Preface
The period from the beginning of 1941 to September 1943 was a period of vigorous development of the Albanian resistance. At the end of 1941, several long-standing and stable armed resistance forces were formed in the country, and their activities changed from scattered and sporadic to organized and planned, causing more economic and political damage to the rule of the Italian fascists.
In addition, major resistance groups and parties emerged in the country, and for the first time, the concept of national resistance was proposed, which led Albania to embark on the path of united resistance, which led to the continuous growth of the resistance forces. By the summer of 1943, the Albanian people had ushered in their final victory against the Italian fascists.
The development of domestic partisan detachments
On April 7, 1941, a group of tribal leaders who claimed to be the Albanian United Front against Italy, along with their fellow SOE Belgrade, Colonel Okolir Hill, with the help of Yugoslavia, led an armed force of about 300 men through the harsh mountains of Kosovo into northern Albania, with the intention of encouraging the northern tribal leaders to resist the Italian invaders.
The Albanian leaders of the operation were: Abbas Kubi and Jemar Kheri, who was the head of the secret police of the Sogu government, all of whom represented the right wing of the coalition movement: the commanders were the three brothers, led by Gani Yewuchi, who represented the neutral forces; Mustafa Ginish represents left-wing communism; In addition, there was the leader of Ihumi, Muharrem Bayalkaratari, who mobilized the members of the tribe to join him.
The guerrilla fighters had no weapons, no secret radio communication equipment, no air support, and no reliable source of supply, but they were welcomed and supported by the locals. On the way, they engaged several Italian patrols and defeated them.
They had planned to attack Shkadra with the support of the Catholic tribes. However, because of the privileges granted to Catholics by the Italian government, these tribes were reluctant to help them. As a last resort, these guerrillas withdrew to Muslim territory.
However, on 14 April, with the collapse of the Yugoslav army, the Albanian teams were trapped in the mountains of the north. This attempt to unite different forces to resist failed. The leaders of the teams decided to withdraw to their respective areas and wait for the situation to develop.
In May, the anti-fascist resistance of the Albanian people was met with increasing terrorist actions and repression by the Italians. This month, 21,131 Albanians were declared enemies of the authorities, 1,130 houses were searched, and 5,270 patriots were taken to concentration camps in Italy.
However, the terrorist repression of the Italian fascists did not break the strong will of the Albanian resisters. By the end of 1941, several stable guerrilla forces had been formed to support the long-term war of resistance. These ranks were organized around the core of returning guerrilla leaders.
Establishment of the Communist Party of Albania
Like the history of the Albanian nation-state itself, the path of the communist movement in Albania has been bumpy and varied. Its history dates back to the twenties of the twentieth century, when Van Nolly and his companions founded a National Revolutionary Committee in Vienna against the Sogu regime.
The committee was closely linked to the Comintern in Moscow, which provided it with political and financial support. Noli himself was not a Communist, but a radical sympathetic to the policies of the Soviet government, but some of his younger followers converted to Communists after listening to special political courses in Moscow.
The most famous of these was Ali Clementi, who was sent to Albania in 1930 to form a communist cell to set up a communist cell in Korçatirana and other centers. In the early days of their establishment, these groups had their own views and thus did not succeed in consolidating into a single party.
In January 1940, the Korcha communist cell decided to expand its activities to other regions of the country and formed a branch in Tirana, led by Enver, Hoxha. In February, a split arose within the group, and a separate faction was formed, called the "Youth" group.
The group was linked to the Shkodra communist group, but its main beliefs were related to propaganda Trotskyism and anarchism. The small size of the local communist cells, which also organized the local resistance movement, was negligible: this delicate situation between the groups lasted until June 22, 1941.
On the same day, Germany suddenly invaded the Soviet Union, and the Albanian puppet government immediately followed the Italian government in declaring war on the Soviet Union. This news had a major impact on the Albanian communist groups. Many members saw the Soviet Union as a banner of thought and action, and as a result, when the Soviet Union was dragged into the war, they considered themselves "strong, sincere comrades-in-arms and allies."
"Our struggle did not begin after the Soviet Union entered the war, but after the Soviet Union entered the war, the people of the mainland felt that their blood would not be shed in vain. ”:“....... Below, in particular, more than ever, I feel the great harm done to the communist movement by the useless disputes between the various groups, and the urgent need to put an end to this political situation and create the necessary conditions for the unification of the movement in Albania. ”
The Shbakar communist group then issued a manifesto calling on the Albanian people to take up arms and resist the aggressors. It can be said that the outbreak of the Soviet-German war woke the Albanian communists from their lifeless state and accelerated the establishment of the Albanian Communist Party.
