It seemed as if spring was near. There were many who spoke out, who raised their heads. Enver Hoxha was scared. After almost 12 years of governing with a strong fist, his positions were shaking. It was April 1956 and that event was taking place, which remained in history as the “Tirana Party Conference”. A conference that was characterized by a high critical spirit towards the senior leadership of the Albanian People’s Party and its state policies, but the consequences for the critics would come later: expulsion from the party, arrests, imprisonment…! With a significant title, the historian Ana Lalaj has titled her work, which is dedicated to this very event: “The False Spring of '56”, dedicated “To those who dared” and opened with two verses by Kadare: “Early fruits have a high price, but early fruits are often knocked down by frost”. The historian, with meticulous work, undertakes to shed light on this event.
What happened during the days of the Conference, who the critics were, the questions about the political and economic situation of the country, the position taken by Enver Hoxha, the role of the Soviet advisors who were in Albania, and then the measures taken by Enver Hoxha.
Historian Lalaj has brought this atmosphere of honor through a deep analysis and a vast corpus of documents from the time.
The conference as a critical movement in the party, or a secret movement to overthrow the party leadership, as presented by Albanian communist historiography? Versions of manipulation of the conference by the Yugoslavs, but also by the Soviets. Was the conference a communist dissidence or not?
Lalaj answers these hypotheses and questions in her work, published by "Infbotues". In the first part of the book, she lists the events, while in the second part she brings us documents related to this event.
They are minutes of meetings, "secret" information, reports, which bring to our attention the main figures of the time, from Enver Hoxha, who also considered what happened at the conference as a personal attack, to Mehmet Shehu, Liri Belishova, Hysni Kapo, Beqir Balluku, etc.
Through these documents, the political theater of the time unfolds, in which the fates of many important figures of the Albanian People's Liberation Army were decided. One of these documents is the one related to the arrest of Bedri Spahiu.
Everyone admits, even Enver Hoxha, that there was no fact proving that it was he who was behind the Tirana Conference and to justify this unfounded action, an alibi was needed.
“We arrested him because he wanted to kill himself,” – Enver Hoxha would say. There was no evidence for Tuk Jakovë either, but the party decided to transfer them, release one and take him to Berat, the other to Elbasan…!
Excerpt from the book "False Spring", by Ana Lalaj
"We arrested Bedriu out of fear that he would kill himself. All critics at the Tirana Conference and in the Party organizations have singled out the rehabilitation of Tuk Jakova and Bedri Spahiu as a sign of expected reflection in the spirit of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union."
It is known that this request not only did not bring them rehabilitation, but also led to their arrest, allegedly as behind-the-scenes organizers of the conference. The following material, among other things, shows how Bedri Spahiu, member of the Politburo, Minister of Education, had been arrested earlier, in June 1955, without criminal evidence.
(Taken with abbreviations from the minutes of the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Tirana Party, on June 2, 1955).
COMRADE ENVER HOXHA: Now, the case of Bedriu. What are we going to do, are we going to keep him in or are we going to release him? I talked about it with Mehmet and Tishenko, who told me: "Whatever you do, if you keep him in, you will also take him to court, and if he goes there, we need judicial evidence." I told him that we only have party evidence, that he denies everything else.
Tuku didn't tell us anything either, because if Tuku had said; "we wanted this Bureau to be overthrown", then it would have been something else. Now we took this measure, after we judged that Bedriu gave signs that he would kill himself and there would be a scandal.
The decision of the Central Committee was to expel him from the party and give him a job. “Even if he kills himself,” said Tishenko, “what good will it do?! A man who is an enemy, let him kill himself! Then, if he wants, he can kill himself even in prison.”
The people will ask why he killed himself, but in any case, they will find out that this issue will be raised in the party. I also talked to Gjovalin Luka. He wrote a letter in which he asked to talk to me about some issues, because, according to him, “there is chauvinism among us, there is provincialism in the work with the cadre, and there are comrades in the Central Committee who do not work well…”!
