Albania

34. Allow me first of all, Mr. President, to extend to you the sincere congratulations of the delegation of the People's Republic of Albania on your unanimous election as President of the current session of the General Assembly. 35. The General Assembly is beginning the work of the present session in an ominous atmosphere, at a time when the guns of the Israeli — imperialist aggressors are still thundering against the Arab countries, and at a time when peace-loving Member States are still stunned by the shameful impression left by the shocking failure of the fifth emergency special session of this Assembly. That session was unable to adopt a single resolution condemning the aggressors, thus once again proving that it is not the principles of the Charter and the interests of peoples that prevail at the United Nations, but the policy of the United States of America. That, to be sure, does not reveal the reality of the world situation, for history is made neither by the imperialists nor by the United Nations, but by the peoples struggling against imperialism, against colonialism, and against all reactionaries, clearing their path towards full national and social liberation. 36. It is a fact that world imperialism, led by the United States of America, is waging a life-and-death struggle and is intensifying its criminal acts against freedom-loving peoples and countries. But throughout the world, increasingly angry and rebellious peoples are reacting with ever-growing resolution and strength, in greater numbers and with a greater reliance on the victory of their just cause. The heroic Viet-Namese people, the Arab peoples of Palestine, South Arabia and Oman, the peoples of Angola, Mozambique and so-called Portuguese Guinea, of South West Africa, Southern Rhodesia, Puerto Rico, and all the peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America still suffering under imperialist, colonial, neo-colonial and racist oppression, are today waging a resolute battle, unflinching in the face of hardships and sacrifices. The courageous revolt of the Negroes of the United States of America against savage racial discrimination is also beginning to form a part of the great world-wide liberation struggle waged by the peoples against imperialism, which is now profoundly impaired and breaking apart under their crushing blows. 37. In their struggle for national and social liberation, the peoples must face a brutal enemy, American imperialism, which is at the centre of world reaction and is constantly increasing the scope of its aggressive activities. In order to attain the aims of its global strategy and find a way out of the dangerous isolation resulting from its encirclement by the peoples, the United States of America makes other capitalist countries work with it in reactionary political alliances and aggressive military blocs. To achieve the same ends, it gives paramount importance to the strengthening of relations with the revisionist leaders of the Soviet Union. The leaders of those two Powers, despite their differences, manage to agree when conspiring against the peoples. The Soviet revisionists, who have blatantly betrayed the ideals of the October Revolution and the vital interests of the peoples of the world, have today become the principal allies of American imperialism in stifling revolutionary and liberation movements, in order to ensure the protection of their rear in connexion with their plans for unleashing a new war. 38. American-Soviet co-operation to the detriment of the peoples' cause is one of the salient features of our era. That co-operation covers various fields. It is constantly being extended and strengthened, becoming firmer and more definite, more flagrant and dangerous, and it is directed towards world domination by the two Powers. It is carried out against the freedom and independence of peoples by means of plots and conspiracies and through co-ordinated action for their implementation, by means of public and secret agreements, secret diplomacy, contacts and negotiations between representatives of the two countries including summit meetings and even the Moscow-Washington "hot line". 39. At Glassboro — which, marks a new stage in the imperialist-revisionist "holy alliance" — the two partners not only scrutinized the outcome of the aggression against the Arab countries which was carried out in conformity with their previous plans, as well as their future attitude towards that aggression, but they also co-ordinated their stands on many international problems. They drew up new counter-revolutionary plots and spun new conspiracies against the people, against Viet-Nam, the Near and Middle East and other countries — especially against the People's Republic of China, which forms the main obstacle to the fruition of their counter-revolutionary and neo-colonialist plans. At Glassboro, they drew up plans for a detailed division of world spheres of influence between them. 40. The most desperate and bloody battle between American imperialism and the forces of revolution is taking place today in Viet-Nam. American imperialists have aimed at transforming that country into one of their colonies and into a bridgehead for their war plans against the other freedom-loving countries of that region. They have striven to put down with fire and the sword the just struggle of the heroic Viet-Namese people. But they have not reckoned with the fact that they are facing a people which has brilliant traditions of patriotic struggle, a people resolved to fight to the death for their freedom. Despite the continual escalation of their armed aggression, despite the use of the most savage means of warfare, they have in Viet-Nam come up against the unshakable determination and iron will of the courageous Viet-Namese people, who have risen and are fighting with signal heroism as one man, striking the enemy with a succession of crushing blows which have humbled his imperialist arrogance and driven him into an impasse. 