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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. Italian 1 eS SlanCe states. dlc 11] rians to the Roman . j y Empire 01 l ^ U C The Albanian people led by their national hero George ’ t0 edlcr £ tbe revolts of slaves and colonists • J ,u C invasion of Kastrioti, known as Scanderbeg, repelled the Turkish forces barbarian tribes, to its final overthrow. •p, ,. for J he Illyrian uprising twenty-five years in a series of remarkable victories. At a of the first few years of the Christian c, m whic h women time when the Ottomans were considered invincible, the fought side by side with their menfolk, Sf Albanians successfully resisted more Ilian twenty-two fierce U ' rril3,e > excc l P ior that against Carthage, of all the wars R° campaigns to eliminate this stubborn salient. Sultan Murad II, wars Rome waged abroad. m e
12 13 legendary epic enacted in the mountains, valleys, plains and castles of Albania by an embattled people when the rest of Europe was terror-stricken and prostrate before the Turkish advance. In the military field he proved himself a great captain, a master of exploiting to the lull the geographical peculiarities Chapter ol Albania. He was also a shrewd diplomat who strengthened Two tlu position of Albania on the world scene by sagacious Scanderbeg negotiation with a dozen different courts. and the Growth of National Consciousness It is symbolic of the role the war against the Turks under Scanderbeg’s George Kastrioti, born about the leadership played in the development of the year 1405, was the Albanian nation youngest son of a nobleman from the that the standard of the Kastrioti, a north-eastern part of Albania whose two-headed eagle on a red background, which Scanderbeg family had managed to extend their holdings laiscd during the early years of the over the citadel of Kruja at the beginning of the Turkish invasion. Whenever the struggle on Turkish grip weakened, the November 28th, 1443, should be the national flag Kastrioti, like other feudal houses, of sought to strengthen Albania today. In order to understand the more recent their position, often by contracting history of Albania alliances with Venice or other it is necessary to know something of the principalities across the desperate resistance Adriatic. But when the Turkish rulers ol the Albanian people, few in number, were able to re-impose ill aimed their authority, these and without allies, against the vastly superior noblemen were forced back into Turkish vassalage. foe. Though the Turks finally conquered Albania or what It was as a vassal of Sultan was left ol it after a quarter of a century of being Murad II that George’s father, ceaselessly John, sen! him to the Sultan’s court fought over, they never entirely subjugated the at Adrianople as a people youthful hostage. The Turkish chronicles who survived. The sense of a national identity grew so describe the young stiong through the man as ‘sturdy, dexterous, comely and intelligent.’ The years of stubborn fighting that it endured son thiough five of a vassal ruler, he was trained at the military school hundred years of Turkish oppression, and the near bitter the palace; and on being converted struggle to preserve the Albanian language and customs to Mohammedanism he and was given the name Skender. He was to prevent denationalisation never ceased. obliged to take part in It was of the expeditions of the Turks in which he so distinguished this fiercely independent temper of the Albanians, himself as a soldier that he won the title of ‘bey’, thus expressing itself in feudal forms of behaviour, that coming Byron to be called Scanderbeg. wrote in the Second Canto (Stanza LXV) of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage: Having won the confidence of the Sultan, he was appointed governor of the important district of Kruja ‘Fierce are Albania’s children, yet they lack including the fortified castle which was one of the most Not virtues, were those virtues more mature. impregnable in Albania. Built high up on the rocky slopes of Where is the foe that ever saw their back? Mount Kiuja the fortifications grow out of a huge mass of Who can so well the toil of war endure? lock detached from the rest of the mountain rearing up I heir native fastnesses not more secure behind. Ihe unassailable front of this vast structure of thick Than they in doubtful time of troublous need: walls and hidden passage ways, Their crowned with a citadel which wrath how deadly! but their friendship sure, still stands, points out over the northern coastal plain like the When Gratitude or Valour bids them bleed, Prow ot a huge Unshaken stone warship, commanding the country’s rushing on where’er their chief may lead.’ most important port, Durres, just visible in the distance 14 15 against the blue Adriatic and, indeed, the whole sweep of town turned out to receive him with acclaim. coastline right up to Albania’s northern boundary, Kruja was His first task was to clear the land of all occupying the most strategically important of all the fortresses in garrisons and in the whole system of fortifications enabling central Albania, Petrela, Rodoni and others, whose signal the Turks to maintain their grip on Albania the Castle of tires at night could be seen from Kruja’s high ramparts. Kruja was the most formidable. Scanderbeg hurried there During Scanderbeg’s many years at the Sultan’s court and from Dibra and gained control of town and castle by the ruse in the Turkish army he had never ceased to think of himself of a forged paper announcing that the Sultan had re- as Albanian nor lost his patriotic feeling for his homeland. ( appointed him to the governorship. During the night he Aspirations lor the liberation ot his country guided his opened the castle to his own soldiers who had hidden in a thoughts and actions from the moment he took up his post in forest on the mountainside and they rushed through the Kruja as subash. But in order to avoid, by long and careful fortress annihilating the Turkish garrison. preparation, the failure of past revolts, he kept his planning The capture of Kruja was the signal for a general revolt of secret. He went quietly among the people to find out how the Albanians. Scanderbeg visited other regions spreading the ready the masses were to rise. He sought through his father’s flames ol rebellion and returned to Kruja on November 28, connections to discover what support there might be from 1443, when he hoisted the double-headed eagle banner over abroad. When he was later transferred to the office of the the battlements and proclaimed the re-establishment of the governor of Dibra, some fifty miles to the east of Kruja on free Albanian principality. what is now the frontier with Yugoslavia, he was able to Throughout the rest of that year Scanderbeg’s force of continue his preparations, assuring himself of popular Albanian volunteers occupied all the other citadels and support in this region, too. strong-points in central Albania. But he realised that all the For three years after being sent to Albania by the Sultan steps taken so far to secure the country would prove he worked in this underground way to make sure that when inadequate once the Turks had ended the threat of the the revolt came it would break out with the most shattering Hungarian advance and could mass their forces for the force. Toward the of end 1443 he decided that conditions reduction of Albanian resistance. within the country were favourable for a massive uprising and What was needed was an Albanian army under a unified at that time he was presented with the best possible external command with the financial means of maintaining it. hi the circumstances for launching a nation-wide insurrection. early part of the following year preparations were made for a Under the leadership of Janosh Hunyadi the Hungarians convention ol all the Albanian nobles who had shown any had been able to pass from defensive war against the Turks to disposition to resist the Turks. This convention began its offensive operations. In November 1443 the Hungarian army work on March 2, 1444, at Lezha, a town on the northern crossed the Danube and began an advance which threw the coastal plain which belonged to Venice and thus enabled the Turkish forces opposing them into panic. Scanderbeg was various feudal nobles to assemble there without misgivings ordered by the Sultan to take his place in the army of the about their own status. The free Albanian mountaineers were Dibra region and march to throw back the Hungarians. lie also represented at the meeting. Both Venice and Ragusa gave every appearance of obeying this command; but during were invited to send delegations and since an anti-Turkish the confusion of the first encounter he suddenly pulled three coalition in Albania was so much in their interests it was hundred Albanian horsemen out of the battle to the dismay hoped that they would offer aid. But Ragusa failed to of the Turkish forces. At the head of this mounted troop, respond at all and Venice sent only an observer. with his nephew, Hamza, riding beside him, Scanderbeg The convention confirmed an alliance known as the galloped back to Dibra where the whole population of the Albanian League with Scanderbeg as president. An Albanian
16 17 army made up of contingents recruited by each member of Tervioli surrounded by thick forests and steep mountains and the League was established under the command of here, within the natural confines at the end of the valley, the Scanderbeg who had promised the greatest number of troops. Albanians turned on the Turks and annihilated the whole Each member also pledged a sum of money which became force. part ol the common fund for arming and supporting a force Two other expeditions were sent by the Sultan against the ol about 8,000 soldiers which with peasant volunteers Albanians, in 1445 and 1446, and both of them were crushed mobilised in emergencies could be expanded to an army of by the Albanian army. 18,000. But by then the Republic of Venice, alarmed at the The Albanian League was brought into being solely by the growing strength and independence of the Albanian nobles luikish threat and the nobles who joined it kept their own under Scandcrbeg’s leadership, began to fear the loss of the domains, merely recognising Scanderbeg as first among equal cities on the Albanian coast to which it laid claim. When the feudal lords. But in spite of these limitations, the political lord of Dania died without heirs, the city should have passed and military alliance formed at Lczha represented a stage in under the authority ol the Albanian League. A Venetian the development of an Albanian national consciousness force occupied Dania and also took possession of the which was to have an importance extending far beyond the neighbouring coastal castles. Scanderbeg immediate attacked at once, needs of defence against the impending invasion. but without artillery it was difficult to dislodge the de- Moreover the League was not simply an agreement among fenders. However, the Venetians failed to split the League nobles for holding on to their own possessions; it was an which was their main object, and their offer of a princely- organisation in which the people themselves participated, not reward to anyone who would kill Scanderbeg met with no simply as dependents of this or that noble, but in their own success either. right. The victories to be won and the advance in national The fighting against the Venetian occupation forces awareness to be consolidated were achieved by the Albanian continued into the following year and still people under was pinning down the political and military genius of Scanderbeg. a number of Albanians when, from the cast, a huge Turkish No army of mercenaries nor peasants forced to fight army under the personal command of Sultan Murad 11 against their will could have proved a match for the Turkish invaded the country in June 1448 and marched toward Janissaries and Spahis. Scanderbeg spent the spring of 1444 Kruja. personally going from village to village explaining the Scanderbeg was thus caught between two hostile forces. significance of the military mobilisation and recruiting the He undertook a series of lightning actions against best men lor the the army. He inspected fortresses and strong- Venetians in the region of Shkodra and, with the aid of pomts, studying the ways by which they could be attacked, peasants in and the area whom he roused to revolt, forced the he set up information posts among the people to warn of Venetians into an open battle on the River Drin which the approach ol the Turkish vanguard on any part of the resulted in a decisive victory for the Albanians. frontier. Meanwhile the Turkish advance had been halted by the There was not long to wait. In June 1444 an Ottoman stubborn resistance of the Castle of Sfetigrad whose cour- army ol 25,000 men under the command of Ali Pasha ageous garrison held out against massive assaults crossed with siege the Albanian frontier at Dibra. Scanderbeg engines right through the summer. By this time the apparently engaged the invading army with his entire force Hungarians had launched a new campaign and the Sultan and was was thrown back; but this was merely a manoeuvre to forced to withdraw to Edrcne in order to prepare for this lure the Ottoman troops deeper into the country. They attack. The two forces clashed in October and the Hungarians pursued the retreating Albanians into the narrow valley of under Hunyadi were badly beaten; but the Albanians were
18 19 given additional time to consolidate their own defences. This great victory not only strengthened Scanderbeg’s I wo years later the Sultan had amassed another force of position inside Albania. It resounded throughout Europe. more than 100,000 men for the final reduction of Albanian Congratulations on his brilliant achievement were received resistance. Word of this mighty army began to reach from many European courts. Scanderbeg as it approached the frontier. He called for a And Scanderbeg needed allies, there had been great general mobilisation and within a few days expanded the military successes, but six years of war had ruined the army to some 18,000. He placed 1,500 men in the castle at country. The Turks, cheated of their expected victory, Kiuja against which the Sultan was advancing. He took burned entire villages, drove peasants from the fields and personal command of 8,000 soldiers whom he held in the destroyed crops. In the winter of 1450-51 there was a serious Gumenishti Mountains above Kruja. The rest of his forces he threat of famine. Scanderbeg approached those states with split up into small highly mobile bands. the most immediate interest in defeating the Turkish design From the moment the Turkish armies entered Albania, all of conquering Europe, but only the Kingdom of Naples along the valley of the Shkumbini River, they were harassed responded at all and they offered very little actual help. by these roving bands. Ambushes were set and sprung Inside Albania, too, there were those who were having continuously; small detachments of the Turkish forces were second thoughts about the hard-won achievements on the separated and cut down; food trains were attacked and field of battle. With the intensification of the war Scanderbeg destroyed - classic guerrilla tactics in classic guerrilla had been forced to constrain the individualistic actions of the country. By the time the Turks reached Kruja and deployed nobles who had bound themselves in the Albanian League. under the steep slope and solid battlements, they had already Willing enough to join in the mutual defence of their suffered heavy losses. particular feudal interests they could not subscribe with any The Sultan ordered the bombardment of the citadel with enthusiasm to a long uneven war in the interest of the whole artillery capable of hurling four hundred pound shells into country. Their selfish conduct made the mobilisation of the lortress. After this bombardment there was a general resources in manpower and materials increasingly difficult. assault. While the 1'urkish forces were engaged with the castle Their vacillation at critical moments was an ever-present ganison, Scanderbeg swept down Irom the heights with his danger behind Scanderbeg’s back. The Turks and Venetians best troops, striking first one flank of the Turks and then the were quick to take advantage of this situation by trying to other. The besieging army was thrown into a complete panic bribe or corrupt the nobles into betraying Scanderbeg and and the attack broke up in a disorderly rout. the defence of Albania. During the summer two more major attacks against Kruja He was thus left to depend as little as possible on the were launched and failed as miserably as the first. Nor had nobles and to rely more and more on the Albanian masses. the guerrilla bands ceased their hit and run operations. The The army, in so far as it was attached politically to him, who caravans that kept the 1’urkish invasion army supplied with had no other concern but the country’s freedom, began to piovisions from Macedonia and Venice were repeatedly have the characteristics of a national force. attacked. More and more peasants were recruited into these When the interests of the war demanded, he ignored the bands which not only cut off the Turks from necessary status of nobles as autonomous rulers, violated the bound- supplies, but kept nibbling away at their main forces. After aries of local lords and made use as the need arose of their four and a half months of military disasters Sultan Murad 11 own castles for quartering troops. lie even took coercive retreated to Edrene leaving more than 20,000 dead under the action against unreliable nobles and dismissed from office walls of Kruja and in the valleys and forests through which inefficient members of the aristocracy. The worst offenders his army passed. against the common cause he deprived of lands which he gave
20 21 to peasants who had distinguished themselves in the fighting. liberation war. But the armistice was actually broken by Sultan This growth in Scanderbeg’s authority and the further Mehmet 11, the Conqueror. He sent three expeditions erosion ol feudal boundaries and privileges against the Albanians in all meant that 1462 and v three were met, Albania, at a very early period for such a development, was defeated and routed by Scanderbeg. being lused by the flames of war into a single and united The Sultan then proposed not simply a truce but a ten state. years’ treaty of peace which Scanderbeg signed. However, And this in turn provoked even greater discontent among when it looked as though the long-discussed European the nobles. Some, like the Arianits and Dukagjins, left the crusade against the Turks was at last about to be launched, League altogether and began plotting with the Sultan against the truce agreement was broken. And then, once again, Scanderbeg. The treachery of Moisi Golemi, commander of internal conflicts among the crusaders brought the venture to the Albanian frontier forces, led to a defeat at the hands of an end. the lurks near Berat. This reverse was remedied when a large That left the Albanians under Scanderbeg, after twenty force of Turkish cavalry with Moisi GcMemi as their guide was years of war which had destroyed the country’s economy and surprised in the Dibra district and utterly annihilated. But the largely depopulated it, facing on their own an enraged Sultan. worst blow to Scanderbeg was the defection of his own An expedition commanded by Ballaban Pasha was immedi- nephew and earliest confederate, Hamza Kastrioti, with ately mounted and hurled against Albania. It was crushed — whom he had made the historic ride back into Albania as a as were four successive expeditions. But when the Turks had declaration of war. been thrown back for the fifth time, the Albanians found In the spring of 1457 the Sultan was sufficiently en- themselves at the beginning of winter with no supplies of couraged by the divisions in the ranks of the Albanian feudal food. chiefs to send an army 80,000 strong under the experienced Somehow famine was staved off; but then in the spring of general Isak bey Kvrenos, against the Albanian people. As 1466, before the grain stores could be filled, Sultan Fatih before, Scanderbeg succeeded in avoiding battle throughout took command himself of an imperial army of 150,000. With the summer, harrying and retreating, feinting and with- Ballaban Pasha as his deputy-commander he set off at the drawing. Then in September, when the Turkish commander head of this mighty force lor a final showdown with this had become certain that these tactics indicated weakness in stubborn people who had for so long thwarted Turkish the enemy and the promise of an easy victory, his forces were schemes of world conquest. caught ofl guard in the plain of Albulene, not far from Kruja, Just as fifteen years before, when another huge Turkish and thoroughly defeated. Among the thousands ol' prisoners army under a Sultan’s personal direction had invaded the taken was Iiamza Kastrioti. country, the Albanians resorted to guerrilla tactics to weaken 1 his tremendous victory again brought Scanderbeg con- and delay the enemy. Just as fifteen years before, Kruja, gratulations from all over Europe. With the death of the besieged by the Sultan’s forces and assailed by his engines, Hungarian patriot, Janosh Ilunyadi, Scanderbeg had become stood firm. During this period of stalemate Scanderbeg made the most popular hero in the West and Europe’s hope against a hasty visit to Rome where he appealed to the Consistory the I urkish hordes. Pope Pius II sought to make Scanderbeg for help. In the streets he was hailed by the crowds as a great the pivotal figure in a crusade to be recruited from all hero but he had to return to Albania without any promise of Christendom; but as on previous occasions, professions of assistance. Collecting a force of battle-hardened veterans he support were not backed by substantial help. mounted an attack on the army before Kruja and, just as Scanderbeg entered into a three years’ truce with the fifteen years before, the Albanians won a brilliant victory. lurks, simply to gain time for preparing to renew the Ballaban Pasha was killed and the Sultan had to retreat with
22 23 the broken remnants of his once formidable army, still harassed by guerrilla bands. "Vet in July of 1467 Sultan Mehmet had once more amassed an army which he led in another assault on Albania. After 'THE GREAT LIBERATION WAR a bloody battle near Elbasan the Sultan was convinced that Albanian resistance had been finally broken and marched on Kruja. Chapter Three But the garrison of the castle proved as From the Turkish Conquest through the indomitable as ever and the Sultan had to retreat. The following National Movement to the Italian Invasion year the Turks changed their tactics and invaded from the north instead of taking their usual route fiom Resistance to the Turkish occupation and control of Albania Dibra along the Shkumbini valley. Scanderbeg at the never head of the ceased and in certain parts of the country the military Albanian army moved north to meet them, but, falling authority never succeeded in establishing more than a merely ill, he was left at Lczha. The forces he had trained so formal administrative system. The highlanders of the mount- well scored a splendid victory over the Turks near Shkodra. As ainous regions of Himara, Dukagjin and Dibra could not be so olten in the past the Albanians had shattered the army subjected to the colonial feudalism imposed on the sent against them; rest of but at Lesha, on January 17th, 1468, their the country and remained peasant free holders, governing great leader Scanderbeg had died. themselves by their own traditional canons and acknow- Alter his death the Albanian resistance continued for some ledging Turkish overlordship only years, indeed by the payment of an it never altogether ceased throughout the whole annual tribute. Whenever the Ottoman empire was weakened period of Turkish domination. Kruja did not surrender till by internal dissension or wars 1478, ten with European states, the years after Scanderbeg’s death, and remains to this day highlanders were quick to take up arms in their unending a shrine of Albanian national struggle with the names of struggle to free themselves from alien rule. its heroic defenders like Count Urani, Tanush Thopia and so In the 17th Century the lurks undertook a forceful many others inscribed in the epic history of Albania’s long campaign of converting the Albanians to Islam hoping fight for freedom. Above the town of Kruja, which was thereby to break their will to resist. Severe religious destroyed by the fascist invaders during the Second World discrimination was practised and War and has now been carefully the fines and penalties for restored, part of it just as it was those who remained Christians became unbearable. But the in the past, there is a huge equestrian statue of Scanderbeg conversion of the major part of the Albanians to Moham- looking out to the sea over the plain below the medanism did not decrease the number nor the fierceness of fortress where so many of his battles against the Turks were fought and won. the uprisings against the Turkish power. Without During the 18th and 19th Centuries two great Albanian Scanderbeg’s inspiration and genius, which for feudal chiefdoms achieved semi-autonomous rule the twenty-five years had brought victory and international fame t° aristocratic family of the Bushatlies in the north and Ali liie Albanian people, the struggle against the invading forces lost Pasha Tepelcna in the south. A plaque on the remains of the its drive. Not till the anti-fascist war of liberation great was the palace at Tepelena commemorates the visit of Lord same indomitable unity of the people under the Byron to the leadership of a court of Ali Pasha which could be said to national hero to be achieved again, and this time the represent a renewal of western European interest in the country’s freedom, Scanderbeg’s compelling vision, romantic land of Scanderbeg. feudal was to be finally secured. These lords were unable to make common cause and unite the country for a national struggle, but they continued to exert pressure on the Turks 24 25 and at times succeeded in establishing themselves as indepen- States, who had acquired a self-assumed right to interfere in dent rulers. In the large region of Janina Ali Pasha’s great Albania’s affairs by the decision of the Conference of feudal estates were held at the expense of the military feudal Ambassadors held in London in 1913, agreed to pay off their government of Istambul and he depended for support on the junior partners in the conflict against the Central Powers by Albanian population, both the ruling class and the armed carving up Albania and handing out the pieces. forces of his domain being constituted entirely of Albanians. In their Memorandum of December 9, 1919, Italy was When about 1830 the Turks began to replace the feudal allowed to annex outright the district of Vlora and the island military government with a more modem state administra- of Sazan and was given a mandate over the rest of the tion, there were a series of armed revolts of peasants led by country. The old city of Gjirokastra in the south was ceded local chieftains. southeast, was to Further attempts to centralise power in to Greece and Kor^a, the major city in the The Albania by the reforms of Tanzimat.had the support of those remain in political limbo till its future could be decided. landlords whose position would be strengthened as the old northern boundary was left intact; but the newly-created military feudal order was abolished. But the highland Yugoslavia was granted the right to construct a railway across chieftains in particular and the peasants generally were Albania to the Adriatic. bitterly would opposed to these new forms of subjugation and By this Memorandum of the Great Powers Albania rebellions broke out all over the country culminating in the have escaped the clutches of Turkey only to become the prey great insurrection of 1847. of the Western imperialist countries. At a Congress sum- At the same time as the uprising against the Tanzimat, moned by Albanian patriots on January 21, 1920, these various personalities were emerging in Albania who felt that decisions were firmly rejected and the government which had the country could not be saved by re-establishing a backward, been prepared to accept the proposed partition and occupa- feudal even though independent Albania and that the only tion of the country was dismissed. the Vlora hope lay along the road of the advanced European states. A popular uprising against the Italian forces in This national movement found its voice at the Conference of district was so successlul that Rome had to agree to withdraw Prizren the lailure to in 1878 which was called to meet the threat of its troops by September of that year. With Albania’s dismemberment by the European powers at the impose against the will of the Albanian people the main Congress of Berlin. Out of the Conference grew the organ- provision of the Great Power Memorandum the othei isation of the League of Prizren which was split between recommendations were also abandoned. A sovereign Albania, member- those who wanted to make it a predominantly Muslim body with its frontiers as established in 1913, applied for still depending on Turkey to defend Albania’s integrity from ship of the League ol Nations and was accepted by a other imperialist powers, and those patriots led by Abdul resolution of the General Assembly in December, 1920. dissensions Frasheri who demanded that the League should assume a But this by no means ended either the internal purely Albanian character, irrespective of religion, and fight within this most economically backward of European not only to save Albania from partition but to secure its countries, nor the external designs against its sovereignty by complete autonomy as well. government under its immediate neighbours. A progressive It was the latter line of support in national resurgence which grew in the patriot, Fan Noli, came to power with popular strength leading to the revolts enacted it of 1910 and 191 1 and then to June, 1924; but in spite of various liberal measures the general uprising of to 1912 when Albania gained its failed to consolidate its position with the masses or make independence after nearly half a millennium of oppressive adequate military preparations against reactionary lorces Turkish rule. But in the general division of the spoils at the which had the backing of foreign powers bent on inter- end of the First World War, Britain, France and the United vention.
26 27 of Albania. Indeed Count Ciano, At the end of the year Ahmed Zog, who had taken refuge for the fascist occupation on his return from a visit in V ugoslavia when the anti-feudal, reform government Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, time of King Zog’s marriage in 1938, set out assumed office, crossed the frontier into Albania with a force to Tirana at the which involved of mercenaries including troops from General WrangePs a concrete plan for the conquest of Albania League of Nations, destroying White Russian Army then quartered in Yugoslavia. The excluding Albania from the for resistance through the backing of foreign firms, like the British Anglo-Persian Oil the Albanian army’s capacity in it, developing means of subsidies Company, supplied funds in exchange for the promise of oil Italian officers serving by Albania fascist and concessions. Zog also raised a mercenary force in Greece a fifth column and spreading throughout which invaded Albania simultaneously from the south. With pro-fascist institutions of a social and cultural nature. the support of the big feudal landlords inside the country, By March 1939 world conditions seemed favourable for Zog was able to overthrow the government and establish his Mussolini’s invasion of Albania. Czechoslovakia had been reactionary regime throughout the country. occupied by Nazi Germany without any resistance from the His rule depended on the suppression, often by assassina- Western Powers. Fascist forces supported by Germany and tion, of patriots and the opening of the country to Italy were on the verge of victory in Spain. In Yugoslavia the exploitation by foreign companies, mainly Italian. By 1928, government which had opposed Italy’s conquest of Albania the year in which he had himself proclaimed King of Albania, suddenly resigned. a quarter of the country was let out in concessions to Italian, On March 25th, having massed invasion forces in the British and American corporations which discovered and southern Italian ports opposite Albania, Mussolini delivered a developed for their own profit the oil and mineral wealth of projected treaty to Zog’s government in the form ol an Albania. ultimatum. By the terms of this treaty Italian troops should A loan of 70 million gold francs was raised from the Italian be permitted to land in Albania’s principal ports and take Company for the Economic Development of Albania on the control of roads, aerodromes and strategic points along the security of the revenues from customs duties and the frontier; Italian farmers should be settled on Albanian land and Albanian state monopolies. This loan was subsequently enjoy full rights of citizenship; Italian citizens residing in important converted by Mussolini into a debt to the fascist imperial Albania should be entitled to hold the most government state; and the failure to pay the instalments was used by official posts and the general secretaries of the to these Mussolini to exact further concessions, such as customs ministries should all be Italian citizens. An answer agreements between the two countries, opening Albania even non-nego liable proposals was demanded before midnight of proposals were simply wider to the penetration of Italian goods and eliminating April 6th. Counter from Tirana Albanian producers. ignored. and external So desperate was the economic plight of Albania by 1936 Zog, whose policies of internal repression situation, that Zog had to sign a new economic agreement with Rome capitulation had brought about Albania’s disastrous collected whatever he could lay his hands on and in exchange for credits. A secret proviso of this agreement quickly placed the country. the Albanian army under control of the Italian abandoned barely begun to emerge from its backward government and required Albania to construct under Italian Albania had direction strategic roads leading to the Yugoslav border. feudal state as a former Turkish colony when the whole Thus at the time of the reconquest of the Rhineland by weight of Italian and then German fascism threatened to Nazi life it. Over four-fifths of the population Germany and franco’s lascist insurrection in Spain, crush the out of when Mussolini’s government had launched an unprovoked were illiterate; one out of every two babies died in the first war of aggression against Ethiopia, the way was also prepared year. Apart from the extraction of raw materials by foreign
28 29 acts of firms there was no industry, only handicrafts; and the entire without had prepared the way too well for individual heroism to stem the Italian advance. Tirana was taken on labour force totalled fewer than 1 5,000 workers. Of the 9th; and by foreign-trained graduates there were perhaps eighty engineers, April 8th, Shkodra and Gjirokastra on April been conquered by economists and agricultural specialists in the whole country. April 10th almost the entire country had Such was Albania on the eve of five years of enemy the fascist forces. act of aggression evoked no protest to speak of on the occupation which in terms of armed might and savage This of Albania’s Balkan neigh- barbarity were unequalled by anything even the Albanians part of the Western powers nor In House of Commons on April 13, the British had ever experienced before. bours. the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, presented Italian and * * * Albanian versions of the invasion and stated that the Italian government’s action had ‘cast a shadow over the genuineness of their intentions to carry out their undertakings’ not to The Italian Invasion alter the status quo in the Mediterranean. But unless Greece At dawn on Good Friday, April 7, 1939, an Italian invasion or Rumania should be involved, it was felt that there were force of 40,000, aboard a fleet of troop transports escorted insufficient grounds for ending the Anglo-Italian Agreement by hundreds of fighter planes, was approaching the four signed a year before. principal ports of Albania — Shengjin, Durres, Vlora and Mussolini did not:, of course, admit that military occup- Saranda. ation of Albania amounted to forceful annexation of the The supreme commander of this aggressive operation, country: he described it as insuring the ‘independence’ of General Guzzoni, could have expected little active resistance threatened by other powers, through the ‘personal from the Albanians. Their army had long been virtually under Albania, the of Albania and the Kingdom of Italy Italian control; fascist agents had been free to carry out acts union’ of Kingdom of sabotage and disruption; collaborators within Zog’s under the crown of the King-Emperor Victor Emmanuel III. this political fiction a ‘constituent government had done their best to demoralise the people and To try to maintain of those had been in touch with the Italian destroy any will to fight back. As the troop ships drew near, assembly’ who legation in Tirana before the occupation and representatives it was discovered that the few artillery pieces had been chieftains and business men sympathetic to rendered ineffective, ammunition for rifles and machine guns of landlords, to proclaim the act of union. had suddenly disappeared and the army- was thrown into a fascism was hastily called An presidency of one of the slate of complete confusion by conflicting orders. ‘Albanian Government’ under the Shefqel bey Verlaci, was established by the Even so, a number of individual volunteers and regular biggest landlords, the King-Emperor’s special lieu- soldiers managed somehow to acquire arms and offer invaders; and prompted by Francesco Jacomoni, this puppet government resistance. In Durres the Italian troops who had landed were tenant, whole series of political and economic so hotly engaged they were forced to board their transports promulgated a again. Warships directed a heavy bombardment against the conventions. Albania and Italy were to be one town and another landing was attempted. Three times troops By these conventions single subject to all the tariff and customs regulations of tried to seize Durres by assault and three times they were land Italy, with the Albanian franc tied to the Italian lira. Italian driven back to their ships. An Albanian sailor, Mujo citizens in Albania were to enjoy all the civil and political rights Ulqinaku, who fell at a street intersection while heroically was to have no parliament, the legislative holding off an attacking column became the symbol for this of Albanians. Albania being reserved to the King of spontaneous and unorganised resistance. as well as the executive power of Ethiopia in the person of his But the enemies of Albanian independence within and Italy and Albania and Emperor
30 31 lieutenant. The international relations of Italy and Albania Albania was thus quickly turned into a source of raw were to be united and concentrated in the Ministry of Foreign materials for Italy and a safe market for Italian goods - the Affairs in Rome. And the Albanian army was to be suppressed classic condition of any colony. The few native industries as an independent force and become part of the Italian army. were forced out of business and craftsmen were reduced to Close on the heels of the military occupiers came special absolute want. The working conditions of Albanian agents from Rome to set up an Albanian Fascist Party with labourers, enjoying none of the advantages of Italian all its subsidiary organisations for youth, for children, for immigrant workers, were deplorable. The fascist policy of women and for workers. There was no popular response to ruthlessly exploiting the countryside to secure foodstuffs for this move; but employees were coerced into enrolling Italian cities and the expanding army of occupation brought themselves and their families in the respective fascist organ- the Albanian peasantry to a miserable state. Only the upper isations and had to submit to the attempt at indoctrinating ranks of the Albanian merchant class which entered into joint them with fascist ideology. speculation with Italian capitalists benefited from the These steps having been taken for the complete colon- complete absorption of Albania into Italy’s fascist economy. isation of Albania, tens of thousands of Italians poured into the country - workers, farmers, teachers, technicians, mer- chants, industrialists and, of course, state officials. In agriculture Mussolini’s ‘reforms’ for Albania included draining the lands near the coast and settling thousands of Italian farmers there while the Albanian peasants were driven from these areas up into the stony highlands. By 1940 there were more Italian workers in the country than Albanian. In schools and in the administration the Italian language was imposed and the whole culture of the country was subjected to the process of complete Italianisation. Swarms of Italian monopolists moved into Albania to exploit the country’s natural resources and profit from cheap labour. Within the first year there were nearly 140 Italian capitalist enterprises developing mineral wealth to feed the war economy of fascist Italy and constructing military bases and strategic roads connecting the coast with the border regions to further Italy’s aggressive intentions in the Balkans. Two powerful banks, the Banco di Napoli and the Banco del Lavoro, together with the Italian capitalised National Bank of Albania, covered the country with a financial network controlling all economic life. The National Bank of Albania, which had followed a severe policy of deflation up to the Italian invasion, switched to a policy of ruinous inflation and in two years the amount of francs in circulation rose from some 10 million to over 140 million.
32 33 police and carabinieri. So powerful had the mass movement of strikes and political demonstrations grown by April, 1940, just one year after the Italian landing, that the fascist authorities banned all forms of rallies, processions and meetings, and imposed the death penalty on anyone defying the ban. Chapter Four Quite apart from the Italian forces introduced into Albania for launching further acts of aggression in the Balkans, more Beginnings of Albanian National Resistance and more troops were required simply to suppress continued Albanian resistance. In addition to the IXth Army Corps, Throughout this period of Italian conquest and the attempt special detachments of the airforce and navy, fascist militia, to consolidate fascist rule in Albania, there was resistance by carabinieri and border guards were landed, making up an the people, at first of a spontaneous and sporadic nature. occupation force of more than 100,000. Even before the actual invasion a communist-led anti-fascist To the thousand Albanians of known patriotic sentiments demonstration in Tirana on April 3, 1939, sparked off who were rounded up immediately after the invasion mid protest demonstrations all over the country. sent to Italian gaols and concentration camps, more were In June, two months after the invasion, the workers of the added every month as arrests were made by the network of Vlora dockyards went on strike against the oppressive police spies and collaborators covering the country. The held the unloading of conditions imposed on them and up possession of fire-arms, a strong tradition among the self- arms and supplies for the occupying troops. Carabinieri had reliant Albanians, especially in the mountainous regions, was to he used to break the workers’ resistance. In the Italian up also subject to sentence of death. Moving about at night, enterprises particularly strikes and acts of sabotage by listening to foreign broadcasts, showing contempt for fascist Albanian workers were common. officials — all became matters of severe punishment including The obligatory enrolment of Albanians in the various summary execution. fascist organisations was defied from the start. Workers mid Most of the demonstrations, protest movements and employees refused to accept membership, tore down the various forms ol political and industrial resistance were led fascist party posters, chalked up their own liberation slogans by the communists. The communist movement had grown everywhere. Even children took part in the wave of popular throughout the ‘thirties in spite of Zog’s repressive measures resentment, like the students of the lycee in Shkodra who and it was the only political organisation in the country clashed with the local militia in the course of an anti-fascist which was untainted by any form of collaboration. However, rally, or those of the Kor^a lycee who marched out of the communists at this time did not represent a united rather than give the fascist salute. Peasants school in a body political force capable of leading a national liberation were involved in this general if, as yet, unorganised too movement in a protracted struggle against fascism. There resistance in the Muzeqe district acted together to and were, apart from individuals sympathetic to communist ideas, prevent the measurement of their fields for the purpose of three main groups, two of them based in Kor^a and Shkodra re-allocation. which were in conflict with each other on questions of both Flag The nation-wide demonstrations on Day, November policy and organisation and a third, the ‘youth’ group into 28, 1939, brought tens of thousands of Albanians out strongly influenced by Trotskyite and anarchist views. the streets of the principal cities, marching under the national But in spite of these weaknesses, the communist-led Hag, shouting anti-fascist slogans and skirmishing with the resistance during the first half of 1940 took more active
34 35 .
permission to join the Greek forms, passing over to concerted sabotage ol Italian military group, immediately requested their national flag forming a common installations. With Italy’s entry into the Second World War on forces under own rejected this pro- the side of Nazi Germany in June, 1940, the Albanian anti-fascist front. The Greek commander civil administration in resistance became part of the world anti-fascist struggle. posal and set about establishing Greek of Albania, arresting those Albanians In October the Italian fascists, using conquered Albania as the ‘liberated’ portions annexation. The heroic a base, invaded Greece. Included with this aggressive force who protested against this attempted this opportunistic were two battalions of Albanians who had been impressed defeat of the Italians was marred by chauvinism and the possibility of uniting into the Italian army. Just as so many years before the exercise of Greek thrown away. Albanian troop of horse sent by the Turkish Sultan against against the common enemy was of 1941 the military situation in the Balkans the Hungarians had been pulled out of the battle by In the spring transformed by German surprise attacks against Scanderbcg, so these Albanians, forced to join the Italian was abruptly and Greece. 'The Nazi aggression begun on April 6, expedition against the Greeks, refused to fire on Greek Yugoslavia quickly shattered open resistance in both countries and soldiers and deserted from the ranks. Avoiding capture they 194.1, within two weeks the Yugoslav and Greek armies had made their way back to Albania and took to the mountains, capitulated, thus enabling the Italians to expel the Greek joining the armed bands of the liberation movement. With forces still in Albania and regain their grip on the whole other Albanian patriots they supported the Greek people by country attacking the Italian lines of communication and disrupting the That summer, on June 22, 1941, the Nazis launched their rear of the invasion army. attack on the Soviet Union. In spite of early German The Italian fascists and their collaborators tried to present this had the effect of enormously broadening the the aggressive war in the Balkans as an opportunity for successes, war front and creating the prospect of the Albania to recover the territories lost to Yugoslavia and anti-fascist defeat of the Axis Powers. It raised the Albanians’ Greece. Zog’s representative in the United States, Talk eventual liberating their own country and offered the Konitza, said in a statement, to the American press: ‘Italy is hope of friendly alliance with the Soviet Union as a prepared to intervene in order to rectify the injustices that possibility of a to the ambitions against Albanian sovereignty of the have been in flic Led on the Albanian nation and to re-establish check in London. the natural and historical boundaries of Albania’. This Yugoslav and Greek exile governments people to Nazi propaganda failed to make any impression at till on the The fierce resistance of the Soviet Albanian people who could scarcely be deceived into aggression and the beginnings of the massive effort to shatter impulse to the regarding their fascist oppressors as liberators of their and hurl back the German invaders gave a new of country. They increased their efforts to turn Albania into a Albanian communists. During the summer and autumn in spreading armed very insecure base for the Italian conquest of neighbouring 1941 they were more active than ever country. Kor^a com- states. struggle to various parts of the The a war Mussolini suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the munist group in particular issued a series of appeals for of mountainous regions began to Greeks and in a letter to Hitler in November, 1940, he liberation and in the those led by Myslim attributed the failure of his invasion tp insufficient military organise and arm fugitive patriots like Peza. of guerrilla bands went the preparation and to the ‘unforeseen treason ol the Albanians Along with the formation effort differences among the various com- who had turned their guns against the Italians’. to eliminate the munist unite them into a single revolutionary In pursuit of the retreating Italians, Greek troops entered groups and Marxist-Lcninist party capable of leading the national Albania, capturing Kor^a in November, 1940, and Gjirokastra struggle. in December. Albanian patriots, led by the Kortpr communist
36 37 In this effort to establish an Albanian Communist Party, a peasants were hopelessly reactionary, or the possibility of tall, handsome, young man, only 31 at the time, but already merging with fascist organisations in order to fight the enemy politically matured by revolutionary experiences, soon from within by conspiratorial means. demonstrated by his correct assessment of the situation and Even the leaders of the communist factions were incapable his courage in acting on it, the qualities which were to make of seeing the mistake of calling for unity on the basis of a him the great popular leader of the country’s grim struggle to federation of existing groups. What Enver Hoxha correctly free itself and then to consolidate that freedom after the war. demanded was their complete fusion into one party with the Enver Hoxha was born in southern Albania, October on utter elimination of any special features which had once 16, 1908, in Gjirokastra, a romantic old city on the lower distinguished them. He realised that this fusion of Albanian slopes of the Mali i Gjere, which clusters about a majestic communists into a single revolutionary party could not be fortress looking out over the valley of the Vjosa. It was also achieved simply by the groups agreeing to shed their the birthplace of the brothers, Bajo and (^enpz Topulli, who distorted views, nor even by the general acceptance in the played a heroic part in defeating the Ottoman troops and abstract of a Marxist-Lcninist programme, but principally by liberating Albania from Turkish rule. After finishing second- common revolutionary action against the fascist enemy ary school in Kort^a and coming into contact with the which would do more than any amount of theoretical communists there, Enver Hoxha spent six years studying and discussion to weld all professing communists into a unified, working in France and Belgium. He contributed articles fraternal force. denouncing Zog’s regime in Albania to the French Com- In applying this understanding Enver Hoxha personally led munist press and, subsequently, Zog’s agents abroad got him a great patriotic demonstration at Tirana in front of the dismissed from a post in the Albanian Consulate in Brussels. office of the quisling prime minister on October 28, 1941. He returned home in 1936, a convinced communist, and The communists were involved in fiercely-contested street pledged at the grave of Bajo Topulli that he and all young battles with the Italian police and the need to fight and Albanians would fight for a free and unified country. lie defend each other without regard to who belonged to what taught lor a time at the state lycec in Tirana and then at the group was the best possible preparation for the convention of lycee in Kor^a where he played an active part in the communists called for the first week in November. As a result communist group. Sacked in 1939 by the collaborationist of the demonstration a sentence of death was passed on administration, he went to Tirana where he was charged with Enver Hoxha ‘in absentia’ by the fascist authorities. A big the responsibility of organising the anti-fascist movement in rally in Korc;a on November 8, the opening day of the the capital and surrounding districts. meeting of communist groups, also led to a bloody encounter His position as organiser of the Tirana branch of the Kor^a with police and carabinieri in which Ko
Qemal Stafa arrangements from the 8th to the 14th was attended by 15 and Vasil Slianto, who shared his views and were prepared to communists including Enver Hoxha, Qemal Stafa, Vasil work with him in the task of pulling the movement together. Shanto and Pilo Peristeri. Right at the start the decision was 'I his was very necessary because Trotskyists and anarchists taken to disband the three groups and form the Albanian were characteristically spreading such absurd ideas among the Communist Party on the basis of Marxism-Leninism. To help youth as the impossibility of forming a communist party at make sure that the old groupings did not survive it was agreed all since there was no working class to speak of and the that none of the former factional leaders would have a place
38 39 called for military initiative and personal risks which they on the Provisional Central Committee, which was elected were not already taking themselves in the fullest measure. with Enver Hoxha at its head. A new programme in the form November 23, a few weeks after the formation of the of a resolution was approved. On Party, the underground organisation of Albanian Communist This resolution set forth the political tasks of the Albanian Youth was created in Tirana with Qemal Stafa as its political Communist Party as the mobilisation of the popular masses secretary. In that same month a guerrilla unit carrying out an of Albania in the armed struggle against the fascist invaders , assault on a fascist command post in Tirana was involved in a and their collaborators for the national independence of the running gun battle with the collaborationist police and killed country, in co-operation with all nationalist, patriotic forces, chief of that reactionary force. in militant friendship with the people of the Balkans, the The passing over from spontaneous resistance to an particularly with the peoples of Yugoslavia and Greece, and organised liberation war, which after years of hardship and in alliance with the anti-fascist coalition, mainly the Soviet sacrifice was to free Albania from the armed might of both Union. It was explained that the mobilisation of the masses, Italy and Germany without the help of any other power, the workers and peasants, had the aim not only of liberating must be dated from the foundation of the Albanian Albania, but after independence was won of ending the rule Communist Party which was to provide the leadership for of business men and landlords and establishing popular democratic rule. every stage of the struggle. A manifesto issued for secret distribution by the Provisional Central Committee called on the masses to begin the general war of liberation. The people should not pay taxes, deliver corn nor give so much as a glass of watei to the enemy occupiers. They should join, arms in hand, the ranks of the freedom fighters. This same manifesto addressing itself
to communists urged them to display revolutionary zeal in all circumstances — a spirit of self-sacrifice, initiative and organ- isational ability. They must stand always in the forefront of struggle, occupy always the advanced posts in the fighting, be always where the danger was greatest and give without hesitation even their lives for the country’s liberation. The leading role of the Communist Party in the national struggle was founded entirely on the examples of courageous devotion of individual communists. Communists were the main target of the savage repression of the Italian fascists. The collaborationist government under Shefqet Verlaci and, when the situation demanded even more brutal measures, under Mustafa Kruja, also directed the full force of its military, police and propaganda machine against the communists — trying to split the resistance front by detaching non-communist elements from Party leadership in order to isolate the main enemy of the Italian occupation. But the people soon realised that the communists never
41 40 The head of the Tirana guerrilla units, Vojo Kushi, with two comrades was cut off by 500 carabinieri and police in a small house in the Kodra Kuqe quarter. The battle went on for six hours and then tanks were brought up to dislodge the young men. Vojo Kushi stormed out breaking through the
first and second rings of besiegers and lulling a number of Chapter Five fascists. He climbed up on one of the tanks and had pried open the cover to take it over when he died under a fussillade of The Development of People’s War bullets. In Shkodra three students, Perlat Rexhepi, Branko Kadia Throughout 1942 the Albanian Communist Party continued and Jordan Misja were also surrounded by a large force of to mobilise the people for what had become a full-scale fascist troops and police. They fought off attacks for many anti-fascist war. By the middle of the year partisan units hours and then, when their ammunition was almost ex- covered almost the whole country, carrying out frequent hausted, rushed out of the house firing as they went and attacks against Italian transport columns and co-ordinating killed many of the enemy before they themselves died their actions with guerrilla operations inside the cities. During fighting. the single night of July 24th, guerrilla units from one end of Midhi Kostani and Ki$o Gre^o were captured and sub- Albania to the other knocked down telephone posts, cut jected to the most brutal tortures to make them reveal wires and cables and blacked out the entire communication information about the guerrillas. Both of them died in agony system, throwing the Italians into a state of panic. without telling the enemy anything. In Tirana, guerrilla units burned down the telephone Such acts of courage could not but arouse enthusiasm office, seized the archives of the ministry of the interior, among the people who learned of such things from secret including the dossiers kept there of all those suspected of tracts and bulletins which circulated everywhere. The first working with the resistance, blew up the warehouses of the mimeographed issue of the paper ol the Albanian Communist military engineering department and destroyed military Party, Zcri i Popullit (People’s Voice), came out in August, installations on the airfield. In Korga the headquarters of the 1942, and became the main source of information about the fascist party was set on fire. In Shkodra the political prison course of the war and the theory and practice of people’s was stormed and those detained were freed to join the struggle. The leading article of the first number called for the partisans. unity of all Albanians. ‘AH honest, anti-fascist people, Individual communists, who in fulfilling their party tasks regardless of their religious beliefs or political opinions, must preferred to die than to fall into the hands of the fascist unite around this organ for an independent, free and police or the militia of Mustafa Kruja, won the admiration of democratic Albania.’ the whole country. The creation of a broad liberation front depended on the Qemal Stafa, secretary of the recently-formed Albanian response of the peasants. They hated the Italians and their Communist Youth Movement and himself only 22, became collaborators and they were prepared to fight. Particularly involved on his own in a running fight with a whole company those in the mountainous regions had a strong tradition of of militia. He was hunted from one section of Tirana to armed defence of their own households. But at first they did another till at last, besieged in a house which was completely not wish to join actual guerrilla formations nor accept the surrounded, he charged out with only a pistol and was finally leadership of the Communist Party. Party recruiting agents brought down. who came to the villages to try to win peasants over to a
42 43
i more active and organised role in the struggle were likely to disposed of and the Conference, which was not a meeting of be mocked and accused of being tyros in the art of war. various political parties but of the whole spectrum of However, the soon convinced that the peasants became nationalist elements under the leadership of the Communist Party-led National Liberation Front was not only capable of Party alone, was able to get on with its task of creating a taking on the enemy, but of bringing about the social common National Liberation Front. emancipation of the country as well. They were attracted by The Front included all the patriotic forces in the country the prospect of lands being turned over to them at the organised under a General National Liberation Council. It conclusion of war which was to change social conditions in a was committed to an intensification of the war in all sectors Albania as well as free it from external enemies. Once they with no compromise. Throughout the country local and began to co-operate more closely with the fighting units the regional National Liberation Councils were to be elected by of leadership their suspicions of the Party. quality removed the people, functioning legally in liberated zones and just as peasants taking joining the And were arms and underground in districts still occupied by the enemy. These partisan bands, so workers, artisans, students and employees Councils had the double task of acting as mobilisation centres were fleeing from the cities and enlisting in the resistance for the armed revolution and as organs of local authority struggle. It was in the partisan bands, in the heat of battle, which would replace fascist rule as it was overthrown. In this that alliance of the working class and the peasantry was the way the re-eslablishment of a bourgeois-landlord regime, forged. following on the collapse of fascist power, would be On September 16, 1942, a National Liberation Conference prevented, and the National Liberation Councils would was convened at Peza which had been liberated by the remain the basic organs of the new democratic authority till partisans even though it was only fourteen miles from Tirana. such time as a constituent assembly could be convoked after Those attending included not only communists but well- the liberation of the whole country. personalities had close to the Party in the known who come The Conference of Peza thus merged two historic processes course of being engaged in the anti-fascist struggle on their in a common revolutionary struggle: the national liberation own; patriots like Mvslim Peza, a kind of Albanian Robin war for independence and the popular revolution for Hood for ten years had been an outlaw under the Zogist who establishing true democracy in Albania. regime. It also included those who were outspokenly anti- Alarmed at this development the Italian fascist authorities communist not so far been in the fighting, and had engaged immediately sent a punitive expedition under Francesco as long as they declared themselves in sympathy with the Jacomoni to attack Peza and other centres of partisan national struggle. Such was Abaz Kupi, a supporter of the activity. In the cities a campaign of unrestrained terror was former King Zog, whom the British had smuggled back into launched against communists and those suspected of support- Albania the year before. There were even those like Midhat ing them. Unable to crush the partisan units, the fascists Frasheri who had not yet committed themselves to the massacred peasants, burned whole villages and arrested and national cause at all. tortured people indiscriminately. It Was impossible for even those elements most hostile to But the partisan bands continued to grow in number and the Communist Party to deny the guiding role the Party had strength and more and more liberated zones were created already played or to openly the proposals Enver oppose - in Peza, Skrapar, Kurvelesh, Qermenika, Martancsh, Opar, behalf of the Party for the continued Hoxha advanced on Mallakastra. The authority of the National Liberation prosecution of the war. Objections centred around such Councils operated freely over wider and wider stretches of trivial questions its calling the fighting units ‘partisan units’ or the country. having red stars as insignia. But these differences were By the end of 1942 there were more than 10,000 fighters
44 45 in the resistance army organised in partisan units. Each unit, task of protecting the people of the liberated zones not only usually of 50 or 60 men, had a commander who need not be from enemy counter-attacks, but from robbers and spies and
a Communist Party member and a political adviser appointed all those who would Lake advantage of the confused situation by the regional committee of the Party. The adviser was to defraud the people in any way. They began courses to responsible for the carrying out of a correct political line, combat illiteracy, they staged theatrical performances which caricaturing the both in the unit itself and in the area in which it operated. by dramatising the national movement and Commander and adviser took joint decisions on the general enemy both entertained the people and raised their en- character of the unit’s objectives and on matters of principle; thusiasm for liberating themselves. The partisan bands thus but the commander had priority on all military questions as demonstrated their character as an armed force of the people long as his orders were not at variance with the political line with a political role. of the Party nor the agreed strategy of the war. And the people for their part soon came to regard the There was a cell of Party members in each partisan unit, partisan units as their own army. They supported the units meeting regularly to discuss military operations and the whole-heartedly, supplying information about the enemy, provision of supplies, the well-being of the partisans and the capturing spies and detaining suspected persons moving about admission or expulsion of members. Study sessions were held in the liberated areas. Their houses were always open to the on Marxist-Leninist theory, the international communist and partisans and they shared with them what food there was. In workers movement and the history of Albania. the cities cash, clothes and medicine were supplied freely. These Party cells, working under the guidance of the Women made uniforms for the liberation fighters and the commissar or political adviser, were responsible for the funds of the liberation war were generously increased by the morale of the units, for maintaining a martial spirit, imparting people’s gifts. love for the people and loyalty to the country, encouraging When the units were not engaged in military operations an international outlook, strengthening the close links of nor in carrying out their political tasks in the National partisan comradeship and eliminating illiteracy among the Liberation Councils, they studied the tactics of partisan fighting people. warfare and practised to make themselves expert with various Military discipline hardly existed in the units from a weapons. Each partisan was required to master not only the formal point of view, but the rules of military conduct which weapons he himself carried but all other weapons used by the partisans imposed on themselves were very strict. Orders that particular unit; and there were few who did not become of the commander and the political adviser were carried out deadly sharpshooters. zealously even when obedience involved the probability of The units were equipped with conventional rifles, sub- dying in action. Of particular importance was the absolute machine guns, pistols, hand grenades, light machine guns and, howitzers. integrity of partisans in iill their dealings with the people and later on, heavy machine guns, mortars and 45 mm their property — ‘not taking so much as a piece of thread for Most of the arms were of Italian make captured in military which they did not pay.’ operations against the enemy on the principle: ‘You must The units, their own morale and political understanding fight in order to take from the enemy what you need to fight raised by the Communist Party, disseminated in turn among him’. There were also older weapons from the time of the the masses of the people a warlike spirit and a grasp of the Turkish occupation and the First World War, which people political aspects of the liberation struggle. As soon as a region had kept concealed throughout the period of Zogist rule. was cleared of carabinieri and militia, the partisan units Heavier armament captured from the enemy was usually units. dissolved the local government and replaced it with a destroyed since it would be useless to highly mobile freely-elected National Liberation Council. They assumed the Typical of this period of struggle was the liberation of
46 47 i
I
Corovoda, near Berat, in September 1942. By a series of hit Right through spring and early summer attacks were and run attacks the enemy forces in the area were so mounted against the enemy of ever-increasing force. Severe weakened that iL became possible to mount an assault defeats were imposed on Italian troops near the Selenica liberating the village and surrounding countryside. This was mine in the Vlora district, at Leskovik on the Struga-Dibra followed by brutal reprisals; but these savage counter- highway, at the Kigok Pass and at Permet. In the Permet liberation actions, far from intimidating people, inspired battle alone over 500 Italians were wiped out in the five days them with a greater hatred for the invaders of their country fighting to liberate the city. Partisan detachments from the and a stronger commitment to the national independence Korga, Gjirokastra and Berat districts combined forces in this forces. action in which tens of military vehicles were destroyed and a The way in which the people rallied to the side of the vast amount of arms and ammunition captured. On July 6th partisans was shown in the battle of Gjormi, southeast of Albanian partisans carried out their first attack on German Vlora, where 300 volunteers joined the guerrilla force under troops at Barmash on the Korca-Janina highway. the leadership of Mehmet Shehu and Hysni Kapo, making In the nation-wide wave of enthusiasm following on these possible a shattering victory over 2000 heavily armed Italian military successes the Communist Party proposed that the for troops who were completely routed on January 2, 1943, National Liberation General Council should meet, mainly leaving the fascist commander among the hundreds of dead the purpose of transforming the partisan units into a people’s on the field. liberation army. At Labinot, where the first Party conference A few weeks later partisan units of the Korga district had taken place, the meeting was convened on July 4th, besieged and destroyed the whole fascist military garrison of 1943. The Albanian National Liberation Army, at that time Voskopoja. All along the Kukes-Puka highway, victories were numbering 10,000 fighters, was to be organised by a scored against the Italians. In three months at the beginning unanimously-appointed General Staff with Enver Iloxha as of 1943 the liberated area almost doubled. So disastrous for chief political adviser. This General Staff assumed the the Italians were these operations that the Viceroy Jacomon strategic and operational conduct of the armed struggle and was replaced by General Pariani, in February, with orders to was assisted in centralising the war effort by the establish- intensify violence against the whole population. ment of district staffs to co-ordinate regional initiative with During that year the partisan units, which had up till then the over-all battle plan. The General Staff announced on July operated against the enemy in isolated groups, began to 30th: ‘So long as one single armed fascist remains in our combine for attacks on a larger scale. Territorial units were country our war must continue most ferociously’. set up in the bigger villages which could be quickly assembled The development of people’s war made possible the great to go into battle with the permanent partisan formations. victories of the Albanian National Liberation Army in the By March, 1943, at the first national Communist Party summer and autumn of 1943. Nearly 1000 Italian troops conference held at Labinot, near Elbasan, Enver Iloxha’s were killed in the battles fought by partisans and people report on behalf of the Central Committee could record 16 during July at Mallakastra and Tepclena where several enemy months of victories. The mastering of Marxist-Leninist divisions had been massed in an attempt to crush resistance.
