ProleWiki - User contributions [en]

Topic:Xdme067wkwpn2qlf

2023-03-03T02:42:01Z

ProletFlag (talk | contribs) commented on "*yawns*" (Gorbachev wanted peace and had reasonable goals, he called the dissolution of the Soviet Union a coup, he too wanted to preserve it.)

Topic:Xdme067wkwpn2qlf

2023-03-03T02:36:27Z

ProletFlag (talk | contribs) commented on "*yawns*" (Let me show myself, gentlemen! Yeah, I see hypocritical dogmatism from the members of this forum, you support Deng Xiapoing and those who...)

Topic:X5xrbfpscich9q8z

2022-10-29T22:14:25Z

ProletFlag (talk | contribs) commented on "How could a military junta be socialist or Marxist-Leninist?" (Above)

Instruments of production

2022-08-06T21:30:41Z

ProletFlag: Created page with "The '''Instruments of Production''' are the tools which a worker utilises to perform their job."

The '''Instruments of Production''' are the tools which a worker utilises to perform their job.

Library:The Demagogy of the Soviet Revisionists Cannot Conceal their Traitorous Countenance

2022-08-03T15:38:41Z

ProletFlag: Blanked the page

Library:The Demagogy of the Soviet Revisionists Cannot Conceal their Traitorous Countenance

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ProletFlag:

Enver Hoxha

Library:The Demagogy of the Soviet Revisionists Cannot Conceal their Traitorous Countenance

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ProleWiki:Library/Archive

2022-08-03T15:32:27Z

ProletFlag:

{{changetitle|''Library of ProleWiki''}}
A collection of texts, articles and books relating to socialism. Previously this was only for [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] works, but it is currently being expanded to include a wider spectrum of content, including non-Marxist socialists, as well as works that are adversarial to socialism, but still important to understand socialism.

You can find the works of all [[:Category:Library works by Marxist-Leninists|Marxist-Leninist authors here]].
{{TOC limit|3}}
== ProleWiki Selected Works ==

# ''[[Library:The three sources and three component parts of Marxism|The three sources and three component parts of Marxism]]'' (A brief outline of Marxist philosophy, written by Lenin.)
# ''[[Library:Manifesto of the communist party|Manifesto of the communist party]]'' (An analysis of class struggle through history and an outline communist principles by Marx and Engels.)
# ''[[Library:The principles of communism|The principles of communism]]'' (A series of questions about communist ideals answered by Engels.)
# ''[[Library:On authority|On authority]]'' (A response from Engels on the rejection of authority under a socialist state.)
# ''[[Library:The state and revolution|The state and revolution]]'' (A description of the state and its role in society, and the necessity of a revolutionary movement, from Lenin.)

==Main works==
=== Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels===
[[:Category:Library works by Karl Marx|[Marx category page]]] [[:Category:Library works by Friedrich Engels|[Engels category page]]]
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Author
!Work
!Year
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:Critique of Hegel's philosophy of right|Critique of Hegel's philosophy of right]]''
|1843
|-
|Marx & Engels
|''[[Library:The holy family|The holy family]]''
|1845
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:Theses on Feuerbach|Theses on Feuerbach]]''
|1845
|-
|Marx & Engels
|''[[Library:The German ideology|The German ideology]]''
|1846
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:The poverty of philosophy|The poverty of philosophy]]''
|1847
|-
|Engels
|''[[Library:The principles of communism|The principles of communism]]''
|1847
|-
|Marx & Engels
|''[[Library:Manifesto of the communist party|Manifesto of the communist party]]''
|1848
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte|The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte]]''
|1852
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:A contribution to the critique of political economy|A contribution to the critique of political economy]]''
|1859
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:Value, price and profit|Value, price and profit]]''
|1865
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:Capital, vol. I|Capital, vol I]]''
|1867
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:The civil war in France|The civil war in France]]''
|1871
|-
|Engels
|''[[Library:On authority|On authority]]''
|1872
|-
|Marx
|''[[Library:Critique of the Gotha Program|Critique of the Gotha Program]]''
|1875
|-
|Engels
|''[[Library:Anti-Dühring|Anti-Dühring]]''
|1878
|-
|Engels
|''[[Library:Socialism: utopian and scientific|Socialism: utopian and scientific]]''
|1880
|-
|Engels
|''[[Library:The origin of the family, private property and the state|The origin of the family, private property and the state]]''
|1884
|-
|Engels
|''[[Library:Ludwig Feuerbach and the end of classical German philosophy|Ludwig Feuerbach and the end of classical German philosophy]]''
|1886
|-
|Marx & Engels
|[[Library:Marx & Engels letters|Marx & Engels letters]]
|1843–1895
|}

===Vladimir Lenin===
[[:Category:Library works by Vladimir Lenin|[Category page]]]
*''[[Library:What is to be done?|What is to be done?]] (February 1902)''
*''[[Library:Two tactics of social-democracy in the democratic revolution|Two tactics of social-democracy in the democratic revolution]] (July 1905)''
*''[[Library:Materialism and empiriocriticism|Materialism and empiriocriticism]] (February 1908)''
*''[[Library:The three sources and three component parts of Marxism|The three sources and three component parts of Marxism]] (1913)''
*''[[Library:Marxism and Reformism|Marxism and Reformism]] (September 1913)''
*''[[Library:Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism|Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism]] (June 1916)''
*''[[Library:The state and revolution|The state and revolution]] (August 1917)''
*''[[Library:The proletarian revolution and the renegade Kautsky|The proletarian revolution and the renegade Kautsky]] (November 1918)''
*''[[Library:"Left-wing" communism, an infantile disorder|“Left-wing” communism, an infantile disorder]] (May 1920)''

=== Jospeh Stalin===
[[:Category:Library works by Joseph Stalin|[Category page]]]
*''[[Library:Anarchism or socialism?|Anarchism or socialism?]] (January 1907)''
*''[[Library:The foundations of Leninism|The foundations of Leninism]] (April, 1924)''
*''[[Library:Trotskyism or Leninism?|Trotskyism or Leninism?]] (November 19, 1924)''
*''[[Library:Dialectical and historical materialism|Dialectical and historical materialism]] (September 1938)''
*''[[Library:History of the communist party of the Soviet Union|History of the communist party of the Soviet Union]] (1939)''
*''[[Library:Marxism and problems of linguistics|Marxism and problems of linguistics]] (June 2, 1950)''
* ''[[Library:Economic problems of socialism in the USSR|Economic problems of socialism in the USSR]] (September 1952)''

=== Mao Zedong===
[[:Category:Library works by Mao Zedong|[Category page]]]
*[[Library:Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society|Analysis of the classes in chinese society]] (March 1926)
*[[Library:Oppose Book Worship|''Oppose book worship'']] ''(May 1930)''
*''[[Library:On guerrilla warfare|On guerrilla warfare]] (1937)''
*[[Library:Win the Masses in Their Millions for the Anti-Japanese National United Front|''Win the masses in their millions for the anti-japanese national united front'']] (May 7, 1937)
*''[[Library:On practice|On practice]] (July 1937)''
*''[[Library:On contradiction|On contradiction]] (August 1937)''
*''[[Library:Combat liberalism|Combat liberalism]] (September 7, 1937)''

=== Ho Chi Minh===
[[:Category:Library works by Ho Chi Minh|[Category page]]]
*''[[Library:On revolutionary morality|''On revolutionary morality'']]''

===Kim Il-sung===
[[:Category:Library works by Kim Il-Sung|[Category page]]]
*''[[Library:For the establishment of a united party of the working masses|For the establishment of a united party of the working masses]] (1946)''
*''[[Library:On eliminating dogmatism and formalism and establishing Juche in ideological work|On eliminating dogmatism and formalism and establishing Juche in ideological work]] (1955)''
*''[[Library:Let us further strengthen the people’s government|Let us further strengthen the people’s government]] (1977)''
*''[[Library:Enhancing the role of the masses of the people is the guarantee for victory in the cause of independence|Enhancing the role of the masses of the people is the guarantee for victory in the cause of independence]] (1992)''

=== Enver Hoxha ===
[<nowiki/>[[:Category:Library works by Enver Hoxha|Category page]]]

* ''[[Library:Eurocommunism is Anti-Communism|Eurocommunism is Anti-Communism]]''
*[[Library:Imperialism and the Revolution|''Imperialism and the Revolution'']]
*''[[Library:Theory and Practice of the Revolution|Theory and Practice of the Revolution]]''
*''[[Library:With Stalin: Memoirs|With Stalin: Memoirs]]''
*[[The Demagogy of the Soviet Revisionists Cannot Conceal their Traitorous Countenance]]

=== Clara Zetkin ===

* [[Library:Lenin on the women’s question|''Lenin on the women’s question'']]

==Complimentary works==

=== Domenico Losurdo===
* ''[[Library:Has China turned to capitalism? — Reflections on the transition from capitalism to socialism|Has China turned to capitalism? — Reflections on the transition from capitalism to socialism]]''

===Georges Politzer===
*''[[Library:Elementary principles of philosophy|Elementary principles of philosophy]]''
*''[[Library:Fundamental principles of philosophy|Fundamental principles of philosophy]]''

=== Kim Jong-un ===

* [[Library:Report to the 7th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea on the work of the Central Committee|''Report to the 7th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea on the work of the Central Committee'']]
*''[[Library:Fundamentals of Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism|Fundamentals of Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism]]''

=== Deng Xiaoping ===
Need to import from [https://dengxiaopingworks.wordpress.com this collection].

===Xi Jinping===
*''[[Library:The governance of China|The governance of China]]''
*[[Library:Properly Understand the Major Theoretical and Practical Issues in China's Development|Properly understand the major theoretical and practical issues in china's development]] (December 8, 2021)

===Grover Furr===
*''[[Library:Khrushchev lied|Khrushchev lied]]''

===Plekhanov===
*''[[Library:Essays on the history of materialism|Essays on the history of materialism]]‎''
*''[[Library:Fundamental problems of marxism|Fundamental problems of marxism]]''

=== Martin Luther King Jr. ===

* [[Library:Letter from Birmingham Jail|Letter from birmingham jail]]

==Interviews==

===Stalin===

*''[[Library:Stalin interview with H. G. Wells|Interview with H. G. Wells]]''
*''[[Library:Stalin interview with Emil Ludwig|Interview with Emil Ludwig]]''

==Transcripts==

===Podcasts===

*...
*...
*...

===Videos===

==== FOX News ====

* [[Library:Interview with r/AntiWork's Doreen Ford|Interview with r/AntiWork's Doreen Ford]]

====Michael Parenti====

*''[[Library:There Are No Poor Countries|"There Are No Poor Countries"]]''

==== Yanis Varoufakis ====
*''[[Library:Is capitalism devouring democracy?|Is capitalism devouring democracy?]]''

==Documents==
===Brazil===
*''[[Library:Congresses of Brazilian Communist Party|Congresses of Brazilian Communist Party]]''

===China===
*''[[Library:The constitution of the Communist Party of China|The constitution of the Communist Party of China]]''

=== United States ===

* ''[[Library:Constitution of the Communist Party of the United States|Constitution of the Communist Party USA]]''
*[[Library:Program of the Party for Socialism and Liberation|Program of the Party for Socialism and Liberation]]
* [[Library:Founding statement of the United Workers' Party (Organizing Committee)|''Founding statement of the United Workers' Party (Organizing Committee)'']]

== Study guides ==
Here's a category tree of our Study guides which include [[:Category:Film lists|Film lists]] and [[:Category:Reading lists|Reading lists]]<categorytree mode="pages" depth="5">Study guides</categorytree>
[[Category:Library]]

== Library Category Tree ==
<categorytree mode="pages" depth="5">Library</categorytree>

MAGA movement

2022-08-03T02:25:52Z

ProletFlag: Created page with "'''Trumpism''' is a term used to refer to the chauvinistic, borderline-isolationist policies of former-US president Donald Trump."

'''Trumpism''' is a term used to refer to the chauvinistic, borderline-isolationist policies of former-US president Donald Trump.

National Bolshevism

2022-08-03T02:23:06Z

ProletFlag:

'''National Bolshevism(not to be confused with [[Leninism|Bolshevism]])''' is a fascist ideology which is socialist only in economical rhetoric whilst being culturally conservative, nationalist, and anti-communist.

National Bolshevism

2022-08-03T02:22:40Z

ProletFlag:

National Bolshevism

2022-08-03T02:22:13Z

ProletFlag: Created page with "'''National Bolshevism(not to be confused with Bolshevism) i'''s a fascist ideology which is socialist only in economical rhetoric whilst being culturally conservative and anti-communist."

