Hoxha was born inGjirokastër in 1908. After theItalian invasion of Albania, he joined the Party of Labour of Albania at its creation in 1941 in theSoviet Union. He was elected First Secretary in March 1943 at the age of 34. Less than two years afterthe liberation of the country, the monarchy ofKing Zog I was formally abolished, and Hoxha became the country'sde facto head of state.
Hoxha's government was characterised by his proclaimed firm adherence toanti-revisionistMarxism–Leninism from the mid/late-1960s onwards. Afterhis break withMaoism in the 1976–1978 period, numerous Maoist parties around the world declared themselvesHoxhaist. The International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organisations (Unity & Struggle) is the best-known association of these parties.
The site of the house where Hoxha grew up inGjirokastër; the original home was lost to a fire in the 1960s
Hoxha was born inGjirokastër in southern Albania (then a part of theOttoman Empire) in October 1908,[3] the son of Halil Hoxha, aMuslim cloth merchant who travelled widely across Europe and the United States, and Gjylihan Hoxha (née Çuçi). Enver was named afterEnver Pasha, a leading figure of theYoung Turk Revolution.[3] The Hoxha family was attached to theBektashi Order.[4]
After elementary school, Enver followed his studies in the city senior high school "Liria". He started his studies at the Gjirokastër Lyceum in 1923. After the lyceum was closed, due to intervention ofEkrem Libohova,[5] Enver Hoxha was awarded a state scholarship for the continuation of his studies inKorçë, at the French languageAlbanian National Lyceum until 1930.[6]
Hoxha at the age of 18
In 1930, Hoxha went to study at theUniversity of Montpellier inMontpellier, France on a state scholarship for the faculty ofnatural science, but he lost the scholarship for neglecting his studies. He later went to Paris, where he presented himself to anti-Zogist immigrants as the brother-in-law ofBahri Omari.[7] From 1935 to 1936, he was employed as a secretary at the Albanian consulate inBrussels. After returning to Albania, he worked as a contract teacher in the Gymnasium ofTirana (a school). Hoxha taught French and morals in the Korça Liceum from 1937 to 1939 and was also the caretaker of the school library.[7]
On 7 April 1939, theAlbanian Kingdom wasinvaded byfascist Italy.[8] The Italians established a puppet government, called theKingdom of Albania, underShefqet Vërlaci.[9] At the end of 1939, Hoxha was transferred to the Gjirokastra Gymnasium, but he soon returned to Tirana. He was helped by his best friend, Esat Dishnica, who introduced Hoxha to Dishnica's cousinIbrahim Biçakçiu. Hoxha began to sleep in Biçakçiu's tobacco factory "Flora", and after a while, Dishnica opened a shop with the same name, where Hoxha began working.[10] He was a sympathiser ofKorça's Communist Group [sq;zh].[11]
On 8 November 1941, the Communist Party of Albania (later renamed theParty of Labour of Albania in 1948) was founded. Hoxha was chosen from the "Korça group" as a Muslim representative by the twoYugoslav envoys as one of the seven members of the provisionalCentral Committee. The First Consultative Meeting of Activists of the Communist Party of Albania was held in Tirana from 8 to 11 April 1942,[12] with Hoxha himself delivering the main report on 8 April 1942.[13]
In July 1942, Hoxha wrote "Call to the Albanian Peasantry", issued in the name of the Communist Party of Albania.[14] The call sought to enlist support in Albania for the war against the fascists. The peasants were encouraged to hoard their grain and refuse to pay taxes or livestock levies brought by the government.[15] After the September 1942 Conference atPezë, theNational Liberation Movement was founded with the purpose of uniting theanti-fascist Albanians, regardless of ideology or class.[16]
By March 1943, the first National Conference of the Communist Party elected Hoxha formally as First Secretary. During WWII, theSoviet Union's role in Albania was negligible.[17] On 10 July 1943, theAlbanian partisans were organised in regular units of companies, battalions and brigades and named the Albanian National Liberation Army. The organization received military support from the British intelligence service,SOE.[18]
Within Albania, repeated attempts were made during the war to remedy the communications difficulties which faced partisan groups. In August 1943, a secret meeting, theMukje Conference, was held between the anti-communistBalli Kombëtar (National Front) and the Communist Party of Albania. To encourage the Balli Kombëtar to sign, theGreater Albania sections that included Kosovo (part of Yugoslavia) andChamëria were made part of the Agreement.[19]
A problem developed when theYugoslav Communists disagreed with the goal of establishing a Greater Albania and asked the Communists in Albania to withdraw their agreement. According to Hoxha,Josip Broz Tito did not believe that "Kosovo was Albanian" andSerbian opposition to the transfer made it an unwise option.[20] After the Albanian Communists repudiated the Greater Albania agreement, the Balli Kombëtar condemned the Communists, who in turn accused the Balli Kombëtar of siding with the Italians. The Balli Kombëtar lacked support from the people. After judging the Communists as an immediate threat, the Balli Kombëtar sided withNazi Germany, fatally damaging its image among those fighting the fascists. The Communists quickly added many of those who were disillusioned with the Balli Kombëtar to their ranks and they also took centre stage in the fight for liberation.[21]
The Permet National Congress which was in session during that time called for a "new democratic Albania for the people". Although the monarchy was not formally abolished,King Zog I of the Albanians was barred from returning to the country, which further increased the Communists' control. The Anti-Fascist Committee for National Liberation was founded, chaired by Hoxha. On 22 October 1944, the Committee became theDemocratic Government of Albania after a meeting inBerat, and Hoxha was chosen to serve as the interim Prime Minister of Albania. Tribunals were established for the purpose of trying alleged war criminals who were also accused of being "enemies of the people"[22] and they were presided over byKoçi Xoxe.[23]
After Albania's liberation on 29 November 1944, several Albanian partisan divisions crossed the border into German-occupied Yugoslavia, where they fought alongside Tito's partisans and the SovietRed Army in a joint campaign which succeeded in driving out the last pockets of German resistance. During a Yugoslavian conference in later years, Marshal Tito thanked Hoxha for the Albanian partisans' assistance during the War for National Liberation (Lufta Nacionalçlirimtare). TheDemocratic Front, dominated by the Albanian Communist Party, succeeded the National Liberation Front in August 1945, and thefirst post-war election was held on 2 December of that year. The Front was the only legal political organisation which was allowed to stand in the elections, and the government reported that 93% of Albanians voted for it.[24]
On 11 January 1946, Zog was officially deposed, and the People's Republic of Albania was established (it was renamed thePeople's Socialist Republic of Albania in 1976), although in fact, the country had already been aCommunist state since its liberation. As First Secretary of the party, Hoxha wasde facto head of state and as a result, he was the most powerful man in the country.[25]
Albanians celebrate their independence day on 28 November (which is the date on which they declared their independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912), while in the former People's Socialist Republic of Albania, the national day was 29 November, the day the country was liberated from Nazi Germany. Currently, both days are national holidays.[26][27]
The sacrifices of our people were very great. Out of a population of one million, 28,000 were killed, 12,600 wounded, 10,000 were made political prisoners in Italy and Germany, and 35,000 made to do forced labour; of the 2,500 towns and villages of Albania, 850 were ruined or razed to the ground; all the communications, all the ports, mines and electric power installations were destroyed, our agriculture and livestock were plundered, and our entire national economy was wrecked.
