Hoxha's heirs try controlled opening TOWARDS the end of 1990 the winds of change blowing through Eastern Europe finally reached Stalinism's last secure bastion — Albania. Cecilla Garmendia and Janette Habel talked to Edith Lhomel, who has written many articles on Albania, notably for Le Monde diplomatique, about the limits and prospects for the current changes.
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50
Miles
YUGOSLAVIA
IShkoder
Tirana iatic Sea
Durres
Elbasan
ALBANIA
Adri
IB OHLSSON-NEWSWHEK
Saranda
GREECE
Recent disturbances authorizing a private market.
The massive emigration of Albanians in July 1990
(a figure of 4.787 refugees sented as one of the countries which had best preserved its environment. Finally, there is talk of a Christian Democratic Party, founded around one of the martyrs of the Catholic community. There is also a Republican Party.
Our general ignorance of this country explains in part the difficulty in analyzing the different political currents on the ground and the layers which support them. As in the case of other countries in the region, the political parties are still barely structured and created for the most part "ex nihilo".
Albanian society is historically divided into two clans, the Ghegs and the Tosks (based, respectively, in the communities in the north and the south).
The Catholics are mainly Ghegs and have in this respect suffered from the unjustified supremacy of the Tosks in the Albanian language. Certain formations could perhaps be created out of this dichotomy — the birth of a Christian Democratic Party, based essentially on the Catholic community. is significant.
W HAT lies behind the discontent of the Albanian people, indicated by the massive wave of people trying to leave the country in July 1990 (see IV 189), and, in December, by the rioting which took place in the principal towns and industrial centres, Skoder, Elbasan, and then Tirana? Have the economic reforms introduced by Ramiz Alia been responsible for a decline in the standard of living of the population?
The essential reason for the economic deterioration resides in the total erosion of the apparatus of production. The quality of chrome, for example!, can no longer be improved because of the absence of certain products; the production of petrol has slackened off because of lack of equipment; all this is the result of the technological strains which undermine Albania. Then there is the problem of unemployment, provoked by the enormous influx of youth onto the labour market? ', something which Ramiz Alia himself referred to in his speech as a cause for alarm.
In my opinion, it is premature to speak of a recent degradation because of the economic reforms; on the contrary, the greater autonomy accorded to private landholdings, and the possibility of selling products freely on the small markets, have rather immediate beneficial effects on supplies.
Free markets of this kind have been de facto allowed, without being explicitly restored, since the last plenum of the Party of Labour of Albania (PLA —the ruling Communist Party), in the context of the reforms; if a peasant produces enough to feed himself and he has a surplus, he can sell it - this amounts to implicitly a figure of 4,787 refugees is estimated) has allowed the Catholic community, is significant.
Given this, the new political parties do us to discover, through the accounts of witnesses, if not the poverty, in any case the very low level of the standard of living of the population. • What about the opposition, particularly the Forum of Students and Intellectuals? Is it structured?
In Albania, we have not seen the resurgence of old parties; there were in any case very few — the only one which might have reappeared is that of the monarchists (King Lehka, who is in exile in South Africa, has said that he is satisfied with the changes, but he retains reservations — he has also announced that he will demand a referendum on the question of the reestablishment of the monarchy).
There exists today a spontaneous student movement, which, apparently, is beyond the control of any party. The Forum of Intellectuals and Students fights principally for human rights. The youth can remain at the head of the movement of opposition, on condition that they do not allow their movement to be immediately brought under the control of the political parties.
Then there is the Democratic Party, which could present itself as a sort of social democratic force; it has been capable of attracting the support of some thousands of people, and it believes itself capable of obtaining about 50 of the 250 deputies to be elected in the legislative elections on May 31, 1991.
Very many people who had belonged to the Party of Labour are today involved in the Democratic Party, it consists of intellectuals or even former party notables like the doctor Sali Berisha or the economist Gramos Pasho.
