‘I thought there was nothing better than communism’: Lea Ypi on life after a Stalinist regime
www.theguardian.com
When the state fell, Ypi went from party Pioneer to traitor overnight - in this extract from her acclaimed memoir she reveals the trauma of discovering the truth about her family and her country

Every. Fucking. Time.

  • LeninWeave [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    :wojak-nooo: Nooooo the party can't just prevent me from joining only because my ancestors were prominent fascists!

    Seriously, it's unfortunate her grandfather was imprisoned so long supposedly just for being wealthy and the son of a massive reactionary politician, but compared to the other shit that had just happened in Albania (WW2)... who cares?

    “Then why did he go to prison?” I insisted. “He must have done something. Nobody goes to prison for nothing.” “Class struggle,” my grandmother said. “Class struggle is always bloody.”

    Grandma gets it, at least.

    • Mardoniush [she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Yeah, that was a dick move, but you've gotta do some sweeps if you're gonna defend the revolution, and that's gonna pick up some people who don't deserve it. Especially given Albania's isolated position between the west and our favourite IMF loan enthusiast.

      Not that I'm particularly sympathetic to Hoxaism, but critical support and all that.

      We should aim to do a bit better when the big communism button is pressed and I am inevitably appointed People's Commissar for Interior Security, though.

      • LeninWeave [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I think Hoxhaism is a pretty understandable position given the conditions (location, geopolitics, history, etc.) of Albania at the time. :hoxha-turt:

        between the west and our favourite IMF loan enthusiast.

        :tito-laugh: heh

      • LeninWeave [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I agree, which is why I said it's unfortunate if it's true. But, as I said, it's not much compared to the chaos and turmoil that was going on after WW2. A lot of people suffered much worse than one wrongfully imprisoned bourgeois.

        Ideally, it wouldn't have happened, but spinning it into a book deal and Guardian article nearly 80 years after the fact is... a bit much. Outside the context of the article, as you say, you're completely right.