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117-523: It was only in the 1940s, however, that the Macedonian language was able to be implemented, after being formally declared the official language of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia . The rapid pace at which the standardization process took place was in part owing to an already existing interdialect (see spoken Macedonian ). The Yugoslav government initially set up a literary Macedonian language based on

234-841: A beachhead in Europe and acted as China's chief spokesman at the United Nations. To Albania's dismay, however, Chinese equipment and technicians were not nearly as sophisticated as the Soviet goods and advisers they replaced. Ironically, a language barrier even forced the Chinese and Albanian technicians to communicate in Russian. Albanians no longer took part in Warsaw Pact activities or Comecon agreements. The other East European communist nations, however, did not break diplomatic or trade links with Albania. In 1964,

351-578: A constituent state of Yugoslavia , a leading founder of the Non-Aligned Movement , SR Macedonia pursued a neutral foreign policy and maintained a more liberal communist system compared to other communist states. The ruling ideology was based on Titoism and Workers' self-management (Macedonian: самоуправување, samoupravuvanje). While the Macedonians were the majority and were one of the constituent nations of SFR Yugoslavia (official term: narod )

468-534: A referendum on 8 September 1991 on which a sovereign and independent state of Macedonia, with a right to enter into any alliance with sovereign states of Yugoslavia was approved. Geographically, SR Macedonia bordered Albania to the west, Greece to the south and Bulgaria to the east. Within Yugoslavia, it bordered SR Serbia (including SAP Kosovo ) to the north. It was one of two constituent republics of Yugoslavia that were landlocked. The first Macedonian state

585-514: A "people's republic." However, the country had already been under out-and-out Communist rule for just over two years. After months of angry debate, the assembly adopted a constitution that mirrored the Yugoslav and Soviet constitutions. A couple of months later, the assembly members chose a new government, which was emblematic of Hoxha's continuing consolidation of power: Hoxha became simultaneously prime minister, foreign minister , defense minister , and

702-466: A Soviet apology to Albania and reparations for damages which it had inflicted on the country. Albania had also been feuding with Moscow over suggestions that Albania should focus on agriculture to the detriment of industrial development. Soviet-Albanian relations dipped to new lows after the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, and Albania felt that the Soviet Union had become too liberal since

819-634: A Soviet double agent working as a liaison officer between the British intelligence service and the United States Central Intelligence Agency, had leaked details of the infiltration plan to Moscow, and the security breach claimed the lives of about 300 infiltrators. Following a wave of subversive activity, including the failed infiltration and the March 1951 bombing of the Soviet embassy in Tirana,

936-434: A Yugoslav cession of Kosovo to Albania after the war. In January 1945, the two governments signed a treaty establishing Kosovo as a Yugoslav autonomous province. Shortly thereafter, Yugoslavia became the first country to recognize Albania's provisional government. In July 1946, Yugoslavia and Albania signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation that was quickly followed by a series of technical and economic agreements laying

1053-616: A boon for Albania because Moscow had far more to offer Albania than hard-strapped Belgrade had. The fact that the Soviet Union had no common border with Albania also appealed to the Albanian regime because it made it more difficult for Moscow to exert pressure on Tirana. In November at the First Party Congress of the Albanian Party of Labor (APL), the former Albanian Communist Party which renamed itself at Stalin's suggestion, Hoxha pinned

1170-583: A founding member of the Warsaw Treaty Organization, better known as the Warsaw Pact , the only military alliance the nation ever joined. Although the pact represented the first promise Albania had obtained from any of the communist countries to defend its borders, the treaty did nothing to assuage the Albanian leaders' deep mistrust of Yugoslavia . Hoxha and Shehu, utilizing their immediate successes and Albanians' deep-seated fear of Yugoslav domination, were able to successfully maintain power during

1287-540: A fresh series of purges that removed the defense minister and many top military officials. A year later, Hoxha purged ministers who were responsible for the country's economy and replaced them with younger people. As Hoxha began to experience more health problems, he progressively withdrew from state affairs and took longer and more frequent leaves of absence. Meanwhile, he began to plan an orderly succession. He worked to institutionalize his policies, hoping to frustrate any attempt which his successors might make to venture from

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1404-614: A hemp factory at Rrogozhinë , a fish cannery in Vlorë , and a printing press, telephone exchange, and textile mill in Tirana. The Yugoslavs also bolstered the Albanian economy by paying three times the international price for Albanian copper and other materials. Relations between Albania and Yugoslavia declined, however, when the Albanians began complaining that the Yugoslavs were paying too little for Albanian raw materials and exploiting Albania through

