LITMIR.BIZ

CHAPTER 1

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GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE SOCIETY

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      The People's Republic of Albania was, in 1970, the smallest and economically most backward of the European Communist nations, with an area of 11,100 square miles located between Yugoslavia and Greece along the central west coast of the Balkan Peninsula. Its population of approximately 2.1 million was considered to be 97-percent ethnic Albanian, with a smattering of Greeks, Vlachs, Bulgars, Serbs, and Gypsies. Practically the entire population used Albanian as the principal language.

      The country officially became a Communist "people's republic" in 1946 after one-party elections were held. Actually, the Communist-dominated National Liberation Front had been the leading political power since 1944, after successfully conducting civil war operations against non-Communist forces while concurrently fighting against Italian and German armies of occupation. The Communist regime operated first under the mask of the Democratic Front from 1944 to 1948 and, subsequently, through the Albanian Workers' Party; it asserted that it was a dictatorship of the proletariat—the workers and the peasants—and that it ruled according to the Leninist principle of democratic centralism. In practice, a small, carefully selected Party group, which in 1970 was still under the control of Enver Hoxha and Mehmet Shehu, the partisan leaders of the World War II period, made all important policy and operational decisions (see ch. 6, Government Structure and Political System).

      In order to gain broad support for its programs the Party utilized mass social organizations. These included the Democratic Front, the successor in 1945 to the National Liberation Front; the Union of Albanian Working Youth; the United Trade Unions; and others. Direct election of governmental bodies, from the people's councils in villages to the People's Assembly at the national level, gave the appearance of representative institutions. While seemingly democratic, these assemblies met infrequently and for short periods and had no real power.

      The average citizen has never had any influence in national politics. During the 1920-39 period vested interests, mostly landowners and clan chiefs, were the predominant influence. A middle class was lacking, and the great bulk of the population, the rural peasantry, was held in a state of subservience by local leaders. Under Communist rule political power has been concentrated completely in the Party leadership (see ch. 2, Historical Setting; ch. 6, Government Structure and Political System).

      The system of controls circumscribed individual freedoms and reached nearly every facet of day-to-day life. The Communist regime, by its totalitarian rule, extended and increased obedience to, and fear of, centralized authority. A new ruling elite, that of the Party, was substituted for the beys (see Glossary) and pashas (see Glossary) of pre-Communist times (see ch. 6, Government Structure and Political System).

      The goals of the Communist regime as revealed during the 1944-70 period were to strengthen and perpetuate the Party's hold on the reins of government, to maintain Albanian independence, and to modernize society according to the Leninist-Stalinist model. By capitalizing on the divisions among the Communist nations and by eliminating or rendering harmless internal opposition, the Party had a firm grip on the instruments of control, and by 1961 independence was reasonably well secured. Only modest progress had been made by 1970 toward modernization. The lack of extensive natural resources and continued reliance on foreign aid caused much strain and required sacrifices by the ordinary citizen (see ch. 2, Historical Setting; ch. 9, Internal and External Security).

      Albania tended to be highly aggressive and partisan in the ideological struggles between the Communist and Western democratic states and those between the Communist nations. The successive close relationships with Yugoslavia (1944-48), the Soviet Union (1949-60), and China after 1961 reflected the inherent insecurity of a weak state. Although these coalitions frequently seemed to place Albania in a subservient role, the ultimate goals of the Hoxha-Shehu regime were to develop political autonomy and economic self-sufficiency, thus reducing dependence on foreign aid to a point where Albania could be truly independent (see ch. 6, Government Structure and Political System).

      In many respects Albania was a closed society. Government controls over all internal communications media ensured that only Party-approved information was disseminated; however, foreign transmissions were not jammed, probably because funds were not available. The individual's activities were closely watched by security police or other Party watchdogs. Travel into and out of the country was restricted and closely controlled (see ch. 7, Communications and Cultural Development; ch. 9, Internal and External Security).

      Pre-Communist Albania gained independence in 1912 after 4-1/2 centuries of rule by the Ottoman Turks. The movement toward nationhood during the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth took advantage of the disintegration of Turkish power and the rivalry between European nations vying for control over the Balkans. The opportunity for independence came when a group of Balkan nations attacked Turkey and proclaimed their intention of seizing the European part of the Ottoman Empire. A group of Albanian patriots, under the leadership of Ismail Qemal bey Vlora, thwarted the desires of Albania's neighbors to partition the country by declaring independence on November 28, 1912. The new nation

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