Hoxha declared himself aMarxist–Leninist and expressed strong admiration for the Soviet dictatorJoseph Stalin. Between 1945 and 1950, the Albanian government adopted policies and actions intended to consolidate power, which included extrajudicial killings and executions that targeted and eliminated anti-communists. The Agrarian Reform Law passed in August 1945. It confiscated land without compensation frombeys and large landowners, giving it to peasants. Large landowners possessed 52% of all land before the law passed; this declined to 16% after the law's passage.[29] An education policy began in September 1949, requiring citizens aged 20 to 40 to attend literacy classes. Illiteracy, which was 90–95% in rural areas in 1939 and an estimated 85% of the total population in 1946, fell to 30% by 1950, and was "virtually eliminated by the late 1980s".[30]
By 1949, the US and British intelligence organisations were working with the former King Zog and the mountain men of his personal guard. They recruited Albanian refugees and émigrés from Egypt, Italy and Greece, trained them in Cyprus, Malta and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), and infiltrated them into Albania.Guerrilla units entered Albania in 1950 and 1952, but they were killed or captured by Albanian security forces.Kim Philby, a Soviet double-agent working as a liaison-officer betweenMI6 and theCIA, had leaked details of the infiltration plan to Moscow, and the security breach claimed the lives of about 300 infiltrators.[32]
On 19 February 1951, a bombing occurred at the Soviet embassy in Tirana; 23 accused intellectuals were arrested and imprisoned. One of them,Jonuz Kaceli, was killed byMehmet Shehu during interrogation. Subsequently, the 22 others wereexecuted without trial under Hoxha's orders.[33]
TheState University of Tirana, established in 1957, was the first of its kind in Albania. The medievalGjakmarrja (blood-feud) was banned.Malaria, the most widespread disease,[34] was successfully fought through advances in health care, through the use ofDDT, and through the draining of swampland. From 1965 to 1985, no cases of malaria were reported, whereas previously Albania had the greatest number of infected patients in Europe.[35] No cases ofsyphilis had been recorded for 30 years.[35] In 1938, the number of physicians was 1.1 per 10,000, and there was only one hospital-bed per 1,000 people.[36] In 1950, while the number of physicians had not increased, there were four times as many hospital-beds per head, and health expenditure had risen to 5% of the budget, up from 1% before the war.[36]
Relations withYugoslavia began to change, foreshadowed on 20 October 1944 at the Second Plenary Session of the Communist Party of Albania. The Session considered the problems that the post-independence Albanian government would face. However, the Yugoslav delegation (led by Velimir Stoinić) accused the Party of "sectarianism and opportunism" and blamed Hoxha for these errors. Stoinić stressed the view that the Yugoslav Communist partisans had spearheaded the Albanian partisan movement.[37]
Anti-Yugoslav members of the Albanian Communist Party had begun to think that this was a plot by Tito, who intended to destabilize the Party. Koçi Xoxe,Sejfulla Malëshova and others who supported Yugoslavia fell under suspicion. Tito regarded Albania as too weak to stand on its own; he held that it would do better as a part of Yugoslavia. Hoxha alleged that Tito had aimed to incorporate Albania into Yugoslavia, firstly through the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Aid in 1946. In time, Albania began to feel that the treaty was heavily slanted towards Yugoslav interests, much like the agreements between Rome and Zog that had made Albania dependent upon Italy.[37]
TheAlbanian lek became revalued in terms of theYugoslav dinar in 1946 as acustoms union was formed and Albania's economic plan was decided more by Yugoslavia.[38][39] Albanian economists H. Banja and V. Toçi stated that the relationship between Albania and Yugoslavia during this period was exploitative and that it constituted attempts by Yugoslavia to make the Albanian economy an "appendage" to the Yugoslav economy.[40] Hoxha then began to accuse Yugoslavia of misconduct:
We [Albania] were expected to produce for the Yugoslavs all the raw materials which they needed. These raw materials were to be exported to metropolitan Yugoslavia to be processed there in Yugoslav factories. The same applied to the production of cotton and other industrial crops, as well as oil, bitumen, asphalt, chrome, etc. Yugoslavia would supply its 'colony', Albania, with exorbitantly priced consumer goods, including even items such as needles and thread, and would provide us with petrol and oil, as well as glass for the lamps in which we burn the fuel extracted from our subsoil, processed in Yugoslavia and sold to us at high prices ... The aim of the Yugoslavs was, therefore, to prevent our country from developing either its industry or its working class and to make it forever dependent on Yugoslavia.[41]
Stalin advised Hoxha that Yugoslavia was attempting to annex Albania: "We did not know that the Yugoslavs, under the pretext of 'defending' your country against an attack from the Greek fascists, wanted to bring units of their army into the PRA [People's Republic of Albania]. They tried to do this in a very secretive manner. In reality, their aim in this direction was utterly hostile, for they intended to overturn the situation in Albania."[42] By June 1947, the Central Committee of Yugoslavia began publicly condemning Hoxha, accusing him of taking an individualistic and anti-Marxist line. When Albania responded by making agreements with the Soviet Union to purchase a supply of agricultural machinery, Yugoslavia said that Albania could not enter into any agreements with other countries without Yugoslav approval.[43]
Koçi Xoxe tried to stop Hoxha from improving relations with Bulgaria, reasoning that Albania would be more stable with one trading partner rather than with many.Nako Spiru, an anti-Yugoslav member of the Party, condemned Xoxe andvice versa. With no one coming to Spiru's defense, he viewed the situation as hopeless and feared that Yugoslav domination of his nation was imminent; Spiru apparently committed suicide in November 1947.[43]
