Musine kokalari
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Social Democracy in Albania Tirana, 2016 Alina Wagner
MUSINE KOKALARI and
Social Democracy in Albania Tirana, 2016 Alina Wagner The publication was enabled by: “Friedrich Ebert” Foundation Tirana Office Rr. „Abdi Toptani“, Torre Drin, Kati 3-të, Kutia Postare 1418 Tirana, Albania Tel: +355 04 2250986 / 04 2273306: Fax: +355 04 22622067 www.fes-tirana.org Year of Publication: 2016 Design and print: Albdesign PSP ISBN: 978-9928-215-08-6 Author: Alina Wagner Translated to Albanian by: Adelina Albrahimi Friedrich Ebert Foundation’s publications cannot be used for commercial purposes without a prior written approval.
List of Abbreviations Acronym Definition: CP LNC
LSI PSD
Communist Party National Liberation Front (Fronti Nacional Çlirimtare) Socialist Movement for Integration (Lëvizja Socialiste për Integrim) Social Democratic Party (Partia Socialdemokrate e Shqipërisë) MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania 5 MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania Contents 1. About Social Democracy....................................................................8 2. The Foundation of the Social Democratic Party of Albania................9 3. A Social Democratic Party Program..................................................11 4. The Note to the Allies.......................................................................12 5. Kokalari’s Impact on the Albanian Political and Social Culture: Is Social Democracy still present or possible?....................................13 6. References........................................................................................17 7. Appendix..........................................................................................19 • The Ten-Point Program of the Nationalist Organization Balli Kombëtar • Memorandum of the Democratic Union addressed to the Allies • The Program of the Social Democratic Party • Excerpt from Kokalari’s trial
6 MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania 7 MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania Introduction When thinking about Social Democracy, Albania is probably on the very bottom of the list of countries that would come to mind. It is not surprising since most of the time politicians overshine their political parties, and names such as Friedrich Ebert, Willy Brandt, Olof Palme and Helmut Schmidt weigh heavier in the history of politics than the name Musine Kokalari. It is not because of lesser intellect, or age, or the fact that she was a woman but rather repressive surroundings that nip new ideas in the bud. In attempts to found the first Albanian Social Democratic Party (Partia
political views and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment, of which she served 16. Musine Kokalari remains one of the brightest and most important writers in her country, the first woman to get published in Albania and an exemplary symbol of the repressions in the Enver Hoxha regime. So far little has been published about Kokalari’s political engagement (in the English language (or any other for that matter), limiting Social Democracy to a mere Northern and Western European phenomenon. The beginning of Social democratic ideals were also present in Albania yet democracy in general has always had a troublesome history of paving its way in the autocratic environment of the country. In retrospective, it is inevitable that Musine Kokalari and the initiators around her had to fail, however, based on a given Social democratic history in Albania, has anything been learned from this? Is Social Democracy still present or possible in Albania? In an attempt to broaden the understanding and perception of Social Democracy, it is crucial to also illuminate ‘failed’ endeavors. This paper primarily seeks to give an account of Social democratic trends in Albania with special emphasis on Musine Kokalari and her struggle for pluralism. And secondly it serves as a reminder, not only of the atrocities in the Communist regime, but also for the necessity to have an ongoing discourse about historical and social issues that accumulated over decades. Given the complexity as well as the depth of the subject, covering the topic in its entirety is well beyond the scope of this work. For that reason this paper will not discuss Kokalari’s academic and personal life in the detail it requires, nor can it offer a thorough understanding of the ideologies and
8 MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania the history of Social Democracy. Therefore, the focus will remain on the historical facts (mostly taken from Kokalari’s essays) that led to the forming of the Party and the Social democratic ‘left-overs’ in present day Albania. The first section of the paper will provide a short definition of what Social Democracy is before proceeding with the historical background on the foundation of the Social Democratic Party of Albania. Based on this overwiew, the final section ‘’Kokalari’s Impact on the Albanian Political and Social Culture: Is Social Democracy still present or possible?’’ will conclude with some thoughts on Social Democracy in present day Albania. 1. About Social Democracy With the news reportages on the ‘crisis of Social Democracy in Europe’ or on the former Democratic Party candidate Bernie Sanders in the US Presidential Elections, the public is given technical terms and words that it might be unfamiliar with. Essentially, the term Social Democracy is not unknown but as media coverage on it increased in the US and Europe, it is a general necessity to specify what Social Democracy is. The term ‘’democracy’’ is an essential part, since in the 19 th
and 20 th
century socialists started to categorize themselves as „social democrats“ in order to differentiate themselves from other socialists who opposed democracy (Cf. Berman 2005:3). According to the Online Encyclopaedia Britannica Social Democracy is defined as follows: ‘’Social democracy, [a] political ideology that advocates a peaceful, evolutionary transition of society from capitalism to socialism using established political processes. Based on 19th-century socialism and the tenets of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, social democracy shares common ideological roots with communism but eschews its militancy and totalitarianism. Social democracy was originally known as revisionism because it represented a change in basic Marxist doctrine, primarily in the former’s repudiation of the use of revolution to establish a socialist society.“ Breaking that down into its simplest and elementary definition, one could describe it as a compromise between Socialism and Capitalism. In this aspect, as writes a modern scholar, ‘’social democrats are socialists without the courage of revolutionary conviction or socialists who have chosen ballots over bullets (Berman 2005:3).’’
