Hoxa's Albania

[RadioRaheem84]

American Party of Labor loves to rave about the former Socialist Peoples Republic of Albania. A glance at wiki though makes it sound like a dungeon though. While I assume that most of the article is probably shit, could someone point me in the right direction to evaluate Socialist Albania? Was it really socialist and democratic? Is Hoxhaism akin to "Stalinism"?

[Nachie]

American Party of Labor

Who?

[RadioRaheem84]

Who?

Www.americanpartyoflabor.org

[Weezer]

*Hoxha

Hoxhaism is pretty much Stalinism set to ideology, as Stalin made no real contributions to Marxist theory.

As for Socialist Albania's status as a worker's state, they had bunkers.

[Red Commissar]

I think a more thorough analysis of Hoxha would be needed beyond "lol bunker" and the camps.

We must analyze the conditions of Albania in order to understand Hoxha, his construction of the government, and his ideology, to put things in perspective and understand why he proceeded the way he did and the challenges they had to face.

[Brother No. 1]

Hoxhaism is pretty much Stalinism set to ideology, as Stalin made no real contributions to Marxist theory.


Which is why the developing of the National Question in which Stalin wrote about the National Question, and how the Nationalist movement should be viewed by us is one of his greatest contributions to the Marxist theory?

[Ismail]

The Red Phoenix has an article with some stats on Albania: http://theredphoenix.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/letters-to-the-apl-2/

A small pro-Albanian English booklet written in 1984 can be found here: http://www.enver-hoxha.net/content/content_english/books/books-new_albania.htm

A larger work from Albania itself (and translated into English) can be found here (named "An Outline of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania"): http://www.enver-hoxha.net/content/content_english/navig-left/state.htm

I have access to various works about Albania's society and economy (on economics the best in my possession is A Coming of Age: Albania under Enver Hoxha by bourgeois Professor James S. O'Donnell, written in 1999), so if one wants to ask a question, they're free to do so.

As for Hoxhaism, it's just Marxism-Leninism as upheld and defended through Hoxha's viewpoint. The term is only used to differentiate pro-Albanian Marxist-Leninists from Maoists.


Hoxhaism is pretty much Stalinism set to ideology, as Stalin made no real contributions to Marxist theory.Neither Stalin nor Hoxha claimed that their views constituted an "ism" on their own and saw themselves as upholding Marxism and Leninism, though. Most of their theoretical time was spent reading Marx and Lenin (or in Hoxha's case, Marx, Lenin and Stalin).

As a moderator I would like to note that this thread is going to be about Albania the country from the period of 1944-1992. We already have two (http://www.revleft.com/vb/enver-hoxha-communist-t138723/index.html) threads (http://www.revleft.com/vb/hoxha-criticizes-gpcr-t138860/index.html?p=1807732) about Hoxhaism as an ideology on this forum which are active. Keep Hoxhaism to the other threads. Furthermore I do not want any trolling—there's enough of that in the other threads.

This means that Albania's economy, social services, foreign relations, history and politics are appropriate.

[RadioRaheem84]

The numbers are impressIve as far as living standards but what about the question of human rights? Was it essentialy a very anti democratic autocratic society? Damn I sound like a liberal. A little help?

[the last donut of the night]

*Hoxha

Hoxhaism is pretty much Stalinism set to ideology, as Stalin made no real contributions to Marxist theory.

As for Socialist Albania's status as a worker's state, they had bunkers.

I'm not even going to acknowledge your first little gem on Stalin, because I don't want to derail this thread into the old Stalin trolling sessions.

What's annoying is your national chauvinism towards Albania. Siding with the liberal media, the first thing Albania receives from you is not praise for its progressive socialist policies (the liberation of women from oppressive tribal patriarchy, for example) but for its bunkers. You also forget why these bunkers are there in the first place. Just like the liberal bourgeois media, you completely ignore the fact that Albania's foremost preoccupation -- being a socialist state -- was defending itself from imperialist powers, ready to destroy it.

But of course, bunkers are funny enough. In typical Trot fashion, your childish little humor manifests itself at the worst times and in the ugliest ways -- defending imperialist chauvinism and mocking the plight of a socialist state.

[fa2991]

As I understand it, the only reason Hoxhaism is considered a separate ideology from Leninism at all is that its members

1. Love Stalin
2. Hate Deng Xiaoping
3. Believe that after Mao and Stalin died, Albania was the only "true" Marxist-Leninist state left.

[Cyberwave]

As I understand it, the only reason Hoxhaism is considered a separate ideology from Leninism at all is that its members

1. Love Stalin
2. Hate Deng Xiaoping
3. Believe that after Mao and Stalin died, Albania was the only "true" Marxist-Leninist state left.

It's not a separate ideology from Leninism, it's just a variant of Marxism-Leninism that doesn't accept Maoism. Now as for Hoxha's Albania itself:




Hoxha remained a loyal Marxist-Leninist to the end of his life.
Hoxha defeated Mussolini’s fascist forces and lead the Albanian liberation movement to victory against occupation and colonialism.
Hoxha led the world’s longest-lasting and most advanced socialist state for almost 40 years.
Socialism and the dictatorship of the proletariat were established under Hoxha’s rule. His economic revolution was even more advanced than Stalin’s, with even more working class control over production centers.
Albania was industrialized and turned into an almost entirely self-sufficient country, despite being the poorest and most backward nation in Europe (it was a tribal society until the 50s) and being a fascist colony with only 1.5 million people.
Life expectancy under Hoxha went from 32 in the tribal days to 76.
Illiteracy before Hoxha was 90-95% in 1939, which by 1950 went down to 30% and by 1985 was equal to that of the United States.
Women’s rights were increased greatly, when in the former tribal days they were literally considered property.
Tribal warfare and honor killings were ended.
Hoxha consistently fought against imperialism and particularly U.S. imperialism in Vietnam, Cuba, Indonesia, Africa, Latin America and everywhere else.
Hoxha was the most consistent fighter against revisionism the world has ever known, exposing revisionism wherever it might be, from within his own party to the Soviet Union, China, Korea, Cuba, Yugoslavia, Italy and onwards. He exposed revisionism on principle even when it was in his best interests to keep his mouth shut, such as with China and the Soviet Union.
Hoxha made an in-depth analysis of imperialism and social-imperialism, and explained in numerous works the connection between the two.
Hoxha was the first socialist leader to recognize Khrushchev’s revisionism and was the first to publically speak out against it.
Hoxha consistently fought against the renegade Tito and the Yugoslav revisionists.
Hoxha fought against the Greek monarcho-fascists.
Hoxha defeated coup attempts by the US, Tito, the Soviets and the Greeks.
Hoxha was the first, even before Mao, to offer a correct analysis of Khrushchev’s invasion of Hungary.
Hoxha was the first to offer an analysis of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia as well.
Although he originally supported it, Hoxha later spoke out against the Cultural Revolution as anti-Marxist after it became clear it was a struggle between rightist factions.
Hoxha recognized the nature of the Chinese state and, though he had spent decades praising it, decided to bravely push forward with his findings once and for all and declare Maoism a revisionist ideology.
Hoxha spoke out against the “Three Worlds Theory.”
Hoxha refuted the idea put forward by Mao that Soviet social-imperialism was somehow “more dangerous” than U.S. Imperialism.
Hoxha was the first to speak out against Eurocommunism and wrote an entire volume refuting it.
Hoxha condemned Nixon’s visit to Beijing and China’s collaboration with US imperialism.
Hoxha condemned the fascist coup in Chile by Pinochet and the mass slaughter of communists in Indonesia by US imperialism.
Hoxha condemned the genocidal acts in Kosova by Tito.
Hoxha created an International based solely on his own prestige.
Hoxha developed Marxism-Leninism further by exposing where revisionism comes from and how it can be fought.