At the Eighth Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party (26 February to 8 March 1948) Xoxe was implicated in a plot to isolate Hoxha and to consolidate his own power. He accused Hoxha of being responsible for the decline in relations with Yugoslavia and stated that a Soviet military mission should be expelled in favor of a Yugoslav counterpart. Hoxha remained firm; his support had not declined. When Yugoslavia publicly broke with the Soviet Union, Hoxha's support-base grew stronger. Then, on 1 July 1948, Tirana called on all Yugoslav technical advisors to leave the country and unilaterally declared all treaties and agreements between the two countries null and void. Xoxe was expelled from the party, and on 13 June 1949, he was executed by hanging.[44]
After the break with Yugoslavia, Hoxha aligned himself with the Soviet Union. From 1948 to 1960, Albania received $200 million in Soviet aid for technical and infrastructural expansion. Albania joinedComecon on 22 February 1949, and it served as a pro-Soviet force on theAdriatic. A Soviet submarine-base was built on the Albanian island ofSazan nearVlorë, posing a hypothetical threat to theU.S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Soviet-Albanian relations remained close until the death of Stalin in March 1953. Albania declared 14 days of national mourning – more than in the Soviet Union.[45] Hoxha assembled the population of Tirana in the capital's largest square, which featured a Stalin statue, requested that they kneel and take a 2,000-word oath of "eternal fidelity" and "gratitude" to their "beloved father" and "great liberator".[46][better source needed]
UnderNikita Khrushchev, Stalin's eventual successor, aid reduced and Albania was encouraged to adopt Khrushchev's specialisation policy, whereby Albania would develop its agricultural output in order to supply the Soviet Union and otherWarsaw Pact countries while they would develop products of their own, which would, in theory, strengthen the Warsaw Pact. However, this also meant that Albanian industrial development, which Hoxha heavily promoted, would be hindered.[47]
Unity within theAlbanian Party of Labour began to decline; a special delegate-meeting held in Tirana in April 1956, composed of 450 delegates, had unexpected results. The delegates "criticized the conditions in the party, the negative attitude toward the masses, the absence of party and socialist democracy, the economic policy of the leadership, etc." while also calling for discussions on the cult of personality and the Twentieth Party Congress.[49]
In 1956 Hoxha called for a resolution which would confirm the existing leading cadre of the Party of Labour. The resolution was accepted, and all of the delegates who had spoken against it were expelled from the Party and imprisoned. Hoxha claimed that Yugoslavia had attempted to overthrow the Albanian leaders. This incident increased Hoxha's power, effectively making Khrushchev-style reforms impossible in Albania. In the same year, Hoxha travelled toChina (then embroiled in theSino-Soviet split) and metMao Zedong. Chinese aid to Albania rose sharply during the next two years.[50][51]
In an effort to keep Albania in the Soviet sphere, Soviet aid increased, but Albania's relations with the Soviet Union remained at the same level until 1960, when Khrushchev metSofoklis Venizelos, a liberal Greek politician. Khrushchev sympathised with the concept of an autonomous GreekNorth Epirus and wanted to use Greek claims on the area to keep the Albanian leaders in line.[52] Hoxha reacted by sendingHysni Kapo, a member of the Albanian Political Bureau, to the Third Congress of theRomanian Workers' Party inBucharest, an event which Communist heads of state were normally expected to attend.[53] As Soviet-Albanian relations continued to deteriorate during the course of the meeting, Khrushchev said:
Especially shameless was the behavior of that agent of Mao Zedong, Enver Hoxha. He bared his fangs at us even more menacingly than the Chinese themselves. After his speech, ComradeDolores Ibárruri [a Spanish Communist], an old revolutionary and a devoted worker in the Communist movement, got up indignantly and said, very much to the point, that Hoxha was like a dog who bites the hand that feeds it.[54]
Relations with the Soviet Union rapidly deteriorated. Hoxha adopted ahardline policy, and the Soviets reduced grain-shipments at a time when Albania faced the possibility of a flood-induced famine.[55] In July 1960, a plot to overthrow the Albanian government, organised by Soviet-trained Rear AdmiralTeme Sejko, was discovered. After that two pro-Soviet members of the Party,Liri Belishova and Koço Tashko, were expelled.[56]
In August, the Party's Central Committee protested to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union about the presence of an anti-Albanian Soviet Ambassador in Tirana. The Fourth Congress of the Albanian Party (13 to 20 February 1961) was the last meeting that the Soviet Union or other Eastern European nations attended. During the congress, Mehmet Shehu said that while many members of the Party were accused oftyranny, this was a baseless charge, and unlike the Soviet Union, Albania was led by genuine Marxists.
The Soviet Union retaliated by threatening Albania with "dire consequences" unless the condemnations were retracted. Days later, Khrushchev andAntonín Novotný,President of Czechoslovakia, threatened to cut off economic aid. In March, Albania was not invited to attend the meeting of the Warsaw Pact nations, and in April, all Soviet technicians were withdrawn from Albania. In May, nearly all Soviet troops at the Soviet submarine-base were withdrawn.[57]
On 7 November 1961, Hoxha made a speech in which he called Khrushchev a "revisionist, an anti-Marxist and a defeatist". Hoxha portrayed Stalin as the last Communist leader of the Soviet Union and alluded to Albania's independence.[58] By 11 November, the USSR and every other Warsaw Pact nation had broken diplomatic relations with Albania. Albania was unofficially excluded from the Warsaw Pact and Comecon. The Soviet Union also attempted to claim control of the submarine base. The Albanian Party then passed a law prohibiting any other nation from owning an Albanian port. TheAlbanian–Soviet split was now complete.
