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40-542: (Redirected from PKSH ) Communist Party of Albania may refer to: Party of Labour of Albania (or Albanian Workers' Party), founded as the Communist Party of Albania Communist Party of Albania (1991) Communist Party of Albania 8 November Communist Reconstruction Party , in Albania Party of United Communists of Albania Topics referred to by

80-479: A German Summer Offensive (May–June 1944) and defeated the last Balli Kombëtar forces in southern Albania by mid-summer 1944 encountering only scattered resistance from the Balli Kombëtar and Legality forces when they entered central and northern Albania by the end of July. On 29 November 1944 partisan forces liberated Shkodra and this is the official date of liberation of the country. A provisional government

120-518: A Marxist-Leninist party, and was powerless to prevent the adoption of a new interim constitution that formally stripped it of its monopoly of power. In 1991, the PPSh dissolved and refounded itself as the social-democratic Socialist Party of Albania , which is now one of the two major political parties in Albania. A group called "Volunteers of Enver", led by Hysni Milloshi , laid claim to the identity of

160-671: A communist party. The first Albanian communists emerged from the followers of Albanian clergyman and politician Fan S. Noli . Once in Moscow, they formed the National Revolutionary Committee and became affiliated to the Comintern . In August 1928, the first Albanian Communist Party was formed in the Soviet Union. The most prominent figure of the party was Ali Kelmendi who left Albania in 1936, to fight in

200-613: A dispute arose concerning the status of Kosovo. For the Communist party, the question should have been resolved after the war, without the presence of foreign powers on the national soil. The Yugoslavian Communist Party would have had to return Kosovo to Albania as established by the Comintern. Whereas the Balli Kombëtar proposed to fight for the integration of Kosovo into Albania. After the German Winter Offensive

240-477: A joint National Liberation Movement with a provisional eight-member council, with Enver Hoxha and Abaz Kupi among them, though it was dominated by the communists. Partisan fighters were organized into 20 to 70-men units, equivalent to a platoon, including a communist commissar, who acted as the political officer. The commander, the political commissar and their deputies constituted the unit command, and all military decisions were made and agreed upon by all members of

280-464: A recommendation by Joseph Stalin . The party was dissolved on 13 June 1991 and succeeded by the Socialist Party of Albania and the new Communist Party of Albania . For most of its existence, the party was dominated by its First Secretary, Enver Hoxha , who was also the de facto leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. In the 1920s, Albania was the only Balkan country without

320-627: A single list from the Democratic Front , organised and led by the PKSh. The Front received 93.7% of the vote. In a meeting with Joseph Stalin in July 1947 Stalin suggested the party be renamed to the "Party of Labour of Albania" because peasants were a majority in the country. Hoxha accepted this suggestion. During the period from 1947 to 1953, relations between the Party of Labour of Albania and

360-497: A socialist society. Hoxha led the party and state more or less without resistance until his death in 1985. Hoxha's successor, Ramiz Alia , was forced to initiate gradual reforms in order to stop the country's economic downspiral. However, in late 1989, various elements of society began to speak out against the restrictions still in place. The execution of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu led Alia to fear he would be next. In response, he allowed Albanians to travel abroad, ended

400-619: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Party of Labour of Albania The Party of Labour of Albania ( PLA ), also referred to as the Albanian Workers' Party ( AWP ), was the ruling and sole legal party of Albania during the communist period (1945–1991). It was founded on 8 November 1941 as the Communist Party of Albania ( Partia Komuniste e Shqipërisë , PKSh ) but changed its name in 1948 following

440-694: The Democratic Front . Its daily publication was Zëri i Popullit (Voice of the People) and its monthly theoretical journal was Rruga e Partisë (Road of the Party). The highest organ of the Party, according to the Party statutes, was the Party Congress, which met for a few days every five years. Delegates to the Congress were elected at conferences held at the regional, district, and city levels. The Congress examined and approved reports submitted by

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480-679: The Spanish Civil War . He was later regarded as the leader of a small group of Albanian Communists in France. However, no unified organisation existed in Albania until 1941. Following the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito under Comintern directives sent two Yugoslav delegates Miladin Popović and Dušan Mugoša to Albania. These two helped unite

520-599: The Albanian Communist Party was officially formed on November 8, 1941, by a unanimous vote of all members and in place of a leadership a Central Committee was elected instead. Members of the Central Committee were Enver Hoxha, Qemal Stafa, Ramadan Çitaku, Koçi Xoxe, Tuk Jakova, Kristo Themelko and Gjin Marku. The creation of the Central Committee was followed by the creation of regional committees,

