Enver Hoxha (16 October 1908-11 April 1985) was the First Secretary of the Party of Labor of Albania from 8 November 1941 to 11 April 1985, preceding Ramiz Alia, and Prime Minister of Albania (as Chairman of the Council of Ministers) from 24 October 1944 to 18 July 1954, succeeding Ibrahim Bicakciu and preceding Mehmet Shehu. Hoxha was the founder and first leader of the communist state of Albania after World War II, and he ruled over communist Albania for over 40 years, being a lifelong ruler of the country. Unlike many other communist leaders, he refused to be a vassal of Josef Stalin, and communist Albania was isolationist until its 1991 downfall.
Biography[]
Enver Hoxha was born on 16 October 1908 in Ergiri, Janina Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (present-day Gjirokaster, Albania) to a Bektashi Muslim family. From the age of sixteen, he led opposition to the monarchy of King Zog I of Albania, and he read the Communist Manifesto for the first time while studying in France. He dropped out of college in Paris before working at the Albanian consulate in Brussels, Belgium, and he became fluent in French while also speaking Italian, Croatian, English, and Russian.
Partisan leader[]
Hoxha wearing a general's attire
Because of his refusal to join the pro-Italian Albanian Fascist Party after Italy's 1939 annexation of Albania, Hoxha was dismissed from his teaching post, and he became a partisan leader back in Albania. On 10 July 1943, he founded the Albanian National Liberation Army after organizing the peasants into companies, battalions, and brigades, and the United Kingdom's SOE intelligence service helped the Albanian resistance. Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavian communists refused to acquiesce with Hoxha's dream of a Greater Albania, leading to conflict with Tito that would continue after the end of World War II. On 22 October 1944, Hoxha became the interim Prime Minister of Albania after the liberation of Tirana, and he barred King Zog from returning to Albania, declaring a democratic state. On 11 January 1946, he declared the People's Socialist Republic of Albania to replace the Kingdom of Albania, and he became the head of the Party of Labor of Albania, effectively making him the dictator of the country.
Leader of Albania[]
Pro-Hoxha propaganda
Hoxha declared himself a Marxist-Leninist and admied Soviet leader Josef Stalin, and he confiscated lands from beys and large landholders. By 1985, illiteracy levels had shrunk from 95% in rural areas in 1939 to that of a Western country, and Hoxha established the State University of Tirana in 1957. Increases in healthcare led to the eradication of malaria, and he put down CIA-backed monarchist dissidents. During his rule, Hoxha would execute his trusted ministers Koci Xoxe and Mehmet Shehu for working with either Yugoslavia or Western intelligence agencies, and he would align with Nikita Khrushchev's Soviet Union. However, he later moved towards Maoism and anti-revisionist Marxism, increasing relations with China, and he called Khrushchev an anti-Marxist and defeatist in a 7 November 1961 speech. In 1969, Hoxha ended direct taxation and increased the quality of schooling and healthcare, while he also permitted abortions if they harmed the mother; otherwise, he wanted to increase the birthrate, tripling the country's population.
After the Cultural Revolution in China in the 1970s, China announced that it could no longer continue to supply Albania. On 13 July 1978, China cut off all aid to Albania, leaving Albania without any allies or major trading partners. Albania began to decline, and the Sigurimi secret police worked hard to root out dissidents, with one-third of Albanians being interrogated or incarcerated by the police. Hoxha decided to unite the people behind Albanian nationalism, and he also taught the people self-reliance and state atheism to protect the country's diverse religious beliefs (until the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania was the only country in Europe with a Muslim majority). Albania's self-sufficiency left it with a trade surplus of $10,000,000 in 1983. In 1981, Hoxha began a new purge of government officials, including Shehu, executing several party and government officials. However, he had begun to give power to his deputy Ramiz Alia after his 1973 heart attack, and he died in 1985, with Albania being left in economic stagnation.