Exactly 100 years ago, on April 22, 1924, the bloody hands of reactionary feudalism, led by Ahmet Zogu, orchestrated the assassination of the distinguished patriot Avni Rustemi (1895-1924). Avni Rustemi, a renowned patriot and democratic revolutionary, leader of the democratic society “Bashkimi,” and a member of the democratic opposition in the National Assembly on the eve of the June 1924 Revolution, was hailed as a hero of the people. Born into a patriotic family in Libohova, he received his primary education in his hometown, continued at the Elbasan Normal School, and later at the Shën Mitër Korone school, while he began his higher education in pedagogy at the University of Rome. Meanwhile, Avni Rustemi worked as a teacher in Libohova (1910), Tragjas in Vlora (1913), Tepelena (1916-1917) and Vlora (1917-1918)
Growing up and educated in a patriotic environment, Avni Rustemi distinguished himself as an activist wielding arms for the freedom, independence and territorial integrity of Albania. In 1908, he abandoned school to join Çerçiz Topulli’s band, and in 1910, he attempted to assassinate General Shefqet Turgut Pasha, the commander of the Ottoman military expedition, in Shkodra. In 1914, he joined Albanian forces for the liberation of Southern Albania from Greek occupation, and in 1918, he founded the patriotic youth society in Vlora under the name “Djalëria e Vlorës.” He led the anti-imperialist demonstration on November 28, 1918, against the Italian occupiers. In the spring of 1919 in Shën Mitër, he created the “Albanian Youth League” to defend national rights, and on June 13, 1920, he assassinated Esad Pasha Toptani in Paris, a traitor and tool of foreign powers.
“The heroic act of Avni Rustemi in Paris,” said Comrade Enver Hoxha, “was not a simple assassination; it did not have a terrorist or anarchist character… Avni Rustemi’s bullets that stretched the earth for Pasha Toptani were a signal, the dedication of the bourgeois-democratic revolution, a revolution of our people rising against feudalism.” Upon returning to Albania in December 1920, he began the work of unifying existing democratic societies into a single organization. The congress held on April 25, 1921, in Vlora, created a federation named “Atdheu.” Avni Rustemi was elected its honourary chairman. Through his initiative, professional teacher organizations were also created. After the closure of the “Atdheu” federation in August 1922, on Avni Rustemi’s initiative again, on October 13, 1922, the democratic society “Bashkimi” was formed in Tirana. Avni Rustemi was not only the main organizer of democratic societies but also one of the most prominent democratic ideologists. His ideas, formulated in a series of speeches and articles, became powerful weapons in the hands of the democratic youth and oppressed working masses. “When the government fails to meet the nation’s most urgent needs,” he said, “then this need must be fulfilled through the organized part of the people, and we must make the government feel this need.” Avni Rustemi saw the country’s exit from backwardness in the development of its independent national economy. “Without economic independence,” he wrote, “there can be no political independence.” He also expressed his democratic and revolutionary ideas at the Constitutional Assembly of 1924, where he was elected as a deputy by the people of the former Kosova prefecture. He courageously criticized the abuses of the bureaucratic apparatus of the time, the arrogance and ignorance of the reactionary ruling classes, and vehemently defended our people’s traditions and the rights of Albanians living in their territories in Yugoslavia. On Avni Rustemi’s insistence, the Constitutional Assembly of Albania on February 4, 1924, held silence in mourning for the death of V. I. Lenin. In the conditions of the intensification of class and political contradictions in the country, feudal reaction with Ahmet Zogu at the head organized the assassination of Avni Rustemi on April 22. With this act, reaction aimed to strike the rising bourgeois-democratic movement. The assassination of this distinguished leader of the democratic movement served as the spark for the revolution that triumphed on June 10, 1924.
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