teachings by Party members was stressed and the idea that ‘in The fascists suffered further losses at the battle of Pojska on time of war there was no need for books’ was strongly the highway between Thana and Pogradeg. In the passes of criticised. The conference elected Enver Hoxha Secretary Shtama and Buall where 3000 local inhabitants fought General of the Party’s political bureau and those elected to shoulder to shoulder with the partisans, in the Dibra, die Central Committee included Nako Spiru, Hysni Kapo, Gjirokastra, Korga and Shkodra districts bloody actions took Gogo Nushi, Mehmet Shehu and Vasil Shanto. place during the month of August in which the Italians lost
48 49 I
more than 1500 killed. In September attacks were launched against those same two powers. In August, 1 943, he helped on German troops in Konispol and on a German convoy to organise and took command of the First Shock Brigade, a along the Elbasan-Tirana highway. military formation marking the advance from small guerrilla Staggered by these military disasters the Italian com- units to higher forms of warfare. mander-in-chicf reported to Rome that ‘the majority of the One of the main features of people’s war is the recognition Albanian people, without class distinction, have risen up of the importance of morale, the advantage enjoyed by those against Italy and against the stationing of our troops in who are conscious of fighting a just war as opposed to those Albania.’ He urged headquarters to increase immediately the fighting an unjust one. This advantage, formulated in the number of occupation forces to enable him to cope with the principle ‘men are more important than weapons’, always lies situation. with those waging people’s war which cannot, by its very * * * nature, ever be an aggressive war waged in someone else’s [ country. The Albanian people in their war of resistance were learning Mehmet Shehu makes this point in his summing up of the the same lessons and developing the same methods of fighting experience ol the national liberation war. ‘In fighting on the its other people whose countries have been invaded by plains as well as in the mountains man is the decisive factor powerful, heavily-armed imperialist armies — the people of that determines the fate of the war regardless of any China in their struggle against the Japanese or the people of development or armaments. A small army can defeat a bigger Vietnam against the United States. The principles of people’s one, superior in numbers and means, if it wages a just war war, waged by ordinary people against aggressive professional and if it is made up of men who are politically enlightened on forces equipped with all the martial resources of highly the just nature of the war they are waging, united in their industrialised nations, have been developed into a political determination to overcome the enemy, resolved to the end to and military science, a science enabling, in the words of Mao shed their last drop of blood to achieve victory and well Tsetung, ‘the people of a small country to defeat aggression trained to face adversities in battle. On the field of battle by a big country, if only they dare to rise in man can replace the weapon but weapons can never diminish struggle, dare to , take up arms and grasp in their own hands the destiny of the role of men. Without men a weapon is nothing but a dead their country’. piece of iron, lifeless and powerless’. That people’s war is indeed a science is demonstrated by In people’s war the relation between armed fighters and
the fact that all who have perfected this kind of warfare in the masses of the people is crucial. Success depends on the victorious practice have independently arrived at the same partisan being able to live among and move among the people conclusions about its successful prosecution. This science ‘like a fish in water’. The people are the intelligence and the has been further attested and inventively elaborated by the commissariat of the fighting troops, and victory in a liberation
experience of the Albanian people in their resistance struggle struggle is ultimately determined by the people’s willingness
against fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. A summary of these to share all the hazards of war with their men in the field.
experiences was compiled by Mchmet Shehu just after the This relationship is maintained on the one hand by the war, in 1947, as a guide to the correct development of a disciplined conduct of the armed forces. As a people’s army, national army. springing from the people, fighting with and for the people, Mehmet Shehu had fought as a volunteer during the civil they must treat all as equals and brothers. They must have war in Spain where Italian and German support brought the strictest regard for the property as well as for the persons victory' to the fascists. From the very beginning he was of the men and women with whom they come in contact, actively involved in his own country’s liberation struggle helping them through the hardships of a protracted war and,
50 51 exemplifying the political characteristics ol in the liberated areas, setting up schools, providing medical successfully generally - the response to the aggressive acts ol care, improving village amenities, as a promise of the better people’s war masses, organised under working class life to be won with the victorious conclusion of the resistance capitalist states of the struggle. leadership committed to ending all forms of exploitation and a communist party capable of appraising local On the other hand the relationship is maintained as the guided by light of universal revolutionary' experience. workers and peasants do realise that they have a stake in the conditions in the course, not only to resistance to war which goes beyond simply eliminating a dangerous and The formulation applies, of to liberation movements since the War in brutal invading force. They must be sustained by their the Axis powers but semi-colonial countries. understanding that the war is revolutionary as well as many colonial and a partisan army differs liberative, not being fought to restore previous forms of local Mehmet Shehu has shown how in the way it is recruited, the role it is exploitation and oppression but to establish socialism, or at from a regular army important, the political back- least to create the conditions of a genuine people’s democ- required to play and, most which it emerges. The partisan army is made racy in which socialism can be developed as a successive ground out of of their own tree stage. up entirely of volunteers who join the ranks no age nor sex restrictions and partisan This political aspect of people’s war was expressed by the will. There are formations include men advanced in years, young women and Albanian Communist Party in its declaration on the object- pioneers as well as men ol military age. ives of the war: to free the country from foreign invaders, to boy and girl are, for the most part, an infantry equipped with do away with local reaction, to set up a People’s Democratic Partisans light weapons. Emerging from circumstances of a people Republic, to confiscate the large estates of the feudal chiefs occupied by foreign aggressors or oppressed by internal and the accumulated wealth of merchant speculators and to reaction, they have to begin fighting with whatever they can enact land reform laws, to inaugurate a good life for the hold of since arms and the factories to produce them are people in a free and truly democratic Albania. get in the hands of the invaders or the regime in power. Because this political perspective must guide military Progressively they arm themselves with weapons snatched operations, a strong political leadership is essential for the from the enemy. successful waging of people’s war. As Mehmet Shehu pointed While a regular army seeks to clear its opponents from the out: ‘Former wars of our people have not been successful area in which it operates, the partisan army is interwoven because the people lacked a capable political party to lead through within the enemy’s field of operations, providing them in their just struggles. Only such a party can mobilise, and opportunities for sabotage, cutting lines of communication, train and lead the people in armed struggle, enabling them to concentrations and spreading terror and defeat a bigger enemy. Our people could cope with the attacking isolated ranks of the enemy, terrorising the hardships of an unequal war because the organiser and confusion through the development of full scale liberation director of the liberation movement, the Albanian Com- enemy as a step toward the be confused with isolated terrorist acts which munist Party, through its correct political line of action, led warfare must not the revolutionary movement. them from victory to victory. Without political commissars represent a distrust of regular army are based mainly on numbers, and political organs in the army it would not have been The tactics of a tactics are based on quality possible to train our fighting troops politically and morally both of men and means. Partisan — initiative, devotion and combative spirit. A and we would not have had an army willing at all times to lay of fighters their the combined fire power of all its down their very lives for the people. The members of the regular army relies on army depends on the excellence of Party were always the first to attack and the last to retreat.’ units, while the partisan positioning of men to make the best use Thus the Albanian national war of liberation can be seen as marksmanship, the
52 53 of cover and, always, the element of surprise. must by all means take the offensive so that by speedy cause Being inferior to the enemy in numbers necessitates the manoeuvring and frequent attacks we may confuse and partisan principle of the ‘main blow’, using mobility and the enemy losses, by blowing up bridges and hitting convoys knowledge ol the terrain to concentrate forces secretly and incessantly we may disrupt the enemy’s plans, by raiding quickly at the right time and place to achieve relative depots we may make free with the material to equip new
superiority . . over the enemy for a knock-out blow. The morale arrivals in the ranks of the partisans . We are here in our and physical fitness of the partisans, the configuration and own land. We arc better acquainted with our mountains and topographical features of the ground, time and weather mountain passes. The people arc on our side in most regions conditions, possibilities ol reinforcement from other form- and therefore it cannot be tolerated that the enemy should ations and, above all, the political situation in the area where ever take us by surprise.’ the fighting is taking place, are all elements in these tactics. Mobility, of course, is essential in attacking the enemy where he is weakest - on the flanks or, better still, in the rear. Although the overall nature of people’s war is defensive in the sense that external aggressors have brought the war to the people by invading their country, it is of the greatest importance that the people’s army should be imbued with the spirit of attack, acquired by assailing the enemy wherever he may be and as often as the occasion arises. To make use of one ol their main weapons, surprise, the partisans must never lose the initiative and must never find themselves fighting a defensive war of merely trying to hold ground. ‘To allow the initiative to slip from your hands,’ Mehmet Shehu warned, ‘to hang back and fail to pursue the enemy, to fail to go for him and permit him to go lor you, to pursue you, means defeat pure and . . simple . continuity of operations is at the root ol all other principles guiding partisan warfare. Only- through repeated attacks can be maintained the moral superiority over the enemy essential for success.’ For this reason military operations were co-ordinated through general directives, warlike slogans and orders from above in the most elastic terms allowing local commanders the maximum scope for initiative and never providing any excuse for partisans to lose their martial impetus waiting for further instructions.
I his point was made by Enver Hoxha in his criticism of a partisan battalion which was caught off guard in September 1943. ‘Partisans should never be on the defensive. Standing on your own ground might well bring our army face to face with a major enemy force which could exterminate it. You
54 55 every man, woman and child who had not been able to escape. One hundred and seven people were massacred by the Germans in this brutal reprisal. This was to be the pattern of the war against the German Nazis who were much more ruthless and determined than the Chapter Six Italians. As Enver Hoxha wrote to the First Shock Brigade in November, 1943: ‘German bands of 50 to 60 soldiers led, to Relations of the Liberation Leadership with be sure, by traitors, come and burn up villages and attack our other National Groups and with the Allies own bands where they least expect them. You should point out to all our comrades that our battalions in general seem to Ihe reverses suffered by the Italian forces of occupation in be under the impression that they still have to do with Albania contributed to the overthrow of Mussolini on July Mussolini’s troops who lacked the spirit of combat.’ And the 27, 1943; but there was no slackening of the national liberation forces quickly rallied to deal with this more liberation war which the General Staff ordered to be dangerous and more vicious foe. continued with even greater intensity until Italy and A violent encounter took place near Vlora in the course of Germany too surrendered unconditionally. which the partisans freed 7000 Italian soldiers and officers When Italy did finally capitulate on September 8, the held as prisoners of war and forced the Germans to retreat Central Committee of the Albanian Communist Party and the after sustaining heavy losses. General Staff instructed the partisans to break off the armed But more and more German troops rolled into Albania conflict and propose to the Italian troops that hostilities from different parts of the Balkans and soon with an army between them should end and that they should join together force of more than 70,000 men, they greatly outnumbered against the common enemy of Albania and Italy - Nazi the partisans. After hard fighting the Nazi troops occupied all Germany. At that time Hitler’s armies were pouring into the major cities and key communication points; but the Albania from Macedonia and Greece. The Italian commander liberation forces in fierce combats prevented them from who had replaced Jacomoni, General Renzo Dalmazzo, deploying over the whole country and most regions and a rejected this proposal and ordered the Italian soldiers to number of towns remained free for the continued operation surrender to the Germans as most of them did. of the partisan forces. Wherever the Germans were, they Many thousands, however, deserted and sought refuge imposed a curfew and proclaimed that from 20 to 30 among the Albanian people. Some 1500 Italian soldiers Albanians would be shot or hanged for every German soldier volunteered to enlist in the ranks of the partisans, forming a killed, for every act of sabotage, for concealing weapons or company of fighters called the Antonio Gramsci battalion, food and this threat was ruthlessly carried out. The bitterest after the Marxist intellectual and leader of the Italian part of the liberation struggle had just begun. Communist Party, himself of Albanian descent, who had died Along with operations in the field against the partisan in one of Mussolini’s prisons. units, the Nazis also pursued a policy of enrolling the forces The partisans had clashed for the first time with German of internal reaction for use against the liberation movement. troops after defeating the Italian garrison at Permet. The Not only feudal chiefs and wealthy merchants collaborated Germans were pushing through Albania from Korea toward with the Germans, but also many of those who belonged to the Greek city of Janina when the partisans attacked them bourgeois-led nationalist groups like Balli Kombetar and inflicted serious losses. The Nazi troops took revenge by (National Front) and Legaliteti (Legality). They covered their setting fire to the nearby village of Borova and murdering betrayal with the absurd argument that the German invaders
56 57 were prepared to recognise Albania’s ‘independence’ against This international recognition of the successes achieved by Greek or Yugoslav claims at the very time when the Nazis the National Liberation Front led by the Albanian Com- were savagely trying to turn the whole country into a base munist Party sounded a note of alarm for those elements in from which to operate against allied landings in southern the country who did not wish to see their privileged position Europe or against the popular, anti-fascist forces in the rest in the old Albania wiped out in a new socialist Albania after of the Balkans. the war. The National Liberation Front drew its strength With the intention of setting up a quisling government the from the overwhelming majority of the Albanian people Germans called a ‘constituent assembly’ in Tirana on October the working class, the poor and middle peasantry, the petty 18, 1943. The recently formed partisan Third Brigade was bourgeoisie and most of the medium bourgeoisie in the cities, close enough to the capital to score a direct hit with a patriotic intellectuals and even certain individuals from the captured field gun the on palace where the meeting was being upper strata. It welcomed into its ranks all who were held. The collaborators fled in panic to hold their assembly in genuinely prepared to fight against the fascist enemy. The a less conspicuous building. Early in November a puppet former exploiting classes, the landlords, feudal chieftains, government was formed from those who had worked with reactionary bourgeoisie, the majority of rich peasants and the Italians, the Zogists and members of the anti-communist those intellectuals and clergy who served their interests, had ‘resistance’ organisations. The National Liberation General openly collaborated with the Italian occupiers. But with even Council warned people all over Albania not to be deceived by the possibility of an Allied victory it became necessary to these sordid political manoeuvres. think of establishing a claim to participate in the post-war Bourgeois nationalist organisations like Balli Kombetar, ‘free choice of government’ promised to the Albanian people. founded ostensibly for the purpose of resisting the fascist The most important of the ‘nationalist’ groupings brought invaders under a non-communist leadership, had first come into being for this purpose was Balli Kombetar with Midhat into being at the end of the previous year, 1942. At that time Frasheri, who was anti-Zogisl, anti-fascist and anti- the resistance struggle in Albania had already reached a level communist, as its figurehead. With him, however, were well which led the Allied Governments to recognise the role of the known collaborators like Ali Kelcyra and ambitious landlords Albanians in the war against the Axis Powers. A statement like Nuredin bey VIora. In fact, as was subsequently read in the House of Commons by Britain’s Foreign discovered, the Italians themselves prompted the formation Secretary’, Anthony Eden, acknowledged the freedom and of Balli Kombetar as a counter to the groupings of genuine independence of Albania and left it to the Albanian people to patriots which came into being at the Peza Conference. A decide at the end of the war what regime and form of pro-Zogist ‘national’ organisation, Legaliteti, was set up by government they would have. Albania’s borders would be Abaz Kupi, after he had broken with the National Liberation discussed at the post-war peace conference. The next day the General Council to which he had been appointed at the Peza Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs, V. Molotov, expressed Conference. Acting under the instructions of the British who sympathy with the Albanian liberation movement and wanted to influence Albania after the war through a praised the heroism of the partisans. The Soviet Government restoration of the monarchy, Abaz Kupi maintained that recognised the Albanian patriotic forces as allies in the only Zog’s regime was ‘legal’ and he demanded that the anti-fascist coalition and affirmed the right of the Albanian National Liberation Front must rally under the banner of people to choose the form of government they wanted. The Legaliteti. Reactionary Catholics in the north grouped United States Secretary of State, Cordell I lull, also praised themselves under the leadership of a big landowner, John the Albanian resistance and declared Albania’s right to be a Markagjon, who had every interest in keeping northern free and independent state. Albania feudal.
58 59 leaders like Midhat Frasheri had At firs L these ‘nationalist’ organisations did attract some from the rear. By this time that they people into their ranks who thought they were seriously become so fanatic in their hatred of communism The open military col- intended to resist foreign occupation, and the National endorsed these treacherous attacks. organisations representing Liberation Front made every effort to work with them and laboration with the enemy of these Zogist times had the draw them into the anti-fascist war. At the Labinot Con- the reactionary and exploiting classes of of the country ference of the Liberation Front the Communist Party invited effect of merging the war for the liberation political character Balli Kombetar to agree to proposals for co-operating against with a civil war to determine the social and the invaders and their Albanian collaborators. This approach of a liberated Albania. made by the was rejected on the grounds that the time was not right for A last effort to avert a fratricidal war was at the Communist an open uprising and it would be better to wait for the General Council of the Liberation Front meeting was promised ‘second front’ which might even be opened up in Party’s suggestion in August, 1943, when a chiefs Albania itself. This policy of waiting, of wishing to conserve arranged at Mukje, near Kruja, between Balli Kombetar the its forces for fighting the communists after the war, not the and a delegation from the Liberation Council. But of the fascists during it, gained Balli Kombetar its description by the delegates from the Council, Ymcr Dishnica, a member of peasant patriots as ‘the big grey ass which waited and waited Party’s Political Bureau, and Mustafa Gjinishi, instead and never cropped grass’. defending the line of the National Front under Communist at the Peza The Communist Party, in line with its policy of building Party leadership which had been established the widest possible national front against the enemy, con- Conference and which had proved so successful in the to an tinued its efforts to win over the Balli Kombetar for joint liberation war, gave way under pressure and agreed on equal action; but at the same time it was necessary to expose the independent existence lor the Balli Kombetar an have plots of the leaders of this organisation to betray the footing with the National Liberation Front. This would liberation movement to the fascists. Secret documents came resulted not only in splitting the liberation lorccs but also in reactionary into the possession of the Party revealing that two leading paving the way for a restoration after the war of defence. members of the Balli Kombetar, Ali Kelcyra and Nuredin elements who had not fired a shot in the country’s Committee of VI ora, had signed an agreement in March 1943, with the On the initiative of Enver Iloxha the Central failure ol Ymer Italian commander in chief, Renzo Dalmazzo, known as the the Communist Party condemned the that the Balli Dalmazzo-Kelcyra Protocol, according to which the Balli Dishnica and Mustafa Gjinishi to demand the lascist invaders and Kombetar promised not to start any armed revolt in southern Kombetar join in the war against hand. At the Second Albania if the Italians promised not to attack those armed rejected the Mukje agreement out of at Labinot in September, bands respecting the agreement. This left the Balli Kombetar National Liberation Conference question of the people’s free to organise their operations not against the foreign 1943, the main issue was the Liberation Councils weie occupying forces but against the partisans. democratic power and the National of that power. Regula- As these ‘nationalist’ groupings began to believe that recognised as the sole representatives were formulated and landings in Albania by British and American forces were tions for the National Liberation Councils the General Council and the possible, they came out in blatant opposition to the executive organs for both agreement was partisans. At Kolonja, with the support of the Italians, the district councils were set up. The Mukje prosecution of Balli Kombetar launched a surprise assault on a partisan publicly condemned as being inimical to the even then, formation. Again, at Mallakastra, while partisan battalions the war and the unity of the Albanian people. But with were engaged in a fierce battle with a larger Italian force in while exposing the collaboration of the Balli Kombetar ol any front of them, the Balli Kombetar suddenly assailed them the enemy, instructions were issued to make use
60 61 chance Albania. 1’he for working with elements of the Balli Kombetar and Mediterranean. No such force existed in other political was too united under the leadership of groups outside the liberation movement if liberation movement they ever did Communist Party and the forces of reaction too openly decide to participate in the war and if they the agreed to recognise with the enemy and too lacking in popular support the National Liberation Councils as the involved only expression of popular power. to provide the British any opportunity for intervening in Early in civil war as they were to do so disrup Lively in 1943 a British military mission was sent to Albania’s Albania by the Inter-Allied Mediterranean Command to work Greece. with the National liberation struggle was simply a specific Liberation forces. Soon after its arrival the The Albanian mission established of the dilemma confronting the governments of secret contact with the leaders of Balli instance kombetar and with Abaz Britain and the United States in many parts of the world Kupi of Legaliteti. Even though it was obvious Powers had been checked and by this time that these two organisations were once the assaults of the Axis not only of post-war settlements. The refusing to engage the fascists, but often actively thoughts turned to questions assisting in defensive them, they continued to receive the greater part of threat of fascist conquest had brought together a the aid from with very different long- Britain and the United States in arms, alliance governments and peoples ammunition, clothing and gold. The Inter-Allied Mediter- term aims. In many countries overrun by the Italians, the ranean Command brought pressure to bear on the General Germans or the Japanese the resistance forces which gathered Staff to order partisans not to fire on the anarchic bands of to expel the invaders were cither communist-led or sym- these reactionary groupings even when under attack from pathetic to communism. The anti-fascist war thus became them and, further, insisted that British officers should be also, in countries like Albania, a revolutionary war to prevent recognised — exploiters as arbitrators in the relations between Balli the previous exploiters from regaining power Kombetar or Legaliteti and the National Liberation Council. who may have represented or been supported by the older Meanwhile the British mission tried to persuade Abaz Kupi imperialist countries like Britain or France. in particular to make some show of fighting the German The communist-led partisans of Albania certainly had no troops, the Italians by this time having capitulated. But Abaz intention of ridding themselves of fascist aggressors in order Kupi became other imperialist less and less willing to commit his forces in any to let Britain, the United States or any action indirectly. at all, arguing that the defeat of the Germans could be power back in to exploit them either directly or lelt to the great Churchill, speaking on behalf powers: his task was to save his strength for When Prime Minister Winston the deleat oi that not assumed that Albanians who opposed Zog’s return and the of British capitalism, stated he had restoration of the British empire’, of the old reactionary regime. The British had no office ‘to preside over the liquidation better luck British mission in Albania to with a group of what would now be called he was, in effect, briefing the with the interests ‘revisionists’ under Mustafa Gjinishi and Ymer Dishnica who work for a post-war settlement consonant had broken imperialism in the Mediterranean. The Central with the Communist Party after being criticised of British for the Albanian Communist Party accordingly surrender over the Mukje agreement. They even Committee of the plotted organs that allied missions ‘should not with such notorious reactionaries as the feudal instructed its local chieftain internal affairs and should in no way be John Markagjon who had made no pretence of interfere in our opposing the Germans. regarded as arbiters between us and reactionary organisations. What the British If against the common enemy is agreeable to them, mission was looking for was an anti- our war communist better. Otherwise the door is wide open for force prepared to wage all-out war against the so much the Nazis and, at them leave’. the conclusion of hostilities, to restore a to government military mission tried to convince the Albanian in Albania favourable to British interests in the The British
62 63 Liberation Army General Staff that its forces should not be aas necessary since these people would be marched across the moved into northern Albania because they regarded that as frontier into Greece and could be picked up there. Abaz Kupi’s zone of action - even if he was not, in fact, As for the various pseudo-nationalist groupings like Balli acting. Meanwhile in London the British Government Kombetar and Legaliteti, in December, 1943, the General attempted to set up an Albanian government in exile under Council finally abandoned any hope of getting them to join the discredited ex-King Zog. But British prestige suffered a in the fighting and denounced them all as treacherous severe blow when Brigadier Davies in command of the collaborationists. Abaz Kupi was expelled from the National mission and two of his staff, all unfamiliar with guerrilla Liberation Council in which his place had been reserved long warfare, were captured by collaborators and handed over to after his hatred of communism had carried him into the the Germans. enemy camp. By September, 1944, the leaders of the National Liber- ation Council felt that they had tolerated long enough the clumsy ellorts of the British mission to find ‘friendly’ agents which only resulted in establishing contact with the enemies of the partisans who were bearing the whole brunt of the war. Enver Hoxha demanded the withdrawal of the mission which he no longer hesitated to describe as ‘agents of foreign reaction’.
I he importance of the episode for the Albanians was that it emphasised the necessity of self-reliance and of not depending on outside assistance if they were to preserve their independence alter the war. Subsequent demands of the Anglo-American Mediterranean Command to send paratroops and special army units to Albania to join the final stages of the fight against the Germans were firmly rejected. The Albanian National Liberation Army insisted that it was capable of freeing the entire country on its own. When British commandos landed in Saranda after Liberation brigades had wiped out the German garrison there, the General Staff compelled the British to remove their forces without delay. The message sent to a British warship lying off Dunes was an invitation to dinner for till the officers and men who cared to land unarmed but a reception of bullets if they came ashore equipped to outstay that limited welcome. The same principle governed relations with the United States. The Albanians recognised the Americans as allies but resisted any suggestion of sending United States forces into Albania, in 1945 when President Truman proposed to send two destroyers to Durres to pick up various Americans who iound themselves in Albania, he was told that would not be
64 65 attack from behind Symiza Hill which gave the bulk of the partisan forces just time to get their equipment across the stream on the one uncaptured barge. After a short bloody encounter in which the German troops were put temporarily Chapter Seven to flight, the rest of the Brigade forded the river and the whole force then moved into the Mesapliku district. Here the
The Liberation War against the First Brigade regrouped and struck back, alternating its Nazis and Final Victory counter attacks with those being launched by partisans in the Vlora district. Heavy losses were inflicted on the Germans at In November, 1943, the Germans decided to launch a massive Vajza and along the Bolena-Vranishta line. The First Brigade offensive operation to crush resistance in Albania once and then swung over toward Zagoria while partisans from Vlora for all. The winter campiagn, commanded by the Nazi general moved into the Mesapliku area to mop up Balli Kombetar Fchn, involved the troops of four divisions, some 45,000 elements who had been operating with the enemy. men, equipped with the most modern weapons and heavily In December a crack German division trained in mountain supported by armoured cars, tanks and aircraft. In addition, warfare, with 1,500 ‘nationalist’ mercenaries to act as guides the puppet government and those so-called ‘nationalist’ and informers, struck at the rough upland regions of central organisations which had by this time gone over completely to Albania above Tirana where the General Staff of the the enemy, supplied a force of 10,000 mercenaries who were Liberation Army- had its headquarters and where the Second particularly useful to the Nazis for espionage and for acting as and Third Partisan Brigades were concentrated. These guides in the wilder regions. Against this tremendous force newly-formed brigades made up of elements from different the National Liberation Army had 20,000 men organised in regions and not yet consolidated into fighting units capable four brigades armed with rifles, automatic rifles, light and of operating independently , were thrown into confusion for a heavy machine guns, light and heavy mortars and a few field time and suffered heavy losses. They could not halt the pieces which they had captured and man-handled up into the German offensive, but by courageous fighting when almost mountains. cornered, by increasingly skilful manoeuvring and feinting The campaign began with a series of lightning preliminary- the partisan forces did succeed in evading the traps laid for blows delivered by the German army against the Peza zone, them and slipping away to other districts where they were near Tirana, where the Third Brigade had to fight fiercely to able to re-form. break out toward Qermcnika, against the partisans in the The German plan for the winter campaign of 1943-44 was Dibra zone and against Bcrat which had been liberated but to co-ordinate their preliminary attacks in such a way as to was soon reoccupied by the Germans with the most brutal drive the bulk of the partisan force into the south and then, consequences for the civilian population. cutting off their retreat, to surround and annihilate them in A few days later while the partisans were still adjusting the Vlora, Berat., Kor^a triangle. On January 7, three German their positions to cope with the first assault a strong German divisions, with their usual complement of collaborators, force attacked the liberated zone of Mallakastra, defended by advanced from three different points to carry out the second, the First Brigade. Shock The Brigade was very nearly cut off hunt-and-destroy, part of the plan in the southern region. In to and had manoeuvre quickly into a position from which it. this operation the interior districts were ravaged, the villages was possible to slice through the enemy’s lines. But to carry and towns on which the partisans depended were cap- out this movement it was necessary first to cross the river tured and put to flames and hundreds of peasants were Vjosa and this was managed by mounting a diversionary brutally murdered in typical Nazi fashion.
66 67 1
A number ot tierce running engagements were fought final victory. Close links between Communist Party, Liber- between German troops and the Liberation forces of the ation Army and the people from whom they had sprung and First and Fourth Brigades. The partisans kept falling back to for whom they fought ensured the continued growth of the avoid a decisive action on the enemy’s terms and by breaking resistance movement in spite of the enormous odds against through the advancing lines and then attacking from the rear which they struggled. The people showed themselves un- succeeded in keeping the German offensive off balance. On wavering in their devotion to the cause of national indepen- January 21 the bloodiest battle of this stage of the war was dence, providing the partisan detachments with food and fought at Tenda-e-Qypit, the Tent of Jars, near Permet. Two clothing in a time of terrible scarcity and often, with battalions of the First Brigade and the Skrapari guerrilla whatever weapons they could find, taking an active part in detachment rushed down from opposite directions on Nazi the fighting by harassing the German convoys. troops trying to close the ring and put them to flight. In the cities, too, people showed the same steadfast spirit Another German division was brought up from Greece to under the most brutal acts of repression by Hitler’s army of complete the encirclement. Through heavy snow, across torturers and killers. Thousands of patriots, both communist swollen rivers, always attacking in spite of privations and and non-communist, partisans who had come into the towns shortage of ammunition, the First and Fourth Brigades, for medical treatment and ordinary citizens who had dared to supported by other partisan elements and by local groups of express their sympathy for the liberation struggle were armed peasants, consistently out-manoeuvred and out-fought rounded up and sent off to the extermination camps at the numerically superior and better equipped forces of the Prishtina, Belgrade or Buchenwald itself. The Balli Kombetar Wchrmacht. Each time the Germans thought they had traitors were particularly useful to the Germans in pointing finished off a company of partisans and began moving away out patriots. On the night of February 4 alone the quisling to another sector, those ‘finished off’ partisans would rise up police, oil the authority of the collaborationist Minister of to attack their flanks and rear. Advancing toward VIora the Interior Xhafcr Deva and acting under the direction of where resistance was thought to be weaker, the Germans the Nazi captain, 1,anger, dragged 84 citizens of Tirana out of unexpectedly encountered a new brigade, the Sixth, one of their beds and butchered them in front of their homes. Two three new fighting units formed in the very heat of battle. young women, Buie Naipi and Persephone Kokedhima In the second half of February, 1944, the brigades and captured and questioned by the gestapo in Gjirokastra, territorial battalions had so successfully warded off the underwent days and days of torture without revealing a single various prongs of the German offensive that they were in a item of information useful to the Germans. At last they were position to counter-attack. 'Three battalions of the First dragged out, already more dead than alive, and hanged in the Brigade led by Mehmct Shehu struck back north into central square bearing the name of Certpz Topulli the hero of an Albania and suddenly appeared in the neighbourhood of earlier liberation struggle. Tirana, creating a serious diversion behind the enemy lines. It The winter campaign had demonstrated the basic correct- became increasingly difficult for the Germans to maintain ness of the structure of the Liberation Army and the their offensive in the face of partisan formations which kept soundness of its tactics. Having withstood the assault they springing into action where they were not supposed to be; went over to the offensive throughout the southern half of and three months after iL began the furious onslaught of the Albania. Early in March forces of the First Brigade and the German winter campaign was over. Reshit Collak Battalion named for one of Albania’s heroes, This campaign had thoroughly tested the people of encircled a large number of irregular enemy formations near Albania and their Liberation Army, finding them at the end Kor^a and forced them to surrender. A few weeks later two
more united and more determined than ever to fight on till battalions of the Fourth Brigade smashed a strong German
68 69 force in the DcvolJi region. The Fifth and Sixth Brigades, Committee chosen by the Anti-fascist Council elected by the having eliminated Baili Kombetar concentrations along the Congress was recognised as the provisional governmental Vlora-Sevaster highway, suddenly launched swift attacks in executive. The Secretary General of the Central Committee the vicinity of Vlora and inside the city itself taking the of the Communist Party of Albania, Enver Hoxha, was Germans completely by surprise. elected Chairman of this Committee. In April the General Staff of the Liberation Army issued The Congress decided to set up divisions and army corps in an order co-ordinating these actions in a general spring the National Liberation Army and the formation of the First campaign. ‘Attack everywhere the barbarous Germans. Make Storm Division was announced. Enver Hoxha was appointed short work of traitors. Hit the vital centres of the enemy. Commander-in-Chief of the Army. Not only was it unani- Demolish depots and barracks; blow up bridges and destroy mously agreed that the liberation war against the foreign roads; attack and liberate the countryside and cities of our aggressor must be intensified till the last fascist soldier had beloved Albania. The destiny of the Fatherland is in your been expelled but also that hostilities should not cease before hands. The fate of our people is bound up with your the complete destruction of all collaborationist organisations ’ weapons! like Baili Kombetar and Legaliteti. Following on this order elements of the First and Fourth All the political and economic agreements which the Zog Brigade liberated Pograde^ after a twenty-four hour battle in government had entered into with foreign states were which the Germans suffered heavy losses. The Seventh annulled as being against, the interests of the Albanian people Brigade forced the enemy troops in the neighbourhood of and it was further decided to bar the return of Ahmed Zog Berat to shut themselves inside the city and when they were who had always plotted with external powers to secure his ordered out to try to recapture lost ground the partisans position in Albania. No other ‘government’ formed either engaged them in a seven day battle ending in a serious within or outside the country was to be recognised as long as German defeat. A reserve force of Germans was surprised on the Anti-fascist National Liberation Council, popularly the banks of the Osumi River and left behind many dead and elected by all the forces participating in the liberation considerable quantities of arms and ammunition. struggle, remained in existence. Engagements were also fought in central Albania at Peza The National Liberation Council thus became the state, and Kruja and even in the northern highlands where it was Provisional Democratic Government of the Albanian then possible for the partisans to extend their operations. A born of the revolutionary liberation war under the leadership new brigade, the Eighth, was formed in the course of these of the Communist Party. It was democratic in relation to the nation-wide attacks which liberated vast areas from enemy popular forces in struggle which had brought it into being control. On May 9 the Fifth Brigade ambushed a large and dictatorial in relation to all the enemies of liberation German convoy coming from Greece and heading for Permet, within and without — a democratic dictatorship of the inflicting heavy casualties and capturing much material. people, holding within itself in embryo the dictatorship of On May 24, 1944, the Anti-fascist National Liberation the working class which would begin to establish a socialist Congress met in the liberated city of Permet. The 200 society when Albania was freed. delegates representing the whole population supporting the The Peza Conference had laid the foundations of the new- liberation war were drawn from the ranks of revolutionary state power. The Labinot Conference centralised this state communists and sincere nationalists, workers, peasants and power and proclaimed it uniquely authoritative. The Permet intellectuals, men and women, partisan fighters and political Congress, having rooted political power in the revolutionary- agitators operating behind the enemy lines in the first people, founded the Albanian People’s Democratic State. Its genuinely democratic election ever held in Albania. The decisions w-crc the basis of the state constitution.
70 71 Before adjournment the Congress re affirmed its allegiance plan of eliminating the liberation units. A German column t° the Soviet-Anglo-American alliance and sent greetings to coming from Greece by way of Bilisht did succeed in over- the heads of three great powers - Stalin, Churchill and running the liberated zone of Devolli. But another column Roosevelt. But it also publicly denounced the attempts of the advancing from Elbasan to join the German forces around United States and British Lillies to interfere in the internal Kor<;a was brought to a shattered halt in a surprise attack by affairs of Albania. ‘The time when Albania can be used as a the First Brigade at the Moglica Bridge. A German column medium of exchange in international bargaining is gone for intended to attack the First Brigade from the rear never made ever’. contact at all and a fourth column setting out from Berat was While the Congress of Permet was still in session the i so badly mauled by the Seventh and Twelfth Brigades that it Get mans, just three months after the collapse of their winter had to withdraw to Berat again. campaign, began their last great offensive to crush resistance The second phase of the offensive started on June 5 with in Albania. This final effort was dictated partly by the three German columns marching out from Kor^a. But parti- military necessity of suppressing the armed struggle to ensure sans of the First Division were lying in wait all along the line the free movement of German troops between Greece and of march. From Dushari Mountain across the Serpent Pass to Yugoslavia on the eve of their retreat from the Balkans and Shemberdhej the partisan forces fought a fierce running partly by sheer vindictiveness against a people who had frus- battle killing 150 Germans for the loss of only 22 partisans. trated their military plans and humiliated them on the field The Seventh and Twelfth Brigades drove back German forces of battle. During the last two weeks in May a force of some advancing toward the Tent of Jars with a bayonet charge. 35,000 men was assembled, made up of the divisions which All operations in the Kor^a, Berat, Elbasan theatre having had taken part in the winter olfensive strengthened by the failed, the German divisions turned toward Saranda, Vlora first Division of mountain troops brought up from Greece. and Gjirokastra in the south, throwing more than 20,000 The quisling government supplied 15,000 desperate puppet troops into this thrust. The Sixth Brigade attacked German troops whose fate was now completely linked with the suc- forces on four successive days along the Vlora-Saranda road, cess or failure of the invaders. On May 28, the final day of completely disrupting their advance. The main weight of the the Permet Congress, the massive altLick against the liberated offensive was thrown into the VIora-Gjirokastra zone on June zones of the south was launched. 13; hut the National Liberation Army had anticipated just 1 hough the German lorce was larger and supported by such Lin assault Lind supported by volunteers from the local heavier armour and more aircraft than in the winter offen- population blunted and turned back every prong of the sive, the National Liberation Army had increased its own German attack. numbers and lighting spirit to a relatively greater degree. 'Phe Liberation Army command did not remain on the There were then 36,000 partisans most of had whom become defensive during this early summer campaign. In response to seasoned guerrilla fighters experienced in both the defensive the call for intensified war from the Congress of Permet it and offensive operations of people’s war. had been planned that the First Storm Division would strike In the first two weeks of the June offensive the partisans northward beyond the Shkumbini River toward the end of suffered 500 casualties and more than 1,000 peasant men, June, and the decision to proceed with this operation even women and children were murdered. But over 3,000 German while the German offensive in the south was at its height and collaborationist officers and men were killed in the same proved to be a brilliant stroke. period. And there were thousands of volunteers to replace As the First Division drove north through central Albania the partisans who fell in battle. they were greeted enthusiastically by the people and soon Nowhere did the fascist forces succeed in carrying out the new groups of fighting men joined in the advance. When the
72 73 .
Germans heard of this force, they thought at first that it was fighters, of whom nearly 6,000 were women, was part of the of made up fleeing remnants of the Liberation Army that was great international anti-fascist force which was rolling back supposed to have been shattered in the south. But as one the Nazis on every front. The Albanian command had no enemy stronghold after another fell to the partisans and intention of waiting for the Germans, defeated elsewhere, whole areas were liberated, the Germans had quickly to simply to be withdrawn from the country. The Twenty-first abandon their abortive campaign in the south and pull their and Twenty-second Corps of the YVchrmacht still had to be forces back to try to counter the threat of the First Division brought from Greece across Albania and out by way of which was joined in the liberation of the central and northern Yugoslavia to take part in the defence of Germany itself. The district by the newly-formed Second Storm Division. While National Liberation Army was determined to follow up the the region around Dibra was being cleared of the last of the victorious campaigns which had already liberated three fourths Balli Kombetar elements, this second Division suddenly of the country by striking heavy blows at the German troops appeared in the suburbs of the capital city itself, disrupting moving north and at those still holding out in a few cities and communications between Tirana and the rest of the country. strong points to try to secure them a safe passage through the These two divisions were then incorporated into a yet country. By continuing to fight with the same ferocity which greater military unit, the First Army Corps, tuid marched had broken the German grip on Albania the partisans were triumphantly into the last bastion of internal reaction, the discharging their international obligations to other people leudal regions of northern Albania. The people of the inac- engaged with the same enemy. cessible mountainous district around Mirdita had been left It was in these circumstances of having nearly concluded for centuries in ignorance and isolation, having resisted triumphantly the war of liberation that the second meeting Turkish occupation at the cost of being cut off in their rug- of the National Council was held in liberated Berat on ged fastnesses from any contact with the outside world. They October 20. The assembly was faced not only with the task were hopefully regarded by the collaborators as likely to of finally completing the victorious struggle but also with all resist the partisans with the same stubbornness. Instead these the political, economic and social problems of a free but proud but backward mountaineers were soon won over by war- ra v aged s t ate the courage and patriotism of the liberation fighters. The The Council took the formal decision of transforming the north was freed and only the palace the of ultra-reactionary Anti-fascist National Committee into the Democratic Govern- chieftain, John Markagjon, was destroyed as an indication ment of Albania with Enver Iloxha as Prime Minister and di at patriarchal, feudal rule was ended and Mirdita, like other Minister of National Defence. Eleven government departments remote parts of the country, was to participate fully in the were set up, the most important being those concerned with new independent Albania. the restoration of the economic and cultural life of the With the German forces divided and distracted by this country. The Government assumed the responsibility of campaign of the First Army Corps, the Twelfth and Four- organising, as soon as conditions permitted, democratic teenth Brigades liberated Saranda and cleared the whole elections for a constituent assembly which would draft a coastal region in the south. In September Berat and Gjiro- constitution for the new Albanian state. But without waiting kastra were liberated. The Fourteenth and Nineteenth for such an assembly the Conference approved unanimously Brigades drove the Germans out of Vlora while the Second the Declaration on the Rights of Citizens which guaranteed and Ninth Brigades drove toward Kor^a which was liberated equality before the law, freedom of speech, of. press, of on October 24. Only Elbasan, Durrcs, Tirana and Shkodra religion mid conscience, equal rights for men and women in still remained in hands. enemy both economic life and social activities, the right of secret The National Liberation Army, now numbering 70,000 and direct voting and the right to elect and be elected for all
74 75 persons over 18 years of age, the right of petitioning all in the city was threatened by a Nazi division advancing on government bodies, the right of appeal and so forth! All Tirana from Flbasan. Other brigades detailed to operate in fascist and pro-fascist organisations were prohibited. The the vicinity of the capital were hastily assembled and thrown local National Liberation Councils which had been organs of against the German relief column of more than 3,000 men. both the government and the National Liberation Front, At Mushqetas on November 13 and 14 this German division were thenceforth to function solely as governmental organs was smashed and routed. °f the people’s democratic power and the National Liber- Then, on the morning of November 17, Tirana was ation Front would create its own separate mass organ- completely liberated after 19 days of the hardest fighting ol isations of workers, of women, of youth. the war. More than 2,000 German officers and men were cannon 1,000 A few days after the Berat Conference, on October 25, killed and the rest were taken prisoner; 25 and over tanks and 1944, the National Liberation Army began its last great heavy machine guns were captured; 200 partisans battle in the anti-fascist war — the liberation of the capital armoured cars were destroyed or taken. The but city of Tirana. This was the culmination of people’s war, the suffered only 417 casualties in killed and wounded; shot as point at which from isolated attacks by guerrilla bands hundreds of civilians were lined up against walls and one part of the city to another. progressing to a conflict of rapid movement in order to the Germans retreated from forces in Tirana put an end engage without crippling losses an enemy superior in numbers The utter defeat of the German and terror and practically ended the war. What was equipment it was finally possible to meet the foe in full to the Hitler fled north to Shkodra where the scale frontal war. It was fitting thaL this set piece of Tirana’s left of the Nazi armies them. However, the Germans liberation should be undertaken by the First Storm Division partisans prepared to attack commanded by Major General Melimct Shehu. had lost all taste for fighting the Albanians. They blew up the during the night, 1 he Germans had begun moving north to Shkodra but larger bridges and pulled out of town they Yugoslavia with hordes ol collabor- had left a full division to hold Tirana till the last of their crossing the frontier into forces 29 the had been withdrawn from Greece. During the first ators trailing along with them. At dawn on November firing a and night of the attack about half of the city fell into the hands partisan brigades entered Shkodra without shot of the partisan battalions and the whole population of Tirana all Albania had been cleared of the last of the fascist invaders. rose to help in the heroic struggle against tanks, armoured cars and enemy-held bunkers. They kept the partisan forces informed of enemy movements and supplied them with food and drink throughout the fierce battle. On the next day the fighting reached the centre of town and the staff of the First Division moved its headquarters inside the city. From that stage the liberation proceeded desperately from street to street, from barricade to barricade and often from house to house. Very heavy fighting raged around the Mosque of Sulejman Bargjini, where a monument marks today one of the bloodiest encounters of the whole struggle, for the next 12 days the battle went on incessantly with fierce attacks and counter-attacks, every block bitterly contested.
