Bunkers of Albania -- Stalinist Tourism

[Popular Front of Judea]

Over 750,000 bunkers were built under the direction of Communist dictator Enver Hoxha, who ruled Albania as one of the most isolationist Stalinists from the end of World War II until his death in 1985.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/bunkers-of-albania

[Brutus]

All wars end in tourism...

[Bostana]

I really don't understand why we ram Hoxha for building bunkers. I mean don't get me wrong he was a nutty ruler. But to be fair, Albania wasn't exactly the height of military might at that time

[Remus Bleys]

I really don't understand why we ram Hoxha for building bunkers. I mean don't get me wrong he was a nutty ruler. But to be fair, Albania wasn't exactly the height of military might at that time Because it pisses Ismail off? And by ignoring the material conditions that might make it a requirement (which it wasn't, but no one really knew) pisses him off even more.

Plus, the fact they were never used showed just how paranoid Stalinists are...

[Ismail]

Considering that Albania kicked the campaign into gear when the Soviet revisionists had invaded Czechoslovakia, and when Albania left the Warsaw Treaty in protest of this act, I don't see the issue. Albania's military strategy in the event of an attack was to rely on an armed populace, which bunkers fit well with.

There was nothing "paranoid" about what Albania did. Remember that it was the only Eastern European country that had no diplomatic relations whatsoever with the USA and UK, nor with the USSR. It was also in a state of war with neighboring Greece. It wasn't like Romania (which instituted a paramilitary organization when the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia) or Yugoslavia which had the advantage of stronger armies combined with friendly ties with the West.

[Brutus]

Not that Albania was next to Yugoslavia, Greece or Italy that were all hostile to Albania. It's hardly any different to France's Maginot Line, but no one is saying "Haha, silly Tardieu!".

[Ismail]

It's also worth noting that the bunkers were also connected with a strategy wherein the Albanian air force would bomb foreign troops within Albanian territory, thus combining defensive and offensive warfare.

Hoxha also rejected the Maoist theory of "protracted people's war," pointing out how disastrous it would be in any defense of the country by its armed populace.

On precisely why the bunkers were constructed I quote one Albanian source: "our uneven mountainous and fortified terrain, as well as the fact that our people know it like the back of their hand, constitute a very great obstacle to possible aggressors, to manoeuvres and the utilization of the modern military technique on their part, and a great facility for our popular war. Therefore, the Party has always given special importance to the fortification of the country now, in time of peace, in which the army and the people are actively mobilized." - Simon Ballabani, Scientific Conference on the Marxist-Leninist Theoretical Thinking of the Party of Labour of Albania and Comrade Enver Hoxha, 1983, pp. 206-207.

[Brutus]

Surely PPW only works when you have miles and miles of land to retreat across?

[Bostana]

Plus, the fact they were never used showed just how paranoid Stalinists are...

Paranoid?

Ok I'm gonna have to side with the Stalinists here. Albania was under threat of war not just by the Soviets but by the west. Just because they were never used doesn't mean he is paranoid. If I buy a gun to protect my house from a thief or a murderer but I never end up using it does that make me paranoid?

[Ismail]

The bunker campaign and people's war strategy, as a note, was just one part of the overall aim of self-reliance. To quote Hoxha:

"The complete construction of socialist society is closely connected with the understanding and implementation of the principle of self-reliance in every step and every field of life. This great Marxist-Leninist principle of profound revolutionary content is not only a law for the construction of socialism but also, in the present conditions, an urgent necessity for our country to cope successfully with enemy blockades and encirclement...

Our Party has always defended the view that self-reliance is not a temporary policy imposed by circumstances, but an objective necessity for every country, big or small, developed or underdeveloped, a principle applying both in liberation wars and the proletarian revolution, and in the construction of socialism and the defence of the homeland. The implementation of this principle bars all paths to the inflow of bank credits from bourgeois and revisionist states, by means of which the imperialists and the social-imperialists enslave countries and nations...

The bourgeois-revisionist propaganda endeavors to spread and cultivate among the peoples, especially in the developing countries, the sense of bowing and submission to the big imperialist powers. The Soviet revisionists, in particular, distort the revolutionary essence of the principle of self-reliance, labelling it as 'slipping into positions of narrow nationalism', as 'departure from the position of proletarian internationalism', as 'rejecting mutual aid among socialist countries'. With these anti-Marxist theses they seek to justify their policy of imperialist expansion and their practice of capitalist exploitation of other countries. Their aim is to undermine the confidence of peoples in the possibility of building an independent life, and generally, in their existence as free nations.

