The struggle against Religion in Socialist Albania -Norberto Steinmayr
THE STRUGGLE AGAINST RELIGION IN SOCIALIST ALBANIAAND THE CLOSURE OF ITS RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS IN 1966-67
Norberto Steinmayr
By about 1975, Comrade W.B.Bland had prepared the bones of a theory, that could satisfactorily explain how it was in countries that had established socialism - the USSR under J.V.Stalin, and the People's Socialist Repubilc of Albania (PSRA) under E.Hoxha - could develop revisionist policies; and worse could be precipitated back into the dark ages of capitalism. At that time, the lessons of the post-Stalin USSR, had shown that this was entirely possible.
At that time however, the Peoples' Socialist Republic of Albania was still socialist. Accordingly, it would have been incorrect to publish an expose of potential errors in the PSRA publicly, as it would have possibly aided the enemies of Socialism. Comrade Bland raised the issues highlighted in the document below within the Communist League of Britain and the Committee of the Albanian Society (i.e., the then British-Albanian friensdship association): his analysis was entitled "The Struggle Against Religion in Albania" and was intended to be a "Discussion Document Only - Not for Publication".
However, as Bland had so accurately forecast, revisionism was waiting to take over in Albania. It did so under Ramiz Alia's treachery. Full understanding of events prior to the revionist take over of the Albanian state require analyses such as these.
Therefore, Comrade Steinmayer has done Marxist-Leninists, sterling service in up-dating and expanding Comrade Bland's original insights into the current document. This joint work of Comrades Steinmayer and Bland, now allows us to examine the developments up to the present.
For Alliance this document shows that:
1) Revisionism began to emerge at the highest echelons of the Albanian party and state prior to the final liquidation of socialism in Albania during the late eighties;
2) That revisionism used as a mask - the Cult of Personality built up as the Cult of Hoxha;
3) That the ultra-left tactic of "abolishing religion" was inspired by the ultra-leftism of the so-called "Chinese Cultural Revolution";
4) And finally, this work reminds us all of the Marxist-Leninist line towards religion.
January 2001
INTRODUCTION
For more than two decades, from the late sixties, Albania was the first country, and indeed the only one in the world, without religious institutions. The closure of all its churches and mosques in 1967 had come about as the result of the struggle systematically carried out against religion, religious prejudices and backward customs since the establishment of its people's democracy in 1944. This anti-religious struggle was, in fact, an essential component of the more general struggle for the social liberation of the Albanian working class, for its ideological and political emancipation in building and consolidating a new, socialist society.
Albania had preserved its socialist, revolutionary features and remained essentially unaffected by revisionist developments until the eighties. Nonetheless, the total closure of its religious institutions and the virtual abolition of religion from 1967 to 1990 proved to be a counter-productive, sectarian measure, incompatible with the Marxist-Leninist assumption that, in a socialist society, religious institutions disappear - and must be allowed to disappear - with the elimination of religious influence itself from people's consciousness. From a retrospective examination of the relevant circumstances and factors involved, it is now evident that the closure of Albania's religious institutions had been orchestrated by internal concealed revisionists with the broader aim of damaging and reversing the successful construction of socialism in the country.
RELIGION AS "OPIUM OF THE PEOPLE"
Religion represents a peculiar form of social consciousness - a consciousness resting on the assumption that the world is subject to the control of a supernatural force or forces. As such, religion has created, over the centuries, systems of beliefs and practices which all belong to the camp of idealism. While idealism asserts the primacy of the spirit to nature, its opposite - materialism - regards nature/being as primary. "The great basic question of all philosophy . . is that concerning the relation of thinking and being. . . .The answers which the philosophers gave to this question split them into two great camps. Those who asserted the primacy of spirit to nature and therefore, in the last instance, assumed world creation in some form or other . . . comprised the camp of idealism. The others, who regarded nature as primary, belong to the various schools of materialism."
[F. Engels, "Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, pp. 226-7.]
In various and different forms religions reflect an idealistic philosophy, opposed to the scientific world outlook. Religion stands, therefore, in irreconcilable antagonism to Marxism-Leninism, i.e., scientific socialism, which constitutes a scientific, dialectical, materialist philosophy. Proceeding from this distinction, Lenin clearly highlights the character of religion in the following terms: "Marxism is materialism. As such, it is relentlessly hostile to religion."
V. I. Lenin, "The Attitude of the Workers' Party towards Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 15, Moscow, 1973, p. 405.
"Idealism is clerical obscurantism."
V. I. Lenin, "On Dialectics", in V.I. Lenin, Marx Engels Marxism, Moscow, 1951, p. 336.
"The Marxian doctrine . . provides men with an integral world conception which is irreconcilable with any form of superstition."
V. I. Lenin: "The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism", in V.I. Lenin, Marx Engels Marxism, Moscow, 1951, p. 78.
Indeed, Engels indicates how religion can not be regarded as somehow innate to man since it simply reflects reality in his consciousness as a social being. As such, religion is a product of the earth and does not descend from heaven. "All religion . . is nothing but the fantastic reflection in men's minds of those external forces which control their daily life, a reflection in which the terrestrial forces assume the form of supernatural forces."
F. Engels, "Anti-Dühring", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 147.
Initially, natural phenomena had been personified since the primitive man could not separate the "unearthly" forces from nature. Those mysterious and powerful forces, which man could not scientifically explain (thus making him feel impotent vis-à-vis nature), were transformed in his imagination into spirits, gods, angels, devils, etc. As a consequence, the primitive religious consciousness reflects the savage's impotence in his fight against natural forces: "In the beginnings of history it was the forces of nature which were first . . . reflected [in religion - Ed.]"
F. Engels, "Anti-Dühring", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 147.
"The first gods arose through the personification of natural forces."
F. Engels, "Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, pp. 226.
"[The] impotence of the savage in his battle against nature gives rise to belief in gods, devils, miracles, and the like."
V. I. Lenin, "Socialism and Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 10, Moscow, 1962, p. 83
Religious belief continue to remain widespread in civilised, class-divided societies. Its main source is no longer the domination of man by natural forces, but his domination by the forces of social development. Always in a fantastic and illusory form, religion now comes to reflect the actual dependence on those social forces - specifically, the relations of exploitatiion in a capitalist society - which appear to be beyond human control. "In existing bourgeois society men are dominated by the economic conditions . . as if by an alien force. The actual basis of the reflective activity that gives rise to religion therefore continues to exist, and with it the religious reflection itself. . . . It is still true that man proposes and God (that is, the alien domination of the capitalist mode of production) disposes."
F. Engels, "Anti-Dühring", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 147-9.
"The 'religious sentiment' is itself a social product."
K. Marx, "Theses on Feurbach", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 71. Emphasis in the original.
"In modern capitalist countries these roots (of religion - Ed) are mainly social. The deepestt root of religion today is the socially downtrodden condition of the working masses and their apparently complete helplessness in face of the blind forces of capitalism, . . . 'Fear made the gods.' Fear of the blind force of capital - blind because it cannot be foreseen by the masses of the people - a force which at every step in the life of the proletariat and small proprietor threatens to inflict, and does inflict 'sudden', 'unexpected', 'accidental' ruin, destruction, pauperism, pauperism, prostitution, death from starvation - such is the root of modern religion."
V. I. Lenin: "The Attitude of the Workers' Party towards Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 15, Moscow, 1973, pp. 405-6.
"Impotence of the exploited classes in the struggle against the exploiters . . . gives rise to the belief in a better life after death . . . To those who toil and live in want all their lives are taught by religion to be submissive and patient on earth, and to take comfort in the hope of a heavenly reward."
V. I. Lenin, "Socialism and Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 10, Moscow, 1962, pp. 83-4.
In class-divided societies, organised religion is fostered by the exploiting, ruling classes as an ideological weapon to prop up their rule. Accordingly, religion comes to regulate social behaviour at various levels: a plethora of taboos, commandments, precepts, etc., all allegedly prescribed by the deity and regarded as sacrosanct, serves to justify exploitation in a capitalist society, while strengthening the domination of its ruling bourgeois class. It is Marx himself who highlights such a deceiving and subtle character of religion by using the famous metaphor of "opium of the people." "Religion . . . is the opium of the people."
K. Marx, "Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 42. Emphasis in the original.
"Marxism has always regarded all modern religions and churches, and each and every religious organisation, as instruments of bourgeois reaction that serve to defend exploitation and to befuddle the working class."
V. I. Lenin: "The Attitude of the Workers' Party towards Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 15, Moscow, 1973, pp. 403."Feuerbach was right when, in reply to those who defended religion on the ground that it consoles the people, he indicated the reactionary significance of consolation:
whoever consoles the slave instead of arousing him to rise up against slavery is aiding the slave-owner."
V. I. Lenin, "The Collapse of the Second International", in V.I.Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 21, Moscow, 1964, p. 231-2.
Prior to the advent of scientific socialism, many militant atheist works had emerged in the struggle against religion. These earlier materialist analyses, however, had had their own limitations mainly because they could neither appropriately identify the social roots of religion nor indicate ways to overcome it. Dialectical materialism alone (initially elaborated by Marx and Engels) places the struggle against religious "opium" on a scientific basis. Proceeding from the fact that religion has its social roots in the capitalist relations of production, its disappearance requires, above all, the elimination of the causes that give rise to religion itself, i.e., the elimination of capitalism. Marxism-Leninism, therefore, considers the question of religion, and the attitude towards it, within the framework of class struggle against capitalism. Religious belief will gradually fade away in a planned socialist society - a society which is fully functioning under human control, thus eliminating the conditions that produce and maintain religious consciousness. "The religious reflex of the real world can . . . only then finally vanish when the practical relations of every-day life offer to man none but perfectly intelligible and reasonable relations with regard to his fellowmen and to nature."
K. Marx,Capital, Book 1, in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 136; or "Capital" Moscow; 1974; p.84
"When society, by taking possession of all means of production and using them on a planned basis, has freed itself and all its members from the bondage in which they are now held by these means of production which they themselves have produced but which confront them as an irresistible alien force; when therefore man no longer merely proposes, but also disposes - only then will the last alien force which is still reflected in religion vanish; and with it will also vanish the religious reflection itself, for the simple reason that then there will be nothing left to reflect."
F. Engels, "Anti-Dühring", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 149.
MARXIST-LENINIST TACTICS IN RELATION TO RELIGION IN POST-REVOLUTIONARY SOCIETY
Both the separation of religious institutions from the state and the former's prevention from interfering in educational affairs constitute preliminary, primary conditions, aimed at strengthening socialism in a post-revolutionary society. "We demand that religion be held a private affair so far as the state is concerned. . . . Complete separation of Church and State is what the socialist proletariat demands of the modern state and the modern church."
V. I. Lenin, "Socialism and Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 10, Moscow, 1962, p. 84-5
"The proletarian government . . . must prevent all church interference in State-organised educational affairs."
The Programme of the Communist International, London, 1929; p. 38.
While granting freedom of religious worship, the socialist state must give no funds to religious institutions, which must be self-supporting. "Everyone must be absolutely free to profess any religion he pleases, or no religion whatever."
V. I. Lenin, "Socialism and Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 10, Moscow, 1962, p. 84.
"The proletarian State must . . . grant[s] liberty of worship."
The Programme of the Communist International, London, 1932; p. 38.
"No subsidies should be granted to the established church nor state allowances made to ecclesiastical and religious societies."
V. I. Lenin, "Socialism and Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 10, Moscow, 1962, p. 84.
"The proletarian government must withdraw all State support from the Church."
The Programme of the Communist International, London, 1932; p. 38.
Finally, an exclusively ideological struggle must be conducted against religion in the form of scientific anti-religious, atheist propaganda. These efforts, however, must be accomplished in forms that will not alienate from the struggle to build and maintain a socialist society those religious believers who would otherwise support it. "The only service that can still be rendered to God today is to declare atheism a compulsory article of faith and to outdo Bismark's anticlerical Kirchenkulturkampf laws by prohibiting religion generally."
F. Engels, "Emigrant Literature (Extract from the Second Article)", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 143.
"Herr Dühring . . . cannot wait until religion dies this, its natural, death. . . . He out-Bismarcks Bismarck; he decrees sharper May laws . . . against all religion whatsoever; he incites his gendarmes of the future against religion, and thereby helps it to martyrdom and a prolonged lease of life."
F. Engels, "Anti-Dühring", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 149."Engels no less resolutely condemns Dühring's pseudo-revolutionary idea that religion should be prohibited in socialist society. . . .
Engels insisted that the workers' party should have the ability to work patiently at the task of organising and educating the proletariat, which would lead to the dying out of religion, and not throw itself into the gamble of a political war on religion. . . . Atheist propaganda must be subordinated to its basic task - the development of the class struggle. . . .
An anarchist who preached war on God at all costs would in effect be helping the priests and the bourgeoisie. . . . A Marxist must be a materialist, i.e., an enemy of religion, but a dialectical materialist, i.e., one who treats the struggle against religion . . . on the basis of the class struggle which is going on in practice and is educating the masses more and better than anything else could."
V. I. Lenin: "The Attitude of the Workers' Party towards Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 15, Moscow, 1973, pp. 403-8. Emphasis in the original.
"We demand complete disestablishment of the Church so as to be able to combat the religious fog with purely ideological and solely ideological weapons."
V. I. Lenin, "Socialism and Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 10, Moscow, 1962, p. 85-6.
RELIGION IN ALBANIA: 1944-1945
Historically, particularly during the 19th and 20th centuries, religion had never had deep roots among the Albanian people. It remained a source of discord and division within the Albanian society both during, and after, the movement for national independence from Turkey, achieved in 1912. Prior to independence, for example, religious services had been conducted in three different languages: Arabic for Muslim Albanians, Greek for the Orthodox, and Latin for the Catholics. Furthermore, by identifying nationality with religion, the Ottoman authorities regarded Muslim Albanians as Turks, Orthodox Albanians as Greeks, and Catholic Albanians as Latins. Religion, therefore, became instrumental in de-nationalising the Albanian people. The cause of Albania's independence could not be championed by its religious establishments so that its national movement assumed a non-religious character, prompting its leaders to ignore religion and uphold nationalism. The celebrated slogan of the time, addressed to the Albanians by the poet P. V. Shkodrani (1825-92), was: "The religion of the Albanian people is Albanianism."
According to the census taken in 1945, the population of Albania (of 1,122,000) could be divided between three major religious faiths in the following proportions: Muslim: 817,000 (72.8%);
Orthodox Christian: 192,000 (17.1%);
Catholic Christian: 113,000 (10.1%).
(See Pandi Geço, Shqipëria: Pamje Fiziko-Ekonomike (Albania:
Physico-Economic Survey), Tirana, 1959).
Although not distinguished in the census figures, it is estimated that the population professing the Muslim faith (817,000) was composed as follows: Sunni Muslims: 613,000 (75%);
Bektashis: 204,000 (25%).
By its Constitution of 5 May 1945, the Sunni Muslim community was divided into four zones - Tirana, Shkodra, Korça and Elbasan - each headed by a Grand Mufti. Supreme authority within the community was vested in a General Council, composed of the Head of the Muslim Community, the four Grand Muftis and a lay representative from each zone. The Head of the Muslim Community and the Grand Muftis were elected by the General Council, the appointments being subject to the approval of the Head of State.
The Bektashis formed a separate community and were regarded by many orthodox Muslims as heretics. Bektashism, which takes its name from the saint Hadji Bektash, originated in Anatolia in the 13th century and was introduced into Albania in the 15th century by janissaries of the Ottoman army. The Bektashis were a mystical sect, involving gradual initiation into secret knowledge. More liberal than orthodox Mohammedanism, Bektashism did not insist on the veiling of women or abstention from alcohol; in place of Ramadan, it observed a Persian festival which commemorated the murdered sons of Ali. It preached non-violence and the brotherhood of man, admitting even non-Muslims. Largely owing to the influence of the poet Naim Frashëri, himself a Bektashi, the sect played on the whole a progressive role in the movement for national independence.
By its Constitution of 1929, the Bektashi community was divided into six zones - Kruja, Elbasan, Korça, Gjirokastra, Prishta and Vlora. It was headed by a Chief Grandfather (kryegjysh), under whom were five Grandfathers (gjyshër), fathers (baballarë) and monks (dervishë). The clergy lived in monasteries (teqe). When the Turkish government suppressed Bektashism in 1925, the headquarters of the sect was transferred to Tirana, and the Albanian Chief Grandfather became World Grandfather to all Bektashis - estimated, before World War II, at 7 million.
Orthodox Christians lived mainly south of the river Shkumbin, principally in the districts of Korça and Gjirokastra. In September 1922 an Orthodox congress convened in Berat and proclaimed the autocephaly of the church in Albania, although the existence of the Autocephalous Church of Albania was recognised by the Patriarchate in Constantinople only in April 1937.
By its Constitution of 14 August 1929 the Orthodox Church was divided into four bishoprics - of Korça, Durrës and Tirana, Berat, and Gjirokastra. The bishopric of Durrës and Tirana bore the title of Metropolis, and its bishop that of Metropolitan of the diocese and Archbishop of Albania. Supreme religious authority was vested in a Holy Synod, composed of the bishops of each diocese and the Great Mitred Economus; the Synod was responsible for religious education, for which it maintained schools. The administration of church property was vested in a Mixed Council, composed of the members of the Synod and a layman from each diocese; this council met in Tirana under the presidency of the Archbishop.
Catholics lived principally in the north, with Shkodra as their religious centre. Administratively, the church was divided into two archbishoprics - of Shkodra and Durrës; that of Durrës was composed of a single diocese, while the larger archbishopric of Shkodra was made up of four dioceses - Shkodra, Lezha, Zadrima and Pulat. The siixth diocese, that of Mirdita, came directly under the jurisdiction of the Vatican. The Bishop of Shkodra was Archbishop of Albania.
However, in assessing the role played by religion in Albania, primary consideration must be given to the fact that, historically, it had had a limited, partial impact upon the country's developments. As Enver Hoxha pointed out in 1967, "Religion had not had strong theoretical and organisational roots in Albania, it had not been involved in the revolutionary, progressive and liberation movements of the Albanian people. The clergy in general, and that of higher circles in particular, Moslem, Orthodox and especially Catholic, played an overt reactionary and anti-national role in favour of the Turkish, Austro-Hungarian, Greek invaders, and the Italian fascists and the German nazis, it had always been at war with our national question, the freedom of the people.
Before the liberation of our country the organisation of various religions in Albania, except for the Catholic one, was almost non-existent. The activity of the institutions of Muslim worship was almost formal, the Orthodox one was limited only to liturgical rites, whereas the Catholic Church strove to develop Catholicism as an ideology and to disseminate it, but it failed to do what it did in Italy, France and other countries. The Muslim and Orthodox clergy were quite unversed in religious matters whereas, unlike them, the clergy of the Catholic Church was well trained."
Enver Hoxha, "We Feel Proud to Be Able to Militate together with You for the Same Cause: From a Conversation at a Meeting with Fosco Dinucci, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Italy (Marxist-Leninist)", 11 September 1967, in Hoxha, E., Speeches, Conversations and Articles (1967-1968), Tirana, 1978, pp. 164-5.
"Our people have never been, and are not, so fanatical and attached to religion, which has always opposed their aspirations and liberation struggle. All the religious sects that exist in our country have been brought into Albania by foreign invaders and have served them and the ruling and exploiting classes of the country. Under the garb of religion, of God and his prophets, there lay hidden the brutal law of external invaders and their internal lackeys. The history of our people demonstrates clearly how much suffering, distress, bloodshed and oppression have been inflicted upon our people by religion, how it engendered discord, incited fratricide . . . enslaving us more easily and sucking our blood in its name. That is why nothing good has attached and attaches us to religion, to its practices. . . Attached to the struggle of our people for liberation there have been also patriotic clergymen who, without openly denying their faith, have been closely linked with the people and devoted to the idea of national liberation. However, religion as a faith, as an ideology, has never been a progressive factor with us; it has not given the least aid to the cause of the people and their national liberation."
Enver Hoxha, "On the Role and Tasks of the Democratic Font in the Struggle towards the Full Success of Socialism in Albania: Report to the 4th Congress of the Democratic Front of Albania", 14 September 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 36, Tirana, 1982, pp. 375-6.
Hoxha's assessment is confirmed by non-Marxist writers: "The Albanian . . . is indifferent in religious matters."
C. A. Chekrezi, Albania Past and Present, New York, 1919, p. 201.
"The Albanians, owing to historical conditions, have never been a religious people."
S. Skendi: "Shanderbeg and Albanian National Consciousness", in: "Südost-Forschungen" (South-Eastern Researches), Volume 27, 1968, p. 86.
"Historically it may be quite true that the existence of four religious communities in the historical conditions of the 19th century has acted as an obstacle to the emergence of the Albanian nation."
Bernard Tönnes, "Religious Persecution in Albania", in Religion in Communist Lands, vol. 10, n. 1, Spring 1982.
RELIGION IN ALBANIA: 1945 - 1966
Albania's national liberation against fascism, which had been primarily led by the Communist Party of Albania, was finally achieved in November 1944. The country thus entered the way to socialism, as a programme of far-reaching economic and social reforms began to be implemented. By means of the Land Reform of 29 August 1945, all land, vineyards, olive-groves, orchards, buildings and farming implements owned by those who did not till the land themselves were expropriated to the state. This law made significant inroads into the wealth of the various religious institutions, which had to surrender to the state 3,163 hectares of land, 61,024 olive trees, and so on.
(I. Baçi, Agriculture in the PSR of Albania, Tirana; 1981; p. 19).
The People's Republic (PR) of Albania was formally established in January 1946. Its Constitution, approved on 14 March 1946, sanctioned the sovereignty of the people as its essential principle: "power comes from the people and belongs to the people."
In relation to religion, the Constitution applied - for the most part - the classical Marxist-Leninist principles noted above. Religious institutions were separated from both state and school, and freedom of religious worship was constitutionally guaranteed: "The Rights and Duties of Citizens . . .
Art. 15:
All citizens are equal, no matter to which nationality, race or religion they belong. Any action which gives privileges to or restricts the rights of individual citizens on account of their . . . religion, is contrary to the Constitution . . . Any provocation which is likely to sow hatred and strife between . . . religions, is contrary to the Constitution . . .
Art. 18
All citizens are guaranteed freedom of conscience and of faith.
The church is separated from the state.
The religious communities are free in matters of their belief, as well as in their outer exercise and practice. . . .
Article 31 . . .
The school is separated from the church."
Constitution of the People's Republic of Albania, approved on 14 March 1946, Tirana, 1964, pp. 9, 13.
