Idealists and utopians, persecuted as opponents of the regime

Sonila Boçi, Ana Lalaj, Edon Qesari, Ilir Kalemaj, Hamit Kaba and Dorian Koçi talk about studies on Musine Kokalari, Kosta Çekrezi, Isuf Luzaj, Isuf Keci, Petro Marko, Zef Malen, Sejfulla Maleshoven, Skënder Luarasi, Tajar Zavalan and Xavid Qesja , revealing their journey from the utopian, social-democratic or communist left, towards the hatred of communism as a suffocating ideology for the country and its return to a system of executioners.

The project, which came as a collaboration between the Files Authority and the "Friedrich Ebert" Foundation and a group of historians, aims to clarify historical figures, their attitudes and lives in relation to the regime, based on documents.

Sonila Boçi says that the selection of 10 figures of the left was difficult, while Ilir Kalemaj says that the left did not start with communism in the country. He stops at the utopian, nationalist, Trotskyist left.

Then Boçi talks about the selection criteria of the characters, who lived in three times while avoiding the communists who had power, as well as the reasons why communism found support.

Edon Qesari emphasizes the details of the life and fluctuations of Petro Markos as a communist and as an anti-fascist and those of Zef Male, while Ana Lalaj says that the right and the left were divided by the motive of power.

"The left was responsible for the war and there are several reasons why communism was not stopped. Maleshova called communism a gang of terrorists," she says, noting the divisions between the communists from the beginning of power.

Edon Qesari notices the similarities between Marcos and Male, from idealism to disappointment, from the war in Spain to the first communist groups. For Hamit Kabe, Zavalani became a social democrat from a Stalinist, while Çekrezi was clear in his anti-communist conviction.

For Ilir Kalemaj, the philosopher Isuf Luzaj who founded Balli and the Social Democrat was a leftist. He points out that the reports about Luzaj have had a lot of persecution in the US as well.

Dorian Koçi says that Musine Kokalari was a complex character and follower of Sami Frasheri. It follows the principles of Voltaire's philosophy. Sonila Boçi claims that Marxism did not make Luarasi a communist, because Skënder Luarasi did not belong to left-wing groups. "Luarasi was against the regime for the story of Kadareë", she says.

Ana Lalaj updates the lesson of history when she says that those characters are examples, because today people do not stand up against the banalities of the time. /BW/