in the historic words: "I think it is you that must raise this banner, ...and carry it forward if you want to rally around yourselves the majority of the population, ...if you want to be the patriots of your country, if you want to become the leading force of the nation. There is nobody else who can raise it."

I shall always retain fresh and vivid in my mind and heart how he looked at that moment when from the tribune of the Congress he enthused our hearts when he called the communist parties of the socialist countries "shock brigades of the world revolutionary movement."

From those days we pledged that the Party of Labour of Albania would hold high the title of "shock brigade" and that it would guard the teachings and instructions of Stalin as the apple of its eye, as an historic behest, and would carry them all out consistently. We repeated this solemn pledge in the days of the great grief, when the immortal Stalin was taken from us, and we are proud that our Party, as the Stalin's shock brigade, has never gone back on its word, has never been and never will be guided by anything other than the teachings of Marx, Engels, Lenin and the disciple and consistent continuer of their work, our beloved friend, the glorious leader, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.

[l'Enfermé]

This silliness has gone on for too long. Why must you post pictures of boring Hoxha? Let us post pictures of one of the fathers of the German Marxist worker's movement, Wilhelm Liebknecht, instead:

http://i.imgur.com/qlIDP.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bl0p6.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/FtPwr.jpg

And his son, the revolutionary martyr Karl Liebknecht:
http://i.imgur.com/h6wkG.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/spRdS.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/aHExU.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/6v3D7.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/7dDeE.jpg


And why not post photographs of comrade Bebel?

http://i.imgur.com/IEGYL.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ReTfg.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Xbk79.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/g9MtW.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/YrP1U.jpg

[hatzel]

Pappa Liebknecht seriously has pretty much the same hair-and-beard-combo that I do...

[Let's Get Free]

God I agree. This is the most sensible thing you've posted yet. Hoxha is literally the least interesting dictator of the 20th century. Why he has an internet cult of faithful followers is beyond me. Pick someone like Pol Pot or Mengitsu Mariam or someone more interesting.

What are you talking about, fool? It was Enver Hoxha who first saw the USSR's descent into the fallacy of state-capitalism, and who broke away from the Dengist abomination of China. The Albanian Party of Labor established the purest socialist society next to the Juche concept of Kim il-Sung.

Enver Hoxha, friend of the oppressed, architect of the revolution, and greatest human being.

We will always remember you.

[Ismail]

The Albanian Party of Labor established the purest socialist society next to the Juche concept of Kim il-Sung.As Hoxha once pointed out in his diary, "In Pyongyang, I believe that even Tito will be astonished at the proportions of the cult of his host, which has reached a level unheard of anywhere else, either in past or present times, let alone in a country which calls itself socialist." (Reflections on China Vol. II, p. 517.)

In addition, in 1966 one Albanian functionary compiled a confidential report on the DPRK's attitude towards revisionism and came to a number of unfavorable conclusions: http://legacy.wilsoncenter.org/va2/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=home.document&identifier=763B2FEE-5056-9700-03793BD8950016DA&sort=collection&item=North%20Korea%20in%20the%20Cold%20War

Among other things it notes that:


With the birth and development of the divergences at the heart of the communist movement, the Korean Workers’ Party commenced changing its positions. It has tried to keep a neutral position, justifying this through the issue of the division of Korea and the need for her reunification. In other words, on this issue, it has proceeded based on narrow national interests. The seemingly uncompromising anti-revisionist stance that it kept for some time, especially during 1963 and 1964, was more a product of the pressure exerted on it by the revisionists that wanted to force it to openly join their ranks, than it was of a true Marxist – Leninist position. In fact, this position can be better described as simply an anti-Khrushchevian position...

After the softening of relations with the Soviet revisionists, they started replacing the phrase “modern revisionism” with the word “revisionism.” They started once again placing revisionism and dogmatism in the same category and, sometimes, the latter started receiving a higher importance and appearing as [email protected]'Enfermé, Liebknecht was, together with Rosa Luxemburg, a revolutionary praised by Lenin and Stalin. Photos of him are fine.

[Grenzer]

What are you talking about, fool? It was Enver Hoxha who first saw the USSR's descent into the fallacy of state-capitalism, and who broke away from the Dengist abomination of China. The Albanian Party of Labor established the purest socialist society next to the Juche concept of Kim il-Sung.

Enver Hoxha, friend of the oppressed, architect of the revolution, and greatest human being.

We will always remember you.

It's known as the Juche Idea, not the Juche concept.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/marx_engels_lenin_stalin_hoxha.jpg

http://s9.postimage.org/ceonzph4v/marx_engels_lenin_robot_alien.png

Marxist-Leninist Mechanicist-Xenoformism is the correct line, all others are revisionist mutations!

[Ismail]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxhawave2.jpg

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxhawave.jpg

[Flying Purple People Eater]

Man that anti-Leninist shit is a joke
The same people who control the Yugoslav system control
The Soviet system, and the whole social imperialist system
Ever since Khrushchev, nawsayin'?