At the same time, the use of religion and religious institutions for political purposes was prohibited: "Art. 18 . . .
It is prohibited to use the church and religion for political purposes.
Political organisations on a religious basis are likewise prohibited."
Accordingly, an exclusively ideological struggle against religious belief began to be conducted: this was subordinated to the struggle to construct and defend a socialist society in Albania. In accordance with classical Marxist-Leninist principles, therefore, the Communist Party of Albania (later re-named the Party of Labor of Albania, PLA), the state and various social organisations carried out an ideological campaign against religious beliefs. In April 1947, for example, the Party recommended that education should be based on the principles of dialectical materialism.
In April 1955 the PLA Central Committee adopted a resolution on ideological work which emphasised the need to: "Strengthen the materialist and scientific world outlook among the workers"
and to combat religious beliefs and customs which were hindering "The spread of . . . socialist culture among the masses."
Dokumenta Kryesore të PPSH (Principal Documents of the PLA), Volume 1, Tirana, 1960, pp. 329, 357.
In a speech of September 1967 Hoxha spoke of: "the work of many years that has been accomplished by the Party, state, Democratic Front and all the social organisations to spread education and culture and to educate the masses in the spirit of atheism. In its attitude towards religion, the Party has stuck to the Marxist-Leninist principle that religious world outlook and communist world outlook . . . are irreconcilable . . . because they express and uphold the interests of different antagonistic classes. It has always subordinated the struggle against religion ideology to the struggle to free the workers from social oppression and economic exploitation."
Enver Hoxha, "On the Role and Tasks of the Democratic Font in the Struggle towards the Full Success of Socialism in Albania: Report to the 4th Congress of the Democratic Front of Albania", 14 September 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 36, Tirana, 1982, pp. 375.
However, on the Marxist-Leninist tactical principle listed above - that the state must give no funds to religious institutions, which must be self-supporting - the PR of Albania deviated to the right up to 1967. Article 18 of its 1946 Constitution declared that: "the state may give material aid to religious communities."
Constitution of the People's Republic of Albania, approved on 14 March 1946, Tirana, 1964, p. 9.
This provision was put into effect in the laws regulating the relations of the state with religious institutions passed by the People's Assembly between 1949 and 1951 - namely, - Decree n. 743 "On the Religious Communities" (26 January 1949);
- Decree n. 1064 "On the Approval of the Constitution of the Albanian Muslim Community" (4 May 1950);
- Decree n. 1065 "On the Approval of the Constitution of the Autocephalic Church of Albania" (4 May 1950);
- Decree n. 1066 "On the Approval of the Constitution of the Albanian Bektashi Community" (4 May 1950); and
- Decree n. 1322 "On the Approval of the Constitution of the Catholic Church of Albania" (30 July 1951).
The first of the above laws required all religious communities to develop among their members a feeling of loyalty towards the PR of Albania, and provided for the closure within one month of all religious orders and societies having their headquarters outside the state. This provision eliminated the Jesuit and Franciscan orders.
The Constitutions referred to in the above laws were adopted by representatives of the religious communities concerned. The Constitution of the Catholic Church of Albania was adopted at an assembly of the Catholic clergy which met in Shkodra on 26 June 1951. It provided for the rupture of organisational, political and economic ties with the Vatican, and for religious relations with the Vatican to be conducted through state channels, and for state approval of higher clerical appointments. The Vatican claimed that the assembly concerned was "not representative" and declined to recognise the Constitution concerned. These laws provided for state financial support to the religious institutions of the communities concerned. In the early sixties, state subsidies to the Muslim community alone amounted to 12 million leks.
(Arkivi Qendror i Shtetit i RPSSH (Central State Archives of the PSRA), Fondi i Këshillit të Ministrave (Records of the Council of Ministers), 1966, Dossier 470, p. 2).
This rightist deviation from classical Marxist-Leninist principles played a significant role in the 1967 campaign for the closure of all religious institutions, in which a prominent complaint was that it was unjust that purveyors of "religious opium" should be financially supported by society, while all other citizens capable of work were not.
At the same time, this rightist deviation did not affect the anti-religious ideological campaign which was subordinated - in accordance with Marxist-Leninist tactical principles - to the political and social struggle for the construction of socialism in Albania.
Particular emphasis was placed by Enver Hoxha on the fact that this struggle against religious "opium" - being, essentially, an ideological and political campaign - had to be consistently carried out by using persuasion and tact, and by avoiding decrees, administrative or repressive methods: ". . . the principal aspect [in the struggle against religion - Ed.] is the ideological and scientific work of the Party. The poison of religion is not being fought against by means of orders from the state, but through an endless work, with perseverance and continuously on the part of the Party."
Enver Hoxha, "Let Us Improve the Management of the Propaganda and the Agitation of the Party: Discussion at a Meeeting of the Political Bureau of the CC of the PLA", 15 January 1952, in Hoxha, E., Vepra [Works], n. 9, Tirana, 1972, p. 49.
"The uprooting of religious prejudices, vain beliefs and harmful habits is a difficult and delicate work. They do not disappear suddenly, neither with decrees nor with meetings. This is a work that requires perseverance, intelligence and tact."
Enver Hoxha, "Report to the IV Congress of the PLA 'On the Activity of the CC of the PLA'", 13 February 1961, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 20, Tirana, 1976, p. 270.
"The struggle to uproot these [religious - Ed.] vestiges of the past, inherited from other centuries, is, above all, an ideological struggle, the aim of which is the spiritual liberation of humanity. . . .
. . . For this purpose, we must activise better all the propaganda activities of the Party, our cultural institutions, the schools, teachers and all other intellectuals, the press and the radio, the literature and the arts; those who are struggling for the education of the workers with the new Communist ethic and outlook must regard this as their principal duty."
Enver Hoxha, "Upon the Economic, Social and Cultural Situation in the Countryside and the Measures to Improve it: Report to the X Plenum of the CC of the PLA", 6 June 1963, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 25, Tirana, 1977, p. 138.
". . . also in the struggle against religion we have to act tactfully. . . .
The Marxists, in particular, fight against this ideology in a dialectical, revolutionary way, not by means of administrative measures, but through the method of persuasion, and not through a superficial and formal persuasion, since this will prove to be ineffective and will soon translate into orders."
Enver Hoxha, "Let Us All Understand how to Better Implement the Directives of the Party: Talk with Cadres and Some Workers of the Agricultural Cooperative 'Stalin' of Kruja in the District of Sushnja", 8 March 1966, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 31, Tirana, 1980, p. 415.
". . . the Party must carry out a thoughtful, scientific task . . . not in a heartless manner, hurting people's feelings, but by means of profound political activity. We cannot give orders to the effect that the churches and mosques which exist in the countryside be destroyed. . . . Marxism fights reactionary and religious ideologies not by administrative methods, but through persuasion."
Enver Hoxha, "The Experience of the Party Shall Teach How to Improve Our Work: Speech at the Meeting of the Secretariat of the CC of the PLA", 14 March 1966, in Hoxha, Vepra, n. 31, Tirana, 1980, pp. 464-5.
As indicated by the above pronouncements, too, never had Enver Hoxha and the PLA - in the course of the struggle against religion in Albania up to 1966 - called for the closure of religious institutions and for the total abolition of religion itself.
THE CLOSURE OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS IN 1966-67
On 14 May 1966 the youth organisation of the village of Xibrake, in Elbasan district, closed the village mosque. On the following day the youth organisation of village of Mynqan (Cërrik district) did the same. On 10 June the youth of the village of Theth (Dukagjin district) turned the local church into a house of culture. Such actions occurred sporadically during the remainder of 1966. (Arkivi Qendror i Shtetit i RPSSH (Central State Archives of the PSRA), Fondi i Këshillit të Ministrave (Records of the Council of Ministers), 1966, Dossier 470, p. 2).
On 8 February 1967 the organ of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania, Zëri i Popullit (The People's Voice) carried on its front page a report headlined: "Revolutionary Initiative of the Pupils and Teachers of the Naim Frashëri School at Durrës: With the Sharp Sword of the Ideology of the Party Against Religious Ideology, Prejudices, Superstitions and Backward Customs."
Zëri i Popullit, 8 February 1967, p. 1.
The report described how the pupils and teachers of this school had carried out an action under the leadership of: "the Party Committee of Durrës district", against:
"overt manifestations of religious ideology", and against:"an attitude of indifference" towards these manifestations."
(Zëri i Popullit, 8 February 1967, p. 2).
The action had consisted of the formation of discussion groups on the falsity and social harmfulness of religion, the putting up of posters, slogans and wall-newspapers directed against religion, the creation of a special corner of the school library devoted to atheist literature, etc. The pupils and teachers had also carried the campaign outside the school into their families, in consequence of which "icon-cases were being turned by the families themselves into first-aid boxes". The campaign was carried into the streets, too. A large-character poster (a term derived from the Chinese "cultural revolution" which was then proceeding) was placed in the shop of a local baker alleged to be selling spells for the cure of mumps (Zëri i Popullit, 8 February 1967, p. 2).
The above campaign in Durrës was referred to by Hoxha seven months later, in his speech of 14 September 1967, in the following terms: "It was sufficient for a single spark struck by the revolutionary students of the Durrës 'Naim Frashëri' school . . . to kindle an immense fire that swept away from the face of the earth all hotbeds of religious obscurantism."
Enver Hoxha, "On the Role and Tasks of the Democratic Font in the Struggle towards the Full Success of Socialism in Albania: Report to the 4th Congress of the Democratic Front of Albania", 14 September 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 36, Tirana, 1982, pp. 376
During February, March, April, and May 1967 such actions, which also included actions to close down religious institutions, spread all over the country. Numerous mass meetings against religion were held in towns and villages and a series of pamphlets and books satirising religion and exposing the church came off the press. On 11 April 1967 the Presidium of the People's Assembly adopted Decree n. 4,236 by which the movable property of the religious communities (including livestock) were transferred, without compensation, to the ownership of the Executive Committees of the District People's Councils. This property included monetary assets to the total value of 1,929,307 leks. Finally, by the end of May 1967, all religious institutions had been closed - a total of 2,035, including 1,270 mosques, 608 Orthodox churches and monasteries, 157 Catholic churches and monasteries, etc. (Arkivi Qendror i Shtetit i RPSSH (Central State Archives of the PSRA), Fondi i Ministrisë së Arsimit e Kulturës (Records of the Ministry of Education and Culture), Dossier 20, pp. 24, 36).
Religious buildings of historical or cultural importance were preserved as monuments, most of the others were converted into houses of culture. Those which were not of historical or cultural importance and which stood in the way of town planning schemes were demolished. Subsequent, official assessments of these actions seem to confirm that the actual closure of religious institutions in Albania met with almost no resistance on the part of religious believers, with the sole exception of a small number of hostile, reactionary members of the clergy.
But a striking and anomalous feature in this struggle against religion is highlighted by the fact that, during this crucial period of time (February-May 1967) when all religion institutions were being closed in the country, these extreme actions were taking place against the many, explicit indications given by the First Secretary of the PLA, Enver Hoxha himself. During this time, too, Hoxha continued to insist on the necessity of an intensified ideological and political struggle in this field, based on persuading and convincing religious believers about the futility of religion, but without hurting their feelings. Indeed, never did he seem to endorse the closure of churches and mosques as a proper, and final solution for the anti-religious struggle carried out in Albania since 1945. Hoxha's declarations during February and April 1967 are the following: "It is impossible to fight [against religion - Ed.] to the end, if the communists and the masses are not politically and ideologically clear about the harm of religion. . . .
The Party, like a good doctor, has to make all efforts to cure the sick always in a persuasive, and never in an offensive manner.
. . . The successful development of the struggle against religious beliefs requires us to be careful, since we are dealing with the feelings of the people which, in one way or another, are associated with the religious institutions . . .
Let us be realistic and assess things always politically. For each step forward along the road of struggle against religion, we require the approval of the people and must not infringe their feelings in any way. . . .
The struggle which we have carried out, all the measures we are taking, represent a major qualitative step forward based on the great experience of the Party, on the great work the Party has done until today. . . .
. . . Let us realise that we are not dealing here with campaigns, but with political, ideological questions of the masses, of the people. All these [questions - Ed.] must be better reflected in our press organs, since this work requires extraordinarily great skill.
Our main task is to put greater efforts into making a qualitative leap forward in the education of the communists, the workers and the youth."
Enver Hoxha, "The Problems of the Organs of Internal Affairs Are not Outside the Controll of the Party: Discussion at a Meeting of the Secretariat of the CC of the PLA", 23 February 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 35, Tirana, 1982, pp. 85-8.
"In this matter [the struggle against religion - Ed.] violence, exaggerated or inflated actions must be condemned. Here it is necessary to use persuasion and only persuasion, political and ideological work, so that the ground is prepared for each concrete action against religion." Enver Hoxha, "The Communists Lead by Means of Example, Sacrifices, Abnegation: Discussion in the Organization of the Party, Sector C, of the 'Enver' Plant", 2 March 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 35, Tirana, 1982, pp. 130-1.
". . . the struggle against religion does not end with the destruction of the churches and mosques. Their destruction is a relatively simple task. It is much more difficult to struggle against religious habits, to uproot them from the consciousness of our people. . . . All these do not disappear either by decrees, or at a stroke, or by declarations alone. . . .
Then, how do those customs, so deeply rooted for centuries, disappear? Have the Party committees considered how to organise systematically this great and difficult politico-ideological struggle, by means of lectures, by deepening and broadening initiatives, by special meetings, by increasing the activities of the youth and women's organisations in this work, etc.? This - I believe - is not done as it should be, if it is not, we shall not have the desired results and the blame for this will not lie with the masses who believe, but with us, the leaders, who have not learned how to utilise, organise and appropriately implement the belief, enthusiasm and readiness of the masses."
Enver Hoxha, "The Party Can Solve Nothing without the Masses and without Helping Them: Discussion at a Meeting of the Secretariat of the CC of the PLA," 22 March 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 35, Tirana, 1982, pp. 138-9.
". . . [Let us - Ed.] work with perseverance, with perseverance, since this is not a work of a day or a month, but a work which will continue year after year . . . . we are not dealing here with a matter of time and speed, but with uprooting what is negative and deepening the socialist revolution."
Enver Hoxha, 30 March 1967, in Hoxha, E., Ditar [Diary], n. 9, Tirana, 1990, p. 116. Emphasis in the original.
"We shall not allow the use of administrative measures to eliminate useless religious institutions, customs and beliefs. There is only one road for the solution of these problems: political, ideological work and persuasion. . . . Backward customs and religious beliefs do not disappear suddenly, but gradually, through long and continuous work . . .
. . . In no way must we hurt the feelings of the people over the tower of a minaret which, if it is not destroyed today, will be destroyed next year, when the people have become convinced of the uselessness of religious beliefs."
Enver Hoxha, "In the Struggle against Religious Beliefs there is only One Road - Political, Ideological Work, Persuasion: From a Talk with the First Secretary of the Party Committee in the Dibra District," 7 April 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 35, Tirana, 1982, p. 226.
". . . in this question [the struggle against religion] we shall not allow . . . the employment of administrative measures. There is only one method: . . . political, ideological and convincing work with the people."
Enver Hoxha, 7 April 1967, in Hoxha, E., Ditar [Diary], n. 9, Tirana, 1990, p. 133.
". . . The Party has given the directive to be very prudent, very mature in this question [the struggle against religion - Ed.]."
Enver Hoxha, "The True Friendship is only the One which is Characterized by Faithfulness towards Marxism-Leninism: From a Talk during a Meeting with the Chinese Ambassador in Tirana", 12 April 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 35, Tirana, 1982, p. 234.
Clearly, on the basis of the above quotations relating to the crucial months of February-April 1967, the conclusion must be drawn that the closure of religious institutions in Albania could not have been initiated by the leading group of the party and state around Hoxha.
As mentioned, the 1946 Constitution of the PR of Albania, which was in force in 1967, provided, in the section laying down the citizens' rights, religious freedom. Despite stated constitutional guarantees, therefore, the closure of religious institutions in 1967 did constitute a violation of the rights of Albanian citizens laid down in their Constitution.
It is true that, after the closure of the religious institutions had been completed by May, on 13 November 1967 the Presidium of the People's Assembly adopted Decree n. 4337 (published in Gazeta Zyrtare [Official Gazette] on 22 November 1967, p. 241) which cancelled the legal status of religion and repealed the laws of 1949-1951 already described - laws which regulated the relationship bettween the state and religious institutions. But this Decree was not an amendment to the Constitution - an act which was not within the competencce of the Presidium. It merely restored the position to that existing prior to 1949-51, when the state's relations with the religious communities were unregulated. It followed that in November 1967 Radio Tirana announced that the PR of Albania had become the first atheist state of the world and, indeed, the only one without religious institutions.
No constitutional amendments relating to religion were adopted by the People's Assembly until the new Constitution was approved in December 1976. Albania then became - according to its Constitution, too - the only country in the world to outlaw religion and to mandate the propagation of atheism in its legislation. According to the 1976 Constitution, "Art. 37
The state recognises no religion whatever and supports atheist propaganda for the purpose of inculcating the scientific materialist world outlook in people.. . .
Article 55
The creation of any type of organisation of a . . . religious . . . character is prohibited.
. . . religious . . . activities and propaganda . . . are prohibited."
Constitution of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Approved by the People's Assembly on December 28, 1976, Tirana, 1989, Second Ed., pp. 20, 26.
Clearly, therefore, the closure of the religious institutions remained unconstitutional for more than nine years (from 1967 to 1976). Furthermore, this action was not in compliance with the country's international obligations since the PR of Albania, as a UN member since December 1955, had pledged itself to promote, in line with article 55 of the UN Charter: "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion."
UN Charter, art. 55.
HAD THE CLOSURE OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS BEEN INITIATED BY THE LEADING GROUP AROUND HOXHA?
The closure of religious institutions in 1966-67 had clearly been: 1) in violation of Marxist-Leninist principles, which do not contemplate the abolition of religion either by force or by administrative methods;
2) in violation of the Constitution of the PR of Albania;
3) not in compliance with Albania's international obligations as a UN member;
4) an action which must have alienated to some extent religious believers within Albania who might otherwise have been full supporters of the socialist regime;
5) an action which assisted international anti-socialist propaganda directed at the country;
6) an action which alienated to some extent religious believers who might otherwise have been favourably disposed towards socialist Albania;
7) an action which has held back to some extent the international Marxist-Leninist movement, of which socialist Albania had been the sole citadel during the sixties, seventies, and eighties, by presenting the image of a state which arbitrarily permits the violation of its constitutional rights, and by alienating to some extent religious believers who might otherwise have been firm supporters of the movement.
Finally, it is also important to emphasise that the closure of religious institutions in Albania - an action requiring a considerable degree of organisation and leadership - had not been initiated by the leading group of the party and state around Hoxha. Official reports of these actions, in fact, stress that the initiative came "from below", "from the masses", and especially "from the youth": "The youth and other masses of the people in villages and cities rose to their feet, demanding that the churches and mosques, temples and monasteries, all the 'holy places' be closed down. . . . The people condemned the anti-national and anti-popular role of religion . . . decided to wipe out religious centres and transform them into cultural and other centres."
In other words, the action is described in the official PLA history as an example of the
"initiatives of the people."
The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labor of Albania, Tirana, 1982, p. 437.
Reporting on the action in September 1967, Hoxha emphasised this analysis: "The people rose to their feet and destroyed the mosques and churches . . . all this work was done by the people themselves."
Enver Hoxha, "Albania was Born from the Revolution and Builds Socialism through the Revolution: From the Speech Organized on the Occasion of the 24th Anniversary of the Struggle in Rec", 3 September 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 36, Tirana, 1982, p. 250.
"This movement [against religion - Ed.] . . . has began through the initiative of the masses themselves and developed and deepened through their active participation."
Enver Hoxha, "On the Role and Tasks of the Democratic Font in the Struggle towards the Full Success of Socialism in Albania: Report to the 4th Congress of the Democratic Front of Albania", 14 September 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 36, Tirana, 1982, pp. 374-7.
At the next 6th PLA Congress in 1971, Hoxha reiterated the point: "The working people of their own free will decided the fate of the religious institutions." Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania: Submitted to the 6th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania, 1 November 1971, Tirana, 1971, p. 135.
Likewise, ten years later Hoxha declared: "Our state is atheistic by the will of its people."
Enver Hoxha, Speech Prior to the Elections for the 10th Legislature of the People's Assembly of the PSR of Albania: Delivered in the Electoral Zone n. 210 of Tirana, 10 November 1982, Tirana, 1982, pp. 39.
Albanian historians, Pollo and Puto, also confirm that: "There grew in the heart of young people still at school, an initiative demanding the closure of churches, of mosques, in short of all sacred places . . . Very quickly these initiatives were transformed into a great popular movement."
Stefanaq Pollo & Arben Puto, The History of Albania: from its Origins to the Present Day, London, 1981, p. 282.
Indeed, the determining role played by the youth in this anti-religious struggle of the late sixties is highlighted by Albanian historian Sadikaj in a detailed analysis of this subject, published in Studime Historike (Historical Studies) in 1981: "At the end of 1965 and during 1966 quite a number of youth organisations undertook a series of drives against religious hearts. . . .
During 1966 the youth . . . shut down places of worship. . . .
The fact that the youth become the vanguard in this struggle is understandable. The young generation in general, and the school youth in particular, were less infected by the religious consciousness, owing to the new conditions in which they were born and grew up. The knowledge they had gained in school, and the constant educational work carried out by the Party by every manner and means, had armed the youth with the new Marxist-Leninist world view, and had made them front-line warriors in the struggle against the religious ideology. . .
Immediately after the 5th Party Congress, a series of initiatives and drives were set in motion by the youth against the material base of religion. . . .
In the context of the revolutionary movement against religion, the initiative of the 'Naim Frashëri' school in the city of Durrës holds a special place. . . .
The youth thus became the Party's agitators in intensifying the movement against religion. . .
The struggle against religious dogmas, rites, and beliefs was carried out in conformity with the line of the masses. It was the people themselves who rose up and condemned the religious ideology. . . .
The youth proved to be the most vital and dynamic force."
(Dilaver Sadikaj, "Revolutionary Movement against Religion in the Sixties", in Studime Historike (Historical Studies), n. 4, 1981. Ed - Emphasis inserted)
It is true that the official History of the Party of Labour of Albania appears to imply that this initiative to close all religious institutions had been inspired by Hoxha's report to the 5th PLA Congress in November 1966, and by another important speech of his on 6 February 1967: "After the 5th Congress and Comrade Enver Hoxha's speech of February 6, 1967, this struggle [for the closure of religious institutions - Ed.] began over a broad front."
