Pickaxe and Rifle: the Story of the Albanian People
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' IMPLOSION James Montgomerie Intrigue and corruption inside a major electronics public company on the verge of a sensational technical breakthrough in colour television — a revolutionary process that will render every existing television set obsolete overnight. Jealousy, sexual inducements, and power politics are the motivations. The author, James Montgomerie, worked in the central administration of a number of the largest companies and knows at first hand the minds and motivations of those who occupy the citadels of the great corporations. In Implosion he has combined technical knowledge, subtle evocation of character with stylish writing to set a new standard for ‘Company’ novels. Film option sold. Paperback rights negt’n ISBN 0 7030 0038 1 244 pp Hardcover: £1.75 February 1974 limp, sewn-bound £1.00 IRON GUSTAV Hans Fallada A sweeping panorama of the German people - and an undoubted classic - Iron Gustav presents an uncompromising picture of Germany before, during, and immediately after the First World War; the age in the history of this great nation in which were sown the seeds of a terrible harvest. ‘ A magnificent writer.’ - New Statesman ‘An undoubted epic. ’ - The Times ISBN 0 09 307870 6 461 pp. Available now £1.65 UK only CHARLES DICKENS LONDON GUIDE 1879 Victorian London by the younger Charles Dickens. A must’ for every researcher and historian of Victoriana. ‘A remarkable guide book to Victorian London. ’ — Sunday Times ‘This volume fascinatingly illustrates London life of a century past C C VOUT- Scenesof coarse riot and debauchery . ?n . .whenT 50,000n& women were ‘on the game’ and one in every sixty houses in London was a brothel. - Kenneth Allsop. BBC. ISBN 0 7030 0018 7 (hardcover) £2.25 ISBN 0 7030 0037 3 (limp, sewnbound) £1.00 Ulus. Plates. Maps &c 356 pp. Available now HOWARD-- __ BAKER PRESSi LIMITEDi-Mvmcu _y. Artei-berry. MPta)/ Road, Wimbledon, London, S W.20 ** Telephone: 01-947 5482 Cables : um London. £3.75 ISBN O 7030 0039 X UKonlt/ Albania’s difference with the Soviet Union over the issue of the true nature of socialism, coupled with its fraternal alliance with People’s China, has been at the very core of the split in the world communist movement. Yet, until William Ash wrote this book, no adequate history of Albania has been published in the West. PICKAXE AND RIFLE is more than an historical account of this interesting but little known country: it is a political and sociological study of the only socialist state in Europe. Having liberated themselves from fascist occupation, how owl Ackn e dgcmcnts did the Albanian people free themselves also from the whole system of exploitation and defend their new socialist state I wish to thank the Committee for Cultural Relations and from the hostile countries all around them? Foreign Contacts, Tirana, for originally making possible the What new social institutions and governmental organisation project of writing this book. reflect the transfer of state power into the hands of the The Fakulteti Shkencave Politike-Juridike of Tirana Uni- working people? versity helped me to correct many errors without being in What are the characteristics of real socialist society as any way responsible for remaining imperfections. developed by the Albanians, and how have they guaranteed it And very sincere thanks to the people of Albania, of all against the distortions and deformations which have over- ages and positions, in who answering my questions in such a taken the other East European peoples’ democracies? frank and comradely spirit, supplied me with the information And as a result, what is the quality of life in Albania which has contributed to whatever understanding 1 have of today? socialism in practice. William Ash, author of MARXISM AND MORAL William Ash CONCEPTS, was invited to Albania in 19G9 to tour the country extensively and to collect material for this book. Again, in 1971, the author had an opportunity of visiting Albania at the time of the Sixth Congress of the Party of Labour of Albania, and of checking the draft typescript of his work with historians, with State and Party leaders and, most important of all, with the people in the factories and on the collective farms. The result is a most compelling account of real socialism in action. I Other books by William Ash Fiction THE LOTUS IN THE SKY CHOICE OF ARMS THE LONGEST WAY ROUND RIDE A PAPER TIGER TAKE-OFF PICKAXE AND RIFLE Non-fiction: MARXISM AND MORAL CONCEPTS William Ash i *9 HOWARD BAKER LONDON William Ash PICKAXE AND RIFLE First published by Howard Baker Press Ltd., 1974 A HOWARD BAKER BOOK CONTENTS WHO ARE TIIE ALBANIANS? Cha ter 1 . From Illyria to the Turkish Conquest 2. Scanderbeg and the Growth of National Conscious- ness. THE GREAT LIBERATION WAR ©Copyright: William Ash, 1974 3 . From the Turkish Conquest through the National All rights reserved. No