Postage stamp celebrating Hoxha's 60th birthday (1968)Bunkers in Albania were built during Hoxha's rule to avert the possibility of external invasions. By 1983 over 173,000 concrete bunkers were scattered throughout the country.[59]
As Hoxha's leadership continued, he took on an increasinglytheoretical stance. He wrote criticisms which were based on theory and current events which occurred at the time; his most notable criticisms were his condemnations ofMaoism after 1978.[60]
During World War II, the Albanian Communists encouraged women to join the partisans[61] and following the war, women were encouraged to take up menial jobs, as the education necessary for higher level work was out of most women's reach. In 1938, 4% worked in various sectors of the economy. In 1970, this number had risen to 38%, and in 1982 to 46%.[62] In 1978, 15.1 times as many females attended eight-year schools as had done so in 1938 and 175.7 times as many females attended secondary schools. By 1978, 101.9 times as many women attended higher schools as in 1957.[63]
During theCultural and Ideological Revolution, women were encouraged to take up all jobs, including government posts, which resulted in 40.7% of the People's Councils and 30.4% of the People's Assembly being made up of women, including two women in the Central Committee by 1985.[64][65] Hoxha said of women's rights in 1967:
The entire party and country should hurl into the fire and break the neck of anyone who dared trample underfoot the sacred edict of the party on the defense of women's rights.[66]
An electrification campaign was begun in 1960, and the entire nation was expected to have electricity by 1985. Instead, it achieved this on 25 October 1970.[67] During theCultural and Ideological Revolution of 1967–1968 themilitary changed from traditional Communist army tactics and began to adhere to theMaoist strategy known aspeople's war, which included the abolition ofmilitary ranks, which were not fully restored until 1991.[68]
Hoxha's legacy also included acomplex of 173,371 one-man concrete bunkers across a country of 3 million inhabitants, to act as look-outs and gun emplacements along withchemical weapons.[69] The bunkers were built strong and mobile, with the intention that they could be easily placed by a crane or a helicopter in a hole. The types of bunkers vary from machine gun pillboxes and beach bunkers to underground naval facilities and even Air Force Mountain and underground bunkers.
Hoxha's internal policies were true to Stalin's paradigm which he admired, and the personality cult which was developed in the 1970s and organised around him by the Party also bore a striking resemblance to that of Stalin. At times it even reached an intensity which was as extreme as thepersonality cult ofKim Il Sung (which Hoxha condemned)[70] with Hoxha being portrayed as a genius commenting on virtually all facets of life from culture to economics to military matters. Each schoolbook required one or more quotations from him on the subjects being studied.[71] The Party honored him with titles such as Supreme Comrade, Sole Force and Great Teacher. He adopted a different typemilitary salute for the People's Army to render honors which was known as the "Hoxhaist salute", which involves soldiers curling their right fist and raising it to shoulder level.[72] It replaced theZogist salute, which was used by theRoyal Albanian Army for many years.
Hoxha's governance was also distinguished by his encouragement of a high birthrate policy. For instance, a woman who bore an above-average number of children would be given the government award ofHeroine Mother (in Albanian:Nënë Heroinë) along with cash rewards.[73] Abortion was essentially restricted (to encourage high birth rates), except if the birth posed a danger to the mother's life, though it was not completely banned; the process was decided by district medical commissions.[74][75] As a result, thepopulation of Albania tripled from 1 million in 1944 to around 3 million in 1985.
ACultural Revolution poster promoting Albanian-Chinese cooperation featuring Hoxha and Mao; The caption at the bottom reads, "Long live the great union between the Parties of Albania and China!" The two leaders only met twice—first in 1956 during Hoxha's visit to China, and again in 1957 at the Moscow meeting of Communist and Workers' parties—before the formation of the Sino-Albanian alliance.[76]
At the start of Albania's third five-year plan, China offered Albania a loan of $125 million, which would be used to build twenty-five chemical, electrical and metallurgical plants in accordance with the plan. However, the nation discovered that the task of completing these building projects was difficult because Albania's relations with its neighbors were poor and because matters were also complicated by the long distance between Albania and China. Unlike Yugoslavia or the USSR, China had less economic influence on Albania during Hoxha's rule. During the previous fifteen years (1946–1961), at least 50% of Albania's economy was dependent on foreign commerce.[77]
By the time the 1976 constitution was promulgated, Albania had mostly become self-sufficient, but it lacked modern technology. Ideologically, Hoxha found that Mao's initial views were in line with Marxism–Leninism due to his condemnation of Khrushchev's alleged revisionism and his condemnation of Yugoslavia. The financial aid which China provided to Albania was interest-free, and it did not have to be repaid until Albania could afford to do so.[78]
China never intervened in Albania's economic output, and Chinese technicians and Albanian workers both worked for the same wages.[78] Albanian newspapers were reprinted in Chinese newspapers, and they were also read on Chinese radio, and Albania led the movementto give the People's Republic of China a seat on theUN Security Council.[79] During this period, Albania became the second largest producer ofchromium in the world, which China considered important. Strategically, the Adriatic Sea was attractive to China because China hoped that it could gain more allies in Eastern Europe through Albania - a hope which was misplaced.Zhou Enlai visited Albania in January 1964. On 9 January, "The 1964 Sino-Albanian Joint Statement" was signed in Tirana.[80] The statement said of relations between socialist countries:
Both [Albania and China] hold that the relations between socialist countries are international relations of a new type. Relations between socialist countries, big or small, economically more developed or less developed, must be based on the principles of complete equality, respect for territorial sovereignty and independence, and non-interference in each other's internal affairs, and must also be based on the principles of mutual assistance in accordance with proletarian internationalism. It is necessary to oppose great-nation chauvinism and national egoism in relations between socialist countries. It is absolutely impermissible to impose the will of one country upon another, or to impair the independence, sovereignty and interests of the people, of a fraternal country on the pretext of 'aid' or 'international division of labour.'[81]
Hoxha in 1971
Like Albania, China defended the "purity" ofMarxism by attackingAmerican imperialism and "Soviet and Yugoslav revisionism", both of them were equally attacked as part of a "dual adversary" theory.[82] Yugoslavia was viewed as both a "special detachment of U.S. imperialism" and a "saboteur against world revolution".[82] However, these views began to change in China, which was one of the major issues which Albania had with the alliance.[83] Additionally, unlike Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, the Sino-Albanian alliance lacked "... an organisational structure for regular consultations and policy coordination, and it was also characterized by an informal relationship which was conducted on anad hoc basis." Mao made a speech on 3 November 1966 in which he claimed that Albania was the onlyMarxist–Leninist state in Europe and in the same speech, he also stated that "an attack on Albania will have to reckon with the greatPeople's Republic of China. If the U.S. imperialists, the modern Soviet revisionists or any of their lackeys dare to touch Albania in the slightest, nothing lies ahead for them but a complete, shameful and memorable defeat."[84] Likewise, Hoxha stated that "You may rest assured, comrades, that come what may in the world at large, our two parties and our two peoples will certainly remain together. They will fight together and they will win together."[85]
Shift in China's foreign policy after the Cultural Revolution
During theCultural Revolution, China entered into a four-year period of relative diplomatic isolation, however, its relations with Albania were positive. On 20 August 1968, theSoviet invasion of Czechoslovakia was condemned by Albania, along with theBrezhnev doctrine. Albania refused to send troops to Czechoslovakia in support of the invasion, and it officially withdrew from the Warsaw Pact on 5 September.