I went to a conference with some revisionist crackers
Right around the time Khrushchev dropped the Secret Speech
But I was readin' Stalin
I changed my party name in '48 cleaning parts of my brain

Like a baby nine
I took Marxism-Leninism serious
Dialectics, every day of the week, 3rd period (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Period)
Fuckin' with the Khruschevites head, callin' 'em revisionist

I tried to show them traitors some light, they couldn't face it
I got my diploma from a school called Montpellier
Full of, Communist brothers, and proletarian niggas
In the hallways, the popo was always present

Searchin' through workers' possessions
Lookin' for, Marxist literature, get your lessons
That's why my moms kept stressin'
I tried to pay attention but they classes was too bourgeois
They seemed to only glorify Imperialists
Claimin' colonized people wuz only three fifths a human being

They revisionist schools can't teach us shit
The people need freedom, we tryin' to get all we can get
All Titoites can suck my dick
Tellin' me anti-Marxist lies straight bullshit

They revisionist schools ain't teachin' us, what we need to know to build socialism
(Say what, say what)
They revisionist schools don't educate, all they teach the people is lies

You see dog, you see how quick these motherfuckers be to like
Be tellin' proletarians to give up on class struggle
Know what I'm sayin'? but they don't never tell you how the capitalist system
Gonna exploit you every time know what I'm sayin' that's why I be like
Fuck they peaceful coexistence

Eurocommunism is like a 2 bit reformist camp
They make you think if you want revolution out you ain't got a chance
To advance the struggle, they try to make you give the fight up
Workers fight the capitalists and get took away in handcuffs

And if that wasn't enough, then from the Party they expel y'all
Your peoples understand it but to them, you a dogmatist
Lenin and Stalin, my favorite teachers
When they beat us in the head with them lies, it don't reach us

Whether you run strikes or rock the people's war
Or be in the Politburo with your clique, smokin' reefer
Then you know they revisionism ain't important 'less you addin' up cash
In multiples, Brezhnevism ain't rewardin'

Their version of Marxism-Leninism is like an abortion
You either tow the line or get locked up, Khrushchev is like a warden
In a social-imperialist construct, mad niggas never finish
But that doesn't mean I couldn't be a Marxist-Leninist

They revisionist schools can't teach us shit
The people need freedom, we tryin' to get all we can get
All Titoites can suck my dick
Tellin' me anti-Marxist lies straight bullshit

They revisionist schools ain't teachin' us, what we need to know to build socialism
(Say what, say what)
They revisionist schools don't educate, all they teach the people is lies

They revisionist schools can't teach us shit
The people need freedom, we tryin' to get all we can get
All Titoites can suck my dick
Tellin' me anti-Marxist lies straight bullshit

They schools ain't teachin' us, what we need to know to survive
(Say what, say what)
They schools don't educate, all they teach the people is lies

'Cuz for real, a mind is a terrible thing to waste
And all y'all ultraleftist niggas with y'all nose up
'Cuz we droppin' this shit on this joint, fuck y'all
We gon' speak for ourselves

((I'm not going to finish all of it))

Stalinist rap. Holy fuck I thought I'd seen everything.

[Ismail]

Stalinist rap. Holy fuck I thought I'd seen everything.There exists Trot rap as well. I know because it was one of the first things I saw when I began to consistently internet in 2001.

[GoddessCleoLover]

Enver Hoxha would not have approved of screaming jungle rap. Mehmet Shehu attempted to introduce revisionism into Albania via rap music.:lol:

[Geiseric]

http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/marx_engels_lenin_stalin_hoxha.jpg

Marx is the only one looking to the right? He must be a bukharinist sabetour!

[GoddessCleoLover]

Wasn't Mehmet Shehu the Albanian Bukharin?

[Ismail]

Wasn't Mehmet Shehu the Albanian Bukharin?I wrote an article about Shehu's views and his suicide back in February: http://www.revleft.com/vb/death-mehmet-shehu-t168054/index.html?t=168054

[Workers-Control-Over-Prod]

Stalinists on revleft are the equivalent of the nerd who sits at the cool kids lunch table in middle school who nobody likes but also aren't mean enough to tell to leave.

Are you calling me a Stalinist?

[Flying Purple People Eater]

There exists Trot rap as well. I know because it was one of the first things I saw when I began to consistently internet in 2001.

Yo, drop the fuckin' nation rent,
revolution be permanent
we picket ya shows, then come back fo' mo',
disagree on the logo, and we split into four!


Stalinists on revleft are the equivalent of the nerd who sits at the cool kids lunch table in middle school who nobody likes but also aren't mean enough to tell to leave.
Fucking discrimination against anti-socials.

Permaban.

[Ismail]

ALBANIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxhaglasses.jpg

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/Hoxha.jpg

[Ostrinski]

Stalinist rap. Holy fuck I thought I'd seen everything.It's a Dead Prez song with changed lyrics.

[Jack]

Stalinist rap. Holy fuck I thought I'd seen everything.

I edited the lyrics but nobody got the joke it seems.

BpipOqP_1C0

There's plenty of "Stalinist" music out there, have some Catalan Marxist-Leninist Punk:

kBIZ2U_c00g

[Ismail]

There's a German techno song celebrating 100 years of Enver Hoxha but it is pretty ass.

neF3idXO-fE

[Jack]

Spanish Marxist-Leninist Oi

R6ZdanUSRqE

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

http://mcgarnagle.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/khrushchev_shoe1.jpg

Enough of this shit!

[Flying Purple People Eater]

have some Catalan Marxist-Leninist Punk:

kBIZ2U_c00g
http://espressostalinist.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/b4c75f8f451284487d73e45f5332.jpg?w=500&h=304

no it just means leon trotsky had a bit too active of a sex drive.

From a bad google translation of one of his letters to his wife in 1937:
(from: http://www.pseudology.org/babel/trotskysex.htm )
what the flying fuck.