part of this book may be Movement to the Italian Invasion. the reproduced in any form or by any means without 4 . Beginnings of Albanian National Resistance. prior written permission of the Publisher, excepting 5 . The Development of People’s War quotes used in conncection with reviews written 6 . Relations of the Liberation Leadership with other specifically for inclusion in a magazine or newspaper. National Groups and with the Allies 7 . The Liberation War against the Nazis and Final Victory ALBANIA AND THE POST-WAR WORLD 8 . Results of the War in Albania: Relations with Britain and other Countries; the Struggle against Yugoslavia ALBANIA’S SOCIALIST SOCIETY 9 . The State 10 . The Party 11 . The Mass Organisations ISBN 0 7030 0039 X THE SOCIALIST ECONOMY OF ALBANIA Published by Howard Baker Press Ltd., * 12. Creating the Socialist Economic Base London, S.W.20 27a Arterberry Road, Wimbledon, jg Development of Agriculture Typesetting by Specialised Offset Services Ltd., Liverpool. ^ Development of Industry and the Relation and printed in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd., Martyr Road, Guildford, Surrey. between Economic Base and Social Superstructure the split in the world communis t movement 15. Albania’s Relations with the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China THE QUALITY pF LIFE IN THE NEW ALBANIA * 16. Socialist Man at Leisure * 17. Youth and Education 18. Women and the Socialist Family 19. Health PICKAXE AND RIFLE 20. Arts and Culture (The revolutionary slogan of the Party 21. A Genuinely Free Society of Labour of Albania: ‘To build socialism hold- ing a pickaxe in one hand and a rifle in the other.’) 1 WHO ARE THE ALBANIANS Chapter One: From Illyria to the Turkish Conquest It has been said of the Albanians that they have ‘hacked their way through history, sword in hand’. This little country, somewhat larger than Wales, has been the scene of fierce wars of resistance from the very beginning of European history. These people, numbering till recently fewer than two million, have an unmatched record of struggle down the centuries to achieve their national integrity, to win and hold for them- selves the right to develop their own resources, their own skills and talents without any interference from outside their own borders. The Albanians, descendants of the ancient Illy nans, ate the oldest inhabitants ol the Balkans going right back to the early Bronze Age; but it was only half way through the Twentieth Century that Enver Hoxha, who had led them in the liberation war against fascism, could at last say: ‘The Albanian people will never again allow themselves to be trampled on as in the bitter past. They have their rights, dignity and honour; they have the right to live, to take their own decisions on any matter, just as any other people.’ Ihe Albanians take their name from an old Illyrian tribe, the Albanoi, who inhabited the region from Durres on the Adiiatic coast to mountainous Dibra — the central portion of the present State of Albania. The Illyrians were an Indo- European people who in the great migrations from north to sou tli Europe in the second millenium B.C. settled in the western Balkans. 1 hey had their own Illyrian language from which, though influenced by the speech of various invaders, modern Albanian is directly derived. Shkodra in northern Albania was the ancient capital of the Illyrian kingdom which was incorporated in the Roman Empire in 168 B.C. and supplied five Illyrians, including Diocletian, to rule as Roman emperors. The culture ol the Albanians has enriched itself from many 1 sources, Thracian, Greek, Roman, Slav, Byzantine and skimic the middle of the Fourteenth Century bypassed Constant- without ever losing its identity. Their history is the inople and spread over the Balkan peninsula. In the accoun o tieir light year for survival. The development of their a lona character 1389 a coalition of feudal rulers, Albanian, Serbian, is intimately bound up with their rugged, scenically spectacular Bulgarian, Rumanian and Hungarian, met the Turks in a homeland which lay like a stumbling Idock acioss the old bloody encounter on the plain of Kossovo and were imperial routes of trade and conquest. lls completely crushed. a )1U P 1 ciamatic • land ol lofty peaks dropping sheer For while SC a ° 1 some a struggle over the succession of the ’ ce valIeys -uid .? . P bottomless lakes was in the path of the northward Turkish throne held up all plans of conquest; but by 1421, sweep of Greek colonisers; it lay .icioss the main under Sultan Murad II, the Janissaries and Spahis were on the road, the Via Egnatia, which connected omc wi t its eastern march again, advancing on Hungary with the intention of empire; it was overrun by Visigoths, uns battering their way into central Europe, and slavs in their and of reducing drive to the south; it blocked the mvasmn of Albania to an obedient base for their attack on the rich western Europe by the Turks.