Albania's relations with China began to deteriorate on 15 July 1971, when United States PresidentRichard Nixon agreed to visit China in order to meet with Zhou Enlai. Hoxha believed that China had betrayed Albania, and on 6 August, the Central Committee of the PLA sent a letter to the Central Committee of the CCP in which it called Nixon a "frenzied anti-Communist". The letter stated:
We trust you will understand the reason for the delay in our reply. This was because your decision came as a surprise to us and it was taken without any preliminary consultation between us on this question, so that we would be able to express and thrash out our opinions. This, we think, could have been useful, because preliminary consultations, between close friends, determined co-fighters against imperialism and revisionism, are useful and necessary, and especially so, when steps which, in our opinion, have a major international effect and repercussions are taken.... Considering the Communist Party of China as a sister party and our closest co-fighter, we have never hidden our views from it. That is why on this major problem which you put before us, we inform you that we consider your decision to receive Nixon in Beijing as incorrect and undesirable, and we do not approve or support it. It will also be our opinion that Nixon's announced visit to China will not be understood or approved of by the peoples, the revolutionaries and the communists of different countries.[86]
The result of this criticism was a message from the Chinese leadership in 1971 in which it stated that Albania could not depend on an indefinite flow of aid from China, and in 1972 Albania was advised to "curb its expectations about further Chinese contributions to its economic development".[87] By 1972, Hoxha wrote in his diaryReflections on China that China was no longer a socialist country, instead aligning itself with the interests of a powerful nation that prioritized pragmatic relations over socialist principles.[88] In 1973, he wrote that the Chinese leaders had "cut off their contacts" with Albania, reducing their interactions to merely formal diplomatic exchanges. While China maintained its economic agreements, Hoxha remarked that their "initial ardor" had waned.[89]
In response, trade with COMECON (although trade with the Soviet Union was still blocked) and Yugoslavia grew. Trade with Third World nations was $0.5 million in 1973, but $8.3 million in 1974. Trade rose from 0.1% to 1.6%.[90] Following Mao's death on 9 September 1976, Hoxha remained optimistic about Sino-Albanian relations, but in August 1977,Hua Guofeng, the new leader of China, stated that Mao'sThree Worlds Theory would become official foreign policy. Hoxha viewed this as a way for China to justify having the U.S. as the "secondary enemy" while viewing the Soviet Union as the main one, thus allowing China to trade with the U.S. He condemned this as a "diabolical plan" for China to position itself as a superpower at the head of the "third world" and the "non-aligned world."[88]
From 30 August to 7 September 1977, Tito visitedBeijing and was welcomed by the Chinese leadership. Following this, the PLA declared that China was now a revisionist state akin to the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia and that Albania was the only Marxist–Leninist state on Earth. Hoxha stated:
The Chinese leaders are acting like the leaders of a 'great state'. They think, 'The Albanians fell out with the Soviet Union because they had us, and if they fall with us, too, they will go back to the Soviets,' therefore they say, 'Either with us or the Soviets, it is all the same, the Albanians are done for.' But to hell with them! We shall fight against all this trash, because we are Albanian Marxist–Leninists and on our correct course we shall always triumph![91]
On 13 July 1978, China announced that it was cutting off all of its aid to Albania. For the first time in modern history, Albania did not have a major ally nor a major trading partner.[92][93]
Former political prison in Gjirokastër; during Hoxha's rule, political executions were common, and as a result, about 25,000 people were killed by the regime and many more were persecuted or sent tolabour campsCheckpoint memorial in Tirana featuring a bunker, walls fromSpaç Prison, and a fragment of theBerlin Wall
Certain clauses in the 1976 constitution circumscribed the exercise of political liberties, which the government interpreted as being contrary to the established order.[94] The government denied the population access to information other than that which was disseminated by government-controlled media outlets. Internally, theSigurimi used the same repressive methods which were used by theNKVD, theMGB, theKGB and theEast GermanStasi. At one point, every third Albanian had either been interrogated by the Sigurimi or they had been incarcerated inlabour camps.[95] The government imprisoned thousands of people in forced-labour camps or it executed them for alleged crimes such as treachery or disrupting theproletarian dictatorship. After 1968, travel abroad was forbidden to all but those people who were on official business.Western European culture was looked upon with deep suspicion, resulting in bans on all unauthorised foreign materials and arrests:
The former student, now the mayor of Tirana, said that he would cower beneath the bedclothes at night and listen to foreign radio stations, an activity which was punishable by a long stretch in a labour camp. He became fascinated by thesaxophone. Yet, because such musical instruments were considered an evil influence and were thus banned, he had never seen one.[96]
Art was required to reflect the styles ofsocialist realism.[97] Beards were banned as unhygienic in order to curb the influence ofIslam (manyimams andbabas had beards) and theEastern Orthodox faith. The justice system's legal proceedings regularly degenerated intoshow trials. An Americanhuman rights group described the proceedings of one trial, noting that the defendant was not allowed to question the witnesses. While he could express objections to certain aspects of the case, the prosecutor dismissed them, telling him to "sit down and be quiet" because they claimed to know better.[98] In order to lessen the threat which political dissidents and other exiles posed to the regime, relatives of the accused were often arrested,ostracised, and accused of being "enemies of the people".[99] Political executions were common, and at least 5,000 people—possibly as many as 25,000—were killed by the regime.[100][101][102]Torture was often used to obtain confessions:
