Albanian narrator: We had been told only that he was a cadre who came directly from the main staff of the Yugoslav leadership and was bringing important information for our Party. This news pleased us, because we had been waiting for seven to eight months for an answer, if not through an emissary, at least in some other way, to the request we had made through the Yugoslav leadership to the Comintern for recognition of our new Communist Party. We took all measures to ensure our guest a journey with the least possible danger, and in the last days of December 1942 the emissary of the CC of the CPY arrived safe and sound in Labinot, a village near Elbasan. He was Blažo Jovanović.
The arrival of this delegate in Albania marked the first official contact between the leadership of our Party—and Miladin Popović personally—and the leadership of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Regrettably, this first contact also marked the beginning of frictions and clashes between our two parties.
Who, then, was Tito's first emissary, Blažo Jovanović, and what did he bring us?
Yugoslav narrator: Despite the considerable successes achieved during the first six months of the Communist Party of Albania’s work, great difficulties still had to be overcome—
Miladin Popović: “The work we have carried out so far has mainly been work of a familiar kind. Now we are encountering difficulties for which directives, assistance and instructions are absolutely necessary. Furthermore, we do not know whether you approve of the work we have done so far. Has it been correct, and can we continue with our work?”
Albanian narrator: At the First Consultative Meeting of CPA Activists held in April 19421, we had decided to inform the Comintern about the founding of the Communist Party of Albania, about the first results in the organisation and strengthening of its ranks and its life, and about the general lines of its militant program. On this occasion we presented to the leadership of the Comintern our application for admission of the CPA as a member of the Communist International and the idea that we would organise the First National Conference of the CPA in the near future! We considered that the best way to communicate those decisions and proposals to the Comintern was through the leadership of the CP of Yugoslavia and we charged the comrades Vasil Shanto and Dušan Mugoša with the task of carrying them to the Yugoslav leadership. At the same time we expressed the desire that, if possible, the CC of the CPY should send us a delegate to take· part as a guest in the First National Conference of our Party.
Yugoslav narrator: Well... Miladin Popović and Dušan Mugoša, together with the CC CPA, came to the correct conclusion that it was necessary to convene a National Conference in order to evaluate the work done so far and elect a permanent leadership. As Miladin himself says in his report:
Miladin Popović (in a declamatory tone): “We cannot proceed towards the National Conference on our own until we receive approval, directives and assistance, and we would like you to send one delegate... We want to enter the National Conference free from the spirit of factionalism—if the old leaders of the groups are able to free themselves from it; and if they are not, the Conference must serve as a tribunal for deviationists and factionalists and pass judgement on all deviationist elements without exception.” 2
Yugoslav narrator: From October 1941 until May 1942, Miladin Popović and Dušan Mugoša had no regular contact with the CC of the CPY. They sent several reports directly concerning their work in assisting the formation of the CPA, but none of these reports reached the Central Committee of the CPY in time. Some were lost because several couriers were killed while attempting to make their way to Yugoslavia. The CC of the CPY received two of Miladin Popović’s reports, with considerable delay, through the Regional Committee of the CPY for Kosovo and Metohija.
Likewise, the Provincial Committee of the CPY for Montenegro sent Comrade Vaso Strugar to establish contact with the CC of the Communist Party of Albania. Strugar made his way to Tirana and received from Popović a report for the CC of the CPY, but on his return to Yugoslavia, on the road from Shkodër to Virpazar, he was captured and executed by the Chetniks.
Therefore, Popović and Mugoša decided that Mugoša should personally make his way to the headquarters of the Central Committee of the CPY, carrying Miladin Popović’s report and the request of the CC of the CPA to the Comintern to approve the convening of the National Conference of the CPA and to admit the Party to membership in the Comintern.
Albanian narrator: When we informed Mugoša of the mission with which we had charged him, he was walking on air. I thought that what pleased him most was the fact that he was being given the opportunity to meet the main leaders of his party and to boast to them about the extremely difficult and dangerous journey and the important mission with which we had charged him. As for Vasil Shanto, the true master of successful secret actions, he accepted his task with his usual quiet seriousness and set about preparations for the journey.
Thus, we sent the comrades to Yugoslavia in May of that year .
Yugoslav narrator [interrupts]: At the time, the Third Offensive was raging in Yugoslavia...
