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The Albanian Political Experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Abstract

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Type
Case Study
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1971

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References

1 See particularly, Logoreci, A., ‘Albania: A Chinese Satellite in the Making’, The World Today, London, Vol. 17, No. 5, 05 1961, pp. 197207;Google Scholar Griffiths, W. E., Albania and the Sino‐Soviet Rift', MIT, Boston, Mass., 1962;Google Scholar Skendi, S., ‘Albania and the Sino‐Soviet Conflict’, Foreign Affairs, Boston, Mass., Vol. 40, No. 3, 04 1962, pp. 471–8;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Hamm, H., Albania, China's Beachhead in Europe, F. A. Praeger, New York, 1963; ‘Mao's Mayfly on the Rise in Europe’, The Irish Times, 24 06 1969; Sino‐Soviet Contacts Arouse Hoxha's Suspicions, Radio Free Europe Research Paper, 15 10 1969 Google Scholar; and Fontaine, A., ‘L'Etoile Rouge sans les Russes’, Le Monde, 15 11 1969 .Google Scholar Even Logoreci's, A., ‘Albania: The Anabaptists of European Communism’, in Problems of Communism, Washington, Vol. XVI, No. 3, 0506 1967, pp. 22–8,Google Scholar is largely concerned with her international affairs. See also Katona, P. and Jotishcky, L., ‘New Patterns in Inter‐communist Relations’, The Year Book of World Affairs, 1963, pp. 63–4 and 74–5.Google Scholar

2 The provision of an official, Unified orthography, resulting from the fusion of elements of the Geg and Tosk dialects, spoken respectively in the North and the South of the country, may encourage more Western researchers to enter the field‐see Gjinari, J., ‘The Dialectical Demarcation of the Albanian Language’, Albanian Life, London, No. 1, 01 1969, pp. 2933.Google Scholar

3 Principally Zeri i Popullit (the party daily), Rruga e Partise (the party theoretical monthly), Bashkimi (organ of the Democratic Front), Gazeta Zyrtare (the Official Gazette), Zeri i Rinise (organ of the Albanian League of Working Youth), Drita (organ of the writers and artists) and the organs of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Economic Ministries, Bujqesia Socialiste and Ekonomia Popullore. Among the very few unofficial or émigré materials are The Albanian Resistance (news bulletin of the National Dunocratic Committee for a Free Albania, Paris) ‐ containing much dubious material; Flamuri, Rome ‐ the more informative organ of the Albanian Agrarian‐Democratic Party; the American‐Albanian weekly, Liria; and the various sympathetic publications of the Albanian Society, London ‐ particularly Albanian Life (formerly Albanian Notes).

4 On the clan structure see particularly Naval Intelligence Division, Albania, Geographical Handbook, London, series BR 542 and Historical Section, Foreign Office? AlbaniaHandbook, London, 1920.

5 Zeri i Popullit, 4 March 1966.

6 For biographical details of Hoxha see Current Biography, New York, Vol. 11, No. 1, January 1950, pp. 27–9; Bolshaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya, Moscow, 1951; Ingber, D., ‘Enver Hoxha: Albanian Dictator’, Contemporary Review, 176, 08 1949, pp. 8693; ‘Hoxha, Strong Man of Albania’, World Report, 3 12 1946 , pp. 34–5;Google Scholar Gunther, J., Behind the Curtain, Harper, New York, 1949. pp. 127–8; and The Times, London, 10 02 1961 .Google Scholar

7 See report by her, in her capacity as director of the Institute, in Rruga e Partise, March 1969.

8 Fontaine, A., ‘Vingt‐Cinq Ans de Socialisme en Albanie’, Le Monde, 30–31 11 1969 .Google Scholar

9 The newly constructed Fieri‐Rrogozhina railway will not assist in providing ready access to the hinterland.

10 In terms of coverage, Hoxha revealed that even in 1966 few villages lacked a party organization ‐ see Hoxha, E., Report on the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania, Naim Frasheri Publishing House, Tirana, 1966, p. 113.Google Scholar

11 Consideiable effort seemed to be put into the slogans, those on the side of an embankment of the railway near Fieri keeping My abreast, in huge letters, with the construction of the embankment itself.

