Report on a Meeting between Enver Hoxha and DPRK Ambassador An Yong

THE MEETING

BETWEEN THE FIRST SECRETARY OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE ALBANIAN LABOR PARTY, COMRADE ENVER HOXHA, AND THE AMBASSADOR OF THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA, AN YONG, ON THE OCCASION OF HIS FINAL DEPARTURE FROM ALBANIA, ON JUNE 20, 1966

After Comrade Enver Hoxha received the ambassador and went to the quarters where the conversation would take place, he asked him about the health of Comrade [General Secretary of the Korean Worker’s Party (KWP)] Kim Il Sung and also expressed his regret that after a stay of several years, the ambassador is leaving Albania. “But you are Albanians now,” said Comrade Enver Hoxha to the North Korean ambassador.

Ambassador An Yong: Since the time I set off for Albania, where I have stayed for a relatively long time, I had a recommendation from the party and government to do all that is possible to accomplish my task within the framework of our great friendship. I have felt myself here like in my house. So, the impressions I have of Albania, I will never in my life forget.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: We thank you very much.

Ambassador An Yong: So, now I am half Albanian. (Laughter) I will never forget the good memories I have from my stay in Albania, and when I return to Korea I will be an ardent propagandist about all that the Albanian comrades have given me the chance to see and learn.

I came to Albania in 1966 [sic]. Since that time, many great changes have been made in your country. Especially now, great innovation and enthusiasm has risen up, and that is why I will take with me and show to all the comrades in Korea the memories of these successes.  

Everywhere in Albania, in both the cities and the villages, the view has completely changed in comparison to the year when I came. So I can confidently say that I am not returning empty-handed to my country from Albania. I am returning with the important mission of talking to my comrades about all the successes achieved during this period in Albania, and which make us Koreans very happy.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: We thank you very much. We have no doubt about this, Comrade Ambassador, because your party and ours, both our people, are connected through a sincere, Marxist-Leninist friendship. During the entire life of our parties and states, this Marxist-Leninist unity and the brotherly, reciprocal assistance to each other have never known the smallest decrease. On the contrary, they have only seen growth. As all the other Marxist-Leninist parties also see it, our unity is a necessary quality because the Marxism-Leninism is the life-giving force that propels us forward, that arms our thinking, and that assists us in facing our difficulties, in winning over our enemies, and in successfully building socialism.

Of course, not everyone understands the unity’s role as such. This is a defect of those in the Marxist-Leninist course that must be overcome. In other words, the events inside the international communist movement must be seen with a Marxist-Leninist eye as they develop. Of course, here I am talking about Marxist-Leninist parties only, because we cannot call the demagoguism and the traitorous activities of the soviet and Titoist revisionists and their friends as an attempt to unity. On the contrary, this is demagoguery on their part that only serves the soviet revisionists and their friends for the destruction of this Marxist-Leninist unity of the international proletariat.

As to our party, you, personally, as the ambassador of the DPR of Korea and as a militant of the Korean Workers’ Party, know its position very well and it is not necessary that I go into it in detail. Our party, just like your party, has plenty of experience in dealing with the soviet and modern revisionists. The stance of our party toward the modern revisionists has not come about by chance. It has emerged from the class analysis our party has done to the development of Titoist and Khrushchevian revisionism. Our party is of the opinion that this treason that took part in the Soviet Union has not happened by chance; it is not the result of one or two persons, such as N. Khrushchev or Mikoyan. On the contrary, it is a deeper disease and the overthrow of N. Khrushchev will not be able to bring a change in the situation of the Soviet Union. If we were to think that the main factor was only N. Khrushchev, then we would reach the conclusion that it is possible that the situation in the Soviet Union could change, but if we were to assume that N. Khrushchev was not the only one, who, of course, was the head of this great treason, then we must for sure come up with different conclusions.

