TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=93CT1583> <link 91TT0445> <link 90TT3419> <link 90TT1293> <link 90TT0105> <title> Albania--History </title> <history> Compact ALMANAC--CIA Factbook Europe Albania </history> <article> <source>CIA World Factbook</source> <hdr> History </hdr> <body> Albania, historically, has been a nation subjected to foreign domination. Its national hero, Skanderbeg, achieved fame by overcoming superior Turkish forces to establish an independent Albania lasting from 1443 until 1478 (10 years after his death). This was the only period until the 20th century in which Albania was completely independent. Until then, for four and one-half centuries, Albania was ruled by the Ottoman Turks. Western influence did not begin to penetrate until independence in 1912. On November 28, 1912, at the height of the First Balkan War, a provisional government was established, and Albania declared its independence from Turkey. Despite intentions of certain Allied Power during World War I to dismember the country, Albania was reestablished as an independent state by the Paris Peace Conference, largely as a result of the efforts of President Woodrow Wilson. In 1920, Albania was admitted to the League of Nations and remained a member until Mussolini's conquest of the country in 1939. Following Italy's surrender in 1943, German troops occupied the country. Germany retreated from the Balkans in 1944, by which time the communist-led National Liberation Front (NLF) virtually had eliminated other smaller, non-communist resistance groups. The NLF gained control of the country on November 28, 1944, establishing the regime that has ruled ever since. Yugoslav communists were instrumental in establishing the Albanian Communist Party in November 1941, and the NLF regime became a virtual satellite of the Yugoslavs until the Tito-Staling break in 1948. Albanian leaders, including Enver Hoxha, who had resented growing Yugoslav influence, seized the opportunity presented by the Moscow- Belgrade rift to purge political rivals like Interior Minister Koci Xoxe as "Titoists," and renounced Albania's then close relations with Yugoslavia. The Albanian leaders' distaste for the softer brand of communism that Khrushchev introduced after Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet rapprochement with Yugoslavia beginning in 1955, and Soviet interference in the Albanian economy led to growing difficulties in Soviet-Albanian relations by 1960. The differences between the two countries came to a head in 1961 when the Soviet leaders, no doubt with China also in mind, openly denounced Albania at the 22d Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in Moscow and suspended diplomatic relations. This led to the mutual withdrawal, in late 1961, of diplomatic staffs from the respective capitals. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union evacuated its military installations in Albania, most importantly, the naval and submarine base at Vlore. Albania continued nominal but non-participatory membership in the Warsaw Pact from the time of its split with the Soviet Union until September 1968. Following the invasion of Czechoslovakia, Albania withdrew unilaterally from the Warsaw Pact. Because of the break with the Soviet Union, Albania suffered the loss of Soviet assistance and trade. However, trade with the other members of the Soviet-dominated Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (CEMA) continued undisturbed. In 1961, China emerged as Albania's staunch ally, giving substantial aid for Albania's perennial trade and payments deficits as well as for its industrialization and development programs. (The Albanians reported the amount of Chinese aid at $1.4 billion through July 1978.) The Chinese also became the primary source of military assistance, which they claim was provided free. Political, ideological, and economic differences arose following the Chinese decision to seek a rapprochement with the United States. In the early 1970s, the Chinese began to delay deliveries of equipment of major industrial projects and to reduce trade. Under the July 1975 economic agreement, they cut developmental credits by almost one-half and also refused to underwrite any new projects. After the October 1976 overthrow of the radical "Gang of Four" in China, Albania publicly denounced the Hua Guofeng government for its rapprochement with the "imperialist camp"--the United States. In November 1976, Albania began seeking the allegiance of foreign, radical, splinter Marxist-Leninist parties that had been loyal to Beijing. In July 1977, the Albanian Party of Labor (APL) openly attacked Mao's "Three Worlds Theory," the Chinese party's latest line, as an "opportunistic deviation from Marxist-Leninism." Finally, a June 1978 APL organ editorial, "Imperialists: Hands Off Vietnam," supported Vietnam against China and Pol Pot's Kampuchea. The open split came in a Chinese diplomatic note dated July 7, 1978, stating that because of the Albanian leadership's anti-China course, the Chinese Government had no choice but to end its aid program and recall its experts. Beijing also terminated all trade. Diplomatic relations are maintained but have become cool and inactive. In 1983, Albania and China agreed to renew bilateral trade. The falling out with China shifted Albania's attention to Western Europe. APL First Secretary Enver Hoxha made a strong pitch in September 1978 for closer economic and cultural ties to "well- disposed" bourgeois Western states "which respect Albania." At the top of the list were France, Italy, Greece, Austria, Turkey, and the Scandinavian countries. This new policy direction probably reflects Albania's efforts to find alternative markets for former exports to China. Since the constitution bans developmental credits from "capitalist" and "revisionist" states, exports are the only means to gain equipment and technology for industrial development. Ties generally have improved with selected Western states, but by 1986 Albania had yet to establish diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the United States. On April 13,1985, Ramiz Alia officially replaced Enver Hoxha, who had died 2 years earlier, as First Secretary of The Central Committee of the Albanian Party of Labor, the position Hoxha had held as the most important political figure in Albania since the communist takeover in 1944. Since assuming power, Alia has pursued policies consistent with those of his mentor Hoxha, namely, an independent foreign policy highly suspicious of both the Soviet Union and the United States and tightly centralized party control over domestic policy and the economy. Political Conditions Albania's society is the most rigidly controlled in Europe. In the most recent elections, held in April 27, 1986, the regime claimed 100% voter participation, with more than 99% of the ballots cast for the officially approved candidates. Albanians may travel abroad only in an officials capacity, and every attempt is made to screen the population from any foreign influence. The police and internal security forces are believed to be proportionally the largest in Europe. Despite the level of police control, between 1973 and 1976 dissidence and economic problems prompted the leadership to carry out purges in the party, governmental and economic ministries, and defense establishment. The Albanian Party of Labor has about 125,000 members. The leading organs of the APL are the Politburo, composed of 10 full and 5 alternate members; a Secretariat, with 5 members; and the Central Committee, costing of 115. Party leadership still rests in the hands of the wartime resistance leaders. Albania has no other political parties, but the following are the more important subsidiary organizations operating under the direction of the APL: -- The Democratic Front, a "non-political front" organization to which adult Albanians are required to belong as a patriotic duty. -- The Union of the Working Youth, for young people up to the age of 26; and -- The trade unions, to which workers in state industries must belong to obtain certain benefits. Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, November 1986. </body> </article> </text>