41. The notorious global strategy of American imperialism has suffered an irreparable defeat in Viet-Nam, whereas the strategy and tactics of the popular struggle are emerging triumphant. The aggression of the United States of America has turned into shameful failure. The victories won by the splendid Viet-Namese people in its struggle for the welfare of its country have aroused the admiration and support of all progressive mankind. Today, these victories constitute a priceless contribution to national and revolutionary liberation movements throughout the world and a great source of inspiration to those movements, demonstrating as they do that the armed struggle of a united and resolute people is the sure road to the conquest of freedom and independence. 42. The leader of the Albanian people, Comrade Enver Hoxha, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Albania, had the following to say in his speech of 14 September before the Fourth Congress of the Albanian Democratic Front, concerning Viet-Nam: "Events in Viet-Nam have shown that a people, however small, can successfully resist and even conquer when it fights resolutely and with determination for its freedom and its independence, even if it is confronted by a powerful enemy, even American imperialism." 43. At the same time, the heroic struggle of the Viet-Namese people has revealed the Trojan-horse role the Soviet revisionists have been playing. Despite their camouflage attempts, it is now clear that they are not in favour of the victory of the Viet-Namese people, that they are not in favour of the liberation of South Viet-Nam and the reunification of the entire country. Quite the contrary, the Soviet revisionists want to preserve American imperialism; they want to help it to maintain its position in Viet-Nam in order to turn that country into a training ground for the battle against the People's Republic of China and the other peaceful countries of the region. 44. The American imperialists are making desperate attempts to get out of the impasse in which they find themselves in Viet-Nam by an unceasing escalation of the aggression and by simultaneously resorting to their treacherous manoeuvre of negotiations, in which they are being openly supported by the Soviet revisionists. It is obvious that the latest escalation of the heinous aggression in Viet-Nam and in particular the criminal large-scale bombing of Hanoi, the dams of the Red River and Lang-Son, near the China-Vietnamese border, has been perpetrated in line with plots hatched by Johnson and Kosygin at Glassboro with the intention of forcing negotiations by means of the bombardments. The Soviet revisionists cannot possibly escape their heavy responsibility for all the crimes being committed in Viet-Nam by the American imperialists. However, neither the sending to South Viet-Nam of fresh American troop reinforcements — at the present time there are approximately half a million American soldiers there — nor the stepping up of the bombings in the North will save the United States from its inevitable defeat. Its monstrous crimes have only served to intensify the hatred the Vietnamese people feels for it and to strengthen that people's inflexible purpose even further. 45. The Viet-Namese people cannot be deceived by the manoeuvre of forcing negotiations through bombings. They will never give in to force, but will fight on to final victory, until the last of the aggressors has left the sacred soil of their homeland. 46. The United States of America and its allies are now renewing their efforts to submit the Viet-Nam question to the United Nations so that it may use the Organization as an instrument of its policy of aggression, even in the case of Viet-Nam. The United Nations has no right whatsoever to intervene in the internal affairs of Viet-Nam. The Viet-Namese people — and that people alone — has the right to settle its own affairs. The Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam and the National Front for the Liberation of South Viet-Nam have firmly rejected those attempts and have made it clearly understood that such schemes will come to grief when opposed by the unshakable determination of the entire Viet-Namese people to fight on to final victory over the American aggressors. 47. The Albanian people, its party and its Government have always been and will always be on the side of the fraternal Viet-Namese people. They support with determination its just struggle and they subscribe fully to the four demands of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam and to the five points of the National Front for the Liberation of South Viet-Nam as being the only just solution to the Viet-Nam question. The great Viet-Namese people will fight to the end and cannot fail to achieve final victory. 48. Some four months have elapsed since the opening of the Zionist-imperialist aggression against the Arab countries, but aggression is still going on. The Israel armed forces still occupy territory of the United Arab Republic, Jordan and Syria. The Israel authorities are engaging in terrorist acts and persecution and committing heinous crimes against the Arab population in those territories. At the instigation and with the overt assistance of the American Government, and at the same time enjoying the support of the Soviet revisionists, Israel is continuing its armed provocations against the Arab countries. All these Powers, following different paths but for identical ends, without the slightest scruples and acting from positions of strength, are resorting to every kind of pressure and intrigue against the Arab countries, endeavouring to impose on them "direct negotiations" with Israel. Israel, meanwhile, persists In its insane, expansionist claims and makes every effort to legalize at all costs its occupation of the Arab territories and exploit the riches of those territories, gain control over the main waterways of that highly important economic and strategic area, and in this way lay the groundwork for future expansion. 