The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labour of Albania, Tirana, 1982, pp. 437.
In his report to the 5th Congress, Hoxha referred to the ideological struggle against religion, saying: "The ideological and cultural revolution is a part of the all-round class struggle for carrying the socialist revolution through to the end in all fields. . . .
Class struggle in itself is the struggle . . . against religious ideology, prejudices, backward customs and superstitions."
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the CC of the PLA: Submitted to the V Congress of the PLA, 1 November 1966, Tirana, 1966, pp. 149, 151.
The reference to religion in Hoxha's speech of 6 February 1967 was as follows: "How can one consider on vanguard positions that local Party organisation of the Durrës wharves, or how can one consider a revolutionary that worker of these wharves, who does well by day and is even praised for his work, but who at home by night makes church icons and sells them to the faithful in the morning?"
Enver Hoxha, "The Further Revolutionization of the Party and Government", 6 February 1967, in Hoxha, E., Speeches: 1967-1968, Tirana, 1974, p. 5.
These are the sole passing references to the struggle against religion in the two speeches by Hoxha concerned, and the second passage cited above is not considered of sufficient importance to include in the English version of the speech published in Selected Works, Volume 4.
(Enver Hoxha, Selected Works, Vol. 4, Tirana, 1982, p. 211).
These passages concerned clearly call for an intensification of the struggle against religion on the ideological plane. But they carry no suggestion of a call for a mass movement for the closure of religious institutions.
Even if the word "after" in the History of the Party of Labour of Albania is taken to have only a chronological meaning, it is inaccurate. As has been shown, the campaign for the closure of the religious institutions commenced in a small way in May 1966, six months before the 5th PLA Congress was held. The action of the pupils and teachers of the Naim Frashëri School in Durrës, held to be the signal for the mass campaign, certainly took place the day after Hoxha's speech of 6 February 1967 was published, but the account of it in Zëri i Popullit makes it clear that the preparations for the action had commenced: "several days previously."
Zëri i Popullit (The People's Voice), 8 February 1967; p.1.
Hoxha's personal view of the campaign for the closure of the churches may fairly be judged from the reference in his diary to similar actions by the Chinese "Red Guards", a reference dated 26 August 1966: "Can the question of religious belief be eradicated simply by closing some Catholic churches, as the students are doing, or by replacing the icons in churches with busts and portraits of Mao?!! Of course not. Religious belief in China must be a major problem, which cannot be solved with these measures."
Enver Hoxha, "A Sixteen-Point Document on the Cultural Revolution is Approved," 26 August 1966, in Hoxha, E., Reflections on China, vol. I, Tirana, 1979, p. 255.
Clearly, therefore, the closure of the religious institutions in Albania had not been initiated by the leading group of the party and state around Hoxha. Furthermore, his relevant pronouncements during the early months of 1967 (quoted in the previous section) had indeed called only for an intensification of the ideological and political struggle against religion, a struggle which must, in fact, be fought - as Lenin pointed out: "with purely ideological and solely ideological weapons."
V. I. Lenin, "Socialism and Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 10, Moscow, 1962, p. 86.
THE CHINESE-ALBANIAN ALLIANCE DURING THE LATE SIXTIES
The mass action for the closure of religious institutions which took place in the PR of Albania in 1966-67 was a struggle fought in the more general revolutionary movement developing all over the country. In this context, other radical, revolutionary transformations in society were also aimed at putting the general interest above the personal one, at completely emancipating women and at further revolutionising education, literature and arts.
During the sixties, the closure of the churches and mosques in Albania took place simultaneously with the "cultural revolution" in China and embodied certain of its features in that it was not initiated by the leadership of the party, it was carried out under "revolutionary" slogans, and its initiative belonged to "the masses", especially the youth.
From the evidence previously presented, it seems clear that the leading group around Hoxha had been opposed to this action. This opposition was, however, rendered difficult by the PLA's support - including that of the leading group around Hoxha himself - for "Mao Tse-tung Thought" and by its incorrect assessment of the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
According to the official History of the Party of Labor of Albania, published in 1971, China was still regarded, during the late sixties and early seventies, as "a bastion of socialism and a powerful base of the world revolution."
The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labor of Albania, Tirana, 1971, p. 675.
At that time, China was characterised by Hoxha as: "a great socialist country."
Enver Hoxha, "The Foreign Policy of China - a Policy of Self-Isolation", 14 July 1967, in Hoxha, E., Reflections on China, vol. 1, Tirana, 1979, p. 379. Emphasis in the original.
Indeed, the PLA's almost unconditional support to China and its "cultural revolution" was officially expressed by Hoxha as follows: "Immense is the role and the contribution of the C[ommunist] P[arty] [of] C[hina] and of the P[eople's] R[epublic] of China in the struggle for the revolutionary cause of the international proletariat and peoples of all the world. They are now an invincible stronghold of socialism, the strong basis of revolution, the standard bearers of Marxism-Leninism, they are the iron pillars and safeguard of our revolutionary common cause. (Applause). . . .
. . . World imperialism and Khrushchovite revisionists are together attacking People's China, slandering the Chinese Cultural Proletarian Revolution. In vain do the enemies hope to discredit the great People's China. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and Mao Tse-tung's thought she marches triumphantly ahead. (Prolonged applause. Ovations). The Party of Labor of Albania greets the Chinese Proletarian Cultural Revolution which aims at fighting mercilessly against the bourgeois and revisionist ideology."
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the CC of the PLA: Submitted to the V Congress of the PLA, 1 November 1966, Tirana, 1966, pp. 219-220. Emphasis in the original.
"The brilliant victories scored by the great proletarian cultural revolution of the great Chinese people and their glorious Party, guided personally by the outstanding Marxist-Leninist comrade Mao Tse-Tung, have fortified a lot the common cause of socialism and revolution everywhere in the world. The triumph of this revolution . . . is a powerful incentive for the proletariat of the world and the oppressed peoples in their class and liberation struggles.
The existence and force of Mao Tse-Tung's great socialist People's China, provide a major guarantee for the inevitable victory over imperialism and revisionism."
Enver Hoxha, "Carry out the Tasks of Revolutionizing Our Party and the Life of Our Country with Persistence and in a Creative Way", 21 December 1968, in Hoxha, E., Speeches: 1967-1968, Tirana, 1974, pp. 295-6.
"The role of the People's Republic of China, this powerful bastion of the revolution and socialism, is especially great in the growth and strengthening of the revolutionary movement everywhere in the world.
The triumph of the great proletarian cultural revolution initiated and guided by the great Marxist-Leninist Comrade Mao Tse-tung, is a victory and a source of inspiration for the whole world revolutionary movement."
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania: Submitted to the 6th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania, 1 November 1971, Tirana, 1971, p. 14.
It was only towards the end of the seventies, that Enver Hoxha and the PLA publicly condemned the Chinese brand of revisionism by characterising "Mao Tse-tung Thought" as an anti-Marxist-Leninist theory, by presenting China as a non-socialist country where the dictatorship of the proletariat did not exist, and by finally rejecting its "cultural revolution" proceeding during the late sixties as "an hoax."
In an analysis, which had been circulated within the PLA in April 1978 and was later published in Albanian and other foreign languages in 1979, Enver Hoxha reassessed China's policies by drawing the following conclusions: "When we saw that this Cultural Revolution was not being led by the party but was a chaotic outburst following a call issued by Mao Tsetung, this did not seem to us to be a revolutionary stand. . . .
. . . The main thing was the fact that neither the party nor the proletariat were in the leadership of this 'great proletarian revolution.' This grave situation stemmed from Mao Tsetung's old anti-Marxist concepts of underestimation of the leading role of the proletariat and overestimation of the youth in the revolution. . . .
Our Party supported the Cultural Revolution, because the victories of the revolution in China were in danger. . . . Our Party defended the fraternal Chinese people, the cause of the revolution and socialism in China, and not the factional strife of anti-Marxist groups. . . .
The course of events showed that the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was neither a revolution, nor great, nor cultural, and in particular, not in the least proletarian. . . .
Of course, this Cultural Revolution was a hoax. It liquidated both the Communist Party of China, and the mass organisations, and plunged China into new chaos."
Enver Hoxha, Imperialism and the Revolution, Tirana, 1979, pp. 390-2. The book had been first published in Albanian in April 1978 for distribution within the PLA.
It is true that - according to his diary Reflections on China, published in 1979 - by the late sixties, Hoxha personally had already began to have doubts and misgivings concerning the leadership of the Communist Party of China. He, nevertheless, justified the support given by the PLA to Mao Tse-Tung and the "cultural revolution" in China as "in defence of Marxism-Leninism": "We defended China, Mao Tsetung, and the Cultural Revolution, because we defended Marxism-Leninism."
Enver Hoxha, "The Admission of China to the United Nations Organization", 26 October 1971, in Hoxha, E., Reflections on China, vol. 1, Tirana, 1979, p. 600. Emphasis in the original.
Taking advantage of the erroneous analysis made by the PLA of China and its "cultural revolution", the Chinese revisionists were in 1966-67 pressing the PLA to support a similar "cultural revolution" in the PR of Albania: "The Chinese comrades want to impose Mao by force as the 'greatest Marxist in the whole history of communism', want the whole communist movement of the world to adopt and apply their experience en bloc, to apply their Cultural Revolution."
Enver Hoxha, "The Foreign Policy of China - a Policy of Self-Isolation", 14 July 1967, in Hoxha, E., Reflections on China, vol. 1, Tirana, 1979, p. 371. Emphasis in the original.
According to his diary, Hoxha personally was opposed to this: "According to the Chinese propaganda, all of us have to go through this phase of theirs, because their Cultural Revolution is universal! This is not so, and cannot be so. . . .
A Marxist-Leninist party like ours, which is building socialism correctly, . . . which is deepening the proletarian revolution with success, cannot proceed on the road the Chinese advocate. The road of our party is revolutionary, consistent and Marxist-Leninist. A Marxist-Leninist party like ours builds socialism, deepens the revolution, but does not carry out revolution like that which is going on in China today."
Enver Hoxha, "Reflections on the Cultural Revolution. Anarchy Cannot be Combated with Anarchy", 28 April 1967, in Hoxha, E., Reflections on China, vol. 1, Tirana, 1979, p. 360. Emphasis in the original
One of the key points of "Mao Tse-tung Thought" was that known as "the mass line" - namely, that a correct party line came "ffrom the masses." Mao Tse-tung presents it as follows: "In all the practical work of our Party, all correct leadership is necessarily 'from the masses, to the masses'. . . . Take the ideas of the masses and concentrate them, then go to the masses, persevere in the ideas and carry them through, so as to form correct ideas of leadership - such is the basic method of leadership."<
Mao Tse-Tung, "Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership", 1 June 1943, in Mao Tse-Tung, Selected Works, vol. 3, Peking, 1967, pp.119-20.
While this conception had not been fully accepted by the PLA, the "mass line" appears to have played a role in the events of 1966-67, thus being instrumental in closing the country's religious institutions. It cannot be insignificant that in the First Edition of the History of the Party of Labor of Albania (published in 1971) the first section of the chapter which describes the closure of religious institutions is headed: "Deepening the Mass Line";
The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labor of Albania, Tirana, 1971, p. 556.
While in the Second Edition (published in 1982) this heading was deleted and the material redrafted (The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labour of Albania, Tirana, 1971, p. 391).
The "mass line" had, in fact, been implemented in China during the late sixties in a way which virtually liquidated the Communist Party of China by means of an internal power struggle attempting to destroy the political power of the national bourgeoisie, headed by Liu Shao-chi. In this effort - known as the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" - the political representatives of the compprador bourgeoisie, headed by Mao Tse-tung, mobilised against Liu Shao-chi's grouping, firstly, the youth; and when that failed, secondly, the workers; and when that in turn failed, thirdly, the People's Liberation Army. Indeed, having been a political and counter-revolutionary power struggle, China's "cultural revolution" can hardly be regarded as a cultural, revolutionary movement developing along Marxist-Leninist lines.
In order to assess how China's "cultural revolution" affected Albania's construction of socialism during the late sixties, it is vital to recognise that its degree of influence remained, on the whole, limited and circumstantial, although some of its features had a direct impact upon the actions leading to the closure of Albania's religious institutions. Never could the revolutionary movement of the time in the PR of Albania embrace the chaotic and anarchist outbursts of the pseudo-revolution that was simultaneously carried out in China. Essentially, the successful implementation of Marxism-Leninism in Albania - unlike in China - was due to the fact that the PLA, i.e., the communist party, the party of the working class, was continuously being strengthened in its essential, leading role in the dictatorship of the proletariat. With regard to the revolutionary movement of the late sixties, in fact, the official History of the Party of Labor of Albania confirms that "The 5th Congress [November, 1966 - Ed.] considered the strengthening and tempering of the Party as the revolutionary party of the working class, the raising of its leading role in the whole life of the country, as the first condition for the uninterrupted development of the socialist revolution and for carrying it through to the end."
The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labor of Albania, Tirana, 1971, p. 587.
Without endorsing the Maoist conception of the "mass line", Hoxha always highlighted the fundamental principle of implementing the PLA's leading role among the masses in the course of the revolutionary developments taking place in society: "The revolution and socialism are the achievement of the masses themselves, led by the communists. . . .
It is the duty of the Party to . . . properly apply the principle, 'from the masses to the masses', to make that a method of work for all the Party, state and economic organisations, the mass organisations, for all communists and cadres wherever they work, in all fields of socialist construction. . . .
The Party is the leading force in the entire system of the dictatorship of the proletariat."
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the CC of the PLA: Submitted to the V Congress of the PLA, 1 November 1966, Tirana, 1966, pp. 123, 125, 146.
". . . in a socialist community, the people are in power, the dictatorship of the proletariat is established and the Marxist-Leninist party is in power, the line of the Party, the line of the masses is in power."
Enver Hoxha, "The Further Revolutionization of the Party and Government", 6 February 1967, in Hoxha, E., Speeches: 1967-1968, Tirana, 1974, p. 40.
"Through mass actions and movements the revolutionary drive of the communists is merged into a single whole with the creativeness of the masses. [during 1966-71 - Ed.]"
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania: Submitted to the 6th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania, 1 November 1971, Tirana, 1971, p. 192.
BY WHOM WAS THE CLOSURE OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS INITIATED AND WHAT WERE ITS MOTIVES?
Shortly after the action for the closure of religious institutions had begun, on 27 February 1967 the PLA Central Committee sent a letter to all District Party Committees, signed by Hoxha in his capacity as First Secretary, and entitled "On the Struggle against Religion, Religious Prejudices and Customs". This began by noting "that recently in many districts the struggle against religion, religious prejudices and customs has been intensified." Stressing that this struggle should not be left to "spontaneity", the directive had in fact been issued "with the aim that the struggle may be carried on more correctly, without mistakes and successfully." It reiterated the Marxist-Leninist position that the struggle against religion must not be carried on in ways that would tend to alienate from socialist society those who retained, and were likely to continue to retain, their religious beliefs: "We have continually to bear in mind that we must not enter into open struggle with persons who believe in religion, since among these people there will be honest people, linked with the Party and ardent patriots, who will retain in their consciousness for a long time, perhaps even until they die, their beliefs. With them the task of persuasion must be carried on, continuously and with great patience, in ways which we must not allow to be offensive. . . .
. . . Without slackening for a moment anti-religious propaganda, we must always bear in mind that we are dealing with people. Exaggerated, extreme actions must be avoided; we must carefully prepare political ground for each action we undertake."
The directive described the closure of religious institutions as "a difficulty" in the way of the application of the above principle: "The elimination of churches, mosques, teqe and monasteries naturally introduces a difficulty."
It instructed that this action should not take place "by force or without the approval of the people", and against the wishes of religious believers: "It (the closure of religious institutions - Ed.) must not go ahead in direct opposition to that part of the people which believes. That is why care and tact must be exercised in this direction."
Religious believers had to be prepared spiritually, ideologically and politically for the action: "To close mosques and churches by means of campaigns or orders is easy, but it is more difficult to spiritually and ideologically prepare believers to understand the futility of these institutions, to eradicate religion from the habits of their existence and give up its practices with conviction. . . .
The people . . . must be prepared spiritually and politically."
In contrast to the Marxist-Leninist principle that such spiritual, ideological and political preparation could be regarded as completed only with the disappearance of the religious belief itself, however, it was implied that it could be regarded as completed if no resistance by religious believers was encountered to the closure of religious institutions: "But enough of them (religious institutions - Ed.) have been eliminated without provoking any reaction. . .
It is interesting that in our countryside there has been no resistance to these things."
The District Party Committees were therefore instructed to support and lead the campaign for the closure of religious institutions and to carry it through to the end: "With these forms we must continue until they have been wiped from the face of the earth."
Enver Hoxha, "Let Us Struggle against Religious Practices with the Patriotic and Revolutionary Spirit of the Masses: Letter of the CC of the PLA Addressed to the Party District Committees on the Struggle against Religion, Religious Prejudicies and Customs", 27 February 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 35, Tirana, 1982, pp.102-13.
The official History of the Party of Labour of Albania confirms, in fact, that the campaign for the closure of religious institutions had "the powerful support of the party organisations and the organs of people's power." (The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labour of Albania, Tirana, 1982, p. 437).
Likewise, Albanian historian Sadikaj indicates that "These initiatives, which originated from below, were given powerful support from above, including Party committees and organisations at the base level, as well as the organisations of the masses. . . .
The entire effort and struggle against the religious ideology was led by the Party . . . In dealing with any problem, it was always the committees and base organisations of the Party that oriented, organised and led the masses."
Dilaver Sadikaj, "Revolutionary Movement against Religion in the Sixties", in Studime Historike (Historical Studies), n. 4, 1981.
In conclusion, at the next 6th PLA Congress in November 1971, Hoxha in his report described the campaign to close religious institutions as "a victory": "One action with great results is the fight to smash the influence of religion. Within a very short period, this struggle succeeded in definitely stripping of their functions all the institutions and preachers of religion . . . Albania became a country without churches and mosques, without Christian or Muslim priests.
. . . this was a decisive blow and a victory which creates a new and powerful premise for the further emancipation of people's consciousness, for their complete liberation from religious beliefs and prejudices."
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania: Submitted to the 6th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania, 1 November 1971, Tirana, 1971, p. 135.
But since the leading group of the party and state around Hoxha had not initiated the campaign to close the country's religious institutions, how can we explain Hoxha's rather contradictory stand in 1971, hailing as a "victory" the sudden establishment of Albania as an atheist country with no churches and mosques? Besides, what motives had prompted Hoxha, in his capacity as PLA First Secretary, on 27 February 1967 (that is, in the midst of the above campaign) to send all District Party Committees a letter which ultimately instructed them to support and lead the campaign for the closure of religious institutions up to its successful conclusion?
The question therefore inevitably arises: was there an influential, organised group within the party and state leadership during the late sixties which initiated the mass movement leading to the closure of religious institutions, for motives of hostility towards the PR of Albania and towards socialism? Since the events of 1966-67, the PLA has indeed denounced the existence of precisely such an organised, influential group which included such prominent figures as Fadil Paçrami, Todi Lubonja, Beqir Balluku, Petrit Dume, Hito Çaki, Abdyl Këllezi, Koço Theodhosi, and Kiço Ngjela - a group led and co-ordinated by the then Prime Minister, Mehmet Shehu, together with Fiqret Shehu, Feçor Shehu and Kadri Hazbiu.
At the end of the sixties, the highest authority within the party, its Political Bureau (elected at the 5th PLA Congress in November 1966), was composed of the following members: Enver Hoxha (First Secretary),
*Adil Çarçani,
*Beqir Balluku,
Gogo Nushi,
Haki Toska,
Hysni Kapo,
Manush Myftiu,
*Mehmet Shehu,
*Ramiz Alia,
Rita Marko,
Spiro Koleka,
and candidate members:
*Abdyl Këllezi,
*Kadri Hazbiu,
*Koço Theodhosi,
*Petrit Dume,
Pilo Peristeri.
(The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labor of Albania, Tirana, 1971, p. 606).
Out of a total of sixteen members, at least half of them (those marked with an asterisk) clearly proved themselves to be, during the seventies and eighties, outright opponents and liquidators of the socialist cause in Albania, often co-ordinating their conspirational activities with foreign intelligence agencies.
The struggle against religion in Albania during the late sixties provided these concealed anti-socialist elements with a fertile ground to encourage sectarian, pseudo-revolutionary actions in order to undermine the socialist system in Albania, discredit the PLA leadership around Hoxha and later accuse it of "sectarianism." Clearly, the initiation of the campaign to close the religious institutions, which was carried through successfully, had been entirely consistent with these sectarian aims pursued by the internal and external enemies of socialism in Albania, at a time when the country had been completely encircled by hostile revisionist and capitalist states.
In the situation existing in 1966-67, the campaign of "the masses" for the closure of religious institutions had unquestionably placed the leading group around Hoxha in a difficult position. To have officially condemned the campaign would, as-a-matter-of-fact, have placed them in the position of defending "religious opium" against a "revolutionary" movement of "the masses" to abolish it. The conclusion must therefore be reached that the Marxist-Leninist group around Hoxha had been placed in a minority position on the issue of religion, thus being forced to endorse what Lenin would have described as a "pseudo-revolutionary" campaign and to finally praise it. No information has ever emerged as to what extent Hoxha had fought within the higher organs of the party on this issue, since democratic centralism within the PLA assured collective leadership, preventing the emergence of organised factions within it, and subordinating individual leaders (including its First Secretary) to the official party line.
As Enver Hoxha indicated: "One of the principal questions for all the party organs is to see that the principles of collectivism in the leadership are rigorously observed, and to allow no violations in this respect. Questions should be solved in a spirit of collectivity, and not according to individual decisions which diminish the role of the Party."
Enver Hoxha, "On Some Organizational Questions of the Party: Report to the 11th. Plenum of the CC of the PLA", 12 July 1954, in Hoxha, E., Selected Works, vol. 2, Tirana, 1975, p. 411.
"Our Party has always upheld the principle of collectivism in the work of its leading organs.. . . .
All are obliged to submit to the general line of the Party, to the criteria, orientations, establishments, and procedures it has laid down on cadres. Nothing should be done in an individual way in this field . . . the position of each individual is in the hands of the Party and the working class."
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania: Submitted to the 7th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania, 1 November 1976, Tirana, 1978, pp. 86-7.