'''National Bolshevism(not to be confused with [[Leninism|Bolshevism]]) i'''s a fascist ideology which is socialist only in economical rhetoric whilst being culturally conservative and anti-communist.

Bourgeois state

2022-08-03T02:14:49Z

ProletFlag:

A bourgeois state is one which serves the interests of [[capital]] in opposition to labour and is wielded by the [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeoisie.]] They maintain what is known as the [[Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie|dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.]]

Dictatorship of the bourgeoisie

2022-08-03T02:12:33Z

ProletFlag:

A '''dictatorship of the bourgeosie''' is any [[state]] which overall acts in the interests of the [[bourgeoisie]] and is wielded by them as they are in control of the state apparatus. See: [[bourgeois state]]

Bourgeois state

2022-08-03T02:07:14Z

ProletFlag: Created page with "A bourgeois state is one which serves the interests of capital in opposition to labour and is wielded by the bourgeoisie."

A bourgeois state is one which serves the interests of [[capital]] in opposition to labour and is wielded by the [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeoisie.]]

Mujahideen

2022-08-03T02:04:16Z

ProletFlag: Created page with "The Mujahideen was a reactionary terrorist organisation backed and funded by the United States which operated in Afghanistan and would later become Al Qaeda which would commit the atrocities during September 11th, 2001."

The Mujahideen was a reactionary terrorist organisation backed and funded by the [[United States]] which operated in Afghanistan and would later become Al Qaeda which would commit the atrocities during September 11th, 2001.

Xi Jinping Thought

2022-08-03T02:01:45Z

ProletFlag: Created page with "Xi Jinping Thought is a continuation of Deng Xiaoping Theory and is a form of socialism in a new era, the 21st century."

Xi Jinping Thought is a continuation of [[Deng Xiaoping Theory]] and is a form of socialism in a new era, the 21st century.

Apartheid

2022-08-03T01:59:33Z

ProletFlag: Created page with "Apartheid was a period of racial segregation and oppression in South Africa between the period of 1948 and the 1990s."

Apartheid was a period of racial segregation and oppression in [[Republic of South Africa|South Africa]] between the period of 1948 and the 1990s.

Nationalization

2022-08-03T01:55:16Z

ProletFlag:

Nationalisation(within the socialist mode of production)is the process whereby the control over the means of production and agriculture is shifted into the hands of the proletarian state and the entire working class in accordance with the dictatorship of the proletariat.

== Nationalisation under capitalism ==
Nationalisation of the means of production under capitalism, creates another strand of capitalism—state capitalism.

Nationalization

2022-08-03T01:54:18Z

ProletFlag:

Nationalisation(within the socialist mode of production)is the process whereby the control over the means of production and agriculture is shifted into the hands of the proletarian state and the entire working class in accordance with the dictatorship of the proletariat.

<nowiki>=Nationalisation under capitalism=</nowiki>

Nationalisation of the means of production under capitalism, creates another strand of capitalism—state capitalism.

Nationalization

2022-08-03T01:53:52Z

ProletFlag:

Nationalisation(within the socialist mode of production)is the process whereby the control over the means of production and agriculture is shifted into the hands of the proletarian state and the entire working class in accordance with the dictatorship of the proletariat.

<nowiki>= Nationalisation under capitalism =</nowiki>

Nationalisation of the means of production under capitalism, creates another strand of capitalism—state capitalism.

Nationalization

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ProletFlag:

Nationalization

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ProletFlag: Created page with "Nationalisation is the process whereby the control over the means of production and agriculture is shifted into the hands of the proletarian state and the entire working class in accordance with the dictatorship of the proletariat."

Nationalisation is the process whereby the control over the means of production and agriculture is shifted into the hands of the proletarian state and the entire working class in accordance with the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Democratic socialism

2022-08-03T01:43:38Z

ProletFlag: Created page with "Democratic Socialism refers to the theory of achieving socialism through electoral means, rather than through revolution and works within the confines of bourgeois liberal democracy."

Democratic Socialism refers to the theory of achieving socialism through electoral means, rather than through revolution and works within the confines of bourgeois liberal democracy.

Vanguard party

2022-08-03T01:41:09Z

ProletFlag: Created page with "The Vanguard Party plays an important role in instilling revolutionary class consciousness amongst the proletariat and plays a critical role in the dictatorship of the proletariat in consolidating ties with the proletariat of other nations and maintaining the alliance of the workers and peasants."

The Vanguard Party plays an important role in instilling revolutionary class consciousness amongst the proletariat and plays a critical role in the dictatorship of the proletariat in consolidating ties with the proletariat of other nations and maintaining the alliance of the workers and peasants.

Collectivization

2022-08-03T01:38:20Z

ProletFlag: Created page with "Collectivisation is the process in which control over agricultural enterprises is shifted into the hands of farm workers and peasants from the control of individuals."

Collectivisation is the process in which control over agricultural enterprises is shifted into the hands of farm workers and peasants from the control of individuals.

Sino-Soviet split

2022-08-03T01:36:05Z

ProletFlag:

The Sino-Soviet Split was a period of worsening diplomatic relations between the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] and the [[People's Republic of China]] that arose from the Khrushchevite revisionist clique's takeover and subsequent decisions and legislation that gravitated towards social imperialism and at worst social fascism. The USSR deviated from the correct Marxist-Leninist line of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]] under Lenin and Stalin's terms as general secretary.

Sino-Soviet split

2022-08-03T01:34:14Z

ProletFlag:

Sino-Soviet split

2022-08-03T01:31:37Z

ProletFlag:

The Sino-Soviet Split was a period of worsening diplomatic relations between the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] and the [[People's Republic of China]] that resulted to the Khrushchevite revisionist clique's takeover and subsequent decisions and legislation that gravitated towards social imperialism and at worst social fascism.

Sino-Soviet split

2022-08-03T01:30:55Z

ProletFlag: Created page with "The Sino-Soviet split was a period of worsening diplomatic relations between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the People's Republic of China that resulted to the Khrushchevite revisionist clique's takeover and subsequent decisions and legislation that gravitated towards social imperialism and at worst social fascism."

The Sino-Soviet split was a period of worsening diplomatic relations between the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] and the [[People's Republic of China]] that resulted to the Khrushchevite revisionist clique's takeover and subsequent decisions and legislation that gravitated towards social imperialism and at worst social fascism.

Anti-fascism

2022-08-03T01:27:10Z

ProletFlag: Created page with "Anti-fascism is the opposition to all forms of fascism, its concepts, and inherently oppressive nature. Anti-fascists oppose totalitarianism and bourgeois class-collaborationism—key elements of fascist ideology."

Anti-fascism is the opposition to all forms of fascism, its concepts, and inherently oppressive nature. Anti-fascists oppose totalitarianism and bourgeois class-collaborationism—key elements of fascist ideology.

Petite bourgeoisie

2022-08-03T01:23:40Z

ProletFlag:

Petite bourgeoisie (French pronunciation: [pətit(ə) buʁʒwazi], or petty bourgeoisie, are the class between the proletariat and the capitalist class. They are the class of smaller scale merchants and semi-automomous peasants. In contrast with the high bourgeoisie, most petite bourgeoisie's means of subsistence are not entirely derived from the exploitation of the labour of others.

Petite bourgeoisie

2022-08-03T01:21:40Z

ProletFlag:

Petite bourgeoisie

2022-08-03T01:10:57Z

ProletFlag: Created page with "The petty bourgeoisie or petite bourgeoisie are the class between the proletariat and the capitalist class. They are the small business owners of society."

The petty bourgeoisie or petite bourgeoisie are the class between the proletariat and the capitalist class. They are the small business owners of society.

Topic:Wvq3rd8lalkx6dny

2022-05-17T21:12:09Z

ProletFlag (talk | contribs) edited a post on "Another Recent Edit"

Topic:Wvq3rd8lalkx6dny

2022-05-17T21:11:47Z

ProletFlag (talk | contribs) edited a post on "Another Recent Edit"

Topic:Wvq3rd8lalkx6dny

2022-05-17T21:11:38Z

ProletFlag (talk | contribs) commented on "Another Recent Edit" (In another recent edit I removed the entirety of a section discussing the alleged problems of Albania for similar reasons that Comrade Fo...)

Topic:Wvq3n82s3lwp9bji

2022-05-17T21:09:54Z

ProletFlag (talk | contribs) edited a post on "Recent Edit Summary"

Topic:Wvq3n82s3lwp9bji

2022-05-17T21:09:44Z

ProletFlag (talk | contribs) edited a post on "Recent Edit Summary"

Topic:Wvq3n82s3lwp9bji

2022-05-17T21:09:34Z

ProletFlag (talk | contribs) commented on "Recent Edit Summary" (I in one of my recent edit summaries had stated to "read Engels where he states the differences between socialists and communists," this...)

People's Socialist Republic of Albania (1946–1992)

2022-05-17T21:04:11Z

ProletFlag: There is a distinct lack of elaboration on the supposed "paranoia," "isolationism," and what is meant by him sticking to the "Stalinist" model when it "no longer made sense for current conditions."

{{Infobox country|name=People's Socialist Republic of Albania|native_name=Republika Popullore Socialiste e Shqipërisë|image_flag=Flag of Albania (1946–1992).svg|year_start=1946|year_end=1992}}
<blockquote>''This article is about the government which existed between 1946 and 1992. For the current country, see [[Albania]].''</blockquote>The '''People's Socialist Republic of Albania''' was a [[Marxism-leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] state that existed from 1946 to 1992. The country emerged from the struggle against [[Italian fascism|Italian fascist]] invaders, and through the leadership of the [[Party of Labour of Albania]]. It was led for most of its existence by [[Enver Hoxha]], whose ideas and leadership formed the branch of Marxism-Leninism known as [[Hoxhaism]].

==History==

=== World War II and fascist occupation ===
Prior to [[Second World War|World War II]], Albania was the poorest nation in [[Europe]]. The country had not gone through industrialization, and it was an entirely feudal and agricultural nation. Up to 90% of the total national income was derived from agriculture with only up to 9% of the land under cultivation. About 88% of the people lived in rural areas, but 53% of peasants had no land ownership in 1938,<ref>{{Citation|author=James S. O'Donnell|year=1998|title=A coming of age: Albania under Enver Hoxha|chapter=Albanian economy|page=151|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=DEFB3CE3D4A9D471D4A2EAE045BF5555}}</ref> and over four fifths of the population was illiterate.<ref>{{Citation|author=William Ash|year=1974|title=Pickaxe and rifle: the story of the Albanian people|page=29|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=AD84F6AFB71FC78856EDD02DCEC65C7F}}</ref> At the time, Albania was under the monarchical rule of Ahmet Zogu, which established a political and economical relationship with [[Kingdom of Italy (1922–1943)|fascist Italy]] since 1925, effectively allowing Italy to exploit Albania's mineral resources and export capital there.<ref>{{Citation|author=Federal Research Division|year=1994|title=Albania: a country study|page=30|publisher=United States Library of Congress|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=CCFF74C37F05F54334B086E3FF2ECA38}}</ref>

By 1928, a quarter of Albania was let out in concessions to Italian, [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|British]] and [[United States of America|Statesian]] corporations which profited from oil and mineral resources. From 1925 to 1939, the Italian [[Fascism|fascist]] government lent several loans to Albania which was turned into debts used to extract more concessions in favor of Italian interests, including placing the Albanian army under control of the fascists. On March 1939, the Italian government pressured Zogu to sign a treaty allowing Italian troops in Albanian land, taking control of the country's strategic infrastructure, and allowing Italian farmers to settle in Albania, enjoying full citizenship rights and other privileges.<ref>{{Citation|author=William Ash|year=1974|title=Pickaxe and rifle: the story of the Albanian people|page=28-29|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=AD84F6AFB71FC78856EDD02DCEC65C7F}}</ref> In that year, up to 70% of Albania's exports was headed to Italy.<ref>{{Citation|author=Federal Research Division|year=1994|title=Albania: a country study|page=32|publisher=United States Library of Congress|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=CCFF74C37F05F54334B086E3FF2ECA38}}</ref>

In April 7th, 1939, the Italian fascists invaded Albania with around 40,000 troops. The Albanian army was already under Italian control, and resistance against the invaders was existent, although insufficient, and by April 10th, Albania was almost completely conquered by fascist forces. This act of aggression did not render any protest from the Western powers at the time, and the United Kingdom still maintained the Anglo-Italian agreement signed a year before. The fascist invaders suppressed the Albanian army as an independent force and made it subordinate to the Italian army. The Italians sent agents from Rome to set up the [[Albanian Fascist Party]], with subsidiary organizations for youth, children, women and workers in an attempt to indoctrinate them with fascist ideology.<ref>{{Citation|author=William Ash|year=1974|title=Pickaxe and rifle: the story of the Albanian people|page=30-32|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=AD84F6AFB71FC78856EDD02DCEC65C7F}}</ref>

