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Enver Hoxha

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The University of Montpellier ( French : Université de Montpellier ) is a public research university located in Montpellier , in south-east of France . Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the oldest universities in the world.

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168-614: Enver Halil Hoxha ( Albanian: [ɛnˈvɛɾ ˈhɔdʒa] ; 16 October 1908 – 11 April 1985) was an Albanian communist revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 until his death, a member of its Politburo , chairman of the Democratic Front of Albania , and commander-in-chief of

336-872: A beachhead in Europe and acted as China's chief spokesman at the United Nations. To Albania's dismay, however, Chinese equipment and technicians were not nearly as sophisticated as the Soviet goods and advisers they replaced. Ironically, a language barrier even forced the Chinese and Albanian technicians to communicate in Russian. Albanians no longer took part in Warsaw Pact activities or Comecon agreements. The other East European communist nations, however, did not break diplomatic or trade links with Albania. In 1964,

504-708: 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

672-519: A "people's republic." However, the country had already been under out-and-out Communist rule for just over two years. After months of angry debate, the assembly adopted a constitution that mirrored the Yugoslav and Soviet constitutions. A couple of months later, the assembly members chose a new government, which was emblematic of Hoxha's continuing consolidation of power: Hoxha became simultaneously prime minister, foreign minister , defense minister , and

840-472: A Soviet apology to Albania and reparations for damages which it had inflicted on the country. Albania had also been feuding with Moscow over suggestions that Albania should focus on agriculture to the detriment of industrial development. Soviet-Albanian relations dipped to new lows after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, and Albania felt that the Soviet Union had become too liberal since

1008-663: A Soviet double agent working as a liaison officer between the British intelligence service and the United States Central Intelligence Agency, had leaked details of the infiltration plan to Moscow, and the security breach claimed the lives of about 300 infiltrators. Following a wave of subversive activity, including the failed infiltration and the March 1951 bombing of the Soviet embassy in Tirana,

1176-517: A Stalin statue, requested that they kneel and take a 2,000-word oath of "eternal fidelity" and "gratitude" to their "beloved father" and "great liberator". Under Nikita Khrushchev , Stalin's eventual successor, aid was reduced and Albania was encouraged to adopt Khrushchev's specialisation policy. Under it, Albania would develop its agricultural output in order to supply the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries while they would be developing products of their own, which would, in theory, strengthen

1344-814: A Western country. 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 ." 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

1512-434: A Yugoslav cession of Kosovo to Albania after the war. In January 1945, the two governments signed a treaty establishing Kosovo as a Yugoslav autonomous province. Shortly thereafter, Yugoslavia became the first country to recognize Albania's provisional government. In July 1946, Yugoslavia and Albania signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation that was quickly followed by a series of technical and economic agreements laying

1680-479: A bombing occurred at the Soviet embassy in Tirana, after which 23 accused intellectuals were arrested and put in prison. One of them, Jonuz Kaceli , was killed by Mehmet Shehu during interrogation. Subsequently, the 22 others were executed without trial under Hoxha's orders. The State University of Tirana was established in 1957, which was the first of its kind in Albania. The medieval Gjakmarrja (blood feud)

1848-637: A boon for Albania because Moscow had far more to offer Albania than hard-strapped Belgrade had. The fact that the Soviet Union had no common border with Albania also appealed to the Albanian regime because it made it more difficult for Moscow to exert pressure on Tirana. In November at the First Party Congress of the Albanian Party of Labor (APL), the former Albanian Communist Party which renamed itself at Stalin's suggestion, Hoxha pinned

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2016-768: A contract teacher in the Gymnasium of Tirana . Hoxha taught French and morals in the Korça Liceum from 1937 to 1939 and also served as 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, he was transferred to the Gjirokastra Gymnasium, but he soon returned to Tirana. He

2184-516: A divorce, and the wife's parents were obliged to return a runaway daughter to her husband or else suffer shame which could even result in a generations-long blood feud . During World War II, the Albanian Communists encouraged women to join the partisans and following the war, women were encouraged to take up menial jobs, as the education necessary for higher level work was out of most women's reach. In 1938, 4% worked in various sectors of

2352-594: A founding member of the Warsaw Treaty Organization, better known as the Warsaw Pact , the only military alliance the nation ever joined. Although the pact represented the first promise Albania had obtained from any of the communist countries to defend its borders, the treaty did nothing to assuage the Albanian leaders' deep mistrust of Yugoslavia . Hoxha and Shehu, utilizing their immediate successes and Albanians' deep-seated fear of Yugoslav domination, were able to successfully maintain power during

2520-540: A fresh series of purges that removed the defense minister and many top military officials. A year later, Hoxha purged ministers who were responsible for the country's economy and replaced them with younger people. As Hoxha began to experience more health problems, he progressively withdrew from state affairs and took longer and more frequent leaves of absence. Meanwhile, he began to plan an orderly succession. He worked to institutionalize his policies, hoping to frustrate any attempt which his successors might make to venture from

2688-571: A hemp factory at Rrogozhinë , a fish cannery in Vlorë , and a printing press, telephone exchange, and textile mill in Tirana. The Yugoslavs also bolstered the Albanian economy by paying three times the international price for Albanian copper and other materials. Relations between Albania and Yugoslavia declined, however, when the Albanians began complaining that the Yugoslavs were paying too little for Albanian raw materials and exploiting Albania through

2856-527: A large Palace of Culture in Tirana as a symbol of the Soviet people's "love and friendship" for the Albanians. But despite these gestures, Tirana was dissatisfied with Moscow's economic policy towards Albania. Hoxha and Shehu apparently decided in either May or June 1960 that Albania was assured of Chinese support, and when sharp polemics erupted between the PRC and the Soviet Union , they openly sided with

3024-700: A member of the Albanian Political Bureau, to the Third Congress of the Romanian Workers' Party in Bucharest , an event which Communist heads of state were normally expected to attend. As relations between the two countries continued to deteriorate during the course of the meeting, Khrushchev said: Especially shameless was the behavior of that agent of Mao Zedong, Enver Hoxha. He bared his fangs at us even more menacingly than

3192-719: A new People's Assembly , but voters were presented with a single list from the Communist-dominated Democratic Front (previously the National Liberation Movement). Official ballot tallies showed that 92% of the electorate voted and that 93% of the voters chose the Democratic Front ticket. The assembly convened in January 1946. Its first act was to formally dethrone Zog, abolish the monarchy and to declare Albania

3360-459: A pledge to build textile and sugar mills and other factories and provide agricultural and industrial machinery to Albania, Joseph Stalin told Milovan Djilas , at the time a high-ranking member of Yugoslavia's communist hierarchy, that Yugoslavia should "swallow" Albania. The pro-Yugoslav faction wielded decisive political power in Albania well into 1948. At a party plenum in February and March,

3528-538: A plot within the APL to unseat Hoxha and Shehu by force. But given their tight control of the party machinery, army, and Shehu's secret police, the Directorate of State Security (Drejtorija e Sigurimit të Shtetit— Sigurimi ), the two Albanian leaders easily parried the threat. Four pro-Soviet Albanian leaders, including Teme Sejko and Tahir Demi , were eventually tried and executed. The PRC immediately began making up for