560-740: The Albanian communist groups in 1941. After intensive work, the Albanian Communist Party was formed on 8 November 1941 by a delegates from Shkodër with Enver Hoxha from the Korça branch as its leader. The PKSh was the dominant element of the National Liberation Movement (LNC), formed in 1942. The LNC drove out the German occupiers (who had taken over from the Italians in 1943) on 29 November 1944. From that day onward, Albania

600-473: The Albanian resistance leaders to create a national resistance front. The Communist Party saw the creation of this front as a necessity for Albania. Its intention was to dominate this front, although some figures within the Albanian Communist Party opposed the idea of an organised front with other nationalists, fearing their possible betrayal. The conference decided to create the General Council which

640-437: The Central Committee elected a Politburo and a Secretariat . The Politburo, which usually included key government ministers and Central Committee secretaries, was the main administrative and policy-making body and convened on a weekly basis. Generally, the Central Committee approved Politburo reports and policy decisions. The Secretariat was responsible for guiding the day-to-day affairs of the Party, in particular for organising

680-456: The Central Committee, discussed general Party policies, and elected the Central Committee. The latter was the next-highest level in the Party hierarchy and generally included all key officials in the government, as well as prominent members of the Sigurimi . The Central Committee directed Party activities between Party Congresses and met approximately three times a year. As in the Soviet Union,

720-544: The Communist Party. Miladin Popović , a Yugoslav communist , attended the Peza Conference as an adviser and hoped to further strengthen party controls by creating a general staff that would tie the various units together, but his suggestion was not adopted. The partisan units were supplemented by territorial units - irregular self-defense detachments made up of volunteers. They were planned for every larger village or one for two-to-three villages together. Their function

760-495: The German attack on Russia, Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito under Comintern directives sent two Yugoslav delegates Miladin Popović and Dušan Mugoša to Albania. These two helped unite the Albanian communist groups in 1941. In August 1941, the Albanian Communist Party was established through the agreement between the Shkodër (led by Shanto and Stafa), Korçë and Tirana (led by Enver Hoxha ) communist groups. After intensive work,

800-555: The Italian invasion, there was no general resistance to the Italian army, although some local leaders like Myslim Peza , Baba Faja Martaneshi , Abaz Kupi etc. created small çetas (small detachments) which from time to time undertake small attacks on Italian forces. Meanwhile, the communist activity in Albania increased and culminated with the creation on 8 November 1941 of the Albanian Communist Party . Following

840-600: The National Liberation Front in dealings with national liberation councils and civilians, and as leader of the communist members of the partisan unit. The Communist Party oriented the activities of the National Liberation Army through its various organizations inside the army. Each partisan unit had a political organization called the communist cell and both the communist cell and the commissar were responsible to regional committees of

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880-487: The PPSh as the Communist Party of Albania . The ideology of the PPSh was an anti-revisionist variant of Marxism–Leninism known as Hoxhaism . The party organisation was built up following democratic centralist principles, with Hoxha as its First Secretary. Article 3 of Albania's 1976 Constitution identified the Party as the "leading political force of the state and of the society." To help carry out its ideological activities it had an associated mass organization known as

920-648: The Party: National Liberation Movement (Albania) The National Liberation Army ( Ushtria Nacional-Çlirimtare ) was the army created by the National Liberation Movement. Albania did not put an organized resistance to the Italian invasion (April 7–12, 1939). However different Albanian groups of patriots such as Mujo Ulqinaku and Abaz Kupi made a brief resistance to the invasion force in Durrës on

960-803: The Soviet Union were close, as Hoxha steered the party towards a firm Stalinist line. For their part, the Soviets gave significant technological and economical aid to Albania, and also stationed military forces on the Adriatic sea with Hoxha's blessing. However, following Stalin's death , the party became the most rigidly anti-revisionist party in the Soviet Bloc . In 1961, Hoxha broke with Moscow over Nikita Khrushchev 's supposed deviations from fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism, though relations between Tirana and Moscow had begun to chill as early as 1955. During this time, pro-Moscow elements of

1000-407: The command. Every partisan unit, no matter how large or small, had a command of four individuals. The role of the commissar was, among others, to guarantee that the activities of the partisan unit would comply with the directives of the Communist Party. Other duties of the commissar included keeping the partisans up to date with the latest political developments, serve as the official representatives of

1040-618: The communist partisans regrouped, attacked the Germans and gained control of southern Albania in April 1944. In May a congress of the National Liberation Front was held in Përmet , during which an Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation to act as Albania's provisional government was elected. Enver Hoxha became the chairman of the council's executive committee and the National Liberation Army's supreme commander. The communist partisans resisted

