Party of Labour of Albania

The Party of Labour of Albania (Template:Langx, PPSh), was the ruling and sole legal party of Albania during the communist period (1945–1991). It was founded on 8 November 1941 as the Communist Party of Albania (Template:Lang, PKSh) but changed its name in 1948 following a recommendation by Joseph Stalin, who considered the name more appropriate since the majority of the party's membership was made up of the peasantry instead of the working class. The party was dissolved on 13 June 1991 and succeeded by the Socialist Party of Albania and the new Communist Party of Albania. For most of its existence, the party was dominated by its First Secretary, Enver Hoxha, who was also the de facto leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985.<ref name="Kryeministrat dhe ministrat e shtetit shqiptar në 100 vjet">Template:Cite book</ref>

Background

In the 1920s, Albania was the only Balkan country without a communist party. The first Albanian communists emerged from the followers of Albanian clergyman and politician Fan S. Noli. Once in Moscow, they formed the National Revolutionary Committee and became affiliated with the Comintern. In August 1928, the first Albanian Communist Party was formed in the Soviet Union. The most prominent figure of the party was Ali Kelmendi who left Albania in 1936, to fight in the Spanish Civil War. He was later regarded as the leader of a small group of Albanian Communists in France. However, no unified organisation existed in Albania until 1941.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

History

World War II

Following the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito under Comintern directives sent two Yugoslav delegates Miladin Popović and Dušan Mugoša to Albania. These two helped unite the Albanian communist groups in 1941.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> After intensive work, the Albanian Communist Party was formed on 8 November 1941 by a delegates from Shkodër with Enver Hoxha from the Korça branch as its leader.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The PKSh was the dominant element of the National Liberation Movement (LNC), formed in 1942. The LNC drove out the German occupiers (who had taken over from the Italians in 1943) on 29 November 1944. From that day onward, Albania was a full-fledged Communist regime. In every other Eastern European country, the Communists were at least nominally part of a coalition government for a few years before seizing power at the helm of out-and-out Communist regimes. King Zog was barred from ever returning to Albania, though the monarchy was not formally abolished until January 1946.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In the elections for the Constituent Assembly held on 2 December 1945, voters were presented with a single list from the Democratic Front, organised and led by the PKSh. The Front received 93.7% of the vote.Template:Citation needed

Hoxha era (1945–1985)

In a meeting with Joseph Stalin in July 1947 Stalin suggested the party be renamed to the "Party of Labour of Albania" because peasants were a majority in the country.<ref name=":0" /> Hoxha accepted this suggestion,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> and the party was renamed in 1948.<ref name=":232">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp During the period from 1947 to 1953, relations between the Party of Labour of Albania and the Soviet Union were close, as Hoxha steered the party towards a firm Stalinist line.Template:Sfn For their part, the Soviets gave significant technological and economical aid to Albania, and also stationed military forces on the Adriatic sea with Hoxha's blessing.Template:Sfn

However, following Stalin's death, the party became the most rigidly anti-revisionist party in the Soviet Bloc. In 1961, Hoxha broke with Moscow over Nikita Khrushchev's supposed deviations from fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism, though relations between Tirana and Moscow had begun to chill as early as 1955.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> During this time, pro-Moscow elements of the party were purged, including Liri Belishova and Koço Tashko.Template:Sfn Having once again eliminated his rivals, Hoxha opted instead to align his party with the People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong. In 1968, Albania formally withdrew from the Warsaw Pact. The party even went as far as to engineer an Albanian version of China's Cultural Revolution.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

After Mao's death, the PKSh felt increasing chagrin as Mao's successors moved away from his legacy. In 1978, Hoxha declared that Albania would blaze its own trail to a socialist society.Template:Citation needed

Hoxha led the party and state more or less without resistance until his death in 1985.

Post-Hoxha (1985–1991)

Hoxha's successor, Ramiz Alia, was forced to initiate gradual reforms in order to stop the country's economic downspiral. However, in late 1989, various elements of society began to speak out against the restrictions still in place. The execution of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu led Alia to fear he would be next. In response, he allowed Albanians to travel abroad, ended the regime's longstanding policy of state atheism, and slightly loosened government control of the economy. However, these measures only served to buy Alia more time. Finally, bowing to the inevitable, on 11 December 1990, Alia announced that the PPSh had abandoned power and legalised opposition parties. The PPSh won the Constitutional Assembly elections of 1991. However, by then it was no longer a Marxist-Leninist party, and was powerless to prevent the adoption of a new interim constitution that formally stripped it of its monopoly of power.