[Albanian narrator continues] ... and to our surprise Vasil Shanto was back in July. On his return, Comrade Taras3 had a conversation with him:
Taras: Have you carried out your task so quickly?
Vasil [replies quietly]: Only the first part of it! I was only able to carry out the custom of our Highlands. I took Duqi 4 safe and sound to the point where we made contact with a detachment of Yugoslav partisans in Montenegro, and then he told me:
Duqi: “You go back! I am going to carry out the mission alone.”
Albanian narrator: Although Vasil was a type with very good self-control, generous and one who held nothing back, I noticed a tinge of dissatisfaction in the way he replied to us.
Comrade Taras [slapping Shanto's back]: It's very good that you've come back because here we have so much work!
Shanto: That's all very well, Comrade Taras, but I think that when our Central Committee sent me it had in mind that its important proposals should be taken to the right place by an Albanian communist ...
Comrade Taras (for himself): I, too, felt that Vasil was right but, nevertheless, I did not regard Dušan's behaviour as any grave offence. I thought that his mania to gain the limelight, to undertake «onerous», «special» missions—after all, in the concrete case he was simply a courier—to focus the attention of those whom he would meet on himself alone, etc., were what made him tell Vasko 5 to «go back». Later I was to be convinced that in this instance, on his strange journeys «around the country» in Albania and in his long «disappearance» for five to six months after his arrival at Tito's staff, sinister aims and actions, carefully thought out and planned by himself and by those who had sent him to us on a mission, were concealed. However, these were things that we were to learn about and appreciate properly later. It was still the beginning, the time when we had not yet had any opportunity to enter into direct relations and contacts with the leadership of the CP of Yugoslavia.
Yugoslav narrator: You must be insane to say that... Here is how the story goes:
The Italians and Chetniks were driving our brigades out of Montenegro, and Mugoša had to make his way through enemy territory to reach the CC of the CPY. He set out on 25 May 1942 and arrived in Glamoč, in western Bosnia, after eighty-two days. In the Andrijevica district he encountered our guerrilla fighters, who escorted him through Kuči to Piperi and Bjelopavlići. With a small group of comrades, he had to break through towards the Fifth Brigade, which was at Vrbnica, but they ran into a Chetnik ambush on the Sutjeska. In the meantime, the Fifth Brigade had moved from Vrbnica, so it was only at Prozor that Dušan reached liberated territory, in the sector held by the Fifth Brigade, and from there he headed for the headquarters of the CC of the CPY.
In Glamoč, where the CC of the CPY was based, he presented the resolution from the first meeting of the communist groups in Albania, leaflets, and Miladin’s letter to Comrade Tito. Taking advantage of his stay in western Bosnia, Dušan visited partisan units, observing the work of Party organisations in the First Proletarian Brigade and the work of the National Liberation Committee in Mrkonjić.
(reading Tito's letter) “Dear comrades, as you have certainly already been informed from what we said over the radio station ‘Free Yugoslavia’, your delegate arrived here with all the material you sent. We were very pleased that, after a long and difficult journey, your delegate finally reached us safely.
The reasons why your delegate remained with us for so long are the following: First, because the materials had to be translated into our language, and he was the only one able to do this. Second, because I sent several dispatches based on these materials to the Comintern and had to wait for their reply. Third, because your delegate was given the opportunity to visit some of our army units at their positions and acquaint himself with their military organisation.”
Yugoslav narrator: In the meantime, a reply arrived from the Comintern approving the convening of the First National Conference of the CPA and endorsing the existing provisional leadership.
(Tito's letter) “On your behalf, we asked the Comintern for permission to hold the Party Conference of Albania and elect a permanent Central Committee. Yesterday, the Comintern finally replied and gave its approval.”
Yugoslav narrator: On behalf of the Communist Party of Albania, the CC of the CPY received an invitation to send a delegate to the Conference. Comrade Blažo Jovanović was appointed as delegate and set out from Glamoč on 3 October, together with Dušan Mugoša. Later, Comrade Voja Todorović joined Blažo to assist the group in making its way through the territory, as well as to help organise partisan units in Albania.
Jovanović and his companions travelled relatively quickly because he knew the route well. In addition, about a dozen fighters set out with him, bringing the group to a total of seventeen comrades.
Before their departure, Comrade Tito wrote a letter of advice to the CC of the Communist Party of Albania, which Blažo was to carry with him.
