Real Dictators - Enver Hoxha Part 1: The Albanian School Teacher

Episode Date: March 13, 2024

From 1944 to 1985, Enver Hoxha ran Albania as an extraordinarily repressive Stalinist dictatorship. But how did a middle class teacher from the provinces become the most powerful man in the country and a key player in the communist world? What did he do to turn Albania into one of the most isolated countries in the world? And how did ‘Uncle Enver’ keep his citizens in the dark for so much of the 20th century? A Noiser production, written by Sean Coleman. Many thanks to Bernd Fischer, Artan Hoxha and Shannon Woodcock. This is Part 1 of 2. Get every episode of Real Dictators a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser network. Click the Noiser+ banner to get started. Or, if you’re on Spotify or Android, go to noiser.com/subscriptions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Young people filled with bravado front up to the Italian police, the Carabinieri. After two years under occupation the locals have had enough. They don't want Mussolini's men here. This is their Albania. They surge forwards again. Right in the thick of it, a tall, handsome young man finds himself face to face with an Italian captain. The officer shoves him backwards, but he's picked on the wrong protester. Drawing his arm back, the man unleashes a thunderous punch, catching the policeman square

in the jaw. With batons raised and pistols in hand, other officers turn on him. It's time to run. This young man is Enver Hoca, and though he's running now, that punch has just sent him on a path to becoming not just the leader of Albania, but one of the longest reigning dictators in modern history. This is the story of a small European nation on the edge of the Eastern Bloc, which became one of the most isolated countries in the world.

From 1944 to 1985, Enver Hoxha ran Albania as a Stalinist dictatorship, a regime that was almost unfathomably repressive. Around a third of Albania's population ended up imprisoned or internally exiled. Tens of thousands were executed on Hoxha's orders as the country was brought to the brink of starvation. on Hodges orders as the country was brought to the brink of starvation and as time went by he sought to control not just the actions of his people but their thoughts as well friends neighbors even families would be driven to betray each other to save themselves so how did hot shot emerge from obscurity, help oust the Italians, and then stay in power for so long, for nearly half a century? How did Uncle Enver keep his citizens in the dark about the outside world for so much of the 20th century? From Noiser, this is part one of the Enver Hodja story.

And this is Real Dictators. Albania is relatively small in terms of landmass, not much bigger than Wales or New Hampshire. It sits on the Balkan Peninsula, above Greece and below the former Yugoslavia. The Balkan Alps dominate to the north. From their peaks, rivers flow all the way to the luscious waters of the Adriatic and Ionian seas. The history of this country is not especially well known beyond its own borders,

and for good reason. Its longest-serving leader kept it cut off from the rest of the world for decades. Enver Hodja, too, is lesser known, not exactly a household name, compared with other 20th century communist strongmen. His story starts in the early 1900s. His story starts in the early 1900s. In the south of Albania, nestled in a valley, is the town of Gjirokasta. Its traditional stone houses line narrow cobblestone streets. A well-travelled merchant, Halil Hotja, lives here with his wife, Julie Han.

In 1908 their first and only son is born they named him Enver after a leading figure in the Young Turk revolution the recent revolt against the Ottoman Empire this is a turbulent time in 1912 when Enver is four years old Albania declares independence from the Ottomans. Emanating from modern-day Turkey, they've controlled much of southeastern Europe for centuries. Now, in the course of the Balkan Wars, a series of battles has loosened their grip. The Hodges are an Albanian Muslim family. But Girokasta is also home to a substantial Greek population.

Albanians and Greeks will contest this region, often through violence, right up until 1921, when it will definitively become part of Albania. The advent of World War I in 1914 only serves to turbocharge the upheaval and instability in the Balkans. In 1922, a decade after Albanian independence, and four years after the armistice, a new leader of the Albanian people comes to the fore. A young man named Ahmed Zogu. He will serve first as Prime Minister, then President, and finally as monarch, styling himself King Zogh I.