[Ismail]

Enough of this shit!Khrushchev's idiocy at the UN was another thing Hoxha criticized about him.

[Omsk]

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_IF_mEzDeYk4/TI0cP7YIo8I/AAAAAAAAAOc/5NNGfsQgED0/Picture%20050.jpg


Thank you, ultra-leftists, for reminding me what we are going to do with you.

Now, some music!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1aZhs0RmVI

RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA! URAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAA

[hetz]

Have you gone bunkers?

[Geiseric]

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_IF_mEzDeYk4/TI0cP7YIo8I/AAAAAAAAAOc/5NNGfsQgED0/Picture%20050.jpg


Thank you, ultra-leftists, for reminding me what we are going to do with you.

Now, some music!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1aZhs0RmVI

RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA!RROFTE GJENERAL-KOLONEL ENVER HOXHA! URAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAA

I'm not sure if he's trolling or not. I'm assuming he is.

[GoddessCleoLover]

Have you gone bunkers?

If he didn't go bunkers, perhaps he went bananas?:D

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

drooling over shitty dictators is one of the reasons that the majority of the working class ignores 'the left'.

just saying.

[sixdollarchampagne]

(In response to the photo above, in the message from Vox Populi) At Harvard, a long time ago, I saw a poster that disclosed what N.S. Khrushchev was actually thinking as he pounded his shoe on the podium: "EH-tee TOOF-lee meen-YAH oobee-VAH-yoot," "These shoes are killing me!"

[Ismail]

drooling over shitty dictators is one of the reasons that the majority of the working class ignores 'the left'.

just saying.Actually you have it backwards: the majority of the working class ignores "the left" because they see it as an intellectual caste separate from them and their interests. There was plenty of support for the Soviet Union and Stalin amongst British workers during the 30's and 40's, for instance. Radio Tirana got various letters inquiring as to aspects of life in the country from ordinary people across Western Europe in the 70's and 80's.

Of course there is propaganda against Stalin, just as there is propaganda against Lenin and propaganda against Marxism itself, but this is easily overcome with facts.

[Luís Henrique]

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/hoxhawithsonanddaughter.jpg

Pity this thread isn't in Portuguese; I would have some fun about Hoxha and picaretas.

Is that a celebration of the assessination of Trotsky?

Seriously, though, the place for this thread is either chit-chat or the trashcan.

Luís Henrique

[Ismail]

Pity this thread isn't in Portuguese; I would have some fun about Hoxha and picaretas.The pickaxe and rifle were the symbols of the PLA ("We are building socialism with a pickaxe in one hand and a rifle in the other.")

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/03759920_400.jpg

Another theme which became popular in the late 60's onwards was related to defeating the capitalist-revisionist economic blockade.

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/MrdieII/albania2.jpg

[hetz]

What's this "blockade"?
Was Albania under sanctions?

[Ismail]

What's this "blockade"?
Was Albania under sanctions?Relations between Albania on one hand and the USA and UK on the other were terminated in 1946 due to the latter two countries' hostile activities. The USSR broke off diplomatic relations in 1961. China broke off its trade relations in 1978 (although they were restored on a far less extensive basis in 1983.) These states wanted Albania to subordinate itself to them and felt that an isolated Albania would not last long. The anti-blockade propaganda was a demonstration of the country's efforts to overcome the obstacles placed before it by these states.

[Leftsolidarity]

How the hell is this thread "theory"?

[Lenina Rosenweg]

Ismail, would you have any Hoxha quotes on Trotsky or Trotskyism, specifically on James Cannon or Ted Grant? I won't be offended, just wondering what Enver's take was.

[Ismail]

Ismail, would you have any Hoxha quotes on Trotsky or Trotskyism, specifically on James Cannon or Ted Grant? I won't be offended, just wondering what Enver's take was.I've never seen Soviet or Chinese works on Trotskyism mention individuals after Trotsky himself, same with the Albanians. Closest you can get are Soviets talking about Trotskyism in the 50's-80's and mentioning newspapers issued and internationals proclaimed by the Trot parties.

I've never seen Albanian works deal with Trotskyism itself, they just mention it as a counter-revolutionary ideology, etc. Hoxha of course denounces Trotskyism as well, but not in detail, presumably since he sees no need when the Soviets throughout the 20's-30's already did it.

In Volume 2 of Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe (an Albanian language dictionary from the 80's, p. 2028), Trotskyism is mentioned as so: "Opportunistic political current, reactionary and counterrevolutionary in the labor movement, often masked with leftist phraseology but in reality a rabid enemy of Marxism. Struggle against Trotskyism."

Otherwise it's just isolated mentions. E.g. Hoxha: "The Chinese communists with Mao Tsetung lay the blame for their defeats and deviations, for their failure to understand and draw correct deductions from the situations which were developing in China, on the Comintern or its representatives in China. They make many accusations that the Comintern hindered them and confused them in the waging of a consistent struggle for the seizure of state power and the construction of socialism in China. Of course, the period of the Chinese revolution is long and complicated. But the views of the Chinese remain without any scientific argument and backing. I have frequently said that the documents of the Comintern, not only on the Chinese question but on many problems of that time, are in the hands of the Soviets and in the archives of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Many of them have not been published because the various factions and the present Soviet revisionists do not bring out the truth from their archives, and thus the Chinese can manipulate and interpret the facts according to their own wishes. The Chinese representatives at the Comintern and the representatives of the Comintern in China cannot be completely exonerated, but neither can the Communist Party of China which operated in the terrain be exonerated, because its actions were not mature, and the reports which it made about the situation in the country were not realistic. In these conditions, it is possible that some decisions of the Comintern were not on the mark, or were not transmitted and applied correctly by the representatives of the Comintern in China, whether Soviet or Chinese, and there are many reasons for this, because at that time there were elements such as Trotsky, Bukharin, Zinoviev and Kamenev in the Comintern who were exposed for what they were only later. At the beginning of the 20's the representative of the Comintern in China was the Soviet citizen, Adolf Abramovich Joffe, who was a partisan of Trotskyism and later committed suicide. In October 1923, Borodin went to China and he, too, was a Trotskyite element.

