Regjimi i enver hoxha biography

Log In. Browse Biographies. Quiz Are you a biography pro? A John von Neumann. B Blaise Pascal. C Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. The Soviet Union also attempted to claim control of the submarine base. The Albanian Party then passed a law prohibiting any other nation from owning an Albanian port. The Albanian—Soviet split was now complete.

As Hoxha's leadership continued, he took on an increasingly theoretical stance. He wrote criticisms which were based on theory and current events which occurred at the time; his most notable criticisms were his condemnations of Maoism after During World War II, the Albanian Communists encouraged women to join the partisans [ 61 ] and following the war, women were encouraged to take up menial jobs, as the education necessary for higher level work was out of most women's reach.

By During the Cultural and Ideological Revolutionwomen were encouraged to take up all jobs, including government posts, which resulted in The entire party and country should hurl into the fire and break the neck of anyone who dared trample underfoot the sacred edict of the party on the defense of women's rights. An electrification campaign was begun in and the entire nation was expected to have electricity by Instead, it achieved this on 25 October Hoxha's legacy also included a complex ofone-man concrete bunkers across a country of 3 million inhabitants, to act as look-outs and gun emplacements along with chemical weapons.

The types of bunkers vary from machine gun pillboxes, beach bunkers, to underground naval facilities and even Air Force Mountain and underground bunkers. Hoxha's internal policies were true to Stalin's paradigm which he admired, and the personality cult which was developed in the s and organised around him by the Party also bore a striking resemblance to that of Stalin.

Regjimi i enver hoxha biography: Enver Hoxha was the Albanian communist

At times it even reached an intensity which was as extreme as the personality cult of Kim Il Sung which Hoxha condemned [ 70 ] with Hoxha being portrayed as a genius commenting on virtually all facets of life from culture to economics to military matters. Each schoolbook required one or more quotations from him on the subjects being studied.

He adopted a different type military salute for the People's Army to render honors which was known as the "Hoxhaist salute", which involves soldiers curling their right fist and raising it to shoulder level. Hoxha's governance was also distinguished by his encouragement of a high birthrate policy. However, the nation discovered that the task of completing these building projects was difficult, because Albania's relations with its neighbors were poor and because matters were also complicated by the long distance between Albania and China.

By the time the constitution was promulgated, Albania had mostly become self-sufficient, but it lacked modern technology. Ideologically, Hoxha found that Mao's initial views were in line with Marxism—Leninism, due to his condemnation of Khrushchev's alleged revisionism and his condemnation of Yugoslavia. The financial aid which China provided to Albania was interest-free and it did not have to be repaid until Albania could afford to do so.

China never intervened in Albania's economic output, and Chinese technicians and Albanian workers both worked for the same wages. Strategically, the Adriatic Sea was attractive to China, because China hoped that it could gain more allies in Eastern Europe through Albania - a hope which was misplaced.

Regjimi i enver hoxha biography: Enver Halil Hoxha was an

Zhou Enlai visited Albania in January Both [Albania and China] hold that the relations between socialist countries are international relations of a new type. Relations between socialist countries, big or small, economically more developed or less developed, must be based on the principles of complete equality, respect for territorial sovereignty and independence, and non-interference in each other's internal affairs, and must also be based on the principles of mutual assistance in accordance with proletarian internationalism.

It is necessary to oppose great-nation chauvinism and national egoism in relations between socialist countries. It is absolutely impermissible to impose the will of one country upon another, or to impair the independence, sovereignty and interests of the people, of a fraternal country on the pretext of 'aid' or 'international division of labour.

Like Albania, China defended the "purity" of Marxism by attacking American imperialism and "Soviet and Yugoslav revisionism", both of them were equally attacked as part of a "dual adversary" theory. If the U. They will fight together and they will win together. During the Cultural RevolutionChina entered into a four-year period of relative diplomatic isolation, however, its relations with Albania were positive.

On 20 Augustthe Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia was condemned by Albania, along with the Brezhnev doctrine. Albania refused to send troops to Czechoslovakia in support of the invasion, and it officially withdrew from the Warsaw Pact on 5 September. The letter stated:. We trust you will understand the reason for the delay in our reply.

