Albania Under Communism

The History of Communist Albania essentially spans from 1945 until 1992, during which Albania had a Communist government. The communist party was created in 1941. Enver Hoxha became the leader of this party

Socialist People's Republic of Albania was the official name of Albania during the communist rule between 1976 and 1992. The first name of the state was the People's Republic of Albania which was used from 1946 to 1976. After the adoption of a new constitution in 1976, the state's name was changed to the People's Socialist Republic.

Albania was liberated from the Nazi invasion in November 1944 and a provisional government led by communists ruled the country until the abolishment of the monarchy and the establishment of a people's republic. There were high expectations that the people's republic would indeed be the rule of the Albanian people and a chance for prosperity after World War II, but it proved to be a Stalinist mechanism used by the dictator Enver Hoxha. After the schism with Yugoslavia in 1948, Albania remained closely related with the Soviet Union.

Stalin died in March 1953, and apparently fearing that the Soviet ruler's demise might encourage rivals within the Albanian party's ranks, neither Hoxha nor Shehu risked traveling to Moscow to attend his funeral. The Soviet Union's subsequent movement toward rapprochement with the hated Yugoslavs rankled the two Albanian leaders. Tirana soon came under pressure from Moscow to copy, at least formally, the new Soviet model for a collective leadership. In July 1953, Hoxha handed over the foreign affairs and defense portfolios to loyal followers, but he kept both the top party post and the premiership until 1954, when Shehu became Albania's prime minister. The Soviet Union, responding with an effort to raise the Albanian leaders' morale, elevated diplomatic relations between the two countries to the ambassadorial level.

After Stalin's death, Enver Hoxha sided with China. Hoxha was unhappy with China's rapprochement with the United States. Hoxha denounced the Chinese and decided to pursue a policy of self-reliance. China was his last political supporter before the total isolation period (1978-1992).

From 1978 to 1992, Albania was an extremely isolated country. Enver Hoxha, as well as his successor Ramiz Alia, emphasized the necessity to remain loyal to Marxist-Leninist ideals and conducted his rule in much of a Stalinist way. The SPR of Albania came to an end in 1992 when the single-party constitution was abrogated in order to reintroduce democracy and political pluralism.

The Communist regime, during its 45 years of absolute rule, religion was officially banned, and Albania was proclaimed as the first and only atheist state in the world.