By DASHNOR KALOÇI

On October 16, 1973, while the whole world was closely following the bloody conflict in the Middle East between Israel and the Arab countries, otherwise known as the “Yom Kippur War” that lasted a month, the main leader of communist Albania, Enver Hoxha, together with his two closest associates, the secretaries of the Central Committee of the Albanian People’s Liberation Army, Hysni Kapo and Ramiz Alia, received a group of senior military officers from the Ministry of People’s Defense, who had gone to his villa in the center of the “Bloc” of leadership, to wish him a happy birthday. During his speech, after welcoming them, the communist leader Enver Hoxha spoke to them about the situation in the international arena, where the armed conflict in the Middle East was the center of attention.

The above is known from an archival document, extracted from the fund of the former Central Committee of the Albanian People's Party, where among other things, in a conversation with senior military officers, Enver Hoxha spoke about the role of the superpowers (the USA and the Soviet Union) in the Middle East conflict, focusing on the strategic importance of Arab oil. At that time (October 1973), communist Albania was in an important phase of its foreign policy, after the first rifts with the People's Republic of China led by Mao Zedong had begun, after the visit to Beijing of the US President, Richard Nixon, which would lead to the infinite isolation of official Tirana from the whole world.

In that meeting, which took place at a time of high tensions in the international arena, Enver Hoxha in his speech also focused on "the unity of the army with the party, analyzing the dangers that threatened Albania and the position of the Albanian state towards the interventions of superpowers in regional conflicts". His speech remains an important testimony of the political language of that time and the diplomatic strategy of official Tirana, where its main leader, Enver Hoxha, tried to interpret international crises, presenting Albania as a "principled island in a sea of ​​imperialist intrigues"! For more information, see the document in question, which Memorie.al is publishing in full, in the context of the events currently taking place in the Middle East.

ARCHIVE DOCUMENT OF ENVER HOXHA'S MEETING WITH A GROUP OF MILITARY OFFICERS FROM THE MINISTRY OF DEFENSE, HELD AT HIS HOUSE, WHERE HYSNI KAPO AND RAMIZ ALIA WERE ALSO PRESENT

"THE PARTY TEACHES US TO WORK, TO CREATE, TO WATCH AND TO DEFEND"

From a conversation with a group of soldiers

October 16, 1973

Welcome, friends, thank you for visiting.

I am very pleased that we are maturing. I rewarded you with joys. The honor that you pay me belongs to our heroic Party, which educated and tempered us, which taught us and teaches us every day how to fight and work continuously and better, for the high interests of our brave people.

Therefore, we dedicate our lives to it, to our dear Party. What we have done for the wonderful people of our country is very little. No matter how much a person works, no matter how long his life is, it cannot be said that he has fully fulfilled his duty to his homeland and people.

All of us are always indebted to the people who gave birth to us and raised us, therefore we must serve them faithfully until death. As you know, the external and internal dangers that may befall Albania are not impossible, therefore the Party teaches us to work, to create, to watch and to protect. In the Middle East the Arabs are fighting against the Zionists, the American imperialists and the Soviet social-imperialists.

Both imperialist superpowers, based on their own interests, are doing everything they can to keep the Arab peoples in slavery, so that their wealth serves the American and Soviet imperialists, and therefore the current war has its source in their greed to seize the wealth of the Arab peoples, who want to be liberated and live freely.

The State of Israel is nothing more than a weapon in the hands of the Americans, while the Soviets play the role of a fire engine in the liberation war of the Arab peoples, who have awakened to oppose colonialism and neo-colonialism.

The interests of the imperialists and the aspirations of the Arab peoples are clashing, confronting each other on the battlefield. Do not forget, comrades, that the war is taking place here in the Mediterranean basin, close to us, and its flames may spread beyond the state borders of the warring parties.

The Arab peoples, regardless of the degree of unity among them, united in the fight against the common enemy. Thus, a favorable situation has been created for their war, which neither the Americans nor the Soviets want.

This revolutionary situation, if it continues, will contribute to the strengthening and hardening of Arab unity to the detriment of the American and Soviet imperialists. In the ongoing war, these peoples will better uncover the intrigues and plots of the enemies, will enrich the experience of resistance against them and will win.

In this war, the Arabs will know their friends and enemies even better and will know how to appreciate more accurately what freedom and independence are, won with blood, sweat and sacrifice. This revolutionary moment in the Middle East has shaken the entire capitalist world.

The issue here is not the loss of the Sinai desert, but the huge interests of capitalist oil corporations. The Arabian subsoil holds 7 percent of all oil reserves in the world, so, relative to the surface of the earth, this is a considerable amount.

If this armed conflict disrupts the supply of oil, the imperialists will be in trouble all over again. There is a high possibility that the imperialists will intervene in this war, and it can even be said that their intervention has already begun.

The Americans are sending weapons to Israel, some news reports say that the Soviets are also sending a few weapons to the Arabs. The Soviets actually do not want to help the Arabs at all, because their common interests with the United States of America are much greater, so they do not want to confront them, but they have found themselves in a tight spot in the eyes of world public opinion and have nothing to do.

It is understood that under these conditions the fate of the war depends on the resistance of the Arabs themselves. We, as you know, have been and will be on the side of the Arab peoples and all other peoples fighting for freedom and independence. The stronger, more vigilant, more armed and more prepared for defense we are, the more our friends are helped.

We are a small country, but with the opportunities we have, we support our friends without reservation. When it comes to defending our homeland and our friends, we fear no one, on the contrary, our enemies fear us, not because we have missiles and mirages, but because we have ideological weapons that clarify world opinion.

These weapons are stronger and have much more effect than rockets and mirages. Here lies the reason for the great love and respect that the peoples of the world have for Albania. In Arab countries, as in all other countries of our globe, they speak of Albania for its fair and principled stance towards international events.

My friends present, Hysniu and Ramiz, and I thank you very much for the visit you made to us, dear comrades of the war, officers of our glorious army. Among you there are also veterans who have retired, but we are all one, because we have come out of the war.

Convey to all comrades, soldiers, officers, non-commissioned officers and veterans of our People's Army, our warmest greetings, the best wishes of the Party and its Central Committee. I invite you to raise a toast to our glorious Party and to our brave army! Long live the Party! / Memorie.al