This was because your decision came as a surprise to us and it was taken without any preliminary consultation between us on this question, so that we would be able to express and thrash out our opinions. This, we think, could have been useful, because preliminary consultations, between close friends, determined co-fighters against imperialism and revisionism, are useful and necessary, and especially so, when steps which, in our opinion, have a major international effect and repercussions are taken.

Considering the Communist Party of China as a sister party and our closest co-fighter, we have never hidden our views from it. That is why on this major problem which you put before us, we inform you that we consider your decision to receive Nixon in Beijing as incorrect and undesirable, and we do not approve or support it. It will also be our opinion that Nixon's announced visit to China will not be understood or approved of by the peoples, the revolutionaries and the communists of different countries.

The result of this criticism was a message from the Chinese leadership in in which it stated that Albania could not depend on an indefinite flow of aid from China, and in Albania was advised to "curb its expectations about further Chinese contributions to its economic development". While China maintained its economic agreements, Hoxha remarked that their "initial ardor" had waned.

Trade rose from 0. Hoxha viewed this as a way for China to justify having the U. He condemned this as a "diabolical plan" for China to position itself as a superpower at the head of the "third world" and the "non-aligned world. Hoxha stated:. The Chinese leaders are acting like the leaders of a 'great state'. They think, 'The Albanians fell out with the Soviet Union because they had us, and if they fall with us, too, they will go back to the Soviets,' therefore they say, 'Either with us or the Soviets, it is all the same, the Albanians are done for.

We shall fight against all this trash, because we are Albanian Marxist—Leninists and on our correct course we shall always triumph! On 13 JulyChina announced that it was cutting off all of its aid to Albania. For the first time in modern history, Albania did not have a major ally nor a major trading partner. Certain clauses in the constitution circumscribed the exercise of political liberties which the government interpreted as being contrary to the established order.

At one point, every third Albanian had either been interrogated by the Sigurimi or they had been incarcerated in labour camps. Aftertravel abroad was forbidden to all but those people who were on official business. Western European culture was looked upon with deep suspicion, resulting in bans on all unauthorised foreign materials and arrests:.

The former student, now the mayor of Tirana, said that he would cower beneath the bedclothes at night and listen to foreign radio stations, an activity which was punishable by a long stretch in a labour camp. He became fascinated by the saxophone. Yet, because such musical instruments were considered an evil influence and were thus banned, he had never seen one.

Art was required to reflect the styles of socialist realism. The justice system's legal proceedings regularly degenerated into show trials. An American human rights group described the proceedings of one trial, noting that the defendant was not allowed to question the witnesses. While he could express objections to certain aspects of the case, the prosecutor dismissed them, telling him to "sit down and be quiet" because they claimed to know better.

Another was detained in a cell one meter by eight meters large in the local police station and kept in solitary confinement for a five-day period punctuated by two beating sessions until he signed a confession; he was taken to Sigurimi regjimi i enver hoxha biography, where he was again tortured and questioned, despite his prior confession, until his three-day trial.

Still another witness was confined underground for more than a year in a three-meter square cell. During this time he was interrogated at irregular intervals and subjected to various forms of physical and psychological torture. He was chained to a chair, beaten, and subjected to electric shocks. He was shown a bullet that was supposedly meant for him and told that car engines starting within his earshot were driving victims to their executions, the next of which would be his.

During Hoxha's rule, there were six institutions for political prisoners and fourteen labour camps where political prisoners and common criminals worked together. It has been estimated that there were approximately 32, people imprisoned in Albania in Article 47 of the Albanian Criminal Code stated that to "escape outside the state, as well as refusal to return to the Fatherland by a person who has been sent to serve or has been permitted temporarily to go outside the state" was an act of treasona crime punishable by a minimum sentence of ten years and a maximum sentence of death.

An electrically-wired metal fence stands meters to one kilometer from the actual border. Anyone touching the fence not only risks electrocution, but also sets off alarm bells and lights which alert guards stationed at approximately one-kilometre regjimi i enver hoxha biographies along the fence. Two meters of soil on either side of the fence are cleared in order to check for footprints of escapees and infiltrators.