Bernd Fischer is Professor of History at Indiana University, a former Special Advisor to the Albanian Royal Court, and the author of A Conc concise history of Albania. He was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1912, so the last of the Balkan states to achieve independence. During the interwar period, it was ruled principally by King Zog, who was a self-proclaimed king. He rose from being one of the major tribal chieftains in the north of Albania. King Zog's reign soon becomes an autocratic one. He dissolves parliament and rules by decree.

But he's also keen to modernize the country, and his economic reforms see an increase in trade and industry, which benefits middle-class families. Families like the Hodges. His father was a merchant, so relatively well off. His son, as a result, was sent to some of the best schools in Albania, and there weren't very many. In his late teens, Enver is sent to study at the French Lycée in Korče, near the Greek border.

Known as the City of Serenades, thanks to its rich cultural scene, Korča has a close-knit community with a strong sense of civil identity. Hoxha thrives here. He's bright and loves reading. He becomes fluent in French. By the time he graduates, there's still no university in Albania, but he receives a scholarship from King Zog's government to travel abroad, to study philosophy in Montpellier in France.

It's here, on the shores of the Mediterranean, that Hodja seems to have his first significant brush with communist ideas. His university days are spent drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and digesting the writings of Marx, Engels, and Lenin. His academic assignments quickly slot into third place behind his social activities and his ideological explorations. Indeed after four years of neglecting his degree, Hodger's funding is withdrawn. Nonetheless, while his academic career may be over, his experience in Montpelier has

had a significant impact on his political development. He moves briefly to Belgium and finds work in Brussels as a secretary in the Albanian consulate. But Hodger appears to be a patriotic young man, with a strong desire to spread the political ideals he's adopted in France. Back home, King Zog has grown close to Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini. The country is open to fascist interference. For young Enver Hoxha, now is the perfect time to go back and be part of the political change he wants to see. In 1936, Hoxha returns to Albania. He takes up a teaching post at his former lice in Korchur.

He's been gifted opportunity. He's seen something of the world. He's been exposed to radical left-wing thinking. But still, it's a very long way from this point to political power. That journey is kick-started by events leading up to the Second World War, as King Zog's administration found us. During the course of the 1930s he became dependent upon the Italians, specifically Mussolini, for extensive economic aid. Albania at that point was really not economically viable by itself. Mussolini ultimately decided simply to take Albania and invade it in 1939, hoping to make Albania the beachhead for the recreation of the Roman Empire in the Balkans. He essentially annexed Albania to the Italian kingdom.

And the Albanians have maintained, not incorrectly, that this was in a way sort of the beginning of World War II in Europe. Dr. Artan Hoxha, no relation to the dictator, is a researcher at the Institute of History in Tirana and the author of Sugarland, the transformation of the countryside in communist Albania. He goes to study in France. He never finishes his studies.

He started teaching in France, no political activity, nothing. But what happens is the Italian invasion of the country in 1939. That somehow discredited all the old elites, the old elites that cooperated with the Italians to hold their positions, discredited them. And that created the right space for newcomers in the politics. As with other Balkan states, we see the development of resistance movements against the Italians.

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Visit td.com slash dioffer to learn more. Shortly after the Italian invasion in 1939, the French lycée shut down. At 32 years old, Hodger finds himself out of a job. He heads for the capital, Tirana. The city is now a key administrative centre for the fascist occupiers, and their influence is everywhere. Large-scale infrastructure works abound. Roads, buildings and military installations are springing up. Civil disobedience, public protests and acts of sabotage combine to challenge the fascists' control.

Hodja finds work in a shop-cum-cafe called The Flora, run by a friend. The bright young things of Tirana congregate here to talk politics. It's a place where illicit underground newspapers are distributed. Hodja has found himself being drawn into something exciting, a fledgling resistance movement. It's not yet communist as such, but their anti-fascist socialist bent is becoming more pronounced. Looking back, precisely when Hodger becomes radicalized, as we might say, is unclear. Details, especially around his early years, are murky. This is largely

because the first biographies of Hodger were overseen by the man himself. As dictator, he kept his personal story under lock and key, rewriting and republishing it each time his political situation required. We do know, however, from those actually acquainted with Hodger as a young man, that in Tirana he's well known to despise the Italians. We also know that as World War II heats up, the rebels flitting in and out of Hodges Café get more organized. They start to position themselves to make their move when the time is right. Their ultimate plan?