49. It is common knowledge that the claims of the Zionist aggressors, as well as the plans peddled by the notorious emissaries of the American imperialists, are in essence identical to the plan drawn up at Glassboro by the two great Powers, who are feverishly engaged in forcing the Arab countries to abandon their just struggle against the aggressors and accept the so-called "political settlement," which for those countries would mean giving in to the conditions imposed on them by the Tel Aviv aggressors. In other words, the same revolting tactic being used against Viet-Nam — armed aggression followed by an offer for "negotiations" under the threat of force — is here being used against the Arab countries. The Arab countries have made it clear that they cannot accept such a surrender. The Zionist aggressors must get out of the Arab territories immediately and unconditionally. The rights of the Palestine people and other Arab peoples must be restored without delay. 50. At the fifth emergency special session of the General Assembly, the Albanian delegation, in setting forth the true facts about the events in the Near East, submitted its objective proposals in the form of a draft resolution, which would have enabled the General Assembly to adopt the necessary and urgent measures needed In face of the aggression and its aftermath. However, under pressure from the American imperialists and their partners, our proposals were rejected; that was a further proof of the deplorable state of affairs prevailing in this Organization owing to the baneful influence of the United States of America. Subsequent events have borne out our position; they have confirmed that the Albanian draft resolution was the only just solution which would avert aggression and its consequence. 51. The aggression in the Near East was a great trial and a great lesson, not only for the Arab peoples, but for all the peoples of the world. That aggression and the whole complex of machinations and various manoeuvrings accompanying it — before and after — showed the Arab peoples who were their enemies and who were their friends. They fully revealed the true faces of the enemies of the people, and in particular the faces of the American imperialists and their principal partners, the Soviet Revisionists. That is of the utmost importance for the future of the peoples' struggle for independence, freedom and security. 52. The Albanian people and their Government have closely and sympathetically followed the efforts of the Arab countries to achieve their unity in the struggle they must wage for the liberation of enemy- occupied territories and for the elimination of all the consequences of the imperialist-Zionist aggression. We denounce and condemn all the pressures and treacherous manoeuvres of the imperialists and revisionists against the Arab peoples and countries. The People's Republic of Albania and its people have supported and will always resolutely support the just struggle of the Arab peoples and countries. 53. We are fully convinced that our Arab brothers, with their brilliant past and their fine record of struggle for freedom and independence, will successfully overcome the difficulties of the moment and triumph over their enemies, by relying first of all on their own strength and on the support of the revolutionary forces of the world. The Arab peoples are struggling for a just cause, to live freely and independently, and their cause will triumph. 54. While obstinately continuing the frantic arms race, the American imperialists and the revisionist leaders of the Soviet Union have been acting out here for a long time the comedy of disarmament discussions. It is clearer than ever that in the present state of affairs there can be no disarmament; it is quite unthinkable that the imperialists would agree to disarm of their own accord. Weapons and wars are the Inseparable companions of their existence. Sterile debate here in the General Assembly or at Geneva in the Seventeen-Nation Committee enable the two great Powers to camouflage their frantic arms race and their efforts to improve their armaments of all kinds, including nuclear weapons. 55. Furthermore, those two Powers seek to use United Nations bodies to legalize their aggressive counterrevolutionary designs. That has been proved by their draft treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons drawn up at Glassboro and submitted jointly by them to the Seventeen-Nation Committee. That treaty is an important step forward in their vast conspiracy against the interests of peoples. Faced with the great achievements of the People's Republic of China in the field of nuclear weapons, achievements which have dealt a stunning blow to their policy of nuclear monopoly and blackmail, these two Powers have speeded up their efforts to strengthen their privileged position in this field and have hastened to reach agreement on the so-called treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. In their hands, that treaty would be in every way an instrument of nuclear intimidation, dictation and domination directed against independent, freedom-loving countries; it has nothing to do with the question of disarmament. 56. If those two Powers were really desirous of achieving nuclear disarmament and eradicating the danger of nuclear war as they try to pretend, they could quite easily reach an agreement on the complete prohibition of nuclear weapons and the destruction of all stock-piles of those weapons. The non-proliferation treaty is an insufferable hoax perpetrated against peace-loving countries. It is a cynical and aggressive act. For the nuclear countries it entails nothing but obligations which would infringe on their sovereignty and on their vital interests, giving them no rights, while the nuclear Powers would have nothing but rights and no obligations whatsoever. That treaty's aggressive and neocolonialist aims have nothing to do with the aspirations of peoples desirous of freedom and progress, and are in blatant opposition to the interests of international security. The danger of nuclear war comes from American imperialism and Its allies, and not from peace-loving States. 