12 See The Guardian, London, 11 January 1967.

13 This direct aspect of thought conditioning is supported by a second range of indirect methods such as the Chinese produced tapes used by foreign Ianguage students of English in the language laboratory.

14 Friedrich, C. J. and Brzezinski, Z., Totalitarian Dictatorship und Autocracy, Cambridge, Mass., 1956, pp. 239 ff.Google Scholar

15 Albania was officially declared an atheist state in November 1967 on the grounds that churches were used for opposition caches of arms and were no longer attended by the populace at large‐see The Times, London, 3 November 1967 and Radio Free Europe Research Paper, Albania Claims: First Atheist State in the World, 9 October 1967 ‐it having been reported in September of that year that 2,169 religious establishments had been closed in the previous six months.

16 A factor recognized by Hoxha in his speech to the congress of the Democratic Front in September 1967 and brought home by the post‐abolition article ‘Let us carry on the uninterrupted struggle against the influences of religious ideology’ in Zeri i Popullit, 6 February 1969.

17 See Radio Free Europe Research Papers, Sino‐Albanian Economic Relations, 15 November 1968; Forging Tighter Sino‐Albanian Political, Economic and Military Ties, Pts. 1 and 2, 4 and 6 December 1968; and also The Economist, 1 February 1969.

18 See The Observer, London, 8 December 1968; The Guardian, London, 9 December 1968; Ls Monde, Pans, 10 December 1968; The Observer, 2 February 1969; and The Daily Telegraph, London, 21 August 1969.

19 Ideologically, the year also witnessed a celebration of the 90th anniversary of Stalin, with a major exhibition devoted to him in Tirana, Radio. Tirana report 12 December 1969.

20 See, Radio Free Europe Research Paper, Albania Institutes Radically New Measures, 2 March 1966; The Times, London, 27 October 1966; 19 January 1967; 8 March 1967 and 14 March 1967. Also P. R. Prifti, Albania's Cultural Revolution, Center for International Studies, MIT, C/68–9, September 1968.

21 For Hoxha's report on the state of the nation on this occasion, see Zeri i Popullit, 29 November 1969. See also Fontaine, A., ‘Vingt‐Cinq Ans de Socialisme en Albanie’, Le Monde, 29 and 30–31 11 1969 .Google Scholar

22 The population in 1965 was 66.8 per cent rural as against 33.2 per cent urban (Vjetari Statistikor i Republikës Popullore të Shqipërisë, Tirana, 1966), although industry accounts for approximately 50 per cent of the national product (The Financial Times, 11 December 1969).

23 Some 19,700 hectares we‐re to be reclaimed in the spring of 1970—see Bashkimi, 7 January 1970.

24 See‐Radio Free Europe Research Paper, Albania's 19 68 Plan Fulfilment and the 1969 Plan, 28 January 1969.

25 See the report of the Chairman of the State Planning Commission, Abdyl Kellezi, to the Peoples' Assembly, Zeri i Popullit, 17 February 1970.

26 Ibid.

27 See Bujqesia Socialiste, November 1969.

28 See Rruga e Partise, January 1970.

29 For discussions of the economic plan and the plan itself, see Zeri i Popullit, 14 and 15 January 1969.

30 Report by Abdyl Kellezi, loc. cit.

31 Gazeta Zyrtare, 24 March 1969.

32 E.g. Ekonomia Popullore, Vol. 2, March‐April 1969; Rruga e Partise, August 1969 and October 1969.

33 E.g. Zeri i Popullit, 31 May 1969.

34 7 March 1968.

35 11 April 1968.