[Lolshevik]

As I understand it, the only reason Hoxhaism is considered a separate ideology from Leninism at all is that its members

1. Love Stalin
2. Hate Deng Xiaoping
3. Believe that after Mao and Stalin died, Albania was the only "true" Marxist-Leninist state left.

I thought Hoxha broke with Mao before his death though?

[Nolan]

As I understand it, the only reason Hoxhaism is considered a separate ideology from Leninism at all is that its members

1. Love Stalin
2. Hate Deng Xiaoping
3. Believe that after Mao and Stalin died, Albania was the only "true" Marxist-Leninist state left.

What the fuck are you talking about? What Leninist doesn't at least critically admire Stalin? Who in the world likes Deng?

[fa2991]

What the fuck are you talking about? What Leninist doesn't at least critically admire Stalin? Who in the world likes Deng?

I didn't say it made sense. :D

From what I've read, I gather that Hoxhaism is more or less separated from other Leninist ideologies by Hoxha's brand of extreme anti-revisionism.

They love Stalin because he set the standard for anti-revisionism, they hate Deng Xiaopong (and Mao, apparently) and the post-Stalin Soviet leaders for being "revisionist," and they consider Hoxha the last true "anti-revisionist" communist leader.

[fa2991]

What Leninist doesn't at least critically admire Stalin?

:trotski:

[Nolan]

:trotski:

Who?

[fa2991]

Who?

Trotsky.

Lenin didn't care much for him, either. :)

[RadioRaheem84]

Please. Let's limit the tendency wars, guys. I was really taken aback by the assertion made by the APL that there was a real deal socialist workers state. Now I am contrasting that with the loads of bourgeois propaganda out there denouncing it, not to mention the marginalization of it in the mainstream. So I want to form some sort of educated opinion on the subject.

Let's get back to the pros and cons of Socialist Albania. Was there repression of dissent? How much was it outright, autocratic and how much was it due to the countless list of enemies I am sure Albania had? Was there genuine democratic control over the economy or was it heavily bureaucratized mess?

I have to say though I am loving the stats on Albania though!

[fa2991]

Please. Let's limit the tendency wars, guys. I was really taken aback by the assertion made by the APL that there was a real deal socialist workers state. Now I am contrasting that with the loads of bourgeois propaganda out there denouncing it, not to mention the marginalization of it in the mainstream. So I want to form some sort of educated opinion on the subject.

Let's get back to the pros and cons of Socialist Albania. Was there repression of dissent? How much was it outright, autocratic and how much was it due to the countless list of enemies I am sure Albania had? Was there genuine democratic control over the economy or was it heavily bureaucratized mess?

Hoxha's Albania was as repressive as it gets. The police were brutal and something like a quarter of the population was in a gulag-style labor camp at some point. There was no right to dissent, it being a Stalinist state. Citizens there didn't have freedom of speech, religion, privacy, or assembly. It stayed one of the most repressive "communist" states in the world even after the USSR, etc. had gone through the process of "destalinization." It wasn't until Hoxha died that the government eased up a little.

I can't speak definitely about the economy, but I've never come across anything that would lead me to believe that it was any more democratic than any other Stalinist state.

The APL saying it was a "real" socialist state is probably just another case of people saying Cuba is "really socialist" because Castro eliminated illiteracy or whatever. Haxho's government modernized many aspects of Albania's culture and industry (Cyberwave pointed them out). For some people, that's enough to constitute a "socialist state."

[thälmann]

albanian economy was socialist because it was a kollectivized and planned economy.
which wasnt the case in cuba, or the ussr since the 60s.
the state was repressive, yes but that should not be the point to call it socialism or not.

[RadioRaheem84]

the state was repressive, yes but that should not be the point to call it socialism or not.I am in interested in the notions that made it repressive? How so? Was the state extremely paranoid and would lock up anyone deemed a threat? I mean they did have some merit to be paranoid. They withstood fascists, NATO and revisionist elements in the USSR and China. I mean that is a lot of enemies for a small nation to make.

I mean was it the case that the people were quite fed up with Hoxha's rule and Albanian society? What caused the dissent? Especially if it was considered an exemplary socialist state? Capitalists love to exalt the Chilean "miracle" while bashing Pinochet's record (sometimes justifying it) and where Chile is now. Is this the same case for Hoxha?

[punisa]

Hoxha's Albania was as repressive as it gets. The police were brutal and something like a quarter of the population was in a gulag-style labor camp at some point. There was no right to dissent, it being a Stalinist state. Citizens there didn't have freedom of speech, religion, privacy, or assembly.

Being a Titoist myself, I understand that my comments may be a little be biased and all, but I must back these claims from a reliable source.
I haven't met "hundreds", but I spoke with 4 people (not related to each other) from Albania and they spoke very similar.

Repression was enormous and unbearable.
Perhaps the only "justification" for it (although I do not justify it) was the fact that Albania was a real backwards country up to WWII, still tribal and isolate.

To transform such a country and do to do is so rapidly (hat off for that) could have been accomplished ONLY by a huge amounts of repression.

Was that a good thing? Sure, you'll always get a bunch of Marxist-Leninists who will glorify it for being the most "to the book" socialism out there.
But hey, it that's the kind of stuff that turns you on, why not take it a step further - Pol Pot maybe? Apparently he was driving towards communism in the fastest lane..

Another thing worth pointing out - pro Hoxha crowd keeps its hostile stance towards Yugoslavian government.
Heard about Sigurimi? One of the most dangerous and well organized secret police all around?
Who formed it and when? Mostly Yugoslav agents.

[Ismail]

The APL saying it was a "real" socialist state is probably just another case of people saying Cuba is "really socialist" because Castro eliminated illiteracy or whatever. Haxho's government modernized many aspects of Albania's culture and industry (Cyberwave pointed them out). For some people, that's enough to constitute a "socialist state."Actually that is a basic Brezhnevite analysis of "socialist states," that the eradication of illiteracy and such constitutes socialism. We make no such claims. The PLA had a consistent anti-revisionist stand, that alone went quite far; more so than mere reforms.


But hey, it that's the kind of stuff that turns you on, why not take it a step further - Pol Pot maybe? Apparently he was driving towards communism in the fastest lane..What a ridiculous comparison. Hoxha called Pol Pot a "fascist" and supported the Vietnamese invasion to oust him. They were nothing alike and you know it.