The PLA, in fact, had drawn the important conclusion that, while tolerating the existence of non-antagonistic contradictions within its ranks, the Marxist-Leninist party could not tolerate the co-existence of factions, of various lines within it. The PLA Constitution explicitly stated: "The party does not permit the existence of factions within its ranks . . .
The guiding principle of the organisational structure of the Party is democratic centralism. . . . decisions are taken after a free thrashing out of opinions, but from the moment a decision is taken, unanimously or by a majority of votes, all party members are obliged to implement it without further discussion."
The Constitution of the Party of Labour of Albania, Adopted by the 3rd Congress of the PLA (Including amendments made at the 4th, 5th,6th, and 7th Congresses of the PLA), Tirana, 1977, pp. 3, 11-12, 29,30.
At any rate, the closure of Albania's religious institutions in 1966-67 had been initiated by an influential anti-socialist grouping of hidden revisionists co-ordinated by the then Prime Minister, Mehmet Shehu. They were, of course, unable to organise themselves in a political faction, but they proved to have been sufficiently strong to place the PLA First Secretary, Hoxha, in a minority position and to force him to approve sectarianism in the struggle against religion.
One final question remains to be discussed:
How did these concealed anti-socialist elements headed by Shehu plan to use this campaign for the closure of religious institutions to discredit the leading group around Hoxha when it had been initiated by themselves and supported by the party leadership in general?
One of the phenomena which struck every visitor to Albania was the "cult of personality" which had been built up around Hoxha, manifested in ubiquitous busts and portraits, in the slogan Parti Enver which equated Hoxha with the Party, in the customary references to the PLA as "with Comrade Enver at its head." Hoxha was indeed aware that in the Soviet Union the "cult of personality" had been built up around Stalin by traitors for the purpose of later discrediting Stalin himself, the socialist system which had existed in the Soviet Union at that time, and Marxism-Leninism: "As regards the so-called cult of Stalin, the Khrushchevite traitors propagated it deliberately in order to use it extensively against Marxism-Leninism, as they did in fact. . . After the death of Stalin, it became clear that these traitors used this unbridled propaganda as a weapon not only against Stalin and the Soviet Union, but also against Marxism-Leninism on an international scale."
(E.Hoxha: Conversation with Chou En Lia (June 1966) in "Selected Works"; Volume 4; Tirana; 1982; p.45).
Indeed Hoxha was critical of Stalin for not having opposed the "cult of personality" more vigorously and effectively: "We think that Stalin personally did not take severe measures to ensure that this propaganda was balanced in a Marxist-Leninist manner and to avoid the many negative and dangerous aspects of this propaganda."
Enver Hoxha, "Our Party Will Continue to Wage the Class Struggle As It Has Always Done - Consistently, Corageously and With Maturity: From a Conversation With Zhou Enlai", 24 June 1966, in Hoxha, E., Selected Works , Vol. 4, Tirana, 1982, p. 45.
Already during the fifties, Hoxha had personally taken steps to oppose the "cult of personality" in Albania: "The cult of the individual . . . is an anti-Marxist and harmful practice, because this makes a fetish of the individual, weakens the decisive role of the collective and the masses . . . weakens the confidence of the masses of the people in their creative strength. The cult of the individual leads to the lowering of the role of the Party as a vanguard detachment of the working class and of its leadership - the Central Committee. We should keep in mind Marx's thesis on the cult of the individual. Marx wrote: 'Because of my detestation of any cult of the individual, during the existence of the International I never permitted the publication of the numerous messages which came from various countries in which mention was made of my merits. Sometimes I have not even answered them at all, except when I have reproached their authors. . . .'
[K. Marx & F. Engels: Works (Second Russian Edition), Volume 34; p. 241]. The development of the cult of the individual in a Marxist-Leninist party is harmful, for it not only weakens the leading role of the Party and its Central Committee, impedes the strengthening of the spirit of collective guidance in the leadership of the Party, which is the only guarantee of the wisdom and correctness of the line of the Party, but it also hinders criticism of errors, of laxity, of shortcomings in the work of the Party and various people, weakens self-criticism, breeds conceit and self-satisfaction in people, and paralyses initiative in work. . . .
Continuous struggle has been waged day by day to strengthen collective work. The comrades of the Political Bureau can tell the Central Committee that time after time, and always correctly, the General Secretary (Hoxha - Ed.) raised before the Political Bureau and the other comrades in the leadership the question of the harm caused by the cult of the individual and demanded that an end be put once and for all to certain excessive public manifestations by the masses of the people towards his person, such as chanting his name in chorus, the erection of busts in various cities, putting his photograph in newspapers and magazines without any apparent reason or occasion, and some other manifestations of this sort. . . Now, it is necessary for the Central Committee to direct the Party, in the first place, to put an end to such a practice."
Enver Hoxha, "On Some Organizational Questions of the Party: Report to the 11th. Plenum of the CC of the PLA", 12 July 1954, in Hoxha, E., Selected Works, vol. 2, Tirana, 1975, pp. 411-4.
"The founders of scientific communism have fought with all their might against the cult of the individual in all the forms in which it appears, as something utterly alien, useless, and harmful to Marxism. . .
The Party of Labour of Albania has criticised the manifestations of the overestimation of the role of personalities and leaders in a Marxist way, because these manifestations weaken the role of the Party, of the party base and the masses, and tend to create the view of the 'infallibility of leaders'.
The cult of the individual is a decayed remnant, the product of exploiting classes and small-scale producers. . . The cult of the individual, on the one hand, at all levels of the Party and the administration, incites arrogance and conceit in the cadres and elements who are still not properly tempered and educated in the Marxist-Leninist spirit, creates in these cadres varying degrees of haughtiness, boastfulness, arbitrary actions, develops morbid, petty-bourgeois pride and the feeling of personal superiority and infallibility, and, on the other hand, weakens the collective leadership of the Party at every level, weakens sound, principled criticism and self-criticism, and alienates the leadership from the masses.
The Central Committee of our Party has constantly spoken up for putting an end to any harmful, non-Marxist manifestation of the cult of the individual."
Enver Hoxha, Report at the 3rd Congress of the PLA 'On the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania', 25 May 1956, in Hoxha, E., Selected Works, vol. 2, Tirana, 1975, pp. 595-6.
During the late sixties, seventies and eighties, however, the "cult of personality" around Hoxha was once again raised to heights greater than in the fifties, despite the fact that since then its role in paving the way for discrediting socialism in the Soviet Union had become much clearer. This strongly indicated that, on such an important issue, the leading group around Hoxha had been put in a minority position. And for this reason, in fact, it had not been in a position to resist Hoxha's "cult of the personality."
This opened the way for the group headed by Shehu to use the action of the closure of religious institutions (although initiated by themselves and supported by the party and state leadership in general) to discredit the leading Marxist-Leninist group around Hoxha, claiming that Hoxha exercised a "personal dictatorship", which he used to commit breaches of Marxist-Leninist principles and violations of constitutional legality.
It took some time for these concealed enemies of socialism, who had been zealously propagated the "cult of the personality" around Hoxha for decades, to openly attack and liquidate all Marxist-Leninist policies and principles formerly implemented in Albania. This occurred on the occasion of the 10th PLA Congress in June 1991, when the closure of Albania's religious institutions and the abolition of religion in Albania were indeed conveniently portrayed as a gross violation of human rights, as sectarian and subjectivist actions on the part of Hoxha and the leading party and state group around him.
ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROVISIONS AND STANDS DURING THE SEVENTIES AND EIGHTIES
In accordance with the new 1976 Constitution of the People's Socialist Republic (PSR) of Albania, a new penal code was approved by the People's Assembly on 15 June 1977. According to its article 55, religious activity fell into the category of fascist, anti-democratic, war-mongering, and anti-socialist activities against the state.
Religious activity was therefore expressly stated to be liable to penalties under the heading "agitation and propaganda against the state": "Article 55
Agitation and Propaganda Against the State.
Fascist, anti-democratic, religious, war-mongering, and anti-socialist agitation and propaganda, as well as the preparation, dissemination, or possession for dissemination of literature with such content, in order to weaken or undermine the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat is punishable:
by deprivation of liberty for a period of from three to ten years.
If these acts have been committed in wartime or have caused particularly grave consequences, they are punishable:
by deprivation of liberty for not less than ten years or by death."
Penal Code of the SPR of Albania, approved on 15 June 1977.
Prior to the new constitutional and penal amendments relating to religion, two decrees had been adopted in September 1975 requiring the changing of both personal and geographical names with religious significance. Decree n. 5339, in fact, stated that: "Citizens who have inappropriate names and offensive surnames from a political, ideological, and moral viewpoint are obliged to change them."
Decree n. 5339, 23 September 1975, published in Gazeta Zyrtare on 11 November 1975.
The decree added that persons affected by the edict were expected to comply with it voluntarily, but those who did not comply would be given "appropriate names" by social organisations in their locality. Parents were then expected to choose a suitably Albanian name from a list of 3000 provided by the government. This decree was primarily aimed at Albanians having religious names, especially Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics. At about the same time as the personal name campaign in September 1975, the Government also adopted Decree n. 225 requiring the changing of geographic names with religious meanings. This law mainly affected names containing the prefix "Saint."
Religious holidays and ceremonies, from the sixties onwards, were replaced with new socialist, national, local, and family festivals and customs. During funerals, in place of the clergy there began the practice of having an elderly person or a representative of a mass organisation who spoke at the burial ceremony and relatives of the deceased also stopped the former habit of sending large sums of money for the funeral. A series of scientific sessions dealing with atheistic, anti-religious themes were held throughout Albania particularly during the seventies. Television, films, culture and art were all mobilised and required to stress anti-religious subjects. Frequent poster campaigns were also used to further popularise atheistic ideas and special institutions, such as the atheist museum in Shkoder, were also established.
During the seventies and eighties, religion in Albania came to be regarded as a personal, private affair. In a speech in November 1982, Enver Hoxha acknowledged the right to religious belief in the following terms: "To believe or not to believe is a personal right, a question of conscience and not an institutional question."
Enver Hoxha, Speech Prior to the Elections for the 10th Legislature of the People's Assembly fo the PSR of Albania: Delivered in the Electoral Zone n. 210 of Tirana, 10 November 1982, Tirana, 1982, pp. 38-9.
Albania's representative to the UN, Bashkim Pitarka reiterated in 1988 that "There is genuine freedom of conscience in Albania. The question of religious belief in Albania is also regarded as a right, a private issue which is an individual matter of conscience."
Letter from the Permanent Representative of the PSR of Albania to the United Nations, 9 May 1988, in U.N. Doc. A/43/354, at 8.
As mentioned above, classical Marxist-Leninist principles oppose any action to restrict religious worship in a socialist society, holding that the struggle against religion must be carried out on the ideological plane alone, and that religious institutions would disappear, and must be allowed to disappear, with the disappearance of religious belief. However, official Albanian sources and Enver Hoxha himself testify that religious belief continued to be kept somehow alive in socialist Albania after the closure of its churches and mosques.
According to the official History of the Party of Labor of Albania: "the elimination of churches and mosques had not eliminated the religious outlook. Religion has very deep roots."
The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labor of Albania, Tirana, 1971, pp. 626.
In The History of Albania, Albanian historians, Pollo and Puto, also confirm that: "if the churches and mosques had been closed, this did not mean that religion as a total concept had disappeared."
Stefanaq Pollo & Arben Puto, The History of Albania: from its Origins to the Present Day, London, 1981, p. 282.
Repeatedly, Enver Hoxha constantly indicated the necessity to further eradicate religious influence, still present in Albanian society after the closure of its religious institutions: "Can we affirm that we have eradicated religion and all backward customs completely? No. This will take scores and scores of years, even longer perhaps."
Enver Hoxha, "The Revolution Triumphs Only When the Marxist-Leninist Party Rouses the Masses and Makes Them Conscious of its Indispensability: From a Converasation with Two Sudanese Comrades", 12 July 1967, in Hoxha, E., Speeches, Conversations and Articles (1967-1968), Tirana, 1978, p. 122.
"One should combat the erroneous concept that religion is only the church, the mosque, the priest, the hodja, the icons, etc., and that once these disappear religion and its influence over the people would automatically disappear too."
Enver Hoxha, "On the Role and Tasks of the Democratic Font in the Struggle towards the Full Success of Socialism in Albania: Report to the 4th Congress of the Democratic Front of Albania", 14 September 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 36, Tirana, 1982, pp. 374-7.
". . . The great struggle against religion must be carried out in the consciousness, in the outlook of people. The elimination of a church building alone does not make idealist belief disappear from people's consciousness. . . . At the same time, the fact is that the churches and the mosques may quickly disappear materially. But, together with this does belief disappear in a short time from the people's consciousness? Certainly not. When considering this problem, has the Party and the mass organisations organised a well co-ordinated political and ideological struggle against religion? No, this leaves much to be desired."
Enver Hoxha, "For Struggle against Backward Customs: Discussion at the Meeting of the Secretariat of the CC of the PLA", 31 January 1969, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 40, Tirana, 1983, p. 106.
"Of course this [the closure of religious institutions - Ed.] does not mean that the complete libeeration of the working people from the influence of religious opium has been achieved; on the contrary, a long process of education and re-education is needed for this."
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania: Submitted to the 6th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania, 1 November 1971, Tirana, 1971, p. 135.
"Our Party and people destroyed this [religious - Ed.] structure within a few decades, but the fight to root out this cancer from the mentality of the people, is still far from ended. . . . and if a consistent and persuasive battle is waged in this direction, it will no longer take centuries but a few decades, a few generations."
Enver Hoxha, "How We Should Understand and Fight the Imperialist-Revisionist Encirclement of Our Country and the Effect of Its Pressure on Us: Speech Delivered at the General Meeting of the Communists of the Apparatus of the Central Committee of the Party to Render Account and Hold Elections", 15 March 1973, in Hoxha, E., On the Further Revolutionization of the Party and the Whole Life of the Country: Speeches (1971-1973), Tirana, 1974, p. 278.
"There are [still in 1976 - Ed.] old people who practise some religious rites. In respect of these, we must follow the road of persuasion, of working to rescue these people from religious bondage."
Enver Hoxha, "Let Us Be Attentive in Taking Decisions: From the Discussion at the Meeting of the Presidium of the Popular Assembly of the PRA", 31 January 1976, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 56, Tirana, 1987, p. 343. My emphasis
In his detailed analysis on the anti-religious struggle in Albania, published in 1981, Albanian historian Sadikaj also admits the persistence of religious manifestations after the closure of religious institutions: "In spite of the successes achieved against religion, it was evident that religious vestiges . . . continued to persist and to spread here and there, often assuming new forms. Among these vestiges were salutations, greetings, condolences, oaths and threats that were linked with the name of the creator of the world - the lord, as well as fantastic and idealistic expressions. . . .
One form of passive resistance was the preservation of certain religious edifices that had no historical value or any practical use whatsoever. At times they were used for christenings or for other activities of a religious nature. In a considerable number of villages, or even in a city here and there, there were abundant indications that certain people continued to adhere to religious beliefs, holidays and rites. . . .
There were frequent tendencies to preserve or create secretly the material base of religion. . . .
Here and there passive resistance and attitudes in the struggle against religion showed up in the ranks of the communists, as well. Either in a secret manner, or under the pretext that 'you can't cross the elders', it happened that even in families of certain communists religious rites and customs continued to be respected. . . .
Religious vestiges have not been eliminated totally, not forever."
Dilaver Sadikaj, "Revolutionary Movement against Religion in the Sixties", in Studime Historike (Historical Studies), n. 4, 1981.
In another, similar analysis, published in Rruga e Partisë (The Road of the Party) in 1986, Professor Hako noted "progress" in the anti-religious campaign, but admitted that: "remnants and manifestations of religion were still considerable, harmful, and dangerous." Hulusi Hako, "Towards the Creation of a Fully Atheist Society", in Rruga e Partisë (The Road of the Party), n. 3, 1986.
In 1988, Bashkim Pitarka, Albania's representative to the UN, stated that "in Albania, no one can force people to believe in God or to perform religious rites. That does not mean, however, that believers do not perform these rites.
Ultimately, this is a personal and family matter."
Letter from the Permanent Representative of the PSR of Albania to the United Nations, 9 May 1988, in U.N. Doc. A/43/354, at 8. My emphasis.
Unquestionably, therefore, the above official documents testify the persistence - to a certain extent - of religious influence and beliefs in Albania during the seventies and eighties, i.e., after the closure of its religious institutions in 1966-67.
THE RELIGIOUS REVIVAL OF THE EARLY NINETIES
During the late eighties, under the guise of "democratisation", the revisionist process of capitalist restoration in Albania was led by Ramiz Alia in his capacity as the new PLA First Secretary, after Hoxha's death in 1985.
Several clergymen and former missionaries were now permitted to visit Albania, following an increased tolerance demonstrated by the government in this field. In November 1986, Dr and Mrs E. Jacques, evangelical missionaries who had served at the American Mission School in Korça from 1932 to 1940, were granted visas for a ten-day visit. Between July and September 1988, three Albanian clergymen from abroad visited Albania for brief periods. They included Reverend A. E. Liolin, American-born chancellor of the Albanian Orthodox Diocese in America, who was apparently the first clergyman since 1967 to visit and travel around the country wearing clerical grab. He led prayers on different occasions at cemeteries and was also permitted to retain a personal copy of the Bible during his visit. The other two clergymen were Reverend Imam Vehbi Ismail, Albanian-born America citizen, director of the Albanian Islamic Center in Detroit, and Jesuit Father Ndoc Kelmendi, who was permitted to visit his family near Shkodra. Reportedly other clergymen were allowed to visit the country, either as retirees or as journalists or teachers. Mother Theresa visited Albania for her first time in August 1989 and Reverend Liolin was then invited to the country for a second time by the Albanian Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs.
The chief architect of revisionism in Albania during this time, Ramiz Alia, managed, however, to uphold an anti-religious stand while addressing the 8th Plenum of the PLA CC in September 1989. He stated that: "No concession must be made to the bourgeois ideology in any field . . . No concessions must be made to the religious ideology. We take this stand not only as convinced atheists , but also to defend our unity as a people."
Ramiz Alia, Always in the Vanguard of Society, Bearer of Progress, Speech at the 8th Plenum of the CC of the PLA, September 25, 1989, Tirana, 1989, p. 34.
These pronouncements could hardly prevent the official lifting of the ban on religion a few months later, resulting in the gradual revival of religion practices in Albania, together with the restoration and re-building of churches and mosques. On 8 May 1990, in fact, the People's Assembly of the PSR of Albania approved new provisions to the Penal Code to the effect that religious, anti-socialist and other agitation and propaganda, as well as preparation, distribution and preservation for distribution of such literature, were no longer regarded as crimes (The Perfectioning of Legislation Deepens the Democratization of Life in the PSR of Albania, Tirana, 1990, p 19, note n. 1).
At the same time, the decree envisaging the change of unsuitable names and surnames was abrogated, too. Only a few months later, in November 1990, it was Alia himself who announced that religious freedom would now be fully respected and that the 1976 Constitutional prohibition of religion would be finally removed.
The PLA convened its 10th Congress in June 1991 in order to fully transform itself into a social-democratic party (re-named Socialist Party), thus rejecting all its former Marxist-Leninist policies and principles. Following full capitalist restoration in the country, it was now up to the Albanian revisionists themselves to attack the former struggle against religion as a gross violation of human rights, as a sectarian and subjectivist action carried out under the influence of the Chinese "cultural revolution." On this issue, the report to the Congress stated the following: "It is a reality that the rights of the individual, especially those of the spiritual life, have been gravely violated. . . .
The legal abolition of religious beliefs led the official stand of the Party in conflict with the desire to believe on the part of broad masses of people. . . .
It must be stressed that such mistakes and deformations occurred especially during the period of the late sixties, which was also called as the period of revolutionisation. Besides foreign influences, particularly from the Chinese cultural revolution, during this period there also appeared some subjectivist inclinations in order to find new, original solutions to many problems in society. . . .
It seems that the anti-revisionism we chose as strategy often led to left-wing positions."
10th Congress - Congress of Allround Ideological, Political and Organisational Renewal of the Party: Report Submitted by Comrade Xhelil Gjoni, Member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of the CC of the Party, in Zëri i Popullit, 11-6-1991.
Once religion had been re-allowed into the country, various religious institutions soon re-opened in Albania, wealthy expatriates began to finance the building of new mosques in their native villages, and foreign governments and organisations donated financial assistance for religious building and restoration. Throughout Albania, by September 1992, as many as 100 mosques and thirty Catholic and Orthodox churches had been re-opened for religious use. More than half a million of imported copies of the Koran, far exceeding local demands, were also paid for by the Saudis, while hundreds of thousands of Bibles were feverishly printed in the Albanian language. Islamic organisations helped to fund the expenses of those Albanians wishing to travel to Mecca as an increasing number of delegations from around the Muslim world began visiting Albania. Such a growing Islamic influence did not prevent Pope John Paul II's visit to Albania in the spring of 1993, the first-ever visit by a Pope to this country. He addressed thousands of people in Tirana's main square before conducting a mass in Shkodra's newly-restored cathedral and ordaining four new Albanian bishops.
CONCLUSION
In the context of the anti-religious struggle carried out in socialist Albania, the closure of its religious institutions in 1966-67 had been: 1) in violation of Marxist-Leninist principles;
2) in violation of the Constitution of the PR of Albania;
3) not in compliance with Albania's international obligations as a UN member;
4) an action embodying certain features of the "cultural revolution" which was simultaneously proceeding in China;
5) an action which must have alienated to some extent religious believers within Albania who might otherwise have been full supporters of the socialist regime;
6) an action which assisted international anti-socialist propaganda;
7) an action which alienated to some extent religious believers who might otherwise have been favourably disposed towards socialist Albania;
8) an action which held back to some extent the international Marxist-Leninist movement, of which socialist Albania had been the sole citadel during the sixties, seventies, and eighties, by presenting the image of a state which arbitrarily permits the violation of its constitutional rights, and by alienating to some extent religious believers who might otherwise have been firm supporters of the movement;
9) not initiated by the leading group in the party and state around the PLA First Secretary, Hoxha;
10) initiated by an organised and influential group of hidden revisionists who - by taking advantage of the "cult of personality" built up around Hoxha - sought to utilise this sectarian action to discredit the country's Marxist-Leninist leadership around Hoxha as part of a broader aim of reversing the construction of socialism in Albania.