To overthrow the fascists, take back their country, and replace the old elites like King Zog as Albania's new leaders. So this is the emergence of normal men, of normal people, people coming from nowhere, having no relation to power, and they emerged at the top of the power. Throughout World War II, resistance movements across Europe worked to frustrate their Axis occupiers. movements across Europe work to frustrate their Axis occupiers. In neighbouring Yugoslavia, Josip Broz, Tito to you and me, is leading the fight as head of the Yugoslav partisans.

In fact, Tito is working closely with the Soviet strongman Josef Stalin to expand the influence of communism across the Balkans. influence of communism across the Balkans. Albania's proximity makes it the ideal friendly neighbor. But the local rebels there are going to need a bit of a nudge. There wasn't really much of a communist movement in Albania during this period. Indeed, it's reasonable to argue that by 1937, there were maybe no more than 200 people who would consider themselves to be communists, and they were sort of broken up into a series of squabbling cells, and ultimately the Yugoslavs were responsible

for the creation of the Albanian Communist Party. In the early 1940s, Tito sends his aide, Miladin Popovic, to Tirana. In the early 1940s, Tito sends his aide, Miladin Popovic, to Tirana. Popovic is a dapper young man whose bushy moustache hides a winning smile. His charm is well suited to his mission, to unite the competing factions on the Albanian left. On the 8th of November 1941, the new and official Communist Party of Albania meets for the first time. And, somewhat surprisingly, Enver Hoxha finds his way onto the guest list. In later pronouncements, Hoxha the dictator will claim that he was both organiser and chair of this seminal gathering.

In fact, originally, his name wasn't even down to attend. Remember that punch he threw at the Italian police officer? That was at a demonstration earlier this very month. Since then he's been laying low in Korcha. He's been hanging out with the small group of communists there, and they've brought him along to the meeting at the last minute. But however he may have got there, the former teacher soon makes his mark on the class. As a speaker he holds the room, his intellect shines through, and perhaps the biggest factor in Hodja's favour, he's from a Muslim background. This makes him a viable spokesperson for a key section of Albania's population. Basically about 15 people got together in Tirana to organize this party.

And all of the people from Hoxha were Orthodox, except for Hoxha. So religion played a role there, there's no doubt. Hoxha came along again, not because he was a leader, but because of the fact that he represented Islam in a way, and also because of the fact that he wasn't really involved in the power struggles between these various cells. Hoxha was made an instant impression on Tito's envoy. With the Albanian Communist Party officially established, a central committee is assembled to run the organization under Popovich's lead.

Enver Hodja, who spoke so well at that first meeting, is named as one of the committee. And crucially, Hodja starts acting as translator at Popovich's subsequent engagements. In this capacity, he'll become indispensable to the Yugoslav puppet master. On November 23rd, just two weeks later, Enver Hodja attends another important gathering. later, Enver Hodja attends another important gathering. Its purpose is to found the communist youth movement. It's here that Hodja meets a fiery young woman called Nejmiye Juglini. At 20 years old, she is studying to be a schoolteacher. She's attending this meeting today as a representative of the anti-fascist women, and she's just signed up as a member of the Communists. Hodja, some twelve years her senior,

is instantly smitten with this beautiful, intelligent woman. The pair hit it off immediately. Little has been recorded about their courtship, but we know that it's a brief one. He'll propose to her in a matter of months. The Albanian Communists are still under the guidance of Popovic. But to stand a chance of winning popular support, they will need to be led by an Albanian. Tito tells Popovic to pick the best man for the job. In fact, the envoy has already made his choice. His loyal translator has shown an ability to manage his more emotional comrades.

