Der „Neue Mensch“ in der Politik und Propaganda der Partei der Arbeit Albaniens in den 1960er Jahren
The „New Man“ in the Politics and Propaganda of the Party of Labour of Albania in the 1960s

Summary/Abstract: The aspiration to create a “New Man” is an essential characteristic of totalitarian systems. As in the former Soviet Union and other socialist countries of Eastern Europe, the Albanian Communists aimed at a radical transformation of society and every individual within it. The creation/education of a “New Man” with “socialist” consciousness was an important step towards this end. This paper researches the communist regime’s education policy and the Albanian conceptualization of the “New Man” in the 1960s. It shows that educating the “New Man” was a priority within the politics of the Party of Labour of Albania (PLA). This process functioned primarily as an instrument for the homogenization and standardization of society that helped the PLA to take absolute control. The Albanian New Man incorporated the most important standard features of a “New socialist Man”. Certain attributes that were described as “typical and traditional Albanian values”, were also incorporated. His heroism was similar to that of Stalinism’s “socialist hero” and his radicalism in the fight against “old remains” was similar to that of the “New Man” in the People’s Republic of China. However, in distinction from the “New Man” in China, the Albanian “New Man” always followed the orders of the PLA. He was a “creation” of the PLA and he represented a specifically Albanian variant of the “New socialist Man”.

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