The Italian effort to [[Colonization|colonize]] Albania brought tens of thousands of Italians into the country from different backgrounds – workers, farmers, teachers, technicians, merchants, industrialists and state officials. By 1940, there were more Italian workers than Albanians. The Italian language was imposed into the education system and the Albanian culture was subjected to "Italianization". Within the first year of colonization, there were nearly 140 Italian capitalist enterprises profiting from cheap labor and exploiting the country's natural resources to fuel the war economy of fascist Italy. Several military bases and strategic roads were built to further Italian aggressive interests in the Balkan region. Albania was quickly turned into a source of raw materials for Italy and a market for Italian goods. The working conditions of the Albanian workers were deplorable, but nonetheless, a handful of Albanian merchants benefited from Italian invasion through speculation.<ref>{{Citation|author=William Ash|year=1974|title=Pickaxe and rifle: the story of the Albanian people|page=32-33|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=AD84F6AFB71FC78856EDD02DCEC65C7F}}</ref>

=== Communist government ===
When the communists came to power, they swiftly set about transforming the nation's economy, nationalizing all industries, enacting land reform programs, and establishing a Soviet-style planned economy. This resulted in impressive economic growth, as well as the rapid development of industry. The average growth of industry from 1951 to 1975 was 82.5% and the share of agriculture decline from 80% during the first five year plan (1951-55) to 36% in the fifth plan (1971-75). The average growth of the Net Material Product from one five-year plan to the next was nearly 44%.<ref>{{Citation|author=Arjan Gjonga|year=1998|title=Mortality Transition in Albania, 1950-1990|page=32-34|quote=Based on the experience of the Soviet Union, the Albanian Communist Government introduced a centrally-planned economic system. By 1951, the government replaced all the existing market forms and mechanisms by central planning. From then on the centralization of the economy was intensified. The planning system was based on Five Year Plans, where all the economic decisions on production, pricing, wages, investments, external and internal trade were made at the beginning of the plan, and remained unchanged for the whole period. Changes between the plans were also minimal in terms of wages and prices.|pdf=http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2870/1/U615819.pdf|publisher=University of London}}</ref>

In addition, infrastructure was built all throughout the country:<blockquote>It was not just that the industry that experienced rapid growth, infrastructure was also developed. The country’s highway system was greatly expanded, and by 1985 consisted of 6,900 kilometres of roads capable of carrying motor vehicle traffic, and with a small rail network of about 603 kilometres. Within industry, the mineral sector and the electricity generation were initially developed. During 1956-60, the production of chrome made great strides, giving Albania first place in the world in per capita production of chrome ore, and later in the eighties the third place in the world for total output. Because of the large number of rivers and their mountainous nature, Albania developed its hydro-electric potential HEP, estimated at 2500 MW, second to Norway within Europe. Thus, in the eighties Albania reached agreement with neighboring countries (Yugoslavia and Greece) to supply them with electricity.</blockquote>In 1969 direct taxation was abolished, and during this period the quality of schooling and health care continued to improve. It was during this period that Albania achieved full electrification, becoming one of the first nations on Earth (possibly the first, according to some sources) to do so. Electricity was brought to every rural district in the country (the vast majority of the population was rural), and cities were given full power as well. An excellent assessment of socialist Albania's economic development was made by John Salibur O'Donnell, in his book ''A Coming of Age: Albania Under Enver Hoxha:''<blockquote>On the positive side, an objective analysis must conclude that Enver Hoxha's plan to mobilize all of Albania's resources under the regimentation of a central plan was effective and quite successful ... Albania was a tribal society, not necessarily primitive but certainly less developed than most. It had no industrial or working class tradition and no experience using modern production techniques. Thus, the results achieved, especially during the phases of initial planning and construction of the economic base were both impressive and positive.</blockquote>Unfortunately, after 1975, the economy began to stagnate. Going back to the University of London study:<blockquote>In contrast with the previous period, the eighties witnessed a marked slowdown in economic activity, which virtually stagnated during the second half of the decade, reflecting Albania’s self-imposed isolation since 1976 and the emergence of serious internal and external imbalances. The real NMP, which had grown by nearly 44% in the previous period 1970-1980, but in 1980-1989 rose only by an average of 1 percent per year, declining from an average of 1.6 percent during 1980-85 to no growth during 1985-90. Real GDP followed a similar pattern, growing by 1 percent during 1980-1990, declining from 2 percent during 1980-85 to a marginal negative growth during 1985-90.</blockquote>This resulted from Albania's self-imposed isolation from other socialist nations, as well as a lack of economic investment, which resulted from excessive and unnecessary military spending (particularly the infamous and costly bunker project):<blockquote>There are many reasons that sent the Albanian economy into a dead-end street in the eighties. Most significant are the orthodox objectives and methods of management of the communist leadership; the lack of investment in the economy, which brought about a lack in advanced technology; and, most of all, the self-isolation of the country, which brought the Albanian economy to a state of total collapse in 1990.</blockquote>In short, Albania achieved remarkable economic growth for about thirty years, which eventually slowed to a halt as a result of bad policy and self-imposed isolation.

== Governance==

=== Education ===
Education was a top priority of the communist government, due to the extremely poor educational conditions of the country post-WWII. According to the earlier cited study:<blockquote>The end of the second World War found Albania in a very poor educational state. At that time 80% of the population was illiterate, and in the rural areas this figure reached 90-95%. Illiteracy was widespread in rural areas and in particular among women. Immediately upon seizure of power in 1944, the communist regime gave high priority to opening schools and organizing the whole educational system along communist lines. An intensive campaign against illiteracy started immediately.</blockquote>This resulted in enormous improvements in the educational system:<blockquote>In terms of enrollments, Albania had a broad-based education system, with almost 90% of the pupils completing the compulsory basic 8-year school and 74% of them continuing into secondary school. From these, more than 40% went to the university. According to official figures, at the end of 1972 there were 700,000 schoolchildren and university students, which meant that every third citizen was enrolled in some kind of educational institution. The number of kindergartens in urban areas increased by 112% from 1970 to 1990, while in rural areas it increased by 150%. The number of primary schools in urban areas, for the same period of time, rose 31%, and in rural areas 24%. The total number of secondary schools increased by 291%, and that of high schools by 60%. A similar trend is seen for the number of students that graduated. Thus the number of pupils that graduated from primary schools for the period 1970-1990 increased by 74.8%, for the secondary school, the number rose 914.2%, and for university 147%. Education tuition was free of charge. Students whose families had low incomes were entitled to scholarships, which gave them free accommodation, food, etc.</blockquote>As a result, illiteracy was virtually wiped out across the country:<blockquote>At the end of eighties, Albania had a rate of illiteracy of less than 5%, placing it among the developed countries.</blockquote>This is a remarkable advancement. As the study says:<blockquote>The achievement of universal education must be judged one of the communist regime’s main achievements.</blockquote>

===Healthcare===

Healthcare was another area in which the communists made enormous progress. After WWII, Albania's healthcare situation was rather desperate:<blockquote>As explained earlier in this Chapter, when the communists took over in Albania in 1945, the state of the population's health and the Albanian health system were in a very bad state. Before the War, the health system consisted only of 10 state hospitals and an Institute of Hygiene founded in Tirana in 1938. The number of doctors was very low - only 102 Albanian doctors and a very small number of foreign doctors. Thus, the number of physicians (doctors and dentists) per 10,000 of the population was only 1.17, while the number of beds for 1,000 of population only 0.98.</blockquote>Life expectancy and mortality were among the worst in the world:<blockquote>According to the League of Nations in 1941, the crude death rate for Albania in 1938 was 17.7 per thousand. In a later study a figure on life expectancy at birth is given for 1938 as 38 years. Even these figures are thought not to be accurate, because death registration was not complete. There was no death certificate form, the posting of registers was always in arrears, and very little information on cause of death was recorded. The majority of villagers died without any medical intervention. In the early twenties over half of the country's 2,540 villages had never been visited by a doctor.</blockquote>Because of this, the communists made healthcare a top priority:<blockquote>In order to address this situation, the government starting in 1947, introduced a wide-ranging social insurance and medical scheme. Most medical treatments (thought not the medicines) were provided free. Legislation was introduced to protect the mother and child, and set up the pension scheme, as well as other regulations on sanitary conditions and control, and for the treatment of infectious diseases.</blockquote>As a result of communist healthcare policy, life expectancy increased rapidly in Albania:<blockquote>Most of the improvement in life expectancy at birth occurred in the first decade, when life expectancy at birth increased by 10.4 years for both sexes, more than one year for each year of the decade. In the next three decades mortality continued to improve, although not at the same pace as in the first decade.</blockquote>The following table charts life expectancy in Albania from 1950-1990, as given by the aforementioned study (recall that life expectancy in 1938 was approx. 38 years):
{| class="wikitable"
!''Years''
!''Life Expectancy (Male and Female)''
|-
|1950
|51.6
|-
|1954-55
|55.0
|-
|1960
| 62.0
|-
|1964-65
|64.1
|-
|1969
|66.5
|-
|1975-1976
|67.0
|-
|1979
|68.0
|-
|1989
|70.7
|}
From these statistics, it is clear that the communists achieved an enormous increase in life expectancy, from 38 years in 1938, to 68 years in 1979, an increase of thirty years in just four decades. It continued to improve until 1989, albeit more slowly.

The communists also succeeded in eliminating various infectious diseases which had plagued the country, particularly malaria, which had been the biggest killer in pre-war Albania:<blockquote>A number of endemic diseases were brought under control, including malaria, tuberculosis and syphilis... If one looks at the mortality transition from 1950 to 1990, it is clear that the pattern changes as life expectancy improves. Thus, the infectious and parasitic (tuberculosis included) diseases decline and almost disappear in the seventies and eighties.</blockquote>The Albanian communists made a number of extremely impressive achievements in the field of healthcare. Unfortunately, this too began to suffer at the tail-end of the communist period, as a lack of investment and self-imposed isolation took their toll.

===Social security===

The social security system was a major priority of the communist government. Based on the Soviet model, the communists developed a cradle-to-grave social welfare system throughout the nation:<blockquote>Social Insurance was first introduced by the Albanian communist government in 1947. The initial social security scheme covered approximately 75,000 people. The social insurance program was administered by state organisations and covered medical care, compensation for disability, old-age pensions, family allowances, and rest and recreation. Several modifications were made latter to the basic program. The law of 1953 provided a program closely resembling that of the Soviet Union, i.e. a classic cradle-to-grave system of social security. For a number of years trade unions administered a large number of social insurance activities. In 1965 the state took over the administration of all phases except those for rest and recreation facilities.</blockquote>Maternity leave and disability insurance were provided:<blockquote>If people lost their capacity to work totally or partially, they were granted invalidity pensions. The amount of the pension varied between 40-85% of the wage depending on the scale of invalidity, cause of invalidity and the number of years that the person had been working. Pregnant women were given eighty-four days leave under normal circumstances and were paid at 95% of their wage if they had worked for more than five years and 75% if they had worked less than five. The pregnancy leave period was extended to six months in 1981. Workers could stay at home for limited periods to care for the sick and during this period received 60% of their pay.</blockquote>Old-age pensions were also provided to all retired workers:<blockquote>Old-age pensions were based on age and years of work. Payments were calculated at the rate of 70% of the worker’s average monthly wage. Two exceptions were the veterans of the Second World War and the Party leaders who received an additional 10%. The law also provided for widow’s and orphan’s pensions.</blockquote>All workers were guaranteed time off from work, with pay:<blockquote>All insured persons were entitled to a paid vacation. The duration of the vacation depended on the type of work and the length of active employment.</blockquote>Childcare insurance was also an aspect of the social security system:<blockquote>When children under seven years of age were ill, one of the parents was permitted up to ten days leave during a three month period. A one-time payment was made to the family for each child that was born. In case of death a fixed sum was paid to the family for funeral expenses.</blockquote>Eventually, the system was expanded to include peasants in farming cooperatives:<blockquote>From 1st July 1972 the system of pensions and social security was extended to cover peasants working in agriculture cooperatives. This aimed at the narrowing of the differences between urban and rural areas. Some agricultural cooperatives had already introduced some forms of pensions and social insurance providing help for their members in old age and when they were unable to work. The financing of this social security system in the rural areas came from the contributions of the cooperatives with some subsidization from the state.</blockquote>The provision of a cradle-to-grave social welfare system is an enormous achievement, and one of the main advances made by the communist government.