The area between the fence and the actual border is seeded with booby traps such as coils of wire, noise makers consisting of thin pieces of metal strips on top of two wooden slats with stones in a tin container which rattle if stepped on, and flares that are triggered by contact, thus illuminating would-be escapees during the night. Albania was a predominantly Muslim country after the demise of the Ottoman Empirein which social structure was based on confessional communities not on ethnic groups.

After the rise of nationalism in the Ottoman EmpireMuslims were classified as TurksEastern Orthodox Christians were classified as Greeksand Catholics were classified as Latins. Hoxha believed that this division of Albanian society along religious and ethnic lines was a serious issue, because it fueled Greek separatists in southern Albania in particular and it also divided the nation in general.

The Agrarian Reform Law of confiscated much of the church's property in the country. Catholics were the earliest religious community to be targeted because the Vatican was considered an agent of Fascism and anti-Communism. Decree No. Mother Teresaa Catholic nun whose relatives resided in Albania during Hoxha's rule, was denied a chance to see them because she was considered a dangerous agent of the Vatican.

Despite multiple requests and despite the fact that many countries made requests on her behalf, she was not granted the opportunity to see her mother and sister. The Party focused on atheist education in schools. This tactic was effective, primarily as a result of the high birthrate policy which was encouraged after the war.

Regjimi i enver hoxha biography: This book provides the first

During periods which are considered "holy periods" by religious people, such as Lent and Ramadanmany foods and non-water beverages were distributed in schools and factories, and religious people who refused to eat those foods and drink those beverages when they were offered to them during their "fasting times" were denounced. Starting on 6 Februarythe party began to promote secularism in place of Abrahamic religions.

Hoxha, who had launched a Cultural and Ideological Revolution after being partially inspired by China's Cultural Revolutionencouraged Communist students and workers to use more forceful tactics in order to discourage people from continuing their religious practices; the use of violence was initially condemned. According to Hoxha, the surge in anti-theist activities began with the youth.

The result of this "spontaneous, unprovoked movement" was the demolition or conversion of all 2, churches and mosques in Albania. Town and city names which echoed Abrahamic religious themes were abandoned for neutral secular ones, as well as personal names. ByHoxha stated in a speech in that "Religion is a fuel kindling fires of all evils". The Dictionary of People's Namespublished incontained 3, approved, secular names.

Those religious figures who refused to embrace the principles of Marxism—Leninism were either arrested or carried on their activities in hiding. During the anti-religious campaign, Enver Hoxha declared that "the only religion of Albania is Albanianism", [ ] a quotation from the poem O moj Shqiperi "O Albania" by the 19th-century Albanian regjimi i enver hoxha biography Pashko Vasa.

Muzafer Korkutione of the dominant figures in post-war Albanian archaeology and now the Director of the Institute of Archaeology in Tirana, stated the following in an interview on 10 July [ ]. Archaeology is part of the politics which the party in power has and this was understood better than anything else by Enver Hoxha. Folklore and archaeology were respected because they are the indicators of the nation, and a party that shows respect to national identity is listened to by other people; good or bad as this may be.

Enver Hoxha did this as did Hitler. In Germany in the s there was an increase in Balkan studies and languages and this too was all part of nationalism. Efforts were focused on an Illyrian -Albanian continuity issue. At first, Albanian nationalist writers opted for the Pelasgians as the forefathers of the Albanians, but as this form of nationalism flourished in Albania under Enver Hoxha, the Pelasgians became a secondary element [ ] to the Illyrian theory of Albanian originswhich could claim some support in scholarship.

The Illyrian descent theory soon became one of the pillars of Albanian nationalism, especially because it could provide some evidence in support of the belief that there was a continuous Albanian presence in Kosovo and Southern Albaniai. Hoxha and his government were also hostile to Western popular culture as it was manifested in the mass mediaalong with the consumerism and cultural liberalism which were associated with it.

