My Quest for the 1989-1990 Plenums of the CC of the Party of Labour of Albania

[Ismail]

Since last year I've been trying to collect the published plenum speeches of Ramiz Alia from the 1989-1990 period. With the help of Grover Furr and RevLeft user Grenzer I've gotten the first three down: the 8th (held on September 25, 1989), 9th (January 22-23, 1990), and 10th (April 17, 1990.) In fact I've put them online:

* http://www.scribd.com/doc/144370588/Always-in-the-Vanguard-of-Society-Bearer-of-Progress (8th)
* http://www.scribd.com/doc/103325623/The-Deepening-of-the-Revolutionization-of-the-Life-of-the-Party-and-the-Country (9th)
* http://www.scribd.com/doc/104808999/Democratization-of-Socio-Economic-Life-Strengthens-the-Thinking-and-Action-of-the-People (10th)

What's left are the following two:
* The Continuation of the Process of Democratization is Vital for the Progress of the Country: Speeches Delivered at the 11th Plenum of the CC of the PLA (July 6-7, 1990)
* The Strengthening of the People's State Power and the Improvement of the Political System Reinforce the Democratic Developments: The 12th Plenum of the CC of the PLA (November 6, 1990)

Unfortunately, the first one is only listed on Worldcat in two German libraries (Bibliothekssystem der Justus-Liebig-Universitat Giessen and Universitätsbibliothek LMU München) and the second nowhere at all.

The final plenums were the 13th held on December 11, 1990 and the 14th on May 5, 1991. Their contents were not published. The former called for a multi-party system, the latter was summed up as follows:

Tirana, May 5 (ATA)—The plenum discussed on Comrade Ramiz Alia's release from the leading functions in the party, in compliance with the Constitutional Law adopted by the People's Assembly in this session, on the rights and duties of the president of the Republic.

The speakers emphasized that Comrade Ramiz Alia's election as president of the Republic is to the benefit of the unity of the people, of the homeland. After wishing him success in carrying out the new duty successfully and with devotion, the speakers pointed to the continuous contribution of Comrade Ramiz Alia for the strengthening of the Party of Labour of Albania. They said that under his leadership two main documents for the future of the PPSh, the drafts of its new programme and its statute, were worked out. These documents, that will improve due the discussion in length by the party members, will equip it with a courageous and scientifically elaborated alternative for the present. In his speech, Comrade Ramiz Alia emphasized that he had accepted the candidature for president proceeding from the will of the people and party. He expressed his conviction that the party members and its sympathizers will realize it righteously and will intensify the efforts to strengthen their unity. Comrade Ramiz Alia thanked the plenum and the party leadership, as well as all its members and various cadres for the fruitful social cooperation, the aid given to him and trust they put in him. At the end of the proceedings the plenum decided:


To release Comrade Ramiz Alia from the functions of the CC member, the Political Bureau, and of the first secretary of the party CC due to his election as president of the Republic.
The election of the first secretary be done at the 10th party congress. The preparations of the congress be guided directly by the party CC and the preparatory committee for the organization of the 10th congress, assigned by the party activists' meeting of March 1991.
The 10th party congress be held on June 10, 1991.

The 10th Congress was when the PLA became the Socialist Party, although it didn't formally delete Marxism-Leninism from its Statute until 1996.

[The Feral Underclass]

What do you imagine you will do when you have all the information there is to have?

[The Douche]

What do you imagine you will do when you have all the information there is to have?

Post walls of it on here, of course.

[Il Medico]

There are only two scenarios of how this quest came about that I can think of, because any other option is just too sad from my brain to handle.

Scenario 1: Losing a Bar Bet

You and a fellow Hoxhaist historian, lets call him Enver, were just chilling in a bar, talking about how great Hoxha was, and you got a little drunk and was like "Enver, I bet you won't go pinch that burly biker dude's ass."
Enver asked, "And if I do?"
You replied, "I'll collect the 1989-1990 Plenums of the CC of the Party of Labour of Albania, I'm that sure you won't do it."

