The Left in Albania, a study of declassified documents

In the fitting surrounds of the “House of Leaves” Museum, on 24 June 2021, a publication that examined declassified documents of the former security services during the communist period was presented to the public.

This analysis was the result of exhaustive work by authors of 4475 pages of documents that were declassified by AIDSSH. The scholars approached their work in a multi-disciplinary fashion, exploring the views of the political opinion of the left in Albania in the context of world political opinion in the 20th century.

The political profiles treated rigorously in this publication describe the political and social lives of Musine Kokalari, Tajar Zavalani, Konstandin Çekrezi, Sejfulla Malëshova, Isuf Luzaj, Skënder Luarasi, Petro Marko, Xhavid Qesja, Isuf Keçi, and Zef Mala.

The study’s authors provided a summary of the lives of these figures during the event highlighting to the attendees their extraordinary political and social values, which still resonate to this day. The return of leftist movements and the history of Albania’s left-wing proves that reflection of these values remains a relevant research field.

This publication was the fruit of a serious work of its authors, Prof. Dr. Ana Lalaj, Dr. Dritan Koçi, Dr. Edon Qesari, Prof. Dr. Hamit Kaba, Dr, Ilir Kalemaj and Prof. Assoc. Dr. Sonila Boçi.

Attending this promotional activity were personalities of Albanian and foreign politics, scholars and academics, representatives of civil society, as well as young men and women in search of political values and families of the characters covered by the study.

In its ambition to search in the past for high socio-political values, FES will continue its journey to promote these values in the present and the future through a chain of activities that will follow the promotion of the study: “The Left” Political Thought/Biographical Profile.