Another thing worth pointing out - pro Hoxha crowd keeps its hostile stance towards Yugoslavian government.Because it was aggressive, chauvinist, and capitalist—but there's already a thread on Yugoslavia in this very forum area. It isn't like the Yugoslavs didn't have Goli Otok where Marxist-Leninists got arrested and put in prison.


Heard about Sigurimi? One of the most dangerous and well organized secret police all around?
Who formed it and when? Mostly Yugoslav agents.What is it with Yugoslav nationalists trying to "prove" that the Albanians were worthless without saintly Yugoslav assistance? The Stasi was formed with aid from the KGB, I don't see your point.

As for "repression," it is true that as far as such states went, Albania was rough in comparison to revisionist regimes. As O'Donnell noted in his work, for example, children were encouraged to spy on their peers and denounce them as enemies of the people (teachers played a part in this too, e.g. denouncing a child of a prisoner as the child of an "enemy of the people" in front of a class and newspapers relaying this story to the whole community), the Sigurimi was quite imposing (more so than the relatively non-violent Stasi, for instance), and Albania was probably the most purged-affected state of all time (there were large purges in 1946, 1948, 1954, 1957 (I think), 1960, 1964 (I think), 1968, 1971, 1974, 1978, and 1982). Also baptizing an infant got you shot. So if we judge socialism by "repression," then it's not going to come out good, but that shouldn't really be the point in conducting an analysis of the economy.

[Lenin II]

Please. Let's limit the tendency wars, guys. I was really taken aback by the assertion made by the APL that there was a real deal socialist workers state. Now I am contrasting that with the loads of bourgeois propaganda out there denouncing it, not to mention the marginalization of it in the mainstream. So I want to form some sort of educated opinion on the subject.

Let's get back to the pros and cons of Socialist Albania. Was there repression of dissent? How much was it outright, autocratic and how much was it due to the countless list of enemies I am sure Albania had? Was there genuine democratic control over the economy or was it heavily bureaucratized mess?

I have to say though I am loving the stats on Albania though!


Source is Stalinist Economic Strategy in Practice: The Case of Albania by Adi Schnytzer.

Page numbers are provided.


p. 39

Enver Hoxha maintained, “the only correct and complete judgment is the check-up of the collective which verifies and should verify the case. This means ‘the control by the masses’ and ‘the policy of the masses’, all without exception, should submit to the judgment of the masses on their work and conduct in society. Communists should submit to a twofold control, to that of the Party and to that of the masses.”


“When new directors or other senior or technical staff were appointed to an enterprise, Hoxha argued, the new man should go before the workers’ collective and give ‘a frank account of himself so that the masses may pass judgment on him’. Further, the new employee or director should be told that if he blunders ‘we will pull your ears’, whereas if he keeps making mistakes, ‘We will throw you overboard and bear well in mind that there is no one who can help you; the Party is ours, the regime is ours, it is we who are in power, it is the dictatorship of the proletariat which reigns…’ With respect to displays of bureaucraticism, the solution rests again with the workers: ‘the labouring masses should by all means and without hesitation strike down the director of this type or any other functionary of this kind, whoever and of whatever rank he may be in the Party or the government’.

39-40


“One mechanism whereby this workers’ control would take place would be in the wall newspaper. Albania, along with all the other socialist economies of Eastern Europe, had always used wall posters in their state enterprises, but Hoxha gave his opinion of these and was explicit about the need for changes: ‘do away with existing and very ridiculous wall newspapers and turn them into revolutionary wall bulletins which will help revolutionary education. Do away with these wall bulletins with their editorial boards of opportunist scribblers who uphold the dignity and authority of the director and of themselves at the same time, and let everyone write what he thinks of work and of the people in bold face letters and without fear.’”

p. 40


“Hoxha also stressed the need for improving the circulation of cadres through the economy; all administrative and office workers should spend no less than 100 days of every year in production work – the period was shortly afterwards reduced to one month – and directors of enterprises should be changed regularly to prevent their “bureaucratic stagnation’.
The implications of Hoxha’s speech for worker’s control were apparently significant. In several enterprises workers were reported to have been instrumental in solving problems of plan realization where state administration had failed. Examples quoted in Zëri i Popullit, 5 July 1967, include the state Industrial Enterprise in Vlorë; where the use of lumber exceeding set norms was ‘creating a serious problem, the manager of the enterprise asked some leading cadres to solve this problem with no results. The problem was then taken over by the collective, and the workers succeeded not only in stopping the excess use of lumber but even reduced its use by 30 per cent.’

p. 40-41

The trade unions were responsible for the organization of elections to the commissions, ensuring the candidate workers were ideologically and politically motivated. However, once elected, the commission was to be free to examine all aspects of the functioning of its enterprise, though its powers were advisory. Any significant problem it encountered was to be communicated to the entire collective of the enterprise, and maangment was expected to find a solution. The trade unions and party organs within the enterprise would doubtless be sintrumental in applying pressure on the enterprise administration to ensure the effectiveness of the workers’ control.

p. 41 –
“However, the most common and not unexpected problem faced by the commissions appeared to be interference from administrators: ‘the efforts of some bureaucratic framework according to ‘Rules and Regulations’ only shows their fear of the masses’ revolutionary momentum. There is no other way to explain the tendancy of some administrators to ‘institutionalize’ and to keep the workers’ control under ‘control’.’” Zëri i Popullit, 22 Febuary 1968

[fa2991]

teachers played a part in this too, e.g. denouncing a child of a prisoner as the child of an "enemy of the people" in front of a class and newspapers relaying this story to the whole community


:laugh: Stalinists...

[Os Cangaceiros]

As for "repression," it is true that as far as such states went, Albania was rough in comparison to revisionist regimes. As O'Donnell noted in his work, for example, children were encouraged to spy on their peers and denounce them as enemies of the people (teachers played a part in this too, e.g. denouncing a child of a prisoner as the child of an "enemy of the people" in front of a class and newspapers relaying this story to the whole community), the Sigurimi was quite imposing (more so than the relatively non-violent Stasi, for instance), and Albania was probably the most purged-affected state of all time (there were large purges in 1946, 1948, 1954, 1957 (I think), 1960, 1964 (I think), 1968, 1971, 1974, 1978, and 1982). Also baptizing an infant got you shot.

Sounds like an awesome place to live.

[Ismail]

:laugh: Stalinists...The 1940's and 50's was when it was actually the worst, really, since trials were still not understood as a concept in tribal areas, resulting in punishments like these to priests (as noted in Edwin E. Jacques The Albanians: An Ethnic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present Vol. II):

Most of them were beaten on their bare feet with wooden clubs; the fleshy part of the legs and buttocks were cut open, rock salt inserted beneath the skin, and then sewn up again; their feet, placed in boiling water until the flesh fell off, were then rubbed with salt; their Achilles’ tendons were pierced with hot wires. Some were hung by their arms for three days without food; put in ice and icy water until nearly frozen; had electrical wires places in their ears, nose, mouth, genitals, and anus; burning pine needles placed under fingernails; forced to eat a kilo of salt and having water withheld for 24 hours; boiled eggs put in their armpits; teeth pulled without anesthetic; tied behind vans and dragged; left in solitary confinement without food or water until almost dead; forced to drink their own urine and eat their own excrement; put in pits of excrement up to their necks; put on a bed of nails and covered with heavy material; put in nail-studded cages which were then rotated rapidly.Also in the early 1950's most prisoners were shot without trial (one was even thrown out a window during interrogation on Mehmet Shehu's orders). It wasn't until the 60's, 70's and 80's that Albanians learned the value of trials.