1080-517: The day of invasion. Durrës was captured on April 7, Tirana the following day, Shkodër and Gjirokastër on April 9, and almost the entire country by April 10. At the time of the Italian invasion, the Shkodër communist group included Qemal Stafa , a student, Vasil Shanto , an artisan, Liri Gega , an intellectual, Imer Dishnica , a doctor, Zef Mala and others. The leaders were Mala, Shanto, Stafa and Kristo Themelko . The Shkodër group's activities also spanned over Kosovo and western Macedonia, and

1120-544: The execution of Politburo decisions and for selecting Party and government cadres. The staunchly orthodox stand of the PPSh attracted many political groupings around the world, particularly among Maoists who were not content with the Chinese Communist Party 's attitude in the late 1970s. A large number of parties declared themselves to be in the "PPSh line", especially during the period 1978–1980. However, many of them abandoned this certain affiliation after

1160-544: The fall of the socialist government in Albania. Today, many of the political parties upholding the political line of the PPSh are grouped around the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations . The following parties were followers of the PPSh during the Cold War: Various friendship associations were also formed by international Communist sympathizers who supported

1200-518: The organization included several emigrants from Gjakova and other places in Kosovo , who had moved to Albania between 1930 and 1937. In spring 1941, Shanto and Stafa met with fellow Communist Fadil Hoxha due to his earlier contact with Yugoslav communist Miladin Popović. Miladin Popović and Dušan Mugoša were the Yugoslav delegates that helped unite the Albanian communist groups in 1941. After

1240-648: The party were purged, including Liri Belishova and Koço Tashko. Having once again eliminated his rivals, Hoxha opted instead to align his party with the People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong . In 1968, Albania formally withdrew from the Warsaw Pact . The party even went as far as to engineer an Albanian version of China's Cultural Revolution . After Mao's death , the PKSh felt increasing chagrin as Mao's successors moved away from his legacy. In 1978, Hoxha declared that Albania would blaze its own trail to

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1280-476: The regime's longstanding policy of state atheism, and slightly loosened government control of the economy. However, these measures only served to buy Alia more time. Finally, bowing to the inevitable, on 11 December 1990, Alia announced that the PPSh had abandoned power and legalised opposition parties. The PPSh won the Constitutional Assembly elections of 1991 . However, by then it was no longer

1320-410: The responsibility of which was to implement the decisions made by the Central Committee. Starting from December 1941 the communist party began to create small groups of resistance made up of 5-10 people called guerilla units. These detachments began to engage in various acts of sabotage against the Italian forces. They also started to disseminate antifascist propaganda in order to gain the attention and

1360-526: The roads were to be accompanied by strong Italian military detachments. It was at this time (September 1942) that the Albanian Communist Party made their bold move of calling up a national conference, the Conference of Peza, which took place on 16 September 1942 in the house of Myslim Peza , a known resistance leader, (in Pezë village, near Tirana). In the conference the Communist Party of Albania invited all

1400-448: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Communist Party of Albania . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Communist_Party_of_Albania&oldid=874366322 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

1440-678: The support of the civilians. As of 1942 the local press and the foreign consulates began to report an increasing number of attacks. The most spectacular act of sabotage was the interruption of all telegraphic and telephone communications in Albania in June and July 1942. Although the communist activity was increasing, the main concern for Italians were the northern bands. The Italians had given up on governing Northern Albania. The security posts composed of gendarmes in Northern Albania were mostly concerned for their own security and rarely ventured themselves outside their posts, and convoys along

1480-452: The war, conduct espionage, organize the economic struggle against Italian companies, and sabotage the collection of agricultural products by the fascists. In already liberated areas, they were to function as new state. They were to maintain law and order developing local economy; overseeing food supply, trade, education, culture, and press. They would also settle blood feuds, and maintain readiness for war. The conference managed to set in place

1520-587: Was a full-fledged Communist regime . In every other Eastern European country, the Communists were at least nominally part of a coalition government for a few years before seizing power at the helm of out-and-out Communist regimes. King Zog was barred from ever returning to Albania, though the monarchy was not formally abolished until January 1946. In the elections for the Constituent Assembly held on 2 December 1945 , voters were presented with

1560-468: Was composed of 10 people: seven communists including Mustafa Gjinishi , Enver Hoxha , and known nationalists like Abaz Kupi , Myslim Peza and Baba Faja Martaneshi . Mehdi Frashëri was the honorary president of the conference, a fact suppressed later by the communist history. The General Council would supervise local liberation councils. The councils in areas yet to be liberated would function as propaganda agencies, would collect material necessary for

1600-474: Was to protect the liberated zones and to serve as a source of replenishment for the regular partisan units. At the end of 1942 there were 2000 partisans plus a larger number of territorial units. The Mukje Agreement was a treaty signed on August 2, 1943, in the Albanian village of Mukje between the nationalist Balli Kombëtar and the communist National Liberation Movement. The two forces would work together in fighting off Italy's control over Albania. However,

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