1521-518: A large Palace of Culture in Tirana as a symbol of the Soviet people's "love and friendship" for the Albanians. But despite these gestures, Tirana was dissatisfied with Moscow's economic policy towards Albania. Hoxha and Shehu apparently decided in either May or June 1960 that Albania was assured of Chinese support, and when sharp polemics erupted between the PRC and the Soviet Union , they openly sided with

1638-680: A new People's Assembly , but voters were presented with a single list from the Communist-dominated Democratic Front (previously the National Liberation Movement). Official ballot tallies showed that 92% of the electorate voted and that 93% of the voters chose the Democratic Front ticket. The assembly convened in January 1946. Its first act was to formally dethrone Zog, abolish the monarchy and to declare Albania

1755-504: A pledge to build textile and sugar mills and other factories and provide agricultural and industrial machinery to Albania, Joseph Stalin told Milovan Djilas , at the time a high-ranking member of Yugoslavia's communist hierarchy, that Yugoslavia should "swallow" Albania. The pro-Yugoslav faction wielded decisive political power in Albania well into 1948. At a party plenum in February and March,

1872-529: A plot within the APL to unseat Hoxha and Shehu by force. But given their tight control of the party machinery, army, and Shehu's secret police, the Directorate of State Security (Drejtorija e Sigurimit të Shtetit— Sigurimi ), the two Albanian leaders easily parried the threat. Four pro-Soviet Albanian leaders, including Teme Sejko and Tahir Demi , were eventually tried and executed. The PRC immediately began making up for

1989-714: A pro-German Macedonian puppet-state . In early October, under the leadership of the new Bulgarian pro-Soviet government, the Bulgarian Army re-entered Yugoslavia to block the German forces in their withdrawal from Greece. In Macedonia the Bulgarians fought side-by-side with the fighters of the People's Liberation Army of Macedonia . Vardar Banovina was de facto liberated from the Germans and their collaborationists in late November 1944, so

2106-481: A pronounced role in the Sino-Soviet split . By 1958, Albania stood with the People's Republic of China (PRC) in opposing Moscow on issues of peaceful coexistence , de-Stalinization , and Yugoslavia 's " separate road to socialism " through decentralization of economic life . The Soviet Union, other Eastern European countries, and China all offered Albania large amounts of aid. Soviet leaders also promised to build

2223-461: A radical change in the status of Albania's women . Considered second-class citizens in traditional Albanian society, women did most of the work at home and they also did most of the work in the fields. Before World War II, about 90% of Albania's women were illiterate, and in many areas, they were regarded as chattel under ancient tribal laws and customs. During the Cultural and Ideological Revolution,

2340-483: A reformist direction and renamed itself League of Communists of Macedonia – Party for Democratic Change led by Petar Gošev . After the head of the last communist presidency Vladimir Mitkov resigned, Kiro Gligorov became the first democratically elected president of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia on 31 January 1991. On 16 April, parliament adopted a constitutional amendment removing " Socialist " from

2457-424: A significant part of elementary education, during which children are taught the relationship between their local dialect and the target code, the formal literary language . Most educated speakers switch to the colloquial register of the standard language, spoken Macedonian, when communicating in less formal circumstances, but tend to aim for more formal usage in circumstances where educated speakers are present or as

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2574-589: A sort of " interdialect " in the case where the company is not exclusively local. This North Macedonia -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about Slavic languages is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Socialist Republic of Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia ( Macedonian : Социјалистичка Република Македонија , romanized :  Socijalistička Republika Makedonija ), or SR Macedonia , commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia , Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia ,

2691-568: A spoken dialect of the northern of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, but it was felt that this dialect was too close to Serbian and finally the dialects spoken in Bitola and Veles were adopted. These dialects, in turn, were closer to the literary Bulgarian, but as the latter was based on the Eastern Bulgarian dialects , it allowed enough differentiation for the Yugoslavs to claim a distinct Macedonian language. Since then, Bulgaria has been contesting

2808-433: A totalitarian state, travel and visa restrictions made Albania one of the most difficult countries to visit or travel from. Being Europe's only Muslim-majority country (aside from Turkey ) at the time , it declared itself the world's first atheist state in 1967, but after the fall of communism in Albania in 1991, the practice of religion slowly increased. It was the only Warsaw Pact member to formally withdraw from

2925-520: The People's Republic of Macedonia and was incorporated as a constituent republic in the Yugoslav Federation . People with various degrees of allegedly being pro-Bulgarian orientation (in the most cases they were pro-Independence and anti-Yugoslav) were purged from their positions, then isolated, arrested and imprisoned on fabricated charges. In many cases they were executed en masse, such as during