===Women's rights ===

Pre-war Albania was one of the most reactionary societies on Earth with regards to women's rights:<blockquote>For most women, traditional Albanian life was characterized by discrimination and inequality compared with men, reinforced by a wide range of cultural norms... In the immediate pre-war period there were just 21 female teachers in the country, a couple of women doctors and no female engineers, agronomists or chemists. Only 2.4 percent of secondary school students were girls.</blockquote>The Code of Leke (the traditional pre-war Albanian code of law relating to women) was harshly discriminatory. Even murder of a pregnant woman was punished differently depending on the sex of the fetus she was carrying:<blockquote>... 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.</blockquote>In order to rectify this situation, the communists placed an enormous emphasis on women's rights:<blockquote>When the communists came to power they considered the emancipation of women as an important political measure, linking it with the destiny of socialism and communism... Equality between men and women was stressed continuously and was even included in the Constitution. The Introduction to the Constitution of the PSR of Albania says that “In the unceasing process of the revolution, the Albanian woman won equality in all fields, became a great social force and is advancing towards her complete emancipation." Article 41 of the constitution says: “The woman enjoys equal rights with a man in work, pay, holidays, social security, education, in all social-political activities as well as in the family.”</blockquote>Women became an active part of the workforce, while previously they had been almost entirely excluded:<blockquote>Equal rights included amongst others the equal right to have a job. Subsidized day-care nurseries and kindergartens, launderettes and canteens at both workplace, and in residential areas were provided, to make it easier for mothers to work. By 1980 women made up 46% of the economically active population, an increase over one quarter compared with 1960.</blockquote>Women also made huge advanced in access to education, as well as in positions of government power:<blockquote>Educational opportunities for women also improved considerably. Table 2.5 shows the increase in the percentage of students who were women graduating from university according to specialties. The table shows that the increase in the percentage during the period 1960-1990, for women engineers was 258.6%, while that for agronomists was 206%, for economists 192%. The same policy was adopted for the participation of women in governing of the country.</blockquote>Edwin E. Jacques discusses this issue in his book ''The Albanians: An Ethnographic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present:''

*[https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Albanians.html?id=IJ2s9sQ9bGkC&redir_esc=y Google Books | The Albanians: An Ethnographic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present]

According to Jacques, 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.

The People's Socialist Republic of Albania made a number of enormous achievements in terms of women's rights. Even the most reactionary of commentators have acknowledged this. For example, take the following article from the ''Telegraph,'' authored by a reactionary writer who grew up in communist Albania:

*[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/growing-up-under-communist-rule-made-me-the-tough-feminist-i-am/ The Telegraph | Growing Up Under Communist Rule Made Me the Tough Feminist I Am Today]

As she says in the article:<blockquote>Inspired by the ongoing debate on women’s inequalities, I have recently reflected on my own childhood politics and have come to the surprising conclusion that the place to look for solutions to gender inequality is the Communist model.</blockquote>She comments on the communist encouragement of women in the workforce:<blockquote>The Communist promise that women should be equal players in the workforce was not an empty one. Women were positively encouraged by government campaigns to embark on all professions, including “manly” jobs, building on the fact they had fought in large numbers alongside the men as partisans during the Second World War. To achieve this they were given trainee-ships, professional qualifications and scholarships... Growing up, I never encountered any suggestion that women in these professions were in any way less capable than men by virtue of their gender and additional role as mothers. On the whole, they faced no barriers of gender discrimination. I remember my parents and their friends frequently praising excellent female doctors and teachers... This form of equal partnership was commonplace in the Albanian society I grew up and importantly women’s role in the family informed how women were viewed in the workplace and vice-versa. If men suggested that women should be relegated to the house they were mocked for their anachronistic ideas.</blockquote>When even a reactionary writer whose parents sent her to clandestine Italian lessons (the language of the fascist occupiers) is praising the communist policies towards women's rights, that is a strong indication of their success.

==Major problems==

==Conclusion==
The People's Socialist Republic of Albania is a complicated case for us to analyze. The following assessment of the revolution is given by the University of London study:<blockquote>Overall, how can we characterize communist Albania? Clearly, in spite of considerable economic development relative to its previous level, it remained poor and mostly rural. However, the social agenda of development made much more progress. Education and social security became virtually universal, and health care was available to all. Moreover, traditionally severe discrimination against women was greatly reduced.</blockquote>Some achievements of the communists are acknowledged even by reactionaries:<blockquote>The reduction of long-standing traditions of discrimination against women, and the provision of universal education and primary health-care were achievements which even the regime’s enemies acknowledge.</blockquote>The communists also greatly developed the nation's economy, developed its infrastructure, and liberated it from foreign domination. One of the best summations of the achievements of socialism in Albania is given by the ''Encyclopedia Britannica,'' in its article on Enver Hoxha:<blockquote>Albania’s economy was revolutionized under Hoxha’s long rule. Farmland was confiscated from wealthy landowners and gathered into collective farms that eventually enabled Albania to become almost completely self-sufficient in food crops. Industry, which had previously been almost nonexistent, received huge amounts of investment, so that by the 1980's it had grown to contribute more than half of the gross national product. Electricity was brought to every rural district, epidemics of disease were stamped out, and illiteracy became a thing of the past.

[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enver-Hoxha Encyclopedia Britannica | Enver Hoxha]</blockquote>Despite all of this, however, the flaws of isolationism and rigid-dogmatism prevented the nation from advancing post-1975, and ultimately brought about its fall. Let this serve as a warning: idealism and isolation are fatal to any revolution.

==References==
[http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2870/1/U615819.pdf University of London | Mortality Transition in Albania: 1950-1990]

[https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Albanians.html?id=IJ2s9sQ9bGkC&redir_esc=y Google Books | The Albanians: An Ethnographic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present]

[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/growing-up-under-communist-rule-made-me-the-tough-feminist-i-am/ The Telegraph | Growing Up Under Communist Rule Made Me the Tough Feminist I Am Today]

[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enver-Hoxha Encyclopedia Britannica | Enver Hoxha]

People's Socialist Republic of Albania (1946–1992)

2022-05-17T21:00:07Z

ProletFlag: Read Engels where he mentions the difference between socialists and communists

{{Infobox country|name=People's Socialist Republic of Albania|native_name=Republika Popullore Socialiste e Shqipërisë|image_flag=Flag of Albania (1946–1992).svg|year_start=1946|year_end=1992}}
<blockquote>''This article is about the government which existed between 1946 and 1992. For the current country, see [[Albania]].''</blockquote>The '''People's Socialist Republic of Albania''' was a [[Marxism-leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] state that existed from 1946 to 1992. The country emerged from the struggle against [[Italian fascism|Italian fascist]] invaders, and through the leadership of the [[Party of Labour of Albania]]. It was led for most of its existence by [[Enver Hoxha]], whose ideas and leadership formed the branch of Marxism-Leninism known as [[Hoxhaism]].

==History==

=== World War II and fascist occupation ===
Prior to [[Second World War|World War II]], Albania was the poorest nation in [[Europe]]. The country had not gone through industrialization, and it was an entirely feudal and agricultural nation. Up to 90% of the total national income was derived from agriculture with only up to 9% of the land under cultivation. About 88% of the people lived in rural areas, but 53% of peasants had no land ownership in 1938,<ref>{{Citation|author=James S. O'Donnell|year=1998|title=A coming of age: Albania under Enver Hoxha|chapter=Albanian economy|page=151|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=DEFB3CE3D4A9D471D4A2EAE045BF5555}}</ref> and over four fifths of the population was illiterate.<ref>{{Citation|author=William Ash|year=1974|title=Pickaxe and rifle: the story of the Albanian people|page=29|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=AD84F6AFB71FC78856EDD02DCEC65C7F}}</ref> At the time, Albania was under the monarchical rule of Ahmet Zogu, which established a political and economical relationship with [[Kingdom of Italy (1922–1943)|fascist Italy]] since 1925, effectively allowing Italy to exploit Albania's mineral resources and export capital there.<ref>{{Citation|author=Federal Research Division|year=1994|title=Albania: a country study|page=30|publisher=United States Library of Congress|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=CCFF74C37F05F54334B086E3FF2ECA38}}</ref>

By 1928, a quarter of Albania was let out in concessions to Italian, [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|British]] and [[United States of America|Statesian]] corporations which profited from oil and mineral resources. From 1925 to 1939, the Italian [[Fascism|fascist]] government lent several loans to Albania which was turned into debts used to extract more concessions in favor of Italian interests, including placing the Albanian army under control of the fascists. On March 1939, the Italian government pressured Zogu to sign a treaty allowing Italian troops in Albanian land, taking control of the country's strategic infrastructure, and allowing Italian farmers to settle in Albania, enjoying full citizenship rights and other privileges.<ref>{{Citation|author=William Ash|year=1974|title=Pickaxe and rifle: the story of the Albanian people|page=28-29|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=AD84F6AFB71FC78856EDD02DCEC65C7F}}</ref> In that year, up to 70% of Albania's exports was headed to Italy.<ref>{{Citation|author=Federal Research Division|year=1994|title=Albania: a country study|page=32|publisher=United States Library of Congress|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=CCFF74C37F05F54334B086E3FF2ECA38}}</ref>

In April 7th, 1939, the Italian fascists invaded Albania with around 40,000 troops. The Albanian army was already under Italian control, and resistance against the invaders was existent, although insufficient, and by April 10th, Albania was almost completely conquered by fascist forces. This act of aggression did not render any protest from the Western powers at the time, and the United Kingdom still maintained the Anglo-Italian agreement signed a year before. The fascist invaders suppressed the Albanian army as an independent force and made it subordinate to the Italian army. The Italians sent agents from Rome to set up the [[Albanian Fascist Party]], with subsidiary organizations for youth, children, women and workers in an attempt to indoctrinate them with fascist ideology.<ref>{{Citation|author=William Ash|year=1974|title=Pickaxe and rifle: the story of the Albanian people|page=30-32|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=AD84F6AFB71FC78856EDD02DCEC65C7F}}</ref>

The Italian effort to [[Colonization|colonize]] Albania brought tens of thousands of Italians into the country from different backgrounds – workers, farmers, teachers, technicians, merchants, industrialists and state officials. By 1940, there were more Italian workers than Albanians. The Italian language was imposed into the education system and the Albanian culture was subjected to "Italianization". Within the first year of colonization, there were nearly 140 Italian capitalist enterprises profiting from cheap labor and exploiting the country's natural resources to fuel the war economy of fascist Italy. Several military bases and strategic roads were built to further Italian aggressive interests in the Balkan region. Albania was quickly turned into a source of raw materials for Italy and a market for Italian goods. The working conditions of the Albanian workers were deplorable, but nonetheless, a handful of Albanian merchants benefited from Italian invasion through speculation.<ref>{{Citation|author=William Ash|year=1974|title=Pickaxe and rifle: the story of the Albanian people|page=32-33|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=AD84F6AFB71FC78856EDD02DCEC65C7F}}</ref>

=== Communist government ===
When the communists came to power, they swiftly set about transforming the nation's economy, nationalizing all industries, enacting land reform programs, and establishing a Soviet-style planned economy. This resulted in impressive economic growth, as well as the rapid development of industry. The average growth of industry from 1951 to 1975 was 82.5% and the share of agriculture decline from 80% during the first five year plan (1951-55) to 36% in the fifth plan (1971-75). The average growth of the Net Material Product from one five-year plan to the next was nearly 44%.<ref>{{Citation|author=Arjan Gjonga|year=1998|title=Mortality Transition in Albania, 1950-1990|page=32-34|quote=Based on the experience of the Soviet Union, the Albanian Communist Government introduced a centrally-planned economic system. By 1951, the government replaced all the existing market forms and mechanisms by central planning. From then on the centralization of the economy was intensified. The planning system was based on Five Year Plans, where all the economic decisions on production, pricing, wages, investments, external and internal trade were made at the beginning of the plan, and remained unchanged for the whole period. Changes between the plans were also minimal in terms of wages and prices.|pdf=http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2870/1/U615819.pdf|publisher=University of London}}</ref>