9 MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania 2. The Foundation of the Social Democratic Party of Albania In 1972 Kokalari finished writing her book Si lindi Partia Social Demokrate (engl. How the Social Democratic Party was born), a personal account on the founding of the party and the people involved. Information regarding the roots of Social Democracy in Albania is very scarce, limited and so far not widely debated. It comes as no surprise because historically Albania does not have a lot of experience with it. Unlike Germany, Albania did not have the experience of a worker’s movement or the creation of trade unions nor did it benefit from the revolution of 1848/49 that brought forth strong theoretical principles to Europe (Cf. Potthoff and Miller 2006:5). However, it has not been entirely insular to movements either. When Kokalari founded the party in 1943, Albania had encountered several national developments. According to the writer’s memories the Rilindja period was very much alive when Italian fascists occupied Albania in 1939. Rilindja Kombëtare, or Albanian National Awakening that lasted from the 1870s up until the declaration of independence in 1912, resulted in a strengthened sense of the Albanian identity (in cultural, political and social aspects). The national movement came rather late, even for a Balkan nation compared to others in the 19 th
century. Alongside nation building that strongly corelates with the intellectual work of the Frashëri brothers, the October Revolution in Russia has left its marks on Albania as well: ‘’[…] Communist groups sprang up here and there, though not everywhere in the country, who adhered to principles that were unclear and not uniform (Kokalari 1972).’’ Furthermore considerably later also came the formation of a Communist Party (CP). In fact Albania had been the only Balkan country without such a party in the beginning of the 1920s. A Communist Party had been officially formed in the Soviet Union by 1928, while it was not until 1941 that a unified CP was founded in Albania with Enver Hoxha as the Party Secretary. Musine Kokalari and Enver Hoxha originate from the same family and are closely- related cousins. Their childhood houses in Gjirokastër are within five minutes of walking distance from each other. Born in 1917 in Adana (Turkey) to parents of Gjirokastër origin, Kokalari early showed signs of love 10 MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania for writing. In 1938 she left for Italy to study literature in Rome where she graduated in 1941. A year later she joined the antifascist and anticommunist movement in Rome, later in the Albanian capital Tirana (Zhiti 2012). Shortly after the formation of the National Liberation Front (LNC) - a resistance organization that fought against the German occupiers in Albania - the anticommunist resistance movement Balli Kombëtar (engl. The National Front) was created, a heterogeneous organization of people with various political views and a more or less democratic platform that considered themselves as simple patriots (Kokalari 1972). To unify the LNC and Balli Kombëtar, Kokalari proposed to join the National Liberation Front not as individuals but as a democratic group, or better, as a party. By getting both movements together and forming a basic democratic union, they could have been able to fight the occupiers more intensly (Ibid.). The crucial point however is that Social Democracy was supposed to serve as a ‘middle way’ to attract undecided forces (Ibid.). Because of disputes with the future wife of Enver Hoxha (Nexhmije Xhuglini), Kokalari left LNC and tried to re- establish the idea of a Social Democratic Party with other people. In 1932 Kokalari encountered the lawyer Skënder Muço, the literature professor Isuf Luzaj and the linguist Selman Riza who shared many common values with Kokalari. Muço, as well as the others, were worried about the direction the war was headed. After the feuds with the dictator’s future wife, Musine once again proposed the idea of forming a democratic coalition while relying on the Ten-Point Programme in accordance to Balli Kombëtar (Appendix 1). The group then published a brochure announcing their party creation (Ibid.). This endeavor (maybe as expected), was destined to fail as on one hand Muço and Luzaj had a power struggle as to who should be in charge of the group, and on the other, the leaders of Balli Kombëtar were not really interested in democracy and wanted to continue their course as before: ‘’The democratic alternative was in a tragic state, as usual, caught between the Communists on the one side and the leaders of Balli on the other, who were all exerting personal influence to keep power for themselves. A tragic moment (Ibid.).“ Nonetheless the group managed to publish a newspaper called ‘Zëri i lirisë’ 11 MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania (engl. The Voice of Freedom) that correlated to their party with Musine Kokalari being the driving force behind it.