It is precisely this culture, coated with a glossy veneer, accompanied by sensational advertisement, handled in the most commercial way and back up and financed by the bourgeoisie, that inundates the cinema and television screens, magazines, newspapers and radio broadcasts, all the mass information and propaganda media. Its objective is to turn the ordinary man into a passive consumer of poisonous bourgeois ideas, and to make this consumption an addiction.

Not only have we nothing to learn from this culture, no reason to impart it to our masses and youth, but we must reject it contemptuously and fight it with determination. Hoxha sentenced Balluku and a group of his accused associates to death and appointed Mehmet Shehu as Minister of Defence. According to Hoxha, "The old Constitution was the Constitution of the building of the foundations of socialism, whereas the new Constitution will be the Constitution of the complete construction of a socialist society.

Self-reliance was now stressed more than ever.

Regjimi i enver hoxha biography: The publication in English of journalist

Citizens were encouraged to train in the use of weapons, and this activity was also taught in schools. The purpose of this training was to encourage the creation of quick partisans. Borrowing and foreign investment were banned under Article 26 of the Constitution, which read: "The granting of concessions to, and the creation of foreign economic and financial companies and other institutions or ones formed jointly with bourgeois and revisionist capitalist monopolies and states as well as obtaining credits from them are prohibited in the People's Socialist Republic of Albania.

No country whatsoever, big or small, can build socialism by taking credits and aid from the bourgeoisie and the revisionists or by integrating its economy into the world system of capitalist economies. Any such linking of the economy of a socialist country with the economy of bourgeois or revisionist countries opens the doors to the actions of the economic laws of capitalism and the degeneration of the socialist order.

This is the road of betrayal and the restoration of capitalism, which the revisionist cliques have pursued and are pursuing. The largest historical income Enver Hoxhas for this period consists in the fact that he understood the essential necessity of the creation of the Communist Party of Albania as a defining prerequisite to the mobilization, organization and leadership of the people in the fight for the national and social liberation in its depth.

He dedicated all his strengths and efforts to the realization of these basic tasks. Very fast he tied strong connections with communist militant like Qemal Stafa, Vasil Shanto, etc. On November 8th,after two years of untiring and uninterrupted work under heavy conditions of the fascist terror, Enver Hoxha accomplished together with the true Albanian communists the work which would represent the radical turn in the destiny of the people and our country.

They founded the Communist Party of Albania, the faithful leader who would show the people the way of the fight for the national and social liberation and later the way to the socialism. The Foundation Meeting 8thth November, elected Enver Hoxha as a member of the Provisional Central Committee and although no secretary of the Central Committee became decided, he became commissioned with the management of the work of the Provisional Central Committee.

Enver Hoxha in cooperation with Qemal Stafa is designing at this moment the two first programmatic documents of the CPA in which the political, ideological and organizational base of the party and the basic questions of their regjimi i enver hoxha biography line are fixed: "Resolution of the Foundation Meeting" and "Proclamation of the Central Committee to the Albanian People".

Immediately after the foundation of the CPA Enver Hoxha starts together with the comrades and at their lead with iron will the work to the organization and distribution of the party in the whole country, works out the party line to the mobilization of the masses in a broad antifascist front and for the organization and expansion of the armed fight against the occupying forces.

Known in the party and in the rows of the sympathizers under the pseudonyms "Tarasi", "Shpati", "Valbona", "Hasani", "Saliu", "Malo", ect. All defining and essential events of the party and the people during the years of the antifascist national struggle for liberation carry the stamp of the Marxist-Leninist way of thinking and the excellent revolutionary activity Enver Hoxhas.

The First Country Conference, which because of the great problems that it analyzed and the historical decisions of that it took hold, had the meaning of a Party Congress, elected Enver Hoxha member of the Politburo and secretary general of the CPA. Enver Hoxha at the head of the party developed an uninterrupted work into the creation and expansion of the connections with the masses to give them the consciousness and to summarize them in the strong antifascist movement.