One émigré, for example, testified to being bound by his hands and legs for one and a half months, and to being beaten with a belt, fists or boots for periods of two to three hours every two or three days. Another was detained in a cell one meter by eight meters large in the local police station and kept insolitary confinement for a five-day period punctuated by two beating sessions until he signed a confession; he was taken toSigurimi headquarters, where he was again tortured and questioned, despite his prior confession, until his three-day trial. Still another witness was confined underground for more than a year in a three-meter square cell. During this time, he was interrogated at irregular intervals and subjected to various forms of physical and psychological torture. He was chained to a chair, beaten, and subjected to electric shocks. He was shown a bullet that was supposedly meant for him and told that car engines starting within his earshot were driving victims to their executions, the next of which would be his.[103]
During Hoxha's rule, there were six institutions for political prisoners and fourteen labour camps where political prisoners and common criminals worked together. It has been estimated that there were approximately 32,000 people imprisoned in Albania in 1985.[104]
Article 47 of the Albanian Criminal Code stated that to "escape outside the state, as well as refusal to return to the Fatherland by a person who has been sent to serve or has been temporarily permitted to go outside the state" was an act oftreason, a crime punishable by a minimum sentence of ten years and a maximum sentence of death.[105] The Albanian government went to great lengths to prevent people from defecting by leaving the country:
An electrically wired metal fence stands 600 meters to one kilometer from the actual border. Anyone touching the fence not only risks electrocution but also sets off alarm bells and lights which alert guards stationed at approximately one-kilometre intervals along the fence. Two meters of soil on either side of the fence are cleared in order to check for footprints of escapees and infiltrators. The area between the fence and the actual border is seeded with booby traps such as coils of wire, noise makers consisting of thin pieces of metal strips on top of two wooden slats with stones in a tin container which rattle if stepped on, and flares that are triggered by contact, thus illuminating would-be escapees during the night.[106]
Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun whose relatives resided in Albania during Hoxha's rule, was denied a chance to see them because she was considered a dangerous agent of the Vatican. Despite multiple requests and despite the fact that many countries made requests on her behalf, she was not granted the opportunity to see her mother and sister.[108] Mother Teresa's mother and sister both died during Hoxha's rule, and the nun herself was only able to visit Albania five years after the Communist regime collapsed.[108]
The Party focused on atheist education in schools. This tactic was effective, primarily as a result of the high birthrate policy, which was encouraged after the war. During periods which are considered "holy periods" by religious people, such asLent andRamadan, many foods and non-water beverages were distributed in schools and factories, and religious people who refused to eat those foods and drink those beverages when they were offered to them during their "fasting times" were denounced.[citation needed]
Starting on 6February 1967, the party began to promotesecularism in place ofAbrahamic religions. Hoxha, who had launched aCultural and Ideological Revolution after being partially inspired by China'sCultural Revolution, encouraged Communist students and workers to use more forceful tactics in order to discourage people from continuing their religious practices; the use of violence was initially condemned.[109]
According to Hoxha, the surge inanti-theist activities began with the youth. The result of this "spontaneous, unprovoked movement" was the demolition or conversion of all 2,169 churches and mosques in Albania.[110]State atheism became official policy, and Albania was declared the world's first atheist state. Town and city names which echoed Abrahamic religious themes were abandoned for neutral secular ones, as well as personal names. By 1968, Hoxha stated in a speech in that "Religion is a fuel kindling fires of all evils".[111] During this period religiously based names were also made illegal. TheDictionary of People's Names, published in 1982, contained 3,000 approved, secular names. In 1992, Monsignor Dias, the Papal Nuncio for Albania appointed byPope John Paul II, said that of the three hundred Catholic priests present in Albania prior to the Communists coming to power, only thirty were still active.[112] The promotion of religion was banned, and all clerics were labeled reactionaries and outlawed. Those religious figures who refused to embrace the principles of Marxism–Leninism were either arrested or carried on their activities in hiding.[citation needed]
During the anti-religious campaign, Enver Hoxha declared that "the only religion of Albania is Albanianism",[113] a quotation from the poemO moj Shqypni ("O Albania") by the 19th-century Albanian writerPashko Vasa.
Muzafer Korkuti, one of the dominant figures in post-war Albanianarchaeology and now the Director of the Institute of Archaeology in Tirana, stated the following in an interview on 10 July 2002:[114]
Archaeology is part of the politics which the party in power has and this was understood better than anything else by Enver Hoxha.Folklore and archaeology were respected because they are the indicators of the nation, and a party that shows respect to national identity is listened to by other people; good or bad as this may be. Enver Hoxha did this as didHitler. In Germany in the 1930s there was an increase in Balkan studies and languages and this too was all part of nationalism.