I am of the opinion, however that, in general, the decisions and directives of the Comintern, first of all of the time of Lenin, were correct, and that those of the time of Stalin were correct, too." (Reflections on China Vol. II, pp. 775-776.)

That's pretty much the extent (in terms of detail) of Hoxha mentioning Trotskyism outside of the context of 1930's-early 40's Albania.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Khrushchev's idiocy at the UN was another thing Hoxha criticized about him.

Everyone whom has read even the littlest of Marx knows that you're political argument and the weight of your argument is dependent upon the correct footwear and the use, practical application and execution thereof. This is why no one took Hoxha seriously. Krushchev would be all like "ayo Hoxha cuh, homies we're gonna fuck with capitals and the international bourgeois with our shoes cuh, come on bro." Then Hoxha be all like "wtf!? GTFO MY BUNKER BRO! Fuck that, I'm playing Duty."

^all sourced by Soviet archives.

[GoddessCleoLover]

My reading of the Soviet archives indicates that the breaking point occurred when Khrushchev started playing screaming jungle music in the bunker.:D

[Althusser]

Didn't he ban beards? And didn't he take religious purges to the extreme. I think a main problem with Marxism-Leninism is the over-exaggeration of Marx's writings. I mean... sure Marx says that religion serves as an opiate to the exploited masses, but does this mean that we should support violent purges of religion in a society that is supposedly already socialist?

I am an atheist, but I personally don't believe people's faith in a higher power will disappear with socialism or even final stage fucking communism. I have to agree with Sigmund Freud on the idea that as long as human beings fear death, religion will exist.

[GoddessCleoLover]

IMO the anti-religion campaign was taken too far not just by Enver Hoxha, but throughout the "Communist" bloc. Even when Lenin was still alive the Soviets took what to my mind is a dogmatic approach to religion.

[Ostrinski]

The Bolshevik suppression of the ROC was political in nature enacted to loosen the control that it had over the old society. It's not like they banned religious practice but the ROC's barbarous and reactionary past had to be accounted for.

[Ostrinski]

Also, this was meant as a place where admins and mods could just dump all of Ismail's Hoxha quotes into one place so that those that are interested could have a place to find them while the rest don't have to deal with it.

[Althusser]

IMO the anti-religion campaign was taken too far not just by Enver Hoxha, but throughout the "Communist" bloc. Even when Lenin was still alive the Soviets took what to my mind is a dogmatic approach to religion.

It's such a difficult situation that I've not made up my mind about. The Russian Orthodox Church was allied with the Tsar and capitalists. I don't know whether or not the Red Terror hangings of priests and such were all absolutely necessary. Or if the red guards in Revolutionary China were right in their actions against Christianity, though it was a reaction to the opium wars and western imperialism. I find it very hard to come to terms with the destruction of Buddhist artifacts, places of meditation, and lives.

[Leftsolidarity]

Didn't he ban beards? And didn't he take religious purges to the extreme. I think a main problem with Marxism-Leninism is the over-exaggeration of Marx's writings. I mean... sure Marx says that religion serves as an opiate to the exploited masses, but does this mean that we should support violent purges of religion in a society that is supposedly already socialist?

I am an atheist, but I personally don't believe people's faith in a higher power will disappear with socialism or even final stage fucking communism. I have to agree with Sigmund Freud on the idea that as long as human beings fear death, religion will exist.

As someone who doesn't give a dick about Hoxha, I don't condemn the policy on beards. Awhile ago I think it was Ismail who gave a very good explanation and defense of those policies.

[Ismail]

Didn't he ban beards?Beards were associated with three things:

1. The Orthodox clergy (who attach religious significance to beards);
2. The Muslim clergy (Muhammad and earlier prophets had beards, ergo many Muslims and especially clergy seek to follow this trend);
3. Tribal elders (having a beard makes you wise and manly in Albanian tradition)

Beards in themselves were not considered evil or whatever; it's not like they airbrushed Marx's beard out of photos or forbid various portrayals of figures of the Albanian national movement of the 19th-early 20th centuries just because many had beards.


And didn't he take religious purges to the extreme.Albania was the only country on earth where private religious worship was de facto illegal and where not a single religious institution or position existed, yes. Hoxha frequently attacked the Soviet revisionists and later the Chinese for reaching out to the Papacy and other concessions to religion.

The anti-religious policy did bring results (most Albanians today classify themselves as agnostic while religious fundamentalism, rare among Albanians, is pretty much nonexistent) but it was obviously unpopular.