Norberto Steinmayr
By about 1975, Comrade W.B.Bland had prepared the bones of a theory, that could satisfactorily explain how it was in countries that had established socialism - the USSR under J.V.Stalin, and the People's Socialist Repubilc of Albania (PSRA) under E.Hoxha - could develop revisionist policies; and worse could be precipitated back into the dark ages of capitalism. At that time, the lessons of the post-Stalin USSR, had shown that this was entirely possible.
At that time however, the Peoples' Socialist Republic of Albania was still socialist. Accordingly, it would have been incorrect to publish an expose of potential errors in the PSRA publicly, as it would have possibly aided the enemies of Socialism. Comrade Bland raised the issues highlighted in the document below within the Communist League of Britain and the Committee of the Albanian Society (i.e., the then British-Albanian friensdship association): his analysis was entitled "The Struggle Against Religion in Albania" and was intended to be a "Discussion Document Only - Not for Publication".
However, as Bland had so accurately forecast, revisionism was waiting to take over in Albania. It did so under Ramiz Alia's treachery. Full understanding of events prior to the revionist take over of the Albanian state require analyses such as these.
Therefore, Comrade Steinmayer has done Marxist-Leninists, sterling service in up-dating and expanding Comrade Bland's original insights into the current document. This joint work of Comrades Steinmayer and Bland, now allows us to examine the developments up to the present.
For Alliance this document shows that:
1) Revisionism began to emerge at the highest echelons of the Albanian party and state prior to the final liquidation of socialism in Albania during the late eighties;
2) That revisionism used as a mask - the Cult of Personality built up as the Cult of Hoxha;
3) That the ultra-left tactic of "abolishing religion" was inspired by the ultra-leftism of the so-called "Chinese Cultural Revolution";
4) And finally, this work reminds us all of the Marxist-Leninist line towards religion.
January 2001
INTRODUCTION
For more than two decades, from the late sixties, Albania was the first country, and indeed the only one in the world, without religious institutions. The closure of all its churches and mosques in 1967 had come about as the result of the struggle systematically carried out against religion, religious prejudices and backward customs since the establishment of its people's democracy in 1944. This anti-religious struggle was, in fact, an essential component of the more general struggle for the social liberation of the Albanian working class, for its ideological and political emancipation in building and consolidating a new, socialist society.
Albania had preserved its socialist, revolutionary features and remained essentially unaffected by revisionist developments until the eighties. Nonetheless, the total closure of its religious institutions and the virtual abolition of religion from 1967 to 1990 proved to be a counter-productive, sectarian measure, incompatible with the Marxist-Leninist assumption that, in a socialist society, religious institutions disappear - and must be allowed to disappear - with the elimination of religious influence itself from people's consciousness. From a retrospective examination of the relevant circumstances and factors involved, it is now evident that the closure of Albania's religious institutions had been orchestrated by internal concealed revisionists with the broader aim of damaging and reversing the successful construction of socialism in the country.
RELIGION AS "OPIUM OF THE PEOPLE"
Religion represents a peculiar form of social consciousness - a consciousness resting on the assumption that the world is subject to the control of a supernatural force or forces. As such, religion has created, over the centuries, systems of beliefs and practices which all belong to the camp of idealism. While idealism asserts the primacy of the spirit to nature, its opposite - materialism - regards nature/being as primary. "The great basic question of all philosophy . . is that concerning the relation of thinking and being. . . .The answers which the philosophers gave to this question split them into two great camps. Those who asserted the primacy of spirit to nature and therefore, in the last instance, assumed world creation in some form or other . . . comprised the camp of idealism. The others, who regarded nature as primary, belong to the various schools of materialism."
[F. Engels, "Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, pp. 226-7.]
In various and different forms religions reflect an idealistic philosophy, opposed to the scientific world outlook. Religion stands, therefore, in irreconcilable antagonism to Marxism-Leninism, i.e., scientific socialism, which constitutes a scientific, dialectical, materialist philosophy. Proceeding from this distinction, Lenin clearly highlights the character of religion in the following terms: "Marxism is materialism. As such, it is relentlessly hostile to religion."
V. I. Lenin, "The Attitude of the Workers' Party towards Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 15, Moscow, 1973, p. 405.
"Idealism is clerical obscurantism."
V. I. Lenin, "On Dialectics", in V.I. Lenin, Marx Engels Marxism, Moscow, 1951, p. 336.
"The Marxian doctrine . . provides men with an integral world conception which is irreconcilable with any form of superstition."
V. I. Lenin: "The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism", in V.I. Lenin, Marx Engels Marxism, Moscow, 1951, p. 78.
Indeed, Engels indicates how religion can not be regarded as somehow innate to man since it simply reflects reality in his consciousness as a social being. As such, religion is a product of the earth and does not descend from heaven. "All religion . . is nothing but the fantastic reflection in men's minds of those external forces which control their daily life, a reflection in which the terrestrial forces assume the form of supernatural forces."
F. Engels, "Anti-Dühring", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 147.
Initially, natural phenomena had been personified since the primitive man could not separate the "unearthly" forces from nature. Those mysterious and powerful forces, which man could not scientifically explain (thus making him feel impotent vis-à-vis nature), were transformed in his imagination into spirits, gods, angels, devils, etc. As a consequence, the primitive religious consciousness reflects the savage's impotence in his fight against natural forces: "In the beginnings of history it was the forces of nature which were first . . . reflected [in religion - Ed.]"
F. Engels, "Anti-Dühring", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 147.
"The first gods arose through the personification of natural forces."
F. Engels, "Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, pp. 226.
"[The] impotence of the savage in his battle against nature gives rise to belief in gods, devils, miracles, and the like."
V. I. Lenin, "Socialism and Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 10, Moscow, 1962, p. 83
Religious belief continue to remain widespread in civilised, class-divided societies. Its main source is no longer the domination of man by natural forces, but his domination by the forces of social development. Always in a fantastic and illusory form, religion now comes to reflect the actual dependence on those social forces - specifically, the relations of exploitatiion in a capitalist society - which appear to be beyond human control. "In existing bourgeois society men are dominated by the economic conditions . . as if by an alien force. The actual basis of the reflective activity that gives rise to religion therefore continues to exist, and with it the religious reflection itself. . . . It is still true that man proposes and God (that is, the alien domination of the capitalist mode of production) disposes."
F. Engels, "Anti-Dühring", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 147-9.
"The 'religious sentiment' is itself a social product."
K. Marx, "Theses on Feurbach", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 71. Emphasis in the original.
"In modern capitalist countries these roots (of religion - Ed) are mainly social. The deepestt root of religion today is the socially downtrodden condition of the working masses and their apparently complete helplessness in face of the blind forces of capitalism, . . . 'Fear made the gods.' Fear of the blind force of capital - blind because it cannot be foreseen by the masses of the people - a force which at every step in the life of the proletariat and small proprietor threatens to inflict, and does inflict 'sudden', 'unexpected', 'accidental' ruin, destruction, pauperism, pauperism, prostitution, death from starvation - such is the root of modern religion."
V. I. Lenin: "The Attitude of the Workers' Party towards Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 15, Moscow, 1973, pp. 405-6.
"Impotence of the exploited classes in the struggle against the exploiters . . . gives rise to the belief in a better life after death . . . To those who toil and live in want all their lives are taught by religion to be submissive and patient on earth, and to take comfort in the hope of a heavenly reward."
V. I. Lenin, "Socialism and Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 10, Moscow, 1962, pp. 83-4.
In class-divided societies, organised religion is fostered by the exploiting, ruling classes as an ideological weapon to prop up their rule. Accordingly, religion comes to regulate social behaviour at various levels: a plethora of taboos, commandments, precepts, etc., all allegedly prescribed by the deity and regarded as sacrosanct, serves to justify exploitation in a capitalist society, while strengthening the domination of its ruling bourgeois class. It is Marx himself who highlights such a deceiving and subtle character of religion by using the famous metaphor of "opium of the people." "Religion . . . is the opium of the people."
K. Marx, "Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 42. Emphasis in the original.
"Marxism has always regarded all modern religions and churches, and each and every religious organisation, as instruments of bourgeois reaction that serve to defend exploitation and to befuddle the working class."
V. I. Lenin: "The Attitude of the Workers' Party towards Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 15, Moscow, 1973, pp. 403."Feuerbach was right when, in reply to those who defended religion on the ground that it consoles the people, he indicated the reactionary significance of consolation:
whoever consoles the slave instead of arousing him to rise up against slavery is aiding the slave-owner."
V. I. Lenin, "The Collapse of the Second International", in V.I.Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 21, Moscow, 1964, p. 231-2.
Prior to the advent of scientific socialism, many militant atheist works had emerged in the struggle against religion. These earlier materialist analyses, however, had had their own limitations mainly because they could neither appropriately identify the social roots of religion nor indicate ways to overcome it. Dialectical materialism alone (initially elaborated by Marx and Engels) places the struggle against religious "opium" on a scientific basis. Proceeding from the fact that religion has its social roots in the capitalist relations of production, its disappearance requires, above all, the elimination of the causes that give rise to religion itself, i.e., the elimination of capitalism. Marxism-Leninism, therefore, considers the question of religion, and the attitude towards it, within the framework of class struggle against capitalism. Religious belief will gradually fade away in a planned socialist society - a society which is fully functioning under human control, thus eliminating the conditions that produce and maintain religious consciousness. "The religious reflex of the real world can . . . only then finally vanish when the practical relations of every-day life offer to man none but perfectly intelligible and reasonable relations with regard to his fellowmen and to nature."
K. Marx,Capital, Book 1, in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 136; or "Capital" Moscow; 1974; p.84
"When society, by taking possession of all means of production and using them on a planned basis, has freed itself and all its members from the bondage in which they are now held by these means of production which they themselves have produced but which confront them as an irresistible alien force; when therefore man no longer merely proposes, but also disposes - only then will the last alien force which is still reflected in religion vanish; and with it will also vanish the religious reflection itself, for the simple reason that then there will be nothing left to reflect."
F. Engels, "Anti-Dühring", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 149.
MARXIST-LENINIST TACTICS IN RELATION TO RELIGION IN POST-REVOLUTIONARY SOCIETY
Both the separation of religious institutions from the state and the former's prevention from interfering in educational affairs constitute preliminary, primary conditions, aimed at strengthening socialism in a post-revolutionary society. "We demand that religion be held a private affair so far as the state is concerned. . . . Complete separation of Church and State is what the socialist proletariat demands of the modern state and the modern church."
V. I. Lenin, "Socialism and Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 10, Moscow, 1962, p. 84-5
"The proletarian government . . . must prevent all church interference in State-organised educational affairs."
The Programme of the Communist International, London, 1929; p. 38.
While granting freedom of religious worship, the socialist state must give no funds to religious institutions, which must be self-supporting. "Everyone must be absolutely free to profess any religion he pleases, or no religion whatever."
V. I. Lenin, "Socialism and Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 10, Moscow, 1962, p. 84.
"The proletarian State must . . . grant[s] liberty of worship."
The Programme of the Communist International, London, 1932; p. 38.
"No subsidies should be granted to the established church nor state allowances made to ecclesiastical and religious societies."
V. I. Lenin, "Socialism and Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 10, Moscow, 1962, p. 84.
"The proletarian government must withdraw all State support from the Church."
The Programme of the Communist International, London, 1932; p. 38.
Finally, an exclusively ideological struggle must be conducted against religion in the form of scientific anti-religious, atheist propaganda. These efforts, however, must be accomplished in forms that will not alienate from the struggle to build and maintain a socialist society those religious believers who would otherwise support it. "The only service that can still be rendered to God today is to declare atheism a compulsory article of faith and to outdo Bismark's anticlerical Kirchenkulturkampf laws by prohibiting religion generally."
F. Engels, "Emigrant Literature (Extract from the Second Article)", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 143.
"Herr Dühring . . . cannot wait until religion dies this, its natural, death. . . . He out-Bismarcks Bismarck; he decrees sharper May laws . . . against all religion whatsoever; he incites his gendarmes of the future against religion, and thereby helps it to martyrdom and a prolonged lease of life."
F. Engels, "Anti-Dühring", in K. Marx & F. Engels, On Religion, Moscow, 1955, p. 149."Engels no less resolutely condemns Dühring's pseudo-revolutionary idea that religion should be prohibited in socialist society. . . .
Engels insisted that the workers' party should have the ability to work patiently at the task of organising and educating the proletariat, which would lead to the dying out of religion, and not throw itself into the gamble of a political war on religion. . . . Atheist propaganda must be subordinated to its basic task - the development of the class struggle. . . .
An anarchist who preached war on God at all costs would in effect be helping the priests and the bourgeoisie. . . . A Marxist must be a materialist, i.e., an enemy of religion, but a dialectical materialist, i.e., one who treats the struggle against religion . . . on the basis of the class struggle which is going on in practice and is educating the masses more and better than anything else could."
V. I. Lenin: "The Attitude of the Workers' Party towards Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, vol. 15, Moscow, 1973, pp. 403-8. Emphasis in the original.
"We demand complete disestablishment of the Church so as to be able to combat the religious fog with purely ideological and solely ideological weapons."
V. I. Lenin, "Socialism and Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 10, Moscow, 1962, p. 85-6.
RELIGION IN ALBANIA: 1944-1945
Historically, particularly during the 19th and 20th centuries, religion had never had deep roots among the Albanian people. It remained a source of discord and division within the Albanian society both during, and after, the movement for national independence from Turkey, achieved in 1912. Prior to independence, for example, religious services had been conducted in three different languages: Arabic for Muslim Albanians, Greek for the Orthodox, and Latin for the Catholics. Furthermore, by identifying nationality with religion, the Ottoman authorities regarded Muslim Albanians as Turks, Orthodox Albanians as Greeks, and Catholic Albanians as Latins. Religion, therefore, became instrumental in de-nationalising the Albanian people. The cause of Albania's independence could not be championed by its religious establishments so that its national movement assumed a non-religious character, prompting its leaders to ignore religion and uphold nationalism. The celebrated slogan of the time, addressed to the Albanians by the poet P. V. Shkodrani (1825-92), was: "The religion of the Albanian people is Albanianism."
According to the census taken in 1945, the population of Albania (of 1,122,000) could be divided between three major religious faiths in the following proportions: Muslim: 817,000 (72.8%);
Orthodox Christian: 192,000 (17.1%);
Catholic Christian: 113,000 (10.1%).
(See Pandi Geço, Shqipëria: Pamje Fiziko-Ekonomike (Albania:
Physico-Economic Survey), Tirana, 1959).
Although not distinguished in the census figures, it is estimated that the population professing the Muslim faith (817,000) was composed as follows: Sunni Muslims: 613,000 (75%);
Bektashis: 204,000 (25%).
By its Constitution of 5 May 1945, the Sunni Muslim community was divided into four zones - Tirana, Shkodra, Korça and Elbasan - each headed by a Grand Mufti. Supreme authority within the community was vested in a General Council, composed of the Head of the Muslim Community, the four Grand Muftis and a lay representative from each zone. The Head of the Muslim Community and the Grand Muftis were elected by the General Council, the appointments being subject to the approval of the Head of State.
The Bektashis formed a separate community and were regarded by many orthodox Muslims as heretics. Bektashism, which takes its name from the saint Hadji Bektash, originated in Anatolia in the 13th century and was introduced into Albania in the 15th century by janissaries of the Ottoman army. The Bektashis were a mystical sect, involving gradual initiation into secret knowledge. More liberal than orthodox Mohammedanism, Bektashism did not insist on the veiling of women or abstention from alcohol; in place of Ramadan, it observed a Persian festival which commemorated the murdered sons of Ali. It preached non-violence and the brotherhood of man, admitting even non-Muslims. Largely owing to the influence of the poet Naim Frashëri, himself a Bektashi, the sect played on the whole a progressive role in the movement for national independence.
By its Constitution of 1929, the Bektashi community was divided into six zones - Kruja, Elbasan, Korça, Gjirokastra, Prishta and Vlora. It was headed by a Chief Grandfather (kryegjysh), under whom were five Grandfathers (gjyshër), fathers (baballarë) and monks (dervishë). The clergy lived in monasteries (teqe). When the Turkish government suppressed Bektashism in 1925, the headquarters of the sect was transferred to Tirana, and the Albanian Chief Grandfather became World Grandfather to all Bektashis - estimated, before World War II, at 7 million.
Orthodox Christians lived mainly south of the river Shkumbin, principally in the districts of Korça and Gjirokastra. In September 1922 an Orthodox congress convened in Berat and proclaimed the autocephaly of the church in Albania, although the existence of the Autocephalous Church of Albania was recognised by the Patriarchate in Constantinople only in April 1937.
By its Constitution of 14 August 1929 the Orthodox Church was divided into four bishoprics - of Korça, Durrës and Tirana, Berat, and Gjirokastra. The bishopric of Durrës and Tirana bore the title of Metropolis, and its bishop that of Metropolitan of the diocese and Archbishop of Albania. Supreme religious authority was vested in a Holy Synod, composed of the bishops of each diocese and the Great Mitred Economus; the Synod was responsible for religious education, for which it maintained schools. The administration of church property was vested in a Mixed Council, composed of the members of the Synod and a layman from each diocese; this council met in Tirana under the presidency of the Archbishop.
Catholics lived principally in the north, with Shkodra as their religious centre. Administratively, the church was divided into two archbishoprics - of Shkodra and Durrës; that of Durrës was composed of a single diocese, while the larger archbishopric of Shkodra was made up of four dioceses - Shkodra, Lezha, Zadrima and Pulat. The siixth diocese, that of Mirdita, came directly under the jurisdiction of the Vatican. The Bishop of Shkodra was Archbishop of Albania.
However, in assessing the role played by religion in Albania, primary consideration must be given to the fact that, historically, it had had a limited, partial impact upon the country's developments. As Enver Hoxha pointed out in 1967, "Religion had not had strong theoretical and organisational roots in Albania, it had not been involved in the revolutionary, progressive and liberation movements of the Albanian people. The clergy in general, and that of higher circles in particular, Moslem, Orthodox and especially Catholic, played an overt reactionary and anti-national role in favour of the Turkish, Austro-Hungarian, Greek invaders, and the Italian fascists and the German nazis, it had always been at war with our national question, the freedom of the people.
Before the liberation of our country the organisation of various religions in Albania, except for the Catholic one, was almost non-existent. The activity of the institutions of Muslim worship was almost formal, the Orthodox one was limited only to liturgical rites, whereas the Catholic Church strove to develop Catholicism as an ideology and to disseminate it, but it failed to do what it did in Italy, France and other countries. The Muslim and Orthodox clergy were quite unversed in religious matters whereas, unlike them, the clergy of the Catholic Church was well trained."
Enver Hoxha, "We Feel Proud to Be Able to Militate together with You for the Same Cause: From a Conversation at a Meeting with Fosco Dinucci, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Italy (Marxist-Leninist)", 11 September 1967, in Hoxha, E., Speeches, Conversations and Articles (1967-1968), Tirana, 1978, pp. 164-5.
"Our people have never been, and are not, so fanatical and attached to religion, which has always opposed their aspirations and liberation struggle. All the religious sects that exist in our country have been brought into Albania by foreign invaders and have served them and the ruling and exploiting classes of the country. Under the garb of religion, of God and his prophets, there lay hidden the brutal law of external invaders and their internal lackeys. The history of our people demonstrates clearly how much suffering, distress, bloodshed and oppression have been inflicted upon our people by religion, how it engendered discord, incited fratricide . . . enslaving us more easily and sucking our blood in its name. That is why nothing good has attached and attaches us to religion, to its practices. . . Attached to the struggle of our people for liberation there have been also patriotic clergymen who, without openly denying their faith, have been closely linked with the people and devoted to the idea of national liberation. However, religion as a faith, as an ideology, has never been a progressive factor with us; it has not given the least aid to the cause of the people and their national liberation."
Enver Hoxha, "On the Role and Tasks of the Democratic Font in the Struggle towards the Full Success of Socialism in Albania: Report to the 4th Congress of the Democratic Front of Albania", 14 September 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 36, Tirana, 1982, pp. 375-6.
Hoxha's assessment is confirmed by non-Marxist writers: "The Albanian . . . is indifferent in religious matters."
C. A. Chekrezi, Albania Past and Present, New York, 1919, p. 201.
"The Albanians, owing to historical conditions, have never been a religious people."
S. Skendi: "Shanderbeg and Albanian National Consciousness", in: "Südost-Forschungen" (South-Eastern Researches), Volume 27, 1968, p. 86.
"Historically it may be quite true that the existence of four religious communities in the historical conditions of the 19th century has acted as an obstacle to the emergence of the Albanian nation."
Bernard Tönnes, "Religious Persecution in Albania", in Religion in Communist Lands, vol. 10, n. 1, Spring 1982.
RELIGION IN ALBANIA: 1945 - 1966
Albania's national liberation against fascism, which had been primarily led by the Communist Party of Albania, was finally achieved in November 1944. The country thus entered the way to socialism, as a programme of far-reaching economic and social reforms began to be implemented. By means of the Land Reform of 29 August 1945, all land, vineyards, olive-groves, orchards, buildings and farming implements owned by those who did not till the land themselves were expropriated to the state. This law made significant inroads into the wealth of the various religious institutions, which had to surrender to the state 3,163 hectares of land, 61,024 olive trees, and so on.
(I. Baçi, Agriculture in the PSR of Albania, Tirana; 1981; p. 19).
The People's Republic (PR) of Albania was formally established in January 1946. Its Constitution, approved on 14 March 1946, sanctioned the sovereignty of the people as its essential principle: "power comes from the people and belongs to the people."
In relation to religion, the Constitution applied - for the most part - the classical Marxist-Leninist principles noted above. Religious institutions were separated from both state and school, and freedom of religious worship was constitutionally guaranteed: "The Rights and Duties of Citizens . . .
Art. 15:
All citizens are equal, no matter to which nationality, race or religion they belong. Any action which gives privileges to or restricts the rights of individual citizens on account of their . . . religion, is contrary to the Constitution . . . Any provocation which is likely to sow hatred and strife between . . . religions, is contrary to the Constitution . . .
Art. 18
All citizens are guaranteed freedom of conscience and of faith.
The church is separated from the state.
The religious communities are free in matters of their belief, as well as in their outer exercise and practice. . . .
Article 31 . . .
The school is separated from the church."
Constitution of the People's Republic of Albania, approved on 14 March 1946, Tirana, 1964, pp. 9, 13.
At the same time, the use of religion and religious institutions for political purposes was prohibited: "Art. 18 . . .
It is prohibited to use the church and religion for political purposes.