And from the same work (p. 512):

Hoxha was usually pictured as disarmingly pleasant, cultured, surrounded by attractive children who called him "Uncle Enver." A foreign visitor, however, characterized him as "ruthless," recalling the following incident:
A security man slammed a car door on the fingers of a foreign guest, and was sentenced on the spot to six years of hard labor. The guest pleaded for clemency, on the grounds that the injury had been unintentional. Hoxha replied that six years of hard labor was a very lenient sentence. "If I had my way he would get a bullet through the head. If he is so careless with our friends, how can he be vigilant with our enemies?"So we can talk about repression all day if we want to do so.

[RadioRaheem84]

So if we judge socialism by "repression," then it's not going to come out good, but that shouldn't really be the point in conducting an analysis of the economy.

Impressive numbers. Repression. Why must there be such vexing inconsistencies in the historical development of socialism? :(

[fa2991]

The 1940's and 50's was when it was actually the worst, really, since trials were still not understood as a concept in tribal areas, resulting in punishments like these to priests (as noted in Edwin E. Jacques The Albanians: An Ethnic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present Vol. II):

Yeah, I know. It's just that you put the image of a teacher calling a child an "enemy of the people" in my head... Stalinist repression is a lot funnier than tribal blood feuds. :D

[Os Cangaceiros]

moar fap-worthy info regarding revolutionary repression against reactionaries plz :thumbup1:

[punisa]

What a ridiculous comparison. Hoxha called Pol Pot a "fascist" and supported the Vietnamese invasion to oust him. They were nothing alike and you know it.

You do realize that me mentioning Pol Pot had nothing to do with Hoxha, I mentioned in a context regarding people who idolize "true" Marxists intentions.
Such radical leftist would then surely admire Pol Pot's idea of Cambodia transforming into communism in a matter of weeks.



Because it was aggressive, chauvinist, and capitalist—but there's already a thread on Yugoslavia in this very forum area. It isn't like the Yugoslavs didn't have Goli Otok where Marxist-Leninists got arrested and put in prison.

Yes, there is a newly opened thread and I wish not to bring Yugoslavia into the subject.
Still, you could try and restrain yourself from such "lovely" epithets as "aggressive, chauvinist, and capitalist". You don't see me calling Albania a fascist dictatorship now do you?
Also, when mentioning Goli Otok (more info for those not familiar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goli_otok), let's not forget that this unfortunate attrocities lasted from 1949-1956, and not for the entire existence of Yugoslavia or Tito.
Although it served as a prison afterwords, the mass labor camp it once was diminished after Yugoslav-USSR relations normalized.



What is it with Yugoslav nationalists trying to "prove" that the Albanians were worthless without saintly Yugoslav assistance? The Stasi was formed with aid from the KGB, I don't see your point.

Nobody said that, I have a deep respect for Albania and what communists did with it.
The overall score is still a positive one, besides my personal criticisms.
The fact that many pro Hoxhists formulate their comments in a way that Albania turns out to be inferior to Yugoslavia is ridiculous.
These two countries were fundamentally different from the start, the only thing they shared is its natural border.




So if we judge socialism by "repression," then it's not going to come out good, but that shouldn't really be the point in conducting an analysis of the economy.
I agree on that one, let us put our differences aside and turn to economy.
I believe the thread will benefit it and I must say I'd like to hear about it, since my knowledge of economy during Hoxha's regime is rather shallow (if even existent).

Question: What amount of worker's control was implemented and who owned the small service and craftsmanship businesses, people or the state? I mean, small businesses such as barbers, shops, hair dressers etc
The classic pettie pettie burgouise.

[Ismail]

moar fap-worthy info regarding revolutionary repression against reactionaries plz :thumbup1:Sure thing.

From Miranda Vickers work The Albanians: A Modern History (pp. 194-195):

At the Fourth Congress of the Women's Union in 1955 he [Hoxha] linked their oppression with backward customs enforced and institutionalized by religion. He told the audience:
The canons of the Sheriat [Sharia] and of the Church, closely connected to the laws of the bourgeoisie, treated woman as a commodity... just as the bourgeoisie had made the worker into its proletarian, so had the savage ancient canons of the Shariat, the Church, feudalism and bourgeoisie, reduced woman to the proletariat of man.
A report in the Official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano on 26 April 1973 stated:

Places of worship no longer exist or have been transformed into dance halls, gymnasia, or offices of various kinds... The church of St Nicholas in the Catholic district of Rusi has been transformed into flats for factory workers. The church of the Stigmatine Sisters has become a lecture hall... The national sanctuary of Our Lady of Scutari, 'Protectress of Albania', has been pulled down. On its ruins there now rises a column surmounted by the red star.From World Christianity and Marxism (p. 97):

Albania's importance for our subject is not immediately obvious. With a population of 3.3 million people, it is one of Europe's tiniest nations, squeezed between Yugoslavia and Greece on the Adriatic coast. It is also one of the least-known. From 1944 till 1991 it was among the most isolated societies in the world. Very few Western visitors were allowed in. Only a handful of experts and escapees had an inkling of what was happening here. Since the country opened itself to the West in 1991, the full picture is gradually becoming clearer. And it is, historically speaking, an astonishing one.

What occurred in Albania was one of the boldest social experiments in modern history. The laboratory was a country that tried its utmost to cut off foreign influence, especially from the West. The "scientist" in charge was a one-time freedom fighter turned ruthless dictator. The object was to erase the last vestiges of religion from the human consciousness and thus to show the world for the first time what a truly religionless society looked like...

The inspiration came from Karl Marx, or, more precisely, from the peculiar interpretation of Marx advanced by Joseph Stalin. Signs of Stalin's influence were everywhere in Albania. From the very beginning, his statue was forged in the heroic dimensions of the social realist style and erected with great fanfare in the heart of Tirana, the capital. Here First Secretary Enver Hoxha, upon hearing of Stalin's death in 1953, knelt and wept, vowing to the memory of Stalin his undying loyalty. The vow was never broken: the road to the construction of socialism in Albania was, and remained to the end, unrelentingly Stalinist.



p. 103:

Thus the final attempt to crush religion was set in motion. In the following years imprisonment and execution awaited those who publicly expressed their belief. To speak of only one religious group, by 1971 there were only fourteen Roman Catholic priests left in the country; of these, twelve were in prison, while two were in hiding... In 1975 the government changed all place-names that carried Christian or Muslim overtones: for instance, the town of Agios Nikolaos (St. Nicholas) was now to be known as Drita (Light). Personal names also had to reflect the all-pervasive secularity. Ideologically offensive surnames, names of Catholic saints, Greek Orthodox names with the prefix "Theo-" --all had to be dropped. Eventually a Dictionary of People's Names was published ( 1982) listing more appropriate choices. The policy does not seem to have been applied as rigorously to Muslims as to Christians: both "Hoxha" and "Alia" ( Hoxha's successor) are Muslim religious names.p. 106:

The most astonishing of Hoxha's books is undoubtedly his 1979 work, entitled With Stalin. This is ostensibly a first-hand account of Hoxha's five face-to-face meetings with his mentor. In reality the book is a defense of Stalin against all those "slanderers" who now call him a "bloody tyrant" and a "murderer." On the contrary, Hoxha argues that this "brilliant mind and pure soul" was "just and a man of principle." He was a hero of world-historical dimensions. "I bow in devotion," Hoxha says, "to Joseph Stalin."