At party meetings, tempers often run hot, and the former teacher always seems to know how to calm the room. He appears to rise above the petty factionalism. At a meeting on March 18th, 1943, Enver Hoxha is formally put forward for the post of First Secretary. Popovic's work in Albania is done. So he was sort of a compromise candidate in a way. He was relatively tall, based upon Albanian standards, and had these sort of boyish good looks,

which, you know, he was 33, you know, well-spoken, well-educated. In many ways, perhaps not the ideal candidate, but someone who others could rally around. World War II rages on. Then, in October 1943 the Italians ditch Germany and join the Allies instead They begin exiting Albania But while Mussolini may be done with the country

Adolf Hitler is not The Fuhrer moves in Albania is occupied for a second time, this time by the Nazis. But it's a reactive move, a desperate attempt not to concede territory. Hitler never wanted to get personally involved here. The Balkans were supposed to be Mussolini's domain. And as the Allies gain ground in Europe, the struggle within Albania intensifies. There were a series of focal points in Albania, opposition to the first the Italians, but principally to the Germans. The Communists basically constituted one pole, but we also have an organization called the

Balikumbattar, which were nationalists who represented the old landowning class. So we've got the communists and then the nationalists. We've got a group of Zagas, I mean, people principally from Zag's tribal area in the north who organized their own resistance. And then a whole series of independent chieftains from the north of Albania, whose principal goal was simply to protect their own tribal area from both the invaders, but also other Albanians who they considered to be as serious a potential enemy. who they considered to be as serious a potential enemy.

So there was this basically civil war, if you will, going on at the same time as a struggle against the invaders. Ultimately, more Albanians were killed by other Albanians than they were by either the Italians or the Germans. So the succession, the struggle for the post-war period, began during the course of the war. But amidst all these various groups, the communists stand out as well-organized and the most adept at armed struggle. One of the advantages that Hoxha had during the war was he was the only one that the Allies would supply. And so the British in particular provided him with extensive amounts of arms and ammunition, clothing, uniforms, etc.

This Allied aid strengthens the Communist partisans. But it's still an anxious time for their new leader. Descend from within could ruin everything. So, Hodja sets about building the framework of power that will define his long reign. That framework is loyalty. Loyalty to the party, to Albania, to him personally. Not everybody in the party supported Popovich's nomination of him as leader. Hodja decides he must eliminate dissenting voices. So he was able to navigate and to exploit his own advantage. He was a very smart person,

but also very paranoid. And that paranoia was also an outcome of his fragility, of his weaknesses. Because as we all know, the more weak a leader is, the harsher he becomes. What follows is a rapid escalation into brutality. Party members suddenly find themselves kicked out, accused vaguely of ideological deviation. Others are labeled as disloyal to the Central Committee or are decried as secretly pro-fascist.

Enforced exile becomes the weapon of choice and it's highly effective. Opponents are hounded out of their towns and villages and sent packing. A culture of fear is putting down deep roots. If Hoxha says you're not a good communist, you're gone. So Hoxha is central to this form of power that was coercive because people were terrorized. On the other hand, it was also coercive through language.

And by imposing on people specific frames of understanding the world. Revisionists, capitalists, enemies, friends, revolutionaries, Leninists, heroes, traitors, there was no way in between. Later, Hodges' rule will be marked by a distinctly binary way of viewing the world. All or nothing, for him or against him. And as his demands for unwavering loyalty grow, his methods will become more extreme.

Dr. Shannon Woodcock is the author of Life is War, Surviving Dictatorship in Communist Albania. In a small country, which is already patriarchal and where a tall man commands attention, and where a tall man commands attention. He used that alongside his willingness to execute people and execute his own comrades and work with international allies and sacrifice people who were close to him in order to consolidate power. By May 1944, the German grip has been loosened. The Nazis still control Tirana, just about, but Hitler has little time to concern himself with the governance of occupied Albania.

The country has become a retreat route for the Axis forces. As Hitler's troops head for the exits, they continue to meet solid resistance from the Albanian partisans. The Germans' heavy-handed tactics play right into Hodja's hands. The communists made it possible for people to think in terms of being Albanian and participating in resistance being a patriotic thing. In other words, more and more people saw collaboration with the invaders as being un-Albanian. And this is partially because of the fact that, again, the Germans used reprisals much, much more effectively than the Italians. But, you know,

whenever they burned out a village, they essentially created more and more partisans because there were people who simply headed up into the hills and became part of the struggle against the invaders. So there was this slow-growing sense of nationalism and patriotism. On May 24, 1944, Hodger convenes the Congress of Permet, a meeting of party members. Here a council is formed to act as a sort of parliamentary assembly. They resolve to ban King Zog from ever returning to Albania. And they elect an anti-fascist committee, headed by Hodja himself, which has all the attributes of a provisional government.