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3696-571: A policy of the Guilhem lords of Montpellier , by which any licensed physician might lecture there: with no fixed limit to the number of teachers, lectures multiplied, thus providing a great choice of teachers coming from all around the Mediterranean region (Guilhem VIII act of January 1181). The statutes given in 1220 by Cardinal Conrad von Urach , legate of Pope Honorius III , which were confirmed and extended in 1240, placed this school under

3864-539: A pronounced role in the Sino-Soviet split . By 1958, Albania stood with the People's Republic of China (PRC) in opposing Moscow on issues of peaceful coexistence , de-Stalinization , and Yugoslavia 's " separate road to socialism " through decentralization of economic life . The Soviet Union, other Eastern European countries, and China all offered Albania large amounts of aid. Soviet leaders also promised to build

4032-466: A radical change in the status of Albania's women . Considered second-class citizens in traditional Albanian society, women did most of the work at home and they also did most of the work in the fields. Before World War II, about 90% of Albania's women were illiterate, and in many areas, they were regarded as chattel under ancient tribal laws and customs. During the Cultural and Ideological Revolution,

4200-536: A time when Albania needed them due to the possibility of a flood-induced famine. In July 1960, a plot to overthrow the Albanian government was discovered. It was to be organised by Soviet-trained Rear Admiral Teme Sejko . After this, two pro-Soviet members of the Party, Liri Belishova and Koço Tashko , were expelled. In August, the Party's Central Committee sent a protest letter to the Central Committee of

4368-433: A totalitarian state, travel and visa restrictions made Albania one of the most difficult countries to visit or travel from. Being Europe's only Muslim-majority country (aside from Turkey ) at the time , it declared itself the world's first atheist state in 1967, but after the fall of communism in Albania in 1991, the practice of religion slowly increased. It was the only Warsaw Pact member to formally withdraw from

4536-722: A very secretive manner. In reality, their aim in this direction was utterly hostile, for they intended to overturn the situation in Albania." By June 1947, the Central Committee of Yugoslavia began publicly condemning Hoxha, accusing him of taking an individualistic and anti-Marxist line. When Albania responded by making agreements with the Soviet Union to purchase a supply of agricultural machinery, Yugoslavia said that Albania could not enter into any agreements with other countries without Yugoslav approval. Koçi Xoxe tried to stop Hoxha from improving relations with Bulgaria, reasoning that Albania would be more stable with one trading partner rather than with many. Nako Spiru , an anti-Yugoslav member of

4704-725: Is the best-known association of these parties. Hoxha was born in Gjirokastër in southern Albania (then a part of the Ottoman Empire ) in October 1908, the son of Halil Hoxha, a Muslim cloth merchant who travelled widely across Europe and the United States, and Gjylihan Hoxha ( née Çuçi). He was named after Enver Pasha , a leading figure of the Young Turk Revolution . The Hoxha family was attached to

4872-498: The Adriatic . A Soviet submarine base was built on the Albanian island of Sazan near Vlorë , posing a hypothetical threat to the U.S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Relations with the Soviet Union remained close until the death of Stalin in March 1953. It was followed by 14 days of national mourning in Albania – more than in the Soviet Union. Hoxha assembled the population of Tirana in the capital's largest square, which featured

5040-529: The Albanian People's Army . He was the twenty-second prime minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954 and at various times was both foreign minister and defence minister of the country. Hoxha was born in Gjirokastër in 1908 and became a grammar school teacher in 1936. Following the Italian invasion of Albania , he joined the Party of Labour of Albania at its creation in 1941 in the Soviet Union . He

5208-655: The Bektashi Order . After elementary school, he 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 , 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

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5376-499: The Bulgarian People's Republic , and Marshal Josip Broz Tito and Bulgaria's Georgi Dimitrov talked of plans to establish a Balkan Federation to include Albania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria. Yugoslav advisers poured into Albania's government offices and its army headquarters. Tirana was desperate for outside aid, and about 20,000 tons of Yugoslav grain helped stave off famine. Albania also received US$ 26.3 million from

5544-530: The Cultural and Ideological Revolution of 1967–1968 the military changed from traditional Communist army tactics and began to adhere to the Maoist strategy known as people's war , which included the abolition of military ranks , which were not fully restored until 1991. Mehmet Shehu said of the country's health service in 1979: ... [T]he health service is free of charge for all and has been extended to

5712-487: The Helsinki Conference of July 1975. Soon after Mao's death in 1976, Hoxha criticized the new leadership as well as Beijing's pragmatic policy towards the United States and Western Europe. China retorted by inviting Tito to visit Beijing in 1977 and ending assistance programs for Albania in 1978. The Sino-Albanian split left Albania with no foreign benefactor. Albania ignored calls to normalize relations by

5880-510: The Nazis , the LNÇ quickly moved to consolidate its power, liberate the country's tenants and workers, and fraternally link Albania with other socialist countries. King Zog I was permanently barred from returning to Albania. The internal affairs minister, Koçi Xoxe , "an erstwhile pro- Yugoslavia tinsmith", presided over the trial of many non-communist politicians who were condemned as " enemies of

6048-657: The People's Republic of Albania from 1946 until 1976, and as the Republic of Albania from 1991 to 1992, was the communist state in Albania from 1946 to 1991. It succeeded the Democratic Government of Albania (1944–1946). During this time period, the country was ruled mainly by Enver Hoxha and the Party of Labour of Albania . They ruled Albania by establishing a Stalinist , and later Hoxhaist , style of state administration and adhering to policies which stressed national unity and self-reliance . Described by scholars as

6216-657: The Twentieth Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1956, when Khrushchev denounced Stalin's Administration in his " secret speech ". Hoxha, deeply alarmed by the denunciation, defended Stalin and refused to follow Khrushchev's attempt at stepping away from the prior Soviet Administration. As the first years of the Khrushchev Administration passed, Hoxha continued to maintain this position, including through

6384-548: The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration immediately after the war but had to rely on Yugoslavia for investment and development aid. Joint Albanian–Yugoslav companies were created for mining, railroad construction, the production of petroleum and electricity, and international trade. Yugoslav investments led to the construction of a sugar refinery in Korçë , a food-processing plant in Elbasan ,

6552-572: The University of Montpellier in France on a state scholarship for the faculty of natural science , but lost the scholarship for neglecting his 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

6720-529: The University of Montpellier 1 and the University of Montpellier 2 merged to form the newly recreated University of Montpellier. Meanwhile, the Paul Valéry University Montpellier 3 , now only Paul Valéry, remains a separate institution. The university is located on several sites in the city of Montpellier , line 1 of the tramway connects almost all of the different sites: The university also has many antennas/branches in

6888-433: The University of Montpellier 2 and the Paul Valéry University Montpellier 3 ) for 45 years from 1970 until 2015 when it was subsequently reunified by the merger of the two former, with the latter, now named Paul Valéry University, Montpellier III remaining a separate entity. The university is considerably older than its formal founding date, associated with a papal bull issued by Pope Nicholas IV in 1289, combining all

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7056-480: The University of Tirana ) was founded in 1957 and the Albanian Academy of Sciences opened 15 years later. Stalin died in March 1953, and apparently fearing that the Soviet leader'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 Yugoslavs alarmed

7224-632: 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 was Albanian" 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