While working for the construction of socialism according to the principle of self-reliance, our Party has never dreamed of creating an autarkic economy, isolated within itself. At the same time, while combating any feeling of inferiority and worshipping everything foreign, it has not negated the value of progressive world thinking, of the achievements of science and technology in other countries. It has always prized the revolutionary experience of all peoples, everything that serves the cause of the emancipation and progress of mankind.

Far from excluding reciprocal collaboration and aid among the revolutionary and socialist forces, self-reliance presupposes it. The aid which the victorious revolution gives the countries and peoples fighting for national and social liberation, the mutual aid among countries building socialism, is an internationalist duty. It is devoid of any sort of selfish interest and inspired by the lofty interests of Marxism-Leninism. This aid is to the advantage not only of the country which receives it but also of the country which gives it, because the triumph of socialism in any country serves the triumph of revolution in the other countries, too, its triumph over capitalism and revisionism...

Understanding of the principle of self-reliance is complete when every collective and individual fulfils and overfulfils the tasks with which they have been charged without asking the state and the society for supplementary means...

The principle of self-reliance is correctly understood when it is implemented in every field of social activity... when people work and live everywhere as in a state of siege."
(Report Submitted to the 7th Congress of the Party of Labour of Albania. Tirana: 8 Nëntori Publishing House. 1977. pp. 70-73.)

Also you can see Albanian students in military training using caricatures of Khrushchev and Brezhnev as bayonet targets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9vj5E5XLF0 :D

[Popular Front of Judea]

Whatever your opinion of Enver Hoxha the bunkers remain. I can only wonder what mythological story the inhabitants of the region we now call Albania will give to account for the stone toadstools that are everywhere in their land.

[Ismail]

Whatever your opinion of Enver Hoxha the bunkers remain. I can only wonder what mythological story the inhabitants of the region we now call Albania will give to account for the stone toadstools that are everywhere in their land.That the god Enver Hoxhinius Awesomus built them to shield his land from dumb people and revisionism.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Were the bunkers "one man bunkers"?

[Omsk]

I can only wonder what mythological story the inhabitants of the region we now call Albania will give to account for the stone toadstools that are everywhere in their land.

People like them. After capitalism was restored in Albania, and the period of ultimate poverty began, many people started living in the abandoned bunkers. They are multi-purpose. Too bad they are too cold during the winter.

[Brutus]

Were the bunkers "one man bunkers"?

They varied in size and function

[Ismail]

Were the bunkers "one man bunkers"?They could accommodate more than one person. They were often built near collective farms, houses/apartments, workplaces, etc. A British visitor in 1989 counted 32 bunkers encompassing one agricultural field (albeit said field was quite long since it was a state farm), for example. He also added that "in hillier areas, where there are vineyards, the message is reinforced by the iron spikes that are set in the tops of each of the posts supporting the vines, to spear enemy paratroops as they land."

[Paul Pott]

It was an interesting concept militarily.

What people don't realize is that Hoxha was ahead of his time in this. Today a similar strategy would be effective given the high tech reconnaissance ability of imperialist powers. Not necessarily thousands of small pillboxes, but pre-prepared, supplied, concealable, defendable positions of some kind would be needed, giving the people's resistance thousands of points to coordinate from at the beginning and leaving the enemy none the wiser where the partisans actually could be since only a tiny percentage would be occupied at any one time.

In addition, removing them would be a time and money consuming task for the occupiers.

[Popular Front of Judea]

Set up land mines in the front yard? Set up a claymore with a trip wire in the back yard? Yeah you just might be clinically paranoid


Paranoid?

Ok I'm gonna have to side with the Stalinists here. Albania was under threat of war not just by the Soviets but by the west. Just because they were never used doesn't mean he is paranoid. If I buy a gun to protect my house from a thief or a murderer but I never end up using it does that make me paranoid?

[Bostana]

Set up land mines in the front yard? Set up a claymore with a trip wire in the back yard? Yeah you just might be clinically paranoid
You vastly over exaggerated
These are bunkers.

these were commonly used by the military for defense back then. There were worse things that happened under hoxha than bunkers

[Ismail]

Set up land mines in the front yard? Set up a claymore with a trip wire in the back yard? Yeah you just might be clinically paranoidAgain, you haven't actually refuted the fact that the US and USSR were hostile to Albania and that Albania's two neighbors, Yugoslavia and especially Greece, had active disputes with Albania, including armed intrigues against it in the 40's and 50's.

It was not "paranoid" for the Albanians, who denounced the American imperialists and Soviet social-imperialists, to rely on an armed populace for the defense of the country, and this included bunkers.

[Comrade Dracula]

It is also worth noting for the nth time, dear connoisseur of fine British humor, that paranoia implies delusional belief of persecution.