Our party, in the analysis it has conducted on this issue, has formed the opinion that it was not only N. Khrushchev and his group that brought about these changes, but an entire class, which can be considered a bureaucratic aristocracy, and which exists within the ranks of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. This new bourgeoisie class that has been created there comprises the foundation that helped the modern revisionists to take the power in the Soviet Union in their hands and which stays in power through demagoguery. That is the reason that our party has reached the conclusion that the struggle against the modern revisionism cannot end with the overthrow of N. Khrushchev. It must continue brutally against the Khrushchevian group, which looks very much like that of Kautsky, Bernstein, Trotsky, Buharin, Toukachevsky, etc. Our party has reached the conclusion that these must be totally and openly unmasked until the end, because in order for the modern revisionists to achieve they plan, they need tranquility. That is why, despite the open struggle that the Communist Party if China and our part have waged on them, they continue to operate against our party, your party, the CP of China, the Communist Parties of Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, but our parties have not stood still and have never failed to attack and unmask the modern revisionists.

We, as Marxists, always say openly everything we have to say and we have always done so with friends and with enemies. Of course, our friends love us, and the enemies do not. The Korean Workers’ Party is a Marxist-Leninist party that fights and will continue to fight against the modern revisionists with all its might and we are certain that it will never kneel in front of the enemies. We—and you even more so since you are in the middle of this—see the strategic plans that the soviet revisionists are weaving not only against the PR of China, but also against your country. It is our opinion that when they have such plans against you, they also have them against us.

Our party believes that the fates of our three countries in particular but also that of Vietnam cannot be separated. This cannot happen. Look at what the American imperialists are doing in Seoul. They have turned South Korea into a colony and at the same time into a place d’arme. Is this perhaps against Albania? Of course not! It is clear it is directed against above all Korea, but also against China. Why is Japan, which has been getting closer to the government of South Korea with different treaties, doing this, to surround Albania? Of course not! The imperialists have other countries at their disposal for the purpose of surrounding Albania, but those activities I mentioned are intended to surround Korea and China. What does the soviet-Japanese cooperation (to not mention here the great soviet-American cooperation) mean? It is clear that the enemies are weaving plans for the weakening of the socialist development of North Korea and China. What is hidden behind the façade of the concessions that the soviet revisionists are giving to the Japanese imperialists in Siberia? Is it perhaps simply an economic cooperation without any political undertones? Everything is perfectly clear to us. But there are also many things that you are able to see better than us and we are completely convinced and say it openly that your party, with Comrade Kim Il Sung at its helm, is vigilant and aware of all that is happening around us and that despite the economic relations that exist between Korea and the Soviet Union, the Korean Workers’ Party and Comrade Kim Il Sung will not allow themselves to lose their revolutionary vigilance.

Ambassador An Yong: Our party knows quite well that even after the banishment of N. Khrushchev from the Soviet leadership, this leadership continues to follow it revisionist course. Such a thing is very visible not only in the internal politics of the Soviet Union, but also in their foreign affairs. We see that the soviet leadership is following a policy of cooperation with the enemies of socialism and, as you are well aware, lately they have also been going to bed with the Japanese militarists. We are following this activity on their part with indignation and if this continues, we will also be openly speaking against them. We are following with seriousness and revulsion the process of soviet-Japanese cooperation. And that is why our party consistently keeps sharpened its vigilance against this plot and will never allow such a thing to take place.

It is also true the soviet leaders are using some demagoguery and hypocrite slogans for their own needs. We see through this game and the most important thing is to continue to hold a Marxist-Leninist stance. That is why you should not worry. We will not be fooled by them.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: I also said earlier that we do not have the slightest doubt for the Marxist-Leninist resoluteness of the Korean Workers’ Party and Comrade Kim Il Sung. We have been and are fully convinced of this. A tactic and temporary position in some matters cannot destroy the Marxist-Leninist line and strategy of a party. Those that do not understand this can be easily fooled by the fuss that the revisionists and imperialists are making that Korea has been disunited with China and Albania, but the Marxists cannot be fooled by it. Please tell Comrade Kim Il Sung and the other Korean comrades that this is our belief.

We have admiration for the Korean people and the Korean Workers’ Party. We follow with care and delight the political, ideological, economic development and the colossal progress of Korea. Every honorable person, whether a Marxist or not, when seeing this progress should ask himself why these accomplishments are happening in your country. Are these happening because there is a Marxist-Leninist line in place or because of a lack of it? Your successes in industry, agriculture, and in the quality of life for the people could never have happened if the ideas and inspiration of Marxism-Leninism were not in power. Let Fidel Castro scream out at the top of his lungs. He is not a Marxist, he is an adventurer not only for the fact that he spoke out against China, but also because he is an anarchist and this can be seen in every action he takes in the economy, the culture, and the management of the party and the state. The plenum of the CC of his party has never been gathered.