7392-550: The bubonic plague . In 1529, after some years as an apothecary, Nostradamus entered the University of Montpellier to study for a doctorate in medicine. He was expelled shortly afterwards when it was discovered that he had been an apothecary, a "manual trade" expressly banned by the university statutes. The expulsion document (BIU Montpellier, Register S 2 folio 87) still exists in the faculty library. Rabelais took his medical degree at Montpellier, and his portrait hangs among

7560-495: The communist bloc 's organization for coordinating economic planning , the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon). Tirana soon entered into trade agreements with Poland , Czechoslovakia , Hungary , Romania , and the Soviet Union . Soviet and East European technical advisers took up residence in Albania, and the Soviet Union also sent Albania military advisers and built a submarine installation on Sazan Island . After

7728-708: The disturbances in Poland and the rebellion in Hungary in 1956. Hoxha during this period purged party moderates with pro-Soviet and pro-Yugoslav leanings, however toned down his anti-Yugoslav rhetoric after a successful April 1957 trip to Moscow. This trip proved pivotal for the Albanian State, Hoxha having won cancellation of about US$ 105 million in outstanding loans and about US$ 7.8 million in additional food assistance. By 1958, however, tensions had re-sparked between Hoxha and Tito, with continued conflict over

7896-584: The ongoing civil war in Greece , would back Greek demands for territory in southern Albania ; and anxieties grew in July when a United States Senate resolution backed the Greek demands. A major incident between Albania and Britain erupted in 1946 after Tirana claimed jurisdiction over the channel between the Albanian mainland and the Greek island of Corfu . Britain challenged Albania by sailing four destroyers into

8064-594: The 2,500 towns and villages of Albania, 850 were ruined or razed to the ground; all the communications, all the ports, mines and electric power installations were destroyed, our agriculture and livestock were plundered, and our entire national economy was wrecked. Hoxha declared himself a Marxist–Leninist and strongly admired Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin . During the period of 1945–1950, the government adopted policies and actions intended to consolidate power which included extrajudicial killings and executions that targeted and eliminated anti-communists. The Agrarian Reform Law

8232-408: The 7th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania on the activity of the Party's Central Committee that the 1976 Constitution was an embodiment of the free will of the Albanian people, because genuine democracy was necessary in order for socialism to actually exist. He said that, "the broad masses of the working people freely aired their views on the new Fundamental Law of our state of the dictatorship of

8400-591: The APL and army, and using economic blackmail. "Soviet rats were able to eat while the Albanian people were dying of hunger," Hoxha railed, referring to purposely delayed Soviet grain deliveries. Communist leaders loyal to Moscow described Hoxha's performance as "gangsterish" and "infantile," and the speech extinguished any chance of an agreement between Moscow and Tirana. For the next year, Albania played proxy for China. Pro-Soviet Communist parties, reluctant to confront China directly, criticized Beijing by castigating Albania. China, for its part, frequently gave prominence to

8568-665: 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

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8736-644: The Albanian government introduced an austerity program, appealing to the people to conserve resources, cut production costs, and abandon unnecessary investment. In October 1964, Hoxha hailed Khrushchev's fall from power, and the Soviet Union's new leaders made overtures to Tirana. It soon became clear, however, that the new Soviet leadership had no intention of changing its basic policies to suit Albania, and relations failed to improve. For decades, Tirana's propaganda continued to refer to Soviet officials as "treacherous revisionists" and "traitors to Communism," and in 1964, Hoxha said that Albania's terms for reconciliation were

8904-408: The Albanian leaders' morale, elevated diplomatic relations between the two countries to the ambassadorial level. Despite some cautious expressions of enthusiasm, Hoxha and Shehu quickly turned against Nikita Khrushchev 's programs of " peaceful coexistence " and "different roads to socialism". Raising concerns over supposed steps towards Marxist Revisionism , the Albanian Communists relationship with

9072-512: The Albanian nation and kept it mired in backwardness. Student agitators combed the countryside, forcing Albanians to quit practicing their faiths. Despite complaints, even by APL members, all churches, mosques, monasteries, and other religious institutions were closed or converted into warehouses, gymnasiums, and workshops by year's end. A special decree abrogated the charters by which the country's main religious communities had operated. The campaign culminated in an announcement that Albania had become

9240-698: The Albanians went so far as to seize the empty Soviet embassy in Tirana, and Albanian workers pressed on with construction of the Palace of Culture on their own. The shift away from the Soviet Union wreaked havoc on Albania's economy. Half of its imports and exports had been geared toward Soviet suppliers and markets, so the souring of Tirana's relations with Moscow brought Albania's foreign trade to near collapse as China proved incapable of delivering promised machinery and equipment on time. The low productivity, flawed planning, poor workmanship, and inefficient management at Albanian enterprises became clear when Soviet and Eastern European aid and advisers were withdrawn. In 1962,

9408-614: The Albanians' fulminations against the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, which Tirana referred to as a "socialist hell." Hoxha and Shehu continued their harangue against the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia at the APL's Fourth Party Congress in February 1961. During the congress, the Albanian government announced the broad outlines of the country's Third Five-Year Plan (1961–65), which allocated 54% of all investment to industry, thereby rejecting Khrushchev's wish to make Albania primarily an agricultural producer. Moscow responded by canceling aid programs and lines of credit for Albania, but China again came to

9576-470: The Balli Kombëtar of siding with the Italians. The Balli Kombëtar lacked support from the people. 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 to their ranks many of those disillusioned with the Balli Kombëtar and took centre stage in the fight for liberation. The Permet National Congress held during that time called for

9744-403: The Chinese themselves. After his speech, Comrade Dolores Ibárruri [a Spanish Communist], an old revolutionary and a devoted worker in the Communist movement, got up indignantly and said, very much to the point, that Hoxha was like a dog who bites the hand that feeds it. Relations with the Soviet Union rapidly deteriorated. A hardline policy was adopted and the Soviets reduced grain shipments at

9912-400: The Chinese. The Soviet Union immediately retaliated by organizing a campaign to oust Hoxha and Shehu in the summer of 1960. Moscow cut promised grain deliveries to Albania during a drought, and the Soviet embassy in Tirana overtly encouraged a pro-Soviet faction in the Party of Labour of Albania (APL) to speak out against the party's pro-Chinese stance. Moscow also apparently involved itself in

10080-546: The Communist Party of Yugoslavia's Central Committee accused Hoxha of following "independent" policies and turning the Albanian people against Yugoslavia. This was the closest Hoxha ever came to being removed from power. Apparently attempting to buy support inside the Albanian Communist Party, Belgrade extended Tirana credits which were worth 40 million USD, an amount which was equivalent to 58% of Albania's 1947 state budget. A year later, Yugoslavia's credits accounted for nearly half of Albania's 1948 state budget. Relations worsened in

10248-416: The Communist Party of the Soviet Union about the presence of an anti-Albanian Soviet Ambassador in Tirana. The Fourth Congress of the Party, held from 13 to 20 February 1961, was the last meeting that the Soviet Union or other Eastern European nations attended in Albania. During the congress, Mehmet Shehu stated that while many members of the Party were accused of tyranny , this was a baseless charge and unlike

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10416-573: The Communist authorities implemented harsh internal security measures. In September 1952, the assembly enacted a penal code that required the death penalty for anyone over eleven years old who was found guilty of conspiring against the state, damaging state property, or committing economic sabotage. Political executions were common and between 5,000 and 25,000 people were killed in total during the Communist era. Albania primarily depended on Soviet assistance and know-how after its break with Yugoslavia in 1948. In February 1949, Albania gained membership in

