Llazar Fundo
Encyclopedia
Llazar Fundo (born March 20, 1899 in Korçë
, Ottoman Empire
died September 1944 in Kukës
, Albania
) was an Albanian Communist, later social-democratic journalist
and writer. He was a former member of the Comintern
and the Balkan Communist Federation
. He was associated with the Fan S. Noli
government in 1924 and became the leader of the Bashkimi
organization after the death of Avni Rustemi in 1924. In 1928 he helped establish the Korçë Communist Group. In the fierce rivalty for power control within the CPA, he was branded a Trotskyist and purged from the Party.
, Albania from a family of merchants originating from Voskopoja. He attended the French Lycée of Salonica and later studied law in Paris, France. He was the mentor to other Albanian Communist students in Paris, including future Albanian leader Enver Hoxha
, to whom he taught law.
's Bashkimi organization which he later took over upon Rrustemi's death by assassination in April 1924. Fundo developed connections with Orthodox
Bishop
Fan S. Noli
and played an active role in forcing then-Prime Minister Ahmet Zogu's exile to Yugoslavia
that same year. Upon the overthrow of Noli's government in November 1924, Fundo emigrated to Vienna
, Austria, becoming acquainted with the Balkan Communist Federation
(CBF), and then emigrated to the Soviet Union where he became a member of the Comintern
.
in Albania, having helped establish the Albanian Communist Group in 1928 in Korçë. From 1930-1931 he served as a journalist for the Vienna-based magazine The Balkan Federation.
he was a partial observer of the Reichstag fire
events and traveled with Leipzig Trial
participant Georgi Dimitrov
(whom he befriended) back to Moscow. During the Spanish Civil War
he organized Albanian volunteers for the International Brigades
. During these years Fundo began criticizing the pro-Stalin wing of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
as "Stalinist", gravitating more towards the views
of Leon Trotsky
. During the Great Purge
he was expelled from the Comintern in 1938 as a "bourgeois
deviationist" and a death sentence was announced against him. However, the intercession of Georgi Dimitrov, then leader of the Comintern, resulted in this sentence being dropped.
in 1939, Fundo returned to Albania and served as a secondary school teacher in his hometown of Korçë until his dismissal a year later, as he was a participant in the underground struggles against the Italians. By this time he had become disillusioned with communism and embraced social-democracy. He was subsequently arrested in 1941 and sent to the island of Ventotene
. Fundo became acquainted with Altiero Spinelli
and Sandro Pertini during this period, the latter urging Fundo to stay and fight with the Italian resistance. As the Fascist government
began to fall in 1943 however, Fundo was able to return to Albania.
to the guerrillas of the Communist Party of Albania
under Enver Hoxha. He was accused of Trotskyism and collaboration with British Intelligence. He was then either lashed or beaten to death. According to Enver Hoxha in his memoirs, however, he was found by the Albanian National Liberation Army
in the company of a "gang of bandits" led by anti-communist Muslim partisan leader Gani Kryeziu and a British officer, an account that has since been substantiated. The Yugoslav partisans, who in 1942 had told their Albanian counterparts to "expose" Fundo, then allegedly came out in Fundo's defense and demanded that Hoxha's army hand Fundo over to them, but by then their letter had arrived too late as Fundo had already been executed.
Korçë
Korçë is a city in southeastern Albania and the capital of the Korçë District. It has a population of around 105,000 people , making it the sixth largest city in Albania...
, Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
died September 1944 in Kukës
Kukës
Kukës is a town in Albania located at 42.09°N, 20.43°E in the district and county with the same name. It has a population of about 16,000 . The town is set among the mountains of northern Albania. It is famous for its role during the Kosovo conflict for taking in 450,000 refugees from Kosovo...
, Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
) was an Albanian Communist, later social-democratic journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and writer. He was a former member of the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
and the Balkan Communist Federation
Balkan Communist Federation
The Balkan Federation was a project about the creation of a Balkan federation or confederation, based mainly on left political ideas.The concept of a Balkan federation emerged at the late 19th century from among left political forces in the region...
. He was associated with the Fan S. Noli
Fan S. Noli
Theofan Stilian Noli, better known as Fan Noli was an Albanian-American writer, scholar, diplomat, politician, historian, orator, and founder of the Albanian Orthodox Church, who served as prime minister and regent of Albania in 1924.Fan Noli is venerated in Albania as a champion of literature,...
government in 1924 and became the leader of the Bashkimi
Bashkimi
Bashkimi is a newspaper published in Albania....
organization after the death of Avni Rustemi in 1924. In 1928 he helped establish the Korçë Communist Group. In the fierce rivalty for power control within the CPA, he was branded a Trotskyist and purged from the Party.
Biography
Fundo was born in KorceKorçë
Korçë is a city in southeastern Albania and the capital of the Korçë District. It has a population of around 105,000 people , making it the sixth largest city in Albania...
, Albania from a family of merchants originating from Voskopoja. He attended the French Lycée of Salonica and later studied law in Paris, France. He was the mentor to other Albanian Communist students in Paris, including future Albanian leader Enver Hoxha
Enver Hoxha
Enver Halil Hoxha was a Marxist–Leninist revolutionary andthe leader of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania...
, to whom he taught law.