At the height of the fighting the position of the partisans
76 77 t
But in spite of these losses Albania came out of the war with certain very great advantages for facing the problems ahead. For the first time in history the Albanian people- ALBANIA AND THE POST-WAR WORLD enjoyed an independence which could not be taken from them because they had won it themselves without any Chapter Eight outside help. And as a people they were united as never before and would be able to bring to the formidable tasks of Results of the Wax in Albania; restoring and developing their country the same unity which Relations with Britain and other countries; had enabled them to defeat vastly superior enemies. The The Struggle against Yugoslavia people’s war which had freed them from external aggression had also lifted from their backs the internal oppression of Albania made a considerable contribution to the Allied reactionary forces which could have made their victory victory over the fascist powers in proportion to its size, a hollow. Albania had more than its share of heroes and tremendous contribution. During the patriotic war Albania martyrs in the anti-fascist war but unlike so many other kept pinned down 100,000 Italian and 70,000 German countries they did not die in vain. soldiers. The National Liberation Army inflicted on these Travelling about the country today one finds everywhere two invading forces casualties of 26,594 killed, 21,245 records of the epic struggle of the Albanian people. Each wounded and some 20,000 captured - thus eliminating from town has its monuments to local heroes and heroines and its the war more than 68,600 officers and men. Over 2,000 revolutionary museum to keep fresh the memory of the tanks and armoured cars were captured or destroyed; more sacrifice of a whole generation to secure Albania’s national ihan 4,000 cannon, mortars and machine guns were wrested independence and socialist future. 1’hey do not intend to from the enemy lor the use of partisans and upwards of 200 forget the cost of freedom and every achievement in creating arms depots were blown up. a prosperous and just society is a tribute to those who lough these serious blows against the enemy were not inflicted to set Albania on its present course. without great losses to the Albanian people. Counting only The determination to defend their hard-won freedom and those whose deaths were directly due to enemy action there the social unity forged in the heat of struggle were to be were 28,000 killed or over 2Zt% of the population. In challenged, both by Albania’s two nearest neighbours and by proportion to its size Albania lost in the war three times as Britain and the United States, even before the last shot in the many people as Britain and 1 7 times as many as the United liberation war was fired. To appreciate the foundations ol States. In military losses 11,000 partisans were killed in this unity and how it was fostered in the early days of the action or of 1% the population. Only the Soviet Union had a People’s Republic thus provides a key to the understanding higher percentage of people wounded, and 44,500 Albanians of Albania’s immediate post-war history. * were imprisoned or deported. As has been shown, the Commu nis! Party rlpmonstraterHis Material damage was also bv uniting staggering. More than a third of ran'ari i v lor leadership of the liberation movement all habitations and, indeed, of all buildings of any kind, were totally destroyed. More than a third of the livestock was single National Liberation FronT Phis Front included the butchered or stolen and the same proportion of fruit trees worTungcla^sT^poor"anTiui(ldle peasants, the small city and vineyards had been ruined. Nearly all the mines, ports, bourgeoisie, patriotic intellectuals and even some national roads and especially bridges were wrecked, and not a single bourgeoisie who had already before the war been threatened industrial plant was in working order. with annihilation by foreign capital. The peasantry, as by far
78 79 of the all the peasants and other sections the largest section of the population in a country where 87% numbers by become proletarianised through their of the people were engaged in agriculture, was the largest population who had under the leadership ol a workers’ party. social grouping in the Liberation Front and the principal service as partisans the direct guidance of its own source of recruitment for the Liberation Army. The pnlitir^l A working class under ases t o be sim basis of the Front was the alliance between peasants and Marxist-Lenini st party ce consciousness which m working class, with the working c of socialism a with its own ideology' - the ideology ce in the whole coalition of classes mobilised in the or-itself £ the ideology of capitalism. Peasants, intellectuals resistanc- e. opposed to Yenee as a liberation war '1 he working class at the beginning of the war was very small, totalling only about I 5,000 or 13% of the population. It was also inexperienced since there had not been enough were Communist Party rallied around it all who development of industry for an industrialised proletariat, ~The left cornei to resist and since the Liberation War no tempered in class struggle with employers, to have into prepared come sections of of Albania untouched, however remote, all being. However, from 1941 workers had their own Marx ist- or later to declare themselves. - - were forced sooner Leninist party - the Albanian Communist Part society between patriotic forces and scquently named There was no middle ground the Party of Labour o had collaborators, and most of the latter who arxist- Leninist party represents the distilled experience of out-and-out war fled dealt with by partisans in the course of the workers generally in the revolutionary struggle not been to emancipate of the retreating fascist troops. Religious leaders themselves and in doing with the so to end all forms of exploitation. some in Albania, predominantly Muslim but with ine Albanian working class matured three faiths and grew m size under the Catholicism in the north and Greek Orthodoxy in the leadership of a Marxist-Leninist party and was thus Roman either also, for the most part, collaborated with equipped almost Irom its beginnings with a correct pro- south, had German invaders, and they, too, left the letarian ideology. The interests of any exploiting class are the Italian or discredited in the or, if they remained, were largely necessarily exclusive while the interests of the working class, country, flocks. including in the Albanian situation, not only national eves of their erstwhile within Albanian society which western independence but also the elimination of exploitation in a A distinction emphasise, between the ‘Ghegs’ of the feudal genuine popular democracy, could embrace the real interests commentators south where bourgeois influence ol peasants, petty bourgeoisie and intellectuals. north and the ‘Tosks’ of the stronger, was * parts of Europe had been To win these other sectio ns and classes for an alliance with from Italy and other in which north and south were the working class the {f'lry stage of the Albanian revolution weakened during the struggle people’s democracy alter the war began was limited to just thos?"goals which all patriotic forces could united. As the remnants of both feudal and bourgeois support the defeat ol the invaders and the vesting of state sweeping away the which no longer in customs and habits, this difference, power the people among whom the worki ng class played a social tended to disappear altogether. I he leading but not controlling role. The {ecoSl had a class basis anyway, stage, distinct lew people came out of the war with a unity but not separate from the first, would beglnwhen these goals Albanian can have enjoyed. They were going to need it. had been achieved and would carry the revolution on to the nations imperialism’s interest in Albania dates back to 1 924 building ol socialism under the dictatorship of the working British of Albania had the backing of certain class which alone can bar when Zog’s invasion any return of capitalist exploit- wealth. to exploit the country’s mineral ation. But by this stage the British firms hoping working class would not only be mission to During the war members of the British military much more experienced but id so would have increased its
81 Albania had to be expelled for plotting with collaborators; On October warships but the British Government under the premiership 22 British left Corfu for Argostoli of and, under orders to be ready to open Churchill or Attlee, did not give up the idea of controlling up if fired upon, went ot out their way to test Albanian this strategically important corner of the Mediterranean area reactions. Two of the ships, the Saumarez and the Volage, by having Zog reinstated as King. When post-war elections hit mines involving the loss ol both ships and the lives of 40 seamen. were being held throughout Albania on December 2, 1945, Enver Hoxha to the the British Government proposed complained Secretary General of the to put observers in the United Nations about British ships country to oversee the voting. The Albanians entering Albania’s terri- assured the torial waters and British aircraft flying British that they also knew to count. over Albanian soil. how Ihrec times the British Government In that same year the British navy, without any consul- has callously violated our sovereignty. We have done tation, began clearing mines from Albanian everything in our power to waters, ignoring bring about cordial relations with the United States and the protest of the Albanian Government. No Albanian Bniam . . . II we for our representative was allowed a get pains is an utter disregard of on the Mediterranean Zone Mine °U tS and an uncndin8 stream o1' diplomatic notes.’ Clearance Board and the British even called in Greek V1- Meanwhile the mine-clearing British navy set about trying to collect vessels to operate in Albania’s territorial waters prool that Albania was responsible f in spite of the strained relations between or the mining of the two Greece and Albania. ships. The mines in the channel turned When tlie Albanian Government out to be German. objected, Ernest Bevin, The one country in the whole Mediterranean area possessing Britain’s foreign secretary, used what he called the unco- neither mines, operative attitude of mine-layers nor personnel trained in handling the Albanians as an excuse for declaring mines was Albania. Nevertheless Britain accused Albania of in April, 1946, ‘that Ilis Majesty’s Government have decided lull responsibility and demanded that no useful purpose can be served by opening reparations equal to the diplomatic value of relations with them’. q ie lwo ships and compensation for the dependants ol the killed and injured sailors. On May 15 the British cruisers Orion and Superb steamed Otherwise the matter would be raised through the Corfu in the Security Council. channel, coming within hailing distance of When Britain did raise the matter, the only evidence for the Albanian shore and appearing to head right into the the charge was their contention that the mines looked too harbour ol Saranda. Warning shots were fired from the Iresh to have been in the water more than six months. But in coastal batteries. The British Government demanded an the developing Cold War situation apology and an assurance that the Western Powers those responsible had been decided that the British case was proved and the Soviet severely punished. The reply from the Albanian Government Lmon had to veto the granting of was not an apology but an explanation. Greek the reparations Britain ships on demanded. several occasions had attacked the Albanian coast and foreign *he case was then referred to the International Court at warships could not be permitted within Albania’s three mile the Hague, Hysni Kapo, the great limit without prior partisan leader and by that information of such an intention. While it time a prominent member of the Albanian Party and was true that the Corfu channel was an international Government, opposed the charges, waterway, this had arguing that on such been established when Albania was meagre evidence Albania had no case to answer. Eventually, unable to assert its legitimate rights. Britain retorted that in April, 1949, the Court promulgated its decision. Britain Albania would not be informed when ships of the British had not violated international law navy chose to use the channel, in respect to territorial however close this might bring waters on the date the ships were mined, but it had violated them to the Albanian shore, and if they were fired upon they international law in the course of trying collect evidence in would fire back. to the same waters afterwards! 1 he British claim for damages
82 83 was granted and Albania was ordered to pay =8843,947. project which was thenceforth placed under the joint control Albania, of course, ignored the demand. of the Secret intelligence Service and the Central Intelligence Indeed it became a popular joke in Estrada performances, Agency. Ernest Bevin was at first reluctant to agree to the a kind of Albanian music ball, that a country with no navy’ massive stepping up of a scheme which had thus far proved so which had not stirred beyond its own frontiers, had managed abortive; but American pressure soon persuaded him to to inflict a million pounds worth of damage on the great authorise another operation on a much larger scale. This time British fleet! Zog was asked to recommend personally the right men to Albania did not pay the award, but neither has it ever serve as leaders and he put his entire royal guard at the received back one ounce of the gold bullion stored by the disposal of the SIS and the CIA. Committees of ‘Free Albanian National Bank in trans-Atlantic vaults at the out- Albania’ were set up in Italy, Egypt and Greece as recruiting break of the war. centres and gradually a small army of fanatic anti- The United States and British Governments were unable to communists, professional adventurers and criminals was reconcile themselves to Albania’s slipping away from the ‘free scraped together and sent for training to Cyprus, Malta or wor d - that is, the world free for the operations of West Germany. For the next two years groups of agents were Anglo-American monopoly capitalism. The most serious dropped by parachute, landed by submarine or filtered across attempt to subvert the popular Government in Albania and the Albanian frontier. restore a reactionary regime sympathetic to Anglo-American The whole operation was a series of disasters for the interests was a cloak-and-dagger operation battle with initiated in 1946 British and Americans. In January, 1952, in one ^ by the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6. The scheme agents dropped in the north, Albanian security lorces killed was to recruit a force of agents from the collaborators and 29 and captured the rest who were sent, to Tirana for trial. traitors who had escaped from the country with the Germans Armed peasants and mountaineers were on the look out for at the end of the war and parachute them into an area of these enemies of the national freedom so hardly won and central Albania, the Mati, where there were supposed to be they were quickly rounded up and handed over to the state elements still loyal to Zog. These elements were to be authorities for trial and punishment. In an attempt to lind organised into counter-revolutionary groups which the British out why things were going so badly the leader of the would supply by air-drops. If full-scale civil disturbance could Albanian mercenaries was dropped into the country with a be provoked, then an invasion force would be landed at radio operator, to be followed by a major drop of agents various points on the coast. when he signalled the all-clear. lie was captured by the The first batch of agents was raised from displaced person message that the camps Albanian militia and forced to transmit a in Greece and Italy and from the ranks of those who way was clear for the rest to be dropped. Units ol the had accompanied Zog into exile before the war began, their circle and the British planes one Albanian army waited in a large qualification being the virulence of their anti- flew over and unloaded scores of their agents in the middle of communism. They were taken to Malta for training and were sentenced to be shot and the throughout the ring. The leaders 1947, dropped among the mountains of the others were imprisoned. So ended that particular plot ot Matt It was like dropping pebbles in a bottomless well as far British and American Intelligence. as the SIS was concerned. The operation continued in a side of the Albanian operation and, sporadic The head of the British manner until 1949 with no results apart from several their chief liaison officer with the Central Intelligence easily-frustrated indeed, sabotage attempts on the oil fields of Agency was Kirn Philbv. It may be that, as often as possible, Kugova and the copper mines of Rubik. he was getting word to the Albanians by way of the Soviet At that point the Americans became interested in the Union when they could expect their next consignment of
84 85 secret agents from the SIS and CIA. Western commentators should be rendered to them by those who have caused them like to pretend that the have whole fiasco was the work of this so much damage and against whom the Albanian people Soviet spy. The reason why the scheme never had the fought so fiercely to the end’. slightest chance of succeeding was that the Albanian people At about this time the United States Senate passed were much too closely united behind the leadership which unanimously the Pepper Resolution which favoured Greece’s had brought them victoriously through the war and much too claim to the whole of southern Albania. Some time later, in vigilant m the defence of their freedom for a bunch of hired 1949, Greek armed forces, supported by artillery and saboteurs and gangsters to be able to cause much trouble. aircraft, suddenly invaded Albania to try to establish by lorce Ihese arc the obvious facts about a country which the the claim to Kor^a and Gjirokastra. They had advanced less intelligence services of Britain and America with all their men than a mile when they were thrown back by the Albanian in the field equipped with all the latest paraphernalia never army. seem to be able to find out. The hostility of Albania’s neighbour to the south was to be I he official attitude ol Britain and the United States to expected since a right wing government had been imposed on Albania was as unfriendly as their secret operations. In spite the Greek people, with the help of Britain and the United ot war time undertakings to accept whatever government the States, for the express purpose of opposing communism. p e °ple of Albania themselves should choose, Britain and the Relations with Yugoslavia might have been supposed to tinted States both refused to recognise did the government of develop in a much more cordial way. Certainly Albania the People’s Republic of Albania and neither country has everything possible to loster the Iriendlicst relationship with thus lar established relations of any kind with it. They this country which had shared a common experience in the excluded Albania from the San Francisco Conference that anti-fascist war. And yet the gravest threat of all to Albanian funded the United Nations and from the London and Paris independence in the immediate post-war period came Conferences on war reparations from Italy and Germany. Nor precisely from Yugoslavia. was Albania invited to take part in discussions on drafting a When the last German troops were driven lrom Albania in peace treaty with Italy. They tried to bar Albania altogether November, 1944, the National Liberation Army did not irom the Peace Conference which began in July 1946. Only consider that the war was over simply because their own land through the insistence ol the Soviet Union was the Albanian was liberated from the enemy. On the orders of the delegation, headed by of the Enver Hoxha, finally admitted as Commander-in-Chief, Enver Hoxha, and at the request representing an allied country. During the Conference the Yugoslav army command, the Third and Filth Albanian Albanians had to reply frequently to attacks on their country Brigades crossed into Yugoslavia and engaged the Nazi troops which the Greek government, backed by the United States around Kosova which they liberated. They were then joined and Britain, intended to further its claim to large areas of by the Twenty-filth Brigade and all three were incorporated Albanian territory. Before leaving for home Enver Hoxha in the Fifth Division which inflicted heavy casualties on the solemnly warned the meeting that ‘neither the Paris Confer- German troops in the Sandjak region and advanced as lar ence, nor the Four Power Conference, nor any other north as Priepolje which they also liberated. conference whatsoever, can take up for discussion the Elements of the Sixth Division also crossed the lronticr boundaries of my country, within which not even an inch of and pursued the enemy toward Podgorica, liberating Tuzi in a ° reign land is included. Our boundaries are indisputable and bloody battle on December 2. Right through severe winter nobody will dare violate them. . . . Let the whole world know conditions for which their own campaign of the previous that the Albanian people have not sent their delegation to winter had hardened them, the Albanian partisans fought on Pans to render account, but to demand that an account Yugoslav soil, driving the Germans out of Montenegro and
86 87 freeing session of the Albanian Party at many villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina up to the early as the Second Plenary city of eve ot Albania's liberation? Vishegrad in whose liberation they joined with fferat in November. I (hi- 4. on the Yugoslav partisans. The session was i n t e n dedtcTTa k e up the tasks which would In spite but Enver Hoxha suddenly- of the rigours of winter in a foreign land the confront a liberated Albania; of the Party and, Albanians went short of food themselves rather than allow found himself having to defend the line
the ''i ugoslav conduct of the war against charges levelled peasants to go hungry in expressing their indeed, the whole of Velimir friendship and admiration for their southern neighbours who by the Yugoslav delegation under the leadership had was acting on the direct instructions of Tito. come up to take part in their struggle. As a Yugoslav Stoinich who mother in Albanian Party was accused of having ‘vacillated between Senica said of the Albanians killed in freeing The another land: sectarianism and opportunism’ and Enver Hoxha was Tell the mothers, wives and sisters of those who laid as the source of these errors. The liberation down their lives for the liberation of the Sandjak, criticised that in Albania was said to owe its success almost the sun of our mountains will warm the place where movement and advice from the Communist Party ol fheir loved ones fell, just as the sun of their mountains. That entirely to aid the spot Yugoslavia and the leadership of the whole Balkan struggle where they lie will be revered by us with the same feelings as they would have’. by Tito. Nor did Such an attack would have been ridiculed if the way for it Albania’s assistance stop with this participation in the iinal had not been carefully prepared. Certain important members phase of Yugoslavia’s liberation. There are a million Albanians living of the Albanian Party like Ko
88 89 the latter even proposing benefit with himself in mind the need for a between the two countries ostensibly for their mutual Party Chairman over Enver Hoxha’s head, there were many were not very different from the commercial agreements who were simply confused about the Revaluing the issues. They were Italy had imposed on Albania before the war. doubtful about the possibility of a country the size of Albanian lek in terms of the Yugoslav dinar, establishing a Albania being able to maintain its own independence and customs union and subordinating Albania’s economic plan to build socialism relying on its own efforts. to They could not Yugoslavia’s, were all used by the Yugoslav leadership believe that the leadership of the Yugoslav Party, total calling itself tighten their grip on Albania and prepare the way for its Marxist-Leninist, could be motivated by the sort of chauvin- incorporation. ism characteristic of imperialist powers or could, indeed, The good relations Albania enjoyed with the Soviet Union actually enter into arrangements with the imperialist powers er Hoxna andall d uring tliis period were of gKat help to Env as the price of economic aid. Such were Nako Spiru and who were jdetermine dtorrmntam the country’s independ- other members of the Central Committee who agreed that pyp from RelyradrT.Sialin was well aware of Tito’s intention s sectarianism was the principal danger in the Party and was Yugoslavi a and advised the Albanians accordingly. Why - decided to enlarge the Central Committee by adding new Albania, he so' keen on forming joint industrial companies m members sympathetic to the line of class collaboration and asked pointedly, when they refused to form them with the closer association with Yugoslavia. sending Soviet Union in their own country? Why were they The meeting at Herat dealt a serious blow to the unity of instructors to the Albanian army when they still needed the Communist Party of Albania and introduced the threat of Soviet instructors in their own? How could Yugoslavia a retreat from socialist principles and collusion with capitalist provide experts for the development of Albania’s economy countries, increasingly the policy of the Yugoslav Party and when they were themselves seeking such experts from leadership. But the plot tailed in one of its main aims and which abroad? How was it that Yugoslavia, itself poor was to depose Enver Hoxha as Secretary General, and this undeveloped, suddenly intended to assume the development was to prove fatal to any ultimate chance of success. Many of Albania? members of the Central Committee might be confused Political about In June 1946 Enver Hoxha submitted to the the problems of Albania’s future course, but they had re-examine the no Bureau a special report on the need to doubts about the correct leadership of Enver Hoxha in proceedings of the Second Plenum of the Central Committee founding the Albanian Communist Party and guiding conclusions the at Berat in 1944. He pointed out that the liberation struggle to victory. They could not be shifted from reached then were erroneous and seriously encroached on the their support by the attack of the Yugoslav delegation and independence of the Albanian Party. This report was opposed the Titoites in the Central Committee. Enver Kristo who Hoxha in the Political Bureau by Ko 91 . Yugoslav leadership within the country afro stated that Albania could enter into no -. ..,1 Hpf.-i.l nf Hir Vmm.'hiv aucnls There couldno relations with other countries without Yugoslavia’s approval had plotted against Albanian independence. and demanded to see about. Yugoslav intentions anil copies of the agreement. Later that year ftli mbl be the sii” M^I_doubt for Albanian_silf- Koci Xoxc tried to prevent Enver Hoxa from signing a treaty ffnvrr Ho x ha’s insistence on the need ol friendship in a socialist way had with Bulgaria. Albania must be kept isolated to rpli ance if the country was to develop facilitate its absorption into vin rnfrfl bv... events, With the Party and Yugoslavia. been comp lffr'y ^ the attack. On In November Nako Spiru who had recognised his mistakes people behind him Enver Hoxha went over to at no greetings from Berat and had come around to firm support of Enver Tito’s birthday in May, 1948, there were ordered to close Hoxha was charged by the Xoxe clique with having collabor- Albania. Three weeks later Yugoslavia was ated with the Tirana and the circulation ol the enemy during the war. The false charge its information centre in continuous together with the realisation of the harm he had done Yugoslav Party paper, Borba, which had waged a was banned in previously to Party unity was too much for Nako Spiru and campaign against Enver Hoxha’s correct line, he committed suicide. Mehmel Shehu, who had never Albania. against wavered in his correct stand with Enver Hoxha, was Smljn was kept informed of Yugoslavia’s m oves troops into the prevented Irom attending the Party meeting convened in Albani a — particularly the proposal to s end the ilomm umst Party ot February, 1948, and also excluded from the Central Com- count ry. The Central Committee ot Central I o tne mittee by Ko 92 93 instance, occupation Forces and become part of the international society they were defending, almost alone in this the last tense revolutionary movement was translormc the cause of socialism generally. Indeed, without resistance from wit meeting between Stalin and the Yugoslav representatives the socialist camp be directed against a smaller nation in order to mak before the expulsion of Yugoslavia from j Albania. * concerned with Tito’s actions against j rnrnm-MMmMmmvmm o was largely worl In the summer of 1948 representatives of the d rnmmnnist and workers’ parties participating in tne inlorm - analysis ot the atlon Bureau of Communist Parties made an errorsan^deviatio^™oT|t^^u^os^wT^^i^^^2C5!ulilisiiWi Resolution agreed by the t hen- findings in Bucharest. The bureau wTs circulated ‘to improve the ideological, theoretical safe-guard socialist communist leader enjoying state power to betray socialism and political work in the parties, to class had by taking a revisionist line. Revisionism as a distortion of achievements in countries where the working socialist camp and ism rated to revolutionary advance had long existed as an established its rule, to protect the forces throughout the world and to pus communist parties . I ,enin had consolidate revolutionary and prevent waged a bitter controversy against this line as exemplified by intensify the struggle against imperialism into the Bernstein, who was influenced by the social democratic ideas imperialist agents from penetrating any further Com- ot the British Fabians, and Kautsky, who had degenerated people’s democracies’. The leaders of the Yugoslav abandoned inter- from a Marxist theoretician into a hostile critic of the munist Party were charged with having narrow national self- October Revolution. Revisionism can be described as the nationalism and adopted a course of the Resolution betrayal of class Struggle. Beginning with the assumption of interest. They apparently do not understand,’ such a eacef pointed out, ‘or pretend they do not understand, that only lead to the degeneration of men t ary means, ‘socialism without tears’, and of peaceful nationalist orientation may bourgeois republic, to the loss of lerialist countries, even on Yugoslavia into an ordinary transformation of Yugoslavia into a the very countries they exploit, revisionism ends in accepting its independence, to the iiMMIkTOVMEHSTdsuonn tun o lmneria colony of the imperialist countries.’ the Resolution and Tito lad up to that time been non-revolu The Yugoslav leadership rejected and closer to open preventing certain communist parlies moved further away from Marxism States. This betrayal for dollars ism or from leading anti-imperialist struggles in colonial collaboration with the United peasants was not carried countries. Tito s of the interests of the workers and revisionism was to u n ter - re vo 1 u ( i on ary , reslor of members were ourgeoisie through without resistance; and thousands Yugoslav Communist Party. Nearly all making Yugoslavia an agent of imperialist interests in Eastern expelled from the governments like Montenegro were urope when it had once belonged to thp snrkdhn bio those in certain provincial of commanders and commissars From 1944 till 1948 the Albanian Party and people, jailed and a large proportion were imprisoned or discharged increasingly united under Enver Iloxha’s leadership, were in of the old partisan brigades within Yugoslavia’s the front line of the struggle against Tito’s betrayal of from the army. The Albanians living and on the Dukagjin socialism. They had friendly advice and assistance from Stalin borders at Kosovo, in Montenegro special acts of repression. Attempts and the Soviet Party; but it was their country which was Plateau were subjected to and culture were under direct attack and in fighting to preserve their own to maintain their Albanian language acts ol the government independence and the right to develop their own socialist frustrated and under the oppressive 95 which impeded the formation ol agricultural co-operatives, they became a source of cheap, menial labour and, in some there were important gains too. Party and people could go cases, ol agents who could be sent back into Albania for of enjoying a leadership which had subversive purposes. The treaty signed by Yugoslavia under forward in the confidence proved itself under the most testing circumstances. And had United States instigation in 1953 with Greece and Turkey it not been for the bitter experience of revisionist betrayal linked in a hostile ring the past and present enemies of Albanian independence. which could turn a war-time ally into a counter-revolutionary agent of the imperialist countries, the Albanian people could The Albanian Communist Party, of course, warmly not have recognised so quickly a far more dangerous and approved the Resolution of the Information Bureau which powerful revisionist threat which was to develop after Stalin’s was a justification of their own stand and of Enver Hoxha’s death. leadership. At a Party meeting in September, 1948, all the agreements with Yugoslavia were abrogated and the task of purging the remnants of Titoist influence from their own ranks were carried out. Mehmct Shehu and other members unjustly excluded from the previous session were welcomed back and various violations of socialist legality by the Xoxe group were repudiated. Nako Spiru’s name was cleared of the charges that had been made against him. Party organisations were charged with the responsibility of making clear to the people the nature of the Yugoslav plot and the weaknesses in the Albanian Party which had allowed it to go so far. Publication of the Party paper, Zeri i Popullit, which had lapsed during the height of Yugoslav influence, was to be recommenced and was to include, for the first time, all the decisions taken during this Eleventh Party Plenum. And, finally, preparations were made for the first full Party Congress in November which, having made a thorough investigation ol the mistakes which had enabled their ranks to be penetrated and having heard the self-criticisms of those who had (ailed in vigilance, would be able to go on to a consideration of the vital tasks of constructing the socialist base of society. It was agreed that at this Congress the name of the Party would be changed to the Albanian Party of Labour while the Marxist-Lcninist line of the Party would be confirmed and strengthened. While this first severe crisis of the new state of Albania may have delayed somewhat the country’s embarking on a correct socialist course and even allowed errors to develop during the period of Yugoslav influence — like the Party’s f remaining a semi-secret organisation when it. had become a Party in power or like the concessions made to rich peasants 96 97 s The very first proclamation of the Albanian Party a Labour, issued in 1941, set before the communist member- ship and the people of Albania the task not only of liberating the country but of investing political power in the working masses. This double task was reflected in the twofold ALBANIA’S SOCIALIST SOCIETY sibilitv of the freely -elected National Liberal ion Chapter Nine The Stale r classes^ The real question of politics is who rules whom, who enjoys People’s power as embodied in the Albanian Constitution state power and how is that power maintained. 'Phc essentia l was not, therefore, grafted on to the institutions of pre-war society as a radical p olitical problem of a socialist society is that of vesting real nor even developed modification of them. state power in the hands of the masses ot people in town and It was established after a clean sweep in which the whole countryside, headed by the. working class, and keeping it governmental apparatus of the old ruling class had been tq'e aside. This the lesson t here,*L. socialist society is not simplvcrcated ..Inr brushed was Marx had drawn from th^ working masses; it must be cre ated and preserved by the experience of the Paris Cqmmurm *h:»t it was no| enough (M& working masSES^i l this does not continue to be the case, state for the working class to lay hold of the state machine of the and society will soon degenerate from socialism into some bourgeoisie: they must smash it and create their own organs form of capitalism with a consequent restoration of exploit- ol proletarian "power. ative relations of production. aTHET major democratic organisations which enable the The Constitution of the People’s Republic of Albania, Albanian working masses to exercise state power originated adopted on March 14, 1946, by the Constituent Assembly and developed in the heat of national struggle. As they came brought, into being by the first democratic election ever held, into being in answer to the national need they were tested in is short, straightforward and democratic in the fullest sense. the fires of the liberation war involving the whole people. The whole document of fewer than a hundred articles takes Out of the National Liberation General Council grew the up only 40 pages of a very small book. This conciseness and People’s Assembly; and the National Liberation Committee simplicity stem from the fact that, unlike most constitutions, appointed by the Council became the Government, Prime there are no ruling class interests to be concealed in elaborate Minister and Cabinet, elected by the Assembly. The National verbiage, no complicated divisions of power to check the Liberation Councils at village, district and city levels state’s interference in business and finance, no pseudo- developed into the People’s Councils which are the local democratic formulations designed to give people the illusion organs of state power. of governing themselves. It is worthwhile setting out the basic The National Liberation Front, set up at Peza in 1942, as a structure of Albanian governmental institutions; but the test mass organisation including all those, regardless of ideo- which has to be applied in judging their, (Tfira cv is wheihej- logical, regional or religious differences, who were prepared the_DCQDk^ the working masses, really are in control of them to join in the anti-fascist war under the leadership of the social destiny, 'his concretely own 'f can only be demonstrated General Council, diversified into various mass organisations by examples drawn from every aspect of the life of the people such as the Democratic Front, the Trade Unions, the Labour and from the very quality of that life in the broadest sense. Youth Union, the Albanian Women’s Union and other 98 99 y voluntary groupings. The entire legislative action ol the control. Legislation was passed on conditions of work, length government is carried on with the active participation of of the working day and paid holidays which amounted to a these mass organisations in one or more of which all workers charter of emancipation for the working masses. find a place. Indeed the fundamental law of the Albanian At the same time the working class under Party leadership State Constitution was only approved after the most and the broad masses of the people were mobilised to defend meticulous examination by workers organised in these mass the socialist state from threatened invasion by its immediate fronts. neighbours and from the aggressive intentions of the general framework of government is The democratically imperialist powers, taking the form either of direct armed based on the mass organisations, but what animates the entire intervention or of subversion through reactionary elements structure, gives life to all these institutions of popular rule inside the country. and provides a direction for Albanian society as a whole is Class s triable docs not cease even af ter the liqnidaiion o f the Party. It is the responsibility of the Albanian Party of the exploiting classes. It simply takes different forms as thy Labour to k eep socialist politics, the politics of working class the old battle between the ideas, customs and habits o f lead ership in c ommand of all aspects of development . e xploitative socie ty and the ideals and aspirations of the new However democratic the Constitution as formulated, the ortLv s ocialist man is fought out in every sphere of social activity . guarantee against the growth p_l_ bureaucracy and . the As long as there exist any groups inside the country formation of a class of exploiters is the Party. Par t new The interested in the restoration of capitalism, as long as there is of the social conscience the workine class. exist imperialist countries anxious to overthrow the socialist ’ slate is the expression of The Albanian governmental order by open or hidden aggression, as long as there exists the — working class rule the dictatorship of the proletariat, which Trojan Horse of revisionism, the state of the proletarian complete for the workine masses simply means democracy dictatorship remains a necessity if a country like Albania is to violent and opposition to their enemies. N o other form of remain socialist. state prevent restoration of can build socialism and the Cl ass struggle transcends state boundaries and appears on capitalism. The dictatorship ol the proletariat is essential for the internation al scene as the struggle between capitalist and expropriating the possessions of the exploiters and liquidat- socialist countries and between imperialist and colonial or private property which is the exploitation. It is ing source of neo-c olonial countries. Albania plays its part in this gigantic socialist also essential for protecting the victories of the conllictj not only defending its own liberty but actively revolution from enemies inside and outside the country. participating in the progress of human society generally. 1’he The Government which came into being after the first real socialist state has the function of strengthening ties of democratic elections on December 2. 1945. enacted a series fraternal friendship with countries based on the same socialist of measures ol a socialist, that is to say, anti-capitalist and principles and of supporting everywhere the revolutionary anti-feudalist character. All thT unequal agreements con- national liberation movements against imperialist oppression. tracted with other countries by former regimes were For Albania to remain social ist, defend ii^elC and -pl.iv a abrogated. The property of foreign capitalists and war constructive role in international affairs the state requires the criminals was confiscated. The agrarian reform laws based on direct participation of the people — the working class, the the principle of ‘land to the tiller’ redistributed the holdings co-operative peasantry and the popular int elligentsia con- of big landlords. All industrial plants and mines were stituting very nearly the whole of society. Not only do the nationalised without compensation creating a new socialist working people own the means of production, they must sector in the economy. Foreign trade and the production and actively direct economic, cultural and political development. distribution of the industrial output were brought under state The socialist state cannot even be conceived apart from this 100 101 ( I all juridical norms regulating direct participation oi’ the masses and t he Constitution is Assembly which is the source of desjgnrd in ips nre that such narticination occurs at even - the most important relations of social life. completed eighteen years of age l evel and i n every .department QlLgovernmcni- Ji has already Every citizen having , led to the discovery of talented organisers among the workers regardless of sex, economic status, social position, religions and peasants whose abilities have strengthened the stale helief or anv other consideration, enjoys the right toekf t apparatus in the service of the people. and be elected to any elective body in the state . Electors vote The nroeess by which the people have the fullest oppo r- directly for their representatives whether as members of a people’s judges or as deputies of the tunity o f pvprggdnp t|-|pi r will free ly on every aspect of socia l village council, as f is sealed development and this expression is then co-ordinated hv the People’s Assembly itself. Polling done secretly by of government in decisions which are fed back to the people for ballot in special booths and is under the supervision electoral committees appointed by the mass organisations of i mplementation is ealleddemocratie centralism . Democratic — trade and women’s centralism is not only the organisational principle of the state the Democratic Front unions, youth the collectives of industrial enter- apparatus ol tne Pdbplti'U R^bub'hc oi Albania, it is also the associations and working agricultural co-operatives, government ministries, army ( organisational principle of every representational body assoc i- prises, of workers a ted with the state apparatus and the Albanian Party o f units and so on. These same mass organisations right of their members as candidates. Labour itself. The centralisation of the socialist state is not a have the to present any concentration of state functions in an interdependent bureau- No taxes, guarantees or deposits are demanded of candidates them. At pre-electoral cratic complex, nor is its link with democratic practice nor of the organisations nominating spirit l_ criticism selT limited to a periodic electoral mandate from the people. It is meetings, characterised by a o and a continuous process of the democratisation of every criticism, the past activities of all the candidates for a legislative and executive "act of government according io the particular post art: TlWflUUfl'lV di'scuss’ed and thciy are ooligkd of their work.. The winner of the fundamental socialist rule of the mass line — from the masse s, to give a full account election is the candidate receiving one more vote than half to the masses. Democratic centralism is the organisationa l in that particular con- form of this fun 'F^penml macs l ine which Mao Tsetuna ha s the number of electors registered described as the socialist necessity to ‘go to the masses and stituency and participation in the voting is nearly 100%. The nomination of Enver Hoxha as a candidate for deputy learn from them, synthesise their experience__intoMJji^].er to the People’s Assembly by Tirana constituency number 219 articulated principles and methods, me n do p ropaganda among the_masses, and call uQpn_them to put these principles in July, 1970, took the same form as any other nominations since the war. His and methods into practice so as t o solve their prn|Jfmv: sui/l in that or any other elections in Albania proposer pointed out the significance of Enver Iloxha’s hglp_them achieve liberation and happiness* . It is to encour- founded age this social process which is repeated over and over again nomination from the very district in which he had with respect to all the specific economic and political the Albanian Party 29 years before. responsibilities of the socialist state that democratic central- In his election speech the following September, Enver ism has been established as the operational basis of govern- Hoxha pointed out that this was the seventh time the people ment. had elected democratically their representatives to the votes for the candidates of L One check on undemocratic procedures is the obligation of People’s Assembly, casting their to observe the Democratic Front ‘knowing that these arc among their the state socialist legality as set out in the ~ daughters and that, by voting for them, they Constitution — rigorou s y and unconditi onally. The Coi> best sons and for the building of socialism, for the freedom and stitution fixes tlie competence orae various state organs and have voted insures the supremacy of the popularly elected People’s independence of the Homeland, for its prosperity, for the 102 103 , Marx is l -Leninist line of our Party On September 20 all two sessions a year but extraordinary sessions may be called the people of socialist Albania without exception will go to on the initiative of the Praesidium or at the request of one polls the and vote directly lor the persons they wish to send third of the deputies. to the People’s Councils, to the People’s Courts of Justice The Praesidium, as the permanent organ of the Assembly and to the People’s Assembly, thus ratifying the state power exercises the functions of a collective state [eadership^cajiin g which was born to them from the barrel of the rifle in the t he sessions of the Asse mbly, fix ing election dates, deciding course of their national . struggle. . . During the election on the compatibility ol laws witn the Constitution, awardin g campaign the working people draw up a balance sheet of decorations, appointing envoys, cho osing their creative work, pointing out the good and negative aspects ol the work and those who have performed it, criticising weaknesses and shortcomings, adopting and upholding progress made and promoting to government posts those devoted to ceaseless revolutionary advance. The people do this in open, public and free meetings without the least ap pointed and dismissed by ttie People's Assembl y. 1^ does obstacle and without any timidity. I hey have won the not constitute a separate and independent authority but must political right and achieved the maturity to hold to account render an account to the popular forum of all its activities. all err, who to pass judgement on all culprits, to praise and At the first session of each newly-elected Assembly die encourage those who work well. They are fully conscious of existing prime minister lenders the resignation of his cabinet; the real force of our proletarian democracy’. and il accepted, the Assembly chooses one of its members as The electoral campaign is an important part of the prime minister and charges him with the duty of forming a revolutionary political activity of the Albanian people; but new cabinet which has to be approved by the Assembly. The the relations between the people and their representatives do Government draws up the general economic plan and not end when the voting is over and the elected deputies presents the budget, directs the monetary system, defends receive their mandate. The deputies have to maintain the constitutional order and the rights of citizens and continuous contact with those who have elected them and conducts relations with foreign powers. „ report to them in detail at the end of every session. Electors The popular character of the Government finds expression have the right to dismiss a representative and elect someone in its programme which in respect to both internal and else. This initiative can be taken either by the electors of the : external policy reflects and safeguards the interests of the constituency or by the mass organisation of workers which people, of the working masses. The main task of the originally the presented representative’s candidature. programme internally is to develop further the productive The People’s Asse mbly, the ^ highest organ of state power, is forces by increasing industrial and auricultural output, to elected^every lour earsmi the y basis_oiAiii£j^iiresimlative-fQr_ develop socialist relations of production, deepen the socialist every 8000 inhabitants. It is an executive body as well as evolution in the ideological and cultural spheres and l egislative, supervising the application of the laws it enact s". consolidate people’s power and the moral and political unity Its acts are not subject to consideration, amendment nor of the people arouncfcf thet Party and Government. Th e foreign alteration by any other body. It elects the Praesidium of the policy of the programme aims at guaranteeing national Assembly, the . Government, the High Court of the Republic, independence and sovereignty against any danger from the Attorney General 1 and his deputies. It also appoints abroad, strengthening the friendship, collaboration and committees to deal with such specific matters as the budget, mutual aid with the peoples of other socialist countries, various social questions or foreign affairs. There are normally supporting the revolutionary national liberation struggles of 104 105 the same- the oppressed peoples, extending relations with countries of Attorneys arc appointed by this Office to carry out different social systems based on the principles of equality, function locally. of the judicial system is secured non-intervention in each other’s internal affairs, mutual The democratic character can respect and profit and safeguarding real peace. b y the fact that judges and deputy judges arc elected and ular assemblies "that they .are elected _ The, local organs_ol state power arc the People’s Councils bh dismissed by the pop which together with the Pe from among the working masses and that they are helped in ople’s Assembly constitute tft e are ordinary citizens political basis of Albania- Th ese Councils for villages t heir tasks bv assistant udges who , j serving 15 davs a.vear in a indicia! capacity with the saiqc d istricts, towns and city quarters are elected for three veap-s responsibilities and having the same weight o f by the same voting procedure as the Assembly. E ach Council rights and I udgement as the elected nidges. calls periodic meetings to report on its activities to the j ' assures the partici- electorate and renders an account to the next Council above This employment of assistant judges pation of the broad masses in the administration of justice it in geographical importance. All members are subject to to them to become familiar with the judicial dismissal by the electors and the whole Council can be both enable process and to enable the verdicts of the courts to benefit dissolved if the people feel it has not deserved their of the working class. What is thus confidence. The duties of the Councils arc to direct the from the conscience economic ^arnT cultural achieved is not justice on behalf of the people by those who ^ luriscjiction , conceal their own class interests under a show of legal ^ ^ the people Lhemselves — the respon sibility for realisi ng the economic nlan amLadminist er- professionalism, but justice by institutionalisation of those popular courts in violently ing the local budget. The executive committee of the Coun cil *"* 1 11 revolutionary situations when people who have been is chofjpp ruf fling altd gl£cti*onT for centuries take justice into their own bands » Justice in Albania is administered by the High Court and trampled on with class oppressors whose crimes only J by District Courts. The High Court is appointed by the and deal summarily People’s Assembly for four year periods and the District they can judge. Courts are elected by the People’s Councils for a term of I n so far as the courts of justice in villages and towns deal three years. These courts protect from violation the sociali st with non-antagonistic contradictions among the p eople, that system and socialist property, the political, social and is. conflicts which do not have their origin in irreconcilable economic rights of the people and the personal and property class diffrrpjflrrs. the very p rocess of debating these issues imr rights to which they are enuuea. ihe courts must, on the on e democratic wav and passing judgement in which the people band, tight against tne internal enemies of socialism .jad th are involved plavs an educative role in enabling the masses revolutionary violence and, on the other, educate th e increasingly to resolve such contradictions among themselves . working masses in the spirit oi' discipline^ socialist legal ity More and more cases oi this kind are handled by people in and socialist ethics. their own collectives at places of work or residence — just as Candidates to become people’s judges and deputy judges the shrinking number of petty crimes against personal or are proposed by the various mass organisations and associ- socialist property are dealt with collectively on the basis of ations of workers like any other candidates and are subject to criticism and self-criticism without recourse to the police. dismissal on the same terms as other representatives who fail The democratisation, which is to say the revolutionising, oT-jj-.nc i^r pm,, conflicts in creating to retain the confidence of the people. The whole legal of 106 107 / t public discussion has place simplify taken to the laws, make pressure of bourgeois and revisionist ideology, from the lack// them more understandable and divest them of a purely of looking at problems from a political angle.' official character. Enver Hoxha in that same very important speech at the* Albanian law jsser k ih e leadership of the Party over the Fifth Congress went on to say: ‘Fundamentally our Party line courts of justice and subjects them to the criticism and on state building and on the general orientation of people’s s upervision of the working masses. The nrincinle of the power has been correct. But in our practical activity there absolute independence of the courts of justice, which is have occurred many bureaucratic distortions and short- s imply a constitutional device tor concealing their real class comings, such as subordination of elected to executive character, is replaced by the frank recognition of the iudiy al organs, exaggerated formalism in the operation of elected s ystem as an institution of the dictatorship of the_B£DLctaria t, organs, excessive concentration of competence in a lew not pretending to stand above classes, above society, b n hands, relying for everything on the administration, limit- openly serving the interests of the working dass.. ation of the active participation of the masses in the solution * "Tbe various organs oi the Albanian state and the Con- of state and social problems and in the control of state stitution itself do not impose a democratic character on the organs, bureaucratic distortions in socialist legislation. . . . country; they reflect and make explicit the democracy Therefore the measures adopted by the Party for the inherent in the dictatorship of the proletariat established by eradication of red tape must not be seen as measures of a the working masses under the leadership of the Albanian simple organisational and technical character lor the elimi- Party of Labour in the revolutionary war which not only nation of certain shortcomings and gaps in the work of state expelled external invaders but also destroyed the internal organs but as measures having a deep political character, basis of exploiting classes. The government of Albania because the struggle against red tape is one of the most expresses the political power of the broad working masses important aspects of the class struggle in our country at the and has no other interests than those of the working masses present time.’ on whose support and participation it absolutely relies. 