An ecological Party is also spoken of, not employ a very virulent language against the PLA and there is obviously an attempt to regain control of the democratization on the part of the party in power, which undoubtedly exerts a partial control over these new political organizations, if only because of the domination of the whole of society which the PLA has exercised over more than 40 years. Indeed, in order to obtain a postponement of the election from the regime, the opposition has been prepared to support the suspension of strikes and a wage freeze.
The people could, then, have the sentiment of being completely cheated by this birth of multipartyism.
The case of Rumania is, in this regard, enlightening; the society identifies very little with some of the political parties represented in Parliament (apart from the Hungarian minority with the Magyar Democratic Union); hence the street movements and the student and workers' opposition, relayed through the increasingly important trade union organizations. The institutional game of the parties is not representative of Rumanian society, for these formations do not represent social interests, contrary to what has happened in Poland.
In Albania, we do not know to what extent some of the new parties (which are still not locally structured) will identify themselves with the desire to go to the west that has overcome that to stay in the country.
Although it has been possible to obtain a passport since May 1990, the people have quickly realized the extent of the bureaucratic obstacles, and that they 1. Albania is the world's second largest chrome export2nd a in Barone The el bith race 201 per thou. 19 er, after South Africa. sand — in Europe. The average age is 26.
ALBANIA could not travel without unobtainable currency, meaning that few can exercise this right — this is one of the reasons that provoked the riot and the rush to the embassies of July 1990. • What is the role of the Catholic church in the opposition?
The Catholics represent only around 20% of the population, the Muslims are 70% and 10% of Albanians are of other confessions - among them the Jewish minority, recently authorized to emigrate to Israel. The Catholic church should not then have a determining weight in the elections.
However it has maintained some bastions (among them Skoder); this was an underground church, which has its martyrs. • Which social sector has mobilized to the greatest extent?
Above all the towns, the principal industrial areas — nothing has been heard about the peasantry demonstrating. Also the most violent demonstrations have taken place in the towns. But there has been no news of organizations in the factories — in my opinion, the workers are going to identify themselves with the new parties, everything remains to be done in the trade union movement and in terms of the demands of the working class. • The departure into exile of the writer Ismael Kadare was very surprising....
It remains puzzling. Kadare's explanation, according to which he had lost hope of change inside the country does not scem to me very pertinent to the time when he went into exile - the reforms were already underway, and someone like him, a favourite of the PLA apparatus, knew that they were to a great extent irreversible, and rather important. Otherwise, he would have left in July 1990, when the army fired on the demonstrators. It would not be surprising if he returns to the country in a few months.
Moreover, in some demonstrations, there have been calls for him to lead the country. Close as he is to the regime, as a former member of the nomenklatura, he is not so badly regarded - through his literary work, he is seen as somebody literary work hi can d domad with an intimate understanding of the Albanian soul, the Albanian people, and so on. • And the PLA?
The PLA has decided not to abandon the ideology and the dogma of "Marxism-Leninism", it adheres to them still and it has declared that it will not deny its past history (unlike other parties of Eastern Europe, which have been quick to slough it off) - it is not going to change its 20 hame either. That corresponds to the name either. That corresponds to the legitimacy that the PLA considers itself to have on the plane of defence and of national independence.
On this subject, it is interesting to read the PLA's electoral platform - it presents itself above all as the party which has defended the sovereignty and national independence of Albania, and not as the party which has led the country towards socialism, despite — it recognizes — grave errors. It is convinced that this heritage will meet an echo among the population. • And what economic propositions does it make?
The discussions today on the economic future of Albania are not debates about the "third road" ', or the "social market economy", "gradualism" ' or "shock treatment" , and so on. The economic programme of the PLA contents itself with making a distinction between a state sector, which will remain omnipresent, and a sector of what is called free initiative — for the moment no text has been adopted permitting the formation of private enterprises.
