Subject: M-G: Revolutionary Committees in ALBANIA
Date: Sat, 22 Mar 97 17:35:48 EST




______________________________________


Revolutionary committees 

The media presents the situation in Albania as cchaosd. Of
course. For the ruling class, revolution is cchaosd by
definition. The masses seek to put an end to an existing
corderd which has become intolerable. In the struggle for
power, an element of chaos is inevitable. But in the course of
the struggle the masses discover the need to get
organised. The sovietswbroad-based elected committees to direct
the strugglewwere the expression of this need. In
Albania, committees have already begun to appear in the rebel
areas, to co-ordinate and direct the struggle, to
organise supplies and impose some kind of order. 

The Daily Telegraph (5/3/97) reported: 

cIn Sarande, residents said they were setting up their own
local government in defiance of the Berisha regime.
NWe are going to organise the structures of the cities
ourselves and we will become an example for all Albania,b a
rebel speaker told a 3,000 strong rally. 

One of the peculiarities of the Albanian revolution is that,
with relatively small communities, it is possible to call
together the whole population in the central square to
participate in direct democracy, in a striking parallel with the
ancient Greek city states. This is a far call from the
portrayal of the revolution in the Western media as cchaosd
and canarchy.d Nor does it square with the slander of a
cmovement of drug barons and the Mafiad. Since when
did the Mafia lead popular insurrections and organise mass
meetings to decide on the conduct of affairs? 

In another note we read the following: cIn the three towns
controlled by the rebels they have organised full
blooded Npeoplebsb armies with a hierarchy. There is talk of
thousands of men. There is army training.
Speedboats control the coastline.d 

The article reports that in Vlore the rebels have organised
themselves in a Defence Committee. A certain
cCommittee for the salvation of Vlored. Its leader cBertid
explains that the Committee is made up 31 individuals
representing 17 political formations, among which there are
even the cdissidentsd of the Democratic Party of
Berisha. Berti said: cThis is the committee of the honest
people, which has been joined by the strike committee that
co-ordinated the protests during the last few weeks.d(Il
Sole-24 ore, 8/3/97.) 

With the formation of Defence Committees in the south, we see
the first attempts to put the insurrection on an
organised footing. The exact nature of these committees is not
clear from the limited information. From the above
extract, it seems that at least in some areas they are composed
of the representatives of the political parties, even
some dissident members of the Democratic Party. This should not
surprise us. The democratic spirit which
prevails in every revolution would encourage the idea that
everyone should be allowed a say, with the exception of
the most reactionary elements identified with the ruling
clique. It should be remembered that in 1917 the bourgeois
Cadet Party was represented in the soviets and even got a
reasonable number of votes in the early stages. 

We must take into consideration not just the absence of the
subjective factor, but also a number of objective
elements. The massive destruction of industry over the last six
years will have reduced the specific weight of the
proletariat. In any case, Albania was always a predominantly
peasant society. Nevertheless, we have no doubt that
the workers in the cities in the south will have played the
leading role in the movement, together with the most
energetic layer of the youth. The press has reported the
existence of strike committees, which, to judge from the
above, have apparently been dissolved into the general Defence
Committees. If this is the case (we lack first hand
information) it would be a step back. It is better to have
elected delegates from workplaces and army barracks
rather than committees based on party affiliation alone, which
is restrictive by its very nature and not representative
of the broad masses, above all in a revolutionary situation. 

What will be the future role of these Committees? It is well
known that nature abhors a vacuum. In the absence of
a genuine revolutionary party, other elements will inevitably
come to the fore, old Stalinist leaders purged in recent
years, army officers, some with sincere revolutionary
intentions, others with Bonapartist ambitions, all kinds of
adventurers and local careerists and even more undesirable
elements. A revolution by its very nature stirs up
society to the depths. Alongside the workers and peasants there
are also lumpenproletarians and even the cdark
forcesd which exist on the margins of every society, criminal
elements who inevitably seek to take advantage of
the situation in their own interests. The revolution must keep
these elements under firm control if it is to succeed.
But to imagine that they will not put in an appearance in the
early stages is utopian stupidity. The Western media
exaggerates precisely this element to blacken the image of the
revolution. But so long as the masses are
participating actively, the criminal element will be kept
firmly in their place. Already the Defence Committees in the
south are taking measures, correctly, to introduce order,
taking weapons off children and so on. The Financial
Times (12/3/97) reports: 