Nexhmije Hoxha (Enver's wife) interviewed in the mid-90's:

"Perhaps the abolition of religion was excessive,' the Widow finally admitted. 'But Enver had no wish to destroy churches and mosques.* It was our Chinese allies, who were the only ones helping us financially and militarily, and the younger members of the Party who forced that on him. Enver and I only wanted Muslims, Orthodox Christians and Catholics to live peaceably side by side. And we were right. We wanted everyone to feel they were just Albanians. And see what is happening now in the Balkans as the result of religious and ethnic conflicts. History will prove us right. Capitalist propaganda described us as backward and introverted. On the contrary, you will come to realise that ours was a modern vision.'"
(Riccardo Orizio. Talk of the Devil: Encounters With Seven Dictators. New York: Walker & Company. 2002. p. 102.)

"The first public mass was celebrated November 4 [1990], in a cemetery chapel in Shkodra, by Simon Jubani, released in 1989 after twenty-six years of imprisonment. The crowd of 5,000 worshipers was made up of Catholics, few of whom could remember this central rite of the Church. Interestingly enough, there were also substantial numbers of Muslims present, most of them apparently unaware of the difference between Christianity and Islam. Here already was a sign of the [anti-religious] campaign's success." - Denis R. Janz, World Christianity and Marxism, 1998, p. 108.

* A number of churches and mosques were preserved for their artistic value, while in many other cases they were converted into buildings for public use and in other cases were simply torn down. In one case some youths set fire to a church and killed a number of monks inside, hence the remark.

[Questionable]

Albania was the only country on earth where private religious worship was de facto illegal and where not a single religious institution or position existed, yes. Hoxha frequently attacked the Soviet revisionists and later the Chinese for reaching out to the Papacy and other concessions to religion.

But didn't Stalin also give some concessions to religion during the Great Patriotic War?

[Althusser]

Beards were associated with three things:

1. The Orthodox clergy (who attach religious significance to beards);
2. The Muslim clergy (Muhammad and earlier prophets had beards, ergo many Muslims and especially clergy seek to follow this trend);
3. Tribal elders (having a beard makes you wise and manly in Albanian tradition)


Ok, these are the specific reasons why, but do they justify a beard ban? I mean come one... I understand the whole "ideological battle", but goddamn, when facial hair starts being banned because of "smashing of the old ways" and such, it just seems irrational.


Interestingly enough, there were also substantial numbers of Muslims present, most of them apparently unaware of the difference between Christianity and Islam. Here already was a sign of the [anti-religious] campaign's success." - Denis R. Janz, World Christianity and Marxism, 1998, p. 108.

The tactic was to give the Muslims and Christians a common enemy: the state? So that when the rope was loosened, they all got along? I find this a little bit hard to believe. I don't think Hoxha was looking that far ahead, but rather trying to purge religion from Albania for good.

[Leftsolidarity]

Ok, these are the specific reasons why, but do they justify a beard ban? I mean come one... I understand the whole "ideological battle", but goddamn, when facial hair starts being banned because of "smashing of the old ways" and such, it just seems irrational.



I'd say so. It was looked at as a symbol not just a cool look. The hostilities between the different groups were very high. It's really up to their people to decide anyways. Whether we think it is a good idea or not doesn't matter because it's up to them to figure out what's best for themselves. (I know I'm not really speaking in the past tense but I'm too high to figure out the way to change it all to past tense.)

[GoddessCleoLover]

I'd say so. It was looked at as a symbol not just a cool look. The hostilities between the different groups were very high. It's really up to their people to decide anyways. Whether we think it is a good idea or not doesn't matter because it's up to them to figure out what's best for themselves. (I know I'm not really speaking in the past tense but I'm too high to figure out the way to change it all to past tense.)

I am having trouble wrapping my mind around this analysis, since Albanian workers in fact did not decide for themselves to ban beards. That decision was taken by The Great Leader and I am interested in proletarian socialism not Great Leader "socialism".

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

I imagine a socialism where everyone, across sex/gender spectrums, has Lemmy moustaches.

Interestingly, Tony Seed, the Hoxhaite with whom I am most IRL friendly, totally has a beard.

[GoddessCleoLover]

I can anticipate that Mr. Seed would point to internal Albanian circumstances that don't apply to him. It just seems to me as a matter of first principle that people ought to have the right to grow a beard without running afoul of The Great Leader.

[Ismail]

But didn't Stalin also give some concessions to religion during the Great Patriotic War?Anti-religious campaigns in Albania were always more violent and thorough than in the rest of Eastern Europe. Stalin actually cautioned Hoxha (as Hoxha himself related in With Stalin) about his efforts:

"How many religious beliefs are there in Albania," Comrade Stalin inquired, "and what language is spoken?"

"In Albania," I replied, "there are three religions: Moslem, Orthodox and Catholic. The population which professes these three faiths is of the same nationality - Albanian, therefore the only language used is Albanian, with the exception of the Greek national minority which speak their mother tongue."

From time to time, while I was speaking, Stalin took out his pipe and filled it with tobacco. I noticed that he did not use any special tobacco, but took "Kazbek" cigarettes, tore them open, discarded the paper and filled his pipe with the tobacco. After listening to my answer, he said:

"You are a separate people, just like the Persians and the Arabs, who have the same religion as the Turks. Your ancestors existed before the Romans and the Turks. Religion has nothing to do with nationality and statehood."

And in the course of our conversation, he asked me:

"Do you eat pork, Comrade Enver?"

"Yes, I do!" I said.