On the Yugoslav-Albanian border, Jovanović, together with Mugoša and Todorović, waited for about ten days in the village of Premić, in Kuči, for an opportunity to cross to Shkodra. They crossed the border with the help of tobacco smugglers, who took our comrades across the lake at night. Suddenly, a storm broke out and they barely managed to save themselves. They had to put ashore and continue at a run towards Shkodra, setting out from the village of Vranjina in order to reach the city before daylight. Early in the morning they arrived in the marshes below Shkodra. From there Dušan sent one of the smuggler-guides with a letter to their contact in the city.
Jovanović and his group arrived in Shkodra on 15 November. They entered the city on foot and armed. There they waited for thirteen days before they were able to establish contact with the CC CPA. One part of the CC was in Tirana, while the other, together with Hoxha and Popović, was in the village of Labinot near Elbasan, on the property of the student Sami Baholli, a sympathiser.
Since there were no Party organisations in the villages of northern Albania, Jovanović’s group relied on two smugglers to move them from one village to another through their network of contacts. The quisling police learned of the group’s movements and a pursuit began.
In one village, they surrounded the house where Jovanović was staying with seven comrades, but the group managed to escape across the Veliki Fan River. The smugglers brought them to the village of Perlati, but could take them no further because they had no more contacts.
A small çeta of about a dozen men, sent by the CC of the CPA, was supposed to be waiting for Jovanović in the village. However, on its way to Perlati, after four hours of fighting with the Italians and the militia, the unit was broken up: two partisans were wounded, two were captured, and the others returned to Elbasan.
By a mere coincidence involving the ancient Albanian custom of hospitality, Jovanović and his comrades escaped death in Perlati.
They had been told that an old peasant lived in the village to whom, twenty-seven years earlier, the father of Kadri Hoxha, a member of the CC, had done a favour. They were told that they could approach the old man and simply say that they were friends of Kadri Hoxha’s father.
The old peasant immediately received them under his besa. But just as Jovanović and his companions were having dinner, two çetas of the quisling militia entered the village and began searching the houses for Jovanović and his group.
The old man told Blažo not to worry: he would save them.
And indeed, he led all the comrades out of the village along a narrow footpath, spent the entire night with them in a forest and, at dawn, brought them food and gave them a guide who would lead them towards Tirana, where they could establish contact with the local Party organisation.
Shanto went down to Tirana and established contact with the Party. A plan for the next stage of the journey was agreed upon. They had to pass through the whole of Tirana and then continue towards Labinot.
On the outskirts of the city, two carriages were waiting for Jovanović and seven comrades. Armed with rifles and bombs, they climbed into the carriages and passed through the whole of Tirana to the other side of the city.
Finally, on 16 December 1942, Jovanović arrived in Labinot. Three hours before reaching Labinot, he was met by Dr Imer Dishnica on behalf of the CC of the CPA.
Albanian narrator: And so, after months of waiting, the first delegate of the Yugoslav leadership, Blažo Jovanović, arrived, and true enough, he brought us really important and joyous tidings: the recognition of our Party by the Comintern and the directives of the Executive Committee of the International on our National Liberation War.
The first thing Albanian comrades asked was whether they were recognised by the Comintern.
Blažo Jovanović: “The main question was whether they had been admitted to the Comintern. I replied that they had, and they rejoiced greatly. The news quickly spread throughout the entire organisation, and everybody knew that the Albanian Party had been recognised by the Comintern.”
Albanian narrator: He also brought a letter from Tito for the CC of our Party and his authorisation as representative of the CC of the CPY at the First National Conference of the CPA, as well as, if I am not mistaken, one or two pamphlets and, of course, Dušan Mugoša, too.
We received the guest with all the honours possible in the difficult conditions of illegality and, moreover, in a poor thatched cottage at Shmil. 6
We told him in a comradely way about the state of our work in general, and he told us about the situation of the Party and the war in Yugoslavia, especially about the difficult situation in Montenegro.
Yugoslav narrator (explains what they were told): During the seven months since Mugoša’s departure, the CPA had achieved considerable successes. The armed struggle against the occupiers had assumed broad proportions. The partisan çetas, especially in southern Albania, had won several major victories over the Italian occupiers. The National Liberation Front had expanded considerably. In this respect, the broadcasts of the radio station “Free Yugoslavia” had been of great assistance to the CC of the CPA. In September 1942, at the Conference of Peza, the National Liberation Council was formed, joined by many patriots.