In addition, infrastructure was built all throughout the country:<blockquote>It was not just that the industry that experienced rapid growth, infrastructure was also developed. The country’s highway system was greatly expanded, and by 1985 consisted of 6,900 kilometres of roads capable of carrying motor vehicle traffic, and with a small rail network of about 603 kilometres. Within industry, the mineral sector and the electricity generation were initially developed. During 1956-60, the production of chrome made great strides, giving Albania first place in the world in per capita production of chrome ore, and later in the eighties the third place in the world for total output. Because of the large number of rivers and their mountainous nature, Albania developed its hydro-electric potential HEP, estimated at 2500 MW, second to Norway within Europe. Thus, in the eighties Albania reached agreement with neighboring countries (Yugoslavia and Greece) to supply them with electricity.</blockquote>In 1969 direct taxation was abolished, and during this period the quality of schooling and health care continued to improve. It was during this period that Albania achieved full electrification, becoming one of the first nations on Earth (possibly the first, according to some sources) to do so. Electricity was brought to every rural district in the country (the vast majority of the population was rural), and cities were given full power as well. An excellent assessment of socialist Albania's economic development was made by John Salibur O'Donnell, in his book ''A Coming of Age: Albania Under Enver Hoxha:''<blockquote>On the positive side, an objective analysis must conclude that Enver Hoxha's plan to mobilize all of Albania's resources under the regimentation of a central plan was effective and quite successful ... Albania was a tribal society, not necessarily primitive but certainly less developed than most. It had no industrial or working class tradition and no experience using modern production techniques. Thus, the results achieved, especially during the phases of initial planning and construction of the economic base were both impressive and positive.</blockquote>Unfortunately, after 1975, the economy began to stagnate. Going back to the University of London study:<blockquote>In contrast with the previous period, the eighties witnessed a marked slowdown in economic activity, which virtually stagnated during the second half of the decade, reflecting Albania’s self-imposed isolation since 1976 and the emergence of serious internal and external imbalances. The real NMP, which had grown by nearly 44% in the previous period 1970-1980, but in 1980-1989 rose only by an average of 1 percent per year, declining from an average of 1.6 percent during 1980-85 to no growth during 1985-90. Real GDP followed a similar pattern, growing by 1 percent during 1980-1990, declining from 2 percent during 1980-85 to a marginal negative growth during 1985-90.</blockquote>This resulted from Albania's self-imposed isolation from other socialist nations, as well as a lack of economic investment, which resulted from excessive and unnecessary military spending (particularly the infamous and costly bunker project):<blockquote>There are many reasons that sent the Albanian economy into a dead-end street in the eighties. Most significant are the orthodox objectives and methods of management of the communist leadership; the lack of investment in the economy, which brought about a lack in advanced technology; and, most of all, the self-isolation of the country, which brought the Albanian economy to a state of total collapse in 1990.</blockquote>In short, Albania achieved remarkable economic growth for about thirty years, which eventually slowed to a halt as a result of bad policy and self-imposed isolation.

== Governance==

=== Education ===
Education was a top priority of the communist government, due to the extremely poor educational conditions of the country post-WWII. According to the earlier cited study:<blockquote>The end of the second World War found Albania in a very poor educational state. At that time 80% of the population was illiterate, and in the rural areas this figure reached 90-95%. Illiteracy was widespread in rural areas and in particular among women. Immediately upon seizure of power in 1944, the communist regime gave high priority to opening schools and organizing the whole educational system along communist lines. An intensive campaign against illiteracy started immediately.</blockquote>This resulted in enormous improvements in the educational system:<blockquote>In terms of enrollments, Albania had a broad-based education system, with almost 90% of the pupils completing the compulsory basic 8-year school and 74% of them continuing into secondary school. From these, more than 40% went to the university. According to official figures, at the end of 1972 there were 700,000 schoolchildren and university students, which meant that every third citizen was enrolled in some kind of educational institution. The number of kindergartens in urban areas increased by 112% from 1970 to 1990, while in rural areas it increased by 150%. The number of primary schools in urban areas, for the same period of time, rose 31%, and in rural areas 24%. The total number of secondary schools increased by 291%, and that of high schools by 60%. A similar trend is seen for the number of students that graduated. Thus the number of pupils that graduated from primary schools for the period 1970-1990 increased by 74.8%, for the secondary school, the number rose 914.2%, and for university 147%. Education tuition was free of charge. Students whose families had low incomes were entitled to scholarships, which gave them free accommodation, food, etc.</blockquote>As a result, illiteracy was virtually wiped out across the country:<blockquote>At the end of eighties, Albania had a rate of illiteracy of less than 5%, placing it among the developed countries.</blockquote>This is a remarkable advancement. As the study says:<blockquote>The achievement of universal education must be judged one of the communist regime’s main achievements.</blockquote>

===Healthcare===

Healthcare was another area in which the communists made enormous progress. After WWII, Albania's healthcare situation was rather desperate:<blockquote>As explained earlier in this Chapter, when the communists took over in Albania in 1945, the state of the population's health and the Albanian health system were in a very bad state. Before the War, the health system consisted only of 10 state hospitals and an Institute of Hygiene founded in Tirana in 1938. The number of doctors was very low - only 102 Albanian doctors and a very small number of foreign doctors. Thus, the number of physicians (doctors and dentists) per 10,000 of the population was only 1.17, while the number of beds for 1,000 of population only 0.98.</blockquote>Life expectancy and mortality were among the worst in the world:<blockquote>According to the League of Nations in 1941, the crude death rate for Albania in 1938 was 17.7 per thousand. In a later study a figure on life expectancy at birth is given for 1938 as 38 years. Even these figures are thought not to be accurate, because death registration was not complete. There was no death certificate form, the posting of registers was always in arrears, and very little information on cause of death was recorded. The majority of villagers died without any medical intervention. In the early twenties over half of the country's 2,540 villages had never been visited by a doctor.</blockquote>Because of this, the communists made healthcare a top priority:<blockquote>In order to address this situation, the government starting in 1947, introduced a wide-ranging social insurance and medical scheme. Most medical treatments (thought not the medicines) were provided free. Legislation was introduced to protect the mother and child, and set up the pension scheme, as well as other regulations on sanitary conditions and control, and for the treatment of infectious diseases.</blockquote>As a result of communist healthcare policy, life expectancy increased rapidly in Albania:<blockquote>Most of the improvement in life expectancy at birth occurred in the first decade, when life expectancy at birth increased by 10.4 years for both sexes, more than one year for each year of the decade. In the next three decades mortality continued to improve, although not at the same pace as in the first decade.</blockquote>The following table charts life expectancy in Albania from 1950-1990, as given by the aforementioned study (recall that life expectancy in 1938 was approx. 38 years):
{| class="wikitable"
!''Years''
!''Life Expectancy (Male and Female)''
|-
|1950
|51.6
|-
|1954-55
|55.0
|-
|1960
| 62.0
|-
|1964-65
|64.1
|-
|1969
|66.5
|-
|1975-1976
|67.0
|-
|1979
|68.0
|-
|1989
|70.7
|}
From these statistics, it is clear that the communists achieved an enormous increase in life expectancy, from 38 years in 1938, to 68 years in 1979, an increase of thirty years in just four decades. It continued to improve until 1989, albeit more slowly.

The communists also succeeded in eliminating various infectious diseases which had plagued the country, particularly malaria, which had been the biggest killer in pre-war Albania:<blockquote>A number of endemic diseases were brought under control, including malaria, tuberculosis and syphilis... If one looks at the mortality transition from 1950 to 1990, it is clear that the pattern changes as life expectancy improves. Thus, the infectious and parasitic (tuberculosis included) diseases decline and almost disappear in the seventies and eighties.</blockquote>The Albanian communists made a number of extremely impressive achievements in the field of healthcare. Unfortunately, this too began to suffer at the tail-end of the communist period, as a lack of investment and self-imposed isolation took their toll.

===Social security===

The social security system was a major priority of the communist government. Based on the Soviet model, the communists developed a cradle-to-grave social welfare system throughout the nation:<blockquote>Social Insurance was first introduced by the Albanian communist government in 1947. The initial social security scheme covered approximately 75,000 people. The social insurance program was administered by state organisations and covered medical care, compensation for disability, old-age pensions, family allowances, and rest and recreation. Several modifications were made latter to the basic program. The law of 1953 provided a program closely resembling that of the Soviet Union, i.e. a classic cradle-to-grave system of social security. For a number of years trade unions administered a large number of social insurance activities. In 1965 the state took over the administration of all phases except those for rest and recreation facilities.</blockquote>Maternity leave and disability insurance were provided:<blockquote>If people lost their capacity to work totally or partially, they were granted invalidity pensions. The amount of the pension varied between 40-85% of the wage depending on the scale of invalidity, cause of invalidity and the number of years that the person had been working. Pregnant women were given eighty-four days leave under normal circumstances and were paid at 95% of their wage if they had worked for more than five years and 75% if they had worked less than five. The pregnancy leave period was extended to six months in 1981. Workers could stay at home for limited periods to care for the sick and during this period received 60% of their pay.</blockquote>Old-age pensions were also provided to all retired workers:<blockquote>Old-age pensions were based on age and years of work. Payments were calculated at the rate of 70% of the worker’s average monthly wage. Two exceptions were the veterans of the Second World War and the Party leaders who received an additional 10%. The law also provided for widow’s and orphan’s pensions.</blockquote>All workers were guaranteed time off from work, with pay:<blockquote>All insured persons were entitled to a paid vacation. The duration of the vacation depended on the type of work and the length of active employment.</blockquote>Childcare insurance was also an aspect of the social security system:<blockquote>When children under seven years of age were ill, one of the parents was permitted up to ten days leave during a three month period. A one-time payment was made to the family for each child that was born. In case of death a fixed sum was paid to the family for funeral expenses.</blockquote>Eventually, the system was expanded to include peasants in farming cooperatives:<blockquote>From 1st July 1972 the system of pensions and social security was extended to cover peasants working in agriculture cooperatives. This aimed at the narrowing of the differences between urban and rural areas. Some agricultural cooperatives had already introduced some forms of pensions and social insurance providing help for their members in old age and when they were unable to work. The financing of this social security system in the rural areas came from the contributions of the cooperatives with some subsidization from the state.</blockquote>The provision of a cradle-to-grave social welfare system is an enormous achievement, and one of the main advances made by the communist government.

===Women's rights ===

Pre-war Albania was one of the most reactionary societies on Earth with regards to women's rights:<blockquote>For most women, traditional Albanian life was characterized by discrimination and inequality compared with men, reinforced by a wide range of cultural norms... In the immediate pre-war period there were just 21 female teachers in the country, a couple of women doctors and no female engineers, agronomists or chemists. Only 2.4 percent of secondary school students were girls.</blockquote>The Code of Leke (the traditional pre-war Albanian code of law relating to women) was harshly discriminatory. Even murder of a pregnant woman was punished differently depending on the sex of the fetus she was carrying:<blockquote>... 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.</blockquote>In order to rectify this situation, the communists placed an enormous emphasis on women's rights:<blockquote>When the communists came to power they considered the emancipation of women as an important political measure, linking it with the destiny of socialism and communism... Equality between men and women was stressed continuously and was even included in the Constitution. The Introduction to the Constitution of the PSR of Albania says that “In the unceasing process of the revolution, the Albanian woman won equality in all fields, became a great social force and is advancing towards her complete emancipation." Article 41 of the constitution says: “The woman enjoys equal rights with a man in work, pay, holidays, social security, education, in all social-political activities as well as in the family.”</blockquote>Women became an active part of the workforce, while previously they had been almost entirely excluded:<blockquote>Equal rights included amongst others the equal right to have a job. Subsidized day-care nurseries and kindergartens, launderettes and canteens at both workplace, and in residential areas were provided, to make it easier for mothers to work. By 1980 women made up 46% of the economically active population, an increase over one quarter compared with 1960.</blockquote>Women also made huge advanced in access to education, as well as in positions of government power:<blockquote>Educational opportunities for women also improved considerably. Table 2.5 shows the increase in the percentage of students who were women graduating from university according to specialties. The table shows that the increase in the percentage during the period 1960-1990, for women engineers was 258.6%, while that for agronomists was 206%, for economists 192%. The same policy was adopted for the participation of women in governing of the country.</blockquote>Edwin E. Jacques discusses this issue in his book ''The Albanians: An Ethnographic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present:''

*[https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Albanians.html?id=IJ2s9sQ9bGkC&redir_esc=y Google Books | The Albanians: An Ethnographic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present]

According to Jacques, 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.