The meetings themselves are described in full detail. From beginning to end Hoxha takes the posture of an adoring child toward his parent. He grovels for Stalin's approval, humbly asking for advice on Albania's problems; the flattery is blatant and servile. The reader of these accounts cannot help but sense that in the presence of his hero, Hoxha was sycophantic, fawning, and obsequious in the extreme.p. 107:

Hoxha's forty-one-year battle against religion ended with his death in 1985. It seems clear that by that time religion had suffered a decisive defeat. Among the few visitors to Albania, none reported a single public manifestation of religious belief. This was confirmed by interviews with refugee Albanians who had fled their country. The death of religion, or at least the reduction of religion to complete powerlessness, seemed actually to have occurred here...

... The vestiges of belief that did survive were pathetic remnants at best. For instance, one refugee reported having secretly worn a crucifix, but only after his escape from Albania did he discover that it had something to do with Christianity. A Muslim escapee recalled having heard his father muttering behind closed curtains. It never dawned on him that this was a prayer until he heard something similar outside Albania.And finally p. 108:

By early 1990, general unrest and riots led by students and professors had convinced the Central Committee that it could rescue Albanian Marxism only by de-Stalinizing it. On the religious front, this meant a dramatic reversal: on May 9 the legal ban on all religious practices was lifted. To bolster the Party's new image, the country's highest honor, the Order of Naim Frasheri, was bestowed on Mother Theresa by Enver Hoxha's widow. The first public mass was celebrated... The crowd of 5,000 worshipers was made up of Catholics, few of whom could remember this central rite of the Church. Interestingly enough, there were also substantial numbers of Muslims present, most of them apparently unaware of the difference between Christianity and Islam. Here already was a sign of the campaign's success.And I just came everywhere. That's enough "repression" for today, methinks.


Still, you could try and restrain yourself from such "lovely" epithets as "aggressive, chauvinist, and capitalist". You don't see me calling Albania a fascist dictatorship now do you?Except I'm not being hyperbolic. Yugoslavia was all three (aggressive in the case of Albania and Tito's attempts to incorporate it into Yugoslavia, chauvinist in-re Kosovo). But the rest of your post at least expresses some willingness to look more deeply into the Albanian economy, which is good.

[thälmann]

repression against religion for example is not the badest thing for a communist i guess...other things, like music and so on, was a much bigger problem i think....

@fa2991: what do you mean exactly with a quarter of the population was in labor camps?

[RadioRaheem84]

I cannot tell if some of the posters are being sarcastic or not.:blushing:

[Sir Comradical]

Has anyone else seen this youtube documentary?

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pRlMkgyfqUo

YhYvDFXE71g

[fa2991]

@fa2991: what do you mean exactly with a quarter of the population was in labor camps?

Forced labor was a repressive tactic used by the Albanian government. The 1/4 stat was incorrect - this source says that 1/3 of the populace had - at some point - either been placed in labor camps or interrogated by the secret police.


The activities of the Sigurimi were directed more toward political and ideological opposition than crimes against persons or property, unless the latter were sufficiently serious and widespread to threaten the regime. Its activities permeated Albanian society to the extent that every third citizen had either served time in labor camps or been interrogated by Sigurimi officers.

Sigurimi personnel were generally career volunteers, recommended by loyal party members and subjected to careful political and psychological screening before they were selected to join the service. They had an elite status and enjoyed many privileges designed to maintain their reliability and dedication to the party. The Sigurimi was organized into sections covering political control, censorship, public records, prison camps, internal security troops, physical security, counterespionage, and foreign intelligence. The political control section's primary function was monitoring the ideological correctness of party members and other citizens. It was responsible for purging the party, government, military, and its own apparatus of individuals closely associated with Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, or China after Albania broke from successive alliances with each of those counties. One estimate indicated that at least 170 communist party Politburo or Central Committee members were executed as a result of the Sigurimi's investigations

http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/rwinslow/europe/albania.html

[RadioRaheem84]

According to the doc posted by Sir Comicidal, Albania's economy was still kicking while most capitalist states and revisionist nations were stagnating. Is this right?

[RadioRaheem84]

No unemployment, taxes, inflation, or foreign debt? Amazing.

What is Albania like now? From what I read, it's gone back to the third world.

So fast too. 40 years? Rapid industrialization in that short of time vs. the centuries of sluggish growth in the industrial West. No wonder the West hated examples of successful alternatives.

[Ismail]

According to the doc posted by Sir Comicidal, Albania's economy was still kicking while most capitalist states and revisionist nations were stagnating. Is this right?It was doing pretty good for itself, but the big problem, as O'Donnell and others noted, was that it was Albania, it was a small country with limited resources, and unless it wanted to sacrifice its ideological stand, it couldn't get many materials it needed to keep the economy from stagnating, which it inevitably began to do so by the late 1980's. As a note, wages were also pretty much the most egalitarian in the world and price controls were absolute across the whole country.

Some adventuristic/over-ambitious policies were adopted throughout the 1980's though, such as a failed campaign to collectivize individual livestock in the mountains and other measures, but even then there was never a tendency to deregulate or "marketize" the central planning organs. In fact, as O'Donnell quotes (p. 184) a report to the 9th Congress of the PLA in 1986, a year after Hoxha's death, where the question of some failings in central planning mechanisms were being discussed, and rather than "decentralize," the following occurred: "The Party demands that a real and radical change must be made in the field of control. As Comrade Ramiz Alia pointed out in his Report, the task is presented that control must be strengthened everywhere and over everything, and in particular, the internal control must be strengthened in enterprises and cooperatives and self-control strengthened in the districts and ministries." Keep in mind that the year after Gorbachev would be announcing Perestroika in the USSR.

Even when economic reforms began in 1989-1990, they were more like Khrushchev's reforms of the 1960's (e.g. state-capitalism) than Gorbachev's (market capitalism).

As O'Donnell sums up at the end of his chapter on the Albanian economy (pp. 186): "Had a more pragmatic policy been adhered to which allowed for an influx of modern technology, there is no question that the Albanian economy could have achieved even more impressive results since the economic base was clearly established....

On the negative side, Hoxha's dogmatic approach which precluded any concessions to pragmatic concerns... kept Albania from progressing as far as it conceivably could have....

Therefore... considering the pathetic starting point it began from, the Albanian economy must be considered a success at the time of Hoxha's death. It is true, that the growth rates of industrial production were continually lowering. Yet, growth was still occurring. One must add, however, this situation could not have remained unchanged for much longer (after 1985) without its inevitable collapse taking place."