Political organisations on a religious basis are likewise prohibited."
Accordingly, an exclusively ideological struggle against religious belief began to be conducted: this was subordinated to the struggle to construct and defend a socialist society in Albania. In accordance with classical Marxist-Leninist principles, therefore, the Communist Party of Albania (later re-named the Party of Labor of Albania, PLA), the state and various social organisations carried out an ideological campaign against religious beliefs. In April 1947, for example, the Party recommended that education should be based on the principles of dialectical materialism.
In April 1955 the PLA Central Committee adopted a resolution on ideological work which emphasised the need to: "Strengthen the materialist and scientific world outlook among the workers"
and to combat religious beliefs and customs which were hindering "The spread of . . . socialist culture among the masses."
Dokumenta Kryesore të PPSH (Principal Documents of the PLA), Volume 1, Tirana, 1960, pp. 329, 357.
In a speech of September 1967 Hoxha spoke of: "the work of many years that has been accomplished by the Party, state, Democratic Front and all the social organisations to spread education and culture and to educate the masses in the spirit of atheism. In its attitude towards religion, the Party has stuck to the Marxist-Leninist principle that religious world outlook and communist world outlook . . . are irreconcilable . . . because they express and uphold the interests of different antagonistic classes. It has always subordinated the struggle against religion ideology to the struggle to free the workers from social oppression and economic exploitation."
Enver Hoxha, "On the Role and Tasks of the Democratic Font in the Struggle towards the Full Success of Socialism in Albania: Report to the 4th Congress of the Democratic Front of Albania", 14 September 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 36, Tirana, 1982, pp. 375.
However, on the Marxist-Leninist tactical principle listed above - that the state must give no funds to religious institutions, which must be self-supporting - the PR of Albania deviated to the right up to 1967. Article 18 of its 1946 Constitution declared that: "the state may give material aid to religious communities."
Constitution of the People's Republic of Albania, approved on 14 March 1946, Tirana, 1964, p. 9.
This provision was put into effect in the laws regulating the relations of the state with religious institutions passed by the People's Assembly between 1949 and 1951 - namely, - Decree n. 743 "On the Religious Communities" (26 January 1949);
- Decree n. 1064 "On the Approval of the Constitution of the Albanian Muslim Community" (4 May 1950);
- Decree n. 1065 "On the Approval of the Constitution of the Autocephalic Church of Albania" (4 May 1950);
- Decree n. 1066 "On the Approval of the Constitution of the Albanian Bektashi Community" (4 May 1950); and
- Decree n. 1322 "On the Approval of the Constitution of the Catholic Church of Albania" (30 July 1951).
The first of the above laws required all religious communities to develop among their members a feeling of loyalty towards the PR of Albania, and provided for the closure within one month of all religious orders and societies having their headquarters outside the state. This provision eliminated the Jesuit and Franciscan orders.
The Constitutions referred to in the above laws were adopted by representatives of the religious communities concerned. The Constitution of the Catholic Church of Albania was adopted at an assembly of the Catholic clergy which met in Shkodra on 26 June 1951. It provided for the rupture of organisational, political and economic ties with the Vatican, and for religious relations with the Vatican to be conducted through state channels, and for state approval of higher clerical appointments. The Vatican claimed that the assembly concerned was "not representative" and declined to recognise the Constitution concerned. These laws provided for state financial support to the religious institutions of the communities concerned. In the early sixties, state subsidies to the Muslim community alone amounted to 12 million leks.
(Arkivi Qendror i Shtetit i RPSSH (Central State Archives of the PSRA), Fondi i Këshillit të Ministrave (Records of the Council of Ministers), 1966, Dossier 470, p. 2).
This rightist deviation from classical Marxist-Leninist principles played a significant role in the 1967 campaign for the closure of all religious institutions, in which a prominent complaint was that it was unjust that purveyors of "religious opium" should be financially supported by society, while all other citizens capable of work were not.
At the same time, this rightist deviation did not affect the anti-religious ideological campaign which was subordinated - in accordance with Marxist-Leninist tactical principles - to the political and social struggle for the construction of socialism in Albania.
Particular emphasis was placed by Enver Hoxha on the fact that this struggle against religious "opium" - being, essentially, an ideological and political campaign - had to be consistently carried out by using persuasion and tact, and by avoiding decrees, administrative or repressive methods: ". . . the principal aspect [in the struggle against religion - Ed.] is the ideological and scientific work of the Party. The poison of religion is not being fought against by means of orders from the state, but through an endless work, with perseverance and continuously on the part of the Party."
Enver Hoxha, "Let Us Improve the Management of the Propaganda and the Agitation of the Party: Discussion at a Meeeting of the Political Bureau of the CC of the PLA", 15 January 1952, in Hoxha, E., Vepra [Works], n. 9, Tirana, 1972, p. 49.
"The uprooting of religious prejudices, vain beliefs and harmful habits is a difficult and delicate work. They do not disappear suddenly, neither with decrees nor with meetings. This is a work that requires perseverance, intelligence and tact."
Enver Hoxha, "Report to the IV Congress of the PLA 'On the Activity of the CC of the PLA'", 13 February 1961, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 20, Tirana, 1976, p. 270.
"The struggle to uproot these [religious - Ed.] vestiges of the past, inherited from other centuries, is, above all, an ideological struggle, the aim of which is the spiritual liberation of humanity. . . .
. . . For this purpose, we must activise better all the propaganda activities of the Party, our cultural institutions, the schools, teachers and all other intellectuals, the press and the radio, the literature and the arts; those who are struggling for the education of the workers with the new Communist ethic and outlook must regard this as their principal duty."
Enver Hoxha, "Upon the Economic, Social and Cultural Situation in the Countryside and the Measures to Improve it: Report to the X Plenum of the CC of the PLA", 6 June 1963, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 25, Tirana, 1977, p. 138.
". . . also in the struggle against religion we have to act tactfully. . . .
The Marxists, in particular, fight against this ideology in a dialectical, revolutionary way, not by means of administrative measures, but through the method of persuasion, and not through a superficial and formal persuasion, since this will prove to be ineffective and will soon translate into orders."
Enver Hoxha, "Let Us All Understand how to Better Implement the Directives of the Party: Talk with Cadres and Some Workers of the Agricultural Cooperative 'Stalin' of Kruja in the District of Sushnja", 8 March 1966, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 31, Tirana, 1980, p. 415.
". . . the Party must carry out a thoughtful, scientific task . . . not in a heartless manner, hurting people's feelings, but by means of profound political activity. We cannot give orders to the effect that the churches and mosques which exist in the countryside be destroyed. . . . Marxism fights reactionary and religious ideologies not by administrative methods, but through persuasion."
Enver Hoxha, "The Experience of the Party Shall Teach How to Improve Our Work: Speech at the Meeting of the Secretariat of the CC of the PLA", 14 March 1966, in Hoxha, Vepra, n. 31, Tirana, 1980, pp. 464-5.
As indicated by the above pronouncements, too, never had Enver Hoxha and the PLA - in the course of the struggle against religion in Albania up to 1966 - called for the closure of religious institutions and for the total abolition of religion itself.
THE CLOSURE OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS IN 1966-67
On 14 May 1966 the youth organisation of the village of Xibrake, in Elbasan district, closed the village mosque. On the following day the youth organisation of village of Mynqan (Cërrik district) did the same. On 10 June the youth of the village of Theth (Dukagjin district) turned the local church into a house of culture. Such actions occurred sporadically during the remainder of 1966. (Arkivi Qendror i Shtetit i RPSSH (Central State Archives of the PSRA), Fondi i Këshillit të Ministrave (Records of the Council of Ministers), 1966, Dossier 470, p. 2).
On 8 February 1967 the organ of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania, Zëri i Popullit (The People's Voice) carried on its front page a report headlined: "Revolutionary Initiative of the Pupils and Teachers of the Naim Frashëri School at Durrës: With the Sharp Sword of the Ideology of the Party Against Religious Ideology, Prejudices, Superstitions and Backward Customs."
Zëri i Popullit, 8 February 1967, p. 1.
The report described how the pupils and teachers of this school had carried out an action under the leadership of: "the Party Committee of Durrës district", against:
"overt manifestations of religious ideology", and against:"an attitude of indifference" towards these manifestations."
(Zëri i Popullit, 8 February 1967, p. 2).
The action had consisted of the formation of discussion groups on the falsity and social harmfulness of religion, the putting up of posters, slogans and wall-newspapers directed against religion, the creation of a special corner of the school library devoted to atheist literature, etc. The pupils and teachers had also carried the campaign outside the school into their families, in consequence of which "icon-cases were being turned by the families themselves into first-aid boxes". The campaign was carried into the streets, too. A large-character poster (a term derived from the Chinese "cultural revolution" which was then proceeding) was placed in the shop of a local baker alleged to be selling spells for the cure of mumps (Zëri i Popullit, 8 February 1967, p. 2).
The above campaign in Durrës was referred to by Hoxha seven months later, in his speech of 14 September 1967, in the following terms: "It was sufficient for a single spark struck by the revolutionary students of the Durrës 'Naim Frashëri' school . . . to kindle an immense fire that swept away from the face of the earth all hotbeds of religious obscurantism."
Enver Hoxha, "On the Role and Tasks of the Democratic Font in the Struggle towards the Full Success of Socialism in Albania: Report to the 4th Congress of the Democratic Front of Albania", 14 September 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 36, Tirana, 1982, pp. 376
During February, March, April, and May 1967 such actions, which also included actions to close down religious institutions, spread all over the country. Numerous mass meetings against religion were held in towns and villages and a series of pamphlets and books satirising religion and exposing the church came off the press. On 11 April 1967 the Presidium of the People's Assembly adopted Decree n. 4,236 by which the movable property of the religious communities (including livestock) were transferred, without compensation, to the ownership of the Executive Committees of the District People's Councils. This property included monetary assets to the total value of 1,929,307 leks. Finally, by the end of May 1967, all religious institutions had been closed - a total of 2,035, including 1,270 mosques, 608 Orthodox churches and monasteries, 157 Catholic churches and monasteries, etc. (Arkivi Qendror i Shtetit i RPSSH (Central State Archives of the PSRA), Fondi i Ministrisë së Arsimit e Kulturës (Records of the Ministry of Education and Culture), Dossier 20, pp. 24, 36).
Religious buildings of historical or cultural importance were preserved as monuments, most of the others were converted into houses of culture. Those which were not of historical or cultural importance and which stood in the way of town planning schemes were demolished. Subsequent, official assessments of these actions seem to confirm that the actual closure of religious institutions in Albania met with almost no resistance on the part of religious believers, with the sole exception of a small number of hostile, reactionary members of the clergy.
But a striking and anomalous feature in this struggle against religion is highlighted by the fact that, during this crucial period of time (February-May 1967) when all religion institutions were being closed in the country, these extreme actions were taking place against the many, explicit indications given by the First Secretary of the PLA, Enver Hoxha himself. During this time, too, Hoxha continued to insist on the necessity of an intensified ideological and political struggle in this field, based on persuading and convincing religious believers about the futility of religion, but without hurting their feelings. Indeed, never did he seem to endorse the closure of churches and mosques as a proper, and final solution for the anti-religious struggle carried out in Albania since 1945. Hoxha's declarations during February and April 1967 are the following: "It is impossible to fight [against religion - Ed.] to the end, if the communists and the masses are not politically and ideologically clear about the harm of religion. . . .
The Party, like a good doctor, has to make all efforts to cure the sick always in a persuasive, and never in an offensive manner.
. . . The successful development of the struggle against religious beliefs requires us to be careful, since we are dealing with the feelings of the people which, in one way or another, are associated with the religious institutions . . .
Let us be realistic and assess things always politically. For each step forward along the road of struggle against religion, we require the approval of the people and must not infringe their feelings in any way. . . .
The struggle which we have carried out, all the measures we are taking, represent a major qualitative step forward based on the great experience of the Party, on the great work the Party has done until today. . . .
. . . Let us realise that we are not dealing here with campaigns, but with political, ideological questions of the masses, of the people. All these [questions - Ed.] must be better reflected in our press organs, since this work requires extraordinarily great skill.
Our main task is to put greater efforts into making a qualitative leap forward in the education of the communists, the workers and the youth."
Enver Hoxha, "The Problems of the Organs of Internal Affairs Are not Outside the Controll of the Party: Discussion at a Meeting of the Secretariat of the CC of the PLA", 23 February 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 35, Tirana, 1982, pp. 85-8.
"In this matter [the struggle against religion - Ed.] violence, exaggerated or inflated actions must be condemned. Here it is necessary to use persuasion and only persuasion, political and ideological work, so that the ground is prepared for each concrete action against religion." Enver Hoxha, "The Communists Lead by Means of Example, Sacrifices, Abnegation: Discussion in the Organization of the Party, Sector C, of the 'Enver' Plant", 2 March 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 35, Tirana, 1982, pp. 130-1.
". . . the struggle against religion does not end with the destruction of the churches and mosques. Their destruction is a relatively simple task. It is much more difficult to struggle against religious habits, to uproot them from the consciousness of our people. . . . All these do not disappear either by decrees, or at a stroke, or by declarations alone. . . .
Then, how do those customs, so deeply rooted for centuries, disappear? Have the Party committees considered how to organise systematically this great and difficult politico-ideological struggle, by means of lectures, by deepening and broadening initiatives, by special meetings, by increasing the activities of the youth and women's organisations in this work, etc.? This - I believe - is not done as it should be, if it is not, we shall not have the desired results and the blame for this will not lie with the masses who believe, but with us, the leaders, who have not learned how to utilise, organise and appropriately implement the belief, enthusiasm and readiness of the masses."
Enver Hoxha, "The Party Can Solve Nothing without the Masses and without Helping Them: Discussion at a Meeting of the Secretariat of the CC of the PLA," 22 March 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 35, Tirana, 1982, pp. 138-9.
". . . [Let us - Ed.] work with perseverance, with perseverance, since this is not a work of a day or a month, but a work which will continue year after year . . . . we are not dealing here with a matter of time and speed, but with uprooting what is negative and deepening the socialist revolution."
Enver Hoxha, 30 March 1967, in Hoxha, E., Ditar [Diary], n. 9, Tirana, 1990, p. 116. Emphasis in the original.
"We shall not allow the use of administrative measures to eliminate useless religious institutions, customs and beliefs. There is only one road for the solution of these problems: political, ideological work and persuasion. . . . Backward customs and religious beliefs do not disappear suddenly, but gradually, through long and continuous work . . .
. . . In no way must we hurt the feelings of the people over the tower of a minaret which, if it is not destroyed today, will be destroyed next year, when the people have become convinced of the uselessness of religious beliefs."
Enver Hoxha, "In the Struggle against Religious Beliefs there is only One Road - Political, Ideological Work, Persuasion: From a Talk with the First Secretary of the Party Committee in the Dibra District," 7 April 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 35, Tirana, 1982, p. 226.
". . . in this question [the struggle against religion] we shall not allow . . . the employment of administrative measures. There is only one method: . . . political, ideological and convincing work with the people."
Enver Hoxha, 7 April 1967, in Hoxha, E., Ditar [Diary], n. 9, Tirana, 1990, p. 133.
". . . The Party has given the directive to be very prudent, very mature in this question [the struggle against religion - Ed.]."
Enver Hoxha, "The True Friendship is only the One which is Characterized by Faithfulness towards Marxism-Leninism: From a Talk during a Meeting with the Chinese Ambassador in Tirana", 12 April 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 35, Tirana, 1982, p. 234.
Clearly, on the basis of the above quotations relating to the crucial months of February-April 1967, the conclusion must be drawn that the closure of religious institutions in Albania could not have been initiated by the leading group of the party and state around Hoxha.
As mentioned, the 1946 Constitution of the PR of Albania, which was in force in 1967, provided, in the section laying down the citizens' rights, religious freedom. Despite stated constitutional guarantees, therefore, the closure of religious institutions in 1967 did constitute a violation of the rights of Albanian citizens laid down in their Constitution.
It is true that, after the closure of the religious institutions had been completed by May, on 13 November 1967 the Presidium of the People's Assembly adopted Decree n. 4337 (published in Gazeta Zyrtare [Official Gazette] on 22 November 1967, p. 241) which cancelled the legal status of religion and repealed the laws of 1949-1951 already described - laws which regulated the relationship bettween the state and religious institutions. But this Decree was not an amendment to the Constitution - an act which was not within the competencce of the Presidium. It merely restored the position to that existing prior to 1949-51, when the state's relations with the religious communities were unregulated. It followed that in November 1967 Radio Tirana announced that the PR of Albania had become the first atheist state of the world and, indeed, the only one without religious institutions.
No constitutional amendments relating to religion were adopted by the People's Assembly until the new Constitution was approved in December 1976. Albania then became - according to its Constitution, too - the only country in the world to outlaw religion and to mandate the propagation of atheism in its legislation. According to the 1976 Constitution, "Art. 37
The state recognises no religion whatever and supports atheist propaganda for the purpose of inculcating the scientific materialist world outlook in people.. . .
Article 55
The creation of any type of organisation of a . . . religious . . . character is prohibited.
. . . religious . . . activities and propaganda . . . are prohibited."
Constitution of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Approved by the People's Assembly on December 28, 1976, Tirana, 1989, Second Ed., pp. 20, 26.
Clearly, therefore, the closure of the religious institutions remained unconstitutional for more than nine years (from 1967 to 1976). Furthermore, this action was not in compliance with the country's international obligations since the PR of Albania, as a UN member since December 1955, had pledged itself to promote, in line with article 55 of the UN Charter: "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion."
UN Charter, art. 55.
HAD THE CLOSURE OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS BEEN INITIATED BY THE LEADING GROUP AROUND HOXHA?
The closure of religious institutions in 1966-67 had clearly been: 1) in violation of Marxist-Leninist principles, which do not contemplate the abolition of religion either by force or by administrative methods;
2) in violation of the Constitution of the PR of Albania;
3) not in compliance with Albania's international obligations as a UN member;
4) an action which must have alienated to some extent religious believers within Albania who might otherwise have been full supporters of the socialist regime;
5) an action which assisted international anti-socialist propaganda directed at the country;
6) an action which alienated to some extent religious believers who might otherwise have been favourably disposed towards socialist Albania;
7) an action which has held back to some extent the international Marxist-Leninist movement, of which socialist Albania had been the sole citadel during the sixties, seventies, and eighties, by presenting the image of a state which arbitrarily permits the violation of its constitutional rights, and by alienating to some extent religious believers who might otherwise have been firm supporters of the movement.
Finally, it is also important to emphasise that the closure of religious institutions in Albania - an action requiring a considerable degree of organisation and leadership - had not been initiated by the leading group of the party and state around Hoxha. Official reports of these actions, in fact, stress that the initiative came "from below", "from the masses", and especially "from the youth": "The youth and other masses of the people in villages and cities rose to their feet, demanding that the churches and mosques, temples and monasteries, all the 'holy places' be closed down. . . . The people condemned the anti-national and anti-popular role of religion . . . decided to wipe out religious centres and transform them into cultural and other centres."
In other words, the action is described in the official PLA history as an example of the
"initiatives of the people."
The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labor of Albania, Tirana, 1982, p. 437.
Reporting on the action in September 1967, Hoxha emphasised this analysis: "The people rose to their feet and destroyed the mosques and churches . . . all this work was done by the people themselves."
Enver Hoxha, "Albania was Born from the Revolution and Builds Socialism through the Revolution: From the Speech Organized on the Occasion of the 24th Anniversary of the Struggle in Rec", 3 September 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 36, Tirana, 1982, p. 250.
"This movement [against religion - Ed.] . . . has began through the initiative of the masses themselves and developed and deepened through their active participation."
Enver Hoxha, "On the Role and Tasks of the Democratic Font in the Struggle towards the Full Success of Socialism in Albania: Report to the 4th Congress of the Democratic Front of Albania", 14 September 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 36, Tirana, 1982, pp. 374-7.
At the next 6th PLA Congress in 1971, Hoxha reiterated the point: "The working people of their own free will decided the fate of the religious institutions." Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania: Submitted to the 6th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania, 1 November 1971, Tirana, 1971, p. 135.
Likewise, ten years later Hoxha declared: "Our state is atheistic by the will of its people."
Enver Hoxha, Speech Prior to the Elections for the 10th Legislature of the People's Assembly of the PSR of Albania: Delivered in the Electoral Zone n. 210 of Tirana, 10 November 1982, Tirana, 1982, pp. 39.
Albanian historians, Pollo and Puto, also confirm that: "There grew in the heart of young people still at school, an initiative demanding the closure of churches, of mosques, in short of all sacred places . . . Very quickly these initiatives were transformed into a great popular movement."
Stefanaq Pollo & Arben Puto, The History of Albania: from its Origins to the Present Day, London, 1981, p. 282.
Indeed, the determining role played by the youth in this anti-religious struggle of the late sixties is highlighted by Albanian historian Sadikaj in a detailed analysis of this subject, published in Studime Historike (Historical Studies) in 1981: "At the end of 1965 and during 1966 quite a number of youth organisations undertook a series of drives against religious hearts. . . .
During 1966 the youth . . . shut down places of worship. . . .
The fact that the youth become the vanguard in this struggle is understandable. The young generation in general, and the school youth in particular, were less infected by the religious consciousness, owing to the new conditions in which they were born and grew up. The knowledge they had gained in school, and the constant educational work carried out by the Party by every manner and means, had armed the youth with the new Marxist-Leninist world view, and had made them front-line warriors in the struggle against the religious ideology. . .
Immediately after the 5th Party Congress, a series of initiatives and drives were set in motion by the youth against the material base of religion. . . .
In the context of the revolutionary movement against religion, the initiative of the 'Naim Frashëri' school in the city of Durrës holds a special place. . . .
The youth thus became the Party's agitators in intensifying the movement against religion. . .
The struggle against religious dogmas, rites, and beliefs was carried out in conformity with the line of the masses. It was the people themselves who rose up and condemned the religious ideology. . . .
The youth proved to be the most vital and dynamic force."
(Dilaver Sadikaj, "Revolutionary Movement against Religion in the Sixties", in Studime Historike (Historical Studies), n. 4, 1981. Ed - Emphasis inserted)
It is true that the official History of the Party of Labour of Albania appears to imply that this initiative to close all religious institutions had been inspired by Hoxha's report to the 5th PLA Congress in November 1966, and by another important speech of his on 6 February 1967: "After the 5th Congress and Comrade Enver Hoxha's speech of February 6, 1967, this struggle [for the closure of religious institutions - Ed.] began over a broad front."