The People's Socialist Republic of Albania made a number of enormous achievements in terms of women's rights. Even the most reactionary of commentators have acknowledged this. For example, take the following article from the ''Telegraph,'' authored by a reactionary writer who grew up in communist Albania:

*[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/growing-up-under-communist-rule-made-me-the-tough-feminist-i-am/ The Telegraph | Growing Up Under Communist Rule Made Me the Tough Feminist I Am Today]

As she says in the article:<blockquote>Inspired by the ongoing debate on women’s inequalities, I have recently reflected on my own childhood politics and have come to the surprising conclusion that the place to look for solutions to gender inequality is the Communist model.</blockquote>She comments on the communist encouragement of women in the workforce:<blockquote>The Communist promise that women should be equal players in the workforce was not an empty one. Women were positively encouraged by government campaigns to embark on all professions, including “manly” jobs, building on the fact they had fought in large numbers alongside the men as partisans during the Second World War. To achieve this they were given trainee-ships, professional qualifications and scholarships... Growing up, I never encountered any suggestion that women in these professions were in any way less capable than men by virtue of their gender and additional role as mothers. On the whole, they faced no barriers of gender discrimination. I remember my parents and their friends frequently praising excellent female doctors and teachers... This form of equal partnership was commonplace in the Albanian society I grew up and importantly women’s role in the family informed how women were viewed in the workplace and vice-versa. If men suggested that women should be relegated to the house they were mocked for their anachronistic ideas.</blockquote>When even a reactionary writer whose parents sent her to clandestine Italian lessons (the language of the fascist occupiers) is praising the communist policies towards women's rights, that is a strong indication of their success.

==Major problems==
Despite the great achievements of the communist government, there were nonetheless huge flaws which ultimately brought down the nation. These were:

#The rigid anti-revisionism of Hoxha, who refused to allow any deviation from the Stalinist model, even when certain policies no longer made sense for current conditions.
# The self-imposed isolation of the nation, as Hoxha burned bridges with other socialist nations that did not share his doctrinaire interpretation of Marxism.
#The paranoia which resulted from this isolation, including the infamous bunker campaign, carried out to stave off a feared invasion from the USSR or Yugoslavia. On average, each bunker cost as many resources as a two-bedroom apartment, and the total resources devoted to building them could have easily resolved the nation's housing shortage.

These problems should serve as a warning to all subsequent generations of communists, as even the great achievements of socialism in Albania were not enough to prevent the above flaws from bringing everything down.

==Conclusion==
The People's Socialist Republic of Albania is a complicated case for us to analyze. The following assessment of the revolution is given by the University of London study:<blockquote>Overall, how can we characterize communist Albania? Clearly, in spite of considerable economic development relative to its previous level, it remained poor and mostly rural. However, the social agenda of development made much more progress. Education and social security became virtually universal, and health care was available to all. Moreover, traditionally severe discrimination against women was greatly reduced.</blockquote>Some achievements of the communists are acknowledged even by reactionaries:<blockquote>The reduction of long-standing traditions of discrimination against women, and the provision of universal education and primary health-care were achievements which even the regime’s enemies acknowledge.</blockquote>The communists also greatly developed the nation's economy, developed its infrastructure, and liberated it from foreign domination. One of the best summations of the achievements of socialism in Albania is given by the ''Encyclopedia Britannica,'' in its article on Enver Hoxha:<blockquote>Albania’s economy was revolutionized under Hoxha’s long rule. Farmland was confiscated from wealthy landowners and gathered into collective farms that eventually enabled Albania to become almost completely self-sufficient in food crops. Industry, which had previously been almost nonexistent, received huge amounts of investment, so that by the 1980's it had grown to contribute more than half of the gross national product. Electricity was brought to every rural district, epidemics of disease were stamped out, and illiteracy became a thing of the past.

[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enver-Hoxha Encyclopedia Britannica | Enver Hoxha]</blockquote>Despite all of this, however, the flaws of isolationism and rigid-dogmatism prevented the nation from advancing post-1975, and ultimately brought about its fall. Let this serve as a warning: idealism and isolation are fatal to any revolution.

==References==
[http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2870/1/U615819.pdf University of London | Mortality Transition in Albania: 1950-1990]

[https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Albanians.html?id=IJ2s9sQ9bGkC&redir_esc=y Google Books | The Albanians: An Ethnographic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present]

[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/growing-up-under-communist-rule-made-me-the-tough-feminist-i-am/ The Telegraph | Growing Up Under Communist Rule Made Me the Tough Feminist I Am Today]

[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enver-Hoxha Encyclopedia Britannica | Enver Hoxha]

People's Socialist Republic of Albania (1946–1992)

2022-05-17T20:52:07Z

ProletFlag: grammar

{{Infobox country|name=People's Socialist Republic of Albania|native_name=Republika Popullore Socialiste e Shqipërisë|image_flag=Flag of Albania (1946–1992).svg|year_start=1946|year_end=1992}}
<blockquote>''This article is about the government which existed between 1946 and 1992. For the current country, see [[Albania]].''</blockquote>The '''People's Socialist Republic of Albania''' was a [[Marxism-leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] state that existed from 1946 to 1992. The country emerged from the struggle against [[Italian fascism|Italian fascist]] invaders, and through the leadership of the [[Party of Labour of Albania]]. It was led for most of its existence by [[Enver Hoxha]], whose ideas and leadership formed the branch of Marxism-Leninism known as [[Hoxhaism]].

==History==

=== World War II and fascist occupation ===
Prior to [[Second World War|World War II]], Albania was the poorest nation in [[Europe]]. The country had not gone through industrialization, and it was an entirely feudal and agricultural nation. Up to 90% of the total national income was derived from agriculture with only up to 9% of the land under cultivation. About 88% of the people lived in rural areas, but 53% of peasants had no land ownership in 1938,<ref>{{Citation|author=James S. O'Donnell|year=1998|title=A coming of age: Albania under Enver Hoxha|chapter=Albanian economy|page=151|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=DEFB3CE3D4A9D471D4A2EAE045BF5555}}</ref> and over four fifths of the population was illiterate.<ref>{{Citation|author=William Ash|year=1974|title=Pickaxe and rifle: the story of the Albanian people|page=29|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=AD84F6AFB71FC78856EDD02DCEC65C7F}}</ref> At the time, Albania was under the monarchical rule of Ahmet Zogu, which established a political and economical relationship with [[Kingdom of Italy (1922–1943)|fascist Italy]] since 1925, effectively allowing Italy to exploit Albania's mineral resources and export capital there.<ref>{{Citation|author=Federal Research Division|year=1994|title=Albania: a country study|page=30|publisher=United States Library of Congress|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=CCFF74C37F05F54334B086E3FF2ECA38}}</ref>

By 1928, a quarter of Albania was let out in concessions to Italian, [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|British]] and [[United States of America|Statesian]] corporations which profited from oil and mineral resources. From 1925 to 1939, the Italian [[Fascism|fascist]] government lent several loans to Albania which was turned into debts used to extract more concessions in favor of Italian interests, including placing the Albanian army under control of the fascists. On March 1939, the Italian government pressured Zogu to sign a treaty allowing Italian troops in Albanian land, taking control of the country's strategic infrastructure, and allowing Italian farmers to settle in Albania, enjoying full citizenship rights and other privileges.<ref>{{Citation|author=William Ash|year=1974|title=Pickaxe and rifle: the story of the Albanian people|page=28-29|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=AD84F6AFB71FC78856EDD02DCEC65C7F}}</ref> In that year, up to 70% of Albania's exports was headed to Italy.<ref>{{Citation|author=Federal Research Division|year=1994|title=Albania: a country study|page=32|publisher=United States Library of Congress|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=CCFF74C37F05F54334B086E3FF2ECA38}}</ref>

In April 7th, 1939, the Italian fascists invaded Albania with around 40,000 troops. The Albanian army was already under Italian control, and resistance against the invaders was existent, although insufficient, and by April 10th, Albania was almost completely conquered by fascist forces. This act of aggression did not render any protest from the Western powers at the time, and the United Kingdom still maintained the Anglo-Italian agreement signed a year before. The fascist invaders suppressed the Albanian army as an independent force and made it subordinate to the Italian army. The Italians sent agents from Rome to set up the [[Albanian Fascist Party]], with subsidiary organizations for youth, children, women and workers in an attempt to indoctrinate them with fascist ideology.<ref>{{Citation|author=William Ash|year=1974|title=Pickaxe and rifle: the story of the Albanian people|page=30-32|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=AD84F6AFB71FC78856EDD02DCEC65C7F}}</ref>

The Italian effort to [[Colonization|colonize]] Albania brought tens of thousands of Italians into the country from different backgrounds – workers, farmers, teachers, technicians, merchants, industrialists and state officials. By 1940, there were more Italian workers than Albanians. The Italian language was imposed into the education system and the Albanian culture was subjected to "Italianization". Within the first year of colonization, there were nearly 140 Italian capitalist enterprises profiting from cheap labor and exploiting the country's natural resources to fuel the war economy of fascist Italy. Several military bases and strategic roads were built to further Italian aggressive interests in the Balkan region. Albania was quickly turned into a source of raw materials for Italy and a market for Italian goods. The working conditions of the Albanian workers were deplorable, but nonetheless, a handful of Albanian merchants benefited from Italian invasion through speculation.<ref>{{Citation|author=William Ash|year=1974|title=Pickaxe and rifle: the story of the Albanian people|page=32-33|lg=http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=AD84F6AFB71FC78856EDD02DCEC65C7F}}</ref>

=== Communist government ===
When the communists came to power, they swiftly set about transforming the nation's economy, nationalizing all industries, enacting land reform programs, and establishing a Soviet-style planned economy. This resulted in impressive economic growth, as well as the rapid development of industry. The average growth of industry from 1951 to 1975 was 82.5% and the share of agriculture decline from 80% during the first five year plan (1951-55) to 36% in the fifth plan (1971-75). The average growth of the Net Material Product from one five-year plan to the next was nearly 44%.<ref>{{Citation|author=Arjan Gjonga|year=1998|title=Mortality Transition in Albania, 1950-1990|page=32-34|quote=Based on the experience of the Soviet Union, the Albanian Communist Government introduced a centrally-planned economic system. By 1951, the government replaced all the existing market forms and mechanisms by central planning. From then on the centralization of the economy was intensified. The planning system was based on Five Year Plans, where all the economic decisions on production, pricing, wages, investments, external and internal trade were made at the beginning of the plan, and remained unchanged for the whole period. Changes between the plans were also minimal in terms of wages and prices.|pdf=http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2870/1/U615819.pdf|publisher=University of London}}</ref>

In addition, infrastructure was built all throughout the country:<blockquote>It was not just that the industry that experienced rapid growth, infrastructure was also developed. The country’s highway system was greatly expanded, and by 1985 consisted of 6,900 kilometres of roads capable of carrying motor vehicle traffic, and with a small rail network of about 603 kilometres. Within industry, the mineral sector and the electricity generation were initially developed. During 1956-60, the production of chrome made great strides, giving Albania first place in the world in per capita production of chrome ore, and later in the eighties the third place in the world for total output. Because of the large number of rivers and their mountainous nature, Albania developed its hydro-electric potential HEP, estimated at 2500 MW, second to Norway within Europe. Thus, in the eighties Albania reached agreement with neighboring countries (Yugoslavia and Greece) to supply them with electricity.</blockquote>In 1969 direct taxation was abolished, and during this period the quality of schooling and health care continued to improve. It was during this period that Albania achieved full electrification, becoming one of the first nations on Earth (possibly the first, according to some sources) to do so. Electricity was brought to every rural district in the country (the vast majority of the population was rural), and cities were given full power as well. An excellent assessment of socialist Albania's economic development was made by John Salibur O'Donnell, in his book ''A Coming of Age: Albania Under Enver Hoxha:''<blockquote>On the positive side, an objective analysis must conclude that Enver Hoxha's plan to mobilize all of Albania's resources under the regimentation of a central plan was effective and quite successful ... Albania was a tribal society, not necessarily primitive but certainly less developed than most. It had no industrial or working class tradition and no experience using modern production techniques. Thus, the results achieved, especially during the phases of initial planning and construction of the economic base were both impressive and positive.</blockquote>Unfortunately, after 1975, the economy began to stagnate. Going back to the University of London study:<blockquote>In contrast with the previous period, the eighties witnessed a marked slowdown in economic activity, which virtually stagnated during the second half of the decade, reflecting Albania’s self-imposed isolation since 1976 and the emergence of serious internal and external imbalances. The real NMP, which had grown by nearly 44% in the previous period 1970-1980, but in 1980-1989 rose only by an average of 1 percent per year, declining from an average of 1.6 percent during 1980-85 to no growth during 1985-90. Real GDP followed a similar pattern, growing by 1 percent during 1980-1990, declining from 2 percent during 1980-85 to a marginal negative growth during 1985-90.</blockquote>This resulted from Albania's self-imposed isolation from other socialist nations, as well as a lack of economic investment, which resulted from excessive and unnecessary military spending (particularly the infamous and costly bunker project):<blockquote>There are many reasons that sent the Albanian economy into a dead-end street in the eighties. Most significant are the orthodox objectives and methods of management of the communist leadership; the lack of investment in the economy, which brought about a lack in advanced technology; and, most of all, the self-isolation of the country, which brought the Albanian economy to a state of total collapse in 1990.</blockquote>In short, Albania achieved remarkable economic growth for about thirty years, which eventually slowed to a halt as a result of bad policy and self-imposed isolation.