In 1991, the PPSh dissolved and refounded itself as the social-democratic Socialist Party of Albania, which is now one of the two major political parties in Albania. A group called "Volunteers of Enver", led by Hysni Milloshi, laid claim to the identity of the PPSh as the Communist Party of Albania.

Structure

The ideology of the PPSh was an anti-revisionist variant of Marxism–Leninism known as Hoxhaism. The party organisation was built up following democratic centralist principles, with Hoxha as its First Secretary. Article 3 of Albania's 1976 Constitution identified the Party as the "leading political force of the state and of the society." To help carry out its ideological activities it had an associated mass organization known as the Democratic Front. Its daily publication was Template:Lang (Voice of the People) and its monthly theoretical journal was Template:Lang (Road of the Party).

The highest organ of the Party, according to the Party statutes, was the Party Congress, which met for a few days every five years. Delegates to the Congress were elected at conferences held at the regional, district, and city levels. The Congress examined and approved reports submitted by the Central Committee, discussed general Party policies, and elected the Central Committee. The latter was the next-highest level in the Party hierarchy and generally included all key officials in the government, as well as prominent members of the Sigurimi. The Central Committee directed Party activities between Party Congresses and met approximately three times a year.

As in the Soviet Union, the Central Committee elected a Politburo and a Secretariat. The Politburo, which usually included key government ministers and Central Committee secretaries, was the main administrative and policy-making body and convened on a weekly basis. Generally, the Central Committee approved Politburo reports and policy decisions. The Secretariat was responsible for guiding the day-to-day affairs of the Party, in particular for organising the execution of Politburo decisions and for selecting Party and government cadres.

First Secretaries of the Party of Labour of Albania

• Enver Hoxha (8 November 1941 – 11 April 1985)
• Ramiz Alia (13 April 1985 – 13 June 1991)

External following

The staunchly orthodox stand of the PPSh attracted many political groupings around the world, particularly among Maoists who were not content with the Chinese Communist Party's attitude in the late 1970s. A large number of parties declared themselves to be in the "PPSh line", especially during the period 1978–1980. However, many of them abandoned this certain affiliation after the fall of the socialist government in Albania. Today, many of the political parties upholding the political line of the PPSh are grouped around the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations.

The following parties were followers of the PPSh during the Cold War:

• Communist Party of Denmark/Marxist–Leninists<ref name="Hobday1986">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Workers' Communist Party of France<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Communist Party of Germany/Marxists–Leninists<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Communist Movement M-L (Iceland)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist–Leninist)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Communist Party of Italy (Marxist–Leninist)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Portuguese Communist Party (Reconstructed)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Communist Party of Spain (Marxist–Leninist) (historical)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Communist Party Marxists-Leninists (revolutionaries) (Sweden)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Communist Party of Benin<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Voltaic Revolutionary Communist Party<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Union for People's Democracy (Senegal)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Marxist–Leninist Popular Action Movement (Nicaragua)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Communist Party of Trinidad and Tobago<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Communist Party of Brazil<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Peruvian Communist Party – Red Flag<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Revolutionary Vanguard (Communist Proletarian) (Peru)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Communist Party of Suriname<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Communist Party of New Zealand<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
• Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey

Friendship Associations

Various friendship associations were also formed by international Communist sympathizers who supported the Party:

• China–Albania Friendship Association
• Soviet–Albanian Friendship Society
• USA–Albania Friendship Association
• Friendship Association Norway–Albania
• Spain–Albania Friendship Association
• Swedish–Albanian Association

Electoral history

Parliamentary elections

Election	Party leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Government
1945	Enver Hoxha	Template:Small		Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 82	Template:Increase 1st	Template:Yes2
1950				Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 39	Template:Steady 1st	Template:Yes2
1954				Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 13	Template:Steady 1st	Template:Yes2
1958				Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 54	Template:Steady 1st	Template:Yes2
1962				Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 26	Template:Steady 1st	Template:Yes2
1966				Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 26	Template:Steady 1st	Template:Yes2
1970				Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 24	Template:Steady 1st	Template:Yes2
1974				Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 14	Template:Steady 1st	Template:Yes2
1978				Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:Steady 1st	Template:Yes2
1982				Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:Steady 1st	Template:Yes2
1987	Ramiz Alia			Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady	Template:Steady 1st	Template:Yes2
1991		1,046,120	56.17 (#1)	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 81	Template:Steady 1st	Template:Yes2

See also

• Democratic Front of Albania
• History of Albania
• Fall of communism in Albania
• Eastern Bloc politics
• Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania

References

Sources

• Template:Cite book

External links

• Documents of the Party of Labour of Albania
• A speech delivered by E. Hoxha commemorating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the PPSh