Scenario 2: Doggedly Trying to Win a Bar Bet

You and Enver was sitting in a bar talking about how great Hoxha was and he offhandedly mentions that it'd be impossible to collect the 1989-1990 Plenums of the CC of the Party of Labour of Albania and you were like:
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqttqdZ3e11qj800v.gif

[hatzel]

You probably won't believe this, but when I saw the thread title I honestly thought the OP was going to be literally anybody other than Ismail, no word of a lie...

[Ismail]

What do you imagine you will do when you have all the information there is to have?Ascend to greatness and impose Communism on the world by otherwise harassing it with Stalinist lightning bolts.

Last year a book came out which I will try to obtain: Founding a Balkan State: Albania's Experiment with Democracy, 1920-1925. It covers the period leading up to the Bourgeois-Democratic Revolution of June 1924 and its inglorious end months later at the hands of elements of Wrangel's army, which backed Ahmet Zogu's return to power. I've already obtained another book published last year on the first years of independent Albania, so yeah.

[Rusty Shackleford]

well, this serves a historical purpose. im actually impressed someone is doing this.



its also kind of like some elder scroll quest though



keep it up

[Ismail]

There's actually some other pamphlets by Alia as well:

* An Address to the Meeting Commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the Death of J.V. Stalin (1963)
* On the Liberation of Women in Albania: Speeches Delivered to the 2nd Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania in June 1967 (speeches by Hoxha and Alia)
* Leninism: The Banner of Struggle and Victories (1970)
* The Albanian League of Prizren: A Brilliant Page of our History Written in Blood (1978)
* The 5th Congress of the Democratic Front of Albania (speeches by Hoxha and Alia, 1979)
* Stalin and His Work: A Banner of Struggle for All Revolutionaries (1979)
* Policy in the Service of Socialism and the Freedom and Independence of the Homeland (1983)
* Enver Hoxha and His Work Will Live for Ever (1985)
* The Correct Line of the Party, the Source of Our Victories (1985)
* Albania Will Always Advance on the Road of Socialism (1985)
* The Working Class: The Steel Pillar of Our Socialist Albania: Address to the 10th Congress of the Trade Unions of Albania, June 25, 1987

He also wrote a book-length work, Our Enver, in 1988. I physically own the English-language edition. I likewise physically own his Report to the 9th Congress of the Party of Labour of Albania in 1986, a 1978 pamphlet titled The Revolution: A Question Taken Up for Solution, and have a September 1990 speech of his at the United Nations.

[BOZG]

The mention of Grover Furr makes this thread extra lulzy.

[Ismail]

The mention of Grover Furr makes this thread extra lulzy.He released a new book recently: http://www.erythrospress.com/store/kirov.html

[Devrim]

What do you imagine you will do when you have all the information there is to have?

I would suggest talking it into a Pythonesque film. I can quite imagine Ismail searching for the texts with a pair of coconut shells in his hands.

Devrim

[bad ideas actualised by alcohol]

I would suggest talking it into a Pythonesque film. I can quite imagine Ismail searching for the texts with a pair of coconut shells in his hands.

Devrim

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

[Ismail]

Ramiz Alia's speech to the 12th Plenum was recently put online, contained within a January 1991 issue ofthe Marxist-Leninist Journal, which was associated with the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist): http://www.marxists.org/history/erol/uk.hightide/mlj-4-1.pdf

The translation is different from the one actually published in Albania, but yeah. This just leaves the 11th Plenum whose contents were published but aren't online.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

I hope you find what you're looking for, Ismail.

Have you tried the Albanian embassy or consulate?

also you really ought to write a book about Albania or Hoxha. I'm not sure what the readership would be but if anyone writes it it should be you.

[Ismail]

Have you tried the Albanian embassy or consulate?I really doubt the Albanian embassy is going to give me 23-year old pamphlets published in the last days of godless communism. I'll try emailing it though, just 'cause you suggested it.