10584-437: 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. On 19 February 1951,

10752-436: 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. Both days are currently national holidays. The sacrifices of our people were very great. Out of a population of one million, 28,000 were killed, 12,600 wounded, 10,000 were made political prisoners in Italy and Germany, and 35,000 made to do forced labour; of

10920-456: The Party, condemned Xoxe and vice versa. With no one coming to Spiru's defense, he viewed the situation as hopeless and feared that Yugoslav domination of his nation was imminent, which caused him to commit suicide in November. At the Eighth Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party which lasted from 26 February to 8 March 1948, Xoxe was implicated in a plot to isolate Hoxha and consolidate his own power. He accused Hoxha of being responsible for

11088-470: The Soviet Union, Albania was led by genuine Marxists. The Soviet Union retaliated by threatening Albania with "dire consequences" if the condemnations were not retracted. Days later, Khrushchev and Antonín Novotný , President of Czechoslovakia , threatened to cut off economic aid. In March, Albania was not invited to attend the meeting of the Warsaw Pact nations, and in April all Soviet technicians were withdrawn from Albania. In May nearly all Soviet troops at

11256-417: The Soviet sphere, increased Soviet aid was given but Albania's relations with the Soviet Union remained at the same level until 1960, when Khrushchev met Sofoklis Venizelos , a liberal Greek politician. Khrushchev sympathised with the concept of an autonomous Greek North Epirus and he wanted to use Greek claims on North Epirus to keep the Albanian leadership in line. Hoxha reacted by only sending Hysni Kapo ,

11424-414: The Soviet submarine base were withdrawn. On 7 November 1961, Hoxha made a speech in which he called Khrushchev a "revisionist, an anti-Marxist and a defeatist". Hoxha portrayed Stalin as the last Communist leader of the Soviet Union and alluded to Albania's independence. By 11 November, the USSR and every other Warsaw Pact nation broke diplomatic relations with Albania. Albania was unofficially excluded from

11592-452: The Soviet-Yugoslav split, Albania and Bulgaria remained the only countries that the Soviet Union could use to supply war material to the communists fighting in Greece . What little strategic value Albania offered the Soviet Union, however, gradually shrank as nuclear-arms technology developed. Aligned with the orthodox line of Stalin , Albania's Communist Party implemented elements of Stalinist policy and economics. In 1949 Albania adopted

11760-399: The Stalinist path which he had blazed for Albania. In December 1976, Albania adopted its second Stalinist constitution of the postwar era. The document guaranteed Albanians freedom of speech , the press , organization , association , and assembly but subordinated these rights to the individual's duties to society as a whole. The constitution continued to emphasize national pride and unity,

11928-419: The Union began to decline. Tirana and Belgrade renewed diplomatic relations in December 1953, but Hoxha refused Khrushchev's repeated appeals to posthumously rehabilitate the pro-Yugoslav Xoxe as a gesture to Tito. The Albanian duo instead entrenched their political position, expanding their control over their country's domestic life and letting the propaganda war with the Yugoslavs grind on. In 1955 Albania became

12096-506: The United States and the Soviet Union. Instead, Albania expanded its diplomatic ties with Western Europe and the developing nations , and it also began to stress the principle of self-reliance as the keystone of the country's strategy for economic development. Albania, however, did not have many resources of its own, and Hoxha's cautious opening to the outside world was not enough to bolster Albania's economy, and nascent movements for change stirred up inside Albania. Without Chinese or Soviet aid,

12264-470: The Warsaw Pact and Comecon. The Soviet Union also attempted to claim control of the submarine base. The Albanian Party then passed a law prohibiting any other nation from owning an Albanian port. The Albanian–Soviet split was now complete. As Hoxha's leadership continued, he took on an increasingly theoretical stance. He wrote criticisms which were based on theory and current events which occurred at

12432-482: The Warsaw Pact. However, this also meant that Albanian industrial development, which was heavily stressed by Hoxha, would be hindered. In May–June 1955, Nikolai Bulganin and Anastas Mikoyan visited Yugoslavia while Khrushchev renounced the expulsion of Yugoslavia from the Communist bloc . Khrushchev also began making references to Palmiro Togliatti 's polycentrism theory. Hoxha had not been consulted on this and

12600-546: The Yugoslav advisers in Albania 48 hours to leave the country, rescinded all bilateral economic agreements with its neighbor, and launched a virulent anti-Yugoslav propaganda blitz that transformed Stalin into an Albanian national hero, Hoxha into a warrior against foreign aggression, and Tito into an imperialist monster. Albania entered an orbit around the Soviet Union, and in September 1948 Moscow stepped in to compensate for Albania's loss of Yugoslav aid. The shift proved to be

12768-510: The Yugoslavs was, therefore, to prevent our country from developing either its industry or its working class, and to make it forever dependent on Yugoslavia. Stalin advised Hoxha that Yugoslavia was attempting to annex Albania: "We did not know that the Yugoslavs, under the pretext of 'defending' your country against an attack from the Greek fascists, wanted to bring units of their army into the PRA [People's Republic of Albania]. They tried to do this in

12936-440: The academic and technical cadres necessary for construction of a socialist state and society, also improved dramatically. The number of schools, teachers, and students doubled between 1945 and 1950. Illiteracy declined from perhaps 85% in 1946 to 31% in 1950. The Soviet Union provided scholarships for Albanian students and supplied specialists and study materials to improve instruction in Albania. The State University of Tirana (later

13104-466: The alliance before 1990, an action which was occasioned by the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. The government implemented reforms which were aimed at modernizing Albania, and they resulted in significant gains in the areas of industry, agriculture, education, the arts, and culture, which contributed to a general increase in the Albanian population's standard of living. However, these developments coincided with political repression by

13272-489: The army's commander in chief . Xoxe remained both internal affairs minister and the party's organizational secretary. In late 1945 and early 1946, Xoxe and other party hard-liners purged moderates who had pressed for close contacts with the West, a modicum of political pluralism, and a delay in the introduction of strict communist economic measures until Albania's economy had more time to develop. Hoxha remained in control despite

13440-579: The average life expectancy in our country has risen, from about 38 years in 1938 to 69 years. That is, for each year of the existence of our people's state power, the average life expectancy has risen by about 11 months. That is what socialism does for man! Is there a loftier humanism than socialist humanism, which, in 35 years, doubles the average life expectancy of the whole population of the country? People%27s Socialist Republic of Albania The People's Socialist Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika Popullore Socialiste e Shqipërisë ), officially as

13608-442: The basic elements of the Soviet fiscal system, under which state enterprises paid direct contributions to the treasury from their profits and kept only a share authorized for self-financed investments and other purposes. In 1951 the Albanian government launched its first five-year plan, which emphasized utilizing the country's oil , chromite , copper , nickel , asphalt , and coal resources; expanding electricity production and

13776-456: The blame for the country's woes on Yugoslavia and Xoxe. Hoxha had Xoxe sacked as Albania's internal affairs minister in October, and he was replaced with Mehmet Shehu . After a secret trial in May 1949, Xoxe was executed. The subsequent anti-Titoist purges in Albania brought the liquidation of 14 members of the party's 31 person Central Committee and 32 of the 109 People's Assembly deputies. Overall,