On November 14, the first congress of the Communist Party of Albania in Tirana was held, and after heated discussions, the basic principles of the party were determined and adopted, and its basic ideology and organization were decided.
The meeting decided to dissolve the communist cell and establish a party based on Marxism-Leninism. The inaugural congress set the strategic objectives of the Albanian Communist Party as follows:
Struggle for the national independence of the Albanian people and for the establishment of a people's democratic government in Albania, free from fascism.
"Greater Albania" with the establishment of the government of Mustafa Kruja
"Greater Albania" is the concept of the territorial unity of the homeland in the minds of many Albanians, which was proposed by Albania on the basis of the current or historical existence of these regions, including Albania, Kosovo, western Macedonia, the Albanian population in southern Serbia and part of northern Greece (Tsameria).
"Greater Albania" is a term used mainly by Western scholars and politicians. Albanian nationalists do not like the expression "Greater Albania" and prefer to use the term "ethnic Albania" to refer to its ethnic origins.
According to the Berlin Conference of 1878 and the Conference of Ambassadors of 1913, the regions of Kosovo and Tsameria near the Albanian border were divided between Yugoslavia and Greece, respectively. But because both regions are inhabited by a large number of Albanian people, they are still considered by Albanian nationalists to be their national heritage territory.
Kosovo is located in the south-east of Albania, where a large number of Albanians live, who regard Serbia and Yugoslavia as aliens and are dissatisfied with their long-standing rule. Therefore, when Germany handed over control of the area to Italy in the spring of 1941 and proposed that Kosovo be included in Albanian territory, it was supported by many local Albanians.
"Kosovo is home to 850,000 Albanians, physically strong, strong in spirit and passionate about the reunification of the motherland. Apparently, the Serbs were afraid of them ... People must adopt a politics in Kosovo that is at stake with their own interests. This will help to perpetuate the problem of national irredentism in the Balkans, polarizing the attention of the Albanians themselves, becoming a knife behind the back of Yugoslavia. ”
However, their wishes were doomed. The integration of Kosovo and the increase in food supplies did win temporary support for the Italian authorities and the puppet government, but these did not compensate for the dire impact of the Italian invasion on Albania. ”
In addition to this, this nationalist sentiment was also bad for the Italians, and more and more Albanian people began to rebel against the Italian occupation.
The Pesa Conference and the establishment of the National Liberation Front
In order to unite all anti-fascist forces in Albania and at the same time strengthen the leading role of the Albanian Communist Party, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Albania held a conference of representatives for the national liberation of Albania on September 16, 1942.
The meeting was held in the village of Pesa, near Tirana. The meeting was attended by about 20 people, mainly left-wing nationalists, including some guerrilla leaders and patriots, and in addition to representatives of the Communist Party, there was also an important non-communist figure, namely the monarchist Abbas Kubi, and right-wing nationalists, mainly southern landlords and liberals, refused to attend. This conference established a national united front, the National Liberation Movement.
The congress defined the national liberation program formulated by the Communist Party, the main contents of which were: the struggle for an uncompromising struggle against the fascist invaders and traitors and for the establishment of a free, independent and democratic Albania; Firmly organize all political Albanians, regardless of class, political belief, religion or region, into the national liberation and united line; The establishment of national liberation conferences in various localities as organs for uniting and mobilizing people in the struggle: to propagate and prepare for the general uprising of the people's armed forces, which is the final stage and inevitable result of guerrilla warfare.
The General Council supervises the National National Liberation Council and the party units. According to Hoxha's proposals, those areas that had not yet been liberated were to serve as propaganda apparatus, to collect information necessary for the war, to engage in espionage, to organize economic struggles against the Italian capitalist companies, to destroy the accumulation of agricultural products of the fascists: and in those areas already liberated by the partisans, local councils would be formed, which would serve as "organs of people's power".
After this meeting, the number of guerrilla detachments and local volunteers increased rapidly. According to the history of the Party, by the end of 1942 there were about 2,000 partisans in the country, as well as a large number of local troops and reservists.
The success of the Pesa Conference and the establishment of the "National Liberation Front" marked the official birth of the Albanian national resistance, which united the anti-fascist forces of all factions, called on the Albanian people to fight for the independence of their homeland, smashed the conspiracy of the separatist resistance forces in Kruja, and promoted the vigorous development of the resistance movement.
At the same time, the power of the front was effectively controlled by the Albanian Communist Party, and its establishment greatly enhanced the position and power of the Albanian Communist Party in the country, making it possible to seize state power after the war.