– N. Ribar, The Voice of Albania –
May 5 marks the Day of the Martyrs in Albania, chosen for the solemn day in 1942 when the Italian fascist occupiers killed the Hero of the People, the great Qemal Stafa. Every year, this day is a day of veneration for the martyrs whose blood nurtured the Albanian soil and dyed its flag red anew in the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War (ANLW), led by the Communist Party of Albania (later the Party of Labour of Albania) with Comrade Enver Hoxha at the head, and every preceding and succeeding struggle in the service of the Homeland.
What does the name martyr — dëshmor — mean? It is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “a person who sacrifices something of great value and especially life itself for the sake of principle.” In the Albanian dictionary Fjalë, it is defined as “He who falls in the struggle for freedom and social justice, he who sacrifices his life for the good of the people and the Homeland.” In these two definitions we witness two worlds in combat. In one definition, we can use the word “martyr” to denote anyone and anything freely, but in the latter we can only use it for those who struggle in service of the people. The ANLW was such a war as to use the latter for its fallen.
From the dark April day in 1939 when the Italian fascists, aided by the cowardly satrap king Ahmet Zogu, invaded Albania and occupied it, to the continuation of the same occupation by the German nazis after Italy’s surrender, up until November 29, 1944, when the People’s Revolution triumphed, the fifth most Albanians per capita were martyred of any country in the world at the hands of the nazi-fascists. Out of the 800,000 Albanians living in Albania, approximately 80,000 were killed by the occupation. That small country on the shores of the Adriatic Sea saw the presence of 700,000 Italian and 75,000 German jackboots in an attempt to wipe it off the map.
As life is revealing at the present time, it is very easy to idealize people as hopeless victims, in need of charity or some other pittance. The Albanian man in particular has never been such a victim. The imperialists and Great Powers believe that weapons are decisive in history, but with scientific arguments and as has been evidenced by life, the classics of Marxism-Leninism long ago taught us that it is the people who are decisive.
The Albanian has been autochthonous to his land for over 4,000 years, on both sides of the Drin river, and the story of his martyrdom is the story of glory and liberation. It was Skanderbeg who in 1443 rose up and held off the Ottoman hordes for decades despite a severe military disadvantage. This people, who knew every inch of their land, has never accepted occupation and terror laying down. It was precisely this spirit in which the Communist Party of Albania and Anti-Fascist National Liberation Movement were founded. In the heat of these battles for the survival of the Albanian, this fighting man throughout these millenia showed his greatest qualities — heroism, self-sacrifice and self-abnegation. The Albanian people, who in the lead-up to this May 5, 2024, have brought out the heroic stories of Manush Alimani and Met Hasa, continue the enlightenment of their younger generation through the teachings of the martyrs from their people.
In fact, the Albanians defeated the Italian fascists and German nazis exclusively using their own forces — the National Liberation Movement was a satellite of nobody, nor did it receive any aid from the British, Americans or Soviets. How is it to be explained that in a matter of months, a force was raised entirely from the Albanian people that would be able to match a heavily-armed force with a ratio between occupation soldiers to population of nearly 1:1? Because when faced with the most reactionary forces the old world can muster, men of new ideals can rouse the indignation of the people into a fury that the old cannot contain. In these types of situations, Lenin has said that neither the forces of the new nor the forces of the old can continue on in the old way. Even after the defeat of the nazi-fascists, the Albanians knew better than to trust the entry of the Anglo-Americans under the guise of combatting the remnants of the enemies. It took the bold leadership of Comrade Enver Hoxha to state, after an arduous and deathly war, that should the British land on the Albanian shores, they would face fury and gunfire, and their result would be the same fate as the former defeated occupiers.
Now, we would wise to think about the suffering Palestinian people under attack by the Zionist occupiers. They also use the word martyr to denote their fallen, and the connotation and experience of the Albanians is also confirmed by their own struggle. Not a single life taken by the occupiers is in vain — a tragedy, but never in vain. Every death is a step closer to final victory. In their martyrdom, they are showing the world what it means to defy the occupier at any cost to win their own national and social liberation. Various other forces in the region fighting the Zionists are showing the same bravery and heroism. We should never picture them as hopeless victims, because they are fighting and it is only that just fight which will be decisive. Regardless of what certain individuals involved may profess, including religious or idealist ideologies, they are fighting for the new world against its old counterpart and that makes their victory an inevitable law of history.
With that short diversion, I shall come back to Albania. Though Palestine is top on the minds of all of world progressive opinion, in Albania we encounter a country suffering also. Three decades of U.S./NATO domination have depopulated the people and especially the youth, wrecked its national industries and plundered its natural resources. The Albania built during the time of Enver Hoxha, when the martyrs of the ANLW were honoured with dignity and veneration, has long ceased to exist. The common denominator is that the U.S. imperialists and their diabolical agents, such as the Zionists, have chosen to take on two ancient peoples as old as recorded history itself and who have been defeated in the past, but never conquered, nor will they ever be. Such machinations and manoeuvres will only expedite their inevitable end at the hands of peoples who are neither afraid of barbaric terror nor death.
During the epoch of socialism, the Cemetery of the Martyrs of the Nation was built in Tirana. Though overgrown with weeds and ill taken care of by the various bourgeois governments, the statue of Mother Albania still stands over the graves of the 28,000 soldiers of the ANLM who lay fallen there, defending and protecting them, and shining her glorious light of martyrdom on both the dead and the living.
Oh Albania, oh suffering Albania, the historic poem by the Albanian patriot Pashko Vasa, not a cry for help, but a clarion call to the people to rise up, to not take occupation and oppression laying down, to rely on one’s own forces to win victory. The dead in this historic battle we call martyrs, of one’s own country but also of the entire world. We profess internationalism, not charity, and as foreigners to countries where these people’s wars have been waged and are currently being waged, we should be guided by this aim.
Glory to the Anti-Fascist National Liberation Movement!
Lavdi LANÇ!
Glory to the Martyrs!
Lavdi dëshmorëve!
Long live the Albanian people!
Rroftë populli shqiptar!
Workers and oppressed peoples of all countries, unite!
Proletarë të të gjitha vendeve dhe popuj të shtypur, bashkohuni!
Published in:
