By Elliot Claesson and Innes Taylor
In southeastern Europe one country stands out. Once a dictatorship, isolated from the rest of the world. Today a parliamentary democracy. Some Albanians have lived through the communist times, others have not. This makes for different and interesting perspectives into pros and cons of the regime and how the effects can still be felt today.
Berat, Gjirokastër, Sarandë, Durrës and Vlorë. Except for all being Albanian cities, they share something else. Bunkers.
Albania is absolutely filled with bunkers in the cities, the countryside and on the mountains. The Albanians interviewed unanimously saw the bunkers as physical evidence of the paranoia of Enver Hoxha, the leader of an isolated country afraid of nuclear war.
Today, the bunkers remain as reminders of different times and as Albania is looking to join the European Union, the effects of communism are as relevant as ever.
The birth of communist Albania
In November 1941, the Albanian Communist Party was founded with Enver Hoxha becoming the head of the new party. The party started to gain popularity and at the beginning of 1944, with the help of firearms from the UK, they gained control of the Southern part of Albania. After the Germans withdrew from Tirana, the communists took the capital and Hoxha became the leader of Albania. Once in power, the communist regime began to nationalise the country and remove any non-communists from a position of power.
Communist mural on the National Historical Museum in Tirana. Foto: Elliot Claesson/DMJX.
In November 1948, the party renamed themselves as the Party of Labor of Albania. In 1955, Albania was one of the founding members of the ‘Warsaw Pact’ which was a political and military alliance between communist states, but Albania withdrew from this pact 13 years later. In 1967, the regime started a violent campaign to clampdown on any religious activity before declaring Albania as the world’s very first atheist state.
“Other socialist countries liberalised a lot after 1960. Consumption, lifestyle improved far more than Albania,” says Klejd Këlliçi, Associated Professor at the University of Tirana’s Department of Political Science. “It was a closed regime with little or no signs of easing. Albania never reached a sort of material stability as in other eastern countries.”
Ordinary life post-communism
In southern Albania the streets of Gjirokastër are filled with tourists, the country is now open, and no longer communist. Gjirokastër is home to the house Enver Hoxha grew up in. Today the building has been transformed into a museum of Ethnographics and inside none of the displays has anything to do with the dictator.
Kavjol Kotroci next to his postcards. Foto by: Elliot Claesson/DMJX.
Outside stands 25-year-old Kavjol Kotroci, student and today a souvenir merchant.
“These pictures are from the communist times,” he says.
Kotroci is of the opinion that the communist regime had a positive impact in the beginning, right after World War II but towards the end it was a disaster.
“Here you can see how the people worked together to rebuild the city after World War II. There was unity within the people, everyone was helping each other.”
The pictures have children helping with the construction work.
“You can compare this to the children now, it is not the same,” he mentions.
Kotroci does not have any firsthand experience of the communist rule. However, his parents lived through it.
“They were living with six people in one room, without a bathroom. Living in Albania during this time was very problematic,” he says.
“It was a very difficult time for everyone because of the lack of freedom and how the regime treated ideas and creative thoughts. You could not choose for yourself.”
Relying on China as a lifeboat
After the relationship between Albania and the Soviet Union broke down in 1961, Albania cut all ties with the Soviets and therefore needed a new ally to support them. This is where the relationship between Albania and China began to thrive. During this relationship, the People’s Republic of China became a ‘Guardian’ of economic and military development for Albania during the next 17 years. However, in 1978, China cut ties with Albania and stopped the aid that they were providing. The Chinese government accused Albania of reaping the rewards of the aid, with China having done much more to benefit Albania than vice versa.
“If there would not have been for China’s intervention by helping the communist regime in Albania to sustain the economy after the economic block that was imposed on the country from the Soviet Union and the former countries of the Socialist Camp, Enver Hoxha’s dictatorship would have fallen,” says Gjon Boriçi, Academic Researcher in the Institute of History in Tirana. “The Asian giant was the main factor of communist longevity. After the split of the Soviet-Albanian relations in 1961, China turned to be a lifeboat for Albania.”
Communism for better or worse
In 2015 the Organization for security and Co-operation in Europe surveyed Albanians to map the perceptions of Albanians communist past. One of the questions was on the public’s opinion on communism. 37 percent answered that communism was a bad idea, 49 percent a good idea but poorly implemented and 10 percent a good idea implemented properly.
Looking at age groups, people over 55 years old had the most positive perception of communism with 51 percent thinking it was a good idea poorly implemented and 13 percent a good idea implemented properly.
“Young people are indifferent to the period. They are unable to understand the implication and the sufferings of many during communism,” says Këlliçi. “Older people are divided. Those who benefited the most from the regime are nostalgic, but not of the lifestyle but to power and how it was exerted. Many believe that there was a better sense of justice and security that now is absent.”
Comparing communist Albania to today, more than 80 percent of people agree that safety, education and job opportunities were better in the communist times. On corruption, 79 percent agree that Albania was less corrupt. However, on economic development, freedom of speech and in general, more than 73 percent of people agree that Albania is better today.
Actively protesting the regime
Lëkurësi Castle lies on a hill overlooking Sarandë, the strategic situation means that the hill is littered with bunkers. Next to one of the bunkers stands Diana Bajrami with her family. She was born in Sarandë in 1970 and lived through the last years and the fall of communism in Albania.