"The Moslem religion prohibits this among its believers," he said. "This is an old, outdated custom. Nevertheless," he went on, "the question of religious beliefs must be kept well in mind, must be handled with great care, because the religious feelings of the people must not be offended. These feelings have been cultivated in the people for many centuries, and great patience is called for on this question, because the stand towards it is important for the compactness and unity of the people."So the anti-religious campaign was slowed down a bit. Pashko Vodica, appointed head of the Orthodox Church and himself a communist who participated in the National Liberation War, said in the early 50's that, "Our Church must also be faithful to the great camp of peace, to the great anti-imperialist and democratic camp, to the unique camp of socialism, led brilliantly by the glorious Soviet Union and the Great Stalin against every attempt undertaken by enslaving imperialism in order to undermine international peace and throw the world into another butchery and new catastrophe."

Hoxha and Co. in this same period also contemplated having an Orthodox priest convert to Bektashism (which comprises a significant minority of Albanian Muslims) and then serve as their leader after the old one committed suicide, since all the actual Bektashi candidates were seen as potentially disloyal. This was decided against because the Orthodox candidate was himself considered insufficiently loyal.

The Albanians also created a National Catholic Church in 1951 with no ties to the Vatican, with seminary schools being outlawed so that no new priests, bishops and monks could appear.

[Yuppie Grinder]

Pappa Liebknecht seriously has pretty much the same hair-and-beard-combo that I do...

You mean you're not actually a cartoon cat? So disillusioning.

[MarxSchmarx]

I'm amazed that this thread could sink any further. In the future, don't spam threads on the main board like this, and for gods sake dont post so many foolish photosn and dirty up the main boards with waste of bandwidth


The sexism and misogyny in this thread however is not (cool).
Absolutely.


Au contraire Jack, the way a man proves himself to be Lord of the Schlongs is by fucking ugly gals. Any dude with a swinging dick can fuck a hottie.;)


But she was gross looking so I don't think it counts.

Those eyebrows man.

Jack and Gramsci guy, these are your verbal warnings. Let me make clear that anybody going forward objectifies and triviliazes women like this will get infractions for discrimatory language.

[Ostrinski]

Kick ass, MarxSchmarx.

[Jack]

Jack and Gramsci guy, these are your verbal warnings. Let me make clear that anybody going forward objectifies and triviliazes women like this will get infractions for discrimatory language.

Not being attracted to someone, especially when the conversation is about someone having sex with them, isn't trivializing or objectifying. It's not like we're judging her art or politics based on that.

[Grenzer]

Ismail, have you ever gone a day of your life the past three years without thinking of Albania, Hoxha, or the Albanians?

[Rafiq]

Ismail, have you ever gone a day of your life the past three years without thinking of Albania, Hoxha, or the Albanians?

On a literal level it's unlikely. I don't think I've gone a day without thinking of Marxism etc.

It's completely normal (well, aside from the fact that it's Hoxha and Albania)

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

Yea, I think I might have posted something in this thread that was sexist ( I don't remember off the top of my head and I don't feel like looking through it) and it was wrong of me to do so just because other people do so. My sincere apologizes.

[GoddessCleoLover]

I was joking, but the post was in poor taste and offensive and won't be repeated.

[Ismail]

There's a 1982 Albanian work which sounds interesting: Revolucioni kinez (1925-1949) dhe zigzaget e politikës antimarksiste të Partisë Komuniste të Kinës, 285 pages.

Perhaps one day I shall read it.

[GoddessCleoLover]

Do you know how to speak and read the Albanian language? My guess is that the title translates into something about Revolutionary Cinema.

[MarxSchmarx]

I was joking, but the post was in poor taste and offensive and won't be repeated.
GramsciGuy - I know, in the heat of the moment and the rush to make a light-hearted post it's easy to lose sight of how we might be inadvertently parroting right-wing talking points. It can be a fine line between humor and having others take offense, esp. on message boards.


Not being attracted to someone, especially when the conversation is about someone having sex with them, isn't trivializing or objectifying. It's not like we're judging her art or politics based on that.

Perhaps you knew Frida Kahlo personally, but judging from this post you equated her attractiveness as being entirely wound up in whether you would deign to have "sex with them" and their physical appearance. This IS trivializing and objectifying women - it is in fact precisely how capitalist and most pre-capitalist societies propagate patriarchical ideology. I suspect that wasn't your intention, so I'd refrained from issuing infractions. But it's important to be mindful about how our words come across to others. Think of it this way: there's a reason some readers of this thread thought of how physically "unattractive" Frida Kahlo may be before they thought how physically "unattractive" Leon Trotsky may be.

[Ismail]

Do you know how to speak and read the Albanian language?Speak no, but I do plan eventually to be able to read Albanian.


My guess is that the title translates into something about Revolutionary Cinema.It does, of course, mean The Chinese Revolution (1925-1949) and the Zigzags of the Anti-Marxist Politics of the Communist Party of China.

The Albanians wrote tons of things never translated, e.g. a 1984 article on the importance of the Comintern and revisionist distortions of its history, a four-volume history of the National Liberation War, works on the impact of the 1905 and 1917 Russian revolutions on the Albanian national movement (note that Albania's legislature was the only in Europe outside the USSR to praise Lenin on the occasion of his death), etc.

[Ismail]

So since this is my special Hoxha thread I shall double-post in it for it is mine and I have stuff to add onto it.

Grover Furr has scanned an interesting book for me a few days ago, Soviet Revisionism and the Struggle of the PLA to Unmask It, from 1981. To quote the work, "This book comprises the reports and a number of papers read at the Scientific Session «Soviet Revisionism and the Struggle of the PLA to Unmask lt», organized by the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the CC of the PLA on 17-18 November 1980. The reports and papers are published in an abridged form."