[NoOneIsIllegal]

My Albanian co-worker likes to talk with my Bosnian coworkers about their glorious leaders and argue which one had more women.

[Thirsty Crow]

I would suggest talking it into a Pythonesque film. I can quite imagine Ismail searching for the texts with a pair of coconut shells in his hands.

Devrim
Finally a worthy idea.
Anybody up for filming this in a collaborative manner?

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

Might I contribute? It would be interesting if this actually materialized. Heck, we might even be able to meet that mysterious gentlemanly scholar known as Ismail.

[baronci]

The mention of Grover Furr makes this thread extra lulzy.

he is a serious marxist historian (without a history degree)

[synthesis]

This is already one of the Top 5 greatest RevLeft threads of all time.

[Thirsty Crow]

Might I contribute? It would be interesting if this actually materialized. Heck, we might even be able to meet that mysterious gentlemanly scholar known as Ismail.
What do you mean, might? Of course!

I suggest filming ourselves independently since we're scattered across the world and then blending it all together (any video software expert out there?).

Though, I doubt Ismail would be up for it.

[Ismail]

he is a serious marxist historian (without a history degree)He has about as much claim to being a historian as Chris Harman, Tony Cliff, Ted Grant, and various other Trots who wrote at length not only on historical matters, but on mathematics, philosophy, etc. Furr doesn't claim to be a historian anyway. What is amusing though is how Ludo Martens, no doubt "Stalinist" by your definition, actually was a historian, which puts him above all those I just mentioned (including Furr.) And yet when it comes to the subject of Stalin Furr has contributed far more than Martens, whose specialty was the Congo.

Hoxha wrote a few things on historical matters as well (the rise of Islam, Greek philosophy, the Albanian Renaissance and the Albanian peasant revolt of 1914.) Marx and Engels wrote about historical subjects as well, as did Kautsky in-re Christianity. Various other persons could be named.

So in conclusion whining about "X doesn't have a history degree!" is infantile, hypocritical and altogether useless.


Might I contribute? It would be interesting if this actually materialized. Heck, we might even be able to meet that mysterious gentlemanly scholar known as Ismail.There are lots of Albanian pamphlets in English sitting in libraries. PM me your library and I'll see if there's anything you could scan. All of them can be put online for the world to view.

On a similar note there are a number of Hoxha works in English that aren't online either.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

He has about as much claim to being a historian as Chris Harman, Tony Cliff, Ted Grant, and various other Trots who wrote at length not only on historical matters, but on mathematics, philosophy, etc.

The quality of their historical works aside, the, er, "work" of Grant and Woods on physics is psychoceramics of the first order.

[Ismail]

My point isn't to compare the quality of their works with Furr, but their technical qualifications for writing them. You can accuse Furr of being an "apologist" or whatever, but he obviously knows the materials of the subjects he studies and his knowledge of Russian allows him to go further than most in conducting research.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Yeah, I know. It's just that I have a Pavlovian reaction to physics a la Grant. It's a professional deformation, I think.

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

Yeah, I know. It's just that I have a Pavlovian reaction to physics a la Grant. It's a professional deformation, I think.

Deformed worker's physics?

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Deformed worker's physics?

Bureaucratic collective excitations.

[Ismail]

So there's this guy who is scanning all sorts of Albanian books and pamphlets. I've uploaded them to my scribd account for viewing: http://www.scribd.com/jhamelin_2/documents

And in December I will have RevLefters vote on at least five Albanian books/pamphlets for Grover Furr to scan.

OH YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[Ismail]

So I can finally scan books and turn them into PDFs.

I FIRST TRIED IT WITH AN ALBANIAN PAMPHLET.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/179162436/The-Revolution-A-Question-Taken-Up-for-Solution-pdf

OH YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

The Ismail PM thread got closed, I am sad I do not get more PMs from ismail :(