The Party had also suffered heavy losses. The Secretary of the CC of the Communist Youth, Qemal Stafa, died heroically in battle with the Carabinieri in Tirana. Comrades Perlati Rexhepi, Jordan Misja and Branko Kadija died heroically in Shkodra. Vojo Kushi and two comrades were surrounded in a house in Tirana on 10 October 1942. Vojo fought back, but when his ammunition ran out, he threw himself onto a tank and died heroically. The examples of Qemal Stafa, Perlati Rexhepi, Vojo Kushi and others enormously increased the prestige of the Party.
Yugoslav narrator: At the first session of the CC CPA, Blažo Jovanović presented the letter of the CC of the CPY, signed by Tito.
Comrade Taras: “Tito’s first letter, in which he saluted the Albanian people in their struggle for freedom, reached us in the mountains. This precious letter, in which he described to us the heroic struggle of his people and expressed his unshakable faith in victory over fascism, was brought to us, through the greatest dangers, by Tito’s comrade-in-arms Blažo Jovanović.
It was then that we fully understood the great achievements of the Yugoslav peoples. The experience of the Yugoslav struggle was a priceless treasure for us. Tito’s letter marked a historic event in the history of our people, because through it we were able to understand the struggle in Yugoslavia more concretely, and this was of enormous help to us in our own struggle.
And while, in our fierce struggle against fascism, we had waited for months and years to unite with the Yugoslav partisans, Radio ‘Free Yugoslavia’ brought to our liberated mountains the fresh air of the heroic mountains of Yugoslavia, where, with indescribable heroism, the Yugoslav Partisans of Josip Broz Tito were fighting...” 7
Albanian narrator: Naturally, on this occasion we thanked him whole-heartedly for undertaking the wearisome and difficult journey to reach us in order to carry out this internationalist duty.
In conversation he seemed attentive and reasonable, and with the exception of one minor friction we had in the first days, everything proceeded smoothly. The friction had to do with what Tito had written and the advice he gave us in his letter.
This happened two or three days after their arrival:
Blažo Jovanović: “Comrade Tito’s letter contains instructions and advice which are necessary and important for you. I am aware of what they are and we can discuss them.”
Comrade Taras: ' “Yes, we have read the letter and carefully studied the advice of Comrade Tito, and we thank him for this. However, Comrade Blažo, you will be staying here until we hold the Conference of our Party. During this time you will see for yourself and become better acquainted with the state of the work here, and I assure you that nothing will be left unclear to you.”
Blažo (persisting): “Very good, but we are talking about the instructions and advice from Comrade Tito. Do you agree with them or not?!”
Albanian narrator: He asked in a tone as if he were talking to cadres subordinate to him. He was a commissar or commander of a partisan unit in Montenegro.
Comrade Taras (not wanting to spoil the friendly atmosphere, laughs off the unpleasant effect of the question and replies quietly): “Not only now, while our Party is still young, but in the future, too, we will always listen carefully and considerately to the comradely opinions and advice of friends. Indubitably, this is true of Comrade Tito’s letter, too. But, Comrade Blažo, we understand the circumstances and conditions in which this letter was written. As you yourself are aware, it was written at the end of September, brought to us in December, and refers to problems which were relevant to our Party before April 1942. At the same time, it refers to those problems which we ourselves raised at the First Consultative Meeting of Party Activists in April, about which we informed your Party through Dušan.”
Blažo (piqued): “Then, according to you, Comrade Tito has merely repeated what you have already raised!”
Comrade Taras: “That’s not what I said. In the materials we sent to the Comintern, we related how matters stood with us. Judging on this basis, Tito gives us certain advice. We thank him for his concern and interest.”
Blažo: “Is it only for this that you value the letter?”
Comrade Taras: “Please, don’t misunderstand us. Now it is January 1943, and obviously we have not been marking time since April 1942. On the contrary, we have tried to solve correctly not only the problems of that period, but also those which have arisen since, and now, comparing our actions with the directives of the Comintern which you have just brought us, we can only rejoice when we see that we have truly acted as we should have done.”