As for modern-day Albania, check this out: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0710/p10s01-woeu.html?page=1

Ms. Ymeraj says that it is difficult to compare the situation of children today with that during communist times, but that life has deteriorated for the poorest in a number of concrete ways.

The state no longer guarantees jobs, houses, or healthcare, as it did before. In rural areas, industry and state-farm collectives have collapsed, leaving people to fend for themselves, and many government services are no longer available. In rural areas, for example, 85 percent of secondary schools have shut their doors.

Researchers say that poverty is becoming increasingly entrenched, particularly in rural areas, among Albania's minority Roma population and in families with children. Indeed, across the region, countries with the lowest birthrates also have the lowest poverty levels.

"What has emerged is the concentration of disadvantage. Families with children seem more disadvantaged than before, relatively speaking," says Menchini, emphasizing that the state must do more to protect children. "It's important for these counties to invest in social services. They have to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty."

Jalldyz Ymeri, a young grandmother who lives near the Daljani family, says in communist days she would not have nearly lost her 3-year-old grandson Orgito – a spiky-haired boy with angelic eyes – whom races around the family's dirt yard as she watches. A few months earlier, the boy fell seriously ill, and Ymeri had to bribe a doctor to see him.

"The medicines to cure him are very expensive," she says. "Sometimes we have to choose between food or medicine. Nobody will treat us if we don't pay."

"For us it was much better in communist times," insists Ymeri's husband, Safet. "We were obliged to go to school. The government gave us housing. We like democracy, but this is not real democracy."As a note on workers control during the most "radical" internal period in Albania (the Cultural & Ideological Revolution of 1966-73), from Albania: From Isolation Toward Reform, pp. 8-9: "... an attempt was made in 1965 to increase incentives by streamlining the planning process. Henceforth, instead of receiving a detailed plan from the state hierarchy, workers were induced to discuss broad plan targets, which would then be sent to the higher authorities for approval...

Unlike other Central and East European countries, however, the position of Albanian managers continually deteriorated. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the typical manager faced several salary cutbacks. With the introduction of workers' participation, the managers' authority over the activities of the state enterprises diminished." During this period managers were also forced to work on collective farms or participate directly in factory work (ditto with party persons and teenagers) for substantial amounts of time each year as part of "inducing proletarian morality and consciousness."

Jan Myrdal (in his work Albania Defiant) and William Ash (in his work Pickaxe and Rifle) discussed visiting Albania in the late 60's and early 70's during the height of the C&IR and the various anti-bureaucratic campaigns in place, such as notice boards where workers in enterprises were free to criticize any aspect of factory life and work (and if the manager threatened a worker to remove such criticism, the manager would be arrested), Hoxha talking about the importance of the mass line, etc. It was also a time wherein many bureaus within the government were abolished to reduce bureaucracy.


What is the modern Hoxhaist line on religion, especially the harsh repression in Albania?There's no established line on religion among Hoxhaists worldwide. Some criticize Hoxha on the issue (he was actually opposed by quite a few PLA members and members of the Central Committee who felt he was being excessive) while others believe he was basically correct to pursue such policies.

[RadioRaheem84]

We like democracy, but this is not real democracy

Amen.

I cannot believe the Western Nations would dare say that democracy and freedom has returned to Albania. A nation where democracy did not exist before the advent of the socialist state.

It's good to know about these alternative examples to the capitalist order because it shows that it is possible to construct a better society.

[Os Cangaceiros]

So fast too. 40 years? Rapid industrialization in that short of time vs. the centuries of sluggish growth in the industrial West. No wonder the West hated examples of successful alternatives.

It's actually not that amazing considering the fact that Albania had the benefit of industrializing itself during the mid-20th century, thus benefiting from the "centuries of sluggish growth" that the West had experienced.

[RadioRaheem84]

....thus benefiting from the "centuries of sluggish growth" that the West had experienced. They built their first train track in 1947. They didn't receive that many benefits.

Secondly, their country was ransacked by the fascists. That had a population of illiterate masses that were living by tribal code. I mean why diminish something good here? Because Hoxha was a bit autocratic?

[Os Cangaceiros]

They built their first train track in the 50s. They didn't receive that many benefits.

To re-iterate: they had the benefit of developing their industrial sectors in a century when things like trains, factories and power stations were in wide use in Europe and the United States. I don't see how their developement is in any way comparable to the developement of the "vanguard nations" of the Industrial Revolution (Britain first, and Germany second).


Secondly, their country was ransacked by the fascists. That had a population of illiterate masses that were living by tribal code. I mean why diminish something good here? Because Hoxha was a bit autocratic?

I'm not diminishing anything. I'm putting their growth in context.

[RadioRaheem84]

Well it also has to do with how rapidly they did so. In a generation going from backwards tribal clans, illiteracy, no major infrastructure, to no taxes, no foreign debt, no unemployment, etc. That's pretty amazing even by Western comparisons.

[Os Cangaceiros]

to no taxes

That doesn't suprise me.


no foreign debt

That doesn't suprise me, either, considering the fact that Albania was an autocracy.


no unemployment

Unemployement requires a certain amount of leniency from a state to allow it's citizens to be unemployed. As a previous poster said, a significant portion of Albania's population experienced life in labor camps at one time or another. So that doesn't suprise me, either.

[Lyev]

I of course will not refuse to acknowledge the positive aspects of Hoxha's Albania (like the healthcare, education, employment, housing etc.), but I feel as though with this issue and ones similar, listing the achievements of such a regime can obfuscate what we're really looking. As admirable as good education and low illiteracy are, are they a hallmark of socialism? No. If worker-ownership was instituted clearly and democratically, following by an economy planned and controlling from the bottom-upwards, then such attributes would ripen to their fullest as a direct result of such an endeavour. But can we see workers' control? I dunno, maybe Ismail or someone knows a bit better. How democratic was Albania?

[Weezer]

I have two non-bunker involving questions:

I have heard other Marxist-Leninists say that Stalin made little to no contributions to Marxist theory, would modern Hoxhaists agree with this?

If the Socialist Albanian state was repressive at any one time, how does one defend this? Or do not you defend it?

[Ismail]

That doesn't suprise me, either, considering the fact that Albania was an autocracy.You mean autarky, no? It isn't like "autocracies" produce debt-free societies on their own.


Unemployement requires a certain amount of leniency from a state to allow it's citizens to be unemployed. As a previous poster said, a significant portion of Albania's population experienced life in labor camps at one time or another. So that doesn't suprise me, either.Unemployment is a cornerstone of capitalism, as Marx noted (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_army_of_labour). Under capitalism the state basically wants unemployment, because it guarantees a "reserve army" of laborers as Marx said. In Albania one was guaranteed a job by the state, it wasn't anything like "Oh, well, they all worked in prison labor camps so that explains it." What ridiculous reasoning.

