Enver Halil Hoxha (16 October 190811 April 1985) was an Albanian politician, revolutionary, and communist political theorist who was the leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He served as the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 until his death, while concurrently holding membership in its Politburo, chairman of the Democratic Front of Albania, and commander-in-chief of the Albanian People's Army. Additionally, he was the twenty-second Prime Minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954, periodically assuming the titles of foreign minister and defence minister.
Hoxha was born in Gjirokastër (then part of the Ottoman Empire) in 1908. After the Italian invasion of Albania, he helped unify the fractured Albanian communist movement into the Communist Party of Albania. He was elected First Secretary in March 1943 at the age of 34. Less than two years after the liberation of the country, the monarchy of King Zog I was formally abolished, and Hoxha became the country's de facto head of state.
In 1966, he spearheaded the Cultural and Ideological Revolution, a campaign that, among other things, wished to eliminate the influence of religion on Albanian society. During his time as First Secretary, Albania saw many breakthroughs in standard of living, industry, and social development; however, over the same period he implemented a program of state atheism and ordered the anti-religious persecution of Muslims and Christians. His government outlawed traveling abroad and private proprietorship. The government imprisoned, executed, or exiled thousands of landowners, rural clan leaders, peasants who resisted collectivization, and allegedly disloyal party officials. Hoxha was succeeded by Ramiz Alia, who was in charge during the fall of communism in Albania.
Hoxha's government was characterised by a strict adherence to an anti-revisionist form of Marxism–Leninism, particularly from the mid-to-late 1960s onwards. Following the Sino-Albanian Split between 1976 and 1978, the Party of Labour of Albania formally severed ties with the Chinese Communist Party, and Hoxha declared that the nation would pursue the construction of communism independently. This ideological stance led to numerous parties around the world to declare themselves Hoxhaist. The International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organisations (Unity & Struggle) is the best known association of these parties.
Early life
Hoxha was born in Gjirokastër in southern Albania (then a part of the Ottoman Empire) in October 1908. He was the son of Halil Hoxha, a Shia Muslim cloth merchant who travelled widely across Europe and the United States, and Gjylihan Hoxha (née Çuçi). Enver was named after Enver Pasha, a leading figure of the Young Turk Revolution. The Hoxha family belonged to the Bektashi Sufi order.
After elementary school, Enver followed his studies in the city senior high school "Liria". He started his studies at the Gjirokastër Lyceum in 1923. After the lyceum was closed, due to intervention of Ekrem Libohova, Enver Hoxha was awarded a state scholarship for the continuation of his studies in Korçë, at the French language Albanian National Lyceum until 1930.
In 1930, Hoxha went to study at the University of Montpellier in Montpellier, France on a state scholarship for botany in the faculty of natural science, but he dropped out due to his interests being in the social and humanistic studies. He later went to Paris, where he presented himself to anti-Zogist immigrants as the brother-in-law of Bahri Omari. From 1935 to 1936, he was employed as a secretary at the Albanian consulate in Brussels. After returning to Albania, he worked as a contract teacher in the Gymnasium of Tirana. Hoxha taught French and morals in the Korça Liceum from 1937 to 1939 and was also the caretaker of the school library.
On 7 April 1939, the Albanian Kingdom was invaded by fascist Italy. The Italians established a puppet government, called the Kingdom of Albania, under Shefqet Vërlaci. At the end of 1939, Hoxha was transferred to the Gjirokastra Gymnasium, but he soon returned to Tirana. He was dismissed from his teacher position for his refusal to join the Albanian Fascist Party. He was helped by his best friend, Esat Dishnica, who introduced Hoxha to Dishnica's cousin Ibrahim Biçakçiu. Hoxha began to sleep in Biçakçiu's tobacco factory "Flora", and after a while, Dishnica opened a shop with the same name, where Hoxha began working. The tobacco store became the headquarters of the local communist cell. He was a sympathizer of .Liri Belishova, interviewed by Elisabeta Ilnica, "E vërteta për Enverin" (The truth about Enver), Panorama newspaper, 13 January 2015.
World War II
On 8 November 1941, the Communist Party of Albania (later renamed the Party of Labour of Albania [PLA] in 1948) was founded. Hoxha was chosen from the "Korça group" as a Muslim representative by the two Yugoslav envoys as one of the seven members of the provisional Central Committee. The First Consultative Meeting of Activists of the Communist Party of Albania was held in Tirana from 8 to 11 April 1942, with Hoxha himself delivering the main report on 8 April 1942.
In July 1942, Hoxha wrote "Call to the Albanian Peasantry", issued in the name of the Communist Party of Albania. The call sought to enlist support in Albania for the war against the fascists. The peasants were encouraged to hoard their grain and refuse to pay taxes or livestock levies brought by the government. After the September 1942 Conference at Pezë, the National Liberation Movement was founded with the purpose of uniting the anti-fascist Albanians, regardless of ideology or class.