Meaning that excluding Tirana, Hoxha now effectively controls large swathes of the country. The rebels have been effective in pushing out the Germans, town by town. By June 1944, they have arrived at the Shikumbin River. Located in central Albania, this waterway has been a key defensive line for the Axis forces. On June 26th, Hodja orders his first assault brigade to cross it. The orders are clear. Claim the border, push back the Germans, clear the way to reclaim the rest of the land. But a further command is issued. To wipe out

all local resistance movements, non-communist movements, at the same time. What better way to eliminate domestic rivals than during the chaos of battle? The crossing of the Shikumbin River is a major turning point in the Albanian Liberation War. It's an even bigger milestone for Enver Hoxha and his party. The way to power is almost clear. He may be known amongst Europe's communist leaders, but there's still the matter of introducing Hoja to the people of Albania. The party issues a pamphlet entitled, Enver Hodja, General Commander of the National Liberation Army. In it he's given personal credit for seemingly everything achieved during

the war. It's a sign of the rewriting of history that will follow. There is no mention of Popovich and the Yugoslavs, or any of the other independence movements. In early November 1944, the last of the occupying troops begin to move out of Tirana, leaving the capital open. Hodges' forces move in. On November 12, as the battle for Tirana rages, 37 people are rounded up. They're a mixture of fascist collaborators, intellectuals, and former army officers who refused to take sides in the Liberation War. They're taken to the basement of a local hotel and executed on the spot.

Among the dead are two of Hja's own cousins. After 20 brutal days, the battle for Tirana is won and the first purge is complete. The organization of the political structure was almost fully in place when the Germans finally left to the point where there was no question of who would lead Albania in the post-war period. In 1944, when the communists entered in Tirana, nobody knew ever Hoxha. Everybody was going in the streets to see who is this new leader because nobody knew him. Hoxha times his big arrival carefully.

He enters Tirana on November the 28th, the anniversary of Albanian independence from the Ottomans he steps out of his motorcade and gives a clenched fist salute to mimic Shehu the military commander who led the liberation of the capital Shehu responds in kind in the city square a wide platform has been erected. A large crowd has gathered, humming with excitement. Flags flutter in the cold breeze. A slow anticipatory clap begins, and then a cheer erupts as he emerges, waving. This may well be Hodge's most triumphant day. Never again will he be so genuinely revered.

That evening, a grand ball is held in Tirana, at the Hotel Daiti. It's an unusually lavish affair. Hodja will tend to eschew this kind of opulence. It's here that his fiancée, Najmir, makes her first public appearance. She'll remain steadfastly by Hodja's side throughout his rule. The day after the state ball, on November 29th, Hodja enters his new office. It overlooks the main boulevard in Tirana. He is not officially the prime minister yet, but no one is under any illusions as to who is holding the reins. His goal is clear, to rebuild the country following the example of his hero Stalin.

And there's no time to waste. When we talk about Albania, when we talk about the Balkans, when we talk about Eastern Europe, it has always been considered as backward. The people are backward, they don't understand anything. And the elite had to modernize them. And Hoxha embraced this idea. And who was the elite then was the Communist Party. They were the elite that were going to transform the country with the iron fist and somehow overcome centuries of backwardness and Ottoman rule. I think he used Stalinism. It was a means by which to stay in power. Or I mean, Hoxha was smart enough to recognize that communism as an ideology wasn't something that was going to have

a great deal of impact on this nation of peasants who were principally illiterate. In 1939-1940, the illiteracy rate in Albania was maybe about 85 percent or possibly even higher. So the notion of attempting to turn these illiterate peasants into communists, I think, was ridiculous. So what do you do? I mean, you essentially set up an authoritarian, a brutal authoritarian state. One of Hodge's first actions in Tirana is to set out severe punishments

for anyone who supported the fascists. Before the first month of his rule is out, 60 prominent public figures are arrested and brought before a special court for major criminals of war. The so-called People's Tribunals have begun. The judges were all basically illiterate peasants and they were held in the National Theatre. It's like a circus, you know, filled with jeering spectators demanding executions. A few months later, on April the 13th, 1945, the people of Tirana will be woken by blaring loudspeakers.