Table of contents:


The Opening Address by Prof. NDREÇI PLASARI, Vice-director of the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the CC of the PLA
Prof. AGIM POPA - The 20th Congress of the CPSU and the evolution of modern revisionism
OMER HASHORVA, Candidate of Sciences - The present socio-economic order in the Soviet Union - a capitalist order
Prof. ARBEN PUTO - The social-imperialist character of the foreign policy of the present-day Soviet Union
SEVO TARIFA - Comrade Enver Hoxha's speech at the Moscow Meeting - a work of historic importance
SPIRO DEDE - The stand of the PLA in the Bucharest Meeting - a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist stand
METO METAJ - The undermining activity of the Soviet revisionists in the military field and the struggle of the PLA to foil this activity (1956-1961)
SELIM BEQIRI - The opportunist stands of the Chinese leadership towards Khrushchevite revisionism during the years 1960-1964
FATOS NANO - Complete integration of the Soviet economy into the world capitalist economy
GENC XHUVANI, LULËZIM HANA - Comecon - an instrument of Soviet social-imperialism for the exploitation and domination of the member countries
DERVISH DUMI - Soviet-American rivalry and collaboration - the greatest danger to peace and security of the peoples
ÇLIRIM MUZHA - The Warsaw Treaty - the main instrument of the Soviet policy of domination and aggression
ARSHI RUÇAJ - The sharpening of contradictions between the Soviet Union and China - the result of their imperialist policy
SHPËTIM ÇAUSHI - The aggressive policy of the Soviet social-imperialists in the Mediterranean and the Balkans
AJET SIMIXHIU - The political, economic and military aims of the Soviet social-imperialists in the Middle East
MARK VUKSAJ - The process of the organizational transformation of the CPSU into a bourgeois-revisionist party
PRIAMO BOLLANO, Senior Scientific Worker - Some characteristics of state monopoly capitalism in the Soviet Union
Prof. HEKURAN MARA - The capitalist mechanism of the Soviet economic machine
THIMI NIKA - The social-chauvinist essence of the revisionist «theory» of the «unified Soviet people»
NEXHMEDIN LUARI, Senior Scientific Worker - The capitalist degeneration of the collective farms in the Soviet Union today
Prof. SHABAN BAXHAKU - Soviet science in the service of the revisionist and social-imperialist policy
VASILLAQ KURETA - Distortions by the Soviet revisionists in the field of philosophy
ISMAIL KADARE - Counter-revolutionary processes in the Soviet revisionist literature


Hekuran Mara's article is online here: http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/sovecon.htm

As noted, every report is presented in abridged form. The Albanians once managed to turn a two-volume work of 700-900 pages each into a single 200-page booklet when translated, so this work was no doubt abridged quite thoroughly as well.

If anyone wants I can upload the PDF (there's no copyright on 8 Nëntori works, hence Furr scanning it for me.)

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

Personally I'd love a PDF. Thanks comrade! I think your my favorite poster on this site

[GoddessCleoLover]

Recognized the name of Fatos Nano as one of the authors. Nano has sure had a checkered career. Ismail, any opinions on Mr. Nano?

[Geiseric]

I like how none of the stalinoids realize that sioc is revisionism.

[Ismail]

Recognized the name of Fatos Nano as one of the authors. Nano has sure had a checkered career. Ismail, any opinions on Mr. Nano?Obviously he went where the wind took him. From writing things like "On the Mechanism of the Extraction and Appropriation of Surplus Value in the Soviet Society (http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/nano.htm)" he went on to say in 1991 that he was not "a Stalinist, a Maoist, nor a Pol Potist" and led an avowedly capitalist government as an open social-democrat.

Another name a number of people will recognize on the list is that of Ismail Kadare, who became one of the leading anti-communist "human rights" advocates in 1990 onwards, whereas in 1977 he was writing this:

Making a profound Marxist-Leninist analysis of the conservative essence of modern revisionism and the bourgeoisie, Comrade Enver Hoxha says that, «those who call us conservative are the conservatives». And this is in the logic of things. Since they are trying to preserve or to re-establish an obsolete order in the world, regardless of what they call themselves, in essence they remain conservatives and ultra-conservatives. The same may be said of their art, too. It is not by chance that, in their spirit, in their content, even in their style and intonation, many of the works of the present-day decadent bourgeois literature are reminiscent of the Bible, the New Testament, the Koran, the Talmud and other tattered remnants of the Dark Ages. And this is one of the most coveted experiences that the revisionist art has borrowed from the decadent art. The Revelation of St John, or the Apocalypse, has become a favourite source of motifs for the revisionist pacifists. And, for them, the Apocalypse is the revolution and the revolutionary struggle.

The air of catastrophe, which is so prevalent in American and West European books and, particularly, films, is nothing but a variant of the end of the world, which all the religions of the world have preached to discourage the mobilization of revolutionary and progressive people. The bourgeois and the revisionists have drawn and continue to draw many things from the poisoned wells of religion. In this respect, there is the smell of decay about their art.
Personally I'd love a PDF. Thanks comrade! I think your my favorite poster on this siteI've PMed you.

[GoddessCleoLover]

I like how none of the stalinoids realize that sioc is revisionism.

Do they acknowledge that Herr von Vollmar was its author? BTW just to be an equal opportunity curmudgeon I agree with Gramsci that history has also disproved the theory of permanent revolution.

