POLITIČKO-BEZBEDNOSNA SITUACIJA U ALBANIJI 1945 -1947 GODINE
POLITICAL SECURITY SITUATION IN ALBANIA IN 1945 -1947

Summary/Abstract: On the basis of reports of the well-informed Yugoslav diplomats and the Albanian press, the author divided the matter into following narrower wholes: 1. Adversaries of the stabilization of the regime of people's democracy; 2. Legal opposition outside the Democratic Front;3. Diminishing of the inner-political tension in Albania in the course of 1946, with the exception of the coup attempted at Scutari in September; 4. Situation in political security under the conditions of the construction in 1947; 5. Great court trials to the members of opposition from the ranks of deputies and technicians-intellectuals for their subversive activity and sabotage. Although it appeared early, the movement against the occupier in Albania was much weaker than in the neighbouring Yugoslavia (which served as the first war ally and model), and the northern part of Albania was not at all comprised by the movement. A great problem were: primitive social structure of the population, with unrealized tribal relics in cattle breeding communities, with unsnapped authority of feudal lords who still represented the total people's will in narrower milieus, strong influence of religious chiefs in a country whose population was divided into several beliefs and particularly pro-western orientation of almost all intellectuals, educated in the west or in the institutes of foreign countries, in secondary schools in Albania itself. The activity of intelligence services, in the first place British and, after that, American, was much stronger in Albania than in other Balkan countries and the further work of these services had precisely to be performed from Albania. The Government of the National Committee practiced, from the end of 1944 to the middle of 1946, an opportunist policy of class peace in order to create the illusion of national unity of the population and not to provoke numerous foreign missions. As soon as the first measures of agrarian reform and of sequestration of property of occupier’s collaborators, the open resistance manifested itself on all sides. The backward peasantry saw in a government with communist ideology the enemy of the „din" (religion) and took a negative attitude toward sit. Even a part of the Orthodox clergy, who were nearest the authority,were not satisfied with the pro-Greek orientation of some heads of the church From the war time there remained in remote regions rather many armed companies of „Balli kombetars” , with centres in Italy and in Greece. „Legality” (A. Zogu’s partisans, center in Egypt, further „Vorio -Epirote" separatists (center in Greece) and, finally, groups of the „Second League of Prizren” (West) and the so-called Scutary group of „independent nationalists”. The democratic front was the only political organization, in addition to the Communist Party of Albania. Although it was not organized as a coalition, already in summer 1945 there manifested themselves the signs of differentiation in the front and of the creation of groups round particular personalities. The resistance was still stronger outside the Front, the leaders of which were connected with military and diplomatic representatives of the British and the Americans, and a little later also of the French and the Italians. The course of political stratification was intensified by the elections for the Parliament in December 1945 which brought to the Parliament a considerable number of deputies of the opposition inside the Front. In the period of a certain political relaxation (up to the middle of 1946) there were also some ministers (Sejfulla Malleshova) who were contrary to the rapid strengthening of Enver Hoxha's personal power and helped the dissentients. There was also some importation of political organizers of the opposition (Freemason Mirash Ivanaj, from Turkey). There existed also the illegal nationalist youth organization „Skender-bey”, which openly came out against the Yugoslav influence, putting the question of Kosovo. The Government itself was also nervous as regards the question of Kosovo, and Enver Hoxha took this question as the subject of talks on the occasion of his pronounced visit to Belgrade. As soon as the first steps of class policy were taken, there occurred an attempt at overthrowing the Government at Scutari (in September 1946 Jub Kazazi with the Catholic mountaineers) and some hat later there broke out a mutiny in the seaside garrisons under the leadership of some colonels. In December 1946 was unveiled the ramified organization „Balli Kоmbёtаr” in the whole country and its links with the emigration in Italy and with the operative committee in Greece. The whole time during the above mentioned years the border incidents followed one another, either that the Greek authorities helped the Vorio-Epirotes (desertions from the Army and the transition to Greece) or the Albanian authorities helped Greek partisans. The accounts were being settled also in the supreme forum of the Bektashi organization (whies helped the regime to a considerable extent) by the murder of two most important protagonists of the regime among the Bektashis (March 1947). For the Government it was an inconvenient circumstance that it could not make a greater use of the means of propaganda, for the papers did not penetrate deeper into the masses of people who were for the most part illiterate, whereas the wireless sets were a great rarity and a great gift or foreign intelligence officers. Foreign agencies were very powerful and active, supported by military and diplomatic missions of Great Britain and USA. They aimed at compromising the endeavors of the People’s Front Government to achieve recovery of the country’s economy and further development. The sabotages in draining of the shallow lake Malik and on the installations of oil fields and in the refinery at Kucova have been proved. In them have taken part the Italian surveyors and oil field-workers, as well as the Albanian technical intelligentsia. From the autumn 1946, in the course of the first half of 1947 were organized several great court trials in which were condemned domestic and foreign saboteurs and, because of the rebellion, also many Roman Catholic dignitaries and a group of officers and soldiers-rebels. There began to operate the regime of oppression and executions by shooting. Since the end of 1946 there was abandoned the attempt at direct leaning on the USSR and instead of it there was put into practice, until the end of 1947, the Yugoslav course. When the economic aid given by Yugoslavia was not as great as it was expected, there appeared again the orientation to the USSR and this was already the beginning of that process which reached its full affirmation in the second half of 1948. The estrangement from Yugoslavia did not weaken sufficiently the activity of chauvinist bey and intellectual circles, so that the practice of repression had to be strengthened, for the USSR was far to be able to offer an urgent armed help.

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