A Social Democratic Party Program Within the newspaper, in February 1944, Musine published the Program of the Social Democratic Party (Apendix 2). In it the Party demands political freedom, which ensures the right of every citizen to practice freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the freedom to vote: ‘’The main reason for restrictions on political freedoms is [the lack of] social justice (Kokalari 1944).’’ Striking is the fact that Kokalari supported the idea of a Balkan confederation, an idea that emerged in the beginning of the 20 th
century by mostly Social Democratic parties in the Balkan peninsula. Apart from that the Party Program represents far more than a simple presentation of the party’s objectives. It highlights the four key elements of democracy itself: • A political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections. • The active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life. • Protection of the human rights of all citizens. • A rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citi- zens (Cf. Hilla University Lecture 2004). Despite the fact that they were able to publish six issues of the newspaper, Kokalari was doubting its success. The people behind the newspaper (Kokalari, Muço, Luzaj and Riza) never met again. The lawyer Skënder Muço was executed by German troops in 1944. Within Kokalari’s (and Hoxha’s for that matter) own family 14 people were persecuted. Two of her brothers were arrested and then murdered by so-called ‘liberation soldiers’. One day later Kokalari herself has been captured and interrogated. In November of the same year she has been released and witnessed the liberation of Albania. According to Kokalari that event marked the end of the Rilindja period ‘’and democratic endeavours by humane individuals who wanted to defend the poor, to protect the workers in order to save them from physical and intellectual slavery, to protect their human dignity (Ibid.).’’ Thus, the dictatorship of the 12 MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania Communists began and people who dared to voice their wish for political pluralism soon faced prison or even death.
The Note to the Allies In the aftermath of the war, in November 1945 the British, American, French, Yugoslav and Soviet missions were still active in Albania. The summer of 1945 brought forth a new Albanian constitution that was simply a copy of the Yugoslav one (Cf. Vickers 2014:155). As the new government sought recognition, the Westeners demanded democratic elections. Around that time Musine more or less withdrew from political engagement and was working in her bookshop in Tirana. There were talks about elections taking place on 2 December 1945. In the same year Shaban Balla, a figure active in the resistance, visited Musine Kokalari a few times and explained that they ought to do something and support the British. Initially Kokalari was not interested since she had been close to reimprisonment and did not want to get involved in other people’s activities, especially not underground (Cf. Kokalari 1972). Nonetheless she agreed to ask for moral support from the Allies in form of a writing in order to postpone elections so that other parties could take part in them, initiating a pluralist government: ‘’We had little hope, yet something had to be done. I stuck by what I had said and did not endeavour to find out what other groups were up to. I kept my distance from other people and groups, and only expressed my idea about the Note when I was asked (Ibid.).’’ In a meeting held in November 1945 Musine formed a Note (Appendix 3) explaining the current situation in Albania and proposing to postpone elections so that various political groups could take part in them. Among the people who signed the Note were four monarchists (people who supported the former Albanian King Zog), four people from the resistance, a friend of Kokalari with Social democratic orientation and Musine herself. Balla then submitted copies of the Note to the Americans and to the British (Ibid.). The Allies however, did not intervene with the government and kept silent on the matter which logically resulted in their inevitable: One by one the signees were arrested and accused of overthrowing the government. The 13 MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania consequences for all these people are easily imaginable: Some were shot (among them Shaban Balla), most of them imprisoned. In court, defending her positions until the very end (although her fate was already sealed), Musine accepted the charges according to the government (Appendix 4). Kokalari was then sentenced to 30 years of prison, later reduced to 20 of which she served 16 (Zhiti 2012). Terminally sick with breast cancer in her later years, Kokalari was denied treatment at the local hospital. She died in complete isolation in 1983. Regardless of the persecution she faced during her lifetime, her funeral couldn’t have been more demoting. The coffin was made out of left-overs that were collected from a construction ground and a security officer from the region has been advised to tie the dead body’s hands (Ibid.).
