From La Forge
Organ of the Communist Party of the Workers of France
November 15-30, 1994
There are two fundamental causes for the tragedy which Albania is experiencing today: one the one hand there is the treason of the PLA (Party of Labor of Albania) and on the other hand there external pressure.
Ramiz Alia(1) worked consciously to destroy the party. He carried on an open policy of accepting into the party old traitors and saboteurs of the struggle for national liberation. There was a directive given to the whole party. He also squandered all the economic reserves which had been accumulated for the following eight years. For five years, he had lied to the Albanian people, calling on the people to defend socialism but putting into practice a policy designed to liquidate it. It was he who launched the first attacks against Enver Hoxha. In Zeri i popullit(2) there had been attacks against Stalin; the ordinary people understood them as attacks against Enver Hoxha. All the opportunists, all the traitors, all those who have struggled for the restoration of capitalism have begun by attacking Stalin; Ramiz Alia did the same.
At the 10th Congress of the PLA(3), Ramiz Alia prepared the liquidation of the party. Ramiz Alia mobilized certain sectors of the population against the party committees. He made public opinion believe that if he did not liquidate Enver Hoxha and his work, Albania would not be recognized by Europe or by the USA.
The destruction of socialism has meant the destruction of industry, the educational system, health, the cooperatives, public transportation, social security...
In Albania there are today 500,000 people unemployed, not counting the 500,000 Albanians who are searching for work in Italy, Greece, France. The Albanian state is a police state with 40,000 police. It is the only country that does not celebrate the victory of the struggle for national liberation, November 29. All the war criminals, all the fascists have been pardoned. They are presented today as heros. One of them, responsible for the massacre of many women and who had fled to Canada, returned to Albania this year and appeared on television. He has admitted his act. He has been received by the current president, Sali Berisha. This latter is a puppet. All the politics are directed by the American ambassador posted to Tirana.
The skilled workers are out in the street; they have to survive by selling cigarettes. In towns such as Shkodra, there is a state of emergency which prohibits anyone from being out after 6 p.m. Crime is on the rise, the Albanian mafia is conducting its business openly. Drugs have made their appearance and agricultural areas are used to grow opium poppies. The people are beginning to rebel. Last August 13, 100,000 people demonstrated in Tirana, shouting slogans against the dictatorship: "Down with the fascist president," "U.S. ambassador, out!" Orders were given to shoot at the demonstrators. But the police refused to do this. Many police and soldiers, in civilian clothes, participated in this demonstration. In response the regime dismissed 500 police. All the leaders of the Socialist Party, the largest party in the country, have been arrested on the charge of corruption. In reality, they have been arrested for political reasons. Today, the people want new elections and if these were held now, the Democratic Party of Berisha would be defeated.
Several days before the tearing down of the statues of Enver Hoxha, the association "Partisans of Enver" was formed. It had 50,000 members on the evening of its first day. Several days later it had 1.2 million members, that is, one third of the population. The representatives of the association have demanded that Ramiz Alia hold a referendum on the person of Enver Hoxha. He promised to do it within 30 days. But this promise was made only to gain time. The Socialist Party, which came out of the PLA, is opposed to the association and has prohibited its members from belonging to it. The association has been accused of wanting to make a civil war. But in reality, this movement is a very massive movement which has the supported of the majority of the population. The demonstrations of the association were peaceful. The people did not want a confrontation. The group of Ramiz Alia was very afraid. It was he who started this propaganda about the danger of civil war. Its goal was to present him as the one who knew how to avoid this.
This is the only party that has not been created by Ramiz Alia. The CPA had been legal for nine months. When the regime in power saw that the CPA was becoming stronger, it declared it illegal and decreed that "communists, Enverists, Stalinists... cannot participate in elections." The PCA is presently functioning under very difficult conditions. Communist militants are expelled from their work-places. The party today lacks the means to make propaganda. Despite this, the party is advancing. It is working in all parts of the country. The PCA is continuing on the road traversed by the PLA under the direction of Enver Hoxha. Its primary objective is to reunify its forces, organize the true communists, the true patriots, those who, both in the country and abroad, are struggling for the ideals of communism. The communists are struggling to expel the fascists from their country, to prevent the rebirth of fascism and to restore socialism.
The PCA is working under difficult conditions of illegality. The multilateral meeting of the parties took the decision to wage a campaign of concrete solidarity with the communists of Albania in order to give them means of expressing themselves. Our party appeals to all its readers to support the PCA financially and materially. For all particulars please contact us at our address.
1) Ramiz Alia was the last general secretary of the PLA. He succeeded Enver Hoxha at the 9th Congress in November of 1986.
2) The central organ of the PLA
3) The last congress was held in June of 1991. The PLA was dissolved to give birth to the Socialist Party of Albania, a party of a social-democratic type.
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