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WORKERS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE! ENVER HOXHA ON LITERATURE AND ART (1949-1980) ISBN: 978-1-4583-0578-7 THE NOVEMBER 8TH PUBLISHING HOUSE TORONTO 2022 ENVER HOXHA CONTENTS OUR LITERATURE SHOULD FOLLOW THE ROAD OF SOCIALIST REALISM — Discussion at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CC of the PLA (June 7, 1949) ..................................................... 1 ADVICE FOR NEW WRITERS (June 23, 1949) ............. 8 OUR INTELLIGENTSIA IS RAISED AND DEVELOPED IN THE BOSOM OF THE PEOPLE — From the speech at the meeting with the representatives of the intelligentsia of the capital (October 25, 1962) ..................................................... 12 LITERATURE AND THE ARTS SHOULD SERVE TO TEMPER PEOPLE WITH CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIALISM — The closing speech delivered at the 15th Plenum of the CC of the PLA (October 26, 1965) ................................... 23 FROM THE REPORT TO THE 5TH CONGRESS OF THE PLA «ON THE ACTIVITY OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE PARTY OF LABOUR OF ALBANIA» (November 1, 1966) ......... 50 TOWARDS FURTHER REVOLUTIONIZING OUR SCHOOLS — From a speech at a meeting of the Politburo of the PLA Central Committee (March 7, 1967) ..................................................................... 57 CARRY OUT THE TASKS OF REVOLUTIONIZING OUR PARTY AND THE LIFE OF OUR COUNTRY WITH PERSISTENCE AND IN A CREATIVE WAY — From a speech at the 17th Party Conference of the city of Tirana (December 21, 1968) ................................... 66 LETTER TO SCULPTORS KRISTAQ RAMA, MUNTAZ DHRAMI AND SHABAN HADËRI (June 26, 1969) .......................................................... 78 FROM THE REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE PARTY OF LABOUR OF ALBANIA — Presented to the 6th Congress of the PLA (November 1, 1971) ...... 82 INSENTIFY THE IDEOLOGICAL STRUGGLE AGAINST ALIEN PHENOMENA AND LIBERAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS THEM — From a report to the 4th Plenum of the Central Committee of the PLA (June 26, 1973) ........................ 85 WRITERS AND ARTISTS ARE ASSISTANTS OF THE PARTY FOR THE COMMUNIST EDUCATION OF OUR PEOPLE — Speech delivered at the meeting of the Secretariat of the CC of the PLA concerning the implementation to date of the tasks in literature and art set by the 4th Plenum of the CC of the PLA (December 20, 1974) ......................... 128 FROM THE REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE PARTY OF LABOUR OF ALBANIA — Presented to the 7th Congress of the PLA (November 1, 1976) .... 161 PROUDHON’S SUCCESSORS IN FRANCE (Excerpts) .................................................................. 214 OUR LITERATURE SHOULD FOLLOW THE ROAD OF SOCIALIST REALISM Discussion at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the CC of the PLA1 June 7, 1949 In his address to the comrades of the League of Writers in- vited at the meeting of the Political Bureau, Comrade Enver Hoxha said: We would like to know your opinion on the way the 3rd Conference of the League of Writers is going to proceed so that we can help you with our advice. In your material, in which you have jotted down the principal ideas of the report, a great deal is said about the prewar writers, and very little about the writers of the years of the National Liberation War and the postwar period. Thus the old writers eclipse the new ones. We want you to tell us how you came to this conclusion, so that afterwards, as I said above, we can give you our help. At the conclusion of discussion Comrade Enver Hoxha said: The conference of writers is of great importance. Of course, both you as writers and we are concerned to see it properly prepared so that it will proceed successfully. But it must be said that this problem has not been properly tackled 1 The Politburo of the Central Committee of the PLA heard a report from some of the leaders of the Writers’ Union at this meeting on the issues they intended to raise at the 3rd Conference of the Writers’ Union. 1 as a whole and in proportion to its importance. The main attention should not be centred chiefly on six or seven well- known writers who have distinguished themselves with their writings, but on the major problem of building our new pro- gressive literature as well as of encouraging our new talents. We would be making a mistake if we were to demand perfec- tion in the work of new writers at this stage. This will come gradually. We would also be making a mistake if we were to be content with just those few affirmed writers. It is my opinion that the writers’ conference should have as its main objec- tive the encouragement of the new talents, greater encouragement for them from the Party, the special assistance that should be given them for their ideological education. The cultural level of our cadres is still low, but this does not imply that they should hesitate to air their views freely on problems of literature. This, however, is not attained without exertion. We must understand this properly. If it is thought that in order to create writers should be taken off work, all that will come out will be cliches. We are told that in the So- viet Union there are writers who have been taken off any other activity in order to engage in literary creation, but we should bear in mind that in the beginning they worked any- where they were needed, some of them even worked in facto- ries and continued their writing at the same time. Even now they address conferences, engage in other activities and con- tinue their writing. With this I mean that our writers should work somewhere, but at the same time they must also write. I agree that the writers must be eased of some of the burden that hinders them in their literary activity, but this does not mean that they should pass the time strolling round the town. 2 Life and the everyday struggle together with the working masses will assist our writers in their creative work. If you go to the railway construction site, for instance, and live and work among the youth, there is no doubt that you will find inspiration there, while, if you divorce yourself from the masses, you cannot find inspiration. In some of the contributions we heard here from the comrades of the League I noticed a certain dose of pessimism. More is demanded from the material we have in our country today. However, in my opinion, Fishta with his satires can’t bear comparison with the «Epic of the Balli Kombëtar» by Shefqet Musaraj. The works of our comrades who write about the war, the life and work of our people, stand higher and are of a sound content. At the moment there may be some short- comings in regard to form, but we can be confident that with the passage of time their works will improve in this aspect, too. Despite this, the study presented by Comrade Dhimitër Shuteriqi is good. Therefore, we should work in this direction in order to assist the development of our new socialist literature. We must encourage our new writers, have more frequent contact with them, help them study and raise themselves ide- ologically, culturally, and professionally, so that they can pro- duce more and better works. Your writings must be brought more to the fore, because they are not being publicized as they should. This is not because this person or another does not want to, but merely because of underestimation and because the idea has been created that in order to write one should be a specialist. We must combat this opinion. The press should play a positive role in this direction. You too must make your 3 contribution to the press in order to improve it, because to us, it has become like a gramophone record which is played over and over again with the same boring phraseology, the same words and expressions, without spirit and life, with a few monotonous reports. We must see to it that our press publishes better quality reviews and evaluations of the work of our new writers; this is what we must emphasize. Of course, this must not become an obstacle to analysing the works of the past, to evaluating their positive aspects and rejecting those which are harmful. It would be a great thing, for exam- ple, if a good study were made of the work of Naim Frashëri, because in this manner we shall teach our people not only how to make an assessment of Naim, but also how to get the correct bearings in assessing the others, and not make mis- takes. But the problems of the present must be in the centre of our attention. We should not become involved in empty discussions of reactionary authors like Fishta, Koliqi, etc., but we should bring out the values of those who write for the people. In the field of literature, as everywhere else, we should take our stand on the position of the Party. During this period our literature has grown stronger, has made headway, and new talents are continually making their debut. It must be developed along the road of socialist realism, relying firmly on the national terrain and on the Marxist- Leninist ideology. We must go more deeply into the work for the development of our literature. This requires that our writer comrades themselves, among other things, must read more and never say, «We haven’t the time to read». We are busy, too, but we try to find the time, and in fact we do read. A writer who does not make efforts, first of all, to raise his 4