The din heralds the verdict of the war crimes trial. With 17 of the accused sentenced to death, the rest are given prison terms of between 20 and 30 years. Only five are acquitted. Enver and Najmir recently tied the knot. Among those to be executed is Hodja's new brother-in-law. The condemned see their property seized. Reprisals fall on their families. It was essentially a collective responsibility, and this is the same sort of thing that Stalin, of course, instituted.

When someone was sent into internal exile, in most cases, the entire family, sometimes even just people that you knew, were sent along with you. Sending the entire family into exile meant the police arriving in the middle of the night and taking everybody in a car to a village far away where they'd be put in substandard accommodation. Often the local people were kicked out of their homes and those who were being persecuted

were put in the homes of the local villagers, which of course brought new wedges between the community as well. The landowners who sided with the Italians and the Germans and kept their farms running, they too are swiftly targeted. They're stripped of their titles, and their land is expropriated under the agrarian reform law. In January 1945, the extraordinary war tax is levied. Up to 92% of profits earned by traders during the war is taken. Those who do not or cannot pay are arrested and imprisoned. Houses, cars and other assets are nationalised. Ember Hodger purged political groups, the bourgeoisie first,

and in Albania no one was rich. So that came down to anybody who had a collection of library books, taking people's clothes once they went to prison so that people only had one set of clothes. And you had to create the bourgeoisie as you persecuted them. So the people who owned the biggest houses in the village, even though they didn't have hardly any land, they'd be persecuted as a bourgeoisie and forcibly transferred to another village.

It's the beginning of collectivisation in Albania. Much like the Soviet kolkhozes, Hoxha wants agricultural cooperatives. Stalinism can be described as simply being command socialism under a brutal dictatorship. Rapid industrialization and collectivization, centralization of bureaucracy and heavy reliance on security services to make sure all of this remains in place.

Enter the Sigurimi, a secret police force set up inside the Ministry of the Interior. They operate similarly to Stalin's NKVD, overseeing a system of surveillance and denunciation. There is also a lot of myths about Sigurimi, but sometimes things are efficient because they are based on myths. And by making people think and believe Sigurimi is omnipresent, is omnipotent, is everywhere,

even if that's not true, but at the moment that the myth circulates, people are afraid. The uniqueness of life under the socialist regime was that the threat was invisible and that the people you relied on for work and food and education and living in the system were the same ones who would seal your fate. On Hodges' instruction, the Sigurimi are to create a file on every adult citizen in the country. These dossiers should include every available detail of their lives, political beliefs, family background, sexual preferences.

Whether this level of coverage is ever achieved is unlikely. But the very idea helps to keep dissenting voices quiet. So people somehow were deprived from the initiative to really think of changing the world, of changing, at least not the world, but those small things that give meaning to life. So if they bow their head, know keep their head low conform never complain they were fine albanians find themselves defined by their past or by their family's past having skeletons in

your closet is referred to as possessing a bad biography. People are encouraged to actually print and distribute posters, denouncing their neighbours, co-workers or fellow students. The flethrouffes were printed denunciations of the behaviour of people in the community on bigger than A3 size pieces of paper and formally printed with nice calligraphy. And those denunciations could be something like, so-and-so was seen wearing a short dress and talking to a foreign tourist. And then that person would be ostracized and called in front of the party to explain their actions. And people lived in permanent fear of being named in one of those Flethrouffes because it could destroy your reputation and your biography.