NATO certainly wasn't in love with Hoxha, and such happy occurrences as the Soviet invasions of Czechoslovakia and Hungary certainly didn't serve to put the Albanian Party of Labor at ease. There's also the fact that nearly everyone Albania was bordering happened to be hostile to them, and their only ally happened to be on the other side of the bloodied planet.

Worth noting, that's while they still had an ally.

Edit: Also, if you couldn't tell, Ismail happens to be a ninja. Welp, this post was sort of redundant.

[Ismail]

and their only ally happened to be on the other side of the bloodied planet.

Worth noting, that's while they still had an ally.Also that same ally insisted that Albania form a military alliance with Yugoslavia and Romania if it wanted any military assistance from it. Furthermore, the pro-Chinese faction in the army, headed by Beqir Balluku, plotted a coup and had opposed the bunker campaign as part of its goal to have the army to hold undue influence in the country (against Hoxha's doctrine of people's war, of which the bunkers played an important part as noted.)

[Popular Front of Judea]

You vastly over exaggerated
These are bunkers. these were commonly used by the military for defense back then.

Yes ... but 750,000 of them? In a country just smaller than the American state of Maryland?


There were worse things that happened under hoxha than bunkers

No argument here.

[Ismail]

Yes ... but 750,000 of them? In a country just smaller than the American state of Maryland?Again, an armed populace; at least half a million (if not more) persons taking up arms against the external invader based on everyone from school pupils onwards receiving military training beforehand. Albania's army had its ranks abolished in 1967 as part of this process.

This whole fixation on bunkers distracts from more important subjects and is a shortcut for dismissing the Albanians as a bunch of crazy half-brown people.

[Popular Front of Judea]

If I am dismissing anyone it is the delusional Albanian leadership of the time -- and its Western admirers. Few as they may be.

So what connection to you have to Albania Ismail? We have established that you are not old enough to have adopted it as your last hope after Deng took power.


Again, an armed populace; at least half a million (if not more) persons taking up arms against the external invader based on everyone from school pupils onwards receiving military training beforehand. Albania's army had its ranks abolished in 1967 as part of this process.

This whole fixation on bunkers distracts from more important subjects and is a shortcut for dismissing the Albanians as a bunch of crazy half-brown people.

[Ismail]

If I am dismissing anyone it is the delusional Albanian leadership of the time -- and its Western admirers. Few as they may be.You haven't debated one single point made in this thread by myself and others. You just keep looking in awe at the number of bunkers constructed while avoiding any actual analysis. The only delusional persons are those who think the leadership would just stand by and not take steps to prepare the defense of Albania after it withdrew from the Warsaw Treaty in protest of Soviet social-imperialism, among other things.


So what connection to you have to Albania Ismail? We have established that you are not old enough to have adopted it as your last hope after Deng took power.I've read the works of Enver Hoxha and have read many works on Albania in general. From these I concluded that Hoxha had the correct line in international affairs and that Albania was constructing a socialist society.

I've also used my knowledge to write. For instance, a few months back I wrote this article due to the request of some RevLefters for information on the subject: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet-Albanian_Split

[soso17]

That the god Enver Hoxhinius Awesomus built them to shield his land from dumb people and revisionism.

THIS is the first time Ismail has ever made me burst out laughing. I think we should start using the phrase "dumb people" more often when describing class enemies.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

[Bostana]

Yes ... but 750,000 of them? In a country just smaller than the American state of Maryland?.

Ok so how many bunkers did it take to label him paranoid?
Like you can make 100,000 but don't you dare go over 250,000. That shit insane

[Ismail]

Trond Øgrim, a Norwegian Maoist at the time, visited Albania in 1977. In 2005 he made the following comment:

In 1977, I was in Tirana and had some rather uneasy meetings with APL leaders such as the unfortunate Ramiz Alia (and, well, rather uncharming he was too ...) and got a talk from topranking guys (on a big map!) about their strategic plans for meeting external attacks deeply inside the country

as a part of this strategy they began the building of the (in)famous tens of thousands of concrete armoured "bubbles" that still lie spread among the fields and along roads all over the country, intended as bases for fire against armoured attackHe also noted that the Albanians, both normal citizens and leaders, were always fearful of an external invasion, which multiplied after 1978 when China broke off the few military contacts it had with the country.

[Bright Banana Beard]

What was the state budget to build all these bunkers?

[Ismail]

What was the state budget to build all these bunkers?According to James S. O'Donnell's A Coming of Age: Albania under Enver Hoxha (p. 216), defense spending went from a very high 21.9% of the state budget in 1950 to 8.3% in 1960, 9.6% in 1970, 11.8% in 1980 and 11.4% in 1985. The bunker expenditures were obviously included in the defense expenditure.