== Governance==

=== Education ===
Education was a top priority of the communist government, due to the extremely poor educational conditions of the country post-WWII. According to the earlier cited study:<blockquote>The end of the second World War found Albania in a very poor educational state. At that time 80% of the population was illiterate, and in the rural areas this figure reached 90-95%. Illiteracy was widespread in rural areas and in particular among women. Immediately upon seizure of power in 1944, the communist regime gave high priority to opening schools and organizing the whole educational system along communist lines. An intensive campaign against illiteracy started immediately.</blockquote>This resulted in enormous improvements in the educational system:<blockquote>In terms of enrollments, Albania had a broad-based education system, with almost 90% of the pupils completing the compulsory basic 8-year school and 74% of them continuing into secondary school. From these, more than 40% went to the university. According to official figures, at the end of 1972 there were 700,000 schoolchildren and university students, which meant that every third citizen was enrolled in some kind of educational institution. The number of kindergartens in urban areas increased by 112% from 1970 to 1990, while in rural areas it increased by 150%. The number of primary schools in urban areas, for the same period of time, rose 31%, and in rural areas 24%. The total number of secondary schools increased by 291%, and that of high schools by 60%. A similar trend is seen for the number of students that graduated. Thus the number of pupils that graduated from primary schools for the period 1970-1990 increased by 74.8%, for the secondary school, the number rose 914.2%, and for university 147%. Education tuition was free of charge. Students whose families had low incomes were entitled to scholarships, which gave them free accommodation, food, etc.</blockquote>As a result, illiteracy was virtually wiped out across the country:<blockquote>At the end of eighties, Albania had a rate of illiteracy of less than 5%, placing it among the developed countries.</blockquote>This is a remarkable advancement. As the study says:<blockquote>The achievement of universal education must be judged one of the communist regime’s main achievements.</blockquote>

===Healthcare===

Healthcare was another area in which the communists made enormous progress. After WWII, Albania's healthcare situation was rather desperate:<blockquote>As explained earlier in this Chapter, when the communists took over in Albania in 1945, the state of the population's health and the Albanian health system were in a very bad state. Before the War, the health system consisted only of 10 state hospitals and an Institute of Hygiene founded in Tirana in 1938. The number of doctors was very low - only 102 Albanian doctors and a very small number of foreign doctors. Thus, the number of physicians (doctors and dentists) per 10,000 of the population was only 1.17, while the number of beds for 1,000 of population only 0.98.</blockquote>Life expectancy and mortality were among the worst in the world:<blockquote>According to the League of Nations in 1941, the crude death rate for Albania in 1938 was 17.7 per thousand. In a later study a figure on life expectancy at birth is given for 1938 as 38 years. Even these figures are thought not to be accurate, because death registration was not complete. There was no death certificate form, the posting of registers was always in arrears, and very little information on cause of death was recorded. The majority of villagers died without any medical intervention. In the early twenties over half of the country's 2,540 villages had never been visited by a doctor.</blockquote>Because of this, the communists made healthcare a top priority:<blockquote>In order to address this situation, the government starting in 1947, introduced a wide-ranging social insurance and medical scheme. Most medical treatments (thought not the medicines) were provided free. Legislation was introduced to protect the mother and child, and set up the pension scheme, as well as other regulations on sanitary conditions and control, and for the treatment of infectious diseases.</blockquote>As a result of communist healthcare policy, life expectancy increased rapidly in Albania:<blockquote>Most of the improvement in life expectancy at birth occurred in the first decade, when life expectancy at birth increased by 10.4 years for both sexes, more than one year for each year of the decade. In the next three decades mortality continued to improve, although not at the same pace as in the first decade.</blockquote>The following table charts life expectancy in Albania from 1950-1990, as given by the aforementioned study (recall that life expectancy in 1938 was approx. 38 years):
{| class="wikitable"
!''Years''
!''Life Expectancy (Male and Female)''
|-
|1950
|51.6
|-
|1954-55
|55.0
|-
|1960
| 62.0
|-
|1964-65
|64.1
|-
|1969
|66.5
|-
|1975-1976
|67.0
|-
|1979
|68.0
|-
|1989
|70.7
|}
From these statistics, it is clear that the communists achieved an enormous increase in life expectancy, from 38 years in 1938, to 68 years in 1979, an increase of thirty years in just four decades. It continued to improve until 1989, albeit more slowly.

The communists also succeeded in eliminating various infectious diseases which had plagued the country, particularly malaria, which had been the biggest killer in pre-war Albania:<blockquote>A number of endemic diseases were brought under control, including malaria, tuberculosis and syphilis... If one looks at the mortality transition from 1950 to 1990, it is clear that the pattern changes as life expectancy improves. Thus, the infectious and parasitic (tuberculosis included) diseases decline and almost disappear in the seventies and eighties.</blockquote>The Albanian communists made a number of extremely impressive achievements in the field of healthcare. Unfortunately, this too began to suffer at the tail-end of the communist period, as a lack of investment and self-imposed isolation took their toll.

===Social security===

The social security system was a major priority of the communist government. Based on the Soviet model, the communists developed a cradle-to-grave social welfare system throughout the nation:<blockquote>Social Insurance was first introduced by the Albanian communist government in 1947. The initial social security scheme covered approximately 75,000 people. The social insurance program was administered by state organisations and covered medical care, compensation for disability, old-age pensions, family allowances, and rest and recreation. Several modifications were made latter to the basic program. The law of 1953 provided a program closely resembling that of the Soviet Union, i.e. a classic cradle-to-grave system of social security. For a number of years trade unions administered a large number of social insurance activities. In 1965 the state took over the administration of all phases except those for rest and recreation facilities.</blockquote>Maternity leave and disability insurance were provided:<blockquote>If people lost their capacity to work totally or partially, they were granted invalidity pensions. The amount of the pension varied between 40-85% of the wage depending on the scale of invalidity, cause of invalidity and the number of years that the person had been working. Pregnant women were given eighty-four days leave under normal circumstances and were paid at 95% of their wage if they had worked for more than five years and 75% if they had worked less than five. The pregnancy leave period was extended to six months in 1981. Workers could stay at home for limited periods to care for the sick and during this period received 60% of their pay.</blockquote>Old-age pensions were also provided to all retired workers:<blockquote>Old-age pensions were based on age and years of work. Payments were calculated at the rate of 70% of the worker’s average monthly wage. Two exceptions were the veterans of the Second World War and the Party leaders who received an additional 10%. The law also provided for widow’s and orphan’s pensions.</blockquote>All workers were guaranteed time off from work, with pay:<blockquote>All insured persons were entitled to a paid vacation. The duration of the vacation depended on the type of work and the length of active employment.</blockquote>Childcare insurance was also an aspect of the social security system:<blockquote>When children under seven years of age were ill, one of the parents was permitted up to ten days leave during a three month period. A one-time payment was made to the family for each child that was born. In case of death a fixed sum was paid to the family for funeral expenses.</blockquote>Eventually, the system was expanded to include peasants in farming cooperatives:<blockquote>From 1st July 1972 the system of pensions and social security was extended to cover peasants working in agriculture cooperatives. This aimed at the narrowing of the differences between urban and rural areas. Some agricultural cooperatives had already introduced some forms of pensions and social insurance providing help for their members in old age and when they were unable to work. The financing of this social security system in the rural areas came from the contributions of the cooperatives with some subsidization from the state.</blockquote>The provision of a cradle-to-grave social welfare system is an enormous achievement, and one of the main advances made by the communist government.

===Women's rights ===

Pre-war Albania was one of the most reactionary societies on Earth with regards to women's rights:<blockquote>For most women, traditional Albanian life was characterized by discrimination and inequality compared with men, reinforced by a wide range of cultural norms... In the immediate pre-war period there were just 21 female teachers in the country, a couple of women doctors and no female engineers, agronomists or chemists. Only 2.4 percent of secondary school students were girls.</blockquote>The Code of Leke (the traditional pre-war Albanian code of law relating to women) was harshly discriminatory. Even murder of a pregnant woman was punished differently depending on the sex of the fetus she was carrying:<blockquote>... 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.</blockquote>In order to rectify this situation, the communists placed an enormous emphasis on women's rights:<blockquote>When the communists came to power they considered the emancipation of women as an important political measure, linking it with the destiny of socialism and communism... Equality between men and women was stressed continuously and was even included in the Constitution. The Introduction to the Constitution of the PSR of Albania says that “In the unceasing process of the revolution, the Albanian woman won equality in all fields, became a great social force and is advancing towards her complete emancipation." Article 41 of the constitution says: “The woman enjoys equal rights with a man in work, pay, holidays, social security, education, in all social-political activities as well as in the family.”</blockquote>Women became an active part of the workforce, while previously they had been almost entirely excluded:<blockquote>Equal rights included amongst others the equal right to have a job. Subsidized day-care nurseries and kindergartens, launderettes and canteens at both workplace, and in residential areas were provided, to make it easier for mothers to work. By 1980 women made up 46% of the economically active population, an increase over one quarter compared with 1960.</blockquote>Women also made huge advanced in access to education, as well as in positions of government power:<blockquote>Educational opportunities for women also improved considerably. Table 2.5 shows the increase in the percentage of students who were women graduating from university according to specialties. The table shows that the increase in the percentage during the period 1960-1990, for women engineers was 258.6%, while that for agronomists was 206%, for economists 192%. The same policy was adopted for the participation of women in governing of the country.</blockquote>Edwin E. Jacques discusses this issue in his book ''The Albanians: An Ethnographic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present:''

*[https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Albanians.html?id=IJ2s9sQ9bGkC&redir_esc=y Google Books | The Albanians: An Ethnographic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present]

According to Jacques, 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.

The People's Socialist Republic of Albania made a number of enormous achievements in terms of women's rights. Even the most reactionary of commentators have acknowledged this. For example, take the following article from the ''Telegraph,'' authored by a reactionary writer who grew up in communist Albania:

*[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/growing-up-under-communist-rule-made-me-the-tough-feminist-i-am/ The Telegraph | Growing Up Under Communist Rule Made Me the Tough Feminist I Am Today]

As she says in the article:<blockquote>Inspired by the ongoing debate on women’s inequalities, I have recently reflected on my own childhood politics and have come to the surprising conclusion that the place to look for solutions to gender inequality is the Communist model.</blockquote>She comments on the communist encouragement of women in the workforce:<blockquote>The Communist promise that women should be equal players in the workforce was not an empty one. Women were positively encouraged by government campaigns to embark on all professions, including “manly” jobs, building on the fact they had fought in large numbers alongside the men as partisans during the Second World War. To achieve this they were given trainee-ships, professional qualifications and scholarships... Growing up, I never encountered any suggestion that women in these professions were in any way less capable than men by virtue of their gender and additional role as mothers. On the whole, they faced no barriers of gender discrimination. I remember my parents and their friends frequently praising excellent female doctors and teachers... This form of equal partnership was commonplace in the Albanian society I grew up and importantly women’s role in the family informed how women were viewed in the workplace and vice-versa. If men suggested that women should be relegated to the house they were mocked for their anachronistic ideas.</blockquote>When even a reactionary writer whose parents sent her to clandestine Italian lessons (the language of the fascist occupiers) is praising the communist policies towards women's rights, that is a strong indication of their success.

==Major problems==
Despite the great achievements of the communist government, there were nonetheless huge flaws which ultimately brought down the nation. These were:

#The rigid anti-revisionism of Hoxha, who refused to allow any deviation from the Stalinist model, even when certain policies no longer made sense for current conditions.
# The self-imposed isolation of the nation, as Hoxha burned bridges with other socialist nations that did not share his doctrinaire interpretation of Marxism.
#The paranoia which resulted from this isolation, including the infamous bunker campaign, carried out to stave off a feared invasion from the USSR or Yugoslavia. On average, each bunker cost as many resources as a two-bedroom apartment, and the total resources devoted to building them could have easily resolved the nation's housing shortage.

These problems should serve as a warning to all subsequent generations of socialists and communists, as even the great achievements of socialism in Albania were not enough to prevent the above flaws from bringing everything down.