New legislation concerning companies set up in partnership with foreign capital was adopted in November 1990. It gives foreign companies beneficial conditions concerning repatriation of profits, exemption from taxes during the first five years, and so on - stipulate that these firms must sign contracts with the state enterprises. For the moment there is neither a private sector, nor private companies, and it is still not envisaged.
Moreover, the law no longer lays down conditions as regards wages, dismissal and working conditions in these companies which are to be set up. A state bank for international commercial relations has been established.
This legislation still poses problems for the eventual investors of the Albanian diaspora who have a mind to return to do business in the country. Some Albanian immigrants in the United States were ready to invest in tourism, for example, but they want to be proprietors of the hotels! In the absence of this possibility, they will not invest, at least for the moment.
There are, moreover, some measures undertaken by a US company for oil exploration, which marks a beginning of the normalization of USAlbanian relations. Commercial links with Germany, which had begun in 1987, continue. Diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and China are normalized, as with other countries (with the exception, until now, of South Africa and Israel -even if the departure of the Jews from Albania has been authorized).
The electoral platform of the PLA, finally, challenges the dogma of heavy industrializa-
International Viewpoint #199 • February 4, 1991 tion, and envisages a greater place for light production (textiles, tourism, food and agriculture products). The government hopes to obtain very quickly some currency through tourism (some agreements with Italian and German companies are under consideration), emphasizing the Adriatic coast, which would allow the development of a service sector and furnish some rapid openings to agriculture - that will lead to the emergence of a small private sector, considered as the embryo of a market economy. • What is the state of development of this mixed sector?
The United States and Germany are interested in mounting joint ventures in the area of oil exploration - there have also been some initiatives in the area of tourism (hotels), mainly with Italian and Austrian companies. But no contract has yet been definitively signed.
With regard to a mixed sector of the economy, Albania is not starting totally from nothing. It is now known that there were some western enterprises which worked in subcontracting, above all in textiles, wood and furniture, and food production — all this was carefully hidden. Nothing is known of the conditions of work in this sector, of the workers and of the conditions under which they might be dismissed. • In November 1990, before the big demonstrations, Ramiz Alia had announced a series of political reforms, putting an end, de facto, to the leading role of the party. How did this go down in the PLA?
Since July 1990, Ramiz Alia has argued at the political bureau of the PLA that the only alternative was to surf on the wave of opposition and to go more quickly -apparently he was able to obtain a consensus on this theme. He had understood that it was impossible to keep things as they were. The amendment of the constitution, challenging the leading role of the party, is now being discussed. It is envisaged that Albania will become a state of laws, reintroduce religious liberty, authorized, de facto, the right to strike, and so on.
Alia has then gone along with, and anticipated, the change. He had an argu-
ALBANIA ment in his favour, to the extent that Albania had decided to rejoin Europe and that it was necessary for him to give credibility to his policy of joining the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE — where it is already an observer). The reforms were then also, at
LUFTOJME PER TE FITUAR which has not known multipartyism for 45 years, as the
National Salvation Front had done, four months after the fall of Ceaucescu.
Beyond this, in Yugoslavia and in Albania, there is a specific feature; the origin of these regimes, which were not
4341257 imposed by the Soviet Union, this level, the only solution — it was the price demanded by Europe.
The exit from political life of Enver Hoxha's wife, Nexhmije Hoxha, who was still director of the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies and of the Democratic Front, might indicate that she could not follow this type of movement, but she has all the same taken care to say that she supports Alia's reforms.
The "Hoxhaite" legacy is not yet overcome - all PLA meetings are still held under a picture of Enver Hoxha, whereas the hatred of the demonstrators for the latter is evident - Hoxha is very much more despised than Alia. The government has also decided on the liberation of 393 political prisoners — as the Democratic Party had demanded - and admitted the existence of other detainees (certain estimates speak of more than 30,000 people, which represents nearly 1% of the population). They are prisoners of conscience, the product of purges in the party (for example, the partisans and the family both close and distant of Mehmet Shehu, ousted and officially said to have "committed suicide" in 1981).