You might want to note this (http://www.marxists.org/archive/radek/1931/xx/capslavery.htm) (particularly part 5) from Karl Radek in 1931 discussing the USSR:

It is for this very reason that our Constitution so clearly and definitely announces the principle of the duty of every citizen to do useful work. When the champions of moribund capitalism yell: “Aha! they confess!”, we reply: and where you, gentlemen, at least during these 13 years of Revolution, while we were advocating our ideas so clearly and outspokenly, by word and deed, that even Mr. Joynson Hicks should have learned them. Had that gentleman, formerly the House Secretary of England, perused even the most popular pamphlets issued by the Communist Party of Great Britain, instead of hunting for Soviet mysteries in locked safes, he would have learned long ago that we do consider labour to be obligatory for every member of society, and that if the English Communists will be called upon to organise English society upon new foundations, they will also have to see to it that even such a drone, like Joynson Hicks, shall be taught to perform some socially-useful labour....

Socialism in general, and modern Communism in particular, have always advocated obligatory labour for every member of society. The capitalists, and their henchmen, shouted that we wanted to introduce compulsory labour. With them it was not merely a propagandist trick calculated to conjure up a picture of Communism in the shape of a huge barrack. Many of them sincerely believed it to be so. In 1919 I happened to converse, in a German prison, with the late Walter Rathenau, one of the wisest representatives of the German bourgeoisie... I read then to him an article by Lenin, entitled The Great Start... Rathenau... shook his head dubiously. “You have never done any physical work”, he said to me. “I am an engineer, I have gone through the mill having been employed as a worker before I was placed in control of the General Electrical Company. No one, unless compelled by hunger or by cruel coercion, will go down to work in the mine, to crawl on his stomach and to brave the dangers which surrounded him there. If you will really eliminate the old capitalists, you will be constrained to handle the workers with no kid gloves on, that is, you will have to create a whole hierarchy of officials to spur the workers.” There is no such thing as voluntary labour. There are but very few people capable of such sacrifice.

Capitalism has placed upon the backs of the working class the whole burden of labour and has deprived it of all the joys of life; now the capitalist cannot imagine labour in any other way than under brutal compulsion. Lenin's words to the effect that “the Communist organisation of social labour is supported, and such support will be bound to grow in steady progression, by the free and class-conscious discipline of the workers themselves, who have overthrown the yoke of the both the landlords and the capitalists”....
How democratic was Albania?I know people who used to be PPSh members. They said it was fairly democratic, but most people knew little of Marxism and they weren't particularly interested in learning, so that was always a constant problem in-re class consciousness and having a populace which was able to take control of the state and society. Still, on the local level, things like factory elections, Democratic Front activities, etc. were fairly democratic.


I have heard other Marxist-Leninists say that Stalin made little to no contributions to Marxist theory, would modern Hoxhaists agree with this?Of course. Stalin's value, as Hoxha's, does not come from being "bold new innovators" à la Mao ("Two-line struggle," "Cultural Revolution," etc.), Khrushchev ("Peaceful coexistence," "state of the whole people"), Brezhnev ("Real, existing socialism"), Kim Il Sung (Juche) or other revisionists. It comes from defending Marxism and Leninism against revisionism. That's why few Marxist-Leninists would call themselves "Stalinists," and why outside of the internet Hoxhaists call themselves Marxist-Leninist, only using "Hoxhaism" when differentiating themselves from Maoists.


If the Socialist Albanian state was repressive at any one time, how does one defend this? Or do not you defend it?Being "repressive" or not isn't particularly important. Lenin was "repressive," Stalin was "repressive." The question is if the material conditions justify specific activities or if they hinder the construction of socialism, and I would say the Sigurimi's activities didn't exactly endear people towards the latter.

[theAnarch]

Alright, the Peoples Socialist Republic of Albania had a lot of good things about it.
Advances
In womans rights
industrial progress
education
preventing there nation from becoming a soviet "satellite" (Albania remained part of the com-intern till 1962 when it became apparent what Khrushchev was doing)
riping apart feudalism

but did the working class have control of the state, was the party led by bureaucrats that siphoned off the fruits of the workers labor? To understand Albania one needs to understand it class nature.

as far as the post Hoxha period go im hostile to any government that gives anything other than an arrest warrant to mother Tersina.

[thälmann]

right, but the most important thing is, it was a socialist economy....

[RadioRaheem84]

Socialist Albania is being accused of being repressive, so let's analyze it in a bigger context.

We are so conditioned to just automatically think that the US is a free society so we have an example in which to judge other societies. It's basically just a quick point of reference we're used to since we really have nothing else to go on. But we all know it's not truly free, maybe relatively free, but not truly. We know the US State has repressed dissent, marginalized it, and made it incoherent to the average person. The US also relies on an army of slave wage labor abroad, horribly repressing workers in sweatshops employing client states as their guards, it also militarily exploits nations for their national resources brutally crushing alternative to the status quo when client states fail. All this yet, we still feel almost instinctively conditioned to compare other societies to ours as a basis for "freedom". Like Richard Levins wrote in Monthly Review, we carry a clipboard of liberal bourgeoisie rights that have become universal.

So how do we look at a country that repressed dissent yet exploited no foreign territory, progressed a once horribly backward country light years into the modern age, and gave all of it's citizens more than just the basic essentials to live a good standard of living?

[RED DAVE]

albanian economy was socialist because it was a kollectivized and planned economy.
which wasnt the case in cuba, or the ussr since the 60s.
the state was repressive, yes but that should not be the point to call it socialism or not.That's exactly "the point to call is socialism or not." Repression negates socialism.

People are so used to calling Stalin and Mao some kind of socialists that they forget that socialism is revolutionary, democratic, self liberation of the working class, not oppression of the working class.


Hoxha led the world’s longest-lasting and most advanced socialist state for almost 40 years.

Socialism and the dictatorship of the proletariat were established under Hoxha’s rule. His economic revolution was even more advanced than Stalin’s, with even more working class control over production centers.Would someone elaborate on "working class control over production centers" in Albania?

RED DAVE

[RED DAVE]

So how do we look at a country that repressed dissent yet exploited no foreign territory, progressed a once horribly backward country light years into the modern age, and gave all of it's citizens more than just the basic essentials to live a good standard of living?State capitalism.

RED DAVE

[RadioRaheem84]

I agree to some extent, Red Dave. Actually with most of what you said, but how would a country like that survive against it's external and internal enemies?

[Uppercut]

socialism is revolutionary, democratic, self liberation of the working class, not oppression of the working class.

Yes, and that's why Albania was successful in most of their goals. True, Albania might not have been all that involved with everything on the outside world, but it was still a strong anti-revisionist force that many still gather inspiration from.


Would someone elaborate on "working class control over production centers" in Albania?

I'm pretty sure Ismail pointed out that elections were held in places of work concerning management, which was subject to recall if they did not fulfill their obligations to the workers.

[RadioRaheem84]

Interesting how there is a contrast between democracy in the economy and the political realm where it's record is tainted by liberal (and socialist)standards.

Economic democracy was obviously at an all time high in Albania to acheive those impressive numbers. How did this not translate into the social?

Repression must have come from the desire to protect the country. To defend itself from enemies within and without (whether real or imagined).

[Os Cangaceiros]

You mean autarky, no? It isn't like "autocracies" produce debt-free societies on their own.

Silly me! I knew that. Really.


Unemployment is a cornerstone of capitalism, as Marx noted (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_army_of_labour). Under capitalism the state basically wants unemployment, because it guarantees a "reserve army" of laborers as Marx said.

