In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

C H A P T E R 5 THE GROWTH OF RESISTANCE AND THE COLLAPSE OF ITALY By the end of 1941, German diplomats reported that the security situation in Albania was becoming dif¤cult. By the early summer of 1942, they reported anarchy in the open land, with Italian control restricted to the major towns, the major roads, and military installations.1 One year later the occupation system was in tatters, and by August 1943 it had collapsed entirely. A series of events explains these developments, with the most important occurring outside of Albania, involving the general course of World War II. But events inside of Albania did much to contribute to the Italian collapse. And the most signi¤cant was the rise of something close to a national resistance movement dominated by Albanian communists and aided by the British. The Creation of the Albanian Communist Party The story of the rise of the communist movement in Albania is as byzantine as it is remarkable. Beginning with no more that a few dozen ¤ercely independent adherents, the movement, in a matter of decades, gained power in a state where communism was little known and was juxtaposed or at least alien to many indigenous traditions. The communism that developed under these circumstances was naturally unique and often seemed indistinguishable from extreme nationalism. Tracing this story is often fraught with danger. Because Albanian socialist historians tended to be very selective in the materials they used, there are several versions of these events. Indeed, the formation and rise of the Albanian Communist Party and its relationship with the Yugoslav Communist Party have engendered more historical dispute that perhaps any other issue in modern Albanian history. Communist activity in Albania dates from the early 1920s, when a group of Albanian nationalists were encouraged and then ¤nanced by the Comintern through its Balkan Communist Federation. Bajram Curri and his colleagues 121 in the Kosova Committee, a group of northerners who sought the union of Albania and Kosova, were attracted by the federation’s call for the readjustment of Balkan frontiers based upon the principle of national self-determination . The Comintern tried concurrently to establish a communist party in Albania, the only Balkan state that did not have one at that time. Although these efforts failed, interest in communism increased among some Albanians following the overthrow of the Fan Noli government in 1924. Noli and many of his followers ¶ed, and some organized the Committee of National Liberation (KONARE), which by 1928 was essentially controlled by the Comintern. KONARE was instrumental in sending about twenty-four Albanians to Moscow for training.2 These two dozen organized a diminutive Albanian communist party in exile and were directed to return to Albania to found an indigenous party. The most active of these early Albanian communists was Ali Klemendi, who returned to Albania in 1930 and succeeded in constructing a few communist cells. Klemendi’s in¶uence was sporadic and limited, however, as was his presence. In prison from 1932 to 1935 and deported in 1936, he ¤nally died in 1939 of tuberculosis in Paris, which had become a center for Albanian communists. In the meantime the Comintern sent Koço Tashko, who arrived in Albania in 1937 and discovered four squabbling groups with a combined membership of less than two hundred, who posed little or no threat to the Zog regime.3 The groups included Zjarri (Fire), which was not orthodox; a group in Tirana; one in Shkodra; and one in Korça. Of the four, the Korça group generally supported the Comintern line, and it is here, therefore, that Tashko concentrated his energies. But the internal disputes went from bad to worse. In February 1939 most of the Shkodra group was arrested by agents of Zog— foul play on the part of the other groups has been suggested. When the Italians invaded in 1939, the communists were too weak and divided to take any action, although Albanian socialist historiography reports that they all resisted with determination.4 While some individual communists are said to have joined some of the small but growing resistance bands, there seems to be little evidence to suggest that the communists groups did anything more than organize a few demonstrations. In keeping with their inability to agree or compromise, the four groups developed different bases of support and different strategies for dealing with the occupation. The Korça group, which remained orthodox, had a better mix of intellectuals and workers than...

Share