By March 1943, the first National Conference of the Communist Party elected Hoxha formally as First Secretary. During WWII, the Soviet Union's role in Albania was negligible. On 10 July 1943, the Albanian partisans were organised in regular units of companies, battalions and brigades and named the Albanian National Liberation Army. The organization received military support from the British intelligence service, SOE.Bernd J Fischer. "Resistance in Albania during the Second World War: Partisans, Nationalists and the S.O.E.", East European Quarterly 25 (1991)
Within Albania, repeated attempts were made during the war to remedy the communications difficulties which faced partisan groups. In August 1943, a secret meeting, the Mukje Conference, was held between the anti-communist Balli Kombëtar (National Front) and the Communist Party of Albania. To encourage the Balli Kombëtar to sign, the Greater Albania sections that included Kosovo (part of Yugoslavia) and Chamëria were made part of the Agreement.
Disagreement with the Yugoslav Communists A problem developed when the Yugoslav Communists disagreed with the goal of establishing a Greater Albania and asked the Communists in Albania to withdraw their agreement. According to Hoxha, Josip Broz Tito did not believe that Kosovo belonged to Albania and Serbian opposition to the transfer made it an unwise option. After the Albanian Communists repudiated the Greater Albania agreement, the Balli Kombëtar condemned the Communists, who in turn accused the Balli Kombëtar of siding with the Italians. After judging the Communists as an immediate threat, the Balli Kombëtar sided with Nazi Germany, fatally damaging its image among those fighting the fascists. The Communists quickly added many of those who were disillusioned with the Balli Kombëtar to their ranks and they also took centre stage in the fight for liberation.
The Përmet National Congress which was in session during that time called for a "new democratic Albania for the people". Although the monarchy was not formally abolished, King Zog I of the Albanians was barred from returning to the country, which further increased the Communists' control. The Anti-Fascist Committee for National Liberation was founded, chaired by Hoxha. On 22 October 1944, the Committee became the Democratic Government of Albania after a meeting in Berat, and Hoxha was chosen to serve as the interim Prime Minister of Albania. Tribunals were established for the purpose of trying alleged war criminals who were also accused of being "enemies of the people" and they were presided over by Koçi Xoxe.
After Albania's liberation on 29 November 1944, several Albanian partisan divisions crossed the border into German-occupied Yugoslavia, where they fought alongside Tito's partisans and the Soviet Red Army in a joint campaign which succeeded in driving out the last pockets of German resistance. During a Yugoslavian conference in later years, Marshal Tito thanked Hoxha for the Albanian partisans' assistance during the War for National Liberation (Lufta Nacionalçlirimtare). The Democratic Front, dominated by the Albanian Communist Party, succeeded the National Liberation Front in August 1945, and the first post-war election was held on 2 December of that year. The Front was the only legal political organisation which was allowed to stand in the elections, and the government reported that 93% of Albanians voted for it.
On 11 January 1946, Zog was officially deposed, and the People's Republic of Albania was established (it was renamed the People's Socialist Republic of Albania in 1976), although in fact, the country had already been a Communist state since its liberation. As First Secretary of the party, Hoxha was de facto head of state and as a result, he was the most powerful man in the country.
Albanians celebrate their independence day on 28 November (which is the date on which they declared their independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912), while in the former People's Socialist Republic of Albania, the national day was 29 November, the day the country was liberated from Nazi Germany. Currently, both days are national holidays.
Early period in power (1944–1965)
Hoxha declared himself a Marxist–Leninist and expressed strong admiration for the Soviet General-Secretary Joseph Stalin. Between 1945 and 1950, the Albanian government adopted policies and actions intended to consolidate power, which included extrajudicial killings and executions that targeted anti-communists. The Agrarian Reform Law passed in August 1945 confiscated land without compensation from beys and large landowners, giving it to peasants. Large landowners possessed 52% of all land before the law passed; this declined to 16% after the law's passage. An educational policy began in September 1949, requiring citizens aged 20 to 40 to attend literacy classes. Literacy rates were 5-10% in rural areas in 1939, and an estimated 15% in the total population in 1946. They had increased to 70% by 1950 (eventually, they would become universal by the 1980s).
Border disputes with Yugoslavia
In 1948, a border conflict erupted between Albania and Yugoslavia. Enver Hoxha and the Albanian Military Intelligence services, the Sigurimi, played a significant role in promoting separatism in Kosovo and the idea of a "Greater Albania".
Difficulties and progress By 1949, the US and British intelligence organisations were working with the former King Zog and the mountain men of his personal guard. They recruited Albanian refugees and émigrés from Egypt, Italy and Greece, trained them in Cyprus, Malta and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), and infiltrated them into Albania. Guerrilla units entered Albania in 1950 and 1952, but they were killed or captured by Albanian security forces. Kim Philby, a Soviet double-agent working as a liaison-officer between MI6 and the CIA, had leaked details of the infiltration plan to Moscow, and the security breach claimed the lives of about 300 infiltrators.