13944-538: 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

14112-511: The cancellation of Soviet wheat shipments despite a paucity of foreign currency and its own economic hardships. Albania again sided with the People's Republic of China when it launched an attack on the Soviet Union's leadership of the international communist movement at the November 1960 Moscow conference of the world's 81 communist parties. Hoxha inveighed against Khrushchev for encouraging Greek claims to southern Albania , sowing discord within

14280-524: The centuries-old schools into a university, but the first statutes were given by Conrad of Urach in 1220. It is not known exactly when the schools of liberal arts were founded that developed into the Montpellier faculty of arts; it may be that they were a direct continuation of the Gallo-Roman schools that gathered around masters of rhetoric. The school of law was founded by Placentinus , from

14448-590: The channel. Two of the ships struck mines on 22 October 1946, and 44 crew members died. Britain complained to the UN and the International Court of Justice which, in its first case ever, ruled against Tirana. After 1946 the United States and the United Kingdom began implementing an elaborate covert plan to overthrow Albania's Communist government by backing anti-Communist and royalist forces within

14616-605: The communist leadership voted to merge the Albanian and Yugoslav economies and militaries. Hoxha even denounced Spiru for attempting to ruin Albanian-Yugoslav relations. During a party Political Bureau ( Politburo ) meeting a month later, Xoxe proposed appealing to Belgrade to admit Albania as a seventh Yugoslav republic. However, when the Cominform expelled Yugoslavia on 28 June, Albania made a rapid about-face in its policy towards Yugoslavia. Three days later, Tirana gave

14784-531: The conditions in the party, the negative attitude toward the masses, the absence of party and socialist democracy, the economic policy of the leadership, etc." while also calling for discussions on the cult of personality and the Twentieth Party Congress. In 1956, Hoxha called for a resolution which would confirm the existing leadership of the Party. The resolution was accepted, and all of the delegates who had spoken against it were expelled from

14952-409: The convents, in January 1350. By a Bull of 17 December 1421, Pope Martin V granted canonical institution to this faculty and united it closely with the faculty of law. In the 16th century the local triumph of Calvinism interrupted the somewhat somnolent Catholic school of theology, which was reinstated in 1622; but the rivalries of Dominicans and Jesuits interfered seriously with the prosperity of

15120-483: The country began to experience widespread shortages of everything from machine parts to wheat and animal feed. Infrastructure and living standards began to collapse. According to the World Bank , Albania netted around US$ 750 in gross national product per capita throughout much of the 1980s. As Hoxha's health slipped, muted calls arose for the relaxation of party controls and greater openness. In response, Hoxha launched

15288-540: The country, charging that they had instigated anti-Communist uprisings in the northern mountains. Britain announced in April that it would not send a diplomatic mission to Tirana; the United States withdrew its mission in November; and both the United States and Britain opposed admitting Albania to the United Nations (UN). Albania feared that the United States and Britain, which were supporting anti-Communist forces in

15456-463: The country, including those at work on the Palace of Culture , and halted shipments of supplies and spare parts for equipment already in place in Albania. In addition, the Soviet Union continued to dismantle its naval installations on Sazan Island , a process that had begun even before the break in relations. China again compensated Albania for the loss of Soviet economic support, supplying about 90% of

15624-695: The country, which was left in ruins after World War II , building Albania's first railway line, raising the adult literacy rate from 5–15% to more than 90%, wiping out epidemics, electrifying the country and leading Albania towards agricultural independence. The later years of his reign saw stagnation owing to his political breaks with the Soviet Union and China. To implement his radical program, Hoxha used totalitarian methods of governance. His government outlawed traveling abroad and private proprietorship. His government imprisoned, executed, or exiled thousands of landowners, rural clan leaders, peasants who resisted collectivization, and allegedly disloyal party officials. Hoxha

15792-597: The country. By 1949 the United States and British intelligence organizations were working with King Zog and the mountainmen 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 Albanian security forces killed or captured all of them. Kim Philby ,

15960-453: The death of Joseph Stalin . The invasion served as the tipping point, and within one month (September 1968) Albania formally withdrew from the Warsaw Pact . Leonid Brezhnev made no attempt to force Albania to remain. In the mid-1960s, Albania's leaders grew wary of a threat to their power by a burgeoning bureaucracy . Party discipline had eroded. People complained about malfeasance , inflation , and low-quality goods. Writers strayed from

16128-444: The decline in relations with Yugoslavia and stated that a Soviet military mission should be expelled in favor of a Yugoslav counterpart. Hoxha managed to remain firm and his support had not declined. When Yugoslavia publicly broke with the Soviet Union, Hoxha's support base grew stronger. Then, on 1 July 1948, Tirana called on all Yugoslav technical advisors to leave the country and unilaterally declared all treaties and agreements between

16296-546: The direction of the Bishop of Maguelonne , but the school enjoyed a great deal of de facto autonomy. The school was famous for arguing in the fourteenth century that the Black Death was caused by a miasma entering the opening of the body's pores, citing theories developed by Galen . Doctors educated at Montpellier advocated against bathing because they claimed bathing opened the body's pores, making one more susceptible to

16464-590: The early 1950s. The number of Albanian doctors increased by a third to about 150 early in the decade (although the doctor-patient ratio remained unacceptable by most standards), and the state opened new medical-training facilities. The number of hospital beds rose from 1,765 in 1945 to about 5,500 in 1953. Better health-care and living conditions produced an improvement in Albania's dismal infant-mortality rate, lowering it from 112.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1945 to 99.5 deaths per 1,000 births in 1953. The education system, geared towards cementing communism and creating

16632-466: The early 1970s, and its press and radio ignored President Richard Nixon 's trip to Beijing in 1972 . Albania actively worked to reduce its dependence on China by diversifying trade and improving diplomatic and cultural relations, especially with Western Europe . But Albania shunned the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe , and it was the only European country that refused to take part in

16800-660: The economy. In 1970, this number had risen to 38%, and in 1982 to 46%. During the Cultural and Ideological Revolution , women were encouraged to take up all jobs, including government posts, which resulted in 40.7% of the People's Councils and 30.4% of the People's Assembly being made up of women, including two women in the Central Committee by 1985. In 1978, 15.1 times as many females attended eight-year schools as had done so in 1938 and 175.7 times as many females attended secondary schools. By 1978, 101.9 times as many women attended higher schools as in 1957. Hoxha said of women's rights in 1967: The entire party and country should hurl into

16968-458: The fact that he had once advocated restoring relations with Italy and even allowing Albanians to study in Italy. The government took major steps to introduce a Stalinist-style centrally planned economy in 1946. It nationalized all industries, transformed foreign trade into a government monopoly, brought almost all domestic trade under state control, and banned land sales and transfers. Planners at

17136-480: The faculty, which disappeared at the Revolution. In better days, among Montpellier's illustrious pupils of law were Petrarch , who spent four years at Montpellier, and among its lecturers were William of Nogaret , chancellor to Philip IV , Guillaume de Grimoard, afterwards Pope Urban V , and Pedro de Luna, afterwards antipope Benedict XIII . Like all other provincial universities of France, that of Montpellier

17304-513: The fall, however, when Spiru's commission developed an economic plan that stressed self-sufficiency, light industry, and agriculture. The Yugoslavs complained bitterly. Subsequently, at a November 1947 meeting of the Albanian Economic Central Committee, Spiru came under intense criticism, which was spearheaded by Xoxe. Failure to win support from anyone within the party (he was effectively a fall guy for Hoxha) he