Today, Gjovalini's wife called Haxhiu (Kroi) and told him that "Gjovalini is going crazy and that what the Commander says is right." Tishenko said that Gjovalini's immunity should be lifted and now we have to decide for him. We must follow this issue carefully.
COMRADE MEHMET SEHU: We should also remove Gjovalini from the Friendship Society.
COMRADE ENVER HOXHA: “I understand what the Yugoslavs have done to you,” said Tishenko. They have been after you, but in these things you need cool-headedness. This is how the Central Committee of our Party acted. Our Central Committee knew that Bagirov was involved in Beria’s affairs, but it did not arrest him. After 78 months, facts emerged and they caught him and put him in prison. Facts will surely emerge about these people too.”
COMRADE MEHMET SEHU: Then we have the situation in hand, let's not arrest them now.
COMRADE ENVER HOXHA: We consider these to be a headache, we must follow them carefully to see how far this work has been organized and neutralize it. But our situation now is much stronger than in 1948. Be careful here, especially in the general attitude towards the Yugoslavs.
He (Tishenko) advised me that in the "Notes for Agitators" block, we should explain the Yugoslav issue simply and clearly, so that the Party agitators would have materials and be oriented in their propaganda.
Then the correspondent of “Pravda” gave me an article to write. It is good to do it and I say that this orients and helps. As for the work on this issue in the party, he agreed to hold plenums in the districts, where the main cadres could also be summoned. This should be done in the districts too…!
Now let's return to the case of Bedriu. We told him that he has his cup full. This man fully thought that he would be arrested. Before, it seems, I gave him books and among them was a book by Antonio Gramsci, "Lettere dal carcere", which was dedicated to me by an Italian who came to Albania.
Apparently, he had this book at home and brought it in his bag on the last day of the plenum, Friday morning, and said to Haxhiu: “Give it to the Commander.” By this, he meant to say, “I am Gramsci and you are the fascists who arrested me.” Before he was arrested, he did not go to the car, but waited in the hall, meaning he was prepared for this. What do you think now, should we release him?
COMRADE GOGO NUSHI: I called Nedo (Bedri Spahiu's wife) and told her where Bedriu was. "I'm Korba!" she said. "I told her, look at the Party." She was very worried.
COMRADE HYSNI KAPO: Nedo condemns Bedriu's stance and I don't know if she will be able to express hatred towards him. She said that during this plenum, he was not prepared at all, like other times.
COMRADE BEQIR BALLUKU: Gogo told Nedo that; "We arrested Bedriu so he wouldn't kill himself."
COMRADE MEHMET SHEHU: Before he leaves Tirana, will he come to the grassroots organization to give an account?
COMRADE RITA MARKO: This is a party rule, it must come.
COMRADE GOGO NUSHI: To leave once and then come back.
COMRADE MEHMET SHEHU: If that's the case, then we need to find him a job immediately, starting tomorrow. What kind of job can he be placed in? Any of us can name him, but I think it would be better in Berat. That's where the local industry and carpentry enterprise is.
Now let's think about making him a director of the company, or a department head, with a salary of 4,500 lek and appointing Mita (Jakova) as a teacher in one of the 7-year schools. Now, their salaries should not be cut. Then, we should take measures to give them a minimum share of their spoils.
COMRADE LIRI BELISHOVA: Let them take whatever loot they have, and so should Bedriu. If we release Bedriu, we must immediately find him a job, and so should Nedo. As soon as Bedriu gets out of prison, we can immediately put him on a truck and send him from Tirana to Elbasan or Korça.
COMRADE RITA MARKO and COMRADE BEQIR BALLUKU: (in unison): Better in Elbasan.
COMRADE MEHMET SEHU: Let's find the work ahead and then let it go.
COMRADE ENVER HOXHA: Accountant in a commercial enterprise. He is a card man and has shown himself to be honest in financial matters.
COMRADE MEHMET SHEHU: I think we should blame Rita for this issue./ Memorie.al
