Albania After Hoxha

ALBANIA AFTER HOXHA Patrick F.R. Artisten *lbania has a new leader: Ramiz Alia has succeeded Enver Hoxha, the veteran leader who, having founded the Albanian Communist Party in 1941, served as its first secretary until his death in April 1985. It was Hoxha who put Albania on the road to economic self-reliance, and it is to his policies that the new leadership will look as they shape the direction of their own. Albania, a small Balkan country of three million, is arguably one of the most isolated countries in Europe. It was this geographical isolation on the fringe of the Balkan Peninsula, along with five centuries of Ottoman domination ending as recently as 1912, and the covetous policies of neighboring states and foreign powers during the interwar years that instilled in the population an acute mistrust of outsiders. Thus, Hoxha's communist partisans could seize power in 1944 without the assistance of external military forces. Tapping the people's simmering xenophobia, they secured their political ends with little difficulty: the defense of Albania's security against the dangers of Western capitalism served to justify the introduction of single party rule and the enforcement of an authoritarian social system. After a communist regime was established, Albania's "natural" ideological ally was the Soviet Union. When the latter discontinued relations Patrick F.R. Artisien is lecturer in business and economics at the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, Cardiff. His most recent publications are Joint Ventures in Yugoslav Industry and a chapter on Albania in Political Leadership and Succession in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and China, forthcoming from Macmillan. 159 160 SAIS REVIEW with Yugoslavia in 1948, Albania followed suit. This gesture of faith in the Soviet system earned Albania much-needed economic assistance and the financial credits upon which to base its industrial development. Relations between the two countries began to decline, however, after the death of Stalin in 1953. Khrushchev's insistence that Albania concentrate on developing agriculture rather than industry alerted the Albanian leadership to the potential danger of overdependence on Soviet raw materials. Their fear was confirmed when the Soviet Union refused to grant credits for the development of a steel complex at Elbasan. When Khrushchev denounced Stalin, Hoxha's growing disillusion with Moscow became complete , and the rift between the two countries became irreparable. Diplomatic relations with the USSR were broken off in 1961, all economic assistance from Comecon came to an abrupt halt, and an ideological campaign denouncing "Soviet revisionism" was launched and continues to this day. In the early 1960s Albania turned to China for credits, trade, and technical expertise, but this new alliance was itself terminated for ideological reasons in 1978. Since then, Albania's Party of Labor has pursued and strengthened a policy of self-reliance. Ideologically, Albania presents itself as the "last bastion of Marxism-Leninism" andjustifies its isolation on grounds of internal security necessitated by the "constant encirclement by the capitalist-revisionist blockade." It has pursued a vigorous policy of economic development, and (in accordance with traditional Stalinist practice) priority has been given to the development of heavy industry, while the collectivization of agriculture has been accelerated. The goal of self-reliance has also contributed to the priority of domestic market interests over integration into the world market. Albania has not, however, totally excluded commercial exchanges with foreign countries: commercial ties with Italy, France, Greece, and Yugoslavia have actually been strengthened. Nowhere is Albania's policy of self-reliance more evident than in its constitution, which forbids the acceptance of credits and loans from capitalist sources. As the break with China eliminated an estimated 50 percent ofAlbanian imports, exports had to be increased to generate the necessary hard currency with which to purchase essential supplies. This accounts for the growth of trade relations with selected capitalist countries . Estimates show that Albanian exports during 1976—80 were 33 percent higher than in 1971-75 and that the inflated world price of oil boosted Albania's oil export receipts prior to the opec price cut in 1983.l 1. Michael Kaser, Albania under and after Enver Hoxha, Compendium of papers on Eastern Europe, United States Congress, Washington, D...