1 The fight against bureaucracy has to go deep because its The dictatorship of the proletariat cannot be strengthened roots are deep. ‘This concept of thinking,’ Enver Iloxha and the all round-development of socialist democracy cannot explained in a later speech on the revolutionising of Party be realised without a determined s bureau - truvele against and Government, ‘the idealistic ideology ol bureaucratism, cracy xoots of the regressive and counter-revolutionary — is . . . the ideology of minority class rule over the majority process s taken place in c which ha ertain erstwhile socialis t an ideology which the minority inculcates into the minds and c ountries like the Soviet Union a nd the Last European conscience of the majority through culture, education, People’s Republics must be sought in the pradual biirean- yl6 politics and morals in order to make it their second nature, a cratisation of the socialist state apparatus, in its estrangement manner of life, thought and action-’ This is ihe reason whvjl from the broad masses and in the creation of a privileged i s necessary, as must be considered in more detail , to extend class^^bureau^jj^^ ‘Bureaucracy’, as Enver Hoxha explained the dictatorship of the proletariat into the ideological rridnj fn his report to the Fifth Congress of the Party in 1966, ‘is a of education, ethics and the arts generally where bourgeois consequence of alien influences inherited from the old feudal and bourgeois state machinery, from the detaching of some cadres and organs from the masses, from the blind application of foreign experience without taking into con- sideration the concrete conditions of our country, from the Albanian _Ptn~tx_j)f_Laboujyin_jhe_JjgjTAJl£iL^^ 'lie cultural backwardness inherited from the past, from the are: curtailing higher salaries to establish a more lust ratio of 108 109 amendments and additions, has become outdated in many incomes, participation of cadres, administrative personnel, fundamental aspects and no longer reflects the socialist intellectuals and students directly in manual labour side by reality in Albania today. Therefore, the Central Committee side with workers and farmers, systematic circulation of of the Party proposes the dial ting of a new constitution cadres from the centre to the grass roots and back again, appropriate to the present stage of the country’s develop- placing cadres, Party members and all state employees under ment, to the new reality, so that, as a component part of the rigorous supervision of the working masses, application of the political superstructure, it may serve the economic the. -principle of democratic centralism against anv symptoms base and the whole socialist development of society better. of- bureau era lie centralism and improvement of the method ‘The refraining of the Constitution will be a step of and style ot work by t reating all state and economic great theoretical and practical importance for the strength- problems not from the standpoint" of 'technocracy 1 and ening and further improvement of the state of the ' economisin' but tro s policy dictatorship of the proletariat in our country. The new and ideology, always keeping proletarian politics in the Constitution will serve as a juridical basis tor the state organisation and legislation required by the present stage The fight against bureaucracy and the measures for of our socialist construction. It must be a juridical, improving the style of work of the whole state aopara fi^ are and ideological document which completely mporary campai political not a te gn. They are an essential part of the revolu- reflects the line of the Party embodied in our . continuing struggle to preserve state power in the hands o f tionary practice and inspires the working people in the > tiie work jn a rnawt-i nnd to prevent the degeneration ofjhe struggle for the complete construction of a socialist s tate into the dictatorship of a new privileged class. society.’ This struggle was raised to a higher level following the Fifth Congress of the Party in 1966. The process of the There was nothing wrong with the existing constitution revolutionising of the whole life of the country on the during the period in which it has reflected the consolidation principle of the greatest possible mass involvement has not of national independence after the War and the first stages of only strengthened the economic base of society but has led terms of political maturity the Albanian profound building socialism. In to developments of a social, political and ideo- popular people have simply outgrown it. The phase, of logical nature as well. The Albanian people have acquired emocracy has been succeeded by the phase ol full socialism experience concerning d new how to bar the way to revisionism ™ie not onlv with the working class playing the leading and the restoration of capitalism and how to ensure the . The politically and econojnr nllv hllt ^'Iturallv as well continued march of the revolution to its final victory in full implications of these profound social developments require communism. in the expression in a new document which will be a milepost it is as a result of these developments in the further advance of the Albanian people along the road to revolutionising of the life of the country that in the Report communism. on the Activity of the Central Committee submitted by Enver Hoxha to the Sixth Congress of the Party of Labour of Albania held in Tirana at the beginning of November, 1971, the proposal was made for the drafting of a new constitution. The Report which the Congress unanimously adopted says: ‘Viewed through the prism of these deep revolutionary changes, the Constitution in force, in spite of later 1 11 L10 ‘ describes implicitly the Party of Labour’s vital role as the sole directing and leading force in the socialist system of proletarian dictatorship. This force re sts on the Party’s close and permanent ties with the working masses . In the daily revolutionary experi- ence of the masses, by their support and opinions, the Party Chapter Ten tests the justice and validity of its decisions, enriches its own experience and gets the necessary inspiration to continue its Party The advance. In compliance with the aspirations of the masses the Party issues directives and instructions on important political, Any place one goes in Albania, town or countryside, coastal economic, social, cultural and organisational questions. Thus plain or mountains, one sees, painted on factory walls, its influence interpenetrates and flows through all the state inscribed on colourful banners strung across streets, picked organs, making itself felt as a constant pressure guiding the out in flowers of different hues in garden cities like Vlora or whole society along the road to socialism. depicted in white-washed rocks high up on a hillside, the Not part of the state organs defined in the Constitution, slogan, ‘Long Live the Albanian Party of Labour!’ This is the the Party was the initialing force in elaborating the Con- natural expression of a people’s pride and confidence in an stitution and presenting it to the Constituent Assembly. The] organisation without which the victorious liberation war, the irjljnprw-p _ Party of Labour in 1 is 941 the most brilliant in the long story 1 wHatevefposlllloll lllPV CITIUM The aTTded 2cdl 111111 Hkldefsfnb oi the Albanian people, realising Marx’s observation that which their Tarty membership enables them to exert thus socialism is the beginning of history, true history made by breathing into the whole s tate edifice the directive inspiration 1 men consciously pursuing their aims in co-operation; and ortTie lVfy. everything before, the whole dark period of class-divided * Tu to impleme nt this guiding role the Party creates I societies based on exploitation, is prehistoric. b ranches in all the elected organs ol the people’s democratic In the constitution of the People’s Republic of Albania government and m all the industrial, c()-()jjenyjve_and_social there is only one reference to the Party, in Article 21 which organisations, it is the duty of theseJjrcmdies_to^trengthen guarantees to citizens the right to join social organisations. tire Party '5 lflfldEffgyand to uphold its policy among_JJni§c These include the Democratic Front, the trade unions, the who are not Tarty members, to strengthen socialis t disciplin e co-operatives, organisations of youth and of women, organis- and Id prWlecute the wai^agaiasLjnJ^aucracv, to supervise ations lor sport and defence, or cultural, scientific and die execution ol Party directives. The leading role ot the technical societies, finally “the more active and conscientious Party over the people s democratic state docs not mean at all citizens of the working class and of the working masses join that Party organs are substituted for the corresponding the ranks of the Albanian Party of Labour, the vanguard government organs. The Party’s acts are not juridical and are organisation of the working class and of all the working n hrir ihnQP rifi/ms Pl V who are members. masses in their endeavours to build the bases of socialism and At the same time the Party’s acts arc of snechilimnorlance 1 the leading nucleus of all 1 the organisations of the working to the state organs since they determine the general line an d id* masses, social as well as the state.’ But this brief mention the essential content of all the acts formulated and executed 112 113 . ellorts ol modern by the state. Thev.crcate the vciy,.l?pliti<;fll clima.te.-in vvhjrh the working class are empty phrases. The t state function^. of the working he And in certain cases, with regard' to r evisionists to prove that the historic mission st party are two questions vital to the development of the social order, the cl ass and the leading role ol the communi Party issues directives jointly with the state organs, thus on ly to the place it occumes_in cfil’lcrent things, that thanks converting them into juridical acts which are binding on all orking class can play its th e system or social production the w citizens. The most important directives are those issued arxist-Lcnpdst or by leadersh ip role, even without a M pflrtv the highest forum of the Party of Labour — its Congress . (like i.hr BriUsh through other so-called ^workers’ parties” TIjpsp directives provide the basis lor tlic measures adopted Labour Party which are m the service of the bourgeoisie, } by the state organs for the development of the country’s ygentilir rnrrdmn ’ have nothing In common wi fj] " ‘ s ocial and nnlttieal- hle- have There are historical and political reasons why there -> The Party of Labour also plays a leadership role in respect of the been no other parties in Albania from the time to the activities of all the mass organisations in the ol founding of the Communist Party, the Albanian Party Democratic Front. links the They are the Party’s most important Labour. During the period of the liberation war, when the people through the vital two-way armies with and them process widest possible alliance was sought against the fascist of learning from the people in order to teach and guide them a correct of occupation, it would have been consonant with is conducted. Jfust as during the war, in the^adNydaysof the Marxist-Leninist line for other political parties to have been Party, the SOU rce of its antlinrhy .wa*. the__qieLlity nf if supported !fg included in the National Liberation Front they members, communists always being the first to undertake the the national resistance movement led by the Communist is a most clan^oqy tnissipi^ flpcj yp maintain morale in the face Party on behalf of the working masses. In fact Albania d of socialist creation of of the uravest hardships, so in thc—uerio rare example of a country in which, prior to the democratic 1consjruction_jL<^ of communists to accejat^shsfijr- the Communist Party, there existed neither social fully the most arduous ta sks, go wherever they are needed nor any other bourgeois parties. In the course ol the war most and exemplify the socialis t morality, of p utting the various political groupings which might have constituted rnllertwe interest hefnre se|f-j the n tercst is the basis of the parties discredited themselves by collaboration with Party’s influence amomr the masses. enemy and thus eliminated themselves from the anti-fascist The correctness of this close relationship between Party coalition. and mass organisations is illustrated by the fact, that in those After liberation, the remnants of the old exploiting classes tried to countries which have abandoned socialism and are in the with the support of United States and British agents the process of restoring capitalism one of the steps taken was to establish a political party with the aim of undermining p roclaim the independence of mass organisations from the People’s Democratic Government. But this attempt at creat- and communist party, which in fact meant independence from a ing political support for the tiny minority of landowners the p roletarian political line. D escribed as ‘freeing’ these organis- capitalists was in such obvious and direct conflict with peasants ations from politics it really involved cutting them off from interests of the overwhelming masses ol workers and proletarian influence to allow to fall bourgeois succeeding. them under that it stood no chance whatever ol influence. As Ramiz Alia, a prominent of the the formation of member it is not surprising that those who backed reverse Albanian Party of Labour who has played a leading part in the kind of political parties which could disrupt and describe the mass organisations has explained: ‘The hegemony of the the revolutionary course of the country should proletariat is the the necessarily linked with existence of absence of other parties as ‘undemocratic’. The. (If niQf.rfllp; . revolutionary party of the class. Without the leading the number of it^N working charac ter of a s tate is not demonstrated by u role of the the the historic mission of ot cunningly-devised party hegemony and . SXtiral nar hes. nor hv the variety 114 115 programmes offered to ftut members of the Party, operating on both sides of each of the public, nor by noisy electoral with the common aim of campaigns and fli-m Mo pajcal promises which never seem tn these contradictions, imbued real progressively reducing them, make a major contribution make anv difference however the people vote. It is determiner! hy toward creating the more equitable and more closely united^ whether t he class in power is that of workers in socialism can flourish. or exploiters, whether state activity serves the interests of a society which privileged minority-owning In his 1966 report to the Fifth Congress, Enver Hoxha ?| disnronor(ifin;ite of e p monnt tfr sources of wealth or the hr/.Lid criticised the Party for not making the fullest use of the of in order to break down these t hat wealth, Albanian experience has proved that a Marxist- distribution members While approving the general trend of recruit- Leninist party of the working class whose interests are no contradictions. from production centres, from different from those of peasants and progressive intellectuals ing the majority of members class the labouring peasantry, is not only perfectly capable of representing and safeguarding the ranks of the working and anomalies like the overweighting of city the real interests of the people but, in the absence of other he pointed out the principle of unifi- parties which would necessarily be bourgeois, discharges even membership which worked against differences like those between youth better its mission of liberating the nation and proceeding cation. Similarly with with the socialist revolution. and age or between men and women, lie pointed out the need In to fight conservative attitudes which had led to the any case_ once_ the workingc 1 as s has assumed stale of and young people. The nower. as occurred m Albania with the final defealZof under-representation women of to the Party is still unsatisfactory and external and internal enemie s, the existence of anv party save admission women to the vivid, active and revolutionary 't hat of the workers would be political nonsense. As Enver does not correspond are making in all fields of the country’s Iloxha says on this point: ‘Since the war of classes continues contribution they construction’. And also ‘the youth organisation must during the period of building a socialist society, during the socialist inexhaustible revolutionary reserve for the transition to communism, and since political parties express be regarded as the the interests ol particular classes, the presence of other, growth of the Party ranks’. role in maintaining the non-Marxist-Lcninisl parties would be absurd... especially Since the Party plays such a crucial development, in assuring correct after the construction of the economic base of socialism. thrust of further socialist leadership people, in resolving social This does not at all jeopardise democracy but, on the relations between and contrary, strengthens real proletarian democracy.’ contradictions and strengthening the dictatorship of the it is that the health of the Party through lust. _as members of the Party, sharing the same commit - proletariat, plain in fresh blood to revivify all the mcnt_Lo seeing t hat the ideology of socialism permeates every continuously pumping concern for the asD.ect.of work and life, bv belonging both to the organs of Party’s organs is a matter of the gravest the state and the whole country. mass organi sations help to unite governmen t blood this blood must be clean. and people, so they have a similar role to nlav in rcsolvinv While the Party needs new Other distinctions in Careful attention is paid to such qualities in the candidate Albanian society . The further develnp- morals, self-sacrificing spirit, political ment of socialism demands that certain social contradictions member as character, elan links with the masses. The inherited from the past be narrowed and eventually elimi- maturity, revolutionary and is not formal but a two to three nated — such as those between working class and peasantry, term of candidature merely period of testing the candidate’s conduct on the work between town and country, between industry and agri- year his discipline, resourcefulness culture, between mental and manual labour. If these contra- front of socialist construction, the Party line, his relationships with dictions are not dealt with, they can grow to the point where and ability to defend the working masses generally, the respect they divide society and even generate new class differences. fellow workers and 116 117 » and love he enjoys from comrades and his harshness to his be able to use methods of education and persuasion, always own errors and shortcomings. It is also a period of intensive leaving coercion to the last. Good revolutionary Parly ideological and political education. members are those who by their work and behaviour win the What is required of the members of the Albanian Party of confidence and affection of the people, who educate and save Labour once they have been accepted as full participants in those who make mistakes, who attack mercilessly with the Party work? Enver Hoxha set out these requirements in greatest hatred the incorrigible and socially dangerous considerable detail in his 1966 report. enemies of our people and our Party. — The members of our revolutionary Party sho uld be loval —.‘Communists must be endowed with revolutionary vigil- t o the teachings of Marxism-Leninism, to our Party and to ance in defending the Party line and the purity of its l deals. the people, ready for every saenlice that may be required in They must never hide their shortcomings and errors, critic- sorialisry. t he interests of the revolution and ising their own failures without waiting for others to do it for ‘ Communists must have the disciplip ed rlrtr.rmimifinn In them. Only thus will they be in a position to criticise the implement the Party line and the state laws without allowing shortcomings of their comrades and correct others by the tn heromr mechanical. t he applica tion of directives They example of their own principled conduct. must be creative, understanding the political essence of Party ‘ Revolutionary members must work co nscientiously at decisions and governmental acts in order to apply them to whatever place the Par ty has assigned them, always putting concrete situations in such a way as to insure their above everything the general imprest. They should never effectiveness. connive at any unhealthy situation created by incorrect — They must be rigorously conscientious in s eeing thaLihdr conclusions and decisions taken by any Party or state organ, Party membership does not brine and will never brimr them neither should they comply with wrong or arbitrary instruc- even th c^sliiih test personal privilege but only confers on them tions by any functionary. Sound centralisation in the Party the most, difficult and responsible tasks . Those who think organisation must be dialectically linked with the decen- differently arid* use their Party cards to obtain for themselves tralised responsibility of every Party member, collective or for those personally associated with them any material or responsibility rightly combined with the individual respon- moral advantages do not deserve, not even for a moment, the sibility of each communist.’ honour of being Party members. ^ What Enver Hoxha has described at some length as thy ‘ — Communists should he closely linked with the masse s, requirements ot Party members is simply Marxist morality '-.nrl affrntivi'ly r^perl fully listen lo what they have to say , subordinated to_to_the a morality, in Lenin’s words, ‘entirely. jly *1 g li ve and work with them, sense their feelings and know their interests of the class struggle of the proletariat. . . Eor _ns ^ n eeds, put themselves at the head of the masses and lead (Marxists! there is no such thing, as morality apart Jrpm them. They must regard as inimical every characteristic, human society^ And ending exploitation in human society self-conceitedness, arrogance or commandism, which leads to can only he achieved by uniting the vast majority who are negligence or under-estimation of the masses and their work. exploited, the workers, against the class of exploiters and ‘ — Valuable members of our Party are those who always take oppressors in a protracted struggle to abolish classes - into account and fearlessly wage class simple, outside and altogether. Class struggle contains by implication the whole within the ranks of the Party, reivin g for this continuous of Marxist morality. In the social reality of the ‘chess’ such struggle on the fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism. feelings as solidarity, fraternity and the love of one’s fellow ‘ — They must know how to distinguish, following a correct man, which cannot except as mere abstract humanism stretch dialectica l analys is, between what is good and what is 1? ad across the gulf between oppressors and oppressed, find their what Is dangerous and what is bold and creative. They must true expression among those sharing the burden ol oppres- 118 119 sion in all its forms and capable by their comradeship and The principle of democratic centralism, the s ubordination unity of r the emancipating themselves and society. In the activity of the" minority to the majority and the lowe fn of question hq] ‘sttmfc’ is mlised Marx’s injuncti on that the noim is ngf higher, is not simply an organisational Simply to understand thy w_orld h of education and political develop- ut to change it — to the sof t the fundamental lorms of place where those fel lovy^ feelings Party. Democratic centralism combine s needji 120 121 J period masses and are not unknown to them. The activity of the The importance of these figures, covering the Party and its call lor greater ellorts by^ members must be under the control of the following on" lt-nver H6m s is the masses. It is a mistake to think that Party problems should be rommunists to tak e the lead in ideological struggle, .abouiigt tackled only by communists or that elections to Party posts p roof they provide that belonging to the Party ol l /N^ nor put on e should be held secretly without being known to non- Albania does not give one special privileges represents members as if the Party were an illegal organisation, or as if beyond criticism. To the contrary membership the working Party can onl people were indifferent to the problems greater obligations to serve the people. The y discussed by communists, the tasks they assign themselves it purges itself of those unworth y_of play it s leadership role if |^Q and the leaders they have elected’. ol Vomrnums ts as well as continu ously revivifying Speaking on the further revolutionisation members were taken^ of the Party and itself with fresh blood. Over 20,000 new the Government in 1968, Enver Iloxha defined the class 1 Sixth Congresses. < in to the Party bmvct!!! tilt EllWand 1 nature of the the Albanian Party of Labour. ‘We know that our Enver Iloxha’s continuing concern for the rectitude of Party of Labour is, like all one genuine Marxist-Leninist parties, Albanian Party of Labour which he founded, is only an organised detachment of the working class. This to the Albanian implies aspect of the correct leadership he has given that those in the Party are their the best, most revolutionary and people ever since he took the initiative in organising most resolute vanguard of As that class. Such people do not fall resistance to the fascist occupation of the country. as from manna heaven. They emerge from the ranks of the Commander-in-Chief of the Liberation Army, as acknow- masses and distinguish been in the themselves at work and in battle by ledged head of the Party and State he has idways their virtues and and conduct. Those admitted to the Party come forefront of the struggle for national independence from various classes in people for his our society, from the working class, socialist development. The appreciation of the from along agricultural co-operatives, from employees, from intel- guidance and for his sharing with them every hardship lectuals and Albania’s present people ol other walks of life. Nevertheless our the difficult way they have travelled to Party is forms. not an arena of classes in which each class has its position as Europe’s only socialist country takes many proportional number of representatives defending the indivi- Along with slogans wishing a long lile to the Party which are dual interests frequently the letters ol each class. No, the hegemony in our Party is to be seen everywhere, appear as possessed and leader. by the working class with its own ideology, ENVER as a popular tribute to their comrade the Marxism-Leninism’. Every appearance of Enver Hoxha on the streets ol the time he visits - and By of the Sixth Party Congress in November, capital or in whatever other town or district out on which he 1971, of a Party membership of 86,000, workers made many are the occasions formal and informal up spontaneous 56% of the members and co-operative peasants 29%. moves freely among the people - becomes a born in During this Congress the Control and Audit Commission triumphal procession. The house where he was of the Albanian reported that from 1967 to 1970 1,323 members and 434 Gjirokastra has become one of the museums candidate members had been expelled from the Party and revolution. about these 1,400 full members had been reduced to candidate members. There is nothing slavish or ‘mass organised’ be There were 1,320 appeals against expulsion handled by the demonstrations of affection and respect . That would of the Commission and in 75% of these cases the decision of the entirely alien to the tough independent charac ter local Party committees to expel was upheld. The majority Alhanbm n~ 1~ We the man as a staunch comrade^ T and were expelled for shortcomings resulting from insufficient gtrnpyle: hut he also embodies for them the political education in Marxism-!.eni \ to achievg__so nism, lor violations of~~socialis t philosophical line which enabled them Their deep 'norms and for dissolute beiiaviour. much bv their own correctly-orient ated efforts. 22 123 y powerful imperialist aggressor of our times. What Enver regard for Enver Hoxha, as for the Party of Labour of most leadership of the Albanian people has sh own is that Albania, is ultimately a regard for the principles of scientific Hoxha ’s efend their country is too small^no peoplejtoo lew to d socialism which, applied to the specific conditions of no ol hostile powers nation al sovereignty against a whole array Albania, have freed them from external interference and laid f task, in self-reliance, of building socialism. the foundations of their socialist society. and set about the' knver Hoxha, the leaders and people of Albania Marxism by no means rejects In so doing . the concept of leadership . have enriched the revolutionary experience and theoretical I ndeed it denies that workers in their conllict with the cElc s understanding of the world proletariat. I hat is the test of enemy generate spontan eously the revol utionary theo ry great Marxist-Leninist leadership. necessary for^Jjuildim^jijjevr^^ e course these great leaders have always worked in the require a political party playing Of a vanguard, leadershipTcTe in and closest association with others of comparable grasp respect to the working class as a whole. Similarly, in the understanding, and on the recruitment to the leadership of ranks of revolutionaries there are leaders who are particularly younger men with the same qualities depends the continued well equipped to apply the principles of scientific socialism, advance of socialist construction and socialist morality. Such Marxism-Leninism, to the concrete conditions of their own Shehu, Ilvsni Kapo, C.ogo sphere in Albania are men like Mehmet of engagement. Marxism’s unique contribution is to recently died, My slim Peza, Abdyl Kellezi, Haxlii define the dialectical reJatmn heiw^-n l^Wchip pr»»plf» Nushi who Lleshi, Shelquct Peci, Beqir Balluku, Ramiz Alia, Manush 1°—.terms of the mass line, from l he, masses to the Spiro Koleka, Rita Marko, Ilaki loska, Adil (^aicpmi which prevents leaders fro m becoming detached from |h p Myftiu, of those distinguished by their p eople and the people from beine^depriv ed of ^jenTn^j-^ir - to mention only a few people who themselves include in their ranks control . service to the heroes and heroines of Albania’s struggles in war r In the great social transformations of recent history the innumerable peace. working masses in revolt against oppressive conditions have and , had the leadership of a communist party and, also, of a revolutionary genius who combined to a remarkable degree the grasp ol scientific theory and the profound understanding ol the social forces in his own country enabling him to apply that theory concretely with outstanding success, thus con- tributing creatively to the deepening and broadening of the theory itself. Such was Lenin who led the workers, peasants and soldiers ol Russia in the first conquest of state power and firm establishment ol a dictatorship of the proletariat. Mao Isetung led the Chinese people in their own revolutionary struggle and demonstrated by his leadership of the pro- letarian cultural revolution that the working masses, having won state power and established a dictatorship of the proletariat, could hold on to it by rooting out the remnants of bourgeois ideology and smashing any attempt to restore capitalism. Mo Chi Minh led the Vietnamese in proving that a relatively small country organised in people’s war, under the guidance of a communist party, could take on and defeat the 125 t > •-,-.,1,, p....ll,.k ihr nrnress nf lh f nvn.lnrtion ot knowledge. (Take the ideas of the masses (scattered and unsystematic into ideas) and concentrate them (through study turn them concentrated and systematic ideas) then go to the masses and propagate and explain these ideas until the masses embrace into them as their own, hold fast to them and translate them Chapter Eleven action, and test the correctness of these ideas in such action’. Once the ideas drawn from the experience of the masses are The Mass Organisations taken back to the masses as an elaborated theory of revolutionary change and are grasped by the masses they Revolution and socialism arc the achievement of the masses become ‘a material force which changes society and changes the world’. As Enver Hoxha expresses it: ‘Marxism-Leninism of certain “able-minded is not a privilege and monopoly of revolutionary practice oi the masses are the inexhaustible people who can understand it. It is the scientific ideology s^reej masses and only when its Tom^vjiiclwTr^rnDamarrTanty"T^ draws U s the working class and the working be inspiration and elaborates its political line on thr hack ideas are mastered by the working masses does it cease to le arning from the masses in order to be able to teach them. something abstract and become a great material force for the "^^^nassTm^TTnoT only expressed intluTTyrganisalional revolutionary' transformation of the world’. aspect of this principle of democratic centralism; it is rooted in the very He stigmatises those who neglect either ‘Those who theory of knowledge of Marxism. All knowledge originates in two-way dialectic between masses and leadership. perception ol the objective ex crnal^wo^ man’s underestimate and despise the experience of the working basis of their physical sense organs" a stage co rresponding tCL emnirieism. masses, who try to command others on the masses. This perceptual knowledge is then deepened to rational authority, in reality have nothing to teach the They knowledge thro u whose only ‘capital’ is their h ax^ ns I r err^y arc empty-headed chatterboxes p y <-; fj j p p y| Mmpressipns_hi\iidgcmen£^^ conceitedness and arrogance. On the other hand there are Rondjn^t^H^^^SSLSLiliSiiLlIElSlSIttEIIiZB^il some communists who vulgarise the links with the masses and knowledge is only complete when this rational knowledge has the idea of listening to their opinions. They passively listen to been tested in social practice, when the abstract ideas of what different working people say. They approve everything physical not try and social laws have been directed to the practice of that is said and do not take a stand on principle, do changing both the objective and subjective world by their to analyse the ideas expressed by the working people in order application to production, to scientific experiment, to to distinguish what is correct from what is wrong, the revolutionary class struggle. « important from the trivial and to sum up the mass experi- Truth as the product of social practice is not to be found ence’. ^ ,, in me mincis or excepTidnal HldllMdUdll, Lilli 1 the Party has to devote special III lhe expeI lcnce . To deepen the mass line v ital role in renewing itself' from generation to gen eration, of the broad at tentionTo fh^ M£5S dimigations which play a_ mass of the people. Thisistneso^^ consolidating the links oi the Party with the working neonle unleashing the energies and skills of the whole people — ‘Hie cn that ThTwonun^peonle. re moulded in a commMUiaUaay vivid creativencss of the masses’ which Lenin describes as ‘the ran Kero'me the politically conscious masters of the country. fundamental factor of the new social life’. Th~Natinnal I.ihrration Front through which the Party The process of the mass line as set forth by Mao Tsctung had maintained the closest ties with the Albanian people.^ 126 127 dimm^tlmmuiTasckcMjtrug^^ strictly adhered to. In a factory, for example, no charge of conclusion of Lhc war, the Democratic Front incorporatin g incompetence against, any individual or collective can go such masTTnramsauons as iracte unions, the unions ot youth unanswered. No counter-charge against the original critic or ic union ot writers critics constitutes an acceptable response. Timelimits are set cuTIu^^^^~socI^^rou£m^ These Democratic Front for the person or collective criticised to explain why the organisations Have continued to play an important part in thing was done and, if wrong, to make self-criticism. An transmitting the Party line to the people, in educating them unsatisfactory response or self-criticism considered to be in political unity around the Party and the socialist state and insincere have resulted in factory managers’ being replaced. also in providing organised attendance to what the masses in What often strikes a visitor as strange are the flower the countryside and cities have to say so that they can gardens and trees around factory buildings. But of course participate actively in solving social and state problems and in they belong to the working people; they are the places where struggling against regressive habits and tendencies inimical to they spend a good part of their time; there is no reason why the building of socialism. they should not be made as pleasant as possible. * TnuU^uniom^m^misi^ Party members in the trade unio ns, who in this as in all kinds of work done, but rep resenting all the workeisin a such mnssonranlsatjn^ in cominancC particularTactory or industrial cntcrp r 1 have the responsibility ot preventing narrowness ot outlook. and a tendency to deal primarily with ec onomic problems. ^^du^ioirimiTTordra^n^w^^er^mt^T^ad^j^^^ Unchecked this tendency can result in a failure to wage class Ha not^nl^mrespec^^ieprodu^tivejrmcessitsel^^u^^^e administration ot the plant and th e social life of The. peotiJ e wo^Tn^TnTre^lTe^rhavc^Tn^responsiTTiirnrofeiicou ragin g socialist emulation as the main motivation for better and pypn jf hr is demoralised or has an ant, -working class attitude. more creative methods of work and they are the principal The future of socialism depends on educating the new channel for the two-way llow of concrete proposals and generation in a class revolutionary spirit and this responsi- Tk^ot counter-proposals between the economic organs of the state bility is undertaken by the Union of Labour Youth of and the working people in the compilation of the five-year Albania. It is to its young people that a country must look plans. for passing on and further developing socialist achievements Any Albanian factory is a model of democratic organis- mid, ultimately, for accomplishing the transition from ation. The workers, trade union secretaries and Party cadres socialist to communist society. The patriotic and revolution- are willing to talk freely about their own or anyone else’s ary youth of Albania, ideologically healthy and morally conditions of work or rates of pay, including managers, sound, prepared for hard work in the construction of specialists or section leaders, because nothing is hidden from socialism and self-sacrifice in the defence of the country, general knowledge. In a prominent place a bulletin board will shows that the Union of Youth is functioning correctly in contain notices of individual workers or collectives who have close association with the Party. done outstandingly good work or, perhaps, developed some The communist education of Albanian youth is taking productive innovation in machines or their use. There will place in the midst of class struggle at home and abroad and in t also be references to those who have done slipshod work. The the context of bitter and complicated ideological differences ‘flete rrufe’, or public notice board for criticism and between revisionist and socialist countries. Furthermore self-criticism, is the most characteristic and universal social young people do not know from personal experience the phenomenon in Albania and the rules governing its use are savage class oppression of the past and the sacrifices required 128 129 to end it. In_jji<^elaUyely p e ace (u 1 conditions of present-day this canon gives some indication of the life women led. ‘A Albania areat care must he taken that they are not woman must work harder than a donkey for the latter feeds influenced, as has been jhe__c^stLjn t h^EastEuropean on grass, which l costs nothing, while a woman lives on bread’. people’s demo craciesTTry bourgecMs"ide^\vfn cTrn^irougn tl"e During the liberation war women fought side by side with men and G,000 of the 70,000 partisan fighters were women and girls. At the First Congress of Anti-fascist Women, Enver Students particularly may betray such bourgeois tend- IToxha said ‘Albanian women won their rights with blood and encies as idleness and intellectualism, detachment from the these rights are guaranteed by the Government of the People masses and unconcern with the problems and worries of the which they, along with their brothers, founded at the cost of people, exaggerated demands and pretensions, conceitedness great sacrifices’. and disregard for the revolutionary experience of older The Union of the Women of Albania has made a people. valuable contribution to the radical change in the position of women, liu^jcijaationhijah^sica i placing before them the perspective of throwing off the yoke t raining and lic!pstTTomSarntneT(!e^ niat"Tn?"vaTue"M imposed by the outlook and habits of the old regressive family, doing away with their cultural nice^safeJof^in^lTl^^^namournTf^m^^riln^rbamT^ backwardness and participating in productive labour to win economic and social new r ai I way"7nns“ u"t ion ’s TanTetT^uT by young people emancipation and equality with men in all fields. working in their holidays or during periods taken off from Women have responded to this challenge and now make up formal education. A visit to one of their work camps along some 42% of the work force, engaged in all professions and the line, or to some bare hillside where they are engaged in branches of industry except the hardest and most dangerous terracing and planting trees, confirms the salutary effect of jobs. But a struggle still lias to be waged against the old such organised physical labour in encouraging a sense of enslaving concepts. There is a contradiction in the attitude comradeship among themselves and the ideal of being of evenja^m^^omn^^ service to the people. s ocialist ethics bu t in their family life still act unconsaously On the other hand, there are misunderstandings in the rest of society about the needs and demands of youth, unjust the field oi production there is an equitable division Af complaints about their behaviour and expressions of mistrust labourbetween^jnenjmdwimiem in their ability and willingness to learn. The Union of Labour Youth, co-operating with the Party committees, can combat labour is as vvidesprea^aTns^ioLndTeriMUch has been done such prejudices, win respect for their energy and zeal and to create better l acilifics ro ne accomplishment bl open up opportunities for them to play a full and responsible work^jjOjarovidenursefTes^jannwork, to provide nurseries" part in socialist construction. t pwns_and_oii^o^j3ercitive TaHnsTnumuclmnore needs to be The position of womeriAji vital Question for anv socialist done^tcTTnabl^wome^^^^^ISSaESSSS^EEISuii^ country. In fyudaljmd b o u r l> e o i ^jiocieldesm r t enTrs.ni_everx^ail£I£QijTrQdtictive and social life . the_jjiiu]il£_iii^^ extilollaliQn^ynjOt^cT^sand se^ . "The Women’s Union in partnership with the Party still has This was particularly true of pre-war Albania where many the considerable responsibility of educating women to play women still went veiled and in the feudal north the Lek the fullest part in socialist construction claiming on their Dukagjini, a canon of morals covering such customs as the behalf all the assistance they need to do so and of educating blood feud and defining the position of women as that of men to get rid of the last vestiges of male chauvinism in order chattel, still governed social relations. One quotation from to play their fullest part in the socialist family. 130 131 Other mass organisations must be considered under appropriate headings. A necessary condition for these mass organisations to carry out the arduous democratic tasks assigned to them is the continuing support and assistance of the Albanian Party of Labour. Since it is the duty of every communist to be with the working masses, to work among Chapter Twelve them and to provide them with correct political leadership, no mass organisation is without its complement of active Creating the Socialist Economic Base function of Party cadres to help them realise their important t mediating creatively between Party and people. Al the end of the anti-fascist war the most pressing problem facing the Albanian people was the reconstruction of the country’s shattered economy. To the Party of Labour’s call for voluntary work to repair damage and get the wheels turning again there w as a willing response, and soon workers and peasants organised in squads, battalions and brigades, just as in the recently-concluded war, were engaged in this new baLtle for Albania’s economic recovery. Bridges and highways were rebuilt and lines of communi- cation were quickly re-established. During 1945 workers got some of the factories, power stations and mines back into operation. Peasants were mobilised to sow the ploughed land and make a start on rebuilding the burned-out villages. A wave of enthusiasm for work swept the country and young m' i people in their thousands from town and country joined the 1 voluntary labour brigades and worked tirelessly at the tasks of reconstruction. In January 1945 the law on extraordinary taxation of war profits was passed so that a part of the wealth accumulated by profiteers could be used to meet the immediate needs ol the people and help pay for reconstruction. The law further provided that the property of those who refused to pay these taxes was to be confiscated without compensation. During that year revenue from the tax on war profits accounted for more than half of the state budget and with the goods ( acquired by the state from confiscating the property of defaulters the first state-owned shops were opened initiating a socialist sector in trading. Another law was passed requisitioning food stuffs and other materials in great need and steps were taken to stamp 133 132 J out hoarding and speculation; a system of fixed prices was statc^jgowerjWhat^thisjTi^ , ,, enforced and private accumulation and selling of grain was t7r^~w^|^^^^nsTonnatioT T)rtTi^ peopTe , sckmocmtTc prohibited; old bank-notes were overprinted in order to begin ^iHatorshr^wncE!E^nS5iI5£5^S5EE!BS235ES55E5552^ checking the inflation which had so drastically devalued the forces _in^.jhe_ anti-fascist war into a dict atorship of the war time currency. — These_tem£orary_solutions of the country^s__financ iaI ^“Tn Tulv 1945 ^ngumers^c^o^iemUveswer^setu^h^h^consumers’ co-operatives were set up in the l^^d^Jl2^ll problcmstacmtatecr^^ at l flTr^am^ ?meTurfliePwea^eneyme"econonn£^o^i^fl[ id.ik wprkmg^lg^ In the countryside agrarian measures were bourgeoisie. Unf^TTtromPmTusKnwTnoreTgnTin^iceTrom enacted to solve the contradiction between the labouring jJritam or^TfflT^nited States could have put Albanian peasantry and the big landowners on the basis of the capitalists on their feet again and the Party of Labour had war-time alliance between peasants and workers. In August categorically rejected all offers from these two countries, 1945 the agrarian reform law was promulgated by which knowing only too well from war-time experience the con- existing state-owned land, the estates of religious institutions ditions which would be attached to such ‘aid’. Apart from and all privately-owned land exceeding certain defined limits 1 fraternal assistance, on a mutually independent basis, from was expropriated and assigned for redistribution free of the Soviet Union and the People’s Democracies, Albania by charge among relatively landless peasants on the principle the very nature of the people’s political power established by that ‘land belongs to the tiller’. The permitted holdings were the revolutionary war, was firmly committed to developing 100 acres for owner-managers who had demonstrated their the economy in the interests of the working masses by ability to farm their land efficiently, 50 acres for those who relying on their efforts and its own resources. One side of this worked their land themselves and 17 acres for those who did effort was the whole-hearted response of the people to the not till their own land but were required to do so within two years. of' rexonTtrucTHmTTn^TtTrerside was the ena£lm£ttLlaLi^e In a country like Albania where arable land was so limited in extent the holdings left to private proprietors were too large and permitted landlords and rich peasants to retain too In December 1944 the mines and the property of refugees much economic power. These shortcomings in agrarian who had fled the country for political reasons were nation- reform resulted from the influence the Communist Party of alised, and a month later a law transferred to the Albanian Yugoslavia exerted at that time through certain members of state, without compensation, as the common property of the the Albanian Party of Labour, and once that alien influence people, the banks and share-holder companies owned by had been removed these mistakes had to be rectified. foreign capitalists. In April 1945 allp rivatelv owned means Up to 12 acres of land were allotted to the head of each oJ^Jr^r^ortatioiiwere^m^^^^rT^^e^^n^^n^^a^ji family and the buying, selling and leasing of land was prohibited. CmrmhiTPPg nf nnnr peasants were set up to ^o^J^^j^thei^^^^^^reconom^^onten^]^fl[^^pg s upervise the distributionoflandand to organise resistance aij> ains^ J^j£^h*ieT^Trr^ 1Iklias£11 l th^J^d^Lj^QliiiQal-CQtisciousncss in th e jxnmtJYside_flfld state and_^££al£j^^l^hasi^3raToci^i^Ttate^m^e socialism lend in the to agricultural co- tookt c ok_tfl£_jead^the in the movement to jorm_agriculturak^lorm fi~ l ll 2 ir"'Ihi^ilLeoIoii^rj>fth^wor^ mg mass""andlcan on ly be maintained and developed when the working class enjoys Part of the expropriated land was not distributed but 134 turned into state farms which established a socialist sector in backward jtL.lyurapc^Albania was to be turned_into_an asis increasingly agriculture. Forests, springs, water supplies and all subsoil agricultural-indus trial country with the emph till, evenLuaiiy^,^^^^^ i riches were proclaimed the common property ol‘ the people on the d evelopment ot industry while most of the land cultivated by agricultural workers, become arTindiStnS^Quntry'^jtES^SSSS^IScSlf^ - their implements and farm animals were the property of IiTTwine majority of the working people were engaged in co-operatives. agriculture and only 15,000 workers or 13% of the work f ^S^j^suU^o^hcsemcasimesaJj^ force were engaged in industry which accounted for only ijTAIbaniaJoc^^^^^^rj^^m^|nn^gi^|^t^rTo||The 4Vfe% of the national income. Such had been the damage and dislocation of the war that it took a little over a year, till the a^cm^^^l^^^^^^iv^Ttate’pmpcnwT^HnTigfKTTonT^f end of 1946, just to get industrial and agricultural production to levels. socialist "TelaUonsoT^jroduction, was dominant in the back up 1938 measures were being taken to assure a rapid all industrial sector in which co-operatives of handicraft workers But further the skill and energy of the working masses were marginal; but the agricultural sector was predominantly round advance as concentrated ending Albania’s backwardness. In May co-operative with state farms making up a small but were on agrarian reform law was modified to reduce the influential proportion of the whole. This reflected the 1946 the who cultivated the land themselves to 12 basically small scale nature of agriculture and the large scale holdings of those altogether those who did not. In this nature of industrial production. Both forms of ownership had acres and to expropriate way some 430,000 acres of land, 474,000 olive trees and i a socialist character in that exploitation was eliminated and for redistribution to distribution was based on the amount of work done. 6,000 draught animals became available land-poor peasant families. In July along with the nationalis- By the end of 1946 87% of industrial output wa s ation of the banks, new bank notes with five times the value contobutedlriHJi^tatesecioram^neJT^^^^ai^^sLMlS1 of the old were introduced and no family was allowed to acconn^^^||pTanrT^mTereT^72^|!i^^H^m^j)emn^ni exchange more old money than the equivalent of 100 units of the new currency. In August the law on the general c economic slate plan was adopted. The Planning Commission, l^flMmrT rroTTucUoTrTouhjbegeareT^ which had been set up the year before, was reorganised and regardless of profitability except in the widest sense of what work was begun on drafting the economic plan for 1947. N benefited the whole community. But Albania was economi- r As a result of the socialisation of the principal means ofl cally a very poor country and would remain so till small scale producUon™m2raem^m||^^^mj^ejjAlbani^i7^^^^n^aj| production and primitive farming were transformed by thetin^T7^r|^^^T^n|^e^pT^TorahAroun^^^m^f consTsteTTT^TirerTonnT'^soaalis^sman^nT^ToTmnoflitl increased industrialisation and further collectivisation. Only7 in this way could the contradiction between the advanced industry, mining, powe political power and the backward economy, the new socialist The socialist form included the linancial system relations of production and the low level of the forces of stations, transport and communications, wholesale trade, state retail trading production be resolved — a contradiction which was precisely foreign trade, internal state machine and tractor stations the opposite of that in the older industrialised countries enterprises, state farms, enabled the co-operatives to begin the mechanisation where highly developed forces of production were in conflict which production, forests, waters and subsoil re- kvith backward relations of production represented by reac- of agricultural form dominated the economy and accounted tionary state power. sources. This i* for 95% of all industrial production. • From a primitive agrarian country, probably the mos t 136 137 lay Tin ill 111 ill »*B^|li^j^K)duc Lion included the employ- enterprises. The artisan co-operatives were required to ment of poor aiidjniddlc peasants inj^iicLUtirrtnincj artisan s aside part of their profits for expansion and the remuneration ill handicralt production, all living on ike Income from their of members was put on a socialist basis. The buying and This form represented about 80% of the total selling co-operatives were charged not only with supplying volume of production. the countryside with industrial goods but also with accumu- Th e capitalist form included rich easants in the country - agricultural products for the regular supply of cities. p lating These measures did not solve all the problems of socialist employing hired Inhmift Jhev were nrimarilv rnnrrrnprl with growth by any means and, particularly, on questions like the the distribution of goods and though they accounted for only procurement of food grain much more experience would be 5% of the volume of production, they handled 80% of thg^ required in order to avoid the development of new contradic- retail trade. tions between town and countryside; but the basis had These three forms of economy corresponded to the three none the less been laid for a remarkably rapid advance out of soa'ar^Iasses"^ne"wo!na5g^IaiSE^5SSS^S^m!iS!S Albania’s old economic backwardness. Where before the war the majority of workshops employed s^^TOa^^c^^^Terms^f^lonommll^^wribu^Uie^werg fewer than 25 workers, by 1965 less than 1% of Albanian workers were employed in such small concerns; from 4V6% of percentage ^\> miluenceTmmj^^ the total income then represented by industry the a they had certain, initial advantages and, of course, they would had grown to over 55%; and this growth rate was assured by alw^s^Jiave^jf^J^ackJmr^ steady increase in means of production at a raLe of some 65-70% as against a 30-35% rise in consumer goods — which 49 ^ accumulation takes. f Rater, in January t'9 "vvfi en Ti ne w system ot procure- 7 is the form socialist c^ment and supply was introduced by the Central Committee The economic base was able to sustain increasingly large to strengthen and improve the economic relations between units of production like the big oil refineries, mechanised and town and countryside, the three kinds of markets established copper, chrome and iron-nickel mines, the great Stalin A reflected these three economic forms. The state-guaranteed Mao Tsetung textile mills, the Hammer and Sickle knitting market supplied goods at fixed prices to working people on mills, huge cement factories and chemical works for the the basis of ration cards; the barter market supplied peasants production of fertilisers, the tractor spare parts factory at with industrial commodities in exchange for their agricultural Tirana and gigantic hydro-power stations like the Karl Marx surpluses; and the free market served those in town and and Friedrich Engels plants in the north, and Joseph Stalin in country whose needs were not met by the other two markets the so utli and the new Vau i Dejes (Deja Ford) station on the because they were not supplied with ration cards or were not Drin River which produces over one billion Kw/II. engaged in co-operative agricultural production. Prices in the The rate of annual increase of industrial production has free market were much higher than in others and in this way been over 15%, reaching in 1967 a level 44 times that ol money accumulated by rich peasants and capitalist elements 1938, and in under 25 years the national income has grown would be gradually mopped up. * to more than five times its original size. r During 1947 state industrial enterprises were put on a Albania, the most backward country in Europe, has left self-supporting basis and were required to cover all the most European countries far behind in its rate of develop- expenses of production together with a surplus for accumu- ment. lation out of their revenues. The main form of budget income From a country which had to imp ort all sorts of in dustrial. was derived from taxation on the turn over of economic goods Albania now exports nine times jThT amount^dAfoods 138 139 r Average General Development Rate of Industry (1951-1966) The answer is the same as to the question of how it was Albania 15.0 possible to defeat a vastly superior invasion force — by Yugoslavia 9.9 mobilising the courage, energy and skills of the people who Greece 8.3 by relying on their own efforts were able, in the one case, to Italy 8.2 free their country, in the other, to develop and industrialise it. Bulgaria 1 3.6 <•* Thcjm^oj^yj^^^^^selhrehanc^ Rumania 13.2 men ted Marxisl_j)nnci])l^Tha^cnange^^^n3rougTit*!Xmi t / Britain 3.1 Soviet Union 10.6 (hrecti^T2^Eyiyijiiaiis^^SSiI3iS3^S2SISES(L‘( cffiTorT^o f ch anees . onl becorm^oneraHv^lj^pq^^^m it France- 5.6 [ y i^^^T^^^g^Cond^ulictonnes^within^^th^^^^^±e United States 4.7 ancHntcrTeaHaonsr^HTirotliertffl Increase in Industrial Production (1938 = 100%) 1950 1960 ^uTTmr^^^Touri^r^s^marras'Tfflrarn^ouTdmrr aim at setting up a wholly independent all Albania 435 2621 economy with branches Yugoslavia 170 444 of machine-making and heavy industry developed to the Greece 107 242 point where every possible need could be met. But self- 1 reliance does not mean i Italy 126 295 self-sufficicnc^Jlv^^^ Bulgaria 312 1236 ownerronsaridmaknU^IV^JUIesr^ the Albanian people create the condhions for trading Rumania 147 500 on the basjs^ofecjuahtv^jwj^h^^gjJj^^^ Britain 133 181 a Soviet Union 222 677 scicialis^^m^STT^ie^Tfono^aegfec^li^extemalScttir F ranee 120 214 buTtlTey^nowTITat what they produce at home is of United States 232 337 decisive importance while what they import is secondary. As Mehmet Shehu explains it: ‘Abiding by the principle of as before the. .war and 1 self-reliance does not mean that we should lock ourselves : products^Planning is doing awaT^rFfTTncTTfis^ inside our national hull and ignore advanced foreign experi- development of different regions. Hundreds of new industrial ence, nor should we ignore the international aid of friendly workshop's, factories, power stations and mines have been countries. On the contrary, we should make a correct appraisal established in economically backward areas and new towns of and grasp the positive experience of others and profit from have sprung up like Stalin, Bulqiza, Palos, Memaliaz, Cerrik, the international aid of our real friends for building socialism in Maliq and La$. The need for technicians and specialists has .’ our own country. . . been met by creating the institutions to train them and in This sel f- reliance, this mobilisati on of the en ergy, skills anil 1967 alone more than 1400 graduated from advanced technological centres — four times the number sent abroad s^a3^^jVstem^^^h~makcsit^ossibk^or even^one to for training in the whole 1 year period of Zogist rule. Bi i, - 5 c^^^[^^lmT)e?rTi^Tias"t^c»TTerto"^T?^^enemr goo^^f IIow has it been possible for such a tiny country, encircled pi l Allyani tui soae^T"7n TT?rTu^rT!o]Tgresrof "tTi^Panyoi by enemies, to resist all the pressures brought to bear by TlaEour™ in i'J'TS Driver Hoxha said: ‘The Albanian people imperialist countries, the betrayals of revisionist countries , who have heroically fought for the liberation of their country! and to achieve such a record of social and industrial progress? and for their democratic people’s power have thought it best! 140 that they should base their aspirations formarching forward, first and foremost, on their own inexhaustible forces. They are conscious that, however great their sacrifices may be, they are working for themselves and not for others. They are working for their Party and people’s power which will surely lead them on the road to well-being and socialism.’ Socialist e cqnjj nnc__pkum^ the same form of demo^^tK^enrniTjsm^Tjr^^masslmc^asTv^^TTn^n^jej^ Chapter Thirteen i l ol^!flTl>aman"lr^r hisb ascdcmthe^ Development of Agriculture ancT villages^ m iheir various mass oj-aan.