17472-418: The fire and break the neck of anyone who dared trample underfoot the sacred edict of the party on the defense of women's rights. In 1969, direct taxation was abolished and during this period the quality of schooling and health care continued to improve. An electrification campaign was begun in 1960 and the entire nation was expected to have electricity by 1985. Instead, it achieved this on 25 October 1970. During

17640-673: 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 . Within Albania, repeated attempts were made during

17808-413: The foreign policy of a socialist country and of a Communist party is proletarian internationalism ; not peaceful coexistence." Hoxha now took a more active stand against perceived revisionism . Unity within the Albanian Party of Labour began to decline as well, with a special delegate meeting held in Tirana in April 1956, composed of 450 delegates and having unexpected results. The delegates "criticized

17976-563: The former. Ramiz Alia , at the time a candidate-member of the Politburo and Hoxha's adviser on ideological questions, played a prominent role in the rhetoric. The Sino-Soviet split burst into the open in June 1960 at a Romanian Workers' Party congress, at which Khrushchev attempted to secure condemnation of Beijing . Albania's delegation, alone among the European delegations, supported

18144-409: The gallery of professors. The Jardin des plantes de Montpellier , founded in 1593, is the oldest botanical garden in France. It was in this school that the biological theory of vitalism , elaborated by Barthez (1734–1806), had its origin. The French Revolution did not interrupt the existence of the faculty of medicine. The Benedictine monastery that had been converted into the bishop's palace,

18312-418: The genuinely socialist character of Albania's socialist democracy. During the Cultural and Ideological Revolution, traditional kinship links in Albania, which were centered on the patriarchal family, were shattered by the postwar repression of clan leaders, collectivization of agriculture, industrialization, migration from the countryside to urban areas, and suppression of religion. The postwar regime brought

18480-539: The government confiscated property belonging to absentee landlords and people not dependent on agriculture for a living. The few peasants with agricultural machinery were permitted to keep up to 40 hectares (99 acres) of land. Landholdings of religious institutions and peasants without agricultural machinery were limited to 20 hectares (49 acres). Finally, landless peasants and peasants with tiny landholdings were given up to 5 hectares (12 acres), although they had to pay nominal compensation. In December 1945, Albanians elected

18648-480: The groundwork for integrating the Albanian and Yugoslav economies. The pacts provided for coordinating the economic plans of both states, standardizing their monetary systems, and creating a common pricing system and a customs union. So close was the Yugoslav-Albanian relationship that Serbo-Croatian became a required subject in Albanian high schools. Yugoslavia signed a similar friendship treaty with

18816-442: The idea of autarky was enshrined in law and the government was prohibited from seeking financial aid or credits or forming joint companies with partners from capitalist or revisionist communist countries. The constitution's preamble also boasted that the foundations of religious belief had been abolished in Albania. University of Montpellier The university was split into three universities (the University of Montpellier 1 ,

18984-480: The intellectuals (Hoxha and his allies) of the Albanian Party and, through Xoxe and his loyalists, attempted to unseat them. In 1947, Yugoslavia acted against anti-Yugoslav Albanian communists, including Hoxha and Spiru. In May, Tirana announced the arrest, trial, and conviction of nine People's Assembly members, all of whom were known for opposing Yugoslavia, on charges of antistate activities. A month later,

19152-552: The issue of Albanians in Kosovo . There was further tension over a Comecon plan for integrating the East European economies, which called for Albania to produce agricultural goods and minerals instead of emphasizing the development of heavy industry. On a twelve-day visit to Albania in 1959, Khrushchev reportedly tried to convince Hoxha and Shehu that their country should aspire to become " socialism 's orchard". Albania played

19320-427: The joint stock companies. In addition, the Albanians sought investment funds to develop light industries and an oil refinery, while the Yugoslavs wanted the Albanians to concentrate on agriculture and raw-material extraction. The head of Albania's Economic Planning Commission, and Hoxha's right-hand man, Nako Spiru , became the leading critic of Yugoslavia's efforts to exert economic control over Albania. Tito distrusted

19488-506: The last years of Stalin's life, although Albania was an economic liability for the Soviet Union. Albania conducted all its foreign trade with Soviet European countries in 1949, 1950, and 1951 – and over half its trade with the Soviet Union itself. Together with its satellites, the Soviet Union underwrote shortfalls in Albania's balance-of-payments with long-term grants. Although far behind Western practice, health care and education improved dramatically for Albania's 1.2 million people in

19656-471: The less known University Ranking by Academic Performance 2021–2022. Finally, according to the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities , or NTU Ranking, it is placed 137th in the world for the year 2022. Law University of Montpellier undergraduate law program is ranked 6th of France by Eduniversal , with 3 stars (2016/17). Ecology University of Montpellier

19824-458: The military, and renounced professionalism in the army. Railing against a "white-collar mentality," the authorities also slashed the salaries of mid- and high-level officials, ousted administrators and specialists from their desk jobs, and sent such persons to toil in the factories and fields. Six ministries, including the Ministry of Justice, were eliminated. Farm collectivization even spread to

19992-527: 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,

20160-468: The newly founded Economic Planning Commission emphasized industrial development and in 1947 the government introduced the Soviet cost-accounting system. Until Yugoslavia 's expulsion from the Cominform in 1948, Albania was effectively a Yugoslav satellite. In repudiating the 1943 Albanian internal Mukaj agreement under pressure from the Yugoslavs, Albania's communists had given up on their demands for

20328-620: The orthodoxy of socialist realism , which demanded that art and literature serve as instruments of government and party policy. As a result, after Mao Zedong unleashed the Cultural Revolution in China in 1966, Hoxha launched his own Cultural and Ideological Revolution. The Albanian leader concentrated on reforming the military, government bureaucracy, and economy as well as on creating new support for his system. The regime abolished military ranks, reintroduced political commissars into

20496-400: The other Chinese leaders reassessed their commitment to Albania. In response, Albania began to broaden its contacts with the outside world. Albania opened trade negotiations with France , Italy , and the recently independent Asian and African states, and in 1971 it normalised relations with Yugoslavia and Greece . Albania's leaders abhorred the contacts of China with the United States in

20664-445: The parts, foodstuffs, and other goods the Soviet Union had promised. China lent Albania money on more favorable terms than Moscow, and, unlike Soviet advisers, Chinese technicians earned the same low pay as Albanian workers and lived in similar housing. China also presented Albania with a powerful radio transmission station from which Tirana sang the praises of Stalin, Hoxha, and Mao Zedong for decades. For its part, Albania offered China

20832-418: The party and imprisoned. Hoxha claimed that Yugoslavia had attempted to overthrow the leadership of Albania. This incident increased Hoxha's power, effectively making Khrushchev-style reforms impossible there. In the same year, Hoxha travelled to China , then embroiled in the Sino-Soviet split , and met Mao Zedong . Chinese aid to Albania rose sharply during the next two years. In an effort to keep Albania in

21000-490: The party encouraged women to take jobs outside the home in an effort to compensate for labor shortages and overcome their conservatism . Hoxha himself proclaimed that anyone who trampled on the party's edict on women's rights should be "hurled into the fire." Albanian-Chinese relations had stagnated by 1970, and when China began to reemerge from isolation and the Cultural Revolution in the early 1970s, Mao and

