TheRedRevolutionary
29th September 2008, 02:54
April 11 - 6th Anniversary of the Death of Comrade Enver Hoxha
Consistent Fighter against Revisionism
Six years ago, on April 11, 1985, Comrade Enver Hoxha died, the great leader of the Party of Labor of Albania, the stubborn fighter against every deviation from Marxism (revisionism), against every degeneration of socialism. Especially today, when his statues are being torn down in Albania and his politics are being thrown overboard, we wish to honor him on the anniversary of his death, by showing some essential aspects of his politics and his achievements.
[Enver Hoxha in his youth experienced the oppression and exploitation of Albania by the numerous occupiers and great powers, and joined the democratic movement, for which he spent some time in jail.
[He spent some time in France, where he was a sympathizer with the CP of France, and published articles in "Humanite" on the Zog regime. He also worked in the Albanian Consulate in Belgium, but was dismissed by Zog's agents, and returned to Albania in 1936.
[The years of struggle had formed Enver Hoxha into a communist. While a teacher in a high school in Korca he became an activist in the communist group of Korca. After the Italian occupation of Albania, by the decision of the group, Hoxha moved to Tirana to develop the anti-fascist struggle. He worked to unite the various communist groups and to found the Communist Party.
[The Albanian Communists struggled actively against fascism, they organized the popular resistance and fought as partisans in the mountains. But the splintering hindered the struggle, and had to be overcome.]
The Communist Party [Enver Hoxha understood clearly the necessity of building a united, conscious and battle-hardened Party. On November 8, 1941, at a conference of the communist groups of Albania in Tirana, the Communist Party was founded.
[The CPA, which later became the PLA, organized a National Liberation Army to carry out armed struggle against fascism. Besides the CPA, there was no other party or force in Albania that pursued this goal. The CPA made this the goal, not only of the workers, but also of the peasants and handicrafts people.
[In the fight against first the Italian and then the German fascists, 28,000 Albanians were killed, 7.3% of the population were killed or severely wounded, 21% of the houses were destroyed, a third of the livestock were killed, and the few bridges, factories, etc. were destroyed or damaged.]
The Liberation of Albania [Although 700,000 fascist soldiers set foot on Albanian soil, they were defeated. Comrade Enver Hoxha stood at the head of the CPA and the National Liberation Army. People's Councils were elected. Finally, on November 28, 1944, the Albanian Democratic Government took power. The decades long struggle of the Albanian people for independence and freedom was crowned with success.
[Enver Hoxha and the CPA and the Albanian people had an immense task before them. The Zog regime and the fascists had left nothing behind. There was more than 90% illiteracy, hardly any schools, no industry, etc. Whoever had any bread was considered rich. There were the most reactionary, medieval ideologies and customs such as feuds, feudal relations existed, and women were treated as slaves.
[The Albanian Communists and Enver Hoxha were not daunted, and did what was needed to provide the most urgent necessities for the people. Grain and irrigation were developed to ensure bread. Schools were constructed and skilled workers were trained to provide a minimum of culture and education. Factories, hydroelectric power plants and railroads were built, and the first steps were taken towards creating a modern industry. Health care and hygiene were developed, and doctors and nurses were trained.
[The successes of the first years of the building of the People's Republic surpassed the development of the previous decades many times over. The people had lived in hunger and poverty. Now the country awoke, lived and stepped boldly forward.]
Permanent Struggle [The Albanian Party soon learned that not everyone who calls himself a communist is one in actuality. Tito had sold himself to Western capital. He wanted to turn Albania into a Yugoslav province. He became an agent of capital in the socialist camp, who wanted to establish his revisionism, his treason to Marxism, in all communist parties.
[The PLA and Albania were directly threatened. Tito and his people already had groups in Albania. Comrade Enver Hoxha defended Marxism against Tito's attack as well as the independence of Albania and the PLA. Together with Stalin and the Communist Information Bureau he lead a resolute struggle against Tito's betrayal.
[B]Modern Albania [Under Enver Hoxha's leadership Albanian industry and agriculture were continuously developed. The production of their own spare parts, the development of their own power supply, the electrification, their own first steel, an expanding raw materials industry, a growing rail network, their own first tractors - these were all victories. Under Enver Hoxha's leadership Albania moved from a semi-feudal country to an industrial-agricultural one.
[All these successes could only be reached through socialism and a planned economy. Other developing countries could only dream of such successes. The planned economy made it possible to put the few economic reserves in the most important sectors. In Albania the plan was not something dead, but a call to arms. Clearly Albanian industry had not reached the level of the great Western imperialist economies. This was impossible in the conditions of the imperialist world market. But this makes the successes of socialist planned economy even more outstanding.