==Conclusion==
The People's Socialist Republic of Albania is a complicated case for us to analyze. The following assessment of the revolution is given by the University of London study:<blockquote>Overall, how can we characterize communist Albania? Clearly, in spite of considerable economic development relative to its previous level, it remained poor and mostly rural. However, the social agenda of development made much more progress. Education and social security became virtually universal, and health care was available to all. Moreover, traditionally severe discrimination against women was greatly reduced.</blockquote>Some achievements of the communists are acknowledged even by reactionaries:<blockquote>The reduction of long-standing traditions of discrimination against women, and the provision of universal education and primary health-care were achievements which even the regime’s enemies acknowledge.</blockquote>The communists also greatly developed the nation's economy, developed its infrastructure, and liberated it from foreign domination. One of the best summations of the achievements of socialism in Albania is given by the ''Encyclopedia Britannica,'' in its article on Enver Hoxha:<blockquote>Albania’s economy was revolutionized under Hoxha’s long rule. Farmland was confiscated from wealthy landowners and gathered into collective farms that eventually enabled Albania to become almost completely self-sufficient in food crops. Industry, which had previously been almost nonexistent, received huge amounts of investment, so that by the 1980's it had grown to contribute more than half of the gross national product. Electricity was brought to every rural district, epidemics of disease were stamped out, and illiteracy became a thing of the past.

[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enver-Hoxha Encyclopedia Britannica | Enver Hoxha]</blockquote>Despite all of this, however, the flaws of isolationism and rigid-dogmatism prevented the nation from advancing post-1975, and ultimately brought about its fall. Let this serve as a warning: idealism and isolation are fatal to any revolution.

==References==
[http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2870/1/U615819.pdf University of London | Mortality Transition in Albania: 1950-1990]

[https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Albanians.html?id=IJ2s9sQ9bGkC&redir_esc=y Google Books | The Albanians: An Ethnographic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present]

[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/growing-up-under-communist-rule-made-me-the-tough-feminist-i-am/ The Telegraph | Growing Up Under Communist Rule Made Me the Tough Feminist I Am Today]

[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Enver-Hoxha Encyclopedia Britannica | Enver Hoxha]

Talk:Dictatorship of the proletariat

2022-04-22T22:00:53Z

ProletFlag: /* Issues */ blanked

Talk:Stalinism/Archive 1

2022-04-22T17:30:35Z

ProletFlag: /* "This interesting paragraph" */

"Start talkin' tick tock!"

== "This interesting paragraph" ==

Ah yes, when someone says that, I can infer that they think of me as some sort of an inferior idiot, when contrasted to them. ''Comrade [[Comrade:ProletFlag|ProletFlag]]'' ([[Comradeship:ProletFlag|talk]]) 17:55, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Whom and what are you responding to? ''Comrade [[Comrade:Camarada.Forte|Forte]]'' ([[Comradeship:Camarada.Forte|talk]]) 17:57, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

:Comwik's last edit ''Comrade [[Comrade:ProletFlag|ProletFlag]]'' ([[Comradeship:ProletFlag|talk]]) 18:00, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Stalinist architecture isnt even called stalinist architecture in eastern europe and russia. It is called Soviet Classicism lmao, so I dont think that example is very good since literally used only by anti-communists then too - ''Comrade [[Comrade:PrincessCelestia|Princess Celestia]]'' ([[Comradeship:PrincessCelestia|talk]]) 18:06, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

:I didn't even know it was called "Soviet Classicism" LMAO, the only descriptor I heard online was Stalinist or Сталинский. Some in Russia DO call it Stalinist architecture, there's a Wikipedia page titled "Сталинская Архитектура" or literally just Stalinist Architecture and there's one on it titled "Сталинский Ампир." ''Comrade [[Comrade:ProletFlag|ProletFlag]]'' ([[Comradeship:ProletFlag|talk]]) 17:24, 22 April 2022 (UTC)

I honestly don't currently have the understanding in this particular subject, so I can't really say. But Comwik's paragraph just add in to the confusion of what exactly is Stalinism ''Comrade [[Comrade:Camarada.Forte|Forte]]'' ([[Comradeship:Camarada.Forte|talk]]) 18:14, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

I think this article could become a very long one if elaborated long enough. The word has a decent history and there are some small political enclaves that use the word as a descriptive one. Maybe I can work on it once I get the motivation to do so. We should also do more research on the history of the word and add more to the article. We should also put one of thse plaquard things on the page for now saying that the article should not be taken uncritcally for the moment. - ''Comrade [[Comrade:PrincessCelestia|Princess Celestia]]'' ([[Comradeship:PrincessCelestia|talk]]) 18:18, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Yeah lol, I also meant "Socialist Classicism", my mistake. I only learned the alternate name because I did a short project on North Korean architecture and so by proxy i had to read a bit into the architectural movements of the USSR - ''Comrade [[Comrade:PrincessCelestia|Princess Celestia]]'' ([[Comradeship:PrincessCelestia|talk]]) 17:27, 22 April 2022 (UTC)

:Socialist Classicism on the English Wikipedia literally just redirects to Stalinist Architecture. But, I guess Socialist Classicism would be its technical name. ''Comrade [[Comrade:ProletFlag|ProletFlag]]'' ([[Comradeship:ProletFlag|talk]]) 17:29, 22 April 2022 (UTC)

Talk:Stalinism/Archive 1

2022-04-22T17:29:52Z

ProletFlag: /* "This interesting paragraph" */

"Start talkin' tick tock!"

== "This interesting paragraph" ==

Ah yes, when someone says that, I can infer that they think of me as some sort of an inferior idiot, when contrasted to them. ''Comrade [[Comrade:ProletFlag|ProletFlag]]'' ([[Comradeship:ProletFlag|talk]]) 17:55, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Whom and what are you responding to? ''Comrade [[Comrade:Camarada.Forte|Forte]]'' ([[Comradeship:Camarada.Forte|talk]]) 17:57, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

:Comwik's last edit ''Comrade [[Comrade:ProletFlag|ProletFlag]]'' ([[Comradeship:ProletFlag|talk]]) 18:00, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Stalinist architecture isnt even called stalinist architecture in eastern europe and russia. It is called Soviet Classicism lmao, so I dont think that example is very good since literally used only by anti-communists then too - ''Comrade [[Comrade:PrincessCelestia|Princess Celestia]]'' ([[Comradeship:PrincessCelestia|talk]]) 18:06, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

:I didn't even know it was called "Soviet Classicism" LMAO, the only descriptor I heard online was Stalinist or Сталинский. Some in Russia DO call it Stalinist architecture, there's a Wikipedia page titled "Сталинская Архитектура" or literally just Stalinist Architecture and there's one on it titled "Сталинский Ампир." ''Comrade [[Comrade:ProletFlag|ProletFlag]]'' ([[Comradeship:ProletFlag|talk]]) 17:24, 22 April 2022 (UTC)

I honestly don't currently have the understanding in this particular subject, so I can't really say. But Comwik's paragraph just add in to the confusion of what exactly is Stalinism ''Comrade [[Comrade:Camarada.Forte|Forte]]'' ([[Comradeship:Camarada.Forte|talk]]) 18:14, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

I think this article could become a very long one if elaborated long enough. The word has a decent history and there are some small political enclaves that use the word as a descriptive one. Maybe I can work on it once I get the motivation to do so. We should also do more research on the history of the word and add more to the article. We should also put one of thse plaquard things on the page for now saying that the article should not be taken uncritcally for the moment. - ''Comrade [[Comrade:PrincessCelestia|Princess Celestia]]'' ([[Comradeship:PrincessCelestia|talk]]) 18:18, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Yeah lol, I also meant "Socialist Classicism", my mistake. I only learned the alternate name because I did a short project on North Korean architecture and so by proxy i had to read a bit into the architectural movements of the USSR - ''Comrade [[Comrade:PrincessCelestia|Princess Celestia]]'' ([[Comradeship:PrincessCelestia|talk]]) 17:27, 22 April 2022 (UTC)

:Socialist Classicism on the English Wikipedia literally just redirects to Stalinist Architecture. ''Comrade [[Comrade:ProletFlag|ProletFlag]]'' ([[Comradeship:ProletFlag|talk]]) 17:29, 22 April 2022 (UTC)

Talk:Stalinism/Archive 1

2022-04-22T17:28:47Z

ProletFlag: /* "This interesting paragraph" */

Talk:Stalinism/Archive 1

2022-04-22T17:27:09Z

ProletFlag: /* "This interesting paragraph" */

"Start talkin' tick tock!"

== "This interesting paragraph" ==

Ah yes, when someone says that, I can infer that they think of me as some sort of an inferior idiot, when contrasted to them. ''Comrade [[Comrade:ProletFlag|ProletFlag]]'' ([[Comradeship:ProletFlag|talk]]) 17:55, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Whom and what are you responding to? ''Comrade [[Comrade:Camarada.Forte|Forte]]'' ([[Comradeship:Camarada.Forte|talk]]) 17:57, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

:Comwik's last edit ''Comrade [[Comrade:ProletFlag|ProletFlag]]'' ([[Comradeship:ProletFlag|talk]]) 18:00, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Stalinist architecture isnt even called stalinist architecture in eastern europe and russia. It is called Soviet Classicism lmao, so I dont think that example is very good since literally used only by anti-communists then too - ''Comrade [[Comrade:PrincessCelestia|Princess Celestia]]'' ([[Comradeship:PrincessCelestia|talk]]) 18:06, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

:I didn't even know it was called "Soviet Classicism" LMAO, the only descriptor I heard online was Stalinist or Сталинский. Some in Russia DO call it Stalinist architecture, there's a Wikipedia page titled "Сталинская Архитектура" or literally just Stalinist Architecture. ''Comrade [[Comrade:ProletFlag|ProletFlag]]'' ([[Comradeship:ProletFlag|talk]]) 17:24, 22 April 2022 (UTC)

I honestly don't currently have the understanding in this particular subject, so I can't really say. But Comwik's paragraph just add in to the confusion of what exactly is Stalinism ''Comrade [[Comrade:Camarada.Forte|Forte]]'' ([[Comradeship:Camarada.Forte|talk]]) 18:14, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

I think this article could become a very long one if elaborated long enough. The word has a decent history and there are some small political enclaves that use the word as a descriptive one. Maybe I can work on it once I get the motivation to do so. We should also do more research on the history of the word and add more to the article. We should also put one of thse plaquard things on the page for now saying that the article should not be taken uncritcally for the moment. - ''Comrade [[Comrade:PrincessCelestia|Princess Celestia]]'' ([[Comradeship:PrincessCelestia|talk]]) 18:18, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Yeah lol, I also meant "Socialist Classicism", my mistake. I only learned the alternate name because I did a short project on North Korean architecture and so by proxy i had to read a bit into the architectural movements of the USSR - ''Comrade [[Comrade:PrincessCelestia|Princess Celestia]]'' ([[Comradeship:PrincessCelestia|talk]]) 17:27, 22 April 2022 (UTC)

Talk:Stalinism/Archive 1

2022-04-22T17:24:56Z

ProletFlag: /* "This interesting paragraph" */

"Start talkin' tick tock!"

== "This interesting paragraph" ==

Ah yes, when someone says that, I can infer that they think of me as some sort of an inferior idiot, when contrasted to them. ''Comrade [[Comrade:ProletFlag|ProletFlag]]'' ([[Comradeship:ProletFlag|talk]]) 17:55, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Whom and what are you responding to? ''Comrade [[Comrade:Camarada.Forte|Forte]]'' ([[Comradeship:Camarada.Forte|talk]]) 17:57, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

:Comwik's last edit ''Comrade [[Comrade:ProletFlag|ProletFlag]]'' ([[Comradeship:ProletFlag|talk]]) 18:00, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

Stalinist architecture isnt even called stalinist architecture in eastern europe and russia. It is called Soviet Classicism lmao, so I dont think that example is very good since literally used only by anti-communists then too - ''Comrade [[Comrade:PrincessCelestia|Princess Celestia]]'' ([[Comradeship:PrincessCelestia|talk]]) 18:06, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

:I didn't even know it was called "Soviet Classicism" LMAO, the only descriptor I heard online was Stalinist or Сталинский. ''Comrade [[Comrade:ProletFlag|ProletFlag]]'' ([[Comradeship:ProletFlag|talk]]) 17:24, 22 April 2022 (UTC)

I honestly don't currently have the understanding in this particular subject, so I can't really say. But Comwik's paragraph just add in to the confusion of what exactly is Stalinism ''Comrade [[Comrade:Camarada.Forte|Forte]]'' ([[Comradeship:Camarada.Forte|talk]]) 18:14, 20 April 2022 (UTC)

I think this article could become a very long one if elaborated long enough. The word has a decent history and there are some small political enclaves that use the word as a descriptive one. Maybe I can work on it once I get the motivation to do so. We should also do more research on the history of the word and add more to the article. We should also put one of thse plaquard things on the page for now saying that the article should not be taken uncritcally for the moment. - ''Comrade [[Comrade:PrincessCelestia|Princess Celestia]]'' ([[Comradeship:PrincessCelestia|talk]]) 18:18, 20 April 2022 (UTC)