36 See Mako, J., ‘To Further Revolutionize the School’, Albanian Lge, No. 1, 01 1969, P. 34.Google Scholar

37 See the report by Shehu in Zeri i Popullit, 29 June 1969.

38 Radio Tirana report 12 March 1969. See also Zeri i Popullit, 5 March 1969.

39 See the report by Abdyl Kellezi, lot. cit.

40 On Albanian local government see Sabine, J. A., ‘Local Government in Tirana,’ Albanian Notes', No. 9, 12 1967, pp. 57 and No. 10, 07 1968, pp. 42–9 ‐ an dele reproduced from the Municipal Review. Google Scholar

41 For a brief and rather predictable examination of voting practice, see Murray, T., ‘Albanian Election Procedure’, Albanian Notes, No. 6, 12 1966, p. 7.Google Scholar

42 Source: Vjetatri Statistikor i Republikës Popullore të Sbqipërisë: Tirana 1966. The 1970 elections took place on 20 September, providing few surprises.

43 Nushi died in April 1970.

44 E. Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the Central Committee, op. cit., p. 100.

45 Ibid.

46 Rruga e Partise, March 1969, p. 65; cf. figure of around 70,000, given to a Guardian correspondent, briefly visiting Albania, The Guardian, 17 June 1969. Confirmation of the latter has now been given by Hysni Kapo at the 10th CC Plenum, in reporting the January 1970 total as 75,673 (Zeri i Popullit, 28 June, 1970).

47 Hinted at in the March 1966 open letter from the Central Committee, which launched the cultural revolution (see Zeri i Popullit, 4 March 1966) and by Hoxha's claim, in his report to the 5th Party Congress (op. cit., p. 96 and in Zeri i Popullit, t November 1966), that there had taken place a reorganization of the party and state machine in which ‘nearly 15,000 cadres passed from office work to production’‐ although the timing of this latter is unclear. See also Radio Free Europe Research Papers, Signs of an Impending Shake‐up in Albania, 14 July 1966, and Signs of a Shake‐up in Albanian Party Basic Organisations, 27 July 1966.

48 I. Sina in hga e Partise, June 1969.

49 Ibid.

50 E. Hoxha, Report, op. cit., p. 101. In fact Kapo's June 1970 report (loc. cit.) showed the worker and white‐collar proportions to have drawn almost level, at 35–22 and 35.81% respectively, as of 1 January 1970.

51 E. Hoxha, Report, op. cit., p. 101.

52 Ibid., p. 113.

53 See Radio Free Europe Research Papers, Rejuvenation of the Party through Organisational Change, 10 June 1968 and Revolutionising of Pare Life means Shake‐up, 23 October 1968, and Seeking New Blood, East Europe, Vol. 18, No. 1, January 1969, p. 37. This process was to be further stressed by Hoxha in his speech to the Tirana party organization in December 1968 ‐ Zeri i Popullit, 22 December 1968.

54 See Page, B., Leitch, D. and Knightley, P., Philby ‐ The Spy Who Betrayed a Generation, London, 1968, pp. 193–8;Google Scholar Philby, H. A. R., My Silent War, London, 1968, pp. 117–99;Google Scholar and Cookridge, E. H., The Third Man, Barker, London, 1968, pp. 156–9.Google Scholar

55 B. Page, ibid., p. 193.

56 The Times, 9 July 1946.

57 See Seton‐Watson, H., The East European Revolution, London, 1956, p. 226.Google Scholar

58 The Times, 14 and 29 July 1947.

59 See H. Seton‐Watson, op. cit., p. 227.

60 The Times, 27 January 1948.

61 H. Seton‐Watson, op. cit., p. 227.

62 For a brief general, but readily comparable, survey of the trials in Albania and East Europe see ‘Les épurations dans les dé mocrafies populaires’, Le Monde‐, 20–21 July 1969.