The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labour of Albania, Tirana, 1982, pp. 437.
In his report to the 5th Congress, Hoxha referred to the ideological struggle against religion, saying: "The ideological and cultural revolution is a part of the all-round class struggle for carrying the socialist revolution through to the end in all fields. . . .
Class struggle in itself is the struggle . . . against religious ideology, prejudices, backward customs and superstitions."
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the CC of the PLA: Submitted to the V Congress of the PLA, 1 November 1966, Tirana, 1966, pp. 149, 151.
The reference to religion in Hoxha's speech of 6 February 1967 was as follows: "How can one consider on vanguard positions that local Party organisation of the Durrës wharves, or how can one consider a revolutionary that worker of these wharves, who does well by day and is even praised for his work, but who at home by night makes church icons and sells them to the faithful in the morning?"
Enver Hoxha, "The Further Revolutionization of the Party and Government", 6 February 1967, in Hoxha, E., Speeches: 1967-1968, Tirana, 1974, p. 5.
These are the sole passing references to the struggle against religion in the two speeches by Hoxha concerned, and the second passage cited above is not considered of sufficient importance to include in the English version of the speech published in Selected Works, Volume 4.
(Enver Hoxha, Selected Works, Vol. 4, Tirana, 1982, p. 211).
These passages concerned clearly call for an intensification of the struggle against religion on the ideological plane. But they carry no suggestion of a call for a mass movement for the closure of religious institutions.
Even if the word "after" in the History of the Party of Labour of Albania is taken to have only a chronological meaning, it is inaccurate. As has been shown, the campaign for the closure of the religious institutions commenced in a small way in May 1966, six months before the 5th PLA Congress was held. The action of the pupils and teachers of the Naim Frashëri School in Durrës, held to be the signal for the mass campaign, certainly took place the day after Hoxha's speech of 6 February 1967 was published, but the account of it in Zëri i Popullit makes it clear that the preparations for the action had commenced: "several days previously."
Zëri i Popullit (The People's Voice), 8 February 1967; p.1.
Hoxha's personal view of the campaign for the closure of the churches may fairly be judged from the reference in his diary to similar actions by the Chinese "Red Guards", a reference dated 26 August 1966: "Can the question of religious belief be eradicated simply by closing some Catholic churches, as the students are doing, or by replacing the icons in churches with busts and portraits of Mao?!! Of course not. Religious belief in China must be a major problem, which cannot be solved with these measures."
Enver Hoxha, "A Sixteen-Point Document on the Cultural Revolution is Approved," 26 August 1966, in Hoxha, E., Reflections on China, vol. I, Tirana, 1979, p. 255.
Clearly, therefore, the closure of the religious institutions in Albania had not been initiated by the leading group of the party and state around Hoxha. Furthermore, his relevant pronouncements during the early months of 1967 (quoted in the previous section) had indeed called only for an intensification of the ideological and political struggle against religion, a struggle which must, in fact, be fought - as Lenin pointed out: "with purely ideological and solely ideological weapons."
V. I. Lenin, "Socialism and Religion", in V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 10, Moscow, 1962, p. 86.
THE CHINESE-ALBANIAN ALLIANCE DURING THE LATE SIXTIES
The mass action for the closure of religious institutions which took place in the PR of Albania in 1966-67 was a struggle fought in the more general revolutionary movement developing all over the country. In this context, other radical, revolutionary transformations in society were also aimed at putting the general interest above the personal one, at completely emancipating women and at further revolutionising education, literature and arts.
During the sixties, the closure of the churches and mosques in Albania took place simultaneously with the "cultural revolution" in China and embodied certain of its features in that it was not initiated by the leadership of the party, it was carried out under "revolutionary" slogans, and its initiative belonged to "the masses", especially the youth.
From the evidence previously presented, it seems clear that the leading group around Hoxha had been opposed to this action. This opposition was, however, rendered difficult by the PLA's support - including that of the leading group around Hoxha himself - for "Mao Tse-tung Thought" and by its incorrect assessment of the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
According to the official History of the Party of Labor of Albania, published in 1971, China was still regarded, during the late sixties and early seventies, as "a bastion of socialism and a powerful base of the world revolution."
The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labor of Albania, Tirana, 1971, p. 675.
At that time, China was characterised by Hoxha as: "a great socialist country."
Enver Hoxha, "The Foreign Policy of China - a Policy of Self-Isolation", 14 July 1967, in Hoxha, E., Reflections on China, vol. 1, Tirana, 1979, p. 379. Emphasis in the original.
Indeed, the PLA's almost unconditional support to China and its "cultural revolution" was officially expressed by Hoxha as follows: "Immense is the role and the contribution of the C[ommunist] P[arty] [of] C[hina] and of the P[eople's] R[epublic] of China in the struggle for the revolutionary cause of the international proletariat and peoples of all the world. They are now an invincible stronghold of socialism, the strong basis of revolution, the standard bearers of Marxism-Leninism, they are the iron pillars and safeguard of our revolutionary common cause. (Applause). . . .
. . . World imperialism and Khrushchovite revisionists are together attacking People's China, slandering the Chinese Cultural Proletarian Revolution. In vain do the enemies hope to discredit the great People's China. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China and Mao Tse-tung's thought she marches triumphantly ahead. (Prolonged applause. Ovations). The Party of Labor of Albania greets the Chinese Proletarian Cultural Revolution which aims at fighting mercilessly against the bourgeois and revisionist ideology."
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the CC of the PLA: Submitted to the V Congress of the PLA, 1 November 1966, Tirana, 1966, pp. 219-220. Emphasis in the original.
"The brilliant victories scored by the great proletarian cultural revolution of the great Chinese people and their glorious Party, guided personally by the outstanding Marxist-Leninist comrade Mao Tse-Tung, have fortified a lot the common cause of socialism and revolution everywhere in the world. The triumph of this revolution . . . is a powerful incentive for the proletariat of the world and the oppressed peoples in their class and liberation struggles.
The existence and force of Mao Tse-Tung's great socialist People's China, provide a major guarantee for the inevitable victory over imperialism and revisionism."
Enver Hoxha, "Carry out the Tasks of Revolutionizing Our Party and the Life of Our Country with Persistence and in a Creative Way", 21 December 1968, in Hoxha, E., Speeches: 1967-1968, Tirana, 1974, pp. 295-6.
"The role of the People's Republic of China, this powerful bastion of the revolution and socialism, is especially great in the growth and strengthening of the revolutionary movement everywhere in the world.
The triumph of the great proletarian cultural revolution initiated and guided by the great Marxist-Leninist Comrade Mao Tse-tung, is a victory and a source of inspiration for the whole world revolutionary movement."
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania: Submitted to the 6th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania, 1 November 1971, Tirana, 1971, p. 14.
It was only towards the end of the seventies, that Enver Hoxha and the PLA publicly condemned the Chinese brand of revisionism by characterising "Mao Tse-tung Thought" as an anti-Marxist-Leninist theory, by presenting China as a non-socialist country where the dictatorship of the proletariat did not exist, and by finally rejecting its "cultural revolution" proceeding during the late sixties as "an hoax."
In an analysis, which had been circulated within the PLA in April 1978 and was later published in Albanian and other foreign languages in 1979, Enver Hoxha reassessed China's policies by drawing the following conclusions: "When we saw that this Cultural Revolution was not being led by the party but was a chaotic outburst following a call issued by Mao Tsetung, this did not seem to us to be a revolutionary stand. . . .
. . . The main thing was the fact that neither the party nor the proletariat were in the leadership of this 'great proletarian revolution.' This grave situation stemmed from Mao Tsetung's old anti-Marxist concepts of underestimation of the leading role of the proletariat and overestimation of the youth in the revolution. . . .
Our Party supported the Cultural Revolution, because the victories of the revolution in China were in danger. . . . Our Party defended the fraternal Chinese people, the cause of the revolution and socialism in China, and not the factional strife of anti-Marxist groups. . . .
The course of events showed that the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was neither a revolution, nor great, nor cultural, and in particular, not in the least proletarian. . . .
Of course, this Cultural Revolution was a hoax. It liquidated both the Communist Party of China, and the mass organisations, and plunged China into new chaos."
Enver Hoxha, Imperialism and the Revolution, Tirana, 1979, pp. 390-2. The book had been first published in Albanian in April 1978 for distribution within the PLA.
It is true that - according to his diary Reflections on China, published in 1979 - by the late sixties, Hoxha personally had already began to have doubts and misgivings concerning the leadership of the Communist Party of China. He, nevertheless, justified the support given by the PLA to Mao Tse-Tung and the "cultural revolution" in China as "in defence of Marxism-Leninism": "We defended China, Mao Tsetung, and the Cultural Revolution, because we defended Marxism-Leninism."
Enver Hoxha, "The Admission of China to the United Nations Organization", 26 October 1971, in Hoxha, E., Reflections on China, vol. 1, Tirana, 1979, p. 600. Emphasis in the original.
Taking advantage of the erroneous analysis made by the PLA of China and its "cultural revolution", the Chinese revisionists were in 1966-67 pressing the PLA to support a similar "cultural revolution" in the PR of Albania: "The Chinese comrades want to impose Mao by force as the 'greatest Marxist in the whole history of communism', want the whole communist movement of the world to adopt and apply their experience en bloc, to apply their Cultural Revolution."
Enver Hoxha, "The Foreign Policy of China - a Policy of Self-Isolation", 14 July 1967, in Hoxha, E., Reflections on China, vol. 1, Tirana, 1979, p. 371. Emphasis in the original.
According to his diary, Hoxha personally was opposed to this: "According to the Chinese propaganda, all of us have to go through this phase of theirs, because their Cultural Revolution is universal! This is not so, and cannot be so. . . .
A Marxist-Leninist party like ours, which is building socialism correctly, . . . which is deepening the proletarian revolution with success, cannot proceed on the road the Chinese advocate. The road of our party is revolutionary, consistent and Marxist-Leninist. A Marxist-Leninist party like ours builds socialism, deepens the revolution, but does not carry out revolution like that which is going on in China today."
Enver Hoxha, "Reflections on the Cultural Revolution. Anarchy Cannot be Combated with Anarchy", 28 April 1967, in Hoxha, E., Reflections on China, vol. 1, Tirana, 1979, p. 360. Emphasis in the original
One of the key points of "Mao Tse-tung Thought" was that known as "the mass line" - namely, that a correct party line came "ffrom the masses." Mao Tse-tung presents it as follows: "In all the practical work of our Party, all correct leadership is necessarily 'from the masses, to the masses'. . . . Take the ideas of the masses and concentrate them, then go to the masses, persevere in the ideas and carry them through, so as to form correct ideas of leadership - such is the basic method of leadership."<
Mao Tse-Tung, "Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership", 1 June 1943, in Mao Tse-Tung, Selected Works, vol. 3, Peking, 1967, pp.119-20.
While this conception had not been fully accepted by the PLA, the "mass line" appears to have played a role in the events of 1966-67, thus being instrumental in closing the country's religious institutions. It cannot be insignificant that in the First Edition of the History of the Party of Labor of Albania (published in 1971) the first section of the chapter which describes the closure of religious institutions is headed: "Deepening the Mass Line";
The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labor of Albania, Tirana, 1971, p. 556.
While in the Second Edition (published in 1982) this heading was deleted and the material redrafted (The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labour of Albania, Tirana, 1971, p. 391).
The "mass line" had, in fact, been implemented in China during the late sixties in a way which virtually liquidated the Communist Party of China by means of an internal power struggle attempting to destroy the political power of the national bourgeoisie, headed by Liu Shao-chi. In this effort - known as the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" - the political representatives of the compprador bourgeoisie, headed by Mao Tse-tung, mobilised against Liu Shao-chi's grouping, firstly, the youth; and when that failed, secondly, the workers; and when that in turn failed, thirdly, the People's Liberation Army. Indeed, having been a political and counter-revolutionary power struggle, China's "cultural revolution" can hardly be regarded as a cultural, revolutionary movement developing along Marxist-Leninist lines.
In order to assess how China's "cultural revolution" affected Albania's construction of socialism during the late sixties, it is vital to recognise that its degree of influence remained, on the whole, limited and circumstantial, although some of its features had a direct impact upon the actions leading to the closure of Albania's religious institutions. Never could the revolutionary movement of the time in the PR of Albania embrace the chaotic and anarchist outbursts of the pseudo-revolution that was simultaneously carried out in China. Essentially, the successful implementation of Marxism-Leninism in Albania - unlike in China - was due to the fact that the PLA, i.e., the communist party, the party of the working class, was continuously being strengthened in its essential, leading role in the dictatorship of the proletariat. With regard to the revolutionary movement of the late sixties, in fact, the official History of the Party of Labor of Albania confirms that "The 5th Congress [November, 1966 - Ed.] considered the strengthening and tempering of the Party as the revolutionary party of the working class, the raising of its leading role in the whole life of the country, as the first condition for the uninterrupted development of the socialist revolution and for carrying it through to the end."
The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labor of Albania, Tirana, 1971, p. 587.
Without endorsing the Maoist conception of the "mass line", Hoxha always highlighted the fundamental principle of implementing the PLA's leading role among the masses in the course of the revolutionary developments taking place in society: "The revolution and socialism are the achievement of the masses themselves, led by the communists. . . .
It is the duty of the Party to . . . properly apply the principle, 'from the masses to the masses', to make that a method of work for all the Party, state and economic organisations, the mass organisations, for all communists and cadres wherever they work, in all fields of socialist construction. . . .
The Party is the leading force in the entire system of the dictatorship of the proletariat."
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the CC of the PLA: Submitted to the V Congress of the PLA, 1 November 1966, Tirana, 1966, pp. 123, 125, 146.
". . . in a socialist community, the people are in power, the dictatorship of the proletariat is established and the Marxist-Leninist party is in power, the line of the Party, the line of the masses is in power."
Enver Hoxha, "The Further Revolutionization of the Party and Government", 6 February 1967, in Hoxha, E., Speeches: 1967-1968, Tirana, 1974, p. 40.
"Through mass actions and movements the revolutionary drive of the communists is merged into a single whole with the creativeness of the masses. [during 1966-71 - Ed.]"
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania: Submitted to the 6th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania, 1 November 1971, Tirana, 1971, p. 192.
BY WHOM WAS THE CLOSURE OF RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS INITIATED AND WHAT WERE ITS MOTIVES?
Shortly after the action for the closure of religious institutions had begun, on 27 February 1967 the PLA Central Committee sent a letter to all District Party Committees, signed by Hoxha in his capacity as First Secretary, and entitled "On the Struggle against Religion, Religious Prejudices and Customs". This began by noting "that recently in many districts the struggle against religion, religious prejudices and customs has been intensified." Stressing that this struggle should not be left to "spontaneity", the directive had in fact been issued "with the aim that the struggle may be carried on more correctly, without mistakes and successfully." It reiterated the Marxist-Leninist position that the struggle against religion must not be carried on in ways that would tend to alienate from socialist society those who retained, and were likely to continue to retain, their religious beliefs: "We have continually to bear in mind that we must not enter into open struggle with persons who believe in religion, since among these people there will be honest people, linked with the Party and ardent patriots, who will retain in their consciousness for a long time, perhaps even until they die, their beliefs. With them the task of persuasion must be carried on, continuously and with great patience, in ways which we must not allow to be offensive. . . .
. . . Without slackening for a moment anti-religious propaganda, we must always bear in mind that we are dealing with people. Exaggerated, extreme actions must be avoided; we must carefully prepare political ground for each action we undertake."
The directive described the closure of religious institutions as "a difficulty" in the way of the application of the above principle: "The elimination of churches, mosques, teqe and monasteries naturally introduces a difficulty."
It instructed that this action should not take place "by force or without the approval of the people", and against the wishes of religious believers: "It (the closure of religious institutions - Ed.) must not go ahead in direct opposition to that part of the people which believes. That is why care and tact must be exercised in this direction."
Religious believers had to be prepared spiritually, ideologically and politically for the action: "To close mosques and churches by means of campaigns or orders is easy, but it is more difficult to spiritually and ideologically prepare believers to understand the futility of these institutions, to eradicate religion from the habits of their existence and give up its practices with conviction. . . .
The people . . . must be prepared spiritually and politically."
In contrast to the Marxist-Leninist principle that such spiritual, ideological and political preparation could be regarded as completed only with the disappearance of the religious belief itself, however, it was implied that it could be regarded as completed if no resistance by religious believers was encountered to the closure of religious institutions: "But enough of them (religious institutions - Ed.) have been eliminated without provoking any reaction. . .
It is interesting that in our countryside there has been no resistance to these things."
The District Party Committees were therefore instructed to support and lead the campaign for the closure of religious institutions and to carry it through to the end: "With these forms we must continue until they have been wiped from the face of the earth."
Enver Hoxha, "Let Us Struggle against Religious Practices with the Patriotic and Revolutionary Spirit of the Masses: Letter of the CC of the PLA Addressed to the Party District Committees on the Struggle against Religion, Religious Prejudicies and Customs", 27 February 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 35, Tirana, 1982, pp.102-13.
The official History of the Party of Labour of Albania confirms, in fact, that the campaign for the closure of religious institutions had "the powerful support of the party organisations and the organs of people's power." (The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labour of Albania, Tirana, 1982, p. 437).
Likewise, Albanian historian Sadikaj indicates that "These initiatives, which originated from below, were given powerful support from above, including Party committees and organisations at the base level, as well as the organisations of the masses. . . .
The entire effort and struggle against the religious ideology was led by the Party . . . In dealing with any problem, it was always the committees and base organisations of the Party that oriented, organised and led the masses."
Dilaver Sadikaj, "Revolutionary Movement against Religion in the Sixties", in Studime Historike (Historical Studies), n. 4, 1981.
In conclusion, at the next 6th PLA Congress in November 1971, Hoxha in his report described the campaign to close religious institutions as "a victory": "One action with great results is the fight to smash the influence of religion. Within a very short period, this struggle succeeded in definitely stripping of their functions all the institutions and preachers of religion . . . Albania became a country without churches and mosques, without Christian or Muslim priests.
. . . this was a decisive blow and a victory which creates a new and powerful premise for the further emancipation of people's consciousness, for their complete liberation from religious beliefs and prejudices."
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania: Submitted to the 6th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania, 1 November 1971, Tirana, 1971, p. 135.
But since the leading group of the party and state around Hoxha had not initiated the campaign to close the country's religious institutions, how can we explain Hoxha's rather contradictory stand in 1971, hailing as a "victory" the sudden establishment of Albania as an atheist country with no churches and mosques? Besides, what motives had prompted Hoxha, in his capacity as PLA First Secretary, on 27 February 1967 (that is, in the midst of the above campaign) to send all District Party Committees a letter which ultimately instructed them to support and lead the campaign for the closure of religious institutions up to its successful conclusion?
The question therefore inevitably arises: was there an influential, organised group within the party and state leadership during the late sixties which initiated the mass movement leading to the closure of religious institutions, for motives of hostility towards the PR of Albania and towards socialism? Since the events of 1966-67, the PLA has indeed denounced the existence of precisely such an organised, influential group which included such prominent figures as Fadil Paçrami, Todi Lubonja, Beqir Balluku, Petrit Dume, Hito Çaki, Abdyl Këllezi, Koço Theodhosi, and Kiço Ngjela - a group led and co-ordinated by the then Prime Minister, Mehmet Shehu, together with Fiqret Shehu, Feçor Shehu and Kadri Hazbiu.
At the end of the sixties, the highest authority within the party, its Political Bureau (elected at the 5th PLA Congress in November 1966), was composed of the following members: Enver Hoxha (First Secretary),
*Adil Çarçani,
*Beqir Balluku,
Gogo Nushi,
Haki Toska,
Hysni Kapo,
Manush Myftiu,
*Mehmet Shehu,
*Ramiz Alia,
Rita Marko,
Spiro Koleka,
and candidate members:
*Abdyl Këllezi,
*Kadri Hazbiu,
*Koço Theodhosi,
*Petrit Dume,
Pilo Peristeri.
(The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labor of Albania, Tirana, 1971, p. 606).
Out of a total of sixteen members, at least half of them (those marked with an asterisk) clearly proved themselves to be, during the seventies and eighties, outright opponents and liquidators of the socialist cause in Albania, often co-ordinating their conspirational activities with foreign intelligence agencies.
The struggle against religion in Albania during the late sixties provided these concealed anti-socialist elements with a fertile ground to encourage sectarian, pseudo-revolutionary actions in order to undermine the socialist system in Albania, discredit the PLA leadership around Hoxha and later accuse it of "sectarianism." Clearly, the initiation of the campaign to close the religious institutions, which was carried through successfully, had been entirely consistent with these sectarian aims pursued by the internal and external enemies of socialism in Albania, at a time when the country had been completely encircled by hostile revisionist and capitalist states.
In the situation existing in 1966-67, the campaign of "the masses" for the closure of religious institutions had unquestionably placed the leading group around Hoxha in a difficult position. To have officially condemned the campaign would, as-a-matter-of-fact, have placed them in the position of defending "religious opium" against a "revolutionary" movement of "the masses" to abolish it. The conclusion must therefore be reached that the Marxist-Leninist group around Hoxha had been placed in a minority position on the issue of religion, thus being forced to endorse what Lenin would have described as a "pseudo-revolutionary" campaign and to finally praise it. No information has ever emerged as to what extent Hoxha had fought within the higher organs of the party on this issue, since democratic centralism within the PLA assured collective leadership, preventing the emergence of organised factions within it, and subordinating individual leaders (including its First Secretary) to the official party line.
As Enver Hoxha indicated: "One of the principal questions for all the party organs is to see that the principles of collectivism in the leadership are rigorously observed, and to allow no violations in this respect. Questions should be solved in a spirit of collectivity, and not according to individual decisions which diminish the role of the Party."
Enver Hoxha, "On Some Organizational Questions of the Party: Report to the 11th. Plenum of the CC of the PLA", 12 July 1954, in Hoxha, E., Selected Works, vol. 2, Tirana, 1975, p. 411.
"Our Party has always upheld the principle of collectivism in the work of its leading organs.. . . .
All are obliged to submit to the general line of the Party, to the criteria, orientations, establishments, and procedures it has laid down on cadres. Nothing should be done in an individual way in this field . . . the position of each individual is in the hands of the Party and the working class."
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania: Submitted to the 7th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania, 1 November 1976, Tirana, 1978, pp. 86-7.