As the denunciations roll in, the number of political prisoners skyrockets and they need to be housed somewhere. 39 new prisons are built, most of them effectively labour camps for the mining industry. It's not unusual for 20 inmates to be stuffed into a single cell of just 10 square metres. They were brutal. There were a number of them that were probably the worst,

Botch and Burrell in particular. People died at an alarming rate. The food tended to be poor, little or no medical attention. They were essentially meant, I think, ultimately to see the death of these people. All of this is happening incredibly quickly. All of this is happening incredibly quickly. Hodger took power less than a year ago, in 1944, as head of the interim government. To become the full-time, permanent boss, there's still the matter of a public vote to manage.

He needs that final seal of approval. In September 1945, Hodger announces the creation of a People's Assembly. Its members will be voted in by the public, and will be responsible for creating a new constitution. When it comes to the ballot, only candidates from his own Democratic Front, as he names it, appear on the list, along with a handful of independents. After a short campaign, punctuated by rampant propaganda and intimidation tactics, the election is held in December 1945. Due to the widespread illiteracy, voting is done by placing a rubber ball stamped with a black eagle in either a red box for Democratic Front candidates or a black box for Independents.

The Democratic Front wins all 82 seats. With formalities out of the way, in early 1946, Enver Hoxha is duly tasked with forming a new government in the name of the People's Assembly. tasked with forming a new government in the name of the People's Assembly. On March 24th, he's sworn in as Prime Minister of the newly declared People's Republic of Albania. While he's at it, he takes the titles of Foreign Minister, Defence Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Army. The only position of real significance that Hodja doesn't claim is Minister of the Interior. He leaves that to his trusted comrade, Kochizodze, a former tinsmith who's proved himself fiercely loyal, or so it seems. Hodger's sweeping political and economic changes do see some early winds. Education reform will lead to radically improved literacy rates.

Much of the country will be given access to electricity. The spread of disease will be drastically reduced, with increased healthcare provision. But the purges have already decimated the workforce. Hodge's land grabs have taken farms from those who knew how to run them and handed them to those who don't. His drive for industrialisation may have created more jobs, but the country lacks both the expertise and the supply chains to capitalise on this position. Albania needs international support,

preferably from Hodge's point of view from other communist countries. Since assuming power, he's been strengthening ties with neighbouring Yugoslavia. Albania was thoroughly dependent upon the Yugoslavs. The Yugoslavs provided hundreds and hundreds of experts and advisors attached to every Albanian ministry and every Albanian economic establishment. They provided extensive amount of material resources, aid. They essentially set up a customs union. They set up these joint stock companies where the Albanians were required to sell their goods to only the Yugoslavs at ridiculously low rates, I might add.

On March 14, 1948, a formal union is actually approved between Albania and Yugoslavia. It's supposed to be a political alliance between two like-minded leaders, with Albania under Yugoslav's wing but retaining its autonomy. What Hodja doesn't realize is that Tito has other ideas. He has Stalin's blessing to turn the country into the seventh Yugoslav Republic. Stalin really knew very little about Albania and at one point even suggested to Gilas, one of Tito's aides, that Yugoslavia simply swallow Albania. I mean, there was no point in it being an independent state. Tito would prefer to work with Koci Zotze, the deputy prime minister and current minister of the interior.

Tito had a problem with Vojvodina in the sense that he considered him to be sort of a middle-class intellectual, I mean not really a worker, whereas Koji Zodzio was the tinsmith. I mean he was probably the only real worker in the party at the time at the highest levels. Hodja is actually very close to being manoeuvred out of power just as he's getting started. His neck is saved in the nick of time. Before Tito can move against him, a rift erupts between Stalin and the Yugoslav leader. Tito has coordinated closely with Moscow, but he doesn't merely want to be Stalin's lapdog. He wants national sovereignty for Yugoslavia without undue Soviet interference. He's been resisting what he

regards as Stalin's excessive influence. In 1948 Stalin openly condemns Tito and Yugoslavia for deviating from orthodox Marxist-Leninism. As a result, Yugoslavia is expelled from the Inform Bureau, an organization established in World War II to allow coordination between different communist parties. Tito sticks to his guns and publicly denounces the Soviet Politburo. This marks the formal break between Yugoslavia and the USSR. Ultimately the Soviet-Yugoslav split plays right into Hoxha's hands. An existential threat to his leadership has receded. In the aftermath, he positions himself even closer to Stalin,