What are we seeing in the revisionist countries, the Soviet Union, Poland and the other countries? Leaving aside the ideological and political side, in the economy a great chaos is also in place precisely because the leaders of these countries are not Marxists. They are, above all, turning their countries into capitalist countries. They lack of successes cannot be blamed on the rain, nor the snow, nor the other natural disasters, but in their line and ideology, which is the ideology of the capitalist bourgeoisie. In the course of the capitalist transformation of their countries they are facing colossal difficulties.

Look, Comrade Ambassador how they are running at 300 km/hr on Tito’s course. But he, despite the American billions, has entered an economic chaos. If you have continually followed the development of the recent events in Yugoslavia, you would have seen that there capitalism has been fully implemented, in other words, in Yugoslavia the industry, to not speak here of the agriculture, is fully in the hands of the capitalist groups of “self-management.” They have also started to implement this transformation in the Soviet Union and the other countries of popular democracy. They are supposed to do this because they are capitalists. They live by the assistance of capitalism, but the capitalists of the West will not give them “assistance” on the same levels they gave to Tito, because he was the forward guard. Nonetheless, they will still give them something and under the guise of this “assistance” the capitalists will subdue them quicker. During the process of their subduing we will see even greater catastrophes in their ranks and, at the same time, we will also see the revolution rise up. Am I wrong perhaps?

Ambassador An Yong: There is no doubt as to the bankruptcy of revisionism. The people will never allow such things to take place.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: What more could we tell you about China, Comrade Ambassador. The PR of China and the CP of China are as much your friends as they are ours, and if not more when we think about how linked you are to the people and the CP of China. But allow me to express mine and my party’s opinion on this matter. We have a limitless love for the people and the CP of China, because we see that with us they act very brotherly and we have no doubt that to all the brother countries and the sister parties they also are extremely brotherly, internationalist, and sociable. But my point is mainly on the ideological side of the matter.

It is our belief and conviction that the Korean Workers’ Party, Comrade Kim Il Sung, and the Korean people have the same internationalist feelings toward the people and the CP of China that we also harbor. The small ALP, just like the Korean Workers’ Party, which is a bit larger than ours, considers our unity and its foundation on the principles of Marxism-Leninism as one of the forces, or better said, the defining force.  

Ambassador An Yong: China is our ally not only at the present, but it has been such historically for us. Korea and China have always had close relations, molded by blood, which as in the past will also continue on unchanged in the future, despite the fact that in recent times the revisionists have been waging a great campaign of propaganda trying to instill divisions between the Korean-Chinese relations. But we are keeping our vigilance high and you must know that these relations will not change.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: You, Comrade Ambassador, as the Marxist that you are, understood me correctly. On the opinion that I expressed, I was not led by any particular events, because I do not know and do not have any doubts about this. It was simply a sincere expression of the feelings of my party and people. Reality is as you are explaining it and this is a colossal force for us.

Ambassador An Yong: There is no room for any doubt in the unity between Korea and China. Should something happen, the Korean people will stand with the Chinese people on a united front. That is why there is nothing to worry about, because the relations between Korea and China have not happened by chance, they have been molded by blood.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: It is precisely so.

Ambassador An Yong: We are allies. We have common enemies and interests.  

Comrade Enver Hoxha: It is precisely so.

I miss Korea. Tell Comrade Kim Il Sung that when I get the chance, I will come there. I will not wait for an invitation; there should be no need for invitation amongst us.  

Ambassador An Yong: We will always await you with pleasure.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: Let us raise this toast for the glory of the Korean Workers’ Party, for the health of our dear friend Comrade Kim Il Sung, for your health, Comrade Ambassador. I wish with all my heart that you have good health, and successes in the new job that the party and government will ask you to accomplish. Please assure Comrade Kim Il Sung and the other comrades of the leadership of the party and government that in the Albanian party, government and people you will have a faithful friend to the end.

