After Enver Hoxha's speech, held on March 15, 1973, in the apparatus of the Presidium of the People's Assembly, where the main topic was "The fight against foreign and liberal performances and their influence on art, culture, literature and the entire life of the country", a speech that had been preceded by the one held in the Politburo in January of that year, where he criticized and attacked for the first time the 11th National Song Festival on Radio-Television, in addition to the party organizations and committees in Tirana and throughout the country, which began numerous meetings "in the spirit of Comrade Enver's speech", the organs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and State Security also undertook a campaign of arrests and "discoveries of hostile groups".
Regarding this, etc., there is a "Top Secret" document, extracted from the Archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, part of a voluminous file of the former State Security, from 1974, which talks about how several hostile groups were discovered and attacked, such as: "Gargarelët", "Holls", "Sirena e fitores" and "Fafajc", from Tirana, Lezha, Durrës, Korça, Berat, Shkodra, Fieri, Elbasan, Tropoja and Tepelena, who were carrying out agitation and propaganda and distributing tracts and leaflets against the communist regime, which among other things states: "The 'Holls', 'Fafajc' and 'Sirena e fitores' groups also had pronounced organizational nuances, they had replaced the cards of the BRPSH (Union of the Youth of Labor of Albania) with the group's booklets, they paid a quota, worked to create a financial fund, had appointed the commissioner and the group's chairman, kept different nicknames, slogans and counter-slogans, each to relate to each other…”!
According to the document in question, which is a summary of a voluminous file where all the work of the State Security towards these "hostile groups" is "documented", in the period 1973-'74, in reality they were nothing more than some young teenagers, or even groups of young people who at that time followed fashion, wore long hair, watched shows on foreign television channels of neighboring countries, etc., whom the State Security labeled and accused as; "Hostile groups", who "had dropped tracts and leaflets with hostile content".
SECURITY DOCUMENT FOR THE DETECTION OF THE “ENEMY GROUPS” “GARGARELËT”, “HOLLS”, “SIREN OF VICTORY” AND “FAFAJC”
Within the second half of 1973, 10 hostile groups with over 50 members operating in the districts of Tirana, Korça, Durrës, Vlorë, Shkodër, Berat, Fier, Elbasan, etc. were pursued, discovered and attacked. It turned out that “Holls” which had been created in 1971 at the Medical High School in Vlorë and which later spread to several districts, “Sirena e fitores” which was created in Durrës, “Fafajc” which was created in Lezha, “Gargarelët” in Tirana, etc., initially had vagrancy, debauchery tendencies, were addicted to Western fashion and lifestyle, listened to and watched shows on foreign radio and television, and gradually moved on to hostile activities in agitation and propaganda and sharp hostile activities.
Initially, they carried out their activities as individuals, even in groups of two or three, and gradually expanded their ranks with other young people, who displayed strange behaviors. The groups "Holls", "Fafajc" and "Sirena e fitores" also had strong organizational nuances; they had replaced their BRPSH cards with group booklets, paid membership fees, worked to create a financial fund, appointed a commissioner and group chairman, and had different nicknames, slogans and counter-slogans, each to connect with one another.
From simple actions that at first did not seem hostile, they gradually moved on to committing hostile acts, preparing and throwing anonymous leaflets, letters and tracts with strongly hostile content against the Party and the popular government. This was the case of the group "Sirena e fitores" that threw tracts at the Agricultural Mechanics High School in Shkozet, Durrës, through which they called for a violent uprising against the popular government, the "Gargarelët" that threw leaflets in Tirana, etc.
In all these groups there was a desire to escape abroad. They also came out against the speeches of Comrade Enver Hoxha and the 4th Plenum of the Albanian People's Party, taking the enemies of the people, Fadil Paçrami and Todi Lubonja, under their protection. Their peculiarity was their spread and expansion throughout the country in a short time. Thus, such as "Holls", "Sirena e fitores", "Gargarelët" etc., from 2-3 people they had at the beginning, within 2-3 months they increased to 7-10 people.
They did not initially appear to have counter-revolutionary overtones, as 90 percent of them came from families with good political standing, some of whom had communist parents, which made it very difficult for the Sigurimi officers to detect and crack down on them in their infancy. Another feature was the intertwining of this hostile activity with that of anti-party and declassed elements, and the hostile activity of these degenerate elements was more widespread in cities than in villages.
The difficulty in the work of the State Security Bodies in discovering and cracking down on this activity in a timely manner was that while the activity within their ranks spread quickly, it could not be ascertained from the first steps with counter-revolutionary nuances and intentions, because most of the young people who were implicated had a good political and moral stance. Despite this, their dismantling was easier than with the elderly, but it was not ascertained easily from the beginning.