offering Albania as a buffer against Tito. Had the Soviet-Yugoslav break not happened in 1948, Bojab certainly would not have survived. So in that sense, he managed to maintain his position really more out of luck than anything else. On April 15, 1948, Stalin writes Enver Hoxha a letter. In it, he warns the Albanian leader to beware of Tito. He tells Hoxha to guard against Yugoslav advances. Hoxha writes back. He requests guarantees that Moscow will not allow Tito to attack Albania. He also asks for a free hand to purge his party

of pro-Yugoslav elements. The requests are granted. With Stalin's support for Hodja there in writing, the Communist Party of Albania officially endorses the Soviet position. Yugoslavia is classified as a hostile country. Kochi Zodze, the Deputy Prime Minister, tries to backpedal on his support for Tito. But it's too late. Hoxha strips Zodze of his posts and expels him from the party. In November 1948,

the ousted deputy is put on trial and sentenced to death. The break with Yugoslavia changes the geopolitics of the Balkans. It creates a new landscape, one that will both help and hinder Hodja, as well as fuel his paranoia.

With Tito going his own way, Albania is now a Stalinist enclave in the corner of Europe, cut off from the rest of the Eastern Bloc. After breaking with Yugoslavia, Albania was the only country that was isolated from the remaining part of the Bloc. There was no contiguous connection between Albania, Bulgaria and Romania. There was Yugoslavia between. South was Greece, so somehow Albania was already under siege. Hodja turns back to Stalin for guidance. Uncle Joe has some sound advice. He suggests the Communist Party changes its name to the less divisive Party of Labour of Albania, or PLA. He also advises Hoxha to take it steady with collectivization,

to be careful to conceal his hostility to the West, and to go easy when it comes to punishing party opponents. Stalin, of all people, is playing the moderate, advising his understudy to ease off a little. Hodger accepts the party name change. As for the rest, he'll do it his own way. Even if that means being more of a Stalinist than Stalin himself. After two years of close alliance with the Soviet Union,

Hodges' Albania is now seeing rapid industrialization. But despite the upheaval, many are hungry and impoverished. Queues for food wind around street corners. And yet, the consequences of complaining are so severe that it's still preferable to keep one's head bowed. Enforced by the Sigurimi, each house must have at least one image of Hodja on display. Every party member from the grassroots up must attend self-criticism meetings, where they reaffirm commitment to the party and examine any mistakes they may have made. You couldn't stand up in a meeting and say, actually, I've got no problems with myself. I have nothing to denounce in my own practice. The problem is entirely with Comrade Enver and the state.

The problem is entirely with Comrade Enver and the state. It was always Uncle Enver has given us so much and this is why my own work has to be more focused on the proletariat. People acted as if at any moment an unforeseen catastrophe could take place and your family could be deported. Someone could be taken from work and never come home again. This happened to a lot of people and it happened for no reason that was foreseeable or it happened for tiny infringements such as having a photograph taken with your sideburns too long and the next week the mood changes and everyone who had dressed in a particular way was suddenly worried that their pants had been too wide or their sideburns had been too

long. I think the best way to sum up that time is that life is war. That's what people told me and that was a common saying at the time. Jättes luft. Life is war. Unfortunately for Hodja, his role model may not be around to see this Stalinist state come to fruition. On March 5, 1953, Hodja receives news that Stalin has fallen ill and is in a critical condition. He fires off a get-well-soon telegram. Our hearts are in anguish and suffering. We wish a speedy recovery to our dear teacher.

But Hodja's wish will not be granted, and Stalin's demise will see the tectonic plates of geopolitics shift once again, throwing Hoxha and Albania into a new uncertain phase. In the next episode... As a new premier takes charge in Moscow, Hodja makes a new friend in China. The Albanian dictator tasks an entire media industry with maintaining his image to make him look younger, fitter, stronger.

But as his country sinks into destitution and his own health deteriorates, Hodja and Albania's isolation will be complete. How will the country even begin to escape his clutches? That's next time, in the second and final part of the Hodges story.