Miladin Popović, writing to Tito (April 19 1943): “We received your letter of 22 September 1942, and at a joint meeting of the Provisional CC (23 December) the letter was studied. Later, the entire membership was acquainted with the new line, and at the conferences of the local committees the directives of the Communist International were communicated and studied.
The comrades of the Provisional CC took seriously the tasks set by the Communist International, and in a relatively short time the necessary preparations were made (the election of new local committees, the election of delegates, etc.) for the First National Conference. Your remarks concerning our mistakes and omissions, as well as our future work with regard to the National Liberation struggle, the strengthening and cleansing of the Party, etc., were also understood and accepted.
The importance of the letter is increased by the fact that it was, in effect, the first contact and the first letter that the CPA had received from above in the course of its work. It gave an impetus to the leadership and the membership to take matters more seriously and to act with greater self-sacrifice and determination.”
Albanian narrator: Continuing the talk, Taras dwelt concretely on what Tito had written in his letter, explained the development of events, and the truth is that Blažo listened to him and was convinced by what we told him. That closed the matter, and for years on end Tito’s “first letter” was never mentioned again.
Perhaps it would not have been worth mentioning this letter here, either, but the fact that later Yugoslav propaganda built it up and presented it as a “message which saved the situation”, as an “outstanding contribution by Tito in favour of the Albanian Party and the Albanian National Liberation War”, etc., etc., impels us to dwell a little on this so-called outstanding document once again.
We must say that the best assessment that can be made of Tito’s first letter8 is that it amounted to “a letter of advice that came too late.”
Yugoslav narrator: So let’s go back to the letter!
Albanian narrator: Concretely: in December 1942, when the letter reached us, Tito “advised” our Party to purge its ranks of the groupist and factionalist elements who had managed to penetrate them and to settle accounts with them!
Yugoslav narrator: So what have you done about this?
Albanian narrator: As everyone knows, at the Consultative Meeting of the Party in April and later at the Special Conference of the Party in June 1942, when quite likely Tito did not even know that the CPA had been formed, we had already carried that task through to the end.
Yugoslav narrator: I wouldn’t say so, but go on...
Albanian narrator (reading from Tito's letter): “Try to establish links with the representatives of different urban groups and trends and, together with them, form the National Liberation Front!”
Yugoslav narrator: What urban groups and trends?! Now I see you got it all wrong! Tito is talking about connections with the peasants:
(reading Tito’s letter) “The main weakness, as you yourselves point out in your resolutions, is your Party’s weak connection with and work among the peasants. And it is precisely this weakness that represents the greatest obstacle to successfully carrying out such a major task as the armed struggle against the occupiers.
The most numerous and principal element of your armed units can only be the peasants, because you do not have large industrial and workers’ centres. Precisely for this reason, steady and persistent work by your Party among the peasants is a necessary condition for successfully organising and leading the National Liberation struggle in Albania.”
Albanian narrator: However, both in December 1942, when Tito’s letter reached us, and on September 22, 1942, when he sat down and wrote it, his “advice” could only make us smile.
We had launched the slogan about the unity of the people on April 7, 1939 and the people and the youth had been raised in demonstrations and protests; in November 1941 the newly formed Party had issued its first appeal for the unity of the people in the Anti-fascist War, and after it, had issued precise directives and important successes had been achieved in this direction.
It is a known historical fact, also, that on September 16, 1942 we had organized the Conference of Peza where the political and organizational foundations of the National Liberation Front and the future of the people’s state power were laid, had elected the Anti-fascist National Liberation Council, and the organization of the Front was growing bigger and stronger from day to day!
Naturally, we did not blame Tito for this lack of knowledge of our situation, but neither were we to be blamed for not awaiting his advice and then carrying out the work.
On the contrary, if we had simply waited for “guidance” from abroad, this would have been an unpardonable sin.
However, while the “instruction” on the question of the Front and, identical with it, that on the question of national liberation councils made us smile, something which followed made us, comrades of the leadership, laugh, and Miladin along with us.
In September 1942 Tito, writing from Glamoč, instructed us:
(reading Tito’s letter) “You must expose the Trotskyite Zai Fundo before the members of the CPA and inform its members that he is an open enemy of the International and the Party!”
Albanian narrator: This was a case of trying to teach your grandmother to suck eggs! We had exposed Fundo as a Trotskyite as early as in 1939, when he arrived back in Albania, and since that time we had finally settled accounts with him.