From the processing that was done, these features were achieved and it became possible to document, strike and prevent this hostile activity within 3-4 months. Of the 50 main members of these groups, only 11 were struck, while the others were counseled and unmasked in the presence of their families, in mass organizations, work centers and schools. Although the majority of the members of the groups were of good political and moral background, this did not become an obstacle to acting late, as was done with the “Holls” group. Although the problem was centralized in the center, it was acted late both by the sector in the Ministry and by the Internal Affairs Branches in Tepelena, Tropoja and the Army Security.
“If the influences and manifestations of the revisionist way of life are not combated in their infancy, they pave the way for the depravity and degeneration of people who are so dangerous for the cause of socialism,” said Comrade Enver Hoxha at the Fourth Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party. It turned out that behind the young people with good moral and political composition, there stood and hid the hand of the class enemy, who incited and encouraged them to carry out pronounced hostile activities. The fact that this group included several hostile elements, who were the main ones who incited and led others to sharp hostile actions, made it necessary to pursue to the end the connections and threads of this activity with hostile elements of other directions.
It is concluded here that moral degeneration leads to political degeneration. Thus, most of the groups discovered and cracked down on in 1973-74, had been for reasons of vagrancy, moral depravity, which led them to actions of a political nature. This was also influenced by the hostile work of the conspirators who were at the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and who in practice, in most cases, the problems were divided: This is simple, it belongs to the police, this is a subject of work for the Security, etc. The Party, noting this distorted practice, criticized it and assigned tasks to strengthen cooperation between the bodies, the crime prosecution sector in the center and the districts.
Rather, the dynamics of increasing the processing of elements with young ages and with a current hostile background and attitude should have been followed, because the age up to 25 years old accounted for the largest number of processing and the declassed elements were not evaluated and followed properly, in this regard. Instead of taking this element into processing, those who were not enemies, but who were influenced by enemies, were actually taken. Attention, - the Party emphasized, - should have been focused more on the ranks of the declassed, to penetrate deeper, in order to study, select and withdraw them into service, as qualified collaborators, carrying out more operational actions.
SECRET ARCHIVE DOCUMENT OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR WITH THE OPERATIONAL COMMUNICATION DATED DECEMBER 11, 1973, ANNOUNCING THE ARREST OF EIGHT PERSONS IN THE LEZHA DISTRICT, WHO HAD CREATED THE “FAFAIC” ORGANIZATION
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA Secret
MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Copy No. 1
DIRECTORATE OF ADMINISTRATION AND STUDIES Tirana, 11.12.1973
OPERATIONAL COMMUNICATION NO. 291
LEZHA
On 10.12.1973, at 6:00 p.m., they were arrested;
1). Ramadan Abaz Zhejani, 18 years old, born in the village of Melgushë, Shkodra and residing in Lezha, with 11th grade education, his father is a worker, with a good political stance;
2). Festim Sefer Meta, 17 years old, born and residing in Lezha, with 9th grade education, his father was an officer of our bodies, currently working at the NBSH, worker, good political stance;
3). Themi Ismail Rama, 15 years old, born and residing in Lezha, with 8th grade education, his father is a tailor, his family has a good political stance;
4). Agim Riza Përgega, 15 years old, born and residing in Lezha, with 10th grade education, his father a party member, working at the Lezha Agricultural Enterprise;
5). Agron Xhemal Bërdica, 17 years old, born and residing in Lezha, with 8th grade education, working at PTT Lezha (mail delivery), his father is a clerk (accountant), his family has a good political stance;
6). Jorgo Koço Fedho, 16 years old, born and residing in Lezha, his father a party member, former officer of the People's Army, currently working at the Collection Enterprise, family with a good political stance;
7). Çlirim Beqir Mujo, 16 years old, born and residing in Lezha, with 6th grade education, father a party member, working as a baker;
8). Gegë Prend Loci, 21 years old, born and residing in Ishull – Lezhë, discharged from the army in November, currently unemployed, with 6th grade, father member of the agricultural cooperative, family with good political standing.
The ban was imposed because the aforementioned individuals had created a vagrancy organization, under the pseudonym “Fafaic.” According to their preliminary depositions, they intended to commit vagrancy acts, and had assigned a task and pseudonym to each member of the organization.
The meetings were held in an old bunker outside the city, where several old bags, pieces of plasma and bottles of alcohol were found. The case is being followed up by the Branch's investigation. Details will be provided later.
directory
PILO SHANTO
HANDWRITTEN NOTE OF THE HEADS OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERIOR IN THE OPERATIVE COMMUNICATION, FOR THE “FAFAIC” ORGANIZATION IN LEZHA
First Directorate
The Branch should be assisted in completing this work quickly.
The measures should be viewed carefully.
Please notify comrade Hysni and comrade Bajram in advance. / Memorie.al