21168-535: The party expelled about 25% of its members. Yugoslavia responded by launching a propaganda counterattack and canceling its treaty of friendship with Albania and in 1950, it withdrew its diplomatic mission from Tirana. Albania's relations with the West soured after the Communist government's refusal to allow free elections in December 1945. Albania restricted the movement of United States and British personnel in

21336-542: The party's first secretary, Enver Hoxha , became Albania's prime minister . From the start, the LNC government was an undisguised Communist regime . In most of the rest of what became the Eastern Bloc, the Communist parties were nominally part of a coalition government for a few years before seizing full control and creating one-party states. Having sidelined the nationalist Balli Kombëtar after their collaboration with

21504-473: The people " and " war criminals ". Many were sentenced to death. Those spared were imprisoned for years in work camps and jails and later settled on state farms built on reclaimed marshlands. In December 1944, the provisional government adopted laws allowing the state to regulate foreign and domestic trade, commercial enterprises, and the few industries the country possessed. The laws sanctioned confiscation of property belonging to political exiles and "enemies of

21672-400: The people. It demonstrated in practice that in socialist Albania the people are the masters, that nothing is done against their will." The numerous testimonies of those who suffered under the religious persecution of this era, however, casts serious doubts into how "free and fruitful" the thrashing out of opinions in this grand debate were, and consequently as critics of the regime would argue,

21840-480: The people." The state also expropriated all German- and Italian-owned property, nationalized transportation enterprises, and canceled all concessions granted by previous Albanian governments to foreign companies. In August 1945, the provisional government adopted the first sweeping agricultural reforms in Albania's history. The country's 100 largest landowners, who controlled close to a third of Albania's arable land, had frustrated all agricultural reform proposals before

22008-441: The power grid; increasing agricultural output ; and improving transportation . The government began a program of rapid industrialization after the APL's Second Party Congress and a campaign of collectivization of farmland in 1955. At the time, private farms still produced about 87% of Albania's agricultural output, but by 1960 the same percentage came from collective or state farms. Soviet-Albanian relations remained warm during

22176-486: The problems that the post-independence Albanian government would face. However, the Yugoslav delegation which was led by Velimir Stoinić accused the party of "sectarianism and opportunism" and blamed Hoxha for these errors. He also stressed the view that the Yugoslav Communist partisans spearheaded the Albanian partisan movement. Anti-Yugoslav members of the Albanian Communist Party had begun to think that this

22344-496: The production of cotton and other industrial crops, as well as oil, bitumen, asphalt, chrome, etc. Yugoslavia would supply its 'colony', Albania, with exorbitantly priced consumer goods, including even items such as needles and thread, and would provide us with petrol and oil, as well as glass for the lamps in which we burn the fuel extracted from our subsoil, processed in Yugoslavia and sold to us at high prices ... The aim of

22512-420: The proletariat. About 1,500,000 people, practically the entire adult population of the country, participated in the meetings which were held, and about 300,000 people contributed to the discussion... The great popular discussion, characterized by a free and fruitful thrashing out of opinions, by lively and constructive debate, was a clear expression of our socialist democracy in action and the genuine sovereignty of

22680-490: The purpose of inculcating the scientific materialist world outlook in people" and Article 55 explicitly forbade the formation of "any type of organization of a fascist, anti-democratic, religious, and anti-socialist character" and stated that "Fascist, anti-democratic, religious , war-mongering, and anti-socialist activities and propaganda, as well as the incitement of national and racial hatred are prohibited." On 1 November 1977, Enver Hoxha claimed in his Report submitted to

22848-463: The remote mountains. In addition, the government attacked dissident writers and artists, reformed its educational system, and generally reinforced Albania's isolation from European culture in an effort to keep out foreign influences. After the 5th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania and Enver Hoxha's speech on 6 February 1967, the authorities launched a violent campaign to extinguish religious life in Albania , claiming that religion had divided

23016-412: The remotest villages. In 1960 we had one doctor per every 3,360 inhabitants, in 1978 we had one doctor per every 687 inhabitants, and this despite the rapid growth of the population. The natural increase of the population in our country is 3.5 times higher than the annual average of European countries, whereas mortality in 1978 was 37% lower than the average level of mortality in the countries of Europe, and

23184-475: The rescue. After additional sharp exchanges between Soviet and Chinese delegates over Albania at the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Twenty-Second Party Congress in October 1961, Khrushchev lambasted the Albanians for executing an allegedly pregnant, pro-Soviet member of the Albanian party Politburo Liri Gega , and the Soviet Union finally broke diplomatic relations with Albania in December. Moscow then withdrew all Soviet economic advisers and technicians from

23352-438: The rest of the region: The University of Montpellier has 17 components: and 1 establishment-component ( ENSCM ). The university is administered by: In 2019, the University of Montpellier received 50069 candidatures for an admission in one of the 6961 available places in its bachelor's programmes, which accounts for 7,19 candidates per place. Overall ranking The University of Montpellier secured 55th and 16th places in

23520-466: The school of law at Bologna , who came to Montpellier in 1160, taught there during two different periods, and died there in 1192. The faculty of law has had a long career. Professors from Montpellier were prominent in the drafting of the Napoleonic Code , the civil code by which France is still guided and a foundation for modern law codes wherever Napoleonic influence extended. The faculty of law

23688-637: The secret police, the Sigurimi , for the purposes of preventing a counter-revolution , which included dismissal from employment, imprisonment in forced labor camps and executions. The first multi-party elections in Socialist Albania took place on 31 March 1991 – the Communists gained a majority in an interim government . The Republic of Albania was proclaimed on 29 April 1991 and the country's first parliamentary elections were held on 22 March 1992 . The People's Socialist Republic of Albania

23856-483: The time; his most notable criticisms were his condemnations of Maoism after 1978. A major achievement under Hoxha was the advancement of women's rights . Albania had been one of the most, if not the most, patriarchal countries in Europe. The ancient Kanun , which regulated the status of women, states, "A woman is known as a sack, made to endure as long as she lives in her husband's house." Women were not allowed to inherit anything from their parents, and discrimination

24024-574: The treaty was heavily slanted towards Yugoslav interests, much like the Italian agreements with Albania under Zog that made the nation dependent upon Italy. The first issue was that the Albanian lek became revalued in terms of the Yugoslav dinar as a customs union was formed and Albania's economic plan was decided more by Yugoslavia. Albanian economists H. Banja and V. Toçi stated that the relationship between Albania and Yugoslavia during this period

24192-407: The two Albanian leaders. Tirana soon came under pressure from Moscow to copy, at least formally, the new Soviet model for 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

24360-462: The two countries null and void. Xoxe was expelled from the party and on 13 June 1949, he was executed by hanging. After the break with Yugoslavia, Hoxha aligned himself with the Soviet Union. From 1948 to 1960, $ 200 million in Soviet aid was given to Albania for technical and infrastructural expansion. Albania was admitted to the Comecon on 22 February 1949 and it served as a pro-Soviet force on

24528-618: 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. A problem developed when

24696-482: The war. The communists' reforms were aimed at squeezing large landowners out of business, winning peasant support, and increasing farm output to avert famine . The government annulled outstanding agricultural debts, granted peasants access to inexpensive water for irrigation , and nationalized forest and pastureland. Under the Agrarian Reform Law, which redistributed about half of Albania's arable land,