63 The Times, 10 December 1948.

64 The Times, 11 December 1948. See also Le Monde, 20–21 July 1969.

65 Radio Tirana, 10 June 1949.

66 Ibid., 13 June 1949.

67 The Times, 19 May 1956. See also A. Logoreci, op. cit., p. 23.

68 Founded 1949 ‐ see The Times, 27 August 1949. See also statement by its president, ibid., 10 September 1949.

69 The Times, 7 June 1950.

70 The Times, 2 January 1951. A death sentence and various prison terms, were also passed on a group of agents on 29 November 1950 but it is not clear whether these were involved in the same movement ‐ see The Timer, 1 January 1951.

71 The Times, 17 October 1951.

72 Ibid., 29 October 1951.

73 B. Page, et al., op. cit., p. 197.

74 Some trials of spies and saboteurs nevertheless continued to occur ‐ see The Times, 27 February 1953 and 23 June 1953.

75 Gegai, A. and Krasniqi, R., Albania, ACEN, New York, 1964, p. 29.Google Scholar

76 The Times, 20 October 1953.

77 Ibid., 19 May 1956.

78 Ibid., 27 October 1956.

79 Keesing's Contemporary Archives, Bristol, 16396, 1956. Hoxha in fact later referred to them as Titoist agents caught trying to flee to Yugoslavia, in his speech to the Moscow Communist Conference in 1960 (first published in full in Vëllimi i 3‐të, PPSh‐Dokumente Kryesore (Principal Documents of the Albanian Workers' Party, Vol. 3). Institute of Marxist‐Leninist Studies, Tirana, 1970.

80 The Times, 21 May 1957.

81 Ibid., 4 June 1957

82 Ibid. He was, however, accused by Hoxha, in the latter's 1960 Moscow Conference speech (loc. cit.) of having also sought Khrushchev's support in ‘liquidating’ the ‘anti‐Marxist and Stalinist’ Albanian leadership, and of having been offered asylum in the Soviet Union.

83 The Times, 10 September 1960.

84 Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 18042A.

85 Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 1804ZA.

86 The Times, 21 February 1961.

87 Ibid., 22 March 1961.

88 Ibid., 19 May 1961 and Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 18302A.

89 The Timer, 6 October 1961 and Keesing's Contemporary Archives, 18302A.

90 He died in Belgrade on 13 July 1966, aged 47.

91 Le Monde, 9 June 1961.

92 As was indicated by the attack on conservatives in his speech on 6 February 1967.

93 See article by I, Sina, Rruga e Partise, June 1969.

94 See The Times, 21 February 1948; 19 May 1948; 31 July 1950 and 16 October 1950.

95 Avvenire, Rome, 25 February 1969, which claimed that the Pope had received, in May 1968, a document from 8 Albanian Catholics giving details of the persecution of catholics.

96 L'Unité, 21 July 1969.

97 Zeri i Popullit, 29 June 1969.

98 See Schlesinger, R., ‘The Educational Reform’, Soviet Studies, Vol. X, 04 1959;Google Scholar and Schwartz, J. J. and Keech, W. R., ‘Group Influence on the Policy Process in the Soviet Union’, American Political Science Review, Vol. LXII, 09 1968, pp. 840–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

99 Council of Europe report, The Times, 28 January 1965. This figure does not include wartime collaborators, many of whom were amnestied in January 1956 ‐ see Sabine, J., ‘Some Notes on Albanian Law and Legal Administration’, Albanian Notes, No. 7, 03 1967, pp. 17, particularly pp. 67.Google Scholar

100 Hazbiu has recently been in Peking, where he met the former head of the Chinese security police (Kang Sheng) on 16 June 1970.

101 See e.g. for an official view of the penal code, Elezi, I., ‘The Penal Law of the Peoples’ Republic of Albania’, Albanian Notes, No. 10, 07 1968, pp. 4954. Cf. Sabine, ibid., No. 7, 03 1967, pp. 607.Google Scholar

102 An electrified fence on the border effectively limits the possibilities of departure for dissenters.

103 Besides the now celebrated trade agreement with the Greek colonels, ambassadorial‐level relations have recently been established with Switzerland ‐ see The Daily Telegraph, 21 July 1970.

104 The Times Educational Supplement, London, 17 July 1970.