...Let us take a close look at the contents of the literature of socialist realism, even the best of it. A good engineer, a bad engineer, a reformed engineer. A good peasant, a bad one, a reformed one, etc., etc. A good one, a bad one, a reformed one! The heroes of the moment are always communists. They appear on the pages of books and on the stages of theatres simply to recite heroic monologues!... The Writers’ Union itself is organized like an order of mediaeval monks. At the head of the order is a Grand Master and everyone is obliged to hearken as he carries out his functions. Do you not realize that to distribute ‘functions’ and ‘privileges’ in this manner is mediaeval? Let us examine your actions over the past few years. You decided in the Central Committee that Kolë Jakova was to be a great writer and everyone under you approved your decision. Critics acclaimed ‘Halili and Hajrija’ as a great work of art! Dhimitër S. Shuteriqi then caught your attention and found your favour as head of the Writers’ Union, and so on. But let me skip over this point.
Writers are citizens with the very same rights as everyone else and it is not proper to have them submit to such a strange and unlawful censorship. If for some reason you insist that there must be censorship, then let it be institutionalized and let everyone submit to its function. We would all then know to whom we must be accountable and we would not have to be bothered by incompetent party officials who come and impose their unwanted opinions... You must not treat the Writers’ Union of Albania as if it were simply the extension of other organizations set up by the Albanian Party of Labour. The Writers’ Union is an organization of free individuals and not part of a feudal society in which feudal rights and obligations hold sway.
With respect to rights and obligations, I would like to give you an example of something which should have no place in our society. It is well known that my novel Rinia e kohës sonë (The youth of our age) was written in 1948 and that another novel, Mbarimi i një mbretërie (The end of a kingdom) was written in 1951. Nor should it be forgotten that the novel Harbutët (The have-nots) by Sterjo Spasse was written in 1946! So why did the party make such a fuss and ban these early works and give Dhimitër S. Shuteriqi time in 1952 to write his worthless novel Çlirimtarët (The liberators)? Why did the party publish this novel with such a deafening noise? Why did it mobilize all its feudal knights of criticism to herald it as the first novel in the Albanian language? And not only the first novel, but a great novel of Albanian literature, although it is well known that Albanian-language novels were written in this country earlier, much earlier! Is it dignified for a whole party and all its high-level officials to involve themselves in such activities? History has its own unwritten laws and has not given anyone the right to do whatever he wants with art. Not even Louis XIV had such a right. Activities based on a feudal structure have no place in our society and must be stopped. You must bury the Dark Ages and return to the twentieth century in the name of the ideals for which a great war was fought and sacred things were sacrificed...
I believe that the greatest destruction to take place is going to be in Albanian intellectual life. The people are going to lose confidence in the state and its leadership, and withdraw into themselves. And in order to keep them under control, a brutal police state will have to be created. This will be but the beginning. You must abandon the road of Louis XIV of Versailles as quickly as possible and stop suppressing opinions, within the party ranks, too. It is not simply a question of shutting up poor children one sees by the roadside. It is one of systematic suppression of opinions which, in the end, will give rise to a new monarchy. If things go that far, there will be terrible intellectual poverty and only the reign of unparalleled terror will keep you in power. Such a regime will be much more dangerous for itself. A dampening and withdrawal of popular support will shake up the ranks of the leadership, too, which will gradually transform itself into a closed caste like a monarchy with no understanding of the historical realities of the twentieth century. At the end of this historic process you will be obliged to kill one another, and the common people will be drenched in blood. I believe there is still ample time to avoid such a calamity and this is why I have ventured to send you this ‘pro memoria,’ written in such urgency