Return to Albania in 1924
Upon returning to Albania he was a member of Avni RrustemiAvni Rrustemi
Avni Rustemi was an Albanian, teacher, activist and member of the Albanian parliament...
's Bashkimi organization which he later took over upon Rrustemi's death by assassination in April 1924. Fundo developed connections with Orthodox
Albanian Orthodox Church
The Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania is one of the newest autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches. It declared its autocephaly in 1922, and gained recognition from the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1937....
Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
Fan S. Noli
Fan S. Noli
Theofan Stilian Noli, better known as Fan Noli was an Albanian-American writer, scholar, diplomat, politician, historian, orator, and founder of the Albanian Orthodox Church, who served as prime minister and regent of Albania in 1924.Fan Noli is venerated in Albania as a champion of literature,...
and played an active role in forcing then-Prime Minister Ahmet Zogu's exile to Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
that same year. Upon the overthrow of Noli's government in November 1924, Fundo emigrated to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria, becoming acquainted with the Balkan Communist Federation
Balkan Communist Federation
The Balkan Federation was a project about the creation of a Balkan federation or confederation, based mainly on left political ideas.The concept of a Balkan federation emerged at the late 19th century from among left political forces in the region...
(CBF), and then emigrated to the Soviet Union where he became a member of the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
.
Organization of the Korçë Albanian Communist Group
In 1929 he took part in the 8th Congress of the CBF where he discussed the founding of a Communist PartyCommunist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
in Albania, having helped establish the Albanian Communist Group in 1928 in Korçë. From 1930-1931 he served as a journalist for the Vienna-based magazine The Balkan Federation.
1933-1939: anti-Stalinism and expulsion from Comintern
In 1933 while in GermanyWeimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
he was a partial observer of the Reichstag fire
Reichstag fire
The Reichstag fire was an arson attack on the Reichstag building in Berlin on 27 February 1933. The event is seen as pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany....
events and traveled with Leipzig Trial
Leipzig Trial
The Leipzig Trial, also known as the Reichstag Fire Trial, took place from 21 September to 23 December 1933. It involved Ernst Torgler , Georgi Dimitrov, Vasil Tanev and Blagoi Popov and Marinus van der Lubbe...
participant Georgi Dimitrov
Georgi Dimitrov
Georgi Dimitrov Mikhaylov , also known as Georgi Mikhaylovich Dimitrov , was a Bulgarian Communist politician...
(whom he befriended) back to Moscow. During the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
he organized Albanian volunteers for the International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
. During these years Fundo began criticizing the pro-Stalin wing of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
as "Stalinist", gravitating more towards the views
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
of Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
. During the Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
he was expelled from the Comintern in 1938 as a "bourgeois
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
deviationist" and a death sentence was announced against him. However, the intercession of Georgi Dimitrov, then leader of the Comintern, resulted in this sentence being dropped.
Return to Albania in 1939
Following the Italian invasion of AlbaniaItalian invasion of Albania
The Italian invasion of Albania was a brief military campaign by the Kingdom of Italy against the Albanian Kingdom. The conflict was a result of the imperialist policies of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini...
in 1939, Fundo returned to Albania and served as a secondary school teacher in his hometown of Korçë until his dismissal a year later, as he was a participant in the underground struggles against the Italians. By this time he had become disillusioned with communism and embraced social-democracy. He was subsequently arrested in 1941 and sent to the island of Ventotene
Ventotene
Ventotene, in Roman times known as Pandataria or Pandateria from the Greek Pandoteira, is one of the Pontine Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the coast of Gaeta right at the border between Lazio and Campania, Italy...
. Fundo became acquainted with Altiero Spinelli
Altiero Spinelli
Altiero Spinelli was an Italian political theorist and a European federalist. Spinelli is referred to as one of the "Founding Fathers of the European Union" due to his co-authorship of the Ventotene Manifesto, his founding role in the European federalist movement, his strong influence on the first...
and Sandro Pertini during this period, the latter urging Fundo to stay and fight with the Italian resistance. As the Fascist government
Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...
began to fall in 1943 however, Fundo was able to return to Albania.
Death in 1944 by Albanian communists
In September 1944 he was captured in northern Yugoslavia, then allegedly handed over by Josip Broz TitoJosip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
to the guerrillas of the Communist Party of Albania
Communist Party of Albania
Communist Party of Albania may refer to:* Party of Labour of Albania * Communist Party of Albania * Communist Party of Albania 8 November...
under Enver Hoxha. He was accused of Trotskyism and collaboration with British Intelligence. He was then either lashed or beaten to death. According to Enver Hoxha in his memoirs, however, he was found by the Albanian National Liberation Army
Albanian National Liberation Front
The National Liberation Movement , also translated as National Liberation Front, was an Albanian resistance organization that fought in World War II. It was created in 16 September 1942, in a conference held in Pezë, a village near Tirana...
in the company of a "gang of bandits" led by anti-communist Muslim partisan leader Gani Kryeziu and a British officer, an account that has since been substantiated. The Yugoslav partisans, who in 1942 had told their Albanian counterparts to "expose" Fundo, then allegedly came out in Fundo's defense and demanded that Hoxha's army hand Fundo over to them, but by then their letter had arrived too late as Fundo had already been executed.
External links
- ‘Enverists’ and ‘Titoists’ - I has a section on Fundo.