Probably Tito did not know about this and had written in this way from lack of information, we thought at first.
But then we remembered: We had sent Tito the Resolution of the Founding Meeting of the Party in which Zai Fundo was described openly and clearly as a “declared class enemy”. In his letter Tito told us that he had read the Resolution. How could this be? Had he not read that paragraph? Or since he had to write something, had he written the first thing that came to mind?! Very surprising!
However, we were to be even more astonished over the Tito-Fundo problem in September 1944. Our forces of the National Liberation Army which were fighting for the liberation of northern Albania captured Zai Fundo in a gang of bandits headed by Gani Kryeziu and a British officer. We gave the order that Fundo should receive the sentence he deserved.
Quite unexpectedly that same Tito and his henchmen who, in 1942, gave us advice which came too late that we should settle accounts with Fundo, now came out in his defence and even demanded that we hand him over to them.
Yugoslav narrator: The CPA acted on Councils and Tito’s advice and succeeded in completely exposing Lazar Fundo on the basis of the activities he had been engaged in. Completely exposed, Lazar Fundo took refuge with foreign intelligence agents in northern Albania, where he was captured, sentenced and executed in 1944.
Albanian narrator: It was like this from beginning to end — a letter of advice that came too late. Right at the end, however, almost in passing, as an “afterthought”, Tito made this request:
(reading Tito’s letter) “The resolution which you will compile at the Conference should be as short as possible ... Likewise, send us the biographies of the new members of the Central Committee, together with their names, because we have to send them to the Comintern.”
Albanian narrator: This request made an impression on us. We asked one another whether the Comintern could really need the biographies of the members of the Central Committee of the CPA (?!), but since we did not know how to explain this, we found the “reason”: Tito knows about such things! Perhaps he has instructions to this effect!
This, then, is all there was to Tito’s letter which the Yugoslav propaganda builds up as an “important contribution” to our Party’s pursuing a correct line! This they present as an “argument” in support of their claim that the growth of the CPA was allegedly due to them!
But their blindness and irrestrainable chauvinist instincts lead them to self-exposure. Had they been more cool-headed, even simply in regard to their hostile claim, they would never have mentioned this letter.
It is incontestable evidence of the fact that, at least until the end of 1942, when the letter reached us, the CPA had not had any assistance, any instruction or any directive from the CC of the CPY. At the same time, it shows that even the “advice” and “instructions” at the end of 1942 arrived in Albania too late to affect the issues and, consequently, were no longer of any value.
Comrade Taras: “Our partisan intelligence service intercepted an order sent by the Gestapo to the Italian intelligence service, SIM 9, which literally stated:
‘Keep watch on the roads, set up guards, carry out searches throughout Albania, because the great Yugoslav revolutionary Josip Broz Tito is hiding there. Issue a warrant for his capture. His photograph and description are enclosed.’
The enemy’s fear was evident. Tito, who personified and led the struggle of the Yugoslav Partisans, represented a terror to the Gestapo and SIM. Everywhere in the Balkans they saw Tito, and a price had been put on his head. But the agents of SIM and the Gestapo searched Albania for Tito in vain.
Tito was neither in the mountains nor in the towns of Albania, but in the hearts of the Albanian people, and there it was very difficult to find and eradicate him.
The name of Tito resounded throughout the four corners of Albania. It was pronounced with enthusiasm by the Albanian people. For us, the name of Tito was identical with the name of the Yugoslav peoples, with the name of the heroic People’s Liberation Army of Yugoslavia. In Tito we saw a great friend of the Albanian people in war and peace, just as in the Yugoslav peoples we saw the friends and brothers of our people…
In vain did the Albanian quislings and chauvinists try to obscure this brotherhood of the Yugoslav and Albanian peoples. Using the methods of Goebbels and Mussolini, they proclaimed the old slogans.
Young and old in Albania know Tito, because he represents the heroic peoples of Yugoslavia. Young and old in Albania love Tito, because he represents the glorious struggle of the Yugoslav peoples, because he was the heart and the head of that struggle, because he taught and educated the Yugoslav peoples to live united and fraternally with one another, because he made them tireless fighters for freedom and democracy, because he taught them to love other peoples as themselves, and above all the small Albanian people, whom they helped and supported during the war and now, in the days of peace.” 10