cRebels in southern Albania meanwhile formed a committee for
the first time grouping all rebel forces. They
rejected the moves in Tirana to form a coalition government,
demanding instead that the president resign and that
rebel representatives be included in negotiations to set up a
new government7 

cRebels in the south, who have seized control of a third of the
country, have rejected offers of an amnesty and
have refused to lay down their weapons. The fragmented
opposition parties in Tirana admit they have little control
over the rebels7 

cMr Genc Pollo, adviser to the president, accused defecting
army officers of having more allegiance to the old
Communist party that ruled Albania for 47 years. Diplomats
pointed out that conscripts were poorly paid and that
many had also lost their savings when fraudulent pyramid
investment schemes collapsed in January, triggering the
mass revolt in the south. 

cThe rebel leader in Gjirokaster is a retired general, Mr Agim
Gozhita, who has organised a defence committee to
take weapons from everyone under the age of 18 and stop looting
of shops and hospitals.d 

This Agim Gozhita is an ex-army general, purged by Berisha only
six months ago. He is at the head of a
cSalvation Committeed made up of military, civilians and local
authority leaders. His deputy is the mayor of the
town, who is also a member of Berishabs Democratic Party! The
general has ordered that no assaults should be
carried out on army barracks. From this report the cconfusiond
of the movement is evident. There would be
reason to believe that the purged ex-Stalinists are making a
come-back in the South for lack of an alternative. These
elements are obviously preferable for the bourgeois than the
workers! The fact that the strike committee has
dissolved into a wider cSalvation Committeed would prove the
point that the workers are leaderless, and that
someone is slowly beginning to step in. 

Among the insurgents there are undoubtedly elements of the old
bureaucracy. Many ex-army officers are involved.
Berisha had previously purged the cunreliable elementsd; these
are now taking an active part in the uprising.
However it would be wrong to think that the ex-Stalinists of
the Socialist Party are leading the rebellion. The
leadership of the Socialist Party is playing a disgraceful
role. Rexhtep Mejdani, secretary of the Socialist Party,
regards himself as a Social Democrat, and is calling for a
government of ctechnocratsd open to all political forces.
In fact he represents that layer of the ex-Stalinist
bureaucracy that wants a more controlled transition to
capitalism
with an element of social welfare that they hope (erroneously)
would avoid social convulsions. In fact, this would
prepare the way for new disasters for the Albanian people. It
is a measure of the bankruptcy of the ex-Stalinist
leaders that they are incapable of taking power, even when it
is handed to them on a plate. 

If a genuine revolutionary leadership existed, the Defence
Committees could serve as the starting point for the
establishment of real soviets. But no such leadership exists.
The Berisha regime is obviously finished. But what
will take its place? The revolution will triumph, and will have
done so without a party. But history is rich in
examples of situations where the workers take power only to see
it slip through their fingers, as in Germany 1918
and Barcelona 1936-37. If there is no revolutionary party, most
likely the Socialist Party leaders will come to
power, although they were not behind the insurrection and in
practice did all in their power to thwart it. But the
same was true of the Social Democratic leaders in Germany in
1918. Even the existence of workersb and soldiersb
committees did not prevent the revolution from being undermined
by the leadership. Something similar can happen
in Albania. The ex-Stalinist leaders of the SP have made it
clear that they accept capitalism. This means that they
will be prepared to do the dirty work begun by Berisha,
preparing a new nightmare for the Albanian people.
However, this will only prepare new upheavals in the future.
The Albanian workers and youth will come to
understand the need for a new revolution, this time with a
clear socialist programme based upon workersb
democracy and internationalism. 

_________________________________________________

For full text and source go to

http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~zac/mean.htm#Rev

_______________________________________________________



Sent to Marxism-general List by

Wei En Lin



*********************************************




     --- from list marxism-general-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---