^t.nnc thp dnTTmrecl !ves_^nid-JIiakc_jiicir rem arks_ajid_^Ii2££ilions. Before the war the backwardness of Albania was nowhere cjT^m^^^The^^cWha^die^^^etr^eln^hjghenou^l^mid more apparent than in the agricultural system, still based on feudal or semi-feudal relations of production with the of some exploitation of the peasantry by city- iunTqjTunTMUMmTustryTfmrriia^e^TrTanetno^Tff^wtT^ty addition process between slate planning committee and working capitalists. Landlords and wealthy proprietors Look half of to the people continues till the whole plan in all its details is finally the produce in high rents and the rest was subject agreed. The meetings of working collectives on the fourth further depredation of having to be exchanged at unfavour- Five Year plan, which ended in 1970 with greater increases able prices fixed by the merchants, i’he labouring peasantry than those proposed in every branch of the economy, was heavily in debt to usurers charging fantastically high involved 174,000 discussions in which 141,000 proposals interest rates. The land was tilled with primitive implements were put forward. The fact that state plans for economic and by inefficient methods and agricultural production was cultural development ‘bear the marks of the people’ guaran- abysmally low. Lees their being successfully put into effect. During the war the support of the poor peasants for the | liberation struggle was won by the promise of land reform as part of the revolutionary transformation of the country. In every liberated area the grain depots of the land owners were confiscated and rent and debts were cancelled. In the first days of independence the state collected grain to prevent speculation; the tithe system was abolished; all debts were il officially annulled and what rents remained were fixed at a low limit. The agrarian reform, carried out in only 14 months during 1945 and 1946, was the first revolution in Albania’s countryside. Any remaining feudal relations were abolished, land was distributed free of charge to the peasants who tilled it and the landlord class was liquidated. The liquidation of a class docs not mean, of course, the annihilation of the individuals making il up — any more than the liquidation of the class of reckless drivers by disqualification would mean 142 143 anything but putting an end to that form of anti-social behaviour. s ocialist transformation of the coimtQjsi^^^ ZZmL ^^^^^|in^Toui^rv\^^TTmgmentcdj)easan^conojjj^^e atjgj^o^^^^^mT^^^^22SS^3«iSS22nSj4iiifiii*£flr thejame^bemg^w^^ncld^^^ba^b^^^i^^sibaction^^r^yjie Collectivisation of agriculture provided the resolution of the contradiction between socialist industry, based on social ownership of the means of production, and a small-scale peasant economy based on private ownership of the means of production. As long as this contradiction remained, the two realms of production, industrial and agricultural, were bound to develop not only at different rates but even in different political directions. Socialist industry was being supplied with advanced technical equipment while small-scale peasant (topi Families celebrating International Workers' Day in Tirana. agriculture used the most primitive techniques; industry was centralised and brought under a state plan for co-ordinated development while the peasant economy could only develop ‘ goal against a (bottom! The Albanian football team, the Partisans' . scores a spontaneously; and on the political side the liquidation of the Swedish team in a match in the Qeitntl Sta/a Stadium. bourgeoisie in the cities was linked to the creation of a socialist base for industry while in the countryside private ownership on however restricted a scale could only go on generating capitalism day by day. If what amounted to two different economies were allowed to exist side by side, there could be no general socialist advance for the whole country, no ‘walking on two legs’ as the co-ordinated progress of industry and agriculture has been called, and inevitably there would be a drift back to capitalism which would gradually erode the socialist sector. TJii£,«£y£]j^ljctior^)etweeiTtow^ somuch deegerT^^jusT^^^^iveTomTorTs^^m^ffl^nr^ies. Albania!s_ second revolution in the ruraUtreas . Collectivisation ,l, was brought ab<>utT)y^mnsT! omnn^Tlie private property of small producers into socialist property through the voluntary *% : : 8 •r-S -team. Shunto during Albania's war of resistance. Vasil Students on the steps of Tirana Tniversity. Before the war over 80% of the Enver Hoxlia and Vasil Shanto in action in 1944. people of Albania were illiterate and it was the only country in Europe with no was killed university. co-operation ol’ peasant owners. They united their land, shared tools and farm animals, and distributed the produce according to the work days each had put in, thus securing the advantages of largcr-scale production without re-introducing exploitation in any form. With the creation of collective property the co-ordination of individual interests with collective interests and of collective interests with the interests of society as a whole became possible. The Party of Labour did not leave the formation of co-operatives to spontaneous development but carried out a campaign of political education among the peasants encouraging them to combine their individual holdings into socialist units. At the same time collectivisation of agriculture was not brought about by administrative liats but by the free choice of the working peasantry once they had become convinced of the superiority of the collective over individual plots. Optional participation in co-operatives has always been one of the basic principles of their organisation. Having provided political support for the collectivisation movement the socialist state offered practical economic assistance as well. Machine and tractor stations were estab- lished for the use of the bigger collectives; agrarian credits were granted on favourable terms and selected seeds, chemical fertilisers, improved stock and insecticides were provided. With the success of the first collectives voluntarily set up in 1946, co-operatives soon spread all over the country. But just as the first agrarian revolution of hmd reform had involved class struggle against landlords, so the second agrarian revolution of collectivisation involved class struggle against former rich peasants or kulaks who had hoped to acquire for themselves much of the redistributed land as the system of tiny private holdings proved uneconomic. In the course of this struggle against the kulaks, the poor and middle peasants changed their own class character from that of individual peasants to that of a co-operative peasantry. The socialist state helped the co-operative peasantry in their class conflict by isolating the kulaks politically and taxing them economically; but the state could only intervene usefully to the extent that the working masses themselves Mao Tsetimg and Enver Hoxha. The comradeship of two peoples is in the warm persona! greetings of these two socialist leaders. 145 were prepared to struggle. co-operatives covering 99% of the land surface and including There were set-backs when the kulaks, no longer a strong 98% of all peasant families. enough force to oppose the agrarian measures of the people’s Initially rfwmera lives were formed around each separal£ extent; but the state openly, exploited ideological weaknesses among the village and averaged from 250 to 500 acres in peasants and tried to incite them to resist procurement further cfeveIopmenr^r^ro3ucTive]?or^^ro[g^PgBTWB^ic ~ policies with which ,,- they themselves complied. They gave g p n I t racffm^t^jonsjgq^ currency to the idea that the new socialist system might be aiivcs, and good for city workers and employees but had little to offer rn- operatives average d 1250 acres, those in hillier regions 750 the working 1 /sOto peasants who were expected to assume an aTTtiH ana LTrrTP^rfWf) W-Apaa tivcs ranging from unequal burden in the general transformation of society as a 25Q0acn*s?^ smaller co-operatives whole. Since the revolution in the countryside had not yet tJa^macIe^ossible a better utilisation of the capital provided resulted in obvious material power advantages and since the local by the state and a better distribution of available man Party organisations did not always successfully counter these and mechanical implements. These larger co-operatives were attacks, some peasants, of land even some secretaries of the nascent also able to carry out more extensive projects co-operatives, fell into the trap set for them by the kulaks improvement and reclamation. During the third five-year plan and retreated in an opportunistic way from the application of (1961-1965) more than 140 reservoirs were built by co-oper- procurement ordinances. was extended to | atives. In the Dibra district alone irrigation IjlJin_ 02enJeUer^OjT^o 1^ Problems in the Counjrysi&Ll an additional 7500 acres and vast previously uncultivablc published in 7,eri i Poindlitm March. 1949. Enver Hoxha tracts were planted with fruit trees. which explain ed the necessity for Thfc- evidence for the s uccess ol the way in 'persjDectivcskjDjDenedu^ co^jerative^werc^sT^^STWI^Wrwiragfn^^fJwi^PW^H^^ il, relation to the whole socialist economy ol Albamal^fle ^3cii<>.rity__ofJioa^isen"^gnnrfnirr an^^^mTm^To^^nF pointed out thaTTTTT'mam^roElem was nontneprocurcmenl ordinances themselves, th drawals lromthe but the failure of Party organisations afivelv""- i s_lliai""flierc have been rn) wi in the countryside to establish the sort of links remained Iree with the rnIWtivr i he p easants treclv entered into and masses which would have prevented co-operanv^ all their being misled. to leave it they wIsReTETf^^ oi a l, r Following this criticism the Party committees shook l is handed over to the off land jsTpMlM "amT'aU" 1 a'TM i "fU'uP erty their defeatist attitude, purged themselves of any idea that Committee of Estimation, appointed by the General Meeting the answer to the country’s economic difficulties lay in assembly. The member which is the co-operative’s democratic obtaining foreign aid and supported the efforts at the in the deliber- centre whose property is being assessed takes part to build up larger reserves of industrial of the goods to be ations of the Committee and the agreed total value exchanged for agricultural — products. The Council of Ministers property — farm implements, dralt animals, wagons, seeds lor its part allocated special credits for the autumn sowing of is repaid in yearly installments. 1949 and reduced procurement quotas through a reclassifica- From the collective land each family is given a plot to tion of land. surrounding cultivate in addition to the ground immediately In the improved political climate the co-operative move- varies with their dwelling place. The size of the plot, which ment forged ahead. By 1950 there were 90 co-operatives, by in fertility the size of the family and with the difference 1955 there were 318 and by 1960 there were 1,482. At the between lowland and mountainous regions, is lixed by the end of 1967, following on the incorporation of smaller units General Meeting - as arc the numbers of cattle, sheep, goats into larger and more economic aggregates, there their were 1 ,208 and pigs which can be kept privately. Houses and 146 147 have been abolished by the voluntary action of furnishings, sheds and tools required for working the private distinctions the co-operative peasants now part ol the same enlarged plots do not become collective properly, though it has been community. customary for members of the co-operative, using collect- economic J larger the co-operative the more economic the ively-owned implements, to help each other on their personal The of machines and tractors. In 1938 there were only holdings thus extending the co-operative principle even to utilisation country. with more than these privately-owned allotments. 30 tractors in the whole Today, use in 30 machine and tractor Indeed pcialist relations 10,000 tractors available for fi of production have devekmed stations, there is one tractor for every 125 acres of tilled r i n the countryside thc^jrival^jjlothasdimin^ied m equipment for inT£££t£nce _Ratios_ between^incomes"Trom|Tr?^o|T land. These stations provide the mechanical : a ecny? of the ploughing, 80% of the sowing, 55% economy and from small individual holdings have altered carrying out 95% of the reaping and 85% of the threshing. From being able to perform only a limited number of operations, mainly in and tractor stations ejT^ ^h^tt]Tcmains^^^^|unm^^^]^^ connection with ploughing, the machine I n i 222 3SZ4 now carry out a wide variety of functions ranging from deep mechanised shearing. The co-operatives pay the future, is Uieir collective property, not their private nk>K~m,l ploughing to or tlie stations for their work either in farm produce money. MjTTar^n^Lill£2IBg-^£liY^-ifljgL-tll£IIL»^^ag with th is workers in the m ach ine ami eLpnomic developmern Tn^gone"T5eologic al educat ion in The _ ^ c ondition s o£_soc ialised labour are comparable^ to thosjof xAu^Tlct'r* in thnr rriai lonsnin with co-oncralive farmers interest. A s a result of this strengthening of class conscious- sjjctweer^^ ness among the working peasantry, underwritten by the develop ttuLXi^m^mhrlie material advantages of collective agriculture, members of the 1 abo urlng**peasan^XriH^^^nKli2|£l^itoiy^»!i»MiL^toil^ statiomar^mmdeoIogic^midor^anisaUonaHorceJ^he co-operatives have voluntarily reduced their individual plots T he Socialist direction to agrlculturc_bylhe and, in many cases, given them up altogether. co untryside, giving a stale All members enjoy the fullest democratic rights as belong- ing to the General Meeting which elects the executive methods and mostutTtcTdateJequipm^ committee and its chairman who are responsible for direction giving special eneral level ol co-operative .p roduction. hv and guidance in the co-operative’s day to day conduct of its g aUenuorT^mT^assTstance to those that are economically affairs. The General Meeting demands and receives regular accounts from its agents on the executive committee and can ' HPtcrtain of the larger combined co-operatives the state dismiss before the expiry of his term of office any person invests money and the return on these investments is allowed who has lost the confidence of the members of the stimulate further develop- co-operative. to remain in the co-operative to ment. Not only is this a step in the transition from Everyone is paid ac cordinctoT^ k done, co-operative property relations to the higher socialist stage ol but recently therTTiarTreeiTa^rowing tendencvHTHisses s state property relations but also those who administer the and co-operative are state t^^^^^uel^^ysfnrwjT^nuneratiorr^ettersawc^Tli^pirit funds in the interest of both state employees, like teachers, doctors and nurses, and thus ol team work and is more consistent with a socialist attitude increase the numbers within the co-operatives whose con- toward labour. When co-operatives have been combined into ditions of service are the same as workers in the towns. larger units, differences in the fertility of the various sections the increase of production there has been a consider- may have been reflected in differences in payments; but these With 148 149 able improvement in the welfare and richness of life of and Osterlitz and great flocks of improved breeds of sheep co-operative members. In place of the old sooty cottages new have been carefully built up. dwellings have sprung up everywhere and now more than half Not only is Albania very mountainous, only 40% of the ol the peasant families live in houses constructed since land surface being normally considered as cultivable at all, collectivisation. Albania is one of the few countries in the but much of the more fertile lowlands were swampy and coastal plain world where there is no dwelling, however remote, without undrained at the time of liberation and the electricity, the rural electrification scheme having been generally was subject to flood and drought. Large drainage lor increasing completed more than a year ahead of schedule. ‘The light of and irrigation projects were an urgent necessity Terbufi lagoons were socialism shines all over the republic - in ever)- one of agricultural production. The Maliqi and out around Albania’s 2,550 villages.’ The credits advanced to the drained and huge irrigation schemes were carried plains. More than co-operatives for the electrification of the countryside, some Korga, Fier, Lezha and other towns on the land been reclaimed and more 130 million leks, have been converted into free grants and 500.000 acres of new have acres put under irrigation, giving Albania one recently a full state pension scheme has been extended to all than 600,000 in Europe. agricultural co-operatives. Co-operative centres have assumed of the highest proportions of irrigated land include the drainage of the Kakariqi swamp the character of new, well-planned small towns, each with its Further schemes Dropulli plain in Lhe south while infirmaries, maternity homes, eight-grade schools, gymnasia, in the north and the flowing at heights above theatres, cultural centres and artisan shops. Fewer and fewer irrigation canals many miles long constructed in the mountainous regions. amenities to be found in the larger cities are absent from 6.000 feet are being as ‘unecon- these hubs of rural life. In socialist countries there is no such thing capitalist farmer could not Out ol land confiscated from foreign companies or omic’ land in the sense that a profit working it. Profitability is reclaimed by draining swamps have been created state farms make an immediate by in the long run to society as a which, like the tractor stations, are based on state-owned judged by what is beneficial slogan ‘Let us take to rather than co-operative-owned property. Agricultural whole. In 1966 the Party advanced the and them as bcautilul and workers on the state larms receive a regular cash wage like the hills and mountains make the along roads bench hands. These farms have more specialised functions fertile as the plains’. As one travels in summer sees people, mainly like cultivating new varieties of cereals, meeting the needs of cutting through the rugged uplands one high the steep slopes, terracing large cities and industrial centres for vegetables and fruits or young people, working up on and vineyards. And in the developing new strains of live stock. There are at present 32 the ground for planting orchards to snatch of these socially-advanced state farms which have become winter the peasants of the highlands work rock-strewn folds agricultural schools for experimenting with the latest tech- additional stretches of fertile land from the niques, training members of the co-operatives in new and and degraded forests. development, constantly improved methods of farming and breeding and acting as a The uneven pattern of capitalist vanguard in the drive for rural development. reproducing both inside and outside national boundaries the metropolis and Yields on the state farms are phenomenally high, 22 times basic imbalance of over-concentrated of the socialist more cereals and four times as much milk being produced deprived environs, is precisely the opposite contra- over a 15-year period and cotton and sugar beet production pattern of evening out differences and resolving more and less being increased by some 70%. Fig and citrus trees have been dictions between town and country, between of the 25th planted over wide areas of formerly uncullivable land and favoured regions. Speaking on the occasion made just this point. extensive olive groves cover the hills above Elbasan, Vlora anniversary of liberation, Enver Hoxha yields in the lowland areas, we do not and Berat. Large herds of selected breeds of cattle like Jersey ‘While fighting for high 150 151 transportation neglect the struggle for the rapid development of agriculture production and assumed responsibility lor the in the hilly and mountainous areas just as, attaching great of produce to the towns. check the importance to industrialisation, we by no means underrate In subsequent five-year plans the need to the needs of the countryside. We do not advance by the disproportionate rate of increase in industry and agriculture higher rate ol depopulation of villages but by their growth as the centres of has been taken into account by fixing a sector. For example in the a flourishing agriculture. Preserving the right proportions is development for the agricultural differentials essential to the cause of socialist construction. Allowing fourth five-year plan (1966-1970) the following down the distinc- discrepancies to develop is fraught with grave economic, were proposed and achieved in narrowing political and ideological consequences.’ tions between urban and rural conditions: In part the elimination of discrepancies is achieved by state increase support in the way of special drainage and irrigation funds Percentage Agriculture which were increased by six times in the fourth five-year plan In dustry (city) (village) ending in 1 970. Work is proceeding on 230 reservoirs, mainly 71-76 in the poorer regions. But the people themselves also Over-all production 50-54 contribute to the social process of making up for natural Average annual rate deficiencies. Not only have experienced farm workers gone of increase 8.7 11.5 up into the hills to share their expertise, but also the older State investment 40 68 20-25 co-operatives in the plains have made voluntary gifts of 5,250 Real income per capita 9-11 cattle, 30,700 sheep and 8,800 goats Lo the newer co-oper- New dwelling houses 5 11 atives formed in difficult circumstances. develop the 1 he problem of maintaining a correct relationship between As a result of intensive efforts to improve and agricultural and industrial advance as part of the planned rural economy, agricultural production has increased by four elimination of differences between town and country has times the pre-war level. Up to 1938 the main agricultural been a stubborn one requiring constant attention. During the revenues came from live stock, about 51% ol the total while fruit growing first five-year plan (1951-1955) it became obvious that the income compared with 43% from farming, backwardness of Albania’s agriculture had been under- and forestry together only accounted for 6%. Now 61%of the percentages estimated and the proposed increases in production were not rural income is provided by farm crops and the Before the war being realised. In 1953 the Central Committee took special of fruit-growing and I ores try have increased. The steps to deal with the situation. Some of the investment the only industrial crops were tobacco and cotton. increased, allocated to the industrial sector was switched to agriculture, production of these crops has been enormously obtaining arrears in the quotas of food grains and livestock products tobacco by nine times as much as in 1938, by fixed for the previous four years were written off and unpaid higher yields rather than by an extension of acreage. To them vallonia and taxes owed by co-operative members were cancelled. The have been added sugar beets, sunflowers, sage, uses. The discrepancy between the comparatively low prices of agri- many other crops having industrial or medicinal plant at La$ cultural products and the high prices of industrial goods was nitrate plant at. Fier and the superphosphate countries in adjusted and the movement was begun of shifting plants and have made Albania one of the most advanced workshops, particularly those engaged in processing farm Europe in the use of chemical fertilisers. for the products or making farm tools, into the countryside. The The state accumulation agencies are able to handle various buying and selling co-operatives established accumulating internal market or for export the greatest increases of points as near as possible to the centres of agricultural crops produced by the co-operatives, even when an unexpec- 152 153 various skills tedly large harvest is gathered as with the 1967 super- for training women from the co-operatives in back and play their abundance of olives. Grapes too, the production of which lias and professions, equipping them to go greatly increased every year, are entirely absorbed by part in raising the economic and cultural level ol life in the distribution throughout the country or conversion into wine. rural communities. in the great transformation Huge refrigeration plants have been constructed in all the Ultimately the decisive factor conscience major cities for the preservation of perishables like meat, of agriculture is man — the new man of a socialist Iloxha told the fruits and vegetables. In one year, from 1955 to 1957, and revolutionary spirit. ‘It is man,’ Enver makes a place agricultural production rose by 15% and in October, 1957, Fifth Congress of the Party in 1966, ‘who be transformed by the hands the rationing system was abolished altogether and there was a thrive and our mountains will general lowering of prices. and the creative minds of our people.’ creative productive role Cut the problem of differences between town and country It is in freeing man to play this have achieved such results and is not only economic. It is ideological as well. The struggle to that the Party and people the time of the eliminate this contradiction, therefore, takes the form of Enver Hoxha could say in all truth at of liberation: educating the peasantry in new socialist attitudes toward celebrations of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary the thatch-roofed huts private and collective interests, toward the relationship of the ‘All of us have still fresh in our minds Myzcqe, the hungry highlands individual to the state and society as a whole - attitudes and the oppressed peasants of the of our suffering and toiling which are directly connected with the increase in production of Puka and Dukagjin, whole the and marshes which made possible by these very socialist relations. Special efforts peasantry. We remember swamps to the Vurgu of have been made to eradicate the regressive customs and Hooded some of our best lands from Buna the past. Today all traditions, the religious prejudices and superstitions to which Delvina. But till that belongs to history, to is shining in the light of people in the countryside were the particular heirs. Along the new co-operative countryside victories achieved are closely with scientific methods of working the land has been taught a socialism. . . . The successes and scientific perspective generally and with recognition of the connected with the Party line for the correct solution of the practical necessity of the worker-peasant alliance has been peasant problem which is among the most important and the taught the world outlook of the proletariat. most complicated problems for every country embarking on Ideological attack is specially directed against customs, the road of socialist construction.’ prejudices and superstitions that harm the people’s health and their economy, that keep alive the old patriarchal relations of inequality in the family, that abuse the rights of women, lowering their dignity and obstructing their active participation in the economic, political and social life of the countryside. To help in this struggle of ideas and attitudes young people and workers go voluntarily into the country to live and work side by side with the peasants for considerable periods. There are exchanges of groups of people between upland and lowland regions, between districts of the north and the south — so that by the sharing of experiences and the spreading of new ideas the ideological education of the peasantry can be advanced and they will become progres- sively proletarianised. In the cities courses have been started 154 155 production took Britain to embark on the capitalist mode ol entrepreneurs to invest the form partly of saving by the early but, much more, of in the expansion of manufacturing to the extracting loot from the colonies which flowed back Chapter Fourteen mother country to be turned into capital. In so lar as thrift they were and self-denial entered into the amassing of capital Development Industry and the Relation between curtailment of reflected in the ideology of puritanism; but this Economic Base and Social Superstructure compound of present pleasures for future satisfactions at ol getting interest was rooted in a purely individualistic ethic The commitment of the Albanian capitalist people, once they had ahead and securing the personal power money in a liberated themselves, to the task of transforming their of colonial society gives. In so far as the gross exploitation country directly from an economically it was backward semi-feudal peoples provided the capital for industrialisation state into a socialist state, without the passing through phase reflected in an ideology of national and racial chauvinism. of advanced capitalist for industrialisation, posed as the most In a socialist country like Albania the accumulation immediate and urgent the post-war problem the rapid develop- investment in industrialisation came partly irom expro- ment of a socialist industry. capitalists priation of the bourgeoisie, landlords and loreign But the savings industrialisation is through and through a class issue but, much more, and on a continuing basis, from and the surpluses in decision to raise the whole industrial structure on a of the working people by way of the creation of proportion ol socialist foundation from which exploitation of one class by industrial and co-operative enterprises a large another has been absolutely excluded involves a number of which was devoted to investment in industrial expansion of con- social corollaries about the ways in which capital is rather than to simply increasing the production accumulated, the kinds of incentive offered to workers and sumers’ goods. In the last five year period, lot example, even the international context in which industrialisation 28.2% of the national income was set aside for investment, used for Lakes place. First and foremost of course, is involved the primarily in means of production, and 71.8% was political collec- question of how it can be assured that the social and personal consumption. But this saving was beneficiaries of putting the of industrialisation are and will remain the great tive, corresponding to the socialist morality mass of yet to the working people who by their creative skill and interests of society as a whole and even of generations labour make industrial development possible. It can only be come above immediate individual interests. assured if state power is firmly in the hands of the working Even more important in the development ol capitalism people. Between societies based on exploitation, like feudal- exploitable than primitive accumulation is the creation ol an ism or capitalism, and fully free sell communist society in which there labour force workers who, in Marx’s words, are to are no classes at all there is a period of revolutionary anything else to their labour power and have been ‘ireed’ of transformation of the former into the latter. Marx in the driven off the dispose of. People in Britain, for example, were Critique of the Gotha Programme had laid the ol tools of down land by Enclosure Acts, artisans were deprived the necessary political character of the transitory period of was formed their trade and an industrial army of ‘hands’ socialism. ‘The state of this period cannot be other than the which had no alternative to their recruitment into factories revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat’; and this was producing goods and mills on terms fixed by the owners, the nature of the Albanian state created by the Party and themselves and which, above the value necessary to sustain people on winning independence. entirely to reproduce a new generation of workers, belonged The primitive accumulation which enabled countries like remained the the owner. The only incentive for working 156 157 of the development of industry in Albania material one of work or starve and the cash nexus became the The stages the two year plan (1949-1950) which laid the dominant lorm of human relationships generally—reflected in began with the rapid economic advance realised in the social phenomenon of alienation or commodity fetishism. foundation for year planning periods, the fourth of these Socialist Albania was faced with the same problem of successive five 1970 with planned increases in all finding workers to man the new industrial enterprises having been completed in fulfilled or overfulfilled. required for economic growth — and in a country where the sectors either the year plan large projects were begun like the bulk of the labour force had been employed in agriculture During two Hydro-power plant to meet the industrial and domestic and where there were no trained technicians nor specialists to Lenin district, the Stalin Textile Mills and the speak of. Not only was force or pressure ruled out by the needs of the Tirana investment in this period very nature ot the people’s political power so firmly Maliq Sugar Refinery. Of the total of industry with 20% established, but even dependence on material incentives 47% was devoted to the development could only result in grosser inequality than was compatible going to the improvement and expansion of mining Albania’s industrial output had with socialist relations of production, leading eventually to rich sub-soil resources. By 1950 general the formation of a new privileged class mid the creation of a been raised to over four times the output in 1988. social climate of competitive individualism favourable to the With the first five year plan (1952-1955) the development restoration ol capitalism. People could only be drawn to the of industry gathered such momentum that by the end of the great tasks of socialist industrialisation by their conviction period Albania had been transformed from a backward that its benefits would accrue to them and their children as agricultural into an agrarian industrial country. The Lenin collective owners ol' the means of production and not find power plant and Stalin textile mills were completed on realised — their way, as profits, into the pockets of individuals. The schedule and many new industrial projects were factory main incentive for the exertion of their energy and the the wood working mills at Elbasan, the cement at the Shkodra application of their skills was socialist emulation. The state Vlora, cotton gins at Fier and Rogozhina, for its part legislated for the well-being of workers and tobacco fermentation plant and woollen textile and furniture tapped a relatively new source of creative labour by factories in Tirana. About 150 new state enterprises in till establishing the necessary conditions for women to play an were commissioned and completed and the mining and equal part with men in the work of factories and mills. The petroleum industries were further developed. Overall indus- educational institutions required for training specialists in trial output rose to over 11 times that of 1938 and what it various branches of industry were set up so that Albania had taken Albania an entire year to produce before the war would not be dependent on foreign experts. was turned out in 35 days in 1955. The determination to defend and develop socialism not During the second five year plan (1956-1960) the average only meant that no assistance could be expected from annual rate of increase of industrial production rose to the capitalist countries but even that Albania’s economy would phenomenally high figure of 20%. The Karl Marx hydro- have to be expanded and strengthened under the conditions electric plant was constructed on the Mati River, an oil \4ora, Elbasan, ol a virtual blockade with immediate neighbours like Yugo- refinery was built at Cerrik, canneries at porcelain slavia and Greece, both now part of the capitalist world, Korqa and Shkodra, glass and velvet factories, a at Tirana, brick helping to tighten the ring. Only from other socialist plant and a food processing combine plant at countries, mainly, in the early stages of industrialisation, the factories at many places, a copper enrichment Soviet Union, and, afterwards, the People’s Republic of Kurbncsh and a whole network of high tension power lines whole was 25 China, could Albania hope to receive or risk accepting credits were all completed. Industrial production as a and technical assistance. times that of 1938 and it took only 15 days in 1960 to equal 158 159 llie total production of 1938. Socialist relations of produc- larger plant higher up the Drin river. There was a great tion were so firmly established that 99% of industrial output, upsurge in housing construction on the basis of voluntary 100% of wholesale trade and 90% of retail trade, were all in contributions of labour by the people and the supply of the socialist sector of the economy. materials by the state, over 20,000 new houses out of the In the third five year plan (1961-1965) the greater 73,000 completed within the five years being built in this way. emphasis on creating means of production was reflected in a Even before the end of the period, in 1968, industrial output single number of major projects like the construction of the Engels was already 52 times that of 1938 and by 1970 a and Stalin hydro-electric plants, the K lb as an iron smelting week’s output was equal to 1938’s total production. The plant and the copper smelting plant at Gjegjan, the copper national income as a whole and per capita had risen to 806% wire factory at Shkodra, the Tirana tractor spare parts and 392% respectively compared with pre-war and were 55% factory, three paper mills, new mines and the first large and 17% higher than 1965. chemical plants for producing fertilisers in all 430 new Albania is fortunate in its mineral wealth — petroleum, gas, works instead of the 400 planned for. In spile of the fact that chrome, iron, nickel, copper, coal, bauxite and bitumen to that first it was during this period that Khrushchev not only broke off mention only the most important. It was this unilaterally all economic agreements between the Soviet attracted the interest of foreign countries and geological Union and Albania, but also, in effect, joined the imperialist surveys of a superficial nature were carried out by their countries in their economic blockade, industrial production experts to discover how accessible was this subsoil wealth for rose to 35 times that of 1938 with 11 days sufficing to turn exploitation. During the pre-war period monopoly-capitalists out the goods which had then required a whole year to took advantage of the ‘open door’ policy of the Zogist regime produce. Industry represented 57% of total output as to exploit Lhese riches; but since the extraction industries set opposed to 8% in 1938. National income as a whole was up were for no other purpose than to make profits for 536% as compared with 1938 and per capita income 300%. foreign investors they did nothing to create a base for heavy The fourth five year plan (1966-1970) took its character industry in Albania itself. from Enver Hoxha’s political report to the Fifth Congress of All these enterprises were nationalised by the people’s begun on a the Albanian Party of Labour on November 1, 1966, in government in 1944 and work was gradually which he outlined the main tasks of the plan, spoke of the thoroughgoing survey of mineral reserves, establishing the need for improving the work of the Party, strengthening its presence of oil in lime beds and bringing in seven new fields ties with the masses and rooting out bureaucratic methods in addition to those already operating near l’atos and Stalin and urged the deepening of the ideological and cultural City, discovering big deposits of iron ore containing nickel in revolution so that the social superstructure would conform to the Pogradey-Elbasan zone, vast reserves of coal in central and defend the socialist economic base — particularly guard- Albania, copper in the north and developing Bulqiza into one ing against that ‘off shoot and ally of bourgeois ideology — of the richest sources of chrome in the world. Over a million revisionism’. Among the industrial enterprises set up in this and a quarter tons of crude oil have been extracted by period were sheet metal plants, nitrate and phosphate drilling equipment made in Albania and there are five times fertiliser plants, cement factories, a new caustic soda plant, a as many mines as before the war. glass factory at Kavaja, a plastics plant at Durres and the Along with this exploration of new sources of mineral huge, fully-automated Mao Tsetung textile mills near Berat. wealth has gone the development of processing operations The great hydro-electric plant at Van i Dcjcs was opened inside the country. There are refineries for producing petrol, ahead of schedule at the time of the Sixth Congress in benzine, kerosene and coke at Ccrrik and Stalin City, and November, 1971, and work has already begun on an ever others have recently been constructed. The bulk oi mined 160 161 H i * * 1 — i r 1/5 3 C copper is processed in Albania, providing copper wire and various by-products for export. The erection of a metal rolling plant at Elbasan, numerous smelting plants, a foundry i Cl for ferrochrorne and a steel producing capacity of a million in CO cq CO in production expanding industry. prices: o oo in P'- O) m m 05 CM in in By 1968 the supply of electric power was already 80 times r-H A t-H r— <— r-H A d A A o A A that available in 1938 thus well on the way to realising CO CM o in 00 CO r-~ CO CO — 1970 CO Lenin’s slogan that socialism is people’s power plus electrifi- cation. To the hydro-electric power plants near Tirana and on industrial of lO 00 iq 03 C5 CM 1938, rural areas by 1971 a project requiring 5,000 miles of cables, , increase 1,600 transformer stations and 160 sub-stations. This exten- o r-H r- CO in o 05 in m r— m y; sion of electric power to 1,800 villages in every part of the 05 c4 A d A A A with A — A d ^ A rH r •i country however remote, was an advance of 14 years on the original plan of completing rural electrification by 1985 and, percentage in fact, was completed in October, 1970, a year ahead of the 00 compared CO date fixed by the final plan. 05 — —H »“H t-H r-H — T-H -• - ' — Before the war there were only a few primitive repair shops for motor cars. there are over machine shops the as Now 200 supplying 70% of the country’s needs for spare parts. This 1969 O branch of industry, 95 times larger than in 1938, is capable r— shows G 0 a>—* , „ of servicing and repairing all types of machines in use. Special to H m U wi attention is given to the production of agricultural H 05 table up r-H — 33 T3 machinery centrifugal pumps, sprinkling equipment, grain O J3 u -H threshers, corn shellers, ploughs, harrows, sorting, binding a >> C/5 a. paper Oh on HJ 3 and sowing machines. Also supplied in adequate quantities industry VD 73 £ £ 5h 0 C H> V 33 V >•. >> SI o 22 CJ 1-1 Sh are conveyors, band saws and circular saws, diesel motors, 4-> u "O +J following £ H a 33 -3 c3 'Si 'Si IS, cutting machines of 3 o -£ c 3 3 electric motors, transformers, metal and C £ a o- £ Oh £ a -c 3 73 33 33 162 163 at all, is the youngest branch ol Albanian industry. New completed on this basis. In Tirana alone, mass voluntary enterprises have been started producing pharmaceutical work on housing is responsible for the building of 800 goods, plastic articles and cosmetics; and the development of apartments a year over and above normal planned construc- other industries like glass, textile and oil has depended on the tion. The population of Albania is growing so rapidly that creation of a heavy chemical industry. Three great chemical housing remains a problem but at present rates of construc- works, the nitrate fertiliser plant at Fier, the superphosphate tion the problem will no longer exist in another three or four plant at La<; and the caustic soda plant at Vlora, are all in full years. Dwellings which are state property rent at about 3% of production and by-products like nitric acid, sulphuric acid the average income and are allocated by the popularly-elected and oxygen have made Albania self-sufficient in a whole People’s Councils according to the number of persons in a range of industrial chemicals which formerly had to be family. Those who own their own homes can lease them as imported. In one year, 1968, the output of the chemical long as the rent does not exceed the state norm. After the industry increased by 50 times. earthquake in 1967 which caused considerable damage in the Food processing has developed tremendously from the few eastern part of the country, 6,048 houses and buildings were olive oil presses, flour mills and cigarette factories existing rebuilt or repaired in 29 days. before the war. The total output of food processing plants in TTnjil-r thr system in which laro r *nlr wsn- 1938 is achieved in nine days now — an increase of 37 times duc^on j^Delh j^mnJMrj^ <>i iB as much as then. Sugar mills, fruit, vegetable, meat and fish Albaim^vhjJ^^eatim^Ji^ canneries, wine and soft drink distilleries and processing y^^^^trT^^^^m^^o^o^era^es^thu^ plants for children’s food are to be found in every district. preserviiij^ancL_dcyclojH>ping traditional sTulls and techniques . The Ali Kemendi combine in Tirana has gained an inter- ^blew workshops have been built' and caiuTpmenTTmppne^U) national reputation for the quality of its exports of tinned raise 15 fold the 1938 manufacture of such articles as glass and preserved foods and cigarettes are exported from the ware, wickerwork, carpets, embroidery, jewelry, pottery, factories at Gjirokastra, Shkodra, Elbasan and Durres. briar pipes, fur garments, copper ware and silver filigree Textiles in the last 30 years have increased by 65 times per work. Examples of the fine workmanship which goes into capita even though the population has doubled in that these goods could be seen at the Olympia Handicrafts Fair in period, and from having to import textiles Albania now London in 1970 where for the first time Albania exhibited its exports them to a number of European countries. characteristic arts and crafts in Britain. The handicraft After the war there was an enormous building programme co-operatives also operate repair services in both town and to restore houses, bridges, roads, ports and mines which had country so that workers and their families can keep their been damaged or destroyed and to construct new factories, possessions in working order and get full value from their cultural centres and public buildings. At the rate of construc- purchases. This repair service now makes up 40% of the work tion in 1938 it would have taken over five centuries to equal of these co-operatives. - the buildings completed in the first two decades of socialist Industrial enterprises in Albania are the property of the construction. Guided by the slogan ‘build faster, cheaper and people and are run by the class enjoying state power, the better’ construction workers, during the first five years after workers themselves who, indeed, through their represent- the war, rebuilt some 62,000 demolished houses and com- atives in the Government manage the country’s entire pleted 1,100 new apartment blocks. More than 75,000 new economy. But is this merely an ideal or do the workers houses were built in rural areas from 1951 to 1965. The state actually exercise control in the places where they are provides long term credits at no interest to enable workers to employed? build their own houses and 30,000 new dwellings have been The managers of enterprises are appointed by the appro- 164 165 work and promoting those on the factory floor to positions of leade branch, the trade union and the various workers’ colle to deepen the cultural revo in that particular concern. Manager, Parly and trade union ic enterprise m compliance witMjjWB wi i Kjjg2jUU2HElifllcipatc mam collectives control the activity ol the nature. bining cent raliscd_Jeadershi2__with_^he_jmpci^^ e managers through regular meetings of a supervisory Those in managerial posts can be called to account for fail jTFtese managers are the sons and daughters of workers and shortcomings or mistakes and, if they persist in them and peasants, many of whom fought in the anti-fascist war. A to show signs of improvement, they are dismissed. number of workers who have distinguished themselves on the Reference has already been made to the ‘flctc rrulc’ or bulletin boards displayed proa production line have been promoted to managerial posts. r ri i irism and self-criticism i" pl^/e nt vy worker^ mdiy- Others, also the sons and daughters of workers and peasants, mincntly yyf™ pr.k on wh ich other or have been trained in higher institutes of technology where flually or c ollectiwlv^arc free to criticise each ot managers to political education in the revolutionary line of the Party has Question "^nv aspegf p| nhPlrireineni-Tailure lues played an important part in fitting them for the respon- (Teal adequately with charges against them may and administrator ol the sibilities of management. Managers arc not the owners o f resulted in loss ol post. When the factories, nor_do they have anv claim on nrntm -wHrh Lushnja industrial complex tried to side step an accounting f|-|y referred to the th 1 erpr.isx^_r«»:iT i > demanded by the workers, the matter was f taken. The manager in tot o the ssameame class_andclass and theirtheir minterests,tere.ytSjjhcMj^rthej^^the further development Party and immediate action was f orestry Establishment r, w charge of planning at. the Elbasan jj p replied to criticisms by forest workers in the Biza division by down the division altogether and this workersand_rT^ari£yg^r£^J^grc^^i^^Jj>pciV^discussiOTT__op ~tTie threatening to close conduct was dealt with summarily. Numerous examples 16G 167 responded to the urgency of replacing monetary with In the huge Mao Tsetung textile combine at Berat the socialist incentives by giving up of their own free will many manager receives 1100 leks a month and the lowest paid supplementary payments above their standard income. workers start at 550. Skilled technicians receive about 750. This playing down of material incentives has narrowed the At the caustic soda factory in Vlora the chief engineer gets light from 500 gap between_cadres and the working masses7 cnecKed Tflb 900 leks, the director 1000, those doing work l t emdencv_Jin!^anLQlJicialdon^ancni?or7rt?mnT"T?)rT7ro3ncnnn to 550 and average workers between 700 and 750. The manager of the copper wire factory in Shkodra gets only 880 work and greatly reduced the temntationto seek personal leks per month because it is fully-automated and compara- deg^enemtion^^the^k^^^^TAt the same time the role of tively easy to run, while the workers, 60% of whom are moral incentives^^ociaiist emulation, has assumed growing women and young girls, make about 600 leks. All women, importance as the major motivation in the working masses’ who have been drawn into industry in ever increasing conscious mobilisation for the advancement of production. numbers, have always received equal pay for equal work. At In doing away with anomalies in pay and reducing the tractor spare parts factory in Tirana workers get on the differentials there has been no intention of imposing a flat average 600 leks a month, the chief engineer 900 and model mechanical equalisation, ignoring the relation between simple workers may make as much as 1000. Workers, invariably jobs and those involving managerial responsibility, between men, engaged in particularly hard or hazardous work like unqualified and qualified work or between onerous and mining, heavy loading and unloading, dyeing where lead lighter tasks. The nrinr inle for s ocialist remuneration is ‘from paints are used, diving or glass smelting, receive more pay, each according in his abilit y and to cach_accQ£dmg to tTTe often exceeding the salaries of directors; but there is a work he_docs’. Not till the period of transition is complete continuous movement by the use of new techniques and and society has moved into the staGjcotiuil c ommunism does equipment toward eliminating the heavier and more thejyailiikl^JxxomeTromc^ hazardous jobs. tq_£ach_accor^jng_to his ncccfs*TBut in the transiTional period To compare these payments in industry with those to differential inn must nnt on such a scale as to introduce writers and intellectuals: teachers, depending on qualifi- divisions within the ranks of the workmg^clags anci it should cations, start at about 550 leks per month, rising at the end djminish|^^^^^^^ar^^^^^^^Teco^^23Sfi££' of five years to 700 and after 20 years to 750. They receive rural Because the system of payment is a just reflection of an additional 20 leks per month if they take posts in socialist principles, workers, specialists and managers all areas. Full time writers in the Writers Union are paid about know each other’s rates of pay and talk quite freely about 800 leks. them to anyone interested in how the system works. Some Thus the whole range of payments throughout industry comparative figures in leks per month, the standard unit of and, indeed, in all other sectors of the economy, fall roughly Albanian currency, will show the measure of present differen- within limits of from 500 to 1100 leks a month, or a tials. At the current rate of exchange a pound sterling is maximum differentiation of about two to one. As well as by worth about 12 leks; but while the following figures are pay increases, mainly for the lower and middle ranks of useful for comparing rates of pay in Albania, they provide no workers, the standard of living of workers generally is also basis for comparing the standard of living of workers in improved by price reductions, particularly of necessities, and services like Albania and Britain. This is because all essentials like food, by larger allocations of funds for free social housing and clothes arc so very much cheaper in Albania kindergartens, creches, schools and public health. There have over the range of while certain luxury goods tend to be much higher if, indeed, been 12 major reductions in prices whole they are available at all. goods, quite apart from random decreases in prices of specific 168 169 commodities, and the reduction announced for the year 1969 drop in pay, and for those engaged in particularly heavy work alone resulted in a profit to the people of million leks. 170 In the hours may be further reduced while they are still paid the the ten year period from 1950 to 1960 expenditure on health same as for a full eight hour day. Similarly teenagers, mothers and sanitation increased five fold. in the early stages of pregnancy or for a period after The right t o is work the m ost important social and returning to work following on child birth and workers econom i c__2rerogattt£MgL£y£lY..Albanian vvofker. before di e pursuing courses of training all work up to two hours a day war, even with a labour force larger no thmTtfTTmjmljer by less at the full rate. Extra work may be done in times of which the present labour force increases every' two years, emergency or to meet special production needs, but entirely unemployment was sometimes as high as 50%. J^t_wj^i. at the discrimination of workers and excluding those who labour power no longer a commodity to be hired and fired might harm themselves by their zeal. s olel^jn_tnejnterest_£l_jn!£li!:s ftj71nwnnpToym^cTass7wT7r Workers are entitled to not less than 36 hours off each n'0 ^rjse^^)^ awrj)TOduc^on^mc^jnstcaa O^^Tecconoir^ including Sundays, and there arc a number of ii week, usually | BB1 chaos oi capjt^stanamlTv^s^adv d.evelo s t r v Day, Republic Day, May isirt p ^^ annual holidays like Independence according to jjlaiLS.ihrmuIated in the interests of the working Day and Liberation Day. The yearly vacation is 12 full ssrs themselves there mg ran he no nncmnlovmenl . Indeed working days but 24 days for those in their teens, and there is a continuing labour shortage and those released from supplementary leave of from 6 to 36 days is granted to those a particular branch of industry by rising productivity or the performing heavier tasks. From 10 to 30 days arc granted to adoption ot modern techniques are quickly absorbed by new workers taking night or correspondence courses to prepare 5 projects. ‘Hushed up agrarian unemployment has dis- for their examinations and women workers have 1 5 weeks off appeared with the collectivisation of agriculture, and the over the period of child birth. Rest homes at the best resorts forced migration of farmers and workers to other countries in on the coast or in the mountains are run by the trade unions search of jobs is a bitter memory of the past. The complete for workers and their families at only 22% of the cost of emancipation of women is part of the abolition of unemploy- maintenance. ment and they now make up 42% of the labour force. The medical service, including sanatoria, health resorts and Just as every citizen is entitled to be elected to any post in recuperation centres, is entirely free. Pensions begin at 50 for the state so also every citizen has the right to take a job in those in heavy work, at 55 for those in less onerous jobs and any enterprise. At the same time the administrators of at 60 for those doing lighter tasks, women in each category enterprises, in consultation with the workers’ collectives, can retiring five years earlier. The size of pensions is based on transfer workers from one job to another as the needs of seniority and special or meritorious service but averages 70% production demand. JbltimatefvjTe^ of the final year’s pay. Incapacitated workers receive from or dismis^iniLixom a job is leftto th e workers themselves sa: 75% to 95% of their last month’s salary. Family pensions without_thc consent of their collective, management can take cover cases where the wage-earner dies and are based on the .vn nn-aiiinn are strictly defined cases when the admini- needs of the family deprived of support. All these social g ™ ; stration cqn Jj ssal and in such cases a suitable charges are met out of funds contributed by industrial for loh t htLAmikpimust be found elsewhere. enterprises and drawn from the state budget. Workers and No one under the age ol id can take a jot and those under employees pay nothing at all. Indeed, from 1970, they have 18 are forbidden to engage in the more arduous kinds of been relieved of paying any taxes whatsoever. work. Heavier work is also forbidden to women if it could be Safety at work is jjxjycrncd by the_JEabqur__C^ injurious to their health. The working clay is fixed at eight decisions and regulati ons agreed by the worker collective s l hours, but those on night work do only seven hours with no and staT?^r^^s^_Fa£to^lnspecTora17s^san?tary^n(^sec^^T^ , 170 17) 1 the posting of criticisms and commissions and working class control teams help to rais e bulletin board which serves for those the standards of h ealth and hygiene. self-criticisms there is a space reserved for commending contributions to raising JLlie lest of all these measures for the well-being of the workers who have made special themselves most helpful to others on (working class is the revolutionary impetus of socialist production or proved heroes heroines of socialist construction. By 19G8 the industrial targets set for 1970 had the production line. There arc and general above personal already been reached and this, in the main, has been the story work, outstanding examples of placing during the of each of the successive five year plans. interest — as there were heroes and heroines In these achievements on Albania’s industrial front, as in anti-fascist war. a partisan and after the war he the cieveiopmeni o i agriculture, ine decisive role has been Adem Reka had been worked so well in the docks at Durres that he was made a the tempest of sitterations navcjconsjstenTT^Tc^^{yenj3rior{tx_oycr_ea2P -- section leader. He was off duty when hearing that a huge omic^_| ust as in Ihc liberation war itTTasdcmonst.raied that November, 1966, hit the seaport; but adrift he rushed to the men are more important than weapons, so in the struggle for floating crane was in danger of going when a socialist construction men are more important than dockside and was helping to secure the moorings machines. Technique, no matter how advanced, remains a snapped cable killed him. danger dead letter without the working masses, imbued with a high Ilysni Ilajasllari a master oil driller who has faced to has on several political sense of duty, to set technique in motion toward so often that it is second nature him, control. social goals collectively fixed. It has been the task of the occasions risked his life to seal off wells out of both legs Albanian Party of Labour to raise the political consciousness Nuredin Iloxha a chemical worker in Elbasan lost on the artificial of the working class and support its leadership in the social in an accident; but once he was able to walk card and economic life of the country, exposing reactionary legs provided him, he handed over his pension and he has devised theories which make a fetish of technocracy and exalt rejoined his fellow-workers at the plant where experts regardless of their political attitudes. This task finds a number of useful innovations in methods of work. in the cloth fabricating depart- expression in the Party slogan: ‘Man is th e most precious Myzejen Golloberda works capital. Concern for ment of the Hammer and Sickle knit-wear works in Korea. man must be flic MUM hi flU fr "’ 1 """ * " -1 helped her section surpass the flUm.!"" Her qualities of leadership have Socialism is tire creation of the labouring masses. Awaken- planned output for 1970. started working at the ing their revolutionary vigour, not in temporary outbursts but Although they have only recently Kaldani and Esma in a sustained forward movement, has been the key to Mao Tsetung textile mills, two girls, Naxije conscien- Albania’s industrial progress. The incentives of their creative Vodica, have already distinguished themselves as activity saiimLlimn the nature of their social and iWmomic tious workers. Enver mechanical plant who system, from .socialist relations ot prodiictiop w hich open up Lee Kerkaj is a turner in the started work there when the plant opened and has grown up HL£Sfk£lXJI£^L-XktaMorinitiativc and endcavo u rJjTiociaHsr rational- society with it, making many proposals for innovations and fluty isations. in an^l sense1 of toward work which Is llie source m i i Tfnfir mtAi rWitf oHJl Two women tractor drivers at the Korea tractor station, workers and w,>||-|^;» ^ Fatbardha Cuka and Liliana Kola, arc tireless [T inr| amHrecomes a matter for hommr inseparable friends. and Among those singled out for commendation at the Party’s Dila Cuni, a In every factory and industrial enterprise on the same Sixth Congress in November, 1971, were 172 173 co-operative brigade leader in Lezha district p^ofthrmass line: 1cnrmnir_ from the masses in who helped qp the h bring in a record maize harvest, the tractor driver, Shyqyri m-der to hrahle to Ihrm.’ Readers cut oil trom tllk Kanapari, who with the same tractor has ploughed more than people are like, in Stalin’s phrase, ‘Antaeus lifted away from 70,000 acres, a leading woman worker in the Kor^a knit- the earth.’ intellectuals, emerging goods combine, Arterie Shahinllari, and the drivers Nikoli There is a need for specialists, for eioseiy bouiuTTP Cuni and Mchmet Delvina. from the ranks of the working class but Alia, isecrelary io the Central Albanian youth are following the same traditions of t hem in socialist sp irit. Ramiz devoted service in the cause of industrial development. Committee, reporting to the Sixth Plenary Session of the Shkurtc Pal Vata, a young girl from the northern highlands, Party on ‘deepening socialist revolution through developing the was killed while working on the Rogozhima-Fier railway, the class struggle and carrying out the mass line’ put ihrir ^idrnrv to built entirely, like all the railways in Albania, by young problem in these words: ‘RmillT ion people. Not only has she become an inspiration to her own divorce menial fr om man ual labour, because of their posit generation, but her father, when he heard of her death, took and the role they play in leading and organising work ami o f liHvhectuals afejfus^^^nT^ his daughter’s place at the construction site so that ‘the front life IhdivuTuaHiaiure o i iTHTTlbk, of socialist construction would not be broken for a moment.’ There is no substitute for direct mass_involvement in They^nTTncTineci lo tie tacit themselves from the masses, to socialist construction. Just as revolution canno t.'be ~cxported7 over-rate t e imposed Irom abTwe^HTTm^nroTTTo'nTeTiarrTT^fie pootism self-conceit- to consider that t working and i ~£ill irectimr and leadrn y 'ore our Part crealed in suite nt nor merely in the name of the odypg important arena ol the c y peogle^ Every form of knowing what is best for the people organisations slrould 'Intensity their work with intellectuals ’ ' 'r pfrghL in "Mtich and acting without their full participation will always turn and stuclenls."Tn'aWllliy luuuf rr^i ui r^re out to be a means of exploiting them and of reintroducing class divisions. Socialism is, quite simply, about people and <>nr intellectuals study Atar xis rp - E e nm is in, aim their collective well-being — people irrespective of race, national boundaries or cultural background, people organised thattheyma^Jx^emjxax^ l li l hey co-operatively and armed with the political consciousness to \vTt^T^orTcer^ari^^^c^x^JL^T^a iTTT nTat" m^^f^r^oT1"roo qolom prevent any insidious restoration of capitalism. Only the s hould take firm hold ol pickakc and »U'R.. working masses have the collective understanding to know ^AlbamaTaTtalo^rr^reatstTrcn?^along the road of socialist what is ultimately best for them. Only the working masses construction, but no one there claims that all social questions have the collective experience to exploit nature in a way that have been finally and irreversibly decided in favour ol 1 enriches their own lives and the lives of those to come. Only i i _ i the working masses have the collective morality to build a icople’s consciousness during the centuries-old existence new society from which all forms of oppression, discrimi- E ^-mtinnincr need to struggle^ )f private property and ‘}iff-y nation, individually selfish or narrowly class-interested ainst the alien eois individualism actions have been eliminated. row ack to the capitalist moralit* That is not to question the need for leadership. Socialism does not__£_volve sj ion n couslv.^^ 1 leadershi compentivc m p must e Heeling a ^^^jbe^ub^^TTo||t^^^|or^netTierTrjdentifies]T^dr rinrawM wiiBi comjuetel^wm} the interest oT die masses, proceeding always the inch vi clu 174 175 x r 1 there is no rej/olution^^ I olitics in command and devoJiiig_tinmal_aattti tin lU < n I hr habits to briiigLnem"7rUoe()nforniiLy withTTie^Tocialist e ducation and tempering of the , new man are of primy 1 economic nasc, men sooner or later Inal base nselt will "be i mportance.’ eroded ana. .me old e fb[Ulfiycj^o^^ H Tf ^TrmTI^xlucation, as Ramiz Alia had pointed out on a | bOTalCI£. the ideological superstructure is not also socialised, it will previous occasion, it must be shown that ‘to give priority to corrupt the leadership, deflect the Party from its vanguard personal interests means to give priority to the individual not role and so weaken the dictatorship of the proletariat that to the collective, to partial not to basic interests, to the state power can be wrested from the working masses. interests of the moment not to those of the future, to Revisionis m is the cancerous growth within Marxism of material not to moral stimuli, to national egotism not to bourgeois are objective tendencies, Its essence 11 i uunlv UlMamcSl proletarian internationalism . . . Self interests interests, entirely legitimate and rational. Society is not the exclusion of subicxti\c.~li contends that revolutio n something abstract but composed of people (with all their individual needs), just as general interest is not something ghminatinj^t - hejieee^^ the ground ideologic abstract but is made up of all the vital interests of workers. jdl^l_foiJgyolulignT^rMa^S Therefore our fight is not against the very existence of a correct revolutionary theory. And W11EIV TTWfTOfCTrTias self-interest but against placing it above general interest. We occurred, are for combining and harmonising them by subjecting economicim^baseautomaO interests of the working class, of the 1 personal interests to the need tor an ideologicaljxfeoTooTcai revolnTorTTfri^voTuTioTi to coinnletr anrlmn. people, of revolution and socialism.’ « f all that * TVffl nv V1;|r\kULwh o were perfectly aware o was i^volvedMi^hedevelopmer^^xMjock^ Speaking at a meeting in April, 1970, to commemorate the continued ideolo gical class stmgglethroughm centenary ol Lenin’s birth, Ramiz Alia dealt with this very problem. ‘Of decisive importance to the victory of socialism over capitalism is the establishment of a correct relationship r^cnenijjrmandwei^ between objective and subjective factors, between basis and transitToTTrTfTe'TTassIesr^o^^^^^ommunis^wouT^a^e. l superstructure, , between economy and politics, between the fworTWW^RTW^ssing nT^ !?oLrtri*re agu(rinl95TI^Froug!it material conditions of life and the consciousness of man, that young people of 15 would live to see communist society, between proletarian dictatorship and proletarian democracy, which meant that he envisaged a transition of some 40 or 50 between centralism and initiative from below, between the years. The revolutionary experience of the Chinese and working masses and Party leadership, between national and Albanian people in building socialism has taught them to international interests. In comple te opposition to the th eories think in terms of a much longer period — perhaps 10 and practice of the revisionists who ahsohThsfTrTu* imnnrtanrp generations. And meanwhile the betrayal of the working class in the Soviet Union and the Eastern European people’sj economic considerations, thus sli democracies and the restoration of capitalism in those countries have demonstrated that the vigilance of Party and people must not slacken at any time during the working j ism. the role or the subjective factor, the continuous transitional period. uhiJ/dh i » [»i ft iff i a iwansa^ * «i jn Enver Hoxha’s Report to the Fifth Party Congress in_ arty and state of the dictators the proletariat, placing 19*t)T). Which has alrcadvbecn referred to ag_jLRidil4caLcyen 1 176 177 i P solving them ea of the necessity encountered the same problems and set about UimmuarndWi by applying the same mass line. . Indeed while the Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China of life in Albania have been eveloping t and the further revolutionising identical in ideological content, there have been differences ionising of society is earned out on as is or t 1 differences cultural revolution, in the way they were carried out stemming from the3 primar jgfi ffMiMHMi i im > i » i historical conditions in the two countries. The the conscience of all wor in the specific since the founding of the People’s root out line of Mao Tsetung ever that of developing -round communist Republic of China has been consistently ideological revolution as complementary to the revol- utionarv tempering of the new man — the the in economic base ol society and even in his early ccisive factor in solving the complex ution the writings this social strategy had already been worked out. But Liu Shao Chi and the revisionists who collected around him had constantly advocated an opposition line, being careful not to challenge too openly the popularity and authority of China’s great leader. By taking advantage of any temporary set-backs to China’s socialist construction from natural beginnings of the split in the world insniSTSRRK mam ns sense disasters or the able to usurp some share in is the struggle against the misuse of soci communist movement they were state power, being particularly active in cultural and propa- ganda organisations where their bourgeois qualifications perfectly aware of c. collective interests, against b secured them a foothold. Mao Tsetung was what they were doing and at any time could simply have have iuperstitions. against the underestimati exposed them and invoked his tremendous prestige to with the threat rights, against bourgeo them removed. But he did not wish to deal lion and a bourgeois wav o they represented on the basis of an inner political bureau or till the decadent bourgeois and revisionist art and culture. even an inner party struggle. He preferred to wait meta political consciousness of workers, young people and the army that they could be mobilised to repudiate the Top our external enemies on our own people . . . [’his class' was such thus revolution- strug rarrowa r e min people in authority taking the capitalist road,’ work ising themselves in the process. This application ol the mass line struggle by the working one should consider himself immune from evil tendencies and resulted in a sharp revolutionary portion of state power which the think he has nothing to fight against in his own person. A masses to recapture that sharp struggle takes place in the conscience of every man revisionists had assumed. of counter-revolutionary between socialist ideology and bourgeois ideology.’ In Albania the problem a the Party and state originated much This report of Enver Hoxha’s parallelled both in timing revisionist plot within before the anti-fascist war had been successfully and intent the Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China. But earlier, even Xoxe and other revisionists, with the the similarity of the revolutionary movements in the two concluded. Kogi Yugoslav Party under Tito, made their bidin countries resulted from the fact that both, as socialist support of the Republic to divert the ountrics developing on the early days of the Albanian People’s Marxist-Lcninist principles, had V J 179 country from a socialist course and make it a part of \ ugoslavia. Enver Hoxha had no alternative to exerting his leadership at a time chosen by the revisionists because they considered the people too politically immature to understand the issues and support him. 1'hey created a very dangerous TIIE SPLIT IN THE WORLD COMMUNIST MOVEMENT situation, but Enver Hoxha exposed the nature of their conspiracy and rallied the forces to deprive them of their Chapter Fifteen positions. This experience of revisionist betrayal at the very Union beginning of their socialist history armed the Albanian people Albania’s Relations with the Soviet Republic of China against allowing revisionists to creep into important posts. and the People’s That is not to say that there have been no distortions of construction Albania socialist legality, no incorrect methods of work, no bureau- During the early period of socialist with the Soviet Union. cratic tendencies in Albania to be countered and put enjoyed the closest fraternal relations right - only Stalin had prevented the United States and Britain from that these errors were not represented in an organised from the peace negotiations and the Soviet form within the Party and state requiring a mass excluding Albania to Tito’s upheaval on the scale of China’s cultural revolution. leadership had supported Albanian resistance the country, expelling Yugoslavia from Just as the Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China was attempts to take over countries in 1948 as a client state ol the specific form at a particular period in socialist develop- the comity of socialist of ment a continuing process of rooting out the old selfish, the United States. the Soviet Union to repair individualistic ideas and habits ol bourgeois society, so the In spite of Lhe desperate need of I industrial strength further revolutionising of life in Albania goes on continu- its own colossal war damage and rebuild its ously and Enver Iloxha’s 1966 Report to the Fifth Party to meet the challenge of the capitalist world headed by a Congress was simply a very cogent expression of the need for nuclear-armed United States, long term credits were advanced perpetual ideological struggle and an urgent call for even to Albania and specialists helped to set up industrial projects more dedicated leadership by communists in creating and and train Albanians to run them. Factories like the huge fostering the new socialist man. Without the conscious Stalin textile plant on the outskirts of Tirana were built with development of socialist morality by the working masses they Soviet assistance and Soviet technical aid enabled the will — not only be unable to achieve such dramatic successes in Albanians to develop their own mineral resources like the production but they will not even be able to hold on to the oil industry which developed around Stalin City, named after state power which is their guarantee during the transition to the great friend of the Albanian people. Today in most [communism against the restoration of an exploitative system. Albanian towns, along with statues of Marx and Lenin, will be seen those of Stalin as well. Albania was in no sense a ‘satellite’ of the Soviet Union. The relations between the two states were based on a partnership between countries sharing the same socialist aspirations and determined to defend socialism against encroachments by the capitalist powers. The Albanians were dedicated to developing their country in a spirit of self- reliance and any help received was for the purpose of making them more not less economically independent. They, played 181 . of Khrushchev’s sup port for the. their full pari in the defence of the socialist camp into which As a consenncnce other people’s democracies, one serious inroad had already been made by the defection of Yugoslav line, in Hungary and made to capitalis t elements inside tire Yugoslavia in exchange for the very different kind of ‘aid’ concessions were ideol and culture were .given tree supplied by the United States. Albania was the bastion of country and bourgeois ogy Republic ol' Albania not only were class socialism in the Mediterranean area, preventing the imperial- play. In tire Peopled granted no concessions but the fight again t bourgeois ists from further outflanking the socialist countries in enemies revisionist tendencies was intensified. The Central Com- southern Europe and providing the Soviet Union with a base and had hesitation in exposing the revisionist activities which could be used, with the full concurrence of the mittee no and Bedri Spahiu in June, 1955, relieving the Albanian people, in protecting the people’s democracies and of Tuk Jakova the Central Committee and expelling the Soviet Union itself. former of his post on the latter from the Party altogether. Ol Stalin the Albanians say: ‘He always maintained a most The conference of the four great powers, the Soviet Union, fraternal attitude toward our country, always dealing with the United States, Britain and France, at Geneva in July, our Party on the basis ol parity and mutual respect, never 1955, was acclaimed by Khrushchev as ‘a new stage in the intervening in its internal affairs nor trying to impose his own relations between states’ and he described the leaders of the ideas. When our Party solicited his counsel on this matter or imperialist powers as ‘reasonable people who were trying to that, he insisted that his words were by no means binding, ensure peace’ - this on the eve of the Anglo-F rench-Israeli that they should be considered with a critical eve in the light attack on Suez! It was in pursuance of such collaboration of our conditions and that our Party should decide itself imperialism that Khrushchev praised the foreign policy according to its own experience and judgement.’ with the of Yugoslavia and argued that it was no different from After Stalin’s death in March. 1 953. a irain of events began It a line ol in foreign policy of the socialist countries. was not the Soviet "Union which was to shatter the uni ty of tfie argument that could impress the Albanian people with their Communist world, alter profoundly' the relations among experience of the role the Yugoslav leadership had major world powers and ca&uAlbania (>nccmore_intl^er<>j‘e direct price for dollar aid. of a small embattled country standing up against a vastly played as the ^ of the Communist Party of the superior force m a struggle for its very existence At the 20th Congress * in February, alter three years of f^nc of the first indications that an entirely' different line Soviet Union 1956, presented in the report ol the was being adopted by the Soviet leadership came in May, preparation, Khrushchev ‘new’ theses described as a 1955, when Khrushchev unilaterally rejected the decisions of Central Committee a number of Marxisl-Leninist theory which weic the Information Bureau and other communist and workers’ creative development of from Marxism-Leninism. .Col- parties in respect to Tito’s betrayal of socialism and headed a in fact a complete departure imperialism which he labelled ‘peaceful delegation to Belgrade for the purpose of rehabilitating, l aboration with y exalted as the eneral line ot the loreign without consultation, the Yugoslav leader. Two days before co-existence was g ^,en ^ ns the delegation left Moscow the Albanian Party of Labour was a socialist country could only be] inlormed of the visit and asked to approve a statement which that the foreign policy" of jirol^ana^lnteniat^^^ism^^Jai^^llianc^jvith^he Khrushchev had drawn up in the name of the Information basedon of the advancedcountides and with all the Bureau without bothering to convene it. This the Albanian revolmionaries aeainst th e imperialists^' J^'or the sake of Party refused to do on the grounds that there had been no Oppressed- neonles made it dear change line peaceful co-existence at all costs Khrushchev in the of the Yugoslav leadership since it had prepared to give up international class struggle, been condemned by the 1948 resolution of communist and that he was ol the colonial peoples any .right to workers’ parties represented on the Bureau. renouncing on behalf - « 182 183 liberate themselves from oppression and reassuring capitalist governments by emphasising ‘peaceful transition to socialism’ or the Parlimentary road as the only correct line for communist parties everywhere. If only the United States imperialists were given to understand that their economic and military positions all over the world were not to be challenged then they would give up their aggressive designs ihustrious pre_- against the socialist block. destroying the personal reputation of his ' " _and What this really amounted to was an attempt to freeze the Important, undermined me theory mrowunm inequalities, for the sakSRHKM SMI ^ socialist construction m t world powers, the United States and langin guarantee with their nuclear might The ‘creative develop- r.iHiiltWtTiPlS and ends or .viarx ist-Leninist the ment of Marxism-Leninism’ which Khrushchev was advancing tremendous achievcment^oTTIi^'vvor^ers^Lnapeasants ol Party was simply the division of the world into Soviet and Soviet Union under the guidance of the Communist country into a American spheres of influence in which each was to enjoy which had transformed a backward, repressive of taking on and unquestioned supremacy — a Twentieth Century version of great socialist industrialised state capable was described in the Pope’s demarcation line sharing out the new world defeating the armed might of Nazi Germany -democratic period of violations of between Spain and Portugal. ‘Then’, Khrushchev was to say, the report as a ‘dark, anti terror and murders, of prisons and ‘if tiny mad man wanted war, we, the two strongest countries socialist legality, of victories against capitalism in the world, would have but to shake our fingers to warn concentration camps’. Stalin’s socialism; and the enemies him off’ — and included among the ‘mad men’, of course were presented as ‘crimes’ against agents of imperialism, were any popular leaders wishing to take their countries oul of socialism, witting or unwitting times unmasked, like Trotsky, of imperialist bondage. Instead of challenging the policy ol whom Stalin had at various Tito, were described as nuclear blackmail which the United States government had Bukharin, Zinoviev or, after the war, tyranny. In this attack used ever since the war to keep the world safe for the martyrs and heroes, victims of Stalin’s support of all who hated operations of monopoly capitalism, Khrushchev was going to Khrushchev could be sure of the socialist ideas and a staunch use the Soviet Union’s nuclear capacity to get in on the act. Stalin as a powerful exponent oi * That this was the case was demonstrated later on when defender of socialism. ' Khrushchev s Albania’s opposition to the Khrushchev line prompted the basic political question on which ^ threat from Kozlov, a member of the Central Committee of attempt to rever^jhe^hol^line^^th^^otde^Communist the Soviet Party, that ‘either the Albanians will accept Party deiKnd£tLwM-Whet[ier^o^nor class_conflictJiadceased^ an absolutely peaceful co-existence or an atom bomb from the imperialists to exist in the Soviet UniomLemnalways took during the entire will turn .Albania into a heap of ashes and leave no Albanian unequivocal stand on tftis issue, holding that the classless society alive’. w historical period separating capitalism from designated as socialism, It was at this Congress that Khrushchev made his notorious of communism, that is the period the dictatorship of secret report ‘On the cult of the individual and its con- class conflict did continue and therefore for the develop- sequences’ which was an all-out attack on Stalin launched, as the proletariat remained a political necessity the assumption of was Khrushchev’s habit, without any prior warning to ment of a socialist society. Indeed, after bourgeois elements would fraternal parties. Indeed many communist parties only came I state power by the working class, 184 185 1 for the leade rship of struggle even harder to re-establish themselves, not disdaining In fact, the denial of any further need | where other classes still to call on outside help from the capitalist world for this the working class in a situation purpose. This was the position usually defended by Stalin. rvitfrA mere egin diverting the Mao 1 setting and Enver Hoxha, drawing on the experience of elements to recapture political power and b the the Chinese and Albanian peoples in making and consolidat- Soviet Onion from a socialist course. That this was - | clique around ing a proletarian revolution, have never wavered from this Intention of Khrushchev and the revisionist Marxist-Lcninist line. But JChrushche^^oid^convince became apparent in the economic changes which Jf 61 r I n 1 centre but a change from control by organs response fliroW working people like the state. .ana Party to control by experts,, managers and bureaucrats. W^th this change went a shift in motivation from the socialistAncentives of putting collective ikwp Tf”~r",nl err^s"frT material incentives no ditterent thnge characteristic Ol capitalist SWIHIV. Lk,SP-CallfiP economic liberalisation was simply a move from socialism to _as7a sTate capit alism and, as si i eh. was naturally hailed in_du e and state instead of being the political break-through by bourgeois economists everywhere. and governmental ,, , TIianges went expressions of the dictatorship ol the proletariat rnnlH hr course, along^vinrTliesirpoITncar^TI^ cconomic generally - the ‘thaw’ designated by Khrushchev as the Party and Slate of ihc a restoration of bourgeois ideology ‘whole bourgeois ideologues in capitalist people’. But in this formulation he departed al- welcomed so effusively by intended that such a restoration together 'front anything remotely resembling Marxism. The countries. But it was never the revisionist party hacks and Marxist view developed by Lenin in such works as ‘State and would threaten the position of brought it about hence the con- Revolution’ and strictly adhered to by all except those state officials who had bourgeois writers and artists in the deviationists who forfeited any right to call themselves tinuing conflict between demanding the freedom ol expression they Marxists, was that the state always represented t he interests Soviet Union society and of a particular rla. s have expected in a bourgeois democratic ^ in a society in which there was still rHT^ might conflict. Neither state apparatus with the same bourgeois values the s tate nor the communis_LJ2gIiY-A^as the Soviet attacking Stalin and above cl ass stru ggle and tnev would cease to exist whep who were prepared to welcome works prepared to ejasses ceased to exist, in ‘the withering awav of the statP* the dictatorship of the proletariat but were not the bureaucratic which M arx had only predicated of the classless society ol countenance those criticising themselves and full communism. Therefore a party or a state ot the ‘whole dictatorship they had imposed. party was pre- people’ was nonsense from a Marxist pfllnfotjoint 61 view: ^nd Neither the Albanian nor the Chinese the 20th Stalin, m Jlis last theoretical work. ‘Economic Prnhlemg nf pared to accept the line Khrushchev elaborated at correct Socialismh^heJUSSR^j^JiyjjjUackedrcvision^ Party Congress, although they tried to maintain did precisely the same terms the Chinese and Albanians were to relations with the Soviet Union knowing that Khrushchev thought use in the polemics following the 2Utk Congress specifically not speak for the Soviet people. It was not that they 1 proletarian cn^sed^thc^state of__the whole oeopRW^nc^^ta^^ Stalin, for all his great services to the world anti-Marxist attempt to undermine the dictatorship of the movement, was above criticism. No communist leader is evei proletariat. above criticism and every communist leadership has made 186 187 u'opaganda, especially mistakes. Learning from mistakes has been a major feature of measures to restrain this unnecessar the social practice through which the theory of scientific taking into consideratio n that t the unlimited confidence socialism has been creatively developed. But they rejected deeds and people had lor criticisms made from the point of view of socialism’s enemies and love which the Party and the bureau cratic elements and realised that Khrushchev’s lies and slanders, gaining some sufficient to deal a telling blowTo of the proletariat . I t credence from the fact that he had played a prominent part ising the dictatorship Stalin in 195b for having in the events he maliciously distorted, was an attempt to is obvious that those who attacked people who had bury for all time not only Stalin but Marxism itself. established a personality cult were the very in an attempt to This rejection by no means implied that Mao Tsetung or tried to build it up around him, partly the grounds Enver Hoxha had any sympathy whatsoever with a ‘cult of separate him from the masses and partly to lay the individual’ which is entirely alien to the spirit of for subsequent condemnation. began to Marxism. Marx himself, when he and Engels had enrolled in a Following the 20th Party Congress Khrushchev Labour to secret communist society, said explictly: ‘Both of us don’t bring pressure to bear on the Albanian Party of spirit of the conclusions he had give even a brass farthing for our popularisation . . . We re-examine its line in the Soviet participated right from the beginning on the proviso that promulgated in Moscow. Michael Susfov, one of the with the everything that helped mystic subjugation to authority Party’s Theoreticians who had thrown in his lot should be wiped out of the constitution.’ Lenin always rushchev, demanded through Lift fought any manifestation of such a cult as diametrically opposed to the mass line — ‘only those arc true bolsheviki leaders who not only teach the workers and peasants but also are taught by them.’ And in a letter to Shatunovsky Stalin jronounced against Koci Xoxe, _ the grounds wrote: ‘You sneak of vour lovaltv to me .. . 1 would advise c merits on Stalin’s cult ol the you to do awav with the principle of lovalty towards ‘under tEe influence of most arrogant i ividual*- .Th is demand was repeated m the separate individuals. This is not bolsheviki-like. Be loyal to n d way by the Soviet delegation to the Third Congress of the am Albanian Party which met in Tirana on May 25, 1956. the 41,372 members and 7,272 individuals, which is the empty and unnecessary This Congress, representing endorsed the brattle^^^^^lit^lectual^’ candidate members ot the Albanian Party, delivered by Enver Iloxha, It must have seemed odd to those familiar with develop- political line of the report that class struggle is dying ments in the Soviet Union that Khrushchev, who circulated considered it ‘a mistake to think the secret report ‘On the cult of the individual and its ys flTgy ; consequences’, at the period when this cult was supposed to struggle of their own free will’ and ^revisionist. Trotskyile, have flourished had out-done everyone in adulation of Stalin. measures taken by the Party against Central Committee had He described Stalin as ‘the father, the wise teacher, in whose Although^ the the Soviet leadership its opposition to the work Marxist-Lcninist philosophy has reached its acme . . . made known to Third the Coryphaeus of science and the genius of mankind’ and so anti-Marxist theses of the 20th Party Congress, the the Khrushchev on. Indeed Enver Hoxha in speaking on this question in his Albanian Party Congress did not condemn further damage report to the Albanian Party’s fifth Congress said tnat ’otalm line openly, wishing to avoid if possible any movement. 1 he knight be cniiciseu, not because ne aeveioped and practised to the unity of the international communist of Albania Tiis own cult, but only because he did not takejaroper Marxist-Lcninist line which the Party ol Labour 88 could be contemplating any such act of had pursued since its formation was unanimously con firme d orically that Nagy drawer Nagy’s latest ‘self-criticism’ and, unlike a number ofotlier parties, no concessions*^) betrayal and took from a a good chap he was! And Khrushchev rcyisiomsm_w(^c made unaer tne pressure Wftll'fl tflg to show what acceptance of Tito as a socialist Khrushchev group increasingly exerted. At the same time the continued to press for the the Western newspapers were describing Albanian press published a number of articles for popular leader, when even ‘transmission belt for conveying economic consideration whose political import was directly opposed to Yugoslavia as a to east.’ the whole tenor of the 2 0 tli Congress formulations. ideas of the west the counter-revolutionary uprising in Khrushchev’s rehabilitation of those who had been con- In October, 1956, the the Soviet leadership was demned previously for revisionist activities enabled anti- Hungary duly occurred and when a revolt for which Marxists to emerge in the people’s democracies and even to finally forced to take action to suppress lito s resume leadership in several of them with Soviet support. their own revisionist policies were largely responsible, ugoslavia were This was particularly the case in Poland and Hungary where complicity became obvious. All the flags in Y and the dictatorship of the proletariat was seriously weakened flown at half-mast when the insurrection was put down from and the ideology and culture of the western bourgeoisie were the intervention of the Soviet Army to prevent Hungary des- allowed to spread without check. Disguised as ‘cultural passing over to the imperialist powers altogether was leadership circles’ counter-revolutionary groups were established in cribed as ‘savage and impermissible’. The Soviet many cities. This situation was, of course, exploited by the disposed of Imre Nagy whom they had themselves placed at for those capitalist countries which recognised the opportunity for the head of the Hungarian state; and yet in looking eliminating socialism in much of Eastern Europe. to blame for the tragic events in Hungary, they lashed out their The Albanian Party was aware of what was happening not at revisionists but at ‘dogmatists’ and renewed China. because a plot involving certain members of (Tie Party, attack on the Marxist-Keninists in Albania and Congress? backed by Tito and intended to stage a counter-revolution in ‘But why did these things happen after the 20th because the Albania to coincide with a similar attempt in Hungary, was Enver Hoxha demanded. ‘Did they really happen oi discovered on the eve of the Third Party Congress. Two of leadership of the Party of Labour of Albania is sectarian tragedy ol the Hungarian the conspirators, Dali Ndreu and Liri Gega, were warned by dogmatic or pessimistic? The all honest people in Pito to flee to Yugoslavia where an ‘Albanian Resistance people will certainly be a great lesson to will be a lesson to all those who, listening to the Group’ was being formed with a radio station at its disposal the world. It with demagogical for hostile broadcasts to Albania; but they were both imperialists and the forces of reaction I their vigilance and replace it with oppor- apprehended at the frontier and brought to trial. To the slogans, slacken and people of Albania have never fallen amazement of the Albanians, who were still taking in the full tunism. The Party will fall into this trap. 1 hey will not be misled by implications of the revisionist usurpation of state power in and never socialism’ and catchwords about some the Soviet Union, Khrushchev spoke out in defence of these slogans of ‘people’s that smell of everything except true traitors and condemned the Albanian authorities for arresting sort of ‘democracy’ and punishing them. proletarian democracy.’ the Party of Labour of Not long afterwards Enver Hoxha, while passing through In April, 1957, a delegation of Hoxha and Mehmet Shehu, went Moscow, held a conversation with Suslov in which he \ Albania, headed by Enver of the Central Committee of the reported what he had seen in Budapest. He told Suslov that i to Moscow at the invitation about the differences Imre Nagy, one of the rehabilitated revisionist leaders closely l Soviet Party to hold conversations them since the 20th associated with Tito, was deserting and was organising a I which had been developing between point when Enver Hoxha was counter-revolution at the ‘Pct'ofi Club’. Suslov denied categ- I Party Congress. At one 190 191 > Enver Hoxha, played an explaining the stand of the Albanian Party, Khrushchev The Albanian delegation, led by these anti-Marxist formulations^ suddenly interrupted him: ‘You Albanians are trying to take active par t in exposingcxnosinii. w'th thedelegation of the us back to the road of Stalin!’ He demanded that they change ^ylLillg i t of China, h eadedjmjhis_occas^ their attitude toward the Yugoslav revisionists and rehabili- Communist Party Tsrtiinv h imsell. It was tne beginning of a principled alliance tate those former members of the Albanian Party who had which was to gmwTver stronger. Such was their deter- opposed its Marxist-Leninist leadership. This Enver Iloxha correct revolutionary line that they and the other delegates refused to do, whereupon mination to defend a gained the support of other delegations and the Khrushchev Khrushchev shouted: ‘You Albanians are hot tempered. It is was forced to retreat from positions taken up at the impossible to come to terms with you. The discussion is faction conference. Revisionism was described in the closed.’ — start of the the ‘principal danger in Inc coinmdnlsi This incident was the first open clash between the position final statement as maintained bv the Party of Labour of Albania and the course aalis^pressu^^xternall^. ’ taken by the Khrushchev revisionists; but even then the talks interna d^LontoJ^rei were not finally suspended and, instea d of_demands_and But ast^cormessiorTtopr^ewc^h^mityortn^novemeivt 1 agree loto leave threats, Khrushchev tried to use economic pressure on tlTe the Albanian and Chinese delegations aia delegation. Believing Albania to be absolutely dependent on unchanged an incorrect description of the 2 Util Tarty Soviet credits he announced the cancellation of the debt Albania had incurred up to 1955, some 450 million old communist movement’ which was meompjitMiL^mLli-ji^ ti niiiy.irnm The 1957 roubles. The delegation, however, did not regard this as ttii'nl 1 1 nn 1 rn t nl'ithf rrfil fit Tfa dUttUfflSlUt victory for charity for which they could be expected to modify their Moscow Declaration on the whole represented a long restrain the stand but as proletarian internationalism between fraternal the Marxist-Leninist forces but it did not peoples for which they expressed their thanks and departed .revisionists. * allow himself and those without altering in the slightest their revolutionary line. Khrushchev certainly did not the Soviet leadership to be bound by the This same line was advanced as tenaciously by the around him in forth in the Moscow Declaration. He Albanian jitdeganon_tp__the meetmg or commumsT*and socialist principles set sowed confusion generally by issuing quite contradictory workers’ parties held in Moscow in JNovembcr ot that year . statements on all the problems which had been collectively Khrushchev used the opportunity to present as out-dated tne and resolved at the Moscow meeting. The United Marxist-Leninist teachings on imperialist wars, armed discussed States was praised as a great country prepared to collaborate uprisings and socialist revolution, on the leading role of the with the Soviet Union and also described as an aggressive party of the working class in revolution and socialist ‘world gendarme’. At one time he would call the U.S. construction and on the continuing necessity of the dictator- president a ‘reasonable, peace-loving friend’ and at another a ship of the proletariat to prevent a restoration of capitalism. ‘hangman’ who ‘could not even run a kindergarten’, lie In drafting the documents of thejneeting the revisionists^ would laud Tito and the Yugoslav experience to the skies and tender Khrushchev’s influence wanted_to__leay£__QliL^Mr then call Tito an arrogant person ‘who is out of step with the reference to imperialism at all — particularly any^des^t^^yp rest of the platoon’. Such eclecticism ^characteristic ol ot United States imperialism as the enemx_a£ peace ; and_of motivated jjyan unprincipled opportunism; course they were vehement in ihpir nhjprHnns tn a declar- those who are |uit^tK^TeaT^ren^orT^!Trus^cnev^)olicics _behind all^the ation th at^as the events of the nast. two years had so clearly I M> )()re_out5ursTs^va^K^vnin_sucn shown, revisionism was the main danger in thejntcrnalional verbal twists and extemj negotiations as"‘me^HH34PCam^Daynr_ta[^w[^T^sacum^’resident communist movement. v 192 193 - Eisen how er. The very basis of t he talks as desc ribed b y to discuss differences with the Albanian leadership. The trip Khrushchev was unMarxist and opposed to tne principles o f was not a success. The Albanians yielded neither to blandish- popular democracy. ’We have said it more inan once tnat the ments nor threats. During his briel stay Khrushchev was most complicated international issues can only be settled by contemptuous of Albanian efforts to improve and diversify the heads of governments vested with the competent agriculture and to develop its own industry. ‘Turn your little authority’. country into a flourishing garden,’ he suggested. It would At Camp David the whole pattern of the new Moscow line make a nice holiday spot for Soviet tourists. ‘Specialise in became more iippnrpnp According to Khrushchev the exist - growing oranges’ and give up producing your own grain. ‘The ence ot nuclear weapons- had so changed former conceptions Soviet Union has such an abundance of grain that the mice Tibf war that there was no longer any difference between lust cat more than you can produce here.’ The Albanians with ~and uniust _wars. /\n B'ffTTiB lldtlk "iVoi aisnntTu ish their experience of the necessity of self-sufficiency in attack likely to such Tdc tween i m pcrui li s ts and working people and millions of essentials when under were not heed workers would be killed for every monopolist destroyed’. advice fortunately for them in the light of events the The oppressed peoples and nations must abandon any idea of following year after the Bucharest meeting. liberating themselves bv rcvoliuionajvjjtri^ a Khrushchev left Tirana in a temper and hinted to small local warjnight spark off the_contlagration of a^waiiD Sophocles Venizelos who visited Moscow soon after that the iyar-4n. whirh y/e wOU ld destroy our Noahs Ark — the globe ’. Soviet Union would not be at all averse to territorial and The most important, factor for the liberation of colonial political concessions to Greece on the part of the Albanians. peoples, lie argued, was disarmament; and il they would all this the ideological differences between the contain themselves palienily till the imperialist powers Albanian Party of Labour and the Soviet leadership were not voluntarily surrendered their arms, they could then revolt made-jiu.blic_up_l.ill Uie middle oi 1 and they. werenoT peace fully! state relations between the two ]^atiiiallY-J:hcse ideas, re p resenting a complete capitulation ripnntrir^ Thr same situation obtained m China where also .to United States nuciear piackmail, were very acceptable to there was increasing concern by the Marxist-Teninist leader- Kispnhnwor ae a chared lirgemnnv pj the World ship headed by Mao Tsetung at the line being taken by the ^il^jJ^j)ij£eJbrtheSovietUnionVpartnershij)J^ Khrushchev revisionists. Ijfcause Jauik. ..\I bania and China K,- fty. p^^pies ol the colonial countries PrareJkl were en gaged in developing socialislsocie ties on the same aa^xj^ejj^e__was_the name given to this gigantic carve-up by J^ndamentalprinci^les^jyici^in^ tlie^^majc^^uHe^jrowcrsrTn^ee^TnTrusTTniev^'icr not is td th the world at lame, they blame the danger of a world war on those who used the threat of nuclear weapons to maintain their economic empire, but on ‘people who pose as Marxist-Leninists, who are dogmatic, who do not believe in the possibility of T^liis awareness .was certainly heightened at the Congress of achieving socialism and communism under conditions ol the Roumanian Worker's Party 1TP1U in fluenarest m June _ , peaceful co-existence with capitalism’, y the attack on T he Communist Party of the Soviet Union took Stalinisn^va^Ji£ of the occasion to of the (Byjjiy^Jja£1aU^ advantage summon a meeting capitalism inside the USSR^_t£imiLPf a nuclear holocaust was fraternal delegates of the various communist parties attending r»f thecovci^y^omim^otcrmsjvi^ the Congress. vyKila— thp |j^|~| ies were informed A* in divir^ng jhe world into rcsncctivespheresof influence . privately of what the meeting was lobe aboni. the Par ty cT In May, 1959, Khrushchev paid a visit to Tirana personally Labour of Albania, the Communist Party of China, the 194 195 Workers ’ Party of Vietnam and the Party oN^bo ur of Korea iri - ^ I Mishova, a member of the Political Jkjreau^ on her i)nd(-i^iiaQd-JJiaL the"Tneetm^wa5sT^>Tv||7)r^nse(:l tor m i vynv batik from China via Moscow, was influenced by such an informal cxchamre of ()nink)ns^n^T^fixm^jlhe^ateofthe 4ia^^oo^uy_^j)ositiono^^££OsiUoi^U)die M^cmvTon^r«i^o^^||^n^^^rparnes||^^]^^Tater Mgndst^eninjg^ Tfi^^ea^"T 196 197 economic and military power whose present leadership was view that United States-led imperialism should be mercilessly ideologically . . . No concessions of determined to put an end to Albanian resistance in any way exposed, politically and imperialism.’ v. possible. And once more the Albanian people showed principle should be made to - false ideas about a change in the character o f themselves united and prepared to endure whatever sacrifices Khrushchev’s J * were tijrmly repudiated^Tmpcnahsm, particularly were required rather than yield to economic or military r i mperialism has changed neither its skin nor its pressure by abandoning the correct line of the Party of United States" iinpenansm, aggressive, it will be aggressive while even a single Labour. It was with the confidence of a united country nature. It is . . . Therefore we continue to behind him thal Knver Hoxha led the Alhanian delegation to tooth remains in its mouth , it be clear to the peoples that there can th^JVloscow^ ^^^ornmunig1^^nd y;s insist that must made ^2Jlfy^J \vgJJ^l l^£^^£> - j^arties^^onvenedj^^I^vanb^ be no absolute guarantee that there will be no world war has triumphed over the greater part of the delegates of the \mdili^ummmistmoycment he made one of until socialism the mo^^^^^eou^£eeche^Ta!r^^^|^1^^^^^^2EH6 world.’ i> , l > If the spread of socialism was the real road to world peace, whole an ti Alarxlst""Tourse"^T'" ^hrush cney_and th£_othcr co-existence does not imply as the revisionists revisjonilts^hojTadTstjrnea^tatrpowerin thc_Spvict Union thei7~‘ peaceful , claim, that we should give upTTass'^ruggle_^_T^We*sToujel f urther promoteclassstrupglc in capitalist countri es, as well ~ the national liberation movement of the peoples of described this great speech as ‘an everlasting monument in rp|mp|i|l^md^dependerrlyc pun trie s. JTfeTaEounnuniasscs ol the history of the international communist movement, an im the working class and guided by the exceptional contribution of our Party and Comrade Enver the world, led by communist party, should make life impossible for imperial- Hoxha. . . to the defence of the purity of Marxism-Leninism ism, crush its fighting and economic potential and proceed to on a world scale.’ destruction of the old power and the establishment of the ‘You,’ Enver Hoxha addressed Khrushchev directly, ‘raised the new power of the people. your hand against a small country and its Party; but we are ‘ Will they do this by violence or bv tlie peaceful convinced that the Soviet people who shed their blood in road?’ Enver Hoxha posed a Question around defence of our people and that the great Party of Lenin are p arliamentary the-.revj^ionistxhadraised consiclerablcconfusion. ‘So not in agreement with these actions of yours.’ He denied the which charge of ingratitude to the people of the Soviet Union who were as much the victims of revisionism as those outside their country whom Khrushchev had tried to bully and intimidate. lie called on all those present to ‘confront imperialism with the colossal economic, military, moral, political and ideological strength of the socialist camp, as well as with the combined strength of the peoples throughout the world.’ He raised the question of Khrushchev’s bargain with assured them that the Albanian people ‘who detest war are He also David talks to deprive China of fully aware of the warlike moves of the imperialist powers; Eisenhower at the Camp should not China have the atom bomb? but they have not become pessimistic nor have they been atom bombs. ‘Why think rkma haue it and then wc shall see marking time as far as socialist construction is concerned. Wf U.S. imperialists will dare ta_bxandish ttmir They have a clear vision of their future and have set to work whether „tke . (Marxist-Leninists) will s as they do at present . . We with full confidence, being always on guard, keeping the pickaxe in one hand and the rifle in the other. We hold the 198 199 ’ are^reaxjvtodcstro^il^uchjDom^ party may be isolated. Our country may be subjected to economic pressure to try to prove to our people that their ‘The impcnaTistTand their agents accuse China and Albania leadership is no good. Our Party may be and is being of being warlike and opposed to peaceful co-existence. Why? attacked. Suslov equates the Party of Labour of Albania with Because we do not open our borders for them to come on to bourgeois parties and likens its leaders to Kerensky. But this -Leninism has given ns the our land and graze freely. The time has gone forever when docs not intimidate us . . . Marxism say no one can take it away from us the territory of Albania could be treated as a medium of right to have our and , exchange between the great powers. We are opposed to a rather through no) meal nor economic pressure, neither co-existence with Yugoslavia which means that we should through epithets nor threats..’ give up our ideological and political struggle with the agents ”3? ended his great speech with an expression of the Party of international imperialism. We are opposed to co-existence of Labour’s determination to do everything possible to with the British or U.S. imperialists for the sake of which we strengthen the unity of the communist and workers’ move- would be expected to recognise the old political, diplomatic ment. For nearly ten years the speech remained unpublished and trading concessions King Zog’s regime granted them. and unknown outside the circle of fraternal parties at the — unlike Khrushchev’s ‘secret’ report to the ‘UXL the oth er hand the Party of Labour of Albania would 1960 Conference acceptstaie reiaTTPTT^yf"^COTTff?Kf7noTn^incsr^vitn y ugo- 20th Party Congress which was carefully leaked to the sj^vi^jjmvided^^ie^^^S^^^lpcaccnu^^o-existence enemies of socialism. Not till the end of 1969, long after any ^e^gfifl^^tcs^wit!T^hn^renT|spci^l_s^l£fflKAre*"T)nserv?d hope of maintaining the unity of the movement had been l lll J the Soviet revisionists, was Enver Iloxha’s b£CiUAS<^^s»^ai_S" tne T artv of Labour olXTHania Ts shattered by speech made public. wjl^jj^j^ocialistj^ountryjiur^ In the discussions which took [dace during the course of the Conference, Khrushchev remarked that he ‘could reach a of renegades and imperialist agents . . . We will never ;umr to carving up Albania to satisfy Greek chauvinists and we belter understanding with Harold Macmillan than with the condemn Khrushchev for arousing Venizelos’ hopes of Albanians.’ To which the Albanians retorted: ‘That you can territorial aggrandisemcn t. come to terms with Macmillan, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Taking up the plot against the Communist Party of China their stooge, Tito, by making all sorts of compromises and yours no one at the Bucharest meeting, Enver Hoxha criticised the Soviet concessions is a personal talent of which chatterbox leadership in forthright terms. ‘The Party of Labour of envies.’ Enver Hoxha was to describe ‘the Khrushchev, as the greatest counter- Albania is unanimously of the opinion that the Soviet charlatan, N. comrades made a grave blunder in unjustly attacking the revolutionary that history has ever known.’ And Mehmet Shehu to Khrushchev’s question as to whether they had any Communist Party of China . . . The Bucharest meeting should, under no circumstances, be forgotten but must be criticisms at all to make of Stalin announced: ‘Yes, Not severely condemned as a stain on the international com- getting rid of you!’ munist movement.’ He went on to characterise the three The Albanian delegation, as at the earlier Moscow Confer- years since the Moscow Conference as a period fully verifying ence three years before, played a leading part with the that ‘the revisionists are nothing but splitters of the com- Chinese delegation in improving the draft declaration and munist movement and the socialist camp, avowed enemies of strengthening its Marxist-Leninist content. There were still socialism and the working class.’ serious flaws like the wrong evaluation of the 20th Party Enver Hoxha realised that: ‘There may be people who will iCongress; but on the whole the Declaration eventually signed not be pleased with what our small Party is saying. Our small [by the 81 parties was a repudiation of revisionist theses. The 200 201 specialists from Albania studying at military schools epoch in which we livc fqr examp le, was not characterised as military T Mi expelled and the one_of peacetul co-existence and economic competalaon^Jn.it and academies in the Soviet Union were representative at the United Command Head- ds tlie e poch oT the ’transition from capi talism to socialism Albanian the Pact in was given 24 hours to ... of the struggle between the two social systems, the quarters of Warsaw Moscow the country. epoch of socialist revolutions and of national liberation get out of lflhO. the Soviet leadership had extended hs revolutions, the epoch of the collapse of imperialism and the Tn l.ilv- and .’ i deological differences with.. China to state relations had liquidation of the colonial system . . The Declaration also "^oyicttechmcian^lrom"TTiina"^mT had condemned the Yugoslav form of ‘international opportunism recalled all the nilaterally broken Hundreds ol contracts anti agreement^. which is a concentrated expression of the theories of modem u ’ th c same kind revisionism. A^ter tKeMoscown^onTemic^ bear on Albania. the agreements con cl u d e d The Moscow Conference of 1960 was almost an exact brought to AjJ bcUvcetTm^SovTetTjnTon and Albania were cancelled; all repetition of* tRcMjf57Conl^^ ftiirusncmfy specialists were withdrawn; all economic, trade, and the revisionist Soviet delegation prepared for the meeting Soviet scientific and cultural relations were suspended and by distributing material containing unsubstantiated attacks technical, economic, political and military blockade was imposed. on the Albanian and Chinese parties; in both cases the an for a country like Albania, already shut, off revisionists were unable to defend their capitulationist line in Naturally small rest of two unfriendly powers, these open debate; in both cases declarations were drafted and from the Europe by hostile actions the Soviet leadership were very serious. signed which committed all the parties present to the general by the Albanian people been line of Marxism-Leninism and in both cases the Soviet Not since the anti-fascist war had grave revisionists and the revisionists in other countries and parties forced to endure such hardships nor to face such a to bring demonstrated their opportunistic character by completely threat to their very existence. Then they were fighting were disregarding the principles set forth in a document they had into being their people’s democratic state. Now they survival of their socialist society. But through bund it expedient to sign. fighting for the period they never wavered After the Conference the Soviet leadership showed its all the shortages and anxieties of this or.jy.r ^t—the in their support of the line defended by their leaders and their their hostile actions in every field. The militarv-naval base at Party. of the Soviet in Oc tob er, Vlora which Albania had agreed to establish as part of its t the 22nd Congress Party commitment to the defence of the Warsaw Pact countries had ers vicious Party the People's epublie of Albania, calling openl already begun to be treated by the Russians as if it were their and own territory or at best an enclave in a vassal state. Then in from 'the rostru May, 1961, eight submarines which belonged to Albania were people to overthrow the M arxist- leadership would be loyal taken by force and Albanian warships anchored at Sevastopol replacc it witn a revisions! which were taken over at the same time. Russian service men at the of the Chinese ^eleg^tion^jxjse^ojfi^ .Vlora base had been instructed to conduct themselves in such Chou _En-lai, leader I Ivsni Kapo had defended the a way as to provoke an incident which could serve as a pretext for Soviet military intervention in Albania. But the critic ism and the laying open of disputes between Wigilancc of the Albanian government, firmly restraining the unilateral encTm^TCT^aansnTcouTan otXc Soviet personnel while not providing any unnecessary excuse fmtern^paTtic^B^rSf? me |for Soviet interference, frustrated the plan. However the Soviet leadership was not deterred from its Meanwhile all the members of the Albanian army and 202 203 attacks and immediately after the Congress recalled the On May 5 the Government of Albania decided to carry out Soviet ambassador from Tirana and demanded the departure the construction work on its own. The plan was altered to from the USSR of the Albanian ambassador. B y cutting off make the Palace of Culture much larger than originally d iplomatic relations the Soviet leadership not only intended intended so that it could accommodate even more social and to isolate Albania from the_rest ot the socialist camp but to - operatic performances, indica^that^lbarm^was^fah^ame^for^e^^^^^i^^owcrs cultural activities a theatre for another concert hall and a spacious library as well as or their client states. J restaurants, cafes and conference rooms. Phis splendid ~Tt ' waT in tniT situation that Enver Hoxha declared: building stands today as a popular monument to the ‘Albania’s borders arc insurmountable, defended by a brave self-reliance of the Albanian people. In many parts of the people and an eagle-like Party which will smash you if you country the same thing happened in respect to industrial dine attack us. Furthermore Albania is not alone, not plants like the huge cement factory at Vlora. Begun as joint isolated. If you touch our borders you must know that to projects between Albania and the Soviet Union, they were assist socialist Albania to defend itself there are those who completed, after th$ Soviet Union had torn up all its will not recognise state boundaries.’ And to the revisionists agreements, by the Albanian people — often without blue he said: ‘If you raise your knife against us, under the cloak of prints or plans of any kind to guide their work. your demagogy, you may rest assured that we shall point our Among the agreements broken unilaterally by the Soviet rifle at you; and the cracking of our rifle will be heard Government was one concerning the training ol a thousand throughout the Soviet Union raising around your heads a young Albanians in the Soviet Union on a shared cost basis. tempest as the brave and fraternal Soviet people strike you A Russian note in the late summer of 1961 pointed out that with the terrible fist of Leninism.’ the present agreement had no real validity because it had One of the outstanding sights to greet the eye of the visitor been arrived at verbally and there was nothing in writing. to Tirana is the magnificent Palace of Culture, a huge This was followed by a charge of the Soviet Ministry of structure of native marble and glass which is the centre of Foreign Affairs that the Albanian students were ‘spreading cultural and social life in the capital. In January, 1959, the slanders about Soviet-Albanian relations and seeking to draw Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Soviet students into provocative discussions.’ Having got all Union decided to build in Tirana a palace of culture as a the Albanian students deported from the country for present to the Albanian people. criticising revisionism the Soviet authorities then circulated The design was agreed in April, 1960, and in May work the story that the young Albanians had been arrested and began, proceeding rapidly through the close co-operation of locked up on their arrival home for being friendly to the Soviet architects and the State Building Enterprise of Tirana. USSR! The Albanian Government was able to reassure the But by January, 1961, the supply of building materials from Khrushchev contingent on the score of their concern about the Soviet Union had stopped and the work slowed down. the young people whose training in the Soviet Union had The Albanians had already spent a sum of 48 million leks for been so abruptly terminated. They were alive and well and what remained, month after month, a vast unfinished continuing their studies at the socialist University of Tirana. building in the middle of town. In April a shipment of Tj^ge^eniMii^oJjjiiejvoddj^or^^ materials actually arrived in the port of Durres but was had been hammered out and signed by the 81 communist withdrawn at once on the pretext that the materials ‘had parties at the 19 Moscow Gonference did not at all prevent been loaded by mistake and were not really intended for the Khrushchev revisionists from dragging the Soviet Union Albania.’ And at the end of the month all the Soviet the countries incr^asint^yjle]^ndent^nJtjiIon^jhej|oa^ specialists working on the building were suddenly withdrawn. and of capitulation to imperialism internationally and the resto^ 204 205 g n-vice of real peace in Asia, in defence of the sovereignty ation of capitalism m hump. A whole scries of events aJon f China and of the freedom ol the wor this retrograde paLli were analysed by the Albanian, Party to revolution.' Only China ot the states possessing nuclear demonstrate in the clearest way the profound differences ypnnns has ever piven a solemn undertaking, never to use between the opportunist line of the revisionist leadership ol J tHEKjjj^SASQj^^Ki jiicm lirs t . ‘While making a big fuss about the ‘aid’ which they give K?WiBr*Ta’iYrt bania and China, , the Vietnamese people,’ Mehmet Shehu continued, ‘the Two such events were the Cuban missile crisis and the Soviet revisionists leave no stone unturned to help the Unite Sino-Indian border dispute. ‘In the Cuban issue,’ the States subdue the historic struggle of the people of Vietnam Albanians pointed out, ‘Khrushchev acted both as an And while posing as friends of the Arab people, they betra adventurist and a capitulationist.’ Having placed rocket sites the Palestinian struggle in collaboration with United State on Cuban soil without considering the consequences, ‘he not imperialism.’ only made unilateral concessions to the United States The final proof of the correctness of Albania’s character Government by hastily withdrawing ll^m, but even exerted isation of Soviet revisionism came with the invasion and pressure on the sovereign slate of Cuba to accept the military occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968 — ‘Khrush- international control of U.S. imperialism operating through chevism without Khrushchev’, since Brezhnev who succeeded the United Nations in order to make good his promises to the deposed revisionist leader followed the same line. The President Kennedy.’ This was like the Soviet Government’s calm acceptance of this act of aggressioiiJaYJii&lJnite d Slates support of United Nations intervention in the Congo when a^j^Bii^jredvvitt^d the U.N. forces carried out die wishes of the United States by demonstrated just how far the collaboration between the destroying the liberation government and conniving at the US. and the U.S.S.R. in splitting die world into rys.pec.tiv murder of the popular Congolese leader, Patrice Lumumba. spheres of influence had gone in the twelve years between ‘In the Sino-Indian border conflict,’ the Albanians charged, 17c these two" events . Por sorhe time .AJDama naa neimer en ‘Khrushchev claimed to be neutral hut actually supplied allowed to nor had wished to play any part in the Warsaw military aid to the Indian reactionaries whose aggressive Pact in whose name the invasion was carried out. On ‘forward policy’ in disputed territory led to a frontier war September 12, 1968, Albania announced its withdrawal from against a socialist country.’ The magnanimity of the Chinese the Pact altogether. The Warsaw Treaty had been drawn up as in withdrawing from the territory in question having defeated a defensive association of socialist countries, but it had been the Indian forces and in releasing the prisoners taken and turned by the revisionist leadership of the Soviet Union into returning the arms captured, even repairing those which had ‘a tool to enslave the very countries participating in it.’ been damaged in the fighting, is probably unequalled in In the speech explaining Albania’s stand on the Warsaw history. Treaty. Mehmet Shehu described ’tne global strategy ottni Qf- the—ni-Wfinite lUittcu*v.».IreatY ml United States-Sovict alliance as peace in hurope — war" [Sjnn-nroliferation Treaty which the Soviet leadership signed Asia- And whv are all their spears pointed toward Asia: vyjth th* imneriiilist nowers to try to prevent China from Because there stands great People’s China which has become iirrji.irirur a.nnrW rapacity. Mehmei Shehu Said in a Speg^h an insurmountable obstacle to their imperialist and revisionis hf> Awmhly AVf wish jbp nuclear potential of | ft t plans for the domination of the world.’ CL_become even stronger >th Albania and China, neither of which has a-Slflulf light uip on the teachings 1 ( setting, are in cl are engaged in wars of suppression in man Ifield has gone a general bourgeois demoralisation over the Union whose army occupies a ‘fraternal country’ and whose Party paper, Zeri i Popullit, in an editorial on April 3, 1968, laid’ is used as a lever to dominate countries in the Middle described ‘the process of bourgeois degeneration developing East and elsewhere, as warlike! That is because both Albania in the sphere of culture, the arts, ethics and in the whole and China have remained bastions of socialism, continuing to manner of living. more difficult to differen support liberation struggles against i mperialism and to believe tiate between_the_cultural lite and way ojJlVlflfe in the kovie in the resistance to capitalism qT the working class in the , i im perialist countries themselves among whose numbe r the i class. Differentials between the Killian people out of their wages of workers in factories or on the land and directors, I in managers and professional experts became even greater than I i in in some capitalist countries where no proletarian revolution movement was tne close inenusmp pt uie wmuesc peopw ana had ever taken place. As Chinese crilmsjia^ ^ieirleadersjln his report to the Fifth Party Congress, Enver I Iox ha”said: ^ou may rest assured, comrades, that come to government organisations,^ the forccs_of what in the world at large, our two parties and our two yqpififllifiin TUP may wild in town and_cminJx^side Speculation, cornering the peoples will certainly remain together. They will fight r market, price rigging and cheating are the order of the day: together and they will win together.’ And Mao Tsetung capitalist roaders in enterprises and government team up in expressed the same idea: ‘An attack on Albania will have to grafting, embezzling, working for their own benefit at the reckon with great People’s China. If the U.S. imperialists, the expense of the public interest, dividing up the spoils and modern Soviet revisionists or any of their lackeys dare to taking bribes. Socialist, ownership of the whole neonle_h^ touch Albania in the slightest, nothing lies ahead for them degenerat ed into ownership by a nyj vjleged stratum, and-js but a complete, shameful and memorable defeat.’ manipula ted bv a handful of new hnurgeois elements Hundreds of years before, the Albanians under the ±J_JJQdg ’ lpcc f conquered by the has been a painful hfc«qrifrll ™ leadership of Scanderbcg had finally been because no allies were prepared And with thj;^ reflation. -iif. caoi talism in the economic invading armies of the Turks to join them in the struggle. Now many centuries later the revolution there have been particu- this continuing cultural Albanian people by their steadfast defence of socialism and following on Enver Hoxha’s larly sharp phases such as that their courage in the face of powerful enemies have won the 1966. ‘Our report submitted to the Fifth Party Congress in greatest anti most reliable ally they could wish for — People’s he said then, struggle for mastering Marxist-Leninist ideas,’ China. The Albanian people consider it an honour,’ Enver revolution, cannot ‘for 'deepening the ideological and cultural Hoxha has said, ‘and arc proud that they have friends and and be successfully carried out if all the Party members comrades-in-arms so loyal and resolute, in good as in bad working masses are not involved in it, and il the mass line, days, as the fraternal Chinese people.’ is not courage- the line of thorough socialist democrat isation, -1 " It. may seem at first a strange alliance — this tiny European ously implemented in a revolutionary wav. -Tn-pnL such a line country and this great Asian power; but they have certain against ie i nto practice a sharp stru&zle must be waged things in common in their past histories as well as in their Ijiatp V|^iirPPois mnrpntinn present political and economic systems, jiuii^ are of made up thporv. nhilosonhv cr-irnre^ and art ?rc inn Hit limit to be people who have for long occupied the same territory and | jrasped bv the masses, tha t they can only be grasped by developed a national identity which endured subjugation by ^^reT|^d^ntejj^^3sr|T^™w^lX|mea^Th^^^xism- foreign invaders. Both were semi-feuclal, semi-colonial countries at the time of waging liberation wars of epic- in It must have been thought that the economic blockade proportions which were also revolutionary wars. Both went which die Soviet leaders virtually joined hands with the forward to the building of socialist societies without passing imperialist powers to strangle Albania economically would through an intervening period of capitalist development, ; the redoubled soon bring about its financial ruin. But to enjoyed the leadership of great Marxist-Leninists who efforts of the Albanian people was added assistance from the were able to take over and develop creatively in application People’s Republic of China to prevent the Third Five Year to their own concrete conditions the revolutionary theory Plan from being sabotaged. It had been prophesied by the originated by Marx, amplified by Lenin and defended the by revisionists that having cut themselves off from Soviet aid Stalin. jBpth learning from the experiences of the betrayal of States cap in hand. No T Albanians would approach the United socialism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, have conceivable hardships could have prevailed on die Albanian waged unremitting struggles against revisionism within and people to do any such thing. InJu^ct^jvi^ without. the assistance o f the Chines- -,i the very time when The Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China destroyed Albanians «nnmiseH to have been brought totheir any hopes of the U.S. imperialists and Soviet revisionists that knpp. they ™ 9* inimprtanl new mdllStnaL they would ‘capture the fortress from within’. As Mehmet projects. ^ Shell u has said: ‘The Proletarian Cultural Revolution led by n headed bv Chou En-lai >\ i the end of 1963 a delegatio the the great Marxist-Leninist Mao Tsetung swept away all the .. Alhpni, m <; iren p then. the close bonds between muck in Chinese society, ol the visit purged the Chinese people’s two peoples. A join tstatement issued at the end , revolutionary ranks of the revisionists headed by China’s signed bv llhou kn-lai' and Mehmet Shehu. emphasised their Khrushchev, Liu Shao-chi, multiplied the forces and inten- agreement over the w hole held international affairs and on sified the revolutionary vitality of the Chinese people and ^^^co^ec^JjjjgJ^^^^^n^Too^hsnwndieir^twocountries. frustrated the counter-revolutionary hopes of the imperialists An "etUtomjTn^Zen™iPopuITi^or™^nuar^™n\T964, and revisionists.’ In Albania, too, it was necessary to deal commenting on the visit of the Chinese delegation concluded with their own early Khrushchev, happy Kogi Xoxe, and the fight with the following words: ‘The Albanian people arc against revisionist tendencies has ever since. But in for our gone on that comrade Chou En-lai has such a high regard 210 spare parts factory or the fully-automated textile Party and Government in respect to questions of internal Tirana near Herat, is of the highest, comparable if not superior socialist construction and external relations with other plant anything to be seen in the capitalist countries of the West. countries. This will inspire the Albanian people to carry on to with In connection with the setting up of new industrial greater determination their struggle along the correct Chinese specialists come to Albania and stay only so path charted by our Party headed by Comrade Enver projects as is necessary to pass on their skills to Albanians, often Hoxha. 1 long he People’s Republic of China has given and is still having learned Albanian for the purpose, l'hey live modestly giving our Republic valuable many-sided aid" in the spirit of proletarian on the same standard of remuneration as Albanian workers, internationalism. This is an important factor in and are very popular with the people. They give all the the socialist construction of Albania. We therefore express technical assistance they can but are c.:'eful not to try to our thanks to the People’s Republic of China.’ impose their own way of doing things on their hosts. The The gratitude of the Albanian people can be seen in Albanians cannot but compare this friendly and helpful spontaneous expression all over the country. ‘Long live the attitude to the conduct of the Soviet specialists after Stalin’s friendship ol the Albanian and Chinese peoples’ painted on death whose arrogance and selfishness made them quite factory walls and inscribed on banners streaming in the people. An engineer newly arrived breeze. They cun insufferable to a proud from Moscow not only expected sumptuous accommodation, spirit .m whiefr it R given heemise but might demand payment at four times the salary of the plavinp- 1 v hjdl-iulLpart in supporuTthe world struggle against President of the Albanian People’s Republic! In 1968 Enver Hoxha addressing the Tirana regional Party conference spoke of the delegation which had just visited given conscious China and signed an agreement by which Albania was o I the historic mission of their class. interest-free credits for the construction of 30 important new In his l%t) keport Enver floxa, as on many other projects. These included the metallurgic works at Elbasan occasions, returned to this theme of the revolutionary friendship which can process 800,000 tons of iron-nickel ore a year and between Albania and China. ‘Convinced that I am produce 250,000 tons of high grade rolled steel and the expressing the purest feelings of our militant people and our Party Fierza hydro-electric plant producing one billion seven comrades, allow me from the high tribune of this hundred million kilowatt hours a year. This, he pointed out, Congress to convey to the fraternal Chinese people and to was proletarian internationalism in its highest form — Chairman Mao Isetung our profound gratitude for the friendship mutual agreement on all questions providing invaluable aid they have given us.’ (Prolonged applause). and the of economic aid, not economic aid to buy / ihe Chinese on their side could not be more respectful of basis agreement. Albania’s sovereignty and independence. They repudiate any foreign policy, like that of China, has remained hint of the great nation chauvinism for which they have Albania’s firmly socialist in a world where so much else has been condemned Khrushchev and are well aware that Albania’s constantly shifting and changing. The two fundament al importance to them and to socialism lies precisely in its il inter- self-reliant ^rinci^Rs^jf^soc^ development as a socialist country in its own nationalism andT peace:ful co-existence^ re lc cling the class right. 1 he aid they give is designed to enhance Albania’s Sivisioi^oJAhe^worl^nto^h^woridn^MniasseSjmios^otjvhom independent socialist construction and by no means to tie the have yet to emancipate themselves, and the governments tha t Albanian economy to China’s. This aid is at once important and limited, representing about 10% of Albania’s external f I Proletarian internationalism is expressed by the Albanian trade. Its quality, as can be seen in the machine tools at the | IJ 212 213 m state and people in their fraternal support for all those the Chinese people have shattered the attempts of the United seeking to end their exploitation, whether bv a capitalist class isolate within their own countries or by capitalist governments rid. After a series of diplomatic victories by following colonial policies. the People’s Republic of China, President Nixon’s visit to As the Foreign Minister of Albania, Nesti Nase, said in a Peking was the final admission of the complete failure oi the speech delivered in New York on October 2nd, 1972, during policy of trying to shut China behind a great wall of the 27th session of the General Assembly of the United non-recognition. Nations: ‘As the representative of a country the noble that It has already been suggested in the United States principle of whose policy is the support of peoples fighting Albania must soon be recognised,, i for freedom and independence, 1 cannot remain silent in the he area increasingly exerted through face of the fact that these countries (of Asia, Africa and Yugoslavia. While the two super-powers, the United States Latin America) are the object of the greed of neo-colonialists and the Soviet Union, collude with each other in trying to who threaten their political independence and sovereignty, share world hegemony, ‘it would be unrealistic,’ as Knvcr nor can I fail at the time to express the full of same solidarity Hoxha has pointed out, ‘to see in the Sovict-American our people with their just, anti-imperialist anti-colonialist and alliance only the rapprochement and co-operation ol the struggle.’ two super-powers, their common actions and interests. In the time the Albanians, as Marxist-Leninists, At same view of their imperialist character, the United States and the that know revolutions cannot be exported. They have to be revisionist Soviet Union are also torn asunder by conflicts, by made the working masses themselves under their own rivalries and deep contradictions which prevent them from Marxist-Leninist leadership. There can never he any question acting always in harmony and in complete unity. The therefore of Albanian interference in the affairs of any other existence and worsening ol these contradictions are inherent sovereign slate, however much sympathy may be felt for the in the very foundation of that alliance, the social-capitalist victims of oppression there. What they can offer is their own system of the two countries, their imperialist designs. experience of how a correct line enabled them to overcome Preparing for war, the two parties also plan to devour one mendous odds. another.’ this important consideration which makes it possible It does not matter what motives may, lead the United roletarian internationalism with States t o the recognition of Albania. Albania’s relations with fh^ illnnpri states willhe based on precisely the same i as ations between states with different soci co-existence, of c ( > mpTete eq mil t y , obtain in a ama's other state relationships. If the United ercnce’in each other's internal affairs and trading agree States "cTicf resume correct ITaTc MaTOfiTwith XIFania, there can be little doubt that the British Government, quick h this basis Albania established diplomatic relations with enough to recognise reactionary regimes, would at last realise in Greece May, 1971, Greece having abandoned the territorial that no purpose is served in continuing to ignore the 30-ycar claims which had poisoned relations in the past. Relations old People’s Government of Albania. with Yugoslavia have also been much improved without Albania’s Foreign Minister in his United Nations speech Albania’s playing down in any way the great ideological referred to China as ‘an insurmountable obstacle to the plans differences between the two countries. of aggression and hegemony of the two super-powers. I he m ;w --ky 1iri ^ sT( - ntlv fouling Sir , * applauded last i Y rnrr fi^fllisl whole of progressive mankind enthusiastically foreign affairs while continuing to build socialism at home, vrar the restoration of the legitimate rights of the People’s 2 Republic ol‘ China in the United Nations. This represents a glowing victory of the great Chinese People’s Republic and of its just external policy, and at the same time a victory for all the peace-loving and freedom-loving peoples of the world. That was the crowning of the struggle that Member states, THK QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE NEW ALBANIA including the People’s Republic of Albania, have carried on unceasingly for over 20 years to put an end to the incredible Chapter Sixteen situation that had been created in our Organisation. The presence of the People’s Republic of China in the United Socialist Man at Leisure Nations has strengthened many-fold the struggle of the anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist forces even here in the But having tried to explain the historical development of Organisation, the struggle of peace-loving member states Albania and the revolutionary struggles of the Albanian against the two great imperialist powers and in favour of the people to create a new society, one is still left with the rights of peoples and the cause of peace.’ question of what the Albanian people are like, at work, at So these two socialist peoples are linked by the closest play, in their daily relationships with each other. What is the fraternal bonds and just as China demonstrates that no quality of life in socialist Albania? country is too large and loo populous for democratic The Albanians are disciplined and hard working but they centralism Albania proves that no country is too small and are neither puritanical nor austere. Moral laxity ol any kind is too sparsely populated to build a socialist society by its own ruled out by social disapproval and there are certainly no independent effort. displays in public of behaviour even mildly offensive, but what one notices most in any place where Albanians are gathered together is their natural gaiety and good humour. They frown on the extravagant fashions exhibited by some young visitors to Albania from the west because they are very concerned about the influence on Albanian youth of the outlandish ideas of extreme individualism and self expression which are characteristic of the alienated youth ol capitalist countries. But Albanian women, who are very good looking, dress attractively, use cosmetics and wear bikinis on the beaches as the most sensible form of swimwear. Indeed, the vast sandy beach at Durres or any of the other excellent bathing resorts along the beautiful coast of the Adriatic and Ionian seas all the way down to Saranda, are good places to observe the Albanians in a holiday mood. Their liking lor active sports in the open air and sunshine accounts for the strong, lithe, bronzed bodies of this handsome people. One of their greatest pleasures is simply the enjoyment of each other’s company. In every town or city the evening promenade is a feature of social life. At the end ol the day’s work the whole population comes out into the. broad 216 217 boulevards, to stroll about greeting friends, to have coffee or suggest, as will be seen, that there are no problems any more something to cat in one of the many open-air cafes or in connection with this aspect of life; but the context in restaurants in this warm country whole families to three which solutions can be sought is provided by a collective generations taking the fragrant summer air together or young concern with the role of the family in socialist society as, in couples walking hand in hand or, perhaps, happy bands of Enver Hoxha’s words, ‘the general spiritual atmosphere children weaving in and out of the crowds in some coloured by the ideals of parents and grown-up members of extemporised game. the family, their attitude toward labour and their con- There is something strange to the visitor from the West in tribution to society, which exert a decisive influence on the seeing children running about through the streets in such formation and cultivation of young people as future workers, abandon without any surveillance. In his towns they would citizens and revolutionaries.’ soon be decimated by traffic. In Albania, after the end of the Or the evening crowds may seek various forms of working day, there are no lorries nor motor cars to be seen entertainment in the local palace of culture where there are and the streets and avenues belong entirely to the people for recitals, concerts, pageants or plays. They may go to cinemas their communal perambulation which gives each wide where a growing number of the films shown are Albanian. thoroughfare the appearance of a fair ground. They may enjoy the presentation in some large auditorium of There are no private cars in Albania. Though motor cars that ever popular form, Estrada, which is the Albanian and lorries are not yet made there, the export surplus is equivalent of the music hall - with acts by singers, musicians ample to buy from abroad all the transport needed and there and acrobats, with dramatic sketches and comic turns. And in are the skills and factories to service them and supply all the are all these amusements and cultural activities the audiences spare parts required. At first cars were made available to not merely passive in their enjoyment. Not only do they individual citizens on a points system, as in the Soviet Union participate in the sense that every performance of any kind or Eastern Europe, but some owners were charging those who has developed collectively under the guidance ol constructive did not possess them yet for lifts and there was keen criticism which everyone feels free to give but also because a competition to get one’s name higher up on the list. This was large proportion of any gathering will belong themselves to seen as generating the kind of selfish bourgeois ethics rooted some cultural group which no factory, school, office, in private possession. So all cars were withdrawn and co-operative farm nor institution of any kind is without. gathered into pools from which collectives can take what Indeed one has the impression that in leisure hours a good they need for work or recreation or for the use of foreign half of the population is always actively engaged in enter- guests. The effort and investment which might have gone into taining the other half. supplying individual families with cars has gone instead into National holidays celebrating the founding of the People’s developing an excellent system of public transport with fares Republic, historical anniversaries, victories in the liberation constantly being reduced toward the point of a completely war or in socialist construction raise to a higher degree the free system of transport. festive feeling to be encountered in the streets of the major If the sight of so many family groups of grandparents, towns. The broad treelined avenue leading Irom the statue oi parents, children and even children’s children walking, talking Scandcrbeg in the centre of Tirana to the University on the and taking refreshment together raises the question of why outskirts of the city will be filled with representatives of the family relationships are so strong and satisfactory, the answer Democratic Front organisations, of factories and larms, of the every one gives is that there is no economic restraint armed services and young pioneers, marching past the whatsoever compelling families to stay together. The only reviewing stand near the Dajti Hotel under billowing red bond is that of mutual love and respect. That is not to banners, shouting revolutionary slogans and paying their 218 219 the sound of the constantly repeated toast Gezuer! — good respects to Party and state leaders and guests from abroad. health! There is much moving about and groups at the tables In country districts, too, there are regular occasions when are broken up and reform as old comrades are discovered and thousands of people from the area and friends invited from greeted affectionately. One of the good survivals of feudal the towns and the capital come together to celebrate some customs, along with the open-handed hospitality one en- local event — like the annual fete at the village of Billisht, counters all over Albania, deepened and given a new fraternal some fifteen miles from Korga, in honour of the formation of significance by socialism, is the close demonstrative friend- the First Batallion of partisans during the liberation war. ship between men. Partisans seeing each other after an Driving to the site of the gathering along a bumpy dusty road interval embrace and kiss warmly. Moving about as freely and one secs streams of people walking along paths or across greeted as affectionately are the Party and State leaders who fields, men dressed in their best dark suits and often carrying have come from Tirana to join in the celebrations - the their shoes in their hands, the women in traditional peasant Foreign Minister who is also a deputy from this region, an costumes, red blouses, full gaily printed skirts and sandals, ambassador, several members of the Political Bureau and the older men wearing their medals, bereaved mothers of Enver Hoxha’s younger sister. partisans killed in the fighting crying a little as they greet Moving also among the tables are rhapsodes who extem- their dead sons’ comrades and children shouting and laughing porise songs for any occasion in the complicated polyphonic as they hurry toward the scene of the day’s festivities. style of Albanian folk music dressed traditionally in white On rising ground a grove of acacias provides shade from caps, pleated white skirts and blouses with brown trimming the hot sun. All around the grove are bulletin boards with and decorated with big black pompoms. They sing of the pictures of the activities of the co-operatives in the area and changes in the lives of the people brought by twenty-five the achievements of the rural electrification programme. years of socialism, of the advance toward communism. A Strung overhead arc banners inscribed with such slogans as young girl accompanied by her husband playing the clarinet Rrofte Partie c Punes c Shqiperise Long live the Albanian sings a exhorting to respond to the Party’s Party song women of Labour, Shqiperi, ‘land of the eagles’, is the call. Some of the men have formed circles in the bright Albanians’ name lor their country; and among the dances sunshine outside the grove and are performing energetic- performed by the men in the course of the merrymaking will dances joined, to the enjoyment of those watching, by- be the famous eagle dance. Other banners wish a long life to ministers and high Party officials. Enver Iloxha or set out the main themes to be taken up in a This gay, colourful gathering in a country district, finding brief political meeting by a representative of the Central in old forms of music, dance and song an expression of their Committee, perhaps the veteran partisan Birro Kondi whose revolutionary feelings about the new Albania, this informal brother also a great partisan fighter died in an accident after — democracy of a comradeship in common tasks and aspira- the war ‘Without unmasking revisionism one cannot defeat tions which embraces everyone, no matter in what special imperialism’ and ‘the people of Albania and China’s millions capacity he may serve, conveys as adequately as anything are more than a match for any enemy’. The local Party- could the quality of life in socialist Albania today. Secretary speaks of the changes in Albania’s countryside and, specifically, in the Billisht district. Then the vast crowd, more than 20,000, move to the long tables under the trees which are piled high with roast chickens and slabs ol lamb, home made bread, cream cheese, boiled eggs, tomatoes and corn on the cob. Vast quantities of very good cold beer are drunk during and after the feast to 221 220 Not only have those who were born and brought up under socialism adapted themselves more quickly to production work in the new factories, they have also taken the lead in the ideological struggle against bad customs from the past and religious superstition. To help put an end to the old subjection of women, hundreds of girls came together in an Chap ter S even teen area where feudal traditions were strongest and as a political act renounced the betrothals which their parents had Youth and Education contracted for them when they were only children. In many towns and districts young people acting on their own Albania, for all its continuous history of a people occupying initiative have taken over and converted into gymnasia or the same territory for thousands of years and preserving their cultural centres mosques, churches and basilicas which had cultural identity through countless vicissitudes, for ail its fallen into disuse. alone wealth ol ancient monuments and living traditions of the Before the war of all European countries Albania colonial and semi-colonial countries ol Asia, past, gives the impression of being a young country. This is resembled the and illiteracy. partly the rejuvenating effect of the new social system which Africa and Latin America in respect to poverty the population was illiterate and was born out of the liberation war, is now vigorous and In 1938 more than 80% of it was as high as 95%. Albania was thriving and has a glorious future to look forward to. But it is in parts of the countryside single university. also because there is, in fact, a high preponderance of the only country in Europe without a children and young people compared with other European The struggle against illiteracy began during the war among of countries. The population undei (he conditions of socialism the partisan units and in the liberated areas. In a resolution were recommended has doubled since the war. Ear from creating problems this the Party in March, 1943, communists growth in numbers has remedied the chronic under- ‘to spread culture in the countryside, to organise courses population of the country, which resulted from the hard against illiteracy in order to give our peasants the capacity to lormcr conditions of the leu dal past. Albania was and still remains a participate in the benefits of culture which the country with too few people — particularly with the reactionary regimes had denied them.’ expansion of agriculture to four times its pre-war level of After the war the campaign against illiteracy was waged on production and the tremendous all round development of two fronts — teaching all men and women up to 40 years of industry. age to read and write and establishing a network of schools to In any factory or industrial enterprise one is struck by the prevent the emergence of new illiterate masses. youth of the workers, the great majority of whom are under Organisations of youth and women and the trade unions thirty. In the Tirana spare parts factory, for example, 80% of were mobilised in this campaign under the slogan: ‘In order the 1700 workers are below thirty years of age and of the to build we must acquire knowledge and in order to acquire 55% of the labour force who are women the greater knowledge we must be able to study and learn.' Tens of proportion are girls of twenty and younger — operating thousands of those previously illiterate were enrolled in night machines which in the older industrialised countries would schools without giving up production work, graduating first only be handled by male operators well beyond their first from elementary classes, then from seven grade schools and youth. The same is true of men and women directors, even completing secondary and higher school courses. By specialists and Party and trade union representatives a great 1955 illiteracy among all those under 40 had been wiped out number of whom are in their early thirties. and not long afterward it was abolished among older people 222 223 too. I’he night schools were maintained to consolidate this educational system. Those with the best technical quali- achievement and to keep people, particularly in the rural areas, from slipping back again. fications for teaching posts in the early days of a new The socialist state — and in a country as educationally backward educational system which was established aims at the all as Albania had been, the choice would not be — round development of the younger generation to prepare wide might be the least qualified politically to fit youth for its role in the them to take an active part in the construction of a new socialist new society. Instead of preparing young people to make their society. ‘Its task is to impart to young men and social contribution by putting collective women sound scientific knowledge, to inculcate the Marxist- above self-interest Leninist world and teaching them to defend the workers socialist state, outlook, to give them professional skill and a coirect schools could become centres of bourgeois influence paving attitude toward work, to imbue them with the spirit °f the way ideologically for the restoration of capitalism. socialist patriotism and proletarian internationalism, thus The movement in Albania for revolutionising education ensuring their moral, physical and cultural education.’ The had from the beginning taken the double directional form of system includes pre-school education from three to seven the mass line from the masses to the leadership and from years of age, general education (the eight year schools) from seven the leadership to the masses. It could only begin when the to fifteen, vocational training in a short nine month political consciousness of the masses had reached such a level course or a full two year general course of technology and highei that they could themselves become critical of survivals from education at the University for three or four years. the past of attitudes and institutions inimical to socialism. In I he 1 irana State University has many departments covering 1965, revolutionary students, particularly in the educational 29 special studies and there are branches in most of the major establishments of the capital city Tirana, becoming aware of cities. The system also includes night and correspondence schools for adults. the discrepancy between Marxism-Leninism and the methods by which they were taught, and the content of that teaching, By 1963 the educational system had developed to the began to demand a new relationship between teachers and point where every man and woman in the country was obliged students, the right to have a say in the choice of texts and the to complete the course of the eight year schools. In planning of courses and closer contacts with the production 1969 in 4,971 schools compared with 674 before the war, centres where they would be working on leaving school. there were 543,031 students as against the pre-war number of Lnver Hoxha welcomed this initiative and formulated 58,339. Vocational schools were training 22,800 specialists as random complaints and criticisms into a revolutionary against 1,511. The greater proportion of students in eight strategy for overhauling this whole vital of society. In year and high schools are boarders and of the 19,500 student section his great speech to the Fifth Party Congress November l, boarders 13,300 receive full state scholarships and 3,500 half on stressed the scholarships. There are no tuition fees in Albania. 1966, he need of linking teaching and education much closely to life But having created the basic system of education the more and labour. Speaking not only as a Marxist-Leninist country since about 1965 has entered a new phase of but as one who had been a teacher himself, at the political improving the system qualitatively to correspond with the Korga academy before his dismissal on grounds, he explained the political of an ‘unceasing needs of the further development of socialist society. This necessity development of education the of socialist has meant nothing less than revolutionising both the methods to meet demands of teaching society;’ and pointed out that ‘Our schools, for all the and the content of courses. It is really the point improvement in teaching education, have not yet rid Marx made in the Feuerbach theses about ‘educating the and themselves of bourgeois pedagogy' revisionist influences educators’ and it represents one of the most serious problems and ... It is indispensable to revolutionise further the edu- confronting any society in establishing a truly socialist cational system ... It is particularly necessary to take radical 224 225 measures for the improvement of ideological and political educational commission drawing its members from the fields education and for educating youth through labour . . . There of education, industry and mining, from slate farms and is still too much formalism and verbalism, passivity on the co-operatives, from the mass organisations of youth and part of pupils and stilling the personality of the young on the women and from the ranks of physicians, musicians, writers part of the teachers, too officialdom much in the relations and philosophers. It was considered that such varied repre- between teachers and pupils resulting in conservative and sentation was necessary to ensure the co-ordination of patriarchal methods of . education . . There can be no talk of schools with the whole economic and social development of revolutionising our schools without revolutionising the great the country and to sort out priorities in the course of army of teachers who must set the example of a communist demands for trained personnel made on behalf of each of attitude toward labour life.’ and these fields of activity. He exposed the root of the problem in the detachment of In the schools and in the University teachers and pro- schooling from the rest of community life as a special realm fessors had to adopt new methods and learn to accept the where the teacher is dominant and everything is subjected to criticism of students as part of their own socialist rehabili- its pedagogical aspect; ‘and yet teachers have usually been tation. A few found the extension of democratic centralism entirely cut off from production. They felt the needs and to the educational system, with students taking an active role profited Irom the changes in our economy but in their in organising school life, too much of a break with the old teaching they pursued methods which were completely academic traditions they had hoped to see re-established. anachronistic. I he Party personnel who were mainly con- They were released to go into production work, perhaps, to cerned with the political, economic and ideological trans- return to teaching when they have learned from workers the formation of our country were not interested enough in socialist ideology of the working class. And students, too, schools to appreciate the changes that needed to be made in had to learn more thoroughly that socialist education has their development.’ nothing to do with getting a degree in order to become ‘a The context in which these revolutionary changes could be man of authority’ or to ‘secure a comfortable post with a fat made the was understanding that ‘Life is a great school and salary’. A student is judged not on the marks he gets in school itself nothing but an integral part of life. Therefore competition with his fellows but on the help he gives others the school should be closely and harmoniously linked with in mastering subjects. So successful has this approach proved the activities, the work and thought of men in society, that in such places as the Tirana Secondary School of Culture serving them, through and them, society as a whole . . . Our students through mutual aid in lessons have realised a schools are not merely to provide additional personnel for hundred percent promotion rate and earned commendation government and planning departments but to turn out en for their exemplary tidiness and protection of socialist masse people equipped with the knowledge and science to property. play their full role as socialist citizens. Learning and Courses in Marxism-Leninism were made a living part of education should not be considered as a means of speculation the curriculum and not just a routine subject to be got and personal profit, it as is in bourgeois countries, but as a through in a mechanical way. Texts and lectures on dialec- powerful weapon in the hands of the new men of socialist tical and historical materialism were related to Albania’s own society, in order to build our society, to promote our revolutionary history and students and teachers learned to common socialist production and to develop socialist culture apply the principles of scientific socialism to their own in the service of our society.’ problems and those of their society. And since practice is the At Lnvcr Iloxha’s suggestion the Fifth Party Congress set essence of Marxism-Leninism, students and teachers began to up, under the direct supervision of the Central Committee, an participate more actively in the political and economic life of 226 227 ihc country, leaving their books and laboratories to study the on, the working masses, primarily the working class and application year of theory on the production and social front. those parents who wished to take part. Many of the What all this ferment amounted to was carrying class discussions were held in the large production centres where sliuggle, the conlrontation between bourgeois and socialist so that their ideology, views could be exchanged with workers into the schools where the youth of the country were recommendations on making education respond to the being formed. Enver Hoxha returning to the subject of could be taken into account ‘(he further requirements of production and revolutionising of our schools’ in a speech to the for completing the Political the working class could be mobilised Bureau in March 1967 described what was hap- of the schools begun by the students them- pening in the revolutionising educational system. ‘During all this process of restless, selves. not spontaneous but genuinely revolutionary development, For over a year public discussions and debates took place the struggle of opposites creates progress and the dialectical from one end of Albania to the other with complete freedom development of opposites brings about a All proposals qualitative transformation for everyone to make any suggestions he liked. which takes our society from a contradictory or not provided high stage of socialist offered, whether they were achievement to a still higher one. In 7 the general principles of this major revolution they were not at variance with the decisive role is played by the masses guided by the socialism, were collected in a final document which was then communist party of the proletariat and its resubmitted for further discussion. During this vast demo- Marxist-Lcninist ideology ... Our schools are an important exercise, which was fully reported at every stage by arena in this process.’ cratic press radio, over meetings were held attended by As much as had and 21,000 already been done, he called l'or further efforts 600,000 people, or more than half the adult population of still to make ‘our schools forges of the new the whole country 7 at which contributions were made and communist , man of sound political and theoretical outlook, with the recorded by 160,000 individual citizens. As Mehmet Shehu keen appreciation and taste of a Marxist- Leninist corroborated in practice revolutionary, summed up the discussions: They endowed with a daring, creative and realistic the principle that the socialist revolution forges ahead spirit... Our schools must play their full part in the through class struggle with the active participation of the ideological battle to prevent socialist Albania from ever masses who are not only the object but also the subject of changing its red revolutionary colour.’ the ideological and cultural revolution.’ i his address was followed by the setting up of a Central When the results of this great national forum on education Commission on education to continue the work of the in a report previous had been finally co-ordinated they were embodied commission but on a broader mass basis. It was submitted to the Central Committee in June 1969 and headed by the great wartime leader and member of the unanimously approved. Among the practical steps taken after Political Bureau, Mehmet Shehu, who convened a national the public discussions were the following: forum on education at Tirana in April. ‘Abiding always by All students graduating from secondary school are required the mass line,’ he told those assembled at the meeting, ‘our work before Puity to undergo a probationary period at production has made it a habit to consult the masses before taking institution. No one any important being admitted to any higher educational decision. Iherefore in connection with the has not for one year as a simple labourer and further revolutionisation who worked of our schools the Party considers it the of his or her workers’ collective will be necessary to received approval organise a public discussion throughout the passed for further education. country on every aspect of this question.’ Schools will provide courses at all levels and at suitable I hose taking part in the nation-wide forum were all in part-time teach eis times to accommodate workers and peasants without exception and ail students from the ninth education while continuing in their jobs, during which period 228 229 - they will work only a six seven hour day while being paid at the tasks of co-operative farms; and even the children from tull rate. 1 to thirteen in the pioneer camps help with the cooking and Pre-school education will be extended to all children serving of meals, keeping the cabins and grounds clean and between three and six years of age and the age for starting doing an hour’s work a day in the vegetable gardens or in the school will be lowered from seven to six. fields. The same high spirits and cheerful enthusiasm that go Schools will be provided for national minorities into games and athletic contests go also into this collective particularly those in which of Greek is taught as well as work out in the sunshine amid the scenic splendour Albanian. Albania’s magnificent mountains or along its varied coastline Secondary schools will be places not simply for study but of sandy beaches and coves or rocky spines plunging sheer lor study and work with at least a quarter of the student’s into the blue translucent water of the Adriatic. They look time devoted to production. well on it, Albania’s youth, bronzed and fit and happy; and Examinations lay too much stress on rote learning. they are learning from their earliest age the value of things in Students should study systematically over the whole course terms of the muscular toil, sweat and dexterity that go into °1 the,r ^cation not to receive marks but to become useful making them. It is an appreciation of value in this practical to society. sense that underlies the understanding of, and the response I he idea that the most suitable method of teaching is from to, all spiritual and cultural values. books, that only theory learned from books is culture must The pioneer camp at Durres is named Genial Stafa alter be opposed. Theory is derived died from practice, is enriched by the secretary of the Communist Youth section who pracuce !s confirmed by under practice and corrected by practice*. heroically in the war. The cabins and play grounds are c H,ca that secondary vocational schools train middle pine trees in sight of the sea. The 1,600 children are divided gn-ade, technicians, that gymnasia turn out employees and that into four battalions which plan their own activities and he who has completed higher education must necessarily be compete with each other in sports. They learn about the appointed a cadre is a careerist and bourgeois conception history of their country and current socialist developments Every one serves wherever he is needed. by mounting their own exhibitions of photographs, drawings While students are free to comment and criticise and are and captions. They visit factories and the dock area and meet encouraged to participate in the organisation of school life workers who explain their jobs to them; and well known there must also he proletarian discipline. ‘The spirit of this workers, heroes of labour from the mines or various discipline which should guide both teachers and students has industrial enterprises, come to the camp to lecture and watch nothing in common with indifferentism and liberalism, with the children’s games. petty bourgeois anarchy and violation of rules, with abuse of One popular game is the re-enactment of episodes Irom the democratic rights or accentuating only rights and forgetting partisan fighting when some veteran has described the event o > lgations. 1 roletarian discipline requires ' the all round to them; but it is difficult to get the game started because no development of criticism and self-criticism on the part of child wants to play the part ol the fascists. After the game is teachers and students alike. over both sides kiss each other. Every night a company of a During vacations there are holiday camps for young people hundred children with two blankets and some food go up and pioneer camps for children. Just as study is combined hills out and learn about camping. There arc- W,th into the to sleep work 111 school play is > combined with work in these music, drama and physical education teachers on the staff camps m the mountains or on the coast. Youth groups can be are assisted people who come out from town to help. seen who by everywhere during the summer the planting trees on the To visit the Qcmal Stafa pioneer camp just behind hillside, terracing abrupt slopes or, perhaps, helping in the sandy shore of the Adriatic, to see the children playing and 230 231 working, completely free but already disciplined, too, from t teir life at school and in the family and already expressing in their games and activities a wholesome collective spirit is to recognise that Albania’s socialist future is assured. Chapter Eighteen Women and the Socialist Family Before the war in the northern regions of Albania a rigid Canon feudal social system, codified under the name of the to this of Lek Dukagjini, was strictly observed. According canon which had been formulated in the Middle Ages and is entitled to still dominated social relations ‘the husband his beat his wife and to tie her up in chains when she defies beat, tie in . father is entitled to word and orders . . The 1 wile is chains, imprison or kill his son or daughter ... he obliged to kneel in obeisance to her husband.’ In central and southern Albania the position of women was not much better. Religious superstition had a strong grip on people. By Mohammedan law a man was permitted four wives and could divorce any of them by a simple unilateral declaration. A woman was not even present at the celebration oi her own wedding and she had no rights in her children. Catholicism in enslavement and its most mediaeval form supported the same degradation of women and tortured them spiritually as well. The end of those enslaving customs began during the liberation war when women, shoulder to shoulder with men, a double fought all the fiercer to emancipate themselves from were oppression. Ranged opposite them on the battlefield not only the fascist occupying forces, but those reactionary Albanian elements that supported them, feudal chieftains like John Markagjon, religious leaders and, indeed, all who in wcie wanting to sec the country remain as it had been condemning women to the old life of servitude. Heroines Margarita who died in the war like Zoja Curre, Buie Najpi, Mytevcliu, Tutulani, Liri Gerro, Qcriba Deri, Floresha Bukurie Bazo and Penelope Pirro had not only ensured the freedom of Albania but also the freedom of women in an 232 233 Albania from which the disgrace by the of the past enshrined in such of domestic work, by all the steps taken infamous lightening social laws as the Canon had been exercise the equality legally granted expunged bv state to enable them to their blood. putting the relations between them has played a major part in The Constitution adopted alter the war guaranteed footing as well as making a tremendous to the sexes on a new women absolutely equal rights Enver Hoxha said with men in the political, contribution to socialist construction. As economic and social life the further ol the country; but it Central Committee in 1967 on was in in a speech to the establishing a socialist base for society emancipation of women: ‘Only that the Party and struggle for the complete people cut off the roots of leminine give us an adequate idea ol subjection in the actual life in all its grandeur can institution of private property. free in the emancipation Feudal economic interests what a great vital force the Party set had given birth to the talent lay hidden in this ‘superiority’ of the nude over the of women. What progressive creative 1 cm ale, to patriarchal marvels they are doing authority over children, to loveless creat part of our population. What marriages contracted by parents, with what incalculable moral to the disdain for girls who, and will be doing hereafter and since they would belong to our socialist life! someone else anyway as far as and material values they will enrich succession rights were workers in all Albania, concerned, might as well be sold off or In 1938 there were 668 women got rid of. Economic interests ten hour day for in bourgeois society also make mostly girls of 14 or 16 working a women dependent women, which on men and children dependent on appallingly low wages. By .1967 over 248,000 parents and, since there is no real freedom beyond workers, were engaged in production the limits is 42% of rural and urban set by economic dependence With the exception and the laws of private property work on exactly the same terms as men. and inheritance, any apparent be injurious to then freedom of women takes of hard or dangerous jobs which would purely individualistic forms and the liberation of industry where of women does there is no profession and no branch not health, exist only ‘the emancipation and in some sectors of the coquettes of the they are not employed at every level; bourgeoisie’. Socialism by abolishing as in textiles at /3/o, private property, they are a majority of the work force, creating equal economic rights and sanitation at 69 /o. providing social education food processing 52% and public health and oi children knocks the props out in the from under the submission Bv 1967 there were 40 women representatives ol women to men and children to parents. elected to the People’s Enver Hoxha People’s Assembly, 10,878 had been describes the socialist emancipation of Courts (also 36 /o) and women ‘led by our Councils (36%), 1168 to the People’s Party as not a feminist movement but ol Labour; but at the advancement of 8,200 were members of the Albanian Party women to equal rights with in was criticised men all fields so that they only 12% of the total membership this figure march together shoulder to shoulder time of the with the same senti- by Enver Hoxha as much too low and by the ments, aims and ideals toward of women in the communism.’ Socialism Sixth Party Congress in 1971 the proportion transforms the relations between the population of just over two sexes into entirely Party had risen to 22%. Out of a personal relations. organised in the Women s million there are 300,000 women But not at once and not simply factory managers, mechanically by creating Union and women play a leadership role as the economic conditions for such a of the planning commis- transformation. Here too trade union secretaries and members theie is the need lor ideological struggle between old customs S1 and ways ol thought and lacilitics for new, a class struggle between the There has been a campaign for more training feudal or bourgeois women, the conception of marriage and the relations of women. Although 37% of all technicians arc the sexes and the admitted to the socialist conception. proportion receiving specialised training or Certainly the drawing ol University of I irana is women into every sphere of institutes of higher education and the ot productive and social life by There is a general awareness the provision of creches, by the still considered unsatisfactory. 