Lëkurësi Castle with its bunkers. Professor Diana Bajrami with the city of Sarandë behind her and Corfu in the background to the right. Foto by: Elliot Claesson/DMJX.
“It was tough, really tough. No basic necessities, limited electricity, no water, no food, no freedom of speech,” she says.
Enver Hoxha is seen by many Albanians as a paranoid leader. He was afraid of invasions during the cold war and as a result he spent the country’s resources on defence.
“We all were laughing at the paranoia,” Bajrami says.
Towards the end of communism in Albania Diana Bajrami was a student and part of the protests to end the dictatorship.
“We did not go to classes, instead we went on hunger strike. We hoped for a better system,” she noted.
Bajrami later travelled to California on an exchange program and is today a professor in economics. Just ten kilometres of sea separates Sarandë from the Greek island Corfu. In viewing distance from former communist Albania lies a market economy.
“Would it have been better without communist regime? Absolutely. You have a country that is a market economy right next door,” she mentioned. “No country without a market economy has been able to succeed.”
Did the communist regime have any positive aspects?
“We did not have this extreme income inequality. There was a bigger sense of community, but overall communism was a bad thing,” she added. “We still have issues in Albania, but at least we do not fight for food.”
Reminders of the communist past
One of the standing memories of communism is the bunkers. Built by Hoxha during the cold war they can be found all over the country.
“It was a mad idea of the Albanian communist dictator Enver Hoxha and his paranoia to feel secure from a possible invasion from NATO or the Warsaw Treaty at the end of the sixties,” Boriçi mentions.
A bunker in downtown Sarandë. Foto by: Elliot Claesson/DMJX.
In Gjirokastër, there are cold war tunnels that were meant to be used by the high-ranking people in the communist party in case of war. The tunnels connect the most important buildings of the city, and the existence of the underground network were top secret.
Inside you can see the division between the leaders and soldiers by the colours of the walls. The highest-ranking people had rooms painted in cyan while the soldiers’ walls were colourless. There were no rooms for common people.
Inside the tunnels, the table of a high-ranking officer. Foto by: Elliot Claesson/DMJX.
After the breakup of the relationship with China and lack of military aid and partners, Hoxha became increasingly paranoid and started to increase the efforts of the ‘bunkerization’ of Albania. The large focus on bunkers has been labelled as one of the main reasons in the complete economic decline of Albania.
“According to my research (that is still ongoing) Albania’s debt was nearly 6 billion US$,” says Boriçi. “During the Cold War, the main economic consequences suffered from Albanians were the self-isolation of the country and the big debts Albania had to pay to the Soviet Union and the former Socialist Camp, China included.”
The collapse of communism
In 1985 and with the economy on the brink of collapse, Enver Hoxha died and left behind the incomplete bunkerization which stood at a standstill. Ramiz Alia, a member of Hoxha’s inner circle, was his successor. In 1989, Alia signalled that radical changes were required to the economic system in Albania.
“One of the lasting problems is that of property. The process of property return has been extremely tortuous and difficult,” notes Këlliçi.
This same year, the communist rule in Eastern Europe collapsed. In January 1990, demonstrations in Shkodra caused the authorities to declare a state of emergency. Five months later, young people in Tirana started to demonstrate against the regime and in December of the same year, university students demonstrated in the streets calling for the end of the dictatorship. After Alia met with these students, a multiparty system was introduced, and a first opposition party was established called the Democratic Party. Albanians were granted the right to travel abroad which many took and fled.
“The country’s economy, agriculture and industry fell minus 60 percent. Many people were forced to leave the country as emigrants mostly in Greece and Italy and less in Germany,” says Boriçi.
After the first multiparty elections in 1991, the communist party and allies won 169 of the 250 available seats with the newly formed opposition party taking 75. After the election, a law was passed that provided fundamental human rights and separation of powers and invalidated the 1976 constitution. In June of that year, Albania was accepted into the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) as a full member.
“I was 13 when the regime collapsed. My childhood was extremely happy. I guess things differed growing up. For youngsters it was difficult as they had to repress feelings and desires. They had to conform to norms and rules, written or unwritten,” Këlliçi mentions.
Aftermath of communism and the future of Albania
In March 1992, the Democratic party won the elections and Sali Berisha, who was the leader of the Democratic Party, became the first democratically elected president. In September of that year, the former President Alia alongside 18 other former communist officials, including the wife of Enver Hoxha, were arrested and charged with corruption as well as other offences.
In 1999 after NATO airstrikes, thousands of Kosovans fled into Albania. In 2009, Albania was officially part of NATO and applied to become part of the European Union and in 2014, the European Commission recommended Albania as a candidate for a European Union membership.
In 2020, the European union decided to open negotiations with Albania to join the union. The Delegation of the European Union to Albania has stated that the reason behind starting the negotiations is that Albania has made recent efforts to reform and better align with the union. One of the things the delegation is currently monitoring is human rights in Albania, to ensure that minorities are protected.
If and when Albania will join the European Union remains unsure. However, compared to the communist era, the country has come a long way and made many efforts to strengthen their relationships with the rest of the continent. From complete isolation to welcoming openness.