The Conference of Peza Septemberorganized on initiative of the CPA and personal initiative Enver Hoxhas, created the base of the National Liberation Front, as a political organization in which one the pugnacious union of the Albanian people under the leadership of the CPA would be realized. At the head of the Central Committee of the Party, Enver Hoxha worked out the military line of the CPA and lead its execution to the organization and extension of the armed rebellion in all areas of the country, and in the direct fight, the creation of the National Liberation Army of Albania.

As politcommissar of the general staff of the National Liberation Army June and later as general commanding officer of the National Liberation Army May Enver Hoxha puts all his talents and abilities into the service of the creation, into the getting greater and the toughening of the National Liberation Army as an army of the people. He made an excellent contribution to the historical victory of the antifascist national struggle for liberation and the erection and defense of the people's democratic order.

To the CPA and its leader Enver Hoxha are given the historical merits that they connected and merged the fight for the national liberation closely with the fight for the social liberation, the fall of the old power and the arrangement of the new people's power. The directives and instructions of the Central Committee and Enver Hoxhas have played a decisive role to the creation, spreading and strengthening of the National Liberation Councils as a base of the new revolutionary power of government as an organ of the fight and the union of the people.

The Second Conference of the National Liberation Septembercalled together on initiative of the Central Committee of the CPA and on personal initiative Enver Hoxhas, declared the National Liberation Councils as only power of the Albanian people, shattering with that the endeavors and hopes of the reaction within the country to the power of government and the plans of the Anglo-Americans, who maneuvered with their different groupings within and outside the country.

At the condemnation of this agreement by the Central Committee of the Party the role Enver Hoxhas was decisive. In this whole period, particularly in difficult winter of the yearsEnver Hoxha developed at the head of the Central Committee and the general staff of the National Liberation Army an regjimi i enver hoxha biography activity and made an excellent contribution with decisive importance to the keeping, increasing and to the uninterrupted strengthening of the party, the National Liberation Councils and the National Liberation Army also under the new, extremely difficult and complicated conditions, which were created by the incursion of the Nazi occupying forces, by their organization of the general attack in winterby the open collaboration of the inner reaction with the Nazis and by the reactionary maneuvers and intentions of the anglo-american allies.

In spring of the yearafter the failures of the hostile general attack of the winterand as the inner and outer reaction feverishly tried to change the situation in its favour, concluded the Communist Party of Albania with Enver Hoxha at the lead, that the moment had definitely come to solve the question of the political power in favour of the rebellious people.

The antifascist committee which resulted from this Congress was factual the first people's democratic government of Albania. The general secretary of the Communist Party of Albania, Enver Hoxha, was appointed president of this committee. Enver Hoxha was appointed prime minister. With the consciousness for Leninist-Marxist revolutionary for the great responsibility which the party and the people entrusted to him, Enver Hoxha makes all his strengths, talents and energies available to the organizing of the new state just arose; he faces the English plans to land and to intervene in Albania with great strength and causes them to fail; he prepares the general attack of the National Liberation Army for the complete liberation of the country and the assistance of a part of our military forces in the struggle for liberation of the peoples of Yugoslavia and leads these.

On November 28th,after five years fight and titanic efforts, the first people's democratic government marches with Enver Hoxha as prime minister into the free Tirana. Mao Zedong's death in and the defeat of the "Gang of Four" in the ensuing intra-party struggle in led to a Chinese-Albanian conflict and Albania's complete political isolation.

Hoxha accused both Moscow and Beijing of revisionism. InHoxha carried out another purge, executing several party and state officials. It was reported that his closest associate, Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu, committed suicide after another internal conflict within the Albanian leadership in Decemberbut there are often speculations that he was actually killed.

A few years later, Hoxha stepped back from politics, handing over most of the responsibilities to Ramiz Aliu. After Hoxha's death on April 11, at the age of 76, exactly one month after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet UnionAlbania's internal and external policies became less harsh due to the general crisis of the communist system in Eastern Europe.

In Albania, this led to the abandonment of the one-party system in and the defeat of the reformed Socialist Party in the elections. Date of Birth: Contact About Privacy. Thomas Tillman. Grigol Mgaloblishvili. Alex Quaison-Sackey.