[Bea Arthur]

The reason it was paranoid is that Albania wasn't worth invading. It was not strategically important or economically powerful. Building those bunkers was a waste of money that could have been spent in other ways.

[Bostana]

The reason it was paranoid is that Albania wasn't worth invading. It was not strategically important or economically powerful. Building those bunkers was a waste of money that could have been spent in other ways.

Oy
another who doesn't understand U.S.Cold War era Imperialism

[Ismail]

The reason it was paranoid is that Albania wasn't worth invading. It was not strategically important or economically powerful. Building those bunkers was a waste of money that could have been spent in other ways.Wrong.

"Quite apart from the symbolic implications of Hoxha's [split with the USSR], Khrushchev had always regarded Albania as a key member of the Warsaw Pact because of 'its superb strategic location on the Mediterranean Sea.' The rift with Yugoslavia in 1948 had eliminated the only other possible outlet for the Soviet navy in the region. To ensure that Albania could serve as a full-fledged 'military base on the Mediterranean Sea for all the socialist countries,' the Soviet Union had been providing extensive equipment and training to the Albanian army and navy. In particular, the Albanian navy had received a fleet of twelve modern attack submarines, which initially were under Soviet control but were gradually being transferred to Albanian jurisdiction. Khrushchev believed that the submarines would allow Albania to pose a 'serious threat to the operation of the NATO military bloc on the Mediterranean Sea,' and thus he was dismayed to find that Soviet efforts to establish a naval bulwark on the Mediterranean might all have been for naught.

As soon as the rift with Albania emerged, the Soviet Union imposed strict economic sanctions, withdrew all Soviet technicians and military advisers, took back eight of the twelve submarines, dismantled Soviet naval facilities at the Albanian port of Vlona, and engaged in bitter polemical exchanges with the Albanian leadership. Khrushchev also ordered Soviet warships to conduct maneuvers along the Albanian coast, and he secretly encouraged pro-Moscow rivals of Hoxha to carry out a coup. The coup attempt was rebuffed, and the other means of coercion proved insufficient to get rid of Hoxha or to bring about a change of policy. In December 1961, Khrushchev broke diplomatic relations with Albania and excluded it from both the Warsaw Pact and CMEA. However, he was unwilling to undertake a full-scale invasion to bring Albania back within the Soviet orbit, not least because of the logistical problems and the likelihood of confronting stiff armed resistance."
(Carole Fink, Philipp Gassert & Detlef Junker (Ed.). 1968: The World Transformed. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1998. pp. 117-119.)

[Popular Front of Judea]

Okay spot one for Ismail. :grin:


Wrong.

"Quite apart from the symbolic implications of Hoxha's [split with the USSR], Khrushchev had always regarded Albania as a key member of the Warsaw Pact because of 'its superb strategic location on the Mediterranean Sea.' The rift with Yugoslavia in 1948 had eliminated the only other possible outlet for the Soviet navy in the region. To ensure that Albania could serve as a full-fledged 'military base on the Mediterranean Sea for all the socialist countries,' the Soviet Union had been providing extensive equipment and training to the Albanian army and navy. In particular, the Albanian navy had received a fleet of twelve modern attack submarines, which initially were under Soviet control but were gradually being transferred to Albanian jurisdiction. Khrushchev believed that the submarines would allow Albania to pose a 'serious threat to the operation of the NATO military bloc on the Mediterranean Sea,' and thus he was dismayed to find that Soviet efforts to establish a naval bulwark on the Mediterranean might all have been for naught.

As soon as the rift with Albania emerged, the Soviet Union imposed strict economic sanctions, withdrew all Soviet technicians and military advisers, took back eight of the twelve submarines, dismantled Soviet naval facilities at the Albanian port of Vlona, and engaged in bitter polemical exchanges with the Albanian leadership. Khrushchev also ordered Soviet warships to conduct maneuvers along the Albanian coast, and he secretly encouraged pro-Moscow rivals of Hoxha to carry out a coup. The coup attempt was rebuffed, and the other means of coercion proved insufficient to get rid of Hoxha or to bring about a change of policy. In December 1961, Khrushchev broke diplomatic relations with Albania and excluded it from both the Warsaw Pact and CMEA. However, he was unwilling to undertake a full-scale invasion to bring Albania back within the Soviet orbit, not least because of the logistical problems and the likelihood of confronting stiff armed resistance."
(Carole Fink, Philipp Gassert & Detlef Junker (Ed.). 1968: The World Transformed. New York: Cambridge University Press. 1998. pp. 117-119.)