234 235 *° ra,S the number » f have taken readily to women in those branches of It could nol be said that all men industry f. where they are still not promoting the role of women ^ sufficiently represented like these changes. In his speech on englne rmg; con5truclion work society to the Central Committee, Enver Iloxha n and machine in socialist makingmiking-especially since young prejudices have been women in the tractor had to admit that ‘although many machine shop at Tirana have thought we had set demonstrated their ability to removed, we would be erring if we handle all types of machinery. everything right and could leave it to time to correct any Nol only does the full political and . . . Despite economic, participation of women in pro- remaining deficiencies ductmn contribute to the many people, and solution of the continuing proWcm ideological advances there still exist among ' “ char communists, erroneous patriarchal attitudes. ^ “ “tcristic oft socialist even among economveconomy as unemployment is the men of Albania to banish of capitalism; but it Mehmet Shchu appealed to important is also pohticaHy. ‘Women of male chauvinism which were inimical to workers,’ Stalin has said, forever remnants W° 5 within the family and to write to him ^ thC 8rcatcst reserve of the socialist relations workfnT*working class.TvThis reserve they had taken to represents half the population On personally about some practical step whether this reserve of women is with or against the remedy this defect. class working depends the destiny of because it did not pass through a the proletarian movement thf Albania, probably °r dcfeat of phase in which commodity exchange dominates proletarian revolution and the capitalist triumphIriitT 01 relationships, is defeat oi proletarian state power.’ culture and commodities mediate all human The complete emancipation free of the commoditisation of sex in terms ot of women to share fully in completely production work depends of the debasement of women like pornography on establishing new socialist various forms relations in the family bourgeois voyeurism of Western ‘arts’ and as well as on the stale creation of or the general conditions enabling other wrong attitudes about relations women to combine their roles of workers ‘literature’; but there are and motliers They must stemming from the backwardness oi also be delivered from the between men and women of drudgery household chores and ideas about love exist among us,’ Enver liberated from any survivals of the past. ‘Erroneous U,tU as something CS ' S ' often love is stigmatised Part achicved >’ ' Hoxha has said, ‘Very ' y b du Equate provisionnnvidon off crechesh andTnursery women to moral laxity and men to schools at minimal costs, by immoral which leads Ieso nothing to do canteen mea,s at midday, by degeneracy. But if there is anything which has foodfond ,T half-cooked which canTbe picked love.’ To explain the socialist up on the way home and quickly with these vices it is genuine prepared m the evening, the sexes he quoted Engels by launderettes and other labour attitude toward relations between dcvlccs love morc important is based on love is moral and it is only where ' the reconsideration of ‘that marriage th™rthe division f o f labour within the exists too’; and Marx s dictum that the household itself. If there is exists that real marriage ° always be W men Cann °‘ d °’ k foUows that development of a given historical period can no ‘here is also work,work Thlike domestic tasks, of women toward which is peculiarly theirs determined by the degree of progress Many of these tasks can be done by older freedom, for the triumph of human nature is manifested most up children brought with a correct attitude toward between husband and wife.’ work; but men, par- clearly in the relations tieuiariy are learning to not only a take their full share of domestic Problems of the family and family relations arc responsibilities, dropping off whole. Even young children at creches on private concern but the concern of society as a "ay *° work do,n are good ’ S ‘he shopping, dividing the housework comrades devoted to the line of the Party who nd hclr . wives are spirit may "V attending night school or undergoing workers endowed with a commendable socialist ’ ' ' family which is incompat- 8 S thL Wholc bmden of domestic allow themselves behaviour in the chores permitted to ible with communist ethics, this cannot be 236 237 continue without prejudicing underpopulated country m the role of the family as the births because Albania is an child limit s first introduction to socialist life. At the same time which all births arc welcomed. the Party must remember the and the socialist transfor- delicate and complicated In the emancipation of women nature of family relations aspects of social and avoid any intervention not mation of family relationships, as in all other guided by tact and good judgement. not claim to have solved all life, the Albanians would In June 1965 a new Family for them that family Code was approved elaborating problems finally; but it can be claimed certain rights guaranteed in the Constitution example of the wholesome and it came into today is already a happy force life m 1966. Amongst its provisions are problems die right way the following: results of setting about solving those Marriage is contracted with the free will of husband and in the right social context. Wife and rests on solid feelings of love, equality and mutual respect. Only monogamous marriages are recognised. Partners in marriage can choose as their surname that of husband or wife or each may keep his or her original name or add them together. A wife can choose her work or profession without her husband s permission and the handling of the family income is managed by mutual agreement. Personal property held by either before marriage remains 1IS 01 he™ and anything acquired afterwards is joint property. All children regardless of sex are entitled to equal s lares in the inheritance of joint personal property and the wife is the heir of first rank. Divorce is allowed when a marriage has lost all meaning and cohabitation has become intolerable. Causes for divorce are continuous quarrels, maltreatment, breach of conjugal .h’ P^nanent mental illness or punishment for serious ciimes 1 here is no distinction between husband or wife in the right to sue lor divorce and the rearing of children is confided to that parent who in the court’s opinion is better qualified to bring them up. All parental rights belong to both parents equally and disagreements are settled by tutelage committees or by the courts. 7 Single mothers enjoy all due respect and the state guarantees their economic security and protection. Children born outside marriage are equal in every way to those born within. Abortions are allowed after consultation with a committee of doctors. Birth control is a matter of personal choice. There is no family planning in the sense of national campaigns to 238 239 years. Now it thousand and the average span ol life only 38.3 is 68 years. . not only, Even before liberation partisan field hospitals conditions of health treated the wounded but improved the partisan dispensary set up in the in the rural areas. The wounded ol Ramica caves near Vlora in 1943 to care for the hospital and was Chapter Nineteen the Battle of Gjormi became the first field Kuq, followed by the establishment of other field hospitals at inaccessible to the Health Polican, Voskopoja and other places that the public health enemy. It was out of these beginnings Belore the war Albania’s backwardness was reflected in the service developed. incidence of those the war was to provide Iree diseases most characteristic of primitive The first step taken after poverty-stricken countries - for everyone and free medical service to malaria, tuberculosis, syphilis medical examination and trachoma. People infected the state and their lamilies, to all with tuberculosis kept it quiet those employed by in order not to wreck and children under the age a family economy already precarious suffering from contagious diseases enough extended to the particularly in the north where undernourishment of four. By 1963 the free medical service was was prevalent and meals long a person may be ill often consisted of a single chunk of entire population. No matter how maize he pays bread. and no matter what the expenses of his treatment But the disease causing the most harm was malaria. The absolutely nothing. swampy coastal region that the health service made Albania one of the most From the beginning it was intended malarial countries in the all the inhabitants of any distiict world. Even in the higher areas of should be preventive and Kor^a and Pogradey, district clinic. On a which are now health resorts, stagnant are under regular observation at the water provided the opened and Irom then on breeding grounds for mosquitoes; and person’s first examination a file is what are today the is kept under constant review. most fertile fields in the south were the condition of his health utterly deserted particularly children and because of malaria. Half the population was Hygienic instruction is given to all — in tec ted. And also includes campaigns yet alter the huge drainage programme which young people. Preventive medicine cleared the mass inoculations, special swamps and stagnant water and reclaimed waged against infectious diseases, hundreds ol in the food processing industry thousands of acres for fanning, the situation had checks on the health of those changed so conditions of health in lactones radically that recently when some anopheles and the supervision of the mosquitoes were required for laboratory tests none could be and all places of work. 97 with lound! By 1967 the number of hospitals had increased to The beautiful beds as in 1938. 1 here were 1 13 people of the Pulati, Shala and Mertur eleven times the number of highlands were sanatoria. There are ten times often infected with syphilis, sometimes maternity wards, and five TB times more whole villages being stricken. more doctors; five times more dentists and four public There were only ten Over 180 times as much is spent on hospitals with some 800 beds in the pharmacists. whole country, one maternity ward with 15 beds and 36 health as in 1 938. dispensaries. There doctor had ever set foot in such was one doctor for 8,527 inhabitants, Before liberation no compared with Puka or Mirdita. Now all one doctor for 1,200 inhabitants today; and regions as Dukagjini or Skrapari, only 48 new have their rural hospitals, doctors came into practice during the whole 13 these once isolated places years of Zog’s Peasants are coming Irom these reign. The infant mortality rate was 162 per maternity wards and clinics. 240 241 remote districts to be trained in medicine. There are public health centres in each locality and model houses and model villages have been constructed to show peasants how to improve their living conditions. All births in the cities take place in maternity centres and most births in the countryside are under medical supervision. Vaccine against scarlet fever is provided by China and Chapter Twenty diphtheria and polio have been completely eliminated. The natural increase in the population has grown from 16.9 per Arts and Culture thousand in 1938 to 27.6. art and litcratuic Along with campaigns against diseases has gone a campaign to the development of Albania’s The key Our against superstitious ideas about health. Till fairly recently Fnvcr Hoxha’s 1966 Report. since the war is given in native people in the more isolated regions still believed in the evil he firmly based on our socialist art and culture should people and eye and carried talismans and amulets to ward off its effects. people, arising from the soil on our wonderful put their faith in of should be clear and compre- Some scraps paper on which priests had serving them to the full. They thoughtless. Our Party is loi written passages from the Bible. Shkodra mountaineers hensible but. never vulgar and ideological content and the thought that every person had a worm in. his ear which was creative works in which the deep form capable o the centre of life and if the worm ceased living the person broad popular spirit are realised in an artistic ot also died. and touching the hearts stirring the feelings profoundly A peasant Alla from mobilise them for great named Dervish Gosa had a three year the people, in order to inspire and old child for a revolutionary art whose limbs had gone numb from a touch of deeds. We must intensify our struggle As in every other held, a tetanus. Because a neighbour had lost two children by relying and literature of socialist realism ... the incantations of here also between the two on the local pastor, Dervish Alla look his sharp class struggle is taking place materialist ideology on the one little daughter to the clinic which Dr Musa Ohri had just set ideologies - Marxist-1 .eninisl on the other. up. The doctor told him to take the child to hospital at once. hand and feudal and bourgeois ideology socialism. VVe But on the way Dervish Alla began to wonder if he was doing Decadent bourgeois culture and art are alien to appreciate and make the right thing and if the jinn who had cast a spell on the oppose them and at the same time we democratic and revo- child might not be angry. He went to the pastor who said the use of everything that is progressive, our own proletarian child was undoubtedly worse because she had been taken to lutionary; critically viewed in the light ol the clinic and he began calling up spirits to left and right. But ideology.’ . . . . to child still. literature and art belong the got worse Fortunately Dr Ohri decided to All culture is class culture. All follow up in specific political ends. It is as the case and when he did not find the child definite classes and serve quite culture transcends class hospital he hurried to Gosa. The child was saved and has now much an illusion to suppose that state stands above con- grown into a woman with a child of her own. differences as to believe that the culture is the ideology o flicting class interests. Bourgeois exploitation. Working class capitalism which is based on of socialism which eliminates the culture is the ideology world views confront exploitation of man by man. These two conflict between the each other as a reflection of the class which, in one lorm or bourgeoisie and the working class 242 243 r another, is universal in this epoch of the transition from shows were taken to remote areas but in consultation with capitalism to socialism. Albanian art and literature arc firmly the people of those regions it was decided to present more committed in this world-wide conflict. sophisticated works with the villagers interrupting the per- But while Albanian culture shares the same ideology with formance if there was anything they wished to have the culture of any other country where the dictatorship of explained. the proletariat has been established, it still has, as Enver The earliest presentations in the Palace of Culture were Hoxha explained, a specific quality of its own. ‘Our socialist either traditional dances and recitals or works from abroad. art and culture have not come out of nothing but are based Then in 1959 it was decided to create the first large-scale on the historical development of our society, on its spiritual Albanian opera. It was called Mrika and its theme was the life and the best traditions of our people. To rely on these construction of the great Karl Marx hydro-electric plant. popular traditions of the past and of our own times is Mrika was the heroine who led the mass mobilisation of essential to the creation of true literary and artistic values workers to capture saboteurs sent into the country from and the promotion of the originality of Albanian culture. It is Yugoslavia and Greece to blow up the dam. An epic opera on putting into practice the Marxist-Leninist principle that our the life of Scanderbeg involving a cast of 230 was composed art and literature must be socialist in content and national in by Preng Jakova with a libretto by the poet Lazer Siliqi. form.’ Other titles include The Heroines by Vangjo Nova and Luigj A good example of this is provided by Albanian opera, Gurakuqi, on the subject of student resistance to the with its themes taken from the epic liberation struggles of the Germans and Girls of the Mountains composed for the people or from their heroic efforts in socialist construction celebration of the Jubilee Year in 1969 by Nikolla Zoraqi and with its musical form based on the rich traditional folk with book by Loni Papa. art in which Albania abounds. Opera itself is not a traditional There are also ballets like Fatosi Partisan, the child form, though the Italian operas of Verdi, Puccini and other guerrillas, and musical comedies on such themes as a group ol composers were very popular. It is, for Albania, a new art women building a new theatre for their community. form created to meet the cultural needs of the people. In the arts, too, the mass line is applied to the creation of The Institute of Folklore in Tirana has collected a vast new works. Before opening, an opera will be shown to store of material on dance, song and music down the representatives of the actors’ collective and workers from centuries, culled from the different regions of the country - co-operatives and factories, and their opinions are sought on the single voice songs of the north and the complex the general content of the new piece and on details about polyphonic folk music of the south. Lyric, erotic, ritualistic, settings, costumes and so forth. Such criticisms as ‘we want allegoric and epic works are all available for the musician and the diction to be clearer’ or ‘that doesn’t look like the inside poet who want to draw on the past for modes of expression of a worker’s house’ are taken into account in getting the which are peculiarly Albanian. work ready for the first night. And even after that, The magnificent Palace of Culture at Tirana has among its newspaper criticisms or suggestions by members of the many amenities a well-equipped theatre for opera seating audience will result in additional changes during the actual more than a thousand. Admission is very cheap at two and a run. half leks a ticket or less than a packet of cigarettes and there Often a new presentation will touch on a controversial are special shows at even lower rates for parties of farmers, subject and there will be discussions up and down the workers, soldiers or students. The operas, ballets and country about the issue itself and about the way it has been pageants presented at the theatre also travel around the dealt with in the work in question. An operetta on the country, even up into the highlands. At. first only the simpler conflict between women who feel that there is no kind of 244 245 and work which they cannot do and people who believe that the conflict in ‘Two Old Wounds’ between a husband them there are jobs too dangerous or too hard lor women or, wife deeply devoted to each other whose careers take like murder mystery perhaps, simply too un feminine, gave rise to lengthy debates to different places. ‘The Traces’ begins a about where the line should be drawn which involved people but proves to be a tragedy of a man who forgets his class a from every district. A domestic comedy by Spiro Qomora allegiance. One of the latest films to be made, based on about progressive grandfather and grandchildren making screenplay by Dhimiter Xhuvani and called ‘ The Fitter’, is work common cause against a father with reactionary ideas, raised the love story of a young man and a young woman who a storm of discussion about the attitudes of different in the same factory. generations in relation to socialism. Reference has already been made to the popular art of the Dramatic art after having remained undeveloped for a long Estrada — vaudeville performances staged by the cultural period revived during the liberation war with partisan actors, groups of every factory, farm and institution of any kind. comedies script in one hand and rifle in the other, helping to mobilise Many of the skits arc as funny as the old silent film and inspire the masses by their portrayal of the issues of the of the West with the additional ingredient of sharp political national struggle. These groups became the nucleus of the satire. talent by committees People’s Dramatic Theatre. In addition to plays reflecting the There is a continuous search for new young revolutionary efforts of workers in town and country are also composed of artists and parents. The most promising school presented the works of world playwrights like Shakespeare or people arc sent to the appropriate dramatic or music teachers as well as Moliere. in Tirana. All artists regard themselves as thcii In 1952 the New Albania Film Studio came into oper- performers or creators and they are judged as much by their own ation. The first productions were newsreels and docu- encouragement and training of aspirants as by of the theatre like mentaries a visit by Enver Hoxha to the northern districts work. Although there arc great artists system and and the transformation of the countryside, a feature on Maria Logoreci and Kadri Roshi, there is no star All actois and Albanian folk dance and films dealing with various new the whole emphasis is on collective el loft. other kind ol developments on the agricultural and industrial front. But artists spend one month a year at some agricultural workers or there was a great need for feature films so that cinemas, with work - as mechanics, typographers, the working an attendance of ten million a year, would no longer be bench hands - to maintain their links with rooted in the dependent on unsuitable material. This was particularly true people and to keep their artistic values can only come as films from the Soviet Union or Eastern Europe had knowledge of the value of things which increasingly to be classed with decadent bourgeois films as through ‘sweating on a job’. not acceptable to Albanian audiences. Among recently made There are no individualistic composers or writers working idiosyncratic full-length features have been ‘Our Land’, ‘Echo on the Sea on their own and regarding various forms of either Shore’, ‘A Special Day’, ‘The Early Years’, ‘The Commissar self-expression as the highest form of art. They belong to the of Light’, ‘The Silent Duel’, ‘Open Horizons’ and The to one of the musical or dramatic collectives or Ambush’. Many films deal with heroic episodes in the Writers’ Union. liberation struggle, like ‘Triumph over Death’, the story of The Writers’ Union has its roots in the national movement Turkish the heroines Buie Najpi and Persephone Kokedhima who and the liberation struggle. Five hundred years ol thirst defied the Gestapo or ‘The Eighth in Bronze’ which uses the rule did not extinguish the Albanian language nor the I in the setting up of a bronze bust of a partisan hero in his native of the people for their own art and culture. hen Nineteenth village to recall the stirring days of the anti-fascist war. But period of national revival from the middle of the many of the films also deal with contemporary problems like Century to the early part of the Twentieth distinguished 246 247 was started at influence in Albania. A Literary Gazette writers and poets began to emerge like Naim Frasheri, gain newspapers, periodicals and publications this time; but also in Konstantin Kristoforidhi, Vaso Pasha and many others. Alter contributions. kinds space was reserved for literary national independence was proclaimed in 1912 there was a of all a great need for more writers With all these tasks there was period of ‘critical realism’ characterised by strong national were tapped on an the talents of workers and peasants feeling and a fierce indictment of feudal and bourgeois rule and and fresh ideas into t e increasing scale to bring new faces which was stifling all progressive sentiments. Writers like practising writers. Millosh Gjcrgi Nikolla, better by his name, circle of known pen arisen within the ideological conflicts which have Migjcni, Fan Noli and Ndre Mjcda came to the fore; and in Naturally reflected in contemporary the communist world have been 1930 the ‘Group of Thirty’ was founded by Migjeni and not so-called In 1956 at the time of the only criticised existing society but began to point the way Albanian literature. really a Soviet arts and letters, which was forward. Literary magazines with a Marxist influence began ‘thaw’ in literary of bourgeois ideology, the Albanian to appear, like New World which came out in 1936. recrudescence (November), printed an article attacking the Of this period of bourgeois nationalism Enver Hoxha has review, Nendori member of a class rather idea that man should be viewed as a said: ‘The epoch of revival is a democratic revolutionary were individual whose opinions and sentiments period of major importance in the history mid literature of than as an were uniquely worthy of consideration simply because they our people . . . They fought with rifle and pen for the point of view incorrect attitudes from a socialist and enlightenment of the people. We should impart his. Such freedom the Party in criticised at a conference called by to our own people today the positive merits of these men of were strongly but the light against 1957 to discuss literary problems; the revival . . . But we should not forget for a moment that ending. revisionist tendencies has to be never they a negative side be subjected to bourgeois and had too which must artists and writers In°his 1966 Report Enver Hoxha took Marxist-Leninist criticism. These weaknesses lie in their respect. Altci task for insufficient vigilance in this idealistic philosophical conceptions.’ to done, he added: ‘It recognising the good work they had During the anti-fascist war there a great sorting out of was artistic and cultuial be said, however, that the progressives collaborating with should the would-be who ended up State Publishing House institutions, the Writer’s Union, the the enemy and the real progressives who committed them- organisations ol those the literary press, the Party selves wholeheartedly to the liberation movement. After the and in those sectors are not institutions and the leading cadres formation of the Party in 1941 these genuine progressives to carry out the revolution- striving with adequate persistence in charge of in the various regions. were put propaganda the necessary ideological ising of culture, do not show Aleks Ca 249 248 of guidance of the Albanian Party ideas that always have the least in one way or another, the bourgeois writers must play their demands that art and literature prevailed at the period in which they lived.’ And certainly the about which f advancing socialism, lhe part in consolidating and works of foreign literature could not be taken as models for full concern of revisionists claim that the literature which was bourgeoisie and the Albanian authors in creating a socialist purity of litera- parties for the ideological and national in spirit. ‘Literature and Marxist-Leninist at once revolutionary which smothers creative imposes a line on writers art must reflect the struggle, work and life of our own te other has But this question, like any working people, their ideals and aspirations, their noble thought and work. Creative for whom? For from a class perspective. feelings, their heroic character, their modesty and grandeur be seen masses detached themselves from the Party demands that individuals who have and their revolutionary upsurge. The intere pursuit of their own subjective literature and art truly reflect life in its revolutionary andby their selfish collaborate with the < development and focus attention on the heroes of our consciously or unconsciously for the great working cadres, of the masses, or creative time — workers, peasants, soldiers and revolutionary enemies and capable of changing society men of a new type, who arc working and fighting selflessly in people who alone are precisely I ke themselves in the process? It is building socialism.’ changing democracy or democracy. Freedom and In order to be able to portray this new man writers spend questions of freedom who and their hireling scribblers considerable time with the people of village and factory, for whom? For the exploiters ascribing the vileness of learning not only to interests of their masters by working and living among them and serve the by plight ol man as such and about them but to write in such a way capitalist system to the write* authentically the pi attention from the great issues that their works are accessible to them, indeed one author, ,,vi„ a to distract people’s and democracy for the working Dhimiter Xhuvani, whose novel The Tunnel aroused a good 2T.lre£e or Freedom writers who serve hem deal of discussion about whether he had accurately described masses and those artists and the Writer professional authors are m the people of the village where his book was set, went to live All Albania’s means an exclusive body and to check his impressions and eventually made but it is by no among them Union; lhe recruiting new members from that village his own. New novels, like new operas and new continuously mtc new generations of revolutionary^J subjects of a wide- workers and from dramatic works, tend to become the working dass. themselves of and with the ranging debate about their merits and defects in which lectuals who are them Union may have tasks assigned to everyone takes part. Those in particular whose sphere oi Writers in the a for magazines or newspapers articles on specific subjects activity may be touched on in the work consider it major^devdop new opera, reportage on some report their conclusions. This is very' helpful hbretto for a collectively and own for a play or writer has a project ol his to the author’s further development as a writer concerned ment. If a short stories, he puts collection of poems or with the masses and not simply expressing his own inner life novel, a agnecd, he of the Writers Union If the praise of proposal to the presidium in a highly individualistic style intended to win at the usual while still being paid given the time he needs literary critics as alienated from the people as he would then is the 1000 leks a month - “mpambk “ have become himself. Criticism and self-criticism which rate of some 800 to or specialist in a factory. When with his readers and wa.-e of a skilled mechanic characterise the relations of the author his colleagues will he discussed with prevent him work is completed, it with his fellow workers in the Writers’ Union correct any of helping him improve it, from having an exaggerated opinion of himself and thinking from the point of view ideological implications Author rather than of detail or mistaken of literary creation as an extension of his own ego errors but works according to fixed rates y as the form in which he serves the working people. are paid for their In their efforts to revolutionise their own creative work rcreive no royalties. 251 250 fe the nourishing of literature in reputation outside Albania by There has been a remarkable gained a The Wedding his two earlier novels Albania crowning with laurel all the other brilliant French and English of socialist ideals and old the clash of the new social achievements and encouraging the people to greater efforts -hirh dealt with Army m the ironic ‘General of a Dead their society. Socialist realism has not feudal customs and yet in building new about all with recovering particulars formula for churning out worthy but which an Italian charged become a cut-and-dried around the count died in Albania goes y dull books about stereotyped characters in the hands of such the fascists who from their graves a dead host gifted writers as Dhimiter Shuteriqi, President ol the Writers’ trying to call up which interrupted the L ' fe Siliqi, Dhimiter Xhuvani, violent earthquake Union, Shcfqet Musaraj, Lazer A lioui was the subject of a novel Pctro Marko, Jakov Xoxc, Qamil Buxheli, Ismail Kadare, country in L967 distinguished poet, Fates Arapi. Alqi Kristo, Sterjo Spasse and so many others. Far December’ by another Vito Ko$i, counterpoint 1 Again’ by Dhimiter Xhuvani stale and rigid lorm socialist realism in their ‘Standing up from being a men vv it one of Albania’s new socialist books, which cover a wide range of literary styles - documen- a tragedy suffered by him. and epic, sparkles life going on around tary, romantic, satiric, humorous, dramatic the surging Ruxhcli City Laughs by Qamil Buxhch development through the struggle ol satiric novel ‘The Whole and sizzles in perpetual A who hinder those bureaucratic elements opposites, through the struggle of classes, through the held up to scorn writers, grounded in of socialism. struggle of the new with the old. These development out a writer, Jakov Xoxe, brought Marxism-Leninism, take as their subject matter the lives of Another well-known the struggle of peasants in a light them up in an White South’ about the Albanian working masses and novel ‘The town narrow the differences between inspiring, instructive and entertaining way with their co-operative farm to of contradictions. Rooted in reality thorough understanding out m ol the literary works brought they also give their works a tremendous lilt with that ^ThelTare only some State Publishing House. In genuine socialist realism - revolu- the Naim Krasheri indispensable feature of one yearly being and political works arc tionary romanticism. addition many historical rashen s numbers like Ktisto I' some idea of the wealth of Albanian literature, take produced in ever-increasing To get Albanian Litera- Albania’, a ‘History of the year 1970 alone in every month of which some two or Popular History of ‘History of the Albanian Party three important new novels became available to the reading ture’ the well-documented ‘Collected Works ol Enver Hoxha . public in the many bookshops or through the twenty-nine Labour’ and the writings ol Enver Hoxha is of the year there was definitive collection of the large lending libraries. At the beginning This people o importance not only to the ‘A Difficult Birth’ by Eleana Kadare, the first full length an event of great over the world Thcir emancipation but to revolutionaries all novel by a woman, which took as its theme the Albania Secretary up in the words of the significance is well summed of Albanian women. on the occasion Central Committee, Ilysm Kapo, ‘Commissar Memo’, a lyric evocation of the liberation oLthe Party i^ 68 ' sixtieth birthday on Octobei 16, the first novel by the well-known poet, Dritero of Enver Hoxha’s struggle, was communists and people review ‘And if we, the Albanian Agolli. have covered for legitimate pride the road that we novel by Ismail Kadare, ‘The Citadel’, used an today with The third and the victories attained, tf than a quarter of a century episode in the long war against the Turks in which the more honourably unshakable conviction that we have people were led by the great national patriot we say with Albanian 1 we; vicy and international obligations, certain parallels with the present-day fulfilled our national Scanderbeg to draw the future of he certitude and optimism Kadare, who though still in his today with resistance against revisionism. Albania, this is due and the course of socialism in thirties has twice won the Literary Prize of the Republic, has Fatherland 253 252 I exclusively to our Party, to its just Marxist-Leninist line, to its founder and organiser, Comrade Enver Hoxha who, through his wisdom, Marxist-Leninist capability and daring, succeeded not only in organising the Party of the proletariat, not only in working out the proper political and organis- befitting every stage that our Party has gone ational line Chapter Twenty One through, but also in applying this line in a consistent manner waging a struggle that knew no compromise against all hostile A Genuinely Free Society trends within the Party and against all external enemies of fighting openly or in secret. every shade and colour, through the haze of the Cold Albania as seen from the West ‘The ideas and works of Comrade Enver Hoxha are a living remote and more recently, as a country as in of fidelity to and War and, example of Marxism-Leninism action, ally, Chma, is no as its great fraternal fundamental principles ot incomprehensible unwavering defence ot the and austere, with a peop doubt often thought of as grim Marxism-Leninism, of the creative application ol these party that has out the stern dictates ot a Albania in the present joylessly carrying principles to the specific conditions of inhuman conception of ideo- sacrificed everything to some epoch, of their enrichment with the historical experience of seen the described by those who have logical purity. It is the Party of Labour of Albania and of the Albanian people in mysterious abrupt coast iron. Corfu as a brooding, War, in revolutionary socialist con- Albanian the National Liberation inhabitants must also be with the implication that its struction and in the new experience of the international land who have - a race of zealots, perhaps movement. revolutionary experience that strange and dour communist The the ngic or(<- away their individual liberty tor V figures as our great asset in the bidance sheet of the Party oi bartered life ol a beehive. Labour of Albania and that constitutes its contribution to collective more quickly for those practice of revo- No illusion is dispelled the common treasury of the theory and Albania s Albania; and it is hardly elaborated enough to have visited lution and socialism is reflected, summed up and dear that Acy the time the Albanians made ,t exact and profound manner in the fault if, from in the most complete, their own way without their own country in of Comrade Enver Hoxha.’ would develop works and teachings of the -West has prevented outside interference, the hostility themselves ol such miscon more people from, disabusing Not only are they a joy , ceptions by first hand experience. tremendous ze t to independent people who bring vigorous sunn} society in their beautiful living and building a new freer from in the world which is land!’ there is no country of restraint operates at the level ^ParSy this freedom from which no one has t conditions under socialism by material having a hungry, not ; of being out of a job, going be afraid he ever being deprived of decent house to live in or offer for die contributing whatever he has to opportunity of community and enrichment of the life of the improvement social the level ol morals and Partly it operates at 255 254 to^-puTar relationships which are based on popular respect for the ot tt" KlTlo "by ^e^ampie the people themselves have arrived at in their could - vindteate Manctsm decisions “tre dW more than arguments various collectives. Discipline there is, but it is a discipline the people impose on themselves. Socialism cannot be exported, neither can it be imposed from above. People can be told how to make a revolution or how to build socialism; but no one can do it for them or in spite of them. A socialist society must always be an inner-directed society. Restraint there is, but it is the self-restraint that comes from the constant practice of criticism and self-criticism in every social or productive organisation. The freedom of Albanian society is h firmly rooted in the real democracy of the mass line. and, after meeting to deal w use for these structures An example of the mass line in action at the ideological level is provided by the way the question of religion has been Before the war there were three main or storage dtp • dealt with in Albania. theatres, concert halls cutlrnrd centres or religions. The majority of the people, some 65% of the gieat architecturalarcmicci beautyj religious houses ol Those people s population, as a result of 500 years of 1 urkish domination, pre^part oHhe historical interest ^c ^n were Mohammedans. The influence of Roman Catholicism traditional herbage - hk i> was strongest in the north and in the south the Greek Tirana around which graceful imna^t m the ven- Orthodox Church claimed many adherents. As has already uberation of the capital the herccst hgM. struggle many leading some o g rising above been pointed out., during the liberation ^ ^ ^ riope discredited themselves with the people by youth centre with religious figures turned into a magnificent IturrcT h as been white collaborating with the Italian or German invaders; but the through die arches in the Views oMhe b^e Adriatic hold of superstition remained strong, particularly in the rural The gieat cathedra a d wills of the high promenade. areas. The transition from a mainly feudal society to a huge income a ^gymnasium with socialism was so quick that the mosques and churches hardly boxing rings and vscll-cquippe pool basket ball courts, had time to dress their practices and doctrines in more sophisticated forms that might have had some appeal to a more enlightened public. Their hold was of a nature to ant U genuinely impede social advance and their reactionary views on the &e poplar frontS' creating a ai adyachievedon family, on the privileges of property and on the spiritual role of mullahs and priests in ordering the lives of the people, soon came into conflict with the movement for the emanci- pation of women, with the expropriation of landlords and with scientific progress in the medical and social services. The Party carried out an intensive ideological struggle which was taken up by mmmm against these backward manifestations all the mass organisations in the Democratic front. But there was no order from the state closing down mosques and churches nor restricting religious rites and observances. An 257 ! capitalism. But even when the economic basis of these harmful and stultifying customs has been totally changed the customs themselves may persist unless they are attacked directly and replaced with socialist habits. In the countries where revisionism has reversed the progress toward socialism, even before the restoration of capitalism and bourgeois morality had reached its present extent, there was already a tendency to vacillate on the to defend question of religion between a tough atheistic line from klbania's readiness “‘"h" Sslt her^s The the lives of somany above and a liberal policy based on expediency. independence which has cost the the part of the adherence to the mass line in Albania has avoided these two such sacnftces on and heroines and entailed armed services, which are complementary errors. generally. Not only are tire neoolc then absenc The absence of external restraint appears in a number of proletarian democracy with also an example of phenomena which even the casual visitor in a c superficial social ranks and status symbols, "‘ of military semce may observe: the freedom everyone enjoys of listening to people take their turn at ^ ness; but all young f of the stability^ whatever radio programmes he likes, though Radio Tirana There could be no better proof and training. o mu^d provides an excellent domestic service with particularly good and the correct reiat.-ship of^Albanian society at news coverage; the fact that one sees hardly any policemen at people than the act that tdl trust between state and intersections; the them The working all except for those directing traffic at busy weapons and know how to use ‘css dclence o lack of any reticence in the subjects people are prepared to proletariat; and the Albania is an armed m whbout res, talk about with utter frankness in the most public places. Of national -verity And yet the streets arc as clean, socialist property as secure, socialism informal conversations as politically sound, tastes in the arts Ifati^maS y“taCw&« build and in entertainments as judiciously selective as il the people were under constant surveillance. Because, of course, they are under constant surveillance provided by themselves. The pressure of an enlightened public opinion educated in the socialist ethic of putting collective interest above self-interest is very strong; but it cannot appear as outside pressure to those, the whole working people, who enter actively into its formation and further development. Under the conditions ol proletarian democracy the kinds of offences which keep the police busy in capitalist countries are not only declining rapidly but are increasingly dealt with in the various collectives without recourse to slate coercion, just as more and more legal cases are settled in the same way out of court. But of course proletarian democracy has another face attention to the situation drawing ^“nd which is turned toward the class enemies of workers, toward those who would revive bourgeois ways of thinking and feeling as a prelude to diverting the country from its socialist 259 2S8 I 78-8S% and consumer goods arc to be increased by economy, saving on to tackling the new tasks agreed for the lulure in representing a voluntary confidently industries by 40-44% soc.ahst growth for consultation with the people themselves. The admission of ’"^people to ensure continued rightful place in the United Nations, for which China to. its tH with -cbnowiedge the Albanians had fought so long, was a diplomatic victory Mehrnet £K55££«P«t the Congress noted with appreciation. This Congress afforded one the opportunity of noting the develop- the Albanian Our country’s social,st profound contrast between the satisfaction of production an BOOKS OF REFERENCE Kristo Frashcri The History of Albania (A Brief Survey), Tirana, 1964. Enver Hoxha Report on the Activity of the Central Com- mittee of the Party of Labour of Albania (Submitted to the Vth Party Congress November 1, 1966). Tirana, The ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing House, 1966. Enver Hoxha, Collected Speeches (1967-68). Tirana, The ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing House, 1969. Institute of Marxist- Leninist Studies History of the Party of Labour of Albania Tirana, The ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing House, 1971. Paul Lendvai Eagles in Cobwebs , Nationalism and Com- munism in the Balkans. London, Macdonald, 1970. Gilbert Mury Albania: Terre de THomme Nouveau Paris, Francois Maspero, 1 970. Nicholas C. Pano The People’s Republic of Albania Balti- more, Johns Hopkins Press, 1968. Zeri i Popullit (People’s Voice) Collected Editorials Oppose Modern Revisionism and Uphold Marxism-Leninism and the Unity of the International Communist Movement Vol I. Marxist-Leninist Ideology Will Certainly Overcome Revisionism Vol II. Tirana, The ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing House, 1964. Authorship Unspecified Answers to Questions about Albania Tirana, The ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing House, 1969. 262 Yugoslavia the Albanians in the Truth about the Plight of Crossroads Tirana, 1966. TitoitfYugoslavia at the Chapters Nine to Eleven BOOKS AND ARTICLES CONSULTED Albania English People’s Republic of IN REFERENCE TO SPECIFIC CHAPTERS Constitution of the Chapters One and Two Kristo Frasheri George Kastriot-Scanderbeg Tirana, The ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing House, 1962. Byron Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Lord House, 1 JO /. Linguistics Frasheri’ Publishing State University of Tirana Institute of History and The ‘Naim George Kaslriot-Scanderbeg and the Albanian-Turkish War t u ry Tiran a 1967. of th e X Vth Gen , Chapters Three to Seven Leadership. Study in Guerrilla War, Fourteen Julian Amery Sons of the Eagle, A Chapters Twelve to London, Macmillan, 1948. Heat Battle Tirana, The ^Electrification. dm Lcfter Kasncci Steeled in the of and Vangjcl Kati Pavlo Azdurian The J* ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing House, 1966. D’Albante Tnana, Republique Populate Selected Readings Pages of Heroic Deeds 1 irana. London, Hugh Se ton -Wats on The East European Revolution Methuen, 1956. . Mehmet Shehu On the Experience of the National Liberation Ho™. War and on the Development of the National Army Tirana, The ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing House, 1963. Chapter Eight D Production and IvlV bteppiStabbing Up Agricultural Piro T’Dodhiba OnDn g / 5 His Claws William rvside Information Leslie Gardiner The Eagle Spreads Blackwood Sc Sons, 1966. Philby, the Bruce Page, David Leitch and Phillip Knightley Spy Who Betrayed a Generation Enve°; Voice) Collected Editorials The lhe * Zeri i Popullit (People’s Socialism Tirana, Maixism- the Road to Belgrade Revisionist Clique — Renegades from The ‘Naim * Leninism and Agents of Imperialism Tirana, Yeats af C„ • » Frasheri’ Publishing House, 1964. iSSS 265 264 a cker Revisionist Clique Moves at The Soviet Q%lna ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing Capitalism , Socialist Albania Tirana, The toward the Re-establishment of House, 1965. House, 1969. ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing to Dominate the Marx and Engels Selected Works Critique of the Gotha with American Imperialism COlCollaboration Leaders So viet Revistontst Programme (Karl Marx) WoZ the General Line of the House, 1 J6 j. Mao Tsetung’s Selected Works On Contradiction. The ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing Tirana tire ‘Nairn Di^integration m . the and Our Friends Ask . . Tirana, Degeneration Harilla Papajorgji The AURound The Ruled by Recounts Trrana, Frasheri’ Publishing House, 1970. Countries and Peoples - Part Our House, 19bo. Haki Toska Workers’ Control Component of ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing Caught ‘ n Gr Revolutionary Ideology and Practice Information Bulletin Socialist Republic The Czechoslovak Naim hrasheJ^J the Party of Labour No. 2, Tnana, The Jf of the Central Committee of Soviet Revisionist Invaders 1969, Tirana, 1969. Publishing House, 1968. Authorship Unspecified State Social Insurance in the People's Republic Albania Tirana, The ‘Naim Frasheri’ of One Publishing House, 1963. Chapters Sixteen to Twenty Role in the Fifteen Rights and Her Chapter Ksanthipi Bcgaja Women’s A Ibania Tirana, 1 J6 /. Profile ’s Republic of Ramiz Alia Leninism the Danner of Struggle and Victories Speech Commemorating the Centenary of Lenin’s Birth. Tirana, The ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing House, 1970. Ramiz Alia On Deepening Socialist Revolution through Developing Class Struggle and Carrying out the Mass Line Information Bulletin of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour No. 4, 1968, Tirana, 1968. Central Committee of the Albanian Party of Labour The Facts about Soviet-Albanian Relations Including editorials 1964. the Party Speech from Zcri i Popullit, Tirana, Revolutionary Road of Tirana, at the Meeting of 81 .er Railway, Enver Hoxha Speech Delivered Working on the Rogozhma-F Communist and Workers’ Parties in Moscow on November House, 16, 1960. Tirana, The ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing not made public till 1969. Conteren April Socialist Construction and Tirana Regional Party Peking Review 17, 1970 S nee eh Delivered to the ‘Naim Frashen’ Pubhshtng Class Struggle in the Field of Economics. December 1968. Tirana, The Mehmct Shehu On the Stand of the People’s Republic of Albania towards the Warsaw Treaty Tirana, 1968. Editorials The Zcri i Popullit (People’s Voice) Collected Dangerous Manoeuvres of N. Khrushchev’s Group on the I Individual’ Should So-Called Fight against the ‘ Cult of the ssssss the Labour Youth Be Stripped Dare of Their Mask Tirana, 1 he ‘Naim of Frasheri’ Publishing House, 1964. I 267 266 ; I Union Information Bulletin of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour No. 3, 1967. Tirana, 1967. Vefik Qerimi Public Health Service in the People's Republic of Albania Tirana, The ‘Naim Frasheri’ Publishing House 1967. La/.cr Siliqi (Introduction) Albanian Contemporary Prose Tirana, 1963. INDEX agrarian reform. 135, 143, formation Chou En-lai, 203, 211 of CO' operatives, 144 Churchill, Winston, 63 Albanian League, 1 7 Ciano, Count, 29 Albanian national consciousness, 21 class struggle, 101 under Turkish domination, 25; Communist Party of Albania (Party of national resurgence, 26 Labour of Albania), foundation of Albanian sovereignty, 11, 58, 82, 84, Party, 39; manifesto of Provisional 204, 209 Central Committee, 40; Labinot Ali 1’asha Tcpelena, 25 National Party Conference, 48; Alia, Ramiz, on the revolutionary directive at end of Italian occu- party, 114; 125, on intellectuals, pation, 56; 80, 96, 100, 112-125 175; base and superstructure, 176 communists, 34, 35, what makes a armed services, 259 good communist, 118 arts and culture, 243-254 Constitution of Albania, 98, 1 10 authors (novelists, playwrights, poets), Czechoslovakia, 207 248-253 Davies, P>rigadicr, 64 Balli Kambctar (National Front), democratic centralism, 102, 121 57-62,65, 71 democratic elections, 103 Balluku, Beqir, 1 25 Democratic Front, 114, 128 base and superstructure, 176, 1 77 dictatorship of the proletariat, 100, Belishova, l.iri, 189, 197 108, 156, 259 Be rat Conference, Anti-fascist Commit- Dishnica, Yincr, 61, 62 tee becomes Democratic Govern- ment of Albania, 75 Eden, Anthony, recognition of Alba- Bernstein, 94 nian liberation struggle, 58 Bevin, Ernest, 85 education, 222-232 Brezhnev, 207 Eisenhower, President, 194, 201 Britain, 31, 44, 58, 62, 63, 64, 79, 81, Engels, role of women, 237 sinking of Saumarez and Volagc, estrada (music hall), 219, 247 83; plots against Albanian sover- eignty, 84-86; 115, 157, 165, 183 Fabians, 94 British military mission, 62, 64 family, 218 Bukharin, 185 five year plans, 159-161 bureaucracy, 108 dele rrufc (criticism and self-criticism), Byron, 14, 25 128, 167 France, 1 83 capital accumulation, 1 57 Frasheri, Midhat, 59 Qar<;ani, Adil, 125 Chamberlain, Neville, Italian invasion Germany, invades Balkans, 37; 57, of Albania, 31 Quisling Government set up, 58; China, People’s Republic, 1 58, winter campaign, 66-69; defeat by 187-216, 255 Albanian forces, 72-77 269 256 women, 237 socialist ethics, 224; freedom of health service, 113; social services, 171, annexation of Vlora, 27; 98, 102, of Party, Gjinishi, Mustafa, 61, 62 Italy, 13, mass line, 240-242 economic penetration of Albania, 126-132 Grechko, Marshal, 197 Spahiu, Bedri, 183 28 invasion of Albania, 30; Albania Jordan, 43 Gre^o, Ki<^o, 43 ; Misja, Spiru, Nako, 48, 90, 92, 96 colony, 32; ol' turned into an Italian 58 heroic death, 42; Greece, 27, attempt to annex part Molotov, Stafa, Qemal, 39, 41, of Greece, 36; capitu- British, -8. Albania, 37; 84, 87, 96 invasion monopoly-capitalism, 231 lation, 56 Italian, 32 175,181,182,184, guerrilla tactics, against Turks, 20; Stalin, 91, 93, 95, 61 liberation war, 50-55 Mukje agreement, 185,187 48 on defeat of invasion Jacomoni, Francesco, 31, 45, Mussolini, 31, 32, Velimir, 89 5b Stoinich, Tuk, 183 Greece, 36; overthrow, Ilo Chi Minh, 124 Jakova, of Suslov, Michael, 189, 190 125 Hoxha, Enver, Albanian rights, 11; judicial system, 106 Myftiu, Manush, Com- biography, 38; formation of Tashko, Koco, 197 elec- Branko, 43 190 munist Party of Albania, 39; Kadia, Nagy, Imre, Tirana, liberation of, 76 Secretary General of Political Kapo, Hysni, 48, 83, 125, 196, on Naipi, Buie, 69, 233, 246 185, 190, 191 ted torma Tito, 89, 93,94, 181, war, on Hoxha, 253 Liberation Council, Bureau, 48; on people’s 55; Enver National Topulli, Bajo, 38 British Kautsky, 94 44 war against Nazis, 57; 61, on tion, Tpulli, (Jer^iz, 69 of Ali, 59 27, 248 mission, 64; elected Chairman Kelcyra, Noli, Fan, Toska, llaki, 125 206 125 Provisional Government, 71; 75, on Kennedy, President, 201, Nushi, Gogo, 48, town and countryside, 146, 151 183-207 British infringement of territorial Khrushchev, N., trade unions, 128 Persephone, 246 General, 48 rights, 83; on post-war settlement, Kokedhima, 69, Pariani, Trotsky, 35, 38, 185 1 25 units, 45-47 86; 90, report on Berat Conference, Koleka, Spiro, partisan 96 14/ Turkey, . Konitza, Faik, 36 and collectivisation, of Albania, lb-zt, 91; election speech (1972), 103; on peasants Turks, 12, conquest living out- 125 bureaucracy, 108; on single party Kosova district (Albanians Feci, Shefqet, 25 Assembly, 104 (USSR), democracy, 116; what makes a side Albania), 89, 95 People’s Twentieth Party Congress 106 good communist, 118; Party fail- Kostani, Midhi, 43 People’s Councils, 183-188, 201 39 work- Kozlov, 1 84 Feristeri, Pilo, ings, 121; leading role of the Govern- Kruja, Mustafa, 40, 42 Congress, Provisional 79, 84-87, 115, ing class, 122; 125, on Marxism- Permet USA, 58, 62, 63, 64, 62 established, 70, 71 Leninism, 127; socialism, 142; Kupi, Abaz, 44, 59, ment 194 and Kushi, Vo jo, 43 Feza, Myslim,44, 125 attack on, 37; 58, 158, moral problems, 146; town Liber USSR, Nazi Conference of National countryside, 151; fourth five year Peza 181-211 Conference, 48, 71 44, 7 1 , 99 plan, 160; ideological revolution, Kibinol ation, of Nations, recognition of Kim, 85 200 178; against revisionism, 189; on League Fhilby, Venizelos, Sophocles, 195, 27 Twentieth Party Congress (USSR), Albania, Vcrlaci, Shefqet, 40 (Legality, nationalist group), Tirana, 258 191; great speech at 1960 Moscow Legal iteti Radio Vlora, Nuredin bey, 59 , 242, 256 Conference, 198; on Albanian '57,59, 62, 65 religion, 25, 81 revisionism, 94; Marxist 97, 114, 176, 179, of the sovereignty, 204; friendship with Lenin, against revisionism, 94, women, 130, 158, heroines morality, 199; 124, 126, 177, 188 187, 189,208,258 emanci- China, 209; gratitude to China, 183, resistance, 233; women’s Shao-chi, 179, 210 Perlat, 43 class, 122, 212; revolutionising education, Liu Rexhepi, pation, 234-239 working Haxhi, 125 Catholicism, 81 right to 225; emancipation of women, 235; Lleshi, Roman workers’ control, 165-168; workers, 1 7 3-1 74 on arts and culture, 243; criticism work, 1 70; heroic Macmillan, Prime Minister, 201 (George Kastrioti), 13, of artists, 249; Sixth Party Con- Scanderbeg Maleshova, Scjfulla, 89 15-24,25 210 gress, 259 Xoxe.Kotf, 89-93; 179, 189, factories, 165 recognition of Albanian management of Shanto, Vasil, 38, 48 Hull, Cordell, t war, Tsetung, on people’s war, 50; on 48, on people s struggle and right of self-determi- Mao Shehu, Mehmct, the mass line, 102; 124, mass line 96, 125, on self-reliance, 2oo nation, 58 50-55, 92, i 8 i, 182 .«o, knowledge, China and the Cu‘S:^ ; and Marxist theory of 141; 198, 201, (cul- friendship with Albania, 207, ideological first ideological revolution (cultural revol- 127; 193, bomb, 206; (People’s Voice), Zeri i Popullit 209 revolution, 210; revolution- ution), 1 78-180, 210 tural) 248 Party- issue, 43; 96, Marko, Rita, 125 education, 228; Sixth Illyrians 11, 12 ising Zinoviev, 185 Q . Markogjon, John, 52, 233 Congress (Tirana), 260 71, 81, 84, income differentials, 1 69 Zog, .-Mimed, 28, 29, 59, Marx, dictatorship of the proletariat, Congress (Tirana), 2.oJ industrialisation, 156-165 Sixth Party 200 99; critique of Gotha Programme, Adam, 175 intellectuals, 1 75 Smith, 156; labour power, 157; egoism, Islam, conversion of Albanians, 25; 81, educating the educators, 256 175; 188, 270 WILLIAM ASH, now a resident of London, was born in Dallas, Texas. He received his B.A. degree from Texas University, at which he majored in classical languages. Shortly after the outbreak of World War II he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and served as a fighter pilot in Britain. Shot down in 1942, he was a prisoner for three years and was awarded the M.B.E. for escaping activi- ties. After the war he took a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Ball i ol College, Oxford. Subsequently he worked for three years in India. Return- ing to England he established him- self as a writer. In addition to PICKAXE AND RIFLE he is the author of MARXISM AND MORAL CONCEPTS, three novels and numerous articles in Marxist journals. A Book of Today — for all serious Students of POLITICAL HISTORY PICKAXE AND RIFLE by William Ash. Albania’s difference with the Soviet Union over the issue of the true nature of socia n, 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 pu lished in the West. PICKAXE AND RIFLE is more than an historical account of this interesting but lit >: ±- known country: it is a political and sociological study of the only socialist state in Eur Having liberated themselves from fascist occupation, how did the Albanian people themselves also from the whole system of exploitation and defend their new socialist state from the hostile countries all around them? the transfer of si What new social institution and governmental organisation reflect power into the hands of the working people? What are the characteristics of real socialist society as developed by the Albanians, overt how have they guaranteed it against the distortions and deformations which have the other East European peoples’ democracies? And as a result, what is the quality of life in Albania today? William Ash, author of MARXISM AND MORAL CONCEPTS, was invited to in 1969 to tour the country extensively and to collect material for this book. Again, opportunity of visiting Albania at the time of the Sixth Congr 1971 , the author had an of the Party of Labour of Albania, and of checking the draft typescript of his work wit’ historians, with State and Party leaders and, most important of all, with the people in factories and on the collective farms. The result is a most compelling account of real socialism in action. 4 y tShBt