[The splendid economic development of Albania made social and cultural progress possible which is unthinkable even in many industrial countries. There were no taxes or inflation. Medical care was free and so good that Albania had the lowest infant mortality rate in Europe. Men could retire at 60 and women at 55. Everyone had a roof over their head, even if it was not luxurious. More than 70% of the youth had a high school education. Technical schools and the first university in the country, the Enver Hoxha University, were built. The list could be continued indefinitely.]
The Dictatorship of the Proletariat Under the leadership of Comrade Enver Hoxha socialism in Albania was constructed and the dictatorship of the proletariat was made a reality. This did not mean a dictatorship of the bureaucrats over the proletariat, but actual rule of the working class. They determined with their party the plan and the course. They could call to account representatives and directors, if they did not operate in the interests of the working people.
The Party consciously placed itself and the state apparatus under the control of the working people. They learned from the results of the degeneration of the Soviet Union and the East European countries. Cadres had to regularly take part in production. New Party members had to be examined carefully by their colleagues. Every functionary could be publicly criticized and had to publicly respond. The Party discussed all important problems with the masses. Only in this way could, the life threatening situations such as, for example, the attempt at annexation by Yugoslavia, the military threats of Khrushchev, the Chinese economic sabotage, be overcome.
Enver Hoxha was a front rank fighter for the close connection of the Albanian Party with the working masses. He struggled untiringly against every form of bureaucratism, all tendencies to degeneration...
Mistakes? Today Enver Hoxha is pictured in the bourgeois press as a monster, who bloodily suppressed a whole people. The same is done as with Stalin. Everywhere "mistakes" are spoken of and Enver's Albania is attacked.
Naturally Enver made mistakes. How could one have such a long life full of struggle without mistakes. Our Party thinks, for example, that Enver underestimated the economic foundations of revisionism and therefore did not fight them sufficiently. But we do not act as know-it-alls in this regard. We know from our own practice as a communist party who quickly one can make mistakes. And above all: the mistakes weigh nothing in comparison with the accomplishments and successes of Enver Hoxha. Under his leadership Albania was an inspiration for every progressive and revolutionary person in the whole world. Even an anti-communist wave in Albania can not in the long run darken the gains of Enver Hoxha for his country and the world revolution. On the contrary! The quick integration of present day Albania into the capitalist world market will soon bring forward the achievements of Albania under socialism. The shabby reality of reintroduced capitalism: unemployment, exploitation, dependency, poverty and hunger, will bring the work of Comrade Enver Hoxha more strongly to light.
Consistent Fighter against Revisionism
Six years ago, on April 11, 1985, Comrade Enver Hoxha died, the great leader of the Party of Labor of Albania, the stubborn fighter against every deviation from Marxism (revisionism), against every degeneration of socialism. Especially today, when his statues are being torn down in Albania and his politics are being thrown overboard, we wish to honor him on the anniversary of his death, by showing some essential aspects of his politics and his achievements.
[Enver Hoxha in his youth experienced the oppression and exploitation of Albania by the numerous occupiers and great powers, and joined the democratic movement, for which he spent some time in jail.
[He spent some time in France, where he was a sympathizer with the CP of France, and published articles in "Humanite" on the Zog regime. He also worked in the Albanian Consulate in Belgium, but was dismissed by Zog's agents, and returned to Albania in 1936.
[The years of struggle had formed Enver Hoxha into a communist. While a teacher in a high school in Korca he became an activist in the communist group of Korca. After the Italian occupation of Albania, by the decision of the group, Hoxha moved to Tirana to develop the anti-fascist struggle. He worked to unite the various communist groups and to found the Communist Party.
[The Albanian Communists struggled actively against fascism, they organized the popular resistance and fought as partisans in the mountains. But the splintering hindered the struggle, and had to be overcome.]
The Communist Party [Enver Hoxha understood clearly the necessity of building a united, conscious and battle-hardened Party. On November 8, 1941, at a conference of the communist groups of Albania in Tirana, the Communist Party was founded.
[The CPA, which later became the PLA, organized a National Liberation Army to carry out armed struggle against fascism. Besides the CPA, there was no other party or force in Albania that pursued this goal. The CPA made this the goal, not only of the workers, but also of the peasants and handicrafts people.
[In the fight against first the Italian and then the German fascists, 28,000 Albanians were killed, 7.3% of the population were killed or severely wounded, 21% of the houses were destroyed, a third of the livestock were killed, and the few bridges, factories, etc. were destroyed or damaged.]
The Liberation of Albania [Although 700,000 fascist soldiers set foot on Albanian soil, they were defeated. Comrade Enver Hoxha stood at the head of the CPA and the National Liberation Army. People's Councils were elected. Finally, on November 28, 1944, the Albanian Democratic Government took power. The decades long struggle of the Albanian people for independence and freedom was crowned with success.
