History
> Socialist Albania
The
Stalinist state
The new rulers inherited an Albania plagued by
a host of ills: pervasive poverty, overwhelming
illiteracy, blood feuds, epidemics of disease,
and gross subjugation of women. In order to eradicate
these ills, the communists drafted a radical modernization
program intended to bring social and economic
liberation to Albania, thus completing the political
liberation won in 1912. The government's first
major act to "build socialism" was swift, uncompromising
agrarian reform, which broke up the large landed
estates of the southern beys and distributed the
parcels to landless and other peasants. This destroyed
the powerful class of the beys. The government
also moved to nationalize industry, banks, and
all commercial and foreign properties. Shortly
after the agrarian reform, the Albanian government
started to collectivize agriculture, completing
the job in 1967. As a result, peasants lost title
to their land. In addition, the Hoxha leadership
extended the new socialist order to the more rugged
and isolated northern highlands, bringing down
the age-old institution of the blood feud and
the patriarchal structure of the family and clans,
thus destroying the semifeudal class of bajraktars.
The traditional role of women--namely, confinement
to the home and farm--changed radically as they
gained legal equality with men and became active
participants in all areas of society. In order
to obtain the economic aid needed for modernization,
as well as the political and military support
to enhance its security, Albania turned to the
communist world: Yugoslavia (1944-48), the Soviet
Union (1948-61), and China (1961-78). Economically,
Albania benefited greatly from these alliances:
with hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and
credits, and with the assistance of a large number
of technicians and specialists sent by its allies,
Albania was able to build the foundations of a
modern industry and to introduce mechanization
into agriculture. As a result, for the first time
in modern history, the Albanian populace began
to emerge from age-old backwardness and, for a
while, enjoyed a higher standard of living. Politically,
Hoxha was disillusioned with his communist allies
and patrons and broke with each one, charging
that they had abandoned Marxism-Leninism and the
cause of the proletariat for the sake of rapprochement
with the capitalist West. Alienated from both
East and West, Albania adopted a "go-it-alone"
policy and became notorious as an isolated bastion
of Stalinism. Hoxha's program for modernization
aimed at transforming Albania from a backward
agrarian country into a modern industrial society,
and, indeed, within four decades Albania had made
respectable--in some cases historic--strides in
the development of industry, agriculture, education,
the arts, and culture. A notable achievement was
the drainage of coastal swamplands--until then
breeding grounds for malarial mosquitoes--and
the reclamation of land for agricultural and industrial
uses. Also symbolic of the change was a historic
language reform that fused elements of the Geg
and Tosk dialects into a unified literary language.
Political oppression, however, offset gains made
on the material and cultural planes. Contrary
to provisions in the constitution, during Hoxha's
reign Albania was ruled, in effect, by the Directorate
of State Security, known as the Sigurimi. To eliminate
dissent, the government resorted periodically
to purges, in which opponents were subjected to
public criticism, dismissed from their jobs, imprisoned
in forced-labour camps, or executed. Travel abroad
was forbidden to all but those on official business.
In 1967 the religious establishment, which party
leaders and other atheistic Albanians viewed as
a backward medieval institution that hampered
national unity and progress, was officially banned,
and all Christian and Muslim houses of worship
were closed.
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