I've been known to read Marx myself, believe it or not!


In Albania one was guaranteed a job by the state, it wasn't anything like "Oh, well, they all worked in prison labor camps so that explains it." What ridiculous reasoning.

If someone chose to not work one day, would they be taken out behind the chemical sheds?

[Ismail]

If someone chose to not work one day, would they be taken out behind the chemical sheds?It would probably be seen as illogical unless they had a reason (same as in the USSR under Lenin and Stalin). If they had a reason not to work on that day (e.g. family matters, sickness, etc.) then yes. In fact in the 1980's worker absenteeism was an issue (as noted by O'Donnell), but nothing was done to combat it and workers weren't punished. In fact, one observer (eludes my mind at the moment) noted in the late 80's that in one area she visited a lot of people were nominally employed, got paid, etc., but basically just sat around in town and didn't really do any work. There were two main reasons: 1. cars and buses were limited and were the property of collectives (Albania was the only country with collectivization of vehicles), so they often had to wait for them to come around; 2. they weren't actually all that useful at the job because they were unneeded, but because unemployment was seen as a bad thing (for obvious reasons), the local district government gave them jobs anyway because they wouldn't receive pay otherwise.


People are so used to calling Stalin and Mao some kind of socialists that they forget that socialism is revolutionary, democratic, self liberation of the working class, not oppression of the working class.Any moderately learned person could say that Lenin's leadership there was an "oppression of the working class" under the same logic. A bourgeois critique could point out Kronstadt, deportations of various anti-Bolshevik workers, the arrest of various anti-Bolshevik workers, excesses under the Cheka, and so on to justify their claims that Lenin was "repressive" and therefore not revolutionary or whatever.

[Os Cangaceiros]

In fact in the 1980's worker absenteeism was an issue (as noted by O'Donnell), but nothing was done to combat it and workers weren't punished. In fact, one observer (eludes my mind at the moment) noted in the late 80's that in one area she visited a lot of people were nominally employed, got paid, etc., but basically just sat around in town and didn't really do any work.

That's interesting, seeing as absenteeism is a common symptom of an economy with "issues" (absenteeism during the 1960's in the U.S. and elsewhere was a major part of capital's crisis during that decade).

[Ismail]

Since I'd like this subject to continue, I shall contribute by posting excerpts of an article by American socialist Scott Nearing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Nearing) whose article in Monthly Review ("Approach to Albania") Vol. 20 Issue 1, May 1968 notes the impressions of his trip (pp. 33-39):

Years passed before we could accept the invitation, but early in 1968 we set aside a few weeks to go there on our return from an extended stay in India... We not only got a feel of the cities, countryside, and activities of the citizens, but we established a rapport with some of the cheeriest, sturdiest, most hard-working, and independent people we have ever had the pleasure to meet....

The head waiter in our Albturist hotel was an Albanian who spoke with a strong American accent. "Where did you pick that up?" we asked. "I lived for 20 years in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I was a waiter," he said. "Times got bad there. I was unemployed. Now I've come back to my homeland where I can still carry on my craft and where I'll have a comfortable and secure old age."

Tirana was badly damaged during the war years of 1939-1945. Today it is a modern city of 180,000; built around a broad central boulevard with the university at one end, a large square with theatre, opera house, and library at the other end, and government buildings and parks in between. Our hotel was situated along this boulevard.

... In older parts of the city new housing and shopping units are being constructed as rapidly as materials and labor power are available. Everywhere we walked or drove in the city we were impressed with the cleanliness, order, neatness. This was true of the people, the pavements and sidewalks, the public buildings, the living quarters. Seldom have we visited a more attractive, more livable city...

Albanian Economy

Albania is a country slightly larger than New Jersey, with a population of two million. In the north, east, and south it is mountainous. Elsewhere there are some wide reaches of bottom land, with hills rolling up to the mountains...

Like all good economists, Albanians are using, improving, and conserving natural resources, of which they have a meager supply. Water is being used for transport, irrigation, and electric power. The country has six strategically placed hydro-electric stations which feed electricity into a nationwide grid. The stations are the work of Albanian engineers. Generators come from the socialist countries of East Europe...

Mineral resources are being explored and developed. Copper mines, recently enlarged, are adding copper-wire to the national exports. Albanian economists warn against the export of any raw material that can be fabricated at home and exported as a finished or semi-finished product.

... We visited collective and state farms in various parts of the country. As a general rule, where a large estate was available or an extensive piece of marsh land was drained, a state farm was established. Agricultural villages organized collective farms. Private family farms, like private family businesses, have virtually disappeared in Albania...

... Science and technology are penetrating the countryside. On every farm there are hometrained economists, agronomists, veterinarians, botanists, biologists.

Transport is being developed and improved. Albania's first railroad, begun in 1948, was laid out by engineers and built largely by volunteer labor. Except for the more remote mountainous regions, good to excellent paved roads connect all populated areas and are used by trucks, busses, passenger cars, and bicycles, all imported. As tractors are placed on collective and state farms, stone-based roads are being built on the farms as a protection against the costs and frustrations of "mud-time." ...

Talking to a skillful chauffeur who maneuvered us over dozens of hairpin turns on the mountain roads, I called his attention to the small amount of motor traffic that we encountered on the well-built roads. "By the way," I asked, "how many motor vehicles do you have on your highways?" His answer was a classic: "Just enough for our needs. When we need more we will import more. We keep a large foreign exchange balance in our favor, and we pay cash."

Building Industry

Foreign exchange balances are looked upon by Albanians as a temporary but necessary part of their industrialization program. They import specialized equipment until they can begin to produce it at home. They pay cash, to avoid "interest slavery." Their goal is socialist, their means maximum self-sufficiency.

Each year's plan calls for imported equipment that will enable the Albanian economy to self-supply essential needs... This spare-parts plant was built by Albanians. The necessary machines came from China and were installed with the help of Chinese engineers. Today the plant is operating at near full capacity. Only two Chinese experts remain on the premises to help guide the work, and they will return soon to their homeland.

... Up to the limit of their available balances, Albania paid for the Chinese equipment in cash. The rest was covered by low-interest loans which will soon be liquidated...

As industrial production expands, a larger part of the needs of the home population can be met by home products, and more finished goods are exported to cover the costs of needed technical facilities.

... The necessaries are already there and priced very low; the conveniences are higher, with the luxuries expensive and as yet largely unavailable.

Consumer goods are supplied mainly through well stocked cooperatives which we visited in cities, towns, and villages. The field of merchandising is part of the public sector.

Economic plans are paying off. All the people we saw in Albania—children, women, and men (in that order) looked well fed, were well dressed and shod against cold, water, and mud... men and women dressed according to Western styles (though no miniskirts or beatnik jeans) and the young people and children seemed especially jaunty and self-possessed.

We saw no slums, no shacks, no physical poverty, no unemployment, no beggars. Albania has a wages system of payment according to work done, with a minimum spread between top and bottom income levels. The Albanians seemed sure of themselves and of their ability to shape their own economic future.

... They plan carefully, avoid speculation and other forms of adventurism. They are building solidly and fundamentally for a better future.