Kokalari’s Impact on the Albanian Political and Social Culture: Is Social Democracy still present or possible? Today’s Albania has little to do with (Social) Democracy, and this for several reasons. It is inarguable that Musine Kokalari has an impact on Albanian history. However she is mostly remembered as a victim of the Communist regime and a gifted storyteller. To the wider public the formation of a Social Democratic Party in the 1940s remains more or less unknown. Did Kokalari’s endeavors leave marks in the Social and Political life in Modern Albania?
Not irrelevant is the notion that in Albania there is no difference between being a ‘Socialist’ or being a ‘Social Democrat’. Even before we start speaking of different types of democracy, democracy itself is something that needs to be discussed. These nuances of political self-determination, which are now so natural in Greater Europe, are a luxury that cannot be found in Albania. When researching for this paper and a definition of Social Democracy, sources were very limited. In fact there is only one definition in the Albanian language, provided by the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation, which is closely associated with the Social Democratic Party of Germany. An ordinary Albanian cannot even consult a Wikipedia article in the Albanian language about Social Democracy, even though two parties exist in Albania which pursue a social democratic orientation. 14 MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania MUSINE KOKALARI and Social Democracy in Albania In 1991 Skënder Gjinushi, a former member of the Party of Labour of Albania, founded the Social Democratic Party of Albania (alb. PSD) that held seats in the Albanian Parliament between 1992 – 1996 and then again from 1997 – 2009 (Cf. Nohlen and Stöver 2010:140-142). Indeed, the party bears the same name as Kokalari’s but it also closely cooperated with the Socialist Party of Albania (‘reformed Socialists’ as they call themselves) with whom they formed coalitions throughout their Parliament activity. To date the PSD remained quite negligible in Albanian politics. Growing prominence and significance gained only the Socialist Movement for Integration (alb. LSI), a party that moderately represents the ‘third way’ between the two major parties (Socialist Party/ Democratic Party) in Albania. The LSI is a result of an inter-party dispute between the LSI leader Ilir Meta and the then leader of the Socialist Party Fatos Nano. Meta’s party emphasizes its non-ideological nature although the theoretical basis is inclined towards the centre-left (as the party supports the European model of social welfare for instance) (Cf. Barbullushi 2014:88-89). In Albania’s current political landscape various factors impede an emergence of real (Social) democratic structures. Discussing the ‘left-overs’ of Social Democracy on Albania’s political stage, it is necessary to consider the following: In order to have ‘left-overs’, there should have been a ‘meal’ in the first place. Social democratic structures as we know them from Greater Europe can be traced back to several developments. In the 18 th - 19
th centuries Europe underwent a variety of social, cultural, political and technological progresses that shaped its states and their national characteristics. The Age of Enlightenment that reoriented Western philosophy, politics and science in terms of questioning authorities and the turn to rationalism, is a predecessor of the 20 th
century Modernism (Cf. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2010). Of equal importance, or even greater one, was the Industrial Revolution which allowed the simple farmer to loosen the ties to his land and cattle and seek working opportunities elsewhere in the country. The formation of trade unions is a major aspect that contributed to the creation of the Social democratic ideology. Resulting in social and economic change on the Continent, the period of Industrialisation brought forth socio-critical theorists, above all its most radical: Karl Marx. In 15 Каталог: media media -> Uşağın fərdi psixoloji hazırlığı 20 azn ağız boşluğunun kompleks peşəkar gigiyenası 80 azn media -> Tibb xidmətinin adı media -> Әrin cәmi vә hәr bir kateqoriya üzrә mәblәği vә kredit portfelindә xüsusi çәki media -> Qeyri-standart kreditlәrin cәmi vә hәr bir kateqoriya üzrә mәblәği vә kredit portfelindә xüsusi çәkisi media -> Ramiz ƏSKƏr türk xalqlari əDƏBİyyati oçerkləRİ-1 Bakı – 2011 media -> AZƏrbaycan miLLİ elmlər akademiyasi folklor institutu qarabağ: folklor da bir tariXDİr V kitab Поделитесь с Вашими друзьями:
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