The PLA, in fact, had drawn the important conclusion that, while tolerating the existence of non-antagonistic contradictions within its ranks, the Marxist-Leninist party could not tolerate the co-existence of factions, of various lines within it. The PLA Constitution explicitly stated: "The party does not permit the existence of factions within its ranks . . .
The guiding principle of the organisational structure of the Party is democratic centralism. . . . decisions are taken after a free thrashing out of opinions, but from the moment a decision is taken, unanimously or by a majority of votes, all party members are obliged to implement it without further discussion."
The Constitution of the Party of Labour of Albania, Adopted by the 3rd Congress of the PLA (Including amendments made at the 4th, 5th,6th, and 7th Congresses of the PLA), Tirana, 1977, pp. 3, 11-12, 29,30.
At any rate, the closure of Albania's religious institutions in 1966-67 had been initiated by an influential anti-socialist grouping of hidden revisionists co-ordinated by the then Prime Minister, Mehmet Shehu. They were, of course, unable to organise themselves in a political faction, but they proved to have been sufficiently strong to place the PLA First Secretary, Hoxha, in a minority position and to force him to approve sectarianism in the struggle against religion.
One final question remains to be discussed:
How did these concealed anti-socialist elements headed by Shehu plan to use this campaign for the closure of religious institutions to discredit the leading group around Hoxha when it had been initiated by themselves and supported by the party leadership in general?
One of the phenomena which struck every visitor to Albania was the "cult of personality" which had been built up around Hoxha, manifested in ubiquitous busts and portraits, in the slogan Parti Enver which equated Hoxha with the Party, in the customary references to the PLA as "with Comrade Enver at its head." Hoxha was indeed aware that in the Soviet Union the "cult of personality" had been built up around Stalin by traitors for the purpose of later discrediting Stalin himself, the socialist system which had existed in the Soviet Union at that time, and Marxism-Leninism: "As regards the so-called cult of Stalin, the Khrushchevite traitors propagated it deliberately in order to use it extensively against Marxism-Leninism, as they did in fact. . . After the death of Stalin, it became clear that these traitors used this unbridled propaganda as a weapon not only against Stalin and the Soviet Union, but also against Marxism-Leninism on an international scale."
(E.Hoxha: Conversation with Chou En Lia (June 1966) in "Selected Works"; Volume 4; Tirana; 1982; p.45).
Indeed Hoxha was critical of Stalin for not having opposed the "cult of personality" more vigorously and effectively: "We think that Stalin personally did not take severe measures to ensure that this propaganda was balanced in a Marxist-Leninist manner and to avoid the many negative and dangerous aspects of this propaganda."
Enver Hoxha, "Our Party Will Continue to Wage the Class Struggle As It Has Always Done - Consistently, Corageously and With Maturity: From a Conversation With Zhou Enlai", 24 June 1966, in Hoxha, E., Selected Works , Vol. 4, Tirana, 1982, p. 45.
Already during the fifties, Hoxha had personally taken steps to oppose the "cult of personality" in Albania: "The cult of the individual . . . is an anti-Marxist and harmful practice, because this makes a fetish of the individual, weakens the decisive role of the collective and the masses . . . weakens the confidence of the masses of the people in their creative strength. The cult of the individual leads to the lowering of the role of the Party as a vanguard detachment of the working class and of its leadership - the Central Committee. We should keep in mind Marx's thesis on the cult of the individual. Marx wrote: 'Because of my detestation of any cult of the individual, during the existence of the International I never permitted the publication of the numerous messages which came from various countries in which mention was made of my merits. Sometimes I have not even answered them at all, except when I have reproached their authors. . . .'
[K. Marx & F. Engels: Works (Second Russian Edition), Volume 34; p. 241]. The development of the cult of the individual in a Marxist-Leninist party is harmful, for it not only weakens the leading role of the Party and its Central Committee, impedes the strengthening of the spirit of collective guidance in the leadership of the Party, which is the only guarantee of the wisdom and correctness of the line of the Party, but it also hinders criticism of errors, of laxity, of shortcomings in the work of the Party and various people, weakens self-criticism, breeds conceit and self-satisfaction in people, and paralyses initiative in work. . . .
Continuous struggle has been waged day by day to strengthen collective work. The comrades of the Political Bureau can tell the Central Committee that time after time, and always correctly, the General Secretary (Hoxha - Ed.) raised before the Political Bureau and the other comrades in the leadership the question of the harm caused by the cult of the individual and demanded that an end be put once and for all to certain excessive public manifestations by the masses of the people towards his person, such as chanting his name in chorus, the erection of busts in various cities, putting his photograph in newspapers and magazines without any apparent reason or occasion, and some other manifestations of this sort. . . Now, it is necessary for the Central Committee to direct the Party, in the first place, to put an end to such a practice."
Enver Hoxha, "On Some Organizational Questions of the Party: Report to the 11th. Plenum of the CC of the PLA", 12 July 1954, in Hoxha, E., Selected Works, vol. 2, Tirana, 1975, pp. 411-4.
"The founders of scientific communism have fought with all their might against the cult of the individual in all the forms in which it appears, as something utterly alien, useless, and harmful to Marxism. . .
The Party of Labour of Albania has criticised the manifestations of the overestimation of the role of personalities and leaders in a Marxist way, because these manifestations weaken the role of the Party, of the party base and the masses, and tend to create the view of the 'infallibility of leaders'.
The cult of the individual is a decayed remnant, the product of exploiting classes and small-scale producers. . . The cult of the individual, on the one hand, at all levels of the Party and the administration, incites arrogance and conceit in the cadres and elements who are still not properly tempered and educated in the Marxist-Leninist spirit, creates in these cadres varying degrees of haughtiness, boastfulness, arbitrary actions, develops morbid, petty-bourgeois pride and the feeling of personal superiority and infallibility, and, on the other hand, weakens the collective leadership of the Party at every level, weakens sound, principled criticism and self-criticism, and alienates the leadership from the masses.
The Central Committee of our Party has constantly spoken up for putting an end to any harmful, non-Marxist manifestation of the cult of the individual."
Enver Hoxha, Report at the 3rd Congress of the PLA 'On the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania', 25 May 1956, in Hoxha, E., Selected Works, vol. 2, Tirana, 1975, pp. 595-6.
During the late sixties, seventies and eighties, however, the "cult of personality" around Hoxha was once again raised to heights greater than in the fifties, despite the fact that since then its role in paving the way for discrediting socialism in the Soviet Union had become much clearer. This strongly indicated that, on such an important issue, the leading group around Hoxha had been put in a minority position. And for this reason, in fact, it had not been in a position to resist Hoxha's "cult of the personality."
This opened the way for the group headed by Shehu to use the action of the closure of religious institutions (although initiated by themselves and supported by the party and state leadership in general) to discredit the leading Marxist-Leninist group around Hoxha, claiming that Hoxha exercised a "personal dictatorship", which he used to commit breaches of Marxist-Leninist principles and violations of constitutional legality.
It took some time for these concealed enemies of socialism, who had been zealously propagated the "cult of the personality" around Hoxha for decades, to openly attack and liquidate all Marxist-Leninist policies and principles formerly implemented in Albania. This occurred on the occasion of the 10th PLA Congress in June 1991, when the closure of Albania's religious institutions and the abolition of religion in Albania were indeed conveniently portrayed as a gross violation of human rights, as sectarian and subjectivist actions on the part of Hoxha and the leading party and state group around him.
ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROVISIONS AND STANDS DURING THE SEVENTIES AND EIGHTIES
In accordance with the new 1976 Constitution of the People's Socialist Republic (PSR) of Albania, a new penal code was approved by the People's Assembly on 15 June 1977. According to its article 55, religious activity fell into the category of fascist, anti-democratic, war-mongering, and anti-socialist activities against the state.
Religious activity was therefore expressly stated to be liable to penalties under the heading "agitation and propaganda against the state": "Article 55
Agitation and Propaganda Against the State.
Fascist, anti-democratic, religious, war-mongering, and anti-socialist agitation and propaganda, as well as the preparation, dissemination, or possession for dissemination of literature with such content, in order to weaken or undermine the state of the dictatorship of the proletariat is punishable:
by deprivation of liberty for a period of from three to ten years.
If these acts have been committed in wartime or have caused particularly grave consequences, they are punishable:
by deprivation of liberty for not less than ten years or by death."
Penal Code of the SPR of Albania, approved on 15 June 1977.
Prior to the new constitutional and penal amendments relating to religion, two decrees had been adopted in September 1975 requiring the changing of both personal and geographical names with religious significance. Decree n. 5339, in fact, stated that: "Citizens who have inappropriate names and offensive surnames from a political, ideological, and moral viewpoint are obliged to change them."
Decree n. 5339, 23 September 1975, published in Gazeta Zyrtare on 11 November 1975.
The decree added that persons affected by the edict were expected to comply with it voluntarily, but those who did not comply would be given "appropriate names" by social organisations in their locality. Parents were then expected to choose a suitably Albanian name from a list of 3000 provided by the government. This decree was primarily aimed at Albanians having religious names, especially Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics. At about the same time as the personal name campaign in September 1975, the Government also adopted Decree n. 225 requiring the changing of geographic names with religious meanings. This law mainly affected names containing the prefix "Saint."
Religious holidays and ceremonies, from the sixties onwards, were replaced with new socialist, national, local, and family festivals and customs. During funerals, in place of the clergy there began the practice of having an elderly person or a representative of a mass organisation who spoke at the burial ceremony and relatives of the deceased also stopped the former habit of sending large sums of money for the funeral. A series of scientific sessions dealing with atheistic, anti-religious themes were held throughout Albania particularly during the seventies. Television, films, culture and art were all mobilised and required to stress anti-religious subjects. Frequent poster campaigns were also used to further popularise atheistic ideas and special institutions, such as the atheist museum in Shkoder, were also established.
During the seventies and eighties, religion in Albania came to be regarded as a personal, private affair. In a speech in November 1982, Enver Hoxha acknowledged the right to religious belief in the following terms: "To believe or not to believe is a personal right, a question of conscience and not an institutional question."
Enver Hoxha, Speech Prior to the Elections for the 10th Legislature of the People's Assembly fo the PSR of Albania: Delivered in the Electoral Zone n. 210 of Tirana, 10 November 1982, Tirana, 1982, pp. 38-9.
Albania's representative to the UN, Bashkim Pitarka reiterated in 1988 that "There is genuine freedom of conscience in Albania. The question of religious belief in Albania is also regarded as a right, a private issue which is an individual matter of conscience."
Letter from the Permanent Representative of the PSR of Albania to the United Nations, 9 May 1988, in U.N. Doc. A/43/354, at 8.
As mentioned above, classical Marxist-Leninist principles oppose any action to restrict religious worship in a socialist society, holding that the struggle against religion must be carried out on the ideological plane alone, and that religious institutions would disappear, and must be allowed to disappear, with the disappearance of religious belief. However, official Albanian sources and Enver Hoxha himself testify that religious belief continued to be kept somehow alive in socialist Albania after the closure of its churches and mosques.
According to the official History of the Party of Labor of Albania: "the elimination of churches and mosques had not eliminated the religious outlook. Religion has very deep roots."
The Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies at the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania, History of the Party of Labor of Albania, Tirana, 1971, pp. 626.
In The History of Albania, Albanian historians, Pollo and Puto, also confirm that: "if the churches and mosques had been closed, this did not mean that religion as a total concept had disappeared."
Stefanaq Pollo & Arben Puto, The History of Albania: from its Origins to the Present Day, London, 1981, p. 282.
Repeatedly, Enver Hoxha constantly indicated the necessity to further eradicate religious influence, still present in Albanian society after the closure of its religious institutions: "Can we affirm that we have eradicated religion and all backward customs completely? No. This will take scores and scores of years, even longer perhaps."
Enver Hoxha, "The Revolution Triumphs Only When the Marxist-Leninist Party Rouses the Masses and Makes Them Conscious of its Indispensability: From a Converasation with Two Sudanese Comrades", 12 July 1967, in Hoxha, E., Speeches, Conversations and Articles (1967-1968), Tirana, 1978, p. 122.
"One should combat the erroneous concept that religion is only the church, the mosque, the priest, the hodja, the icons, etc., and that once these disappear religion and its influence over the people would automatically disappear too."
Enver Hoxha, "On the Role and Tasks of the Democratic Font in the Struggle towards the Full Success of Socialism in Albania: Report to the 4th Congress of the Democratic Front of Albania", 14 September 1967, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 36, Tirana, 1982, pp. 374-7.
". . . The great struggle against religion must be carried out in the consciousness, in the outlook of people. The elimination of a church building alone does not make idealist belief disappear from people's consciousness. . . . At the same time, the fact is that the churches and the mosques may quickly disappear materially. But, together with this does belief disappear in a short time from the people's consciousness? Certainly not. When considering this problem, has the Party and the mass organisations organised a well co-ordinated political and ideological struggle against religion? No, this leaves much to be desired."
Enver Hoxha, "For Struggle against Backward Customs: Discussion at the Meeting of the Secretariat of the CC of the PLA", 31 January 1969, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 40, Tirana, 1983, p. 106.
"Of course this [the closure of religious institutions - Ed.] does not mean that the complete libeeration of the working people from the influence of religious opium has been achieved; on the contrary, a long process of education and re-education is needed for this."
Enver Hoxha, Report on the Activity of the Central Committee of the Party of Labor of Albania: Submitted to the 6th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania, 1 November 1971, Tirana, 1971, p. 135.
"Our Party and people destroyed this [religious - Ed.] structure within a few decades, but the fight to root out this cancer from the mentality of the people, is still far from ended. . . . and if a consistent and persuasive battle is waged in this direction, it will no longer take centuries but a few decades, a few generations."
Enver Hoxha, "How We Should Understand and Fight the Imperialist-Revisionist Encirclement of Our Country and the Effect of Its Pressure on Us: Speech Delivered at the General Meeting of the Communists of the Apparatus of the Central Committee of the Party to Render Account and Hold Elections", 15 March 1973, in Hoxha, E., On the Further Revolutionization of the Party and the Whole Life of the Country: Speeches (1971-1973), Tirana, 1974, p. 278.
"There are [still in 1976 - Ed.] old people who practise some religious rites. In respect of these, we must follow the road of persuasion, of working to rescue these people from religious bondage."
Enver Hoxha, "Let Us Be Attentive in Taking Decisions: From the Discussion at the Meeting of the Presidium of the Popular Assembly of the PRA", 31 January 1976, in Hoxha, E., Vepra, n. 56, Tirana, 1987, p. 343. My emphasis
In his detailed analysis on the anti-religious struggle in Albania, published in 1981, Albanian historian Sadikaj also admits the persistence of religious manifestations after the closure of religious institutions: "In spite of the successes achieved against religion, it was evident that religious vestiges . . . continued to persist and to spread here and there, often assuming new forms. Among these vestiges were salutations, greetings, condolences, oaths and threats that were linked with the name of the creator of the world - the lord, as well as fantastic and idealistic expressions. . . .
One form of passive resistance was the preservation of certain religious edifices that had no historical value or any practical use whatsoever. At times they were used for christenings or for other activities of a religious nature. In a considerable number of villages, or even in a city here and there, there were abundant indications that certain people continued to adhere to religious beliefs, holidays and rites. . . .
There were frequent tendencies to preserve or create secretly the material base of religion. . . .
Here and there passive resistance and attitudes in the struggle against religion showed up in the ranks of the communists, as well. Either in a secret manner, or under the pretext that 'you can't cross the elders', it happened that even in families of certain communists religious rites and customs continued to be respected. . . .
Religious vestiges have not been eliminated totally, not forever."
Dilaver Sadikaj, "Revolutionary Movement against Religion in the Sixties", in Studime Historike (Historical Studies), n. 4, 1981.
In another, similar analysis, published in Rruga e Partisë (The Road of the Party) in 1986, Professor Hako noted "progress" in the anti-religious campaign, but admitted that: "remnants and manifestations of religion were still considerable, harmful, and dangerous." Hulusi Hako, "Towards the Creation of a Fully Atheist Society", in Rruga e Partisë (The Road of the Party), n. 3, 1986.
In 1988, Bashkim Pitarka, Albania's representative to the UN, stated that "in Albania, no one can force people to believe in God or to perform religious rites. That does not mean, however, that believers do not perform these rites.
Ultimately, this is a personal and family matter."
Letter from the Permanent Representative of the PSR of Albania to the United Nations, 9 May 1988, in U.N. Doc. A/43/354, at 8. My emphasis.
Unquestionably, therefore, the above official documents testify the persistence - to a certain extent - of religious influence and beliefs in Albania during the seventies and eighties, i.e., after the closure of its religious institutions in 1966-67.
THE RELIGIOUS REVIVAL OF THE EARLY NINETIES
During the late eighties, under the guise of "democratisation", the revisionist process of capitalist restoration in Albania was led by Ramiz Alia in his capacity as the new PLA First Secretary, after Hoxha's death in 1985.
Several clergymen and former missionaries were now permitted to visit Albania, following an increased tolerance demonstrated by the government in this field. In November 1986, Dr and Mrs E. Jacques, evangelical missionaries who had served at the American Mission School in Korça from 1932 to 1940, were granted visas for a ten-day visit. Between July and September 1988, three Albanian clergymen from abroad visited Albania for brief periods. They included Reverend A. E. Liolin, American-born chancellor of the Albanian Orthodox Diocese in America, who was apparently the first clergyman since 1967 to visit and travel around the country wearing clerical grab. He led prayers on different occasions at cemeteries and was also permitted to retain a personal copy of the Bible during his visit. The other two clergymen were Reverend Imam Vehbi Ismail, Albanian-born America citizen, director of the Albanian Islamic Center in Detroit, and Jesuit Father Ndoc Kelmendi, who was permitted to visit his family near Shkodra. Reportedly other clergymen were allowed to visit the country, either as retirees or as journalists or teachers. Mother Theresa visited Albania for her first time in August 1989 and Reverend Liolin was then invited to the country for a second time by the Albanian Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs.
The chief architect of revisionism in Albania during this time, Ramiz Alia, managed, however, to uphold an anti-religious stand while addressing the 8th Plenum of the PLA CC in September 1989. He stated that: "No concession must be made to the bourgeois ideology in any field . . . No concessions must be made to the religious ideology. We take this stand not only as convinced atheists , but also to defend our unity as a people."
Ramiz Alia, Always in the Vanguard of Society, Bearer of Progress, Speech at the 8th Plenum of the CC of the PLA, September 25, 1989, Tirana, 1989, p. 34.
These pronouncements could hardly prevent the official lifting of the ban on religion a few months later, resulting in the gradual revival of religion practices in Albania, together with the restoration and re-building of churches and mosques. On 8 May 1990, in fact, the People's Assembly of the PSR of Albania approved new provisions to the Penal Code to the effect that religious, anti-socialist and other agitation and propaganda, as well as preparation, distribution and preservation for distribution of such literature, were no longer regarded as crimes (The Perfectioning of Legislation Deepens the Democratization of Life in the PSR of Albania, Tirana, 1990, p 19, note n. 1).
At the same time, the decree envisaging the change of unsuitable names and surnames was abrogated, too. Only a few months later, in November 1990, it was Alia himself who announced that religious freedom would now be fully respected and that the 1976 Constitutional prohibition of religion would be finally removed.
The PLA convened its 10th Congress in June 1991 in order to fully transform itself into a social-democratic party (re-named Socialist Party), thus rejecting all its former Marxist-Leninist policies and principles. Following full capitalist restoration in the country, it was now up to the Albanian revisionists themselves to attack the former struggle against religion as a gross violation of human rights, as a sectarian and subjectivist action carried out under the influence of the Chinese "cultural revolution." On this issue, the report to the Congress stated the following: "It is a reality that the rights of the individual, especially those of the spiritual life, have been gravely violated. . . .
The legal abolition of religious beliefs led the official stand of the Party in conflict with the desire to believe on the part of broad masses of people. . . .
It must be stressed that such mistakes and deformations occurred especially during the period of the late sixties, which was also called as the period of revolutionisation. Besides foreign influences, particularly from the Chinese cultural revolution, during this period there also appeared some subjectivist inclinations in order to find new, original solutions to many problems in society. . . .
It seems that the anti-revisionism we chose as strategy often led to left-wing positions."
10th Congress - Congress of Allround Ideological, Political and Organisational Renewal of the Party: Report Submitted by Comrade Xhelil Gjoni, Member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of the CC of the Party, in Zëri i Popullit, 11-6-1991.
Once religion had been re-allowed into the country, various religious institutions soon re-opened in Albania, wealthy expatriates began to finance the building of new mosques in their native villages, and foreign governments and organisations donated financial assistance for religious building and restoration. Throughout Albania, by September 1992, as many as 100 mosques and thirty Catholic and Orthodox churches had been re-opened for religious use. More than half a million of imported copies of the Koran, far exceeding local demands, were also paid for by the Saudis, while hundreds of thousands of Bibles were feverishly printed in the Albanian language. Islamic organisations helped to fund the expenses of those Albanians wishing to travel to Mecca as an increasing number of delegations from around the Muslim world began visiting Albania. Such a growing Islamic influence did not prevent Pope John Paul II's visit to Albania in the spring of 1993, the first-ever visit by a Pope to this country. He addressed thousands of people in Tirana's main square before conducting a mass in Shkodra's newly-restored cathedral and ordaining four new Albanian bishops.
CONCLUSION
In the context of the anti-religious struggle carried out in socialist Albania, the closure of its religious institutions in 1966-67 had been: 1) in violation of Marxist-Leninist principles;
2) in violation of the Constitution of the PR of Albania;
3) not in compliance with Albania's international obligations as a UN member;
4) an action embodying certain features of the "cultural revolution" which was simultaneously proceeding in China;
5) an action which must have alienated to some extent religious believers within Albania who might otherwise have been full supporters of the socialist regime;
6) an action which assisted international anti-socialist propaganda;
7) an action which alienated to some extent religious believers who might otherwise have been favourably disposed towards socialist Albania;
8) an action which held back to some extent the international Marxist-Leninist movement, of which socialist Albania had been the sole citadel during the sixties, seventies, and eighties, by presenting the image of a state which arbitrarily permits the violation of its constitutional rights, and by alienating to some extent religious believers who might otherwise have been firm supporters of the movement;
9) not initiated by the leading group in the party and state around the PLA First Secretary, Hoxha;
10) initiated by an organised and influential group of hidden revisionists who - by taking advantage of the "cult of personality" built up around Hoxha - sought to utilise this sectarian action to discredit the country's Marxist-Leninist leadership around Hoxha as part of a broader aim of reversing the construction of socialism in Albania.
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