[Enver Hoxha and the CPA and the Albanian people had an immense task before them. The Zog regime and the fascists had left nothing behind. There was more than 90% illiteracy, hardly any schools, no industry, etc. Whoever had any bread was considered rich. There were the most reactionary, medieval ideologies and customs such as feuds, feudal relations existed, and women were treated as slaves.
[The Albanian Communists and Enver Hoxha were not daunted, and did what was needed to provide the most urgent necessities for the people. Grain and irrigation were developed to ensure bread. Schools were constructed and skilled workers were trained to provide a minimum of culture and education. Factories, hydroelectric power plants and railroads were built, and the first steps were taken towards creating a modern industry. Health care and hygiene were developed, and doctors and nurses were trained.
[The successes of the first years of the building of the People's Republic surpassed the development of the previous decades many times over. The people had lived in hunger and poverty. Now the country awoke, lived and stepped boldly forward.]
Permanent Struggle [The Albanian Party soon learned that not everyone who calls himself a communist is one in actuality. Tito had sold himself to Western capital. He wanted to turn Albania into a Yugoslav province. He became an agent of capital in the socialist camp, who wanted to establish his revisionism, his treason to Marxism, in all communist parties.
[The PLA and Albania were directly threatened. Tito and his people already had groups in Albania. Comrade Enver Hoxha defended Marxism against Tito's attack as well as the independence of Albania and the PLA. Together with Stalin and the Communist Information Bureau he lead a resolute struggle against Tito's betrayal.
[B]Modern Albania [Under Enver Hoxha's leadership Albanian industry and agriculture were continuously developed. The production of their own spare parts, the development of their own power supply, the electrification, their own first steel, an expanding raw materials industry, a growing rail network, their own first tractors - these were all victories. Under Enver Hoxha's leadership Albania moved from a semi-feudal country to an industrial-agricultural one.
[All these successes could only be reached through socialism and a planned economy. Other developing countries could only dream of such successes. The planned economy made it possible to put the few economic reserves in the most important sectors. In Albania the plan was not something dead, but a call to arms. Clearly Albanian industry had not reached the level of the great Western imperialist economies. This was impossible in the conditions of the imperialist world market. But this makes the successes of socialist planned economy even more outstanding.
[The splendid economic development of Albania made social and cultural progress possible which is unthinkable even in many industrial countries. There were no taxes or inflation. Medical care was free and so good that Albania had the lowest infant mortality rate in Europe. Men could retire at 60 and women at 55. Everyone had a roof over their head, even if it was not luxurious. More than 70% of the youth had a high school education. Technical schools and the first university in the country, the Enver Hoxha University, were built. The list could be continued indefinitely.]
The Dictatorship of the Proletariat Under the leadership of Comrade Enver Hoxha socialism in Albania was constructed and the dictatorship of the proletariat was made a reality. This did not mean a dictatorship of the bureaucrats over the proletariat, but actual rule of the working class. They determined with their party the plan and the course. They could call to account representatives and directors, if they did not operate in the interests of the working people.
The Party consciously placed itself and the state apparatus under the control of the working people. They learned from the results of the degeneration of the Soviet Union and the East European countries. Cadres had to regularly take part in production. New Party members had to be examined carefully by their colleagues. Every functionary could be publicly criticized and had to publicly respond. The Party discussed all important problems with the masses. Only in this way could, the life threatening situations such as, for example, the attempt at annexation by Yugoslavia, the military threats of Khrushchev, the Chinese economic sabotage, be overcome.
Enver Hoxha was a front rank fighter for the close connection of the Albanian Party with the working masses. He struggled untiringly against every form of bureaucratism, all tendencies to degeneration...
Mistakes? Today Enver Hoxha is pictured in the bourgeois press as a monster, who bloodily suppressed a whole people. The same is done as with Stalin. Everywhere "mistakes" are spoken of and Enver's Albania is attacked.
Naturally Enver made mistakes. How could one have such a long life full of struggle without mistakes. Our Party thinks, for example, that Enver underestimated the economic foundations of revisionism and therefore did not fight them sufficiently. But we do not act as know-it-alls in this regard. We know from our own practice as a communist party who quickly one can make mistakes. And above all: the mistakes weigh nothing in comparison with the accomplishments and successes of Enver Hoxha. Under his leadership Albania was an inspiration for every progressive and revolutionary person in the whole world. Even an anti-communist wave in Albania can not in the long run darken the gains of Enver Hoxha for his country and the world revolution. On the contrary! The quick integration of present day Albania into the capitalist world market will soon bring forward the achievements of Albania under socialism. The shabby reality of reintroduced capitalism: unemployment, exploitation, dependency, poverty and hunger, will bring the work of Comrade Enver Hoxha more strongly to light.