[Ismail]

Do they acknowledge that Herr von Vollmar was its author?According to Erik Van Ree in The Political Thought of Joseph Stalin, Lenin "embraced the suggestions previously developed by Vollmar and Kautsky – although without acknowledging his debt." (p. 44.) He also quotes an excerpt from a June 1927 plenary session of the Central Control Commission:

Trotskii: … And who was the predecessor of the “optimist” Stalin, do you know that? … It is the article of Vollmar, well-known afterwards as a German social patriot, written in 1879. This article is called “The isolated socialist state.” …

Ordzhonikidze: We read it.

Trotskii: Ah, you read it – that’s even worse, it means you hid that too from the party.

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

Edited for sectarianism

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

I'd like the PDF as well.

[Roach]

Me too, PM me please.

[Ismail]

One work Furr is going to scan which should be interesting is the Constitution of the Party of Labour of Albania published in 1977 (based on amendments to the party constitution adopted at the 7th Congress of the PLA held a year earlier) which discusses things like membership, the organization of the party, the payment of dues, etc.

[GoddessCleoLover]

According to Erik Van Ree in The Political Thought of Joseph Stalin, Lenin "embraced the suggestions previously developed by Vollmar and Kautsky – although without acknowledging his debt." (p. 44.) He also quotes an excerpt from a June 1927 plenary session of the Central Control Commission:

I commend Sergo Ordzhonikidze for his honesty and commending Ismail for his diligence in finding this information. IMO this information ought to be interpreted as damning with respect to SIOC adherents. Vollmar was a revisionist who occupied that far Right within the SPD. Like Gramsci I believe that history disproved the Theory of Permanent Revolution. SIOC has not only been also disproved by history, frankly its philosophical antecedents are rotten, too.

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

One work Furr is going to scan which should be interesting is the Constitution of the Party of Labour of Albania published in 1977 (based on amendments to the party constitution adopted at the 7th Congress of the PLA held a year earlier) which discusses things like membership, the organization of the party, the payment of dues, etc.

I probably should e-mail him myself, but I'm too busy to do that. Since you seem to have contact with him more regularly than I have, do you by any chanche know what stance, if any, Furr has on the Sino-Albania split?

[Ismail]

I probably should e-mail him myself, but I'm too busy to do that. Since you seem to have contact with him more regularly than I have, do you by any chanche know what stance, if any, Furr has on the Sino-Albania split?I emailed him for you:

Good to hear from you!

I have no opinion. I have never studied Albania, or Enver Hoxha. I just don't know!

Therefore I have no idea how or why the socialist system in Albania collapsed within a few years of Hoxha's death. That's an important question, and to answer it one would have to know a lot about socialist Albania. I don't, and so I can't contribute to answering it.

Someone should. It won't be me. There's are limits to what I can do, and I'm up to my chin in that stuff now.

I have some of the very same questions about China, of course. Why did socialism there collapse? I don't know, and I can't take the time right now to investigate it.

Languages are very, very important! I understand you are learning Albanian. That's an essential beginning. Good for you!

Warm regards,

Grover FurrSo yeah. For what it's worth the PLP (which he is a member of) does uphold Mao and he has listed Lenin, Stalin and Mao together when dealing with the subject of socialism in the 20th century.

[Ismail]

A few months back I requested that Furr scan Constitution of Triumphant Socialism, a 1980 Albanian work explaining the 1976 Constitution. He did and it has now been turned into HTML format: http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/albaniaconst.htm

[Ismail]

An article I wrote on Wikipedia months ago has achieved "good article" status (noted for instance in its talk page): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Albanian_split

Basically that means it's just one step below a featured article, which is basically Wikipedia's version of godhood. To achieve that I'd need to meet some inglorious criteria though so I figure "good article" status is fine as is.

Over time I intend to create more articles from scratch, in large part because people always ask me various questions about Albania and I feel most can be answered through detailed Wiki articles.

[Ismail]

The Constitution of the Party of Labour of Albania, amended at the 7th Congress of the PLA, is now online: http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/constpla.htm

A short and interesting work which Grover Furr scanned.

[Brutus]

I read your article, and it was a breath of fresh air from communism killed 100 (insert x zeroes here) people

[Ele'ill]

I don't want the pdf.

[redguarddude]

Why, it's the buddy Christ!

[Zealot]

http://dudewheresmygomar.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/5984703034_7fa84b8d25_b.jpg

[Ismail]

To Hoxha's left is Omer Nishani, and to Nishani's left is Mehmet Shehu. To Hoxha's right (the guy not obscured by his arm) is Gogo Nushi. The guys over at the left of the picture are Haxhi Lleshi (with mustache) and I think Spiro Moisiu.

[A.J.]

It's Enver Hoxha's birthday.

[Ismail]

It's Enver Hoxha's birthday.I celebrated by trying to put out an article, but missed by two hours: http://www.revleft.com/vb/just-wrote-article-t183995/index.html?p=2675697

[Queen Mab]

Ismail, were you Mrdie on the Paradox Interactive forums?

I had no idea you were a Hoxhaist :laugh:

[Ismail]

Yes I am. Who are you on it?

[Queen Mab]

Oh, no-one in particular. I don't think we ever talked. I just remember you as the Albanian expert guy.

[Ismail]

I knew ComradeOm on Paradox before I knew him as a RevLefter poster.

I know another guy on RevLeft (Red Commissar) that I know on Paradox as well.

[Queen Mab]

Yeah, I recognised ComradeOm too. He's a cool guy, changed my opinion on the Bolshevik revolution.