Hoxha and Albanians
Efforts were focused on anIllyrian-Albanian continuity issue.[114] An Illyrian origin of the Albanians (without denyingPelasgian roots[115]) continued to play a significant role in Albanian nationalism,[116] resulting in a revival of given names supposedly of "Illyrian" origin, at the expense of given names associated withChristianity. At first, Albanian nationalist writers opted for the Pelasgians as the forefathers of the Albanians, but as this form of nationalism flourished in Albania under Enver Hoxha, the Pelasgians became a secondary element[115] to the Illyrian theory ofAlbanian origins, which could claim some support in scholarship.[117]
The Illyrian descent theory soon became one of the pillars of Albanian nationalism, especially because it could provide some evidence in support of the belief that there was a continuous Albanian presence inKosovo andSouthern Albania, i.e. areas that were subjected toethnic conflicts between Albanians, Serbs and Greeks.[118] Under the government of Enver Hoxha, anautochthonousethnogenesis[114] was promoted and physical anthropologists[114] tried to prove that Albanians were different from all otherIndo-European populations, a theory which is currently discredited.[119] They claimed that the Illyrians were the most ancient people[114][120] in theBalkans and greatly extended the age of theIllyrian language.[114][121]
Hoxha and his government were also hostile toWesternpopular culture as it was manifested in themass media, along with theconsumerism andcultural liberalism which were associated with it. In a speech on the Fourth Plenum of the Central Committee of the PLA (PLA-CC) on 26 June 1973, Hoxha declared a definitive break with any such Western bourgeois influence and what he described as its "degenerated bourgeois culture".[122] In a speech in which he also criticised the "spread of certain vulgar, alien tastes in music and art", which ran "contrary to socialist ethics and the positive traditions of our people", including "degenerate importations such as long hair, extravagant dress, screaming jungle music, coarse language, shameless behaviour and so on",[122] Hoxha declared:
It is precisely this culture, coated with a glossy veneer, accompanied by sensational advertisement, handled in the most commercial way and back up and financed by the bourgeoisie, that inundates the cinema and television screens, magazines, newspapers and radio broadcasts, all the mass information and propaganda media. Its objective is to turn the ordinary man into a passive consumer of poisonous bourgeois ideas, and to make this consumption an addiction. Not only have we nothing to learn from this culture, no reason to impart it to our masses and youth, but we must reject it contemptuously and fight it with determination.[122]
Propaganda (photographed in 1978):The fatherland is defended by all of the people
In 1974, Hoxha accusedBeqir Balluku, Minister of Defence and longtime ally, of being an agent of China and attempting acoup d'état, since Balluku had criticized Hoxha's bunker program and said that a U.S. and Soviet invasion of Albania was unlikely. Hoxha sentenced Balluku and a group of his accused associates to death and appointed Mehmet Shehu as Minister of Defence.
A new Constitution was decided upon by the Seventh Congress of the Albanian Party of Labour on 1–7 November 1976. According to Hoxha, "The old Constitution was the Constitution of the building of the foundations of socialism, whereas the new Constitution will be the Constitution of the complete construction of a socialist society."[123]
Self-reliance was now stressed more than ever. Citizens were encouraged to train in the use of weapons, and this activity was also taught in schools. The purpose of this training was to encourage the creation of quickpartisans.[124]
Borrowing and foreign investment were banned under Article 26 of the Constitution, which read: "The granting of concessions to, and the creation of foreign economic and financial companies and other institutions or ones formed jointly with bourgeois and revisionist capitalist monopolies and states as well as obtaining credits from them are prohibited in the People's Socialist Republic of Albania."[125][126] Hoxha said of borrowing money and allowing investment from other countries:
No country whatsoever, big or small, can build socialism by taking credits and aid from the bourgeoisie and the revisionists or by integrating its economy into the world system of capitalist economies. Any such linking of the economy of a socialist country with the economy of bourgeois or revisionist countries opens the doors to the actions of the economic laws of capitalism and the degeneration of the socialist order. This is the road of betrayal and the restoration of capitalism, which the revisionist cliques have pursued and are pursuing.[127]
Albania was the most isolated country in Europe. In 1983, Albania imported goods which were worth $280 million but it exported goods which were worth $290 million, producing a trade surplus of $10 million.[128]
Fall of Hoxha's statue in Tirana's Skanderbeg Square amid student demonstrations
In 1981, Hoxha ordered the execution of several party and government officials in a new purge. Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, the second-most powerful man in Albania and Hoxha's closest comrade-in-arms for 40 years, was reported to have committed suicide in December 1981. He was subsequently condemned as a "traitor" to Albania, and he was also accused of operating in the service of multipleintelligence agencies. It is generally believed that he was either killed or he shot himself during a power struggle, which may have resulted from differing foreign policy matters with Hoxha.[129][130] Hoxha also wrote a large assortment of books during this period, resulting in over 65 volumes of collected works, condensed into six volumes of selected works.[131]
In 1973, Hoxha suffered aheart attack from which he never fully recovered. In increasingly precarious health from the late 1970s onward, he handed most state functions toRamiz Alia. In his final days, he was confined to awheelchair and suffered fromdiabetes, with which he was diagnosed in 1948, along withcerebral ischemia, with which he was diagnosed in 1983. On 9 April 1985, he was struck by aventricular fibrillation. Over the next 48 hours, he suffered repeated episodes of this arrhythmia, and he died in the early morning hours of 11 April 1985 at the age of 76. The Albanian government announced seven days of mourning, with flags flown at half-mast and entertainment and cultural events cancelled.[132]
Hoxha's body lay in state at the building of the Presidium of the People's Assembly for three days before he was buried on 15 April after a memorial service onSkanderbeg Square.[133][a] The government refused to accept any foreign delegations during Hoxha's funeral and it even condemned the Soviet message of condolences as "unacceptable".[134][135][136] After his burial, Hoxha was succeeded as head of state by Ramiz Alia, who gained control of the party's leadership two days later.
Hoxha left Albania with a legacy of isolation and fear of the outside world. Despite some economic progress which Albania made during Hoxha's rule,[137] the country was ineconomic stagnation; Albania had been the poorest European country throughout much of theCold War period.