57. The Albanian Government, for its part, has often expressed its position on this matter in the past. It has been and it remains in favour of the prohibition and total destruction of nuclear weapons. It has been and it continues to be firmly opposed to the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Its position is determined by the basic principles of its foreign policy, by its resolute stand for the freedom, progress and security of peace-loving peoples and countries, as well as by its unshakable loyalty to the principle of the sovereignty and equality of States, regardless of their size, and the principle of respect for their sovereign rights — in particular their all-important right to take the measures needed for their national defence, by any means, including nuclear weapons. 58. It is in that spirit that the Albanian delegation once more appeals to those Member States who hold dear the principles of international freedom and security, asking that they reject that fraudulent treaty which embodies a serious and direct threat to the national security of each one of them, and to universal peace. 59. One of the direct results of the aggressive policy of American imperialism and its insane plans for world domination is the serious crisis through which this Organization has been passing for many years. Having long been under the harmful influence of the United States of America and hence, in recent years, subject to the consequences of American-Soviet collusion, the United Nations has been transformed into an instrument for mystification and a centre for bargaining at the expense of the peoples, into an instrument for disguising the imperialist policy of aggression and oppression of peoples, into an instrument of pressure, intervention and aggression against freedom-loving peoples and countries. 60. What confidence can mankind have in the United Nations when, faced with a situation such as that resulting from the imperialist-Israel aggression against the peaceful Arab countries, it not only takes no steps whatsoever against the aggressors, but defends them, as well as the territories they have gained by force of arms? The peoples, disillusioned by the activity of this Organization up to now, have the right to ask to be told its true role, and to what extent its existence is justified by its present course of action. 61. It is obvious that, far from fulfilling its mission in accordance with the Charter, the United Nations is embarked on a path diametrically opposed to that laid down in its fundamental principles; persevering along that path is bound to lead to its total collapse. 62. The Albanian Government has frequently stressed the fact that the United Nations can surmount the serious crisis in which it now finds itself only if it can shake off the hold the United States has upon it, and only if it ceases to be a bargaining ground for the two great Powers, to the detriment of the peoples struggling for freedom and national independence. 63. A serious and very important step in that direction must be the restoration of the legitimate rights of the People's Republic of China within this Organization. Indeed, how can the United Nations be called an international organization with a universal role when the largest State in the world is not represented in it? How can the peoples have proper respect for this Organization when the seat of the great people's China is usurped by a clique of renegades chased out long ago by the Chinese people, by a noisome corpse preserved by the intrigues and pressures of the United States of America to poison still further the oppressive atmosphere which hangs over the United Nations? The peoples have long been demanding that that grave injustice to the 700 million Chinese people should be redressed, for they regard it as intolerable and are convinced at the same time that none of the important international problems of our time can be resolved without the great people's China. 64. The People's Republic of China is a powerful socialist State which is developing and progressing in every sphere of activity with irresistible revolutionary zeal; it is a great international Power with high authority and prestige and an important factor in the maintenance of international peace and security. China tirelessly pursues a policy of peace and friendship among peoples, firmly combats the aggressive and warlike policy of imperialism and international reaction, and unreservedly defends and supports the anti-imperialist struggle of the peoples for freedom, national independence and social progress. 65. The People's Republic of China has already joined the nuclear Powers. That event was greeted with enthusiasm by peace-loving States and peoples as an important factor for international peace and security. 66. No power in the world can tarnish the brilliant results achieved by the great Chinese people in the socialist construction of its country, the enormous potential and the colossal creative vigour of the People's Republic of China or its ever-growing international role. 67. The American Government and its avowed or concealed collaborators unceasingly persist in stepping up their hostile acts against the People's Republic of China and the great Chinese people; they foment shady plots and make feverish attempts to carry the torch of war near to its borders. The American imperialists, in league with the Soviet revisionists, have unleashed a savage campaign of calumny and revolting slanders against the People's Republic of China aimed at belittling its just and principled policy as well as the overwhelming victories won by the great Chinese people. 68. But their efforts are vain; all the plots hatched by the enemies of great socialist China, all their efforts and all their slanders, are doomed to failure. The overwhelming victory of the great Chinese proletarian cultural revolution, which has dispelled the last hopes the imperialists and revisionists had of bringing China back under a capitalistic and colonialist regime, serves as a further proof of the invincible strength of the great Chinese people and as a solid guarantee that the great people's China will continue to go forward. 69. The struggle being waged by Member States for the restoration of the rights of the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations not only works for the vital interests of this Organization, but is at the same time an integral element in the struggle of peaceful peoples and countries against the aggressive and enslaving policy of the United States of America and its revisionist partners. 