Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0005/00058.txt

Text File | 1991-06-24 | 17KB | 278 lines

$Unique_ID{COW00058}
$Pretitle{298}
$Title{Albania
Chapter 5A.   Social System}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Eugene K. Keefe, Sarah Jane Elpern, Willaim Giloane, James M. Moore, Jr., Weston White}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{social
family
society
tribal
class
beys
communist
country
north
clan}
$Date{1971}
$Log{}
Country:     Albania
Book:        Albania, A Country Handbook
Author:      Eugene K. Keefe, Sarah Jane Elpern, Willaim Giloane, James M. Moore, Jr., Weston White
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1971

Chapter 5A.   Social System

     The Communist regime was still striving in 1970 to alter the traditional
tribal and semifeudal social patterns of the country and to restructure the
whole system to fit Marxist-Leninist principles of a socialist society. Until
after World War II the strongest loyalties of the people had been toward
family and larger kin groups, which have been the most important units in
Albanian society. Kin groups had been held together by strong spirit and
loyalties, as well as by economic factors. The head of the family, usually the
eldest male member, historically exercised patriarchal authority, with general
responsibility for the welfare and safety of the members. In this patriarchal
society, respect for parental authority was dominant.

     Local autonomy and suspicion of central authority had for centuries been
a way of life for Albanian society. This way of life persisted until the
twentieth century, despite the foreign cultural and political influences to
which the society was subjected during the long domination by the Ottoman
Turks.

     Of particular social importance during this domination was the conversion
of the majority of the people to the Islamic faith. Even before this
conversion, however, the people had been segmented by the schism between the
Roman and Eastern Orthodox churches. The people in the north were usually
Roman Catholic, and those in the south, Eastern Orthodox. Tolerance, however,
has been a marked feature of the people and, accordingly, religious
divisiveness has had no great effect on the tribal and semifeudal structure of
the society. Indeed, the three religious faiths in the country-Muslim, Roman
Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox-have represented traditional loyalties rather
than living creeds for the Albanians.

     Until the Communist takeover in 1944, there had been two broad social
classes in the country, an upper and a lower class. The upper class was
composed of the landowning beys (see Glossary); some bajraktars (relatively
well-to-do tribal chieftains); and a smaller number of rich Christian farmers,
merchants, small industrialists, some intellectuals, and the higher clergy.
The lower class, amounting to about 90 percent of the population, was composed
of a small group of workers, the peasant masses, livestock breeders, and the
lower energy.

     The Communist regime's political, social, and economic measures aimed at
redirecting the traditional social patterns have resulted in more social
transformations than at any time since the Turkish invasions in the fifteenth
century. Collectivization of agriculture, industrialization and the consequent
migration from rural to industrial areas, and a widespread educational system
have done much to transform the tribal character of the society.

     Although in 1970 the patriarchal system was still a way of life in the
countryside, especially in the highlands, the authority of the master of the
house had been considerably reduced. Marriage customs in particular had
changed. As a result, the position of the close-knit family had been altered.
Radical changes had occurred also in the life of women. Many of them have had
to work outside the home to compensate for the generally low wages of their
husbands. Day-care nurseries had been set up to make it easier for mothers to
work and also to give the regime an early opportunity to indoctrinate the
children.

     Despite such transformation, however, the family was still the most
significant unit in the society. The allegiance given to the family, coupled
with the individualism characteristic of the people and the traditions of
political autonomy in local affairs, had made it difficult for the regime to
fully implement its policies for restructuring the society in general and the
family in particular.

     Reflecting the influence of the standard Marxist-Leninist dogma, the
regime officially recognized only two classes-one composed of workers and
considered the leading class and the other consisting of the working peasants,
a third group usually being referred to as the people's intelligentsia.
Actually, a distinct new upper class, constituting less than 10 percent of the
total population, emerged under Communist rule to replace the upper ruling and
middle classes that existed before the Communist takeover. This new upper
class was composed of the top ruling elite that controlled all facets of
society and its supporting echelons, made up of officials of the Party and
state apparatus; mass organizations; and professional and technical people,
such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, and managers of state enterprises.

     Membership in the Party or sympathy toward communism was the chain that
linked this upper class together. All its segments had benefited from the
Communist system, having enjoyed considerable advantages over the rest of the
population; they formed practically the only social group with a vested
interest in the perpetuation of the system. The rest of the
population-peasants, workers, and remnants of the upper and middle
classes-were only cogs in the Communist apparatus, all used for the purpose of
implementing the Party policies for the building of a Communist society.

     Under Communist rule the stabilization of the class differentiations had
lessened social mobility both upward and downward. In 1970 it was difficult to
alter one's social status except through a long process of training and
education. Educational opportunities, however, had been greatly expanded,
although they were still limited in the rural areas. The best opportunities
were offered to the children of the Party elite and Party faithful. But
because of the great demand for qualified personnel to manage the growing
socialist sectors of the economy, some children of worker and peasant
backgrounds had opportunities to continue their education to the highest
levels and to fully develop their abilities and capacities. The whole
educational system, however, was geared to the demands of the Party, and its
first objective was the inculcation of the youth with Communist ideology.

     Perhaps the most radical change in the whole social system had been
effected in the area of religion. By 1970 the country's three principal
religious faiths had been eliminated as organizational bodies. All churches
and mosques had been closed; the clergy was not permitted to function; and the
country had been declared by the official media to be the first atheist nation
in the world. Top Party and government officials admitted, however, that the
closing of the houses of worship and the action against the clergy had not
eliminated the religious feelings and beliefs of the people.

Traditional Social Patterns and Values

     The social structure of the country was until the 1930s basically tribal
in the north and semifeudal in the central and southern regions. The
highlanders in the north retained intact their medieval tribal pattern of life
until well into the twentieth century and were considered the last peoples in
Europe to preserve tribal autonomy. In the central and southern regions,
however, increasing contact with the outside world and invasions and
occupations by foreign armies had reduced the tribes to tenure peasants.

     Traditionally, there have been two major groupings or subcultures in the
country: the Gegs in the north, probably numbering slightly over half the
total population, and the Tosks in the south. Although the terms Geg and Tos