24864-652: The world and Europe, respectively, in Reuters - The World's Most Innovative Universities 2018. It is also ranked among the top 200 universities in the Academic Ranking of World Universities 2019. In the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2022 it was ranked in the top 200 universities, coming first in France. Furthermore, it was ranked 98th best university in the world and best French university outside Paris according to

25032-606: The world's first atheistic state , a feat which was trumpeted as one of Enver Hoxha's greatest achievements. While the Albanian Constitution had formally guaranteed freedom of religion to the Albanian people right up until that time, religious freedom was virtually non-existent after 1967. The 1976 Constitution of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania later stipulated in Article 37 that "The state recognizes no religion whatever and supports atheist propaganda for

25200-537: Was a plot by Tito who intended to destabilize the Party. Koçi Xoxe, Sejfulla Malëshova and others who supported Yugoslavia were looked upon with deep suspicion. Tito's position on Albania was that it was too weak to stand on its own and that it would do better as a part of Yugoslavia. Hoxha alleged that Tito had made it his goal to get Albania into Yugoslavia, firstly by creating the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Aid in 1946. In time, Albania began to feel that

25368-410: Was assassinated the very next day and his death framed as a suicide. The insignificance of Albania's standing in the communist world was clearly highlighted when the emerging Eastern European nations did not invite the Party of Labour of Albania to the September 1947 founding meeting of the Cominform . Rather, Yugoslavia represented Albania at Cominform meetings. Although the Soviet Union gave Albania

25536-419: Was banned. Malaria , the most widespread disease, was successfully fought through advances in health care, the use of DDT , and through the draining of swampland. From 1965 to 1985, no cases of malaria were reported, whereas previously Albania had the greatest number of infected patients in Europe. No cases of syphilis had been recorded for 30 years. In 1938 the number of physicians was 1.1 per 10,000 and there

25704-680: 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 . From the beginning, the Democratic Government was an undisguised Communist regime . In the rest of what became the Soviet bloc, the Communist parties were at least nominally parts of coalitions before they dropped all pretenses of pluralism and established one-party states. After Albania's liberation on 29 November 1944, several Albanian partisan divisions crossed

25872-455: 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. Adopting Stalinism , Hoxha converted Albania into a one-party communist state . As a Stalinist, he implemented state atheism and ordered anti-religious persecution against Muslims and Christians. His government rebuilt

26040-427: Was established (it was renamed the People's Socialist Republic of Albania in 1976), despite the fact that the country had 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

26208-453: Was even made in the case of the murder of a pregnant woman: ... the dead woman [is] to be opened up, in order to see whether the fetus is a boy or a girl. If it is a boy, the murderer must pay 3 purses [a set amount of local currency] for the woman's blood and 6 purses for the boy's blood; if it is a girl, aside from the three purses for the murdered woman, 3 purses must also be paid for the female child. Women were forbidden from obtaining

26376-420: Was exploitative and that it constituted attempts by Yugoslavia to make the Albanian economy an "appendage" to the Yugoslav economy. Hoxha then began to accuse Yugoslavia of misconduct: We [Albania] were expected to produce for the Yugoslavs all the raw materials which they needed. These raw materials were to be exported to the metropolitan Yugoslavia to be processed there in Yugoslav factories. The same applied to

26544-502: 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

26712-469: Was given to house the medical school in 1795. A gallery devoted to the portraits of professors since 1239 contains one of Rabelais. The school of theology had its origins in lectures in the convents: St. Anthony of Padua , Raymundus Lullus , and the Dominican Bernard of Trilia all lectured. Two letters of King John II prove that a faculty of theology existed at Montpellier independently of

26880-538: Was helped by his best friend, Esat Dishnica, who introduced Hoxha to Dishnica's cousin Ibrahim Biçakçiu . Hoxha started to sleep in Biçakçiu's tobacco factory "Flora", and after a while Dishnica opened a shop with the same name, where Hoxha began working. He was a sympathiser of Korça's Communist Group. On 8 November 1941, the Communist Party of Albania (later renamed the Party of Labour of Albania in 1948)

27048-620: Was offended. Yugoslavia began asking for Hoxha to rehabilitate the image of Xoxe, which Hoxha steadfastly rejected. In 1956 at the Twentieth Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union , Khrushchev condemned the cult of personality that had been built up around Stalin and denounced his excesses. Khrushchev then announced the theory of peaceful coexistence , which angered the Stalinist Hoxha greatly. The Institute of Marxist–Leninist Studies, led by Hoxha's wife Nexhmije , quoted Vladimir Lenin : "The fundamental principle of

27216-437: Was officially dissolved on 28 November 1998 upon the adoption of the new Constitution of Albania . On 29 November 1944, Albania was liberated by the National Liberation Movement (In Albanian: Lëvizja Nacional-Çlirimtare LNÇ). The Anti-Fascist National Liberation Council, formed in May, became the country's provisional government. The government, like the LNÇ, was dominated by the two-year-old Communist Party of Albania, and

27384-516: Was only one hospital bed per 1,000 people. In 1950, while the number of physicians had not increased, there were four times as many hospital beds per head, and health expenditures had risen to 5% of the budget, up from 1% before the war. At this point, relations with Yugoslavia had begun to change. The roots of the change began on 20 October 1944 at the Second Plenary Session of the Communist Party of Albania. The Session considered

27552-402: Was passed in August 1945. It confiscated land from beys and large landowners, giving it without compensation to peasants. 52% of all land was owned by large landowners before the law was passed; this declined to 16% after the law's passage. Illiteracy, which was 90–95% in rural areas in 1939 and perhaps 85% of the total population in 1946, fell to 30% by 1950, and by 1985 it was equal to that of

27720-695: Was ranked 1st in the world in Ecology in the subject rankings of Academic Ranking of World Universities 2018. The University of Montpellier is a member of Coimbra Group and of the Mediterranean Universities Union . It is also a founding member of the European University alliance CHARM-EU. On 19 June 2024, the University of Montpellier has been accepted as a member of the Udice Group . Students life within

27888-591: Was reorganized in 1998. The school of medicine was founded perhaps by people trained in the Muslim Spanish medical schools as Muslim rule in parts of Spain did not end until 1492, when the Emirate of Granada fell (no reference is available for the founding of the school of medicine); it is certain that, as early as 1137, there were excellent physicians at Montpellier. It is the world's oldest medical school still in operation. The school of medicine benefited from

28056-453: Was succeeded by Ramiz Alia , who oversaw the fall of communism in Albania . Hoxha's government was characterised by his proclaimed firm adherence to anti-revisionist Marxism–Leninism from the mid/late-1960s onwards. After his break with Maoism in the 1976–1978 period, numerous Maoist parties around the world declared themselves Hoxhaist . The International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organisations (Unity & Struggle)

28224-668: Was suppressed at the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1793. The faculties of science and of letters were re-established in 1810; that of law in 1880. The University of Montpellier was officially re-organised in 1969, on the aftermath of May 1968 and the students' revolt all over the country. It was split into its successor institutions the University of Montpellier 1 (comprising the former faculties of medicine, law, and economy), University of Montpellier 2 (science and technology) and University of Montpellier 3 (social sciences, humanities and liberal arts). On 1 January 2015,

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