Anarchism in Albania was first introduced by theItalian anarchist volunteers who fought during the Albanian revolts against theOttoman Empire and later opposed the Italian military occupation of the country. Native Albanian anarchists first organised themselves within the rising communist movement during the 1920s, but libertarian tendencies were eventually supplanted byMarxism–Leninism, which became the leading tendency by the 1930s. AfterWorld War II, aPeople's Republic was established by the communists underEnver Hoxha, which briefly implementedsocialist self-management before drifting towards ananti-revisionist form of Marxism–Leninism. When communist rule collapsed, the country went through rapid liberalization which caused aninsurrection against the state, leading to renewed anarchist analysis of the situation in Albania and the rise of anarchist sympathies among Albanian migrants abroad.
TheAlbanian National Awakening led to a rise innationalism that advocated the independence of Albania from theOttoman Empire, which had culminated in a series of revolts during the early 1910s. During the1911 insurrection, Albanian rebels found support from a number of Italian volunteers, largely coming from theItalian anarchist movement, who participated in a guerrilla war against the Ottomans, before returning to Italy in the wake of the revolt's suppression.[1] Despite the defeats, by the next yearAlbania had secured itsindependence, establishing theconstitutionalPrincipality of Albania. In the wake ofWorld War I, there was aperiod of rising left-wing activity inItaly, during which Italian anarchists organisedanti-militarist actions against theItalian occupation of Albania. In July 1920, anarchists led amutiny of Italian troops inAncona, which was suppressed, before launching an industrial campaign to prevent war material from being shipped to Albania.[2] The sustained anti-militarist campaigns eventually forced the Italian army to withdraw from Albania in August 1920, restoring the independence of the Principality.
The Albanian socialist movement subsequently sprouted up during the early 1920s, when the first strikes started to break out in southern cities. Socialists participated in theJune Revolution againstAhmet Zogu,[a] but after the revolt was defeated a number of socialist groups went into exile while others remained active in the country. The socialist groups within Albania largely didn't conform to the party line of theCommunist International, with the communist group inKorçë coming under the influence ofclassical Marxists andanarcho-communists fromThessaloniki. In 1930,Ali Kelmendi returned from exile to enforce the adoption ofMarxism–Leninism by the newly established Communist Party, causing a split within the movement that resulted in the suppression of the previously dominantTrotskyist andanarchist elements.[4]
Following the victory of theNational Liberation Movement duringWorld War II, thePeople's Republic was established as a one-party state, under the rule ofEnver Hoxha and theLabour Party.[5] Despite having been constituted on a basis ofMarxism-Leninism, the Albanian People's Republic deviated from the practices of the otherEastern Bloc regimes. Like thesocialist self-management of neighboringYugoslavia, Hoxha emphasised adecentralized economic system, restricted statebureaucracy and allowed leniency regarding itsproduction quotas, at times even approaching a form oflibertarian Marxism.[6][b] But in the wake of theTito–Stalin split, the influence ofStalinism took hold by the early 1950s, with the implementation of forced collectivization, rapid industrialization and the establishment of asecret police.[7][c] In reaction toDe-Stalinization, Albanian deviations from the policies of theSoviet Union culminated in theAlbanian–Soviet split, during which the Labour Party took ananti-revisionist line and adopted a form ofMaoism, before itselfsplitting from thePeople's Republic of China following the rise ofDeng Xiaoping.[9] The result of thisdiplomatic isolation and the pursuit ofautarky byHoxhaist officials resulted in an economic crisis, which led to thefall of communism in 1991 and rapideconomic liberalization under thenewly electedDemocratic Party.[10]
The collapse of thepyramid schemes that dominated the Albanian economy of the 1990s sparked acivil war, during which dispossessed citizens armed themselves in rebellion against the state and establishedSalvation Committees to take over the functions of the state where it had collapsed. A journalist fromLe Monde reported that: "The atmosphere inGjirokastër is mad. The popular revolt has transformed itself into total anarchy, there is no police, no State, no rules. The city has become enthusiastic, has brightened up, got involved in the game of rebellion."Insurrectionary anarchists were quick to analyze the potential of the situation, which they believed could catalyze into a generalized insurrection against capitalism and the state. But the conflict subsided followingforeign intervention and the subsequentelection of theSocialist Party to power.[11]
Around the time of the civil war, some migrants that left the country became involved withanarchist groups in Italy andGreece.[12]
