Cold War Albania: The Hermit Kingdom: Results of Communist Rule

Figure 1.-- The photo was taken in Tirana during 1975. Notice that there are no cars. Written on the wall is: "Let us continue to strengthen the Party and with it, let us accomplish all the tasks for the further flowering of our socialist idea."

No country has achieved economic success with a socialist economy. Some country's like East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary achieved a degree of success just far below that a capitalist economy. Other counties with socialist economies are economic disasters, such as North Korea, Cambodia, Cuba, and Venezuela. Albania is one of the disaster cases. Enver Hoxha proved to be the longest serving (ruling is perhaps more accurate term at the time of his death in 1985). Hoxha was the longest-serving head of a Communist country. Albania was a poor country before World War II. Hoxha's Communist economic policies made it even poorer. He turned Albania into a hermit kingdom. Under Hoxha and Communism the economy became a disaster. Even commercial relations with neighboring countries were discouraged. Vast amounts of money were spent on pointless military projects preparing for an invasion that never came. Concrete pill boxes still litter the countryside. This was done at a time when people lived in inadequate conditions. He maintained a policy of isolation until he died (1985). His principal achievement was leaving the country desperately poor--the poorest in Europe. Vast sums were spent on defense in a desperately poor country. Hoxha as part of his isolation policies had over 173,000 concrete bunkers built all over the country. [Hapet dosja] Each of these bunkers had enough concrete and other materials to build a family home, probably two or apartment complexes. Given a family size of five this was housing for more than a million Albanians. This was something like a third of the Albanian population of about 2.9 million people at the time. But it was not just the wasteful military spending that caused an economic disaster. Communist policies discouraged basic economic activity, reducing production. The combination of reduced production and high military spending place Albania in the economic disaster category. This is what caused an explosion of Albanians leaving the country seeking jobs in Italy and oher countries when the reenggemey with Europe made this possible. And there were not oly job seekers, but criminals. Criminals recruited Fagan-like gangs of small children to set upon tourists. I was surrounded by one such gang in Rome (1989).

Created: 5:13 AM 9/15/2025
Last updated: 5:13 AM 9/15/2025