70. We consider that, with a full sense of the responsibilities involved, it is time for those Member States which are truly concerned with the future of the Organization and with the cause of peace to express their unreserved support of the request for the restoration of the legitimate rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations [A/6831], a request co-sponsored by the People's Republic of Albania. 71. It is now more than ever clear that a widespread conspiracy is being hatched against the peaceful countries, against the freedom-loving peoples and against the national liberation movement in the world. That conspiracy entered a new and more dangerous phase at Glassboro. But the peoples are in the overwhelming majority, and they are the real makers of history. They will never allow anyone to bargain about their higher interests and their futures. They will not submit to violence and imperialist aggressions any more than they will allow themselves to be misled by imperialist tricks or by those of the revisionist clique. Counter-revolutionary violence will be met with a firm and appropriate revolutionary response. 72. In the face of that criminal conspiracy, the peoples form a vast liberation front in the struggle against imperialism, which will wipe out the plans of aggression and the hateful imperialist system itself, and which will open up for them the route to their true liberation and to peace and social progress. That is the manifest objective reality unfolding before our eyes. At the present time, it is more than ever clear that the great ideas of freedom, independence, social progress and socialism which have vitally aroused the peoples of every continent, and in particular — at the present stage — those of Asia, Africa and Latin America, have been transformed into an invincible, world-wide force. The present gigantic struggle, which is of outstanding historical significance for the fate of mankind, gives those ideas new and ever-increasing strength and vigour. 73. Nor is the situation in Europe favourable to the imperialists and the Soviet revisionists, who would nonetheless like to have their kind of calm prevail in that region so that their knives might carve up, like so much butter, the rights and democratic freedoms of the peoples, including those of the German Democratic Republic, whom the Soviet revisionists are conspiring to sacrifice on the altar of the Soviet- American alliance. 74. The influence of great revolutionary ideas and the people's struggle for freedom are lending new impetus to the battles, upheavals, disparities and large-scale regroupings of social forces. As a result of those battles and of the victories won by freedom-loving peoples, the balance of forces has continually been changing in their favour, in favour of the cause of the freedom of peoples and of the revolution. 75. In this hour of historic importance for the fate of mankind, the delegation of the People's Republic of Albania deems it necessary to draw the attention of peace-loving Member States to the importance of the task incumbent on them of forcefully combatting the vast American-Soviet conspiracy against the peoples. In the present world situation, it has become an imperative and paramount necessity to denounce and to stamp out the collusion between the two Powers. That is an urgent task for all freedom-loving and peace-loving peoples and countries. 76. Under the just leadership of its party and its Government, the Albanian people has achieved significant successes in its peaceful work of building socialism in its country. In the building of its new life, it has been obliged to struggle resolutely against the many attempts of the Imperialists, and of their collaborators and tools of all kinds, to wrest from it its gains in its revolutionary national liberation struggle, and to transform our country into a colony and into a training-ground in accordance with their aggressive designs. Thanks to the revolutionary vigilance of the Albanian people, thanks to its monolithic unity and to the just leadership of party and Government, all the hostile attempts, all the plots and all the diabolical designs of the imperialists and revisionists have failed ignominiously, and the People's Republic of Albania has continued to advance triumphantly along the road of socialism towards progress and prosperity in all fields. As in the past, the Albanian people will in the future victoriously safeguard the victories of the revolution and its socialist homeland; it will give its enemies the response they deserve, and it will wipe out all attempts made against it, of whatever nature they may be. 77. The People's Republic of Albania has faithfully followed a policy of international peace, friendship and co-operation based on the principles of the sovereign equality of States, of non-interference in their domestic affairs and of mutual self-interest, It has done and will do its utmost in the future to bring, along with other freedom-loving and peace-loving countries and peoples, its modest contribution to the cause of freedom, peace and the strengthening of friendship among peoples. 78. The Albanian people and its Government have supported and will always support unreservedly the struggle the peoples are waging for national and social liberation and for the defence and strengthening of national independence and sovereignty against the designs of the imperialists and their cohorts. They are firmly convinced that the heroic and revolutionary struggle of freedom-loving peoples and countries will totally destroy the imperialist policy of intervention, oppression and aggression, and that in the end that struggle will wipe out the imperialist system — a source of war, oppression and exploitation of the peoples — itself. 79. The just path of political principle firmly pursued by our Government in its relations with other States and with regard to all international problems will guide the delegation of the People's Republic of Albania in its consideration of the items on the agenda of the current session.