Ambassador An Yong: I raise this toast to the health of the First Secretary if the ALP, to your successes, to the eternal friendship and unity between the Korean and Albanian peoples.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: How are your children?  

Ambassador An Yong: Very well, thank you very much.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: How does this year look for the economy?

Ambassador An Yong: This year’s agriculture looks to be quite satisfactory. The rice stalks have been planted.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: As the Chinese comrades have also told us, you have a great experience in the cultivation of rice and in general you have achieved great successes in the field of agriculture. You have achieved efficiencies and productions of the kind that are considered very high by the Chinese comrades, even amongst the highest in all our socialist countries. In addition, you have also achieved great successes in the development of the industry. You have helped me immensely with the magazines that you were kind enough to regularly send me. I read them with great care and we gain experience by studying them. Please recommend to your replacement here to continue to send them to me regularly. In addition, I see that the works of Comrade Kim Il Sung are being published in Korea in several languages, but I have not received any of them. I will have to criticize you on this matter and tell you that they are indispensable to me. So when you get back to Korea, I believe you will send them to me.  

Ambassador An Yong: I apologize for that omission and this time, when I get back to Korea, I will make sure to send them to you in French.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: Our ambassador in Pyongyang is also at fault in this.

Ambassador An Yong: This year our party has placed a great importance to the development of agriculture. Now, all the cadres of the party and government have been sent to work for a long time in the villages to lend a hand to the agriculture.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: This is exactly what we are also doing in our country. This is so because we follow the same course.

Ambassador An Yong: The party slogan “The Entire Country, the Entire People and Party, Shall Help the Village” has made everyone rise to their feet. The political situation in Korea is now very tense, because the clique of Pak Chung Hee, under orders from the American imperialists, is intensifying it preparations for war against North Korea. They are also urging the Japanese imperialists to come out as an attack unit for the execution of the policies of the American imperialism against Asia and for the realization of its expansionist dreams. The clique of Pak Chung Hee has sent troops to Vietnam en masse. It is now recruiting many youths for the army of South Korea and is receiving a lot of armaments for the modernization of the military as a reward. As you well know, the conference of the ministers of foreign affairs of the countries of Asia and the Pacific is nothing else but a step toward the creation of an anticommunist alliance in the continent of Asia.

Our party considers the struggle of the Vietnamese people against the American imperialism as its own. That is why our party gives a great importance to the assistance that must be given to the Vietnamese people. It also gives a great importance to the defense of the country and the production of armaments and military munitions. It is also fighting to save the 600 thousand Koreans that are still in Japan and over whom the Japanese imperialists are waging a great campaign of fascist terror.

It is a fact that in this situation our people do not live in comfort, but under great working and fighting stress. That is why in the industry, as well as in the agriculture, we are ceaselessly working with fervor. We are working for the building of our economy and for the defense of the country at the same time. Under the slogan for the assistance to the village, all the workers in the cities who are engaged in white collar jobs are now going to the villages to work and the only ones left in the cities are the apartment building security employees.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: This is exactly what we are also doing. I watched a Korean movie, whose subject was the execution of the decisions of the congress of your party. In this film one can see the construction of the new homes and the life that the Korean workers lead. This has made us very happy.

Ambassador An Yong: We work a lot so that we can be ready.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: We also operate in this fashion, Comrade Ambassador. You have been in touch with the situation in our country. A healthy revolutionary situation exists everywhere in our country as well. Nothing bad can happen to the people and the party from work and tiredness, on the contrary, they only gain from them. If there is no working, if there is no tiredness from work, the party and the people are finished.

Ambassador An Yong: The imperialists and the revisionists seek to attack us, but we are ready and will deliver destructive blows to them, if they dare to attempt such a thing.

Comrade Enver Hoxha: Let us drink this toast for the health of Comrade Kim Il Sung.

I would like to once more wish you a good trip, Comrade Ambassador.

Ambassador An Yong: I thank you very much for your hospitality, though I know that you are very busy with state and party work. Please be sure that all that you said to me I will transmit to Comrade Kim Il Sung as you asked me to do.

Haxhi Kroi

[Signed]