Former residence of Hoxha in the formerly restricted area ofBlloku (the Block) in Tirana
The surnameHoxha is the Albanian variant ofhodja (fromTurkish:hoca),[4] a title which was given to his ancestors due to their efforts to teach Albanians about Islam.[138] Hoxha's parents were Halil and Gjylihan (Gjylo) Hoxha, and Hoxha had three sisters, Fahrije, Haxhire and Sanije.Hysen Hoxha ([hyˈsɛnˈhɔdʒa]) was Enver Hoxha's uncle and he also was a militant who vigorously campaigned for the independence of Albania, which occurred when Enver was four years old. His grandfather, Beqir, was involved in the Gjirokastër section of theLeague of Prizren.[139]
Hoxha's son Sokol Hoxha was the CEO of the Albanian Post and Telecommunication service, and he is married to Liliana Hoxha.[140]Sali Berisha, a later democratic president of Albania, was often seen socialising with Sokol Hoxha and other close relatives of leading Communist figures in Albania.[141]
Hoxha's daughter, Pranvera, is an architect. Along with her husband, Klement Kolaneci, she designed the Enver Hoxha Museum in Tirana, a white-tiled pyramid. Some sources have referred to the edifice, said to be the most expensive edifice ever constructed inAlbanian history, as the "Enver Hoxha Mausoleum", but this was not an official appellation. The museum was opened in 1988, three years after her father's death, and in 1991, it was transformed into a conference centre and an exhibition venue and it was renamed thePyramid of Tirana.[142]
TheMustafa Band was agang which was connected to counter-revolutionary elements such as theAlbanian mafia and members of the royalHouse of Zogu, and in 1982, it attempted to assassinate Enver Hoxha. The plan failed; two members of it were killed, and another member was arrested.[143][144]
According to Hoxha, after Albania's long-time prime minister,Mehmet Shehu, died in 1981, documents were found in a vault which previously belonged to him, and according to them, he would poison Hoxha and assume the leadership of the country, orders which were issued by Yugoslav intelligence.[145] In his bookThe Titoites, Hoxha argued that this plan failed because Shehu was a coward who could not go through with the task and he figured that at the very least, suicide would save his family from the punishment which he deserved for his counter-revolutionary activities.[146]
In 2016, the results of a survey which was conducted by the Institute for Development Research and Alternatives (IDRA) showed that 45% of Albanians believed that Hoxha had a positive impact on the history of Albania, whereas 42% of Albanians believed that he had a negative impact on the history of Albania.[147] Younger generations (16–35 years old; born after 1981) tend to have a more negative view of Hoxha's contributions, while older generations (over 35 years old; born before 1981) tend to have a more positive view.[147] Citizens in the regions of southeastern and southwestern Albania who were interviewed had the most positive view of Hoxha, respectively, they comprised 50% and 55% of the entire population.[147][148] Others have viewed him as a dictator.[149][150][151]
^There is uncertainty over Hoxha's true date of birth.Fevziu (2016), p. 10 notes: "No fewer than five different dates are to be found in the Central State Archives [of Albania] alone."
^Zickel, Raymond; Iwaskiw, Walter R. (April 1992).Albania: A Country Study (2nd ed.). [Washington, D.C.]: Library of Congress. pp. 45,91–94.ISBN9781490406244.Illiteracy declined from perhaps 85 percent in 1946 to 31 percent in 1950.
^Perritt, Henry H. (1 October 2010).Kosovo Liberation Army: The Inside Story of an Insurgency. University of Illinois Press.ISBN978-0-252-09213-8.Early Planners in Exile, encouraged sporadically by Enver Hoxha's Albanian intelligence services, worked hard at developing support for an independent Kosovo but were largely regarded as radical movements on the political fringes.
^Ranko Petković, "Yugoslavia and Albania", inYugoslav-Albanian Relations, trans. Zvonko Petnicki and Darinka Petković (Belgrade): Review of International Affairs, 1984, 274–275.
^Marku, Ylber (30 May 2019). "Communist Relations in Crisis: The End of Soviet-Albanian Relations, and the Sino-Soviet Split, 1960–1961".The International History Review.42 (4):813–832.doi:10.1080/07075332.2019.1620825.ISSN0707-5332.S2CID191900853.
^Raymond E. Zickel & Walter R. Iwaskiw.Albania: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division of the United States Library of Congress. p. 235.
^Enver Hoxha, "The Communists Lead by Means of Example, Sacrifices, Abnegation: Discussion in the Organization of the Party, Sector C, of the 'Enver' Plant", 2 March 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 35, Tirana, 1982, pp. 130–131. "In this matter violence, exaggerated or inflated actions must be condemned. Here it is necessary to use persuasion and only persuasion, political and ideological work, so that the ground is prepared for each concrete action against religion."
^abSchwandner-Sievers & Fischer 2002, p. 96 "but when Enver Hoxha declared that their origin was Illyrian (without denying their Pelasgian roots), no one dared participate in further discussion of the question".
^Eya 1997, p. 196 "From time to time the state gave out lists with pagan, supposed Illyrian or newly constructed names that would be proper for the new generation of revolutionaries."
^Enver Hoxha,Report on the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania (Tirana: 8 Nëntori Publishing House, 1977), 12.
^Letter from Albania: Enver Hoxha's legacy, and the question of tourism: "The bunkers were just one component of Hoxha's aim to arm the entire country against enemy invaders. Gun training used to be a part of school, I was told, and every family was expected to have a cache of weapons. Soon, Albania became awash in guns and other armaments – . Subsequently, the country decommissioned huge stockpiles of ammunition as part of its new NATO obligations."
^Chamberlain, Greg (18 October 1987)."The Truest Believer".The New York Times. "Hoxha, who died in 1985, was one of the most verbose statesmen of modern times and pressed more than 50 volumes of opinions, diaries and dogma on his long-suffering people, the poorest in Europe."
^O'Donnell 1999, p. 186: "On the positive side, an objective analysis must conclude that Enver Hoxha's plan to mobilise all of Albania's resources under the regimentation of a central plan was effective and quite successful ... Albania was a tribal society, not necessarily primitive but certainly less developed than most. It had no industrial or working class tradition and no experience using modern production techniques. Thus, the results achieved, especially during the phases of initial planning and construction of the economic base were both impressive and positive."
^"Former dictator still seen in positive light by many Albanians, poll shows".Tirana Times. 9 December 2016.According to a survey report on the Understanding and Perception of Citizens of the Communist Past in Albania, almost half of the population of Albania sees Enver Hoxha's role in the history of the country as positive. The study found that 55 percent of citizens who were interviewed in the regions of southern and southwestern Albania had the most positive view of Albania's former communist dictator.
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