Moreover, an independent daily is legally published, Recindja Demokratia. There are then concrete measures of liberalization, even if it is necessary to put things in proportion. Albanian society remains straitjacketed and the party retains all power and all the financial means — the autonomy of the opposition is very relative. • Has the question of the Albanians in Yugoslavia's Kosovo region -which has a hard-pressed Albanian majority — appeared as a demand of the opposition movement? There is a kind of self limitation on the part of the leaders of the opposition on Kosovo - it is a matter for some astonishment that a party for the independence of Kosovo, or for the adherence of this region to Albania, has not emerged as was the case in Rumania, for example, with Moldavia).
The electoral platform of the PLA mentions Kosovo, saying that, as before, the party will continue to demand respect for the national and democratic rights of the Albanian minority - but it is not playing the nationalist card.
1121 This is explained by the fear of disturbing the Balkan region, which could still explode, and which is strategically important for Albania's projects (Alia perpetuates thus the tacit consensus which existed between Tito and Hoxha which, beyond their disagreements, gave priority to stability in the Balkans). The PLA is perhaps also trying to play down the latent conflict with the Greek minority, 80,000 to 100,000 strong on some estimates, which has appeared in broad daylight with the large scale departure of the Albanians of Greek origin, in July 1990. The Balkan conference, which was held in Tirana, has shown that Albania wishes to be one of the most active agents of cooperation in the region. • There appear to be certain common characteristics in the transitions underway in the Balkan countries, where neo-Stalinist regimes survive, contrary to the rest of the former Eastern bloc. The essential reason for this persistence, whether in Rumania, Yugoslavia (essentially in Serbia) or Albania resides in the absence of oppositions of long standing, as is the case in Poland or Hungary, and the absence of democratic traditions. The cultural heritage of the Balkans is also different from that of Central Europe, the political traditions were different - the Ottoman centuries have left their mark on the region. All this leaves the field free to the Communists to refound their legitimacy on the basis of an ideological, political and even economic virginity (on this last terrain, they had no choice).
These parties have also shown a considerable ability to turn to their own ends all the so-called instruments of democracy. The PLA, for example, can dare to organize elections soon for a country like those of Rumania or Bulgaria, where the CPs had no historic legitimacy. The ideological output of these parties, which based itself on the defence of national independence, has engendered some currents in society which have become very contemptuous of western Europe (this is the case in Rumania) - in Albania, we could see the same kind of reactions. The people of the Balkans have endured these regimes which have imposed themselves by repression, for the most part, and have identified with them only through nationalist slogans. • To return to Albania, what kind of regime is the PLA likely to concede in the end?
There is first the question of the forthcoming elections and of the role of the new assembly. The deputies will sit in the Parliament which already exists, and nobody knows if the elected assembly will elaborate a new constitution (as was done in most of the other countries of Eastern Europe) or if it will function according to the amendments adopted by Alia in November 1990. The elections do not constitute a guarantee in themselves.
Then it will be necessary to see, in the context of a planned economy in transition to a market economy, if there is a transfer of political power to the economic plane. It will be possible then to see whether the nomenklatura preserves its privileges and blocks the economic liberalization, or, on the contrary, goes ahead and occupies the economic posts (as in Hungary or in Poland).
In Rumania, for example, there is today a total asphyxia of the circuits of official distribution, a kind of sabotage - the enterprises no longer make their deliveries to the state.
At the same time, we are witnessing a kind of stranglehold by the local powers on all the circuits of parallel distribution (which they controlled already in the past). This leads to enormous economic disorganization and total confusion.
In Albania, it is difficult to predict how this process will unfold, although continued mass emigration to Greece shows the profound discontent of the population. * 3. Ismael Kadaré is Albania's best known writer, for
21 many years a pillar of the regime. He sought political asylum in France in October 1990.
TITULLINS