3042-527: The Bloody Christmas of 1945 . The number of victims remains unclear, many academic sources put the number at 1,200 people although according to Bulgarian estimates, the number is estimated to be around 50,000, including those executed, imprisoned, deported, subject to forced labor, etc. Some additional purges followed after the Tito–Stalin split . The national Macedonian language was codified in 1945 and

3159-491: The Bulgarian People's Republic , and Marshal Josip Broz Tito and Bulgaria's Georgi Dimitrov talked of plans to establish a Balkan Federation to include Albania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria. Yugoslav advisers poured into Albania's government offices and its army headquarters. Tirana was desperate for outside aid, and about 20,000 tons of Yugoslav grain helped stave off famine. Albania also received US$ 26.3 million from

3276-534: The Helsinki Conference of July 1975. Soon after Mao's death in 1976, Hoxha criticized the new leadership as well as Beijing's pragmatic policy towards the United States and Western Europe. China retorted by inviting Tito to visit Beijing in 1977 and ending assistance programs for Albania in 1978. The Sino-Albanian split left Albania with no foreign benefactor. Albania ignored calls to normalize relations by

3393-503: The Nazis , the LNÇ quickly moved to consolidate its power, liberate the country's tenants and workers, and fraternally link Albania with other socialist countries. King Zog I was permanently barred from returning to Albania. The internal affairs minister, Koçi Xoxe , "an erstwhile pro- Yugoslavia tinsmith", presided over the trial of many non-communist politicians who were condemned as " enemies of

3510-757: The People's Republic of Albania from 1946 until 1976, and as the Republic of Albania from 1991 to 1992, was the communist state in Albania from 1946 to 1991. It succeeded the Democratic Government of Albania (1944–1946). During this time period, the country was ruled mainly by Enver Hoxha and the Party of Labour of Albania . They ruled Albania by establishing a Stalinist , and later Hoxhaist , style of state administration and adhering to policies which stressed national unity and self-reliance . Described by scholars as

3627-694: The Prohor Pčinjski Monastery , now in Serbia ). This date is now celebrated in North Macedonia as the Republic Day . It was chosen intentionally, as it was the date of the Ilinden Uprising against Ottoman rule in 1903. However, after the Bulgarian Army retreated from the region under Soviet pressure, on 8 September, right-wing Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization nationalists declared

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3744-519: The Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo to the northwest, and had international borders with the People's Socialist Republic of Albania to the west, Greece to the south, and the People's Republic of Bulgaria to the east. In 1990 the form of government peacefully changed from socialist state to parliamentary democracy . The first pluralist elections were held on 11 November the same year. The once ruling communist party took

3861-629: The Twentieth Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1956, when Khrushchev denounced Stalin's Administration in his " secret speech ". Hoxha, deeply alarmed by the denunciation, defended Stalin and refused to follow Khrushchev's attempt at stepping away from the prior Soviet Administration. As the first years of the Khrushchev Administration passed, Hoxha continued to maintain this position, including through

3978-579: The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration immediately after the war but had to rely on Yugoslavia for investment and development aid. Joint Albanian–Yugoslav companies were created for mining, railroad construction, the production of petroleum and electricity, and international trade. Yugoslav investments led to the construction of a sugar refinery in Korçë , a food-processing plant in Elbasan ,

4095-524: The University of Tirana ) was founded in 1957 and the Albanian Academy of Sciences opened 15 years later. Stalin died in March 1953, and apparently fearing that the Soviet leader's demise might encourage rivals within the Albanian party's ranks, neither Hoxha nor Shehu risked traveling to Moscow to attend his funeral . The Soviet Union's subsequent movement toward rapprochement with the Yugoslavs alarmed

4212-490: The communist bloc 's organization for coordinating economic planning , the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon). Tirana soon entered into trade agreements with Poland , Czechoslovakia , Hungary , Romania , and the Soviet Union . Soviet and East European technical advisers took up residence in Albania, and the Soviet Union also sent Albania military advisers and built a submarine installation on Sazan Island . After

4329-692: The disturbances in Poland and the rebellion in Hungary in 1956. Hoxha during this period purged party moderates with pro-Soviet and pro-Yugoslav leanings, however toned down his anti-Yugoslav rhetoric after a successful April 1957 trip to Moscow. This trip proved pivotal for the Albanian State, Hoxha having won cancellation of about US$ 105 million in outstanding loans and about US$ 7.8 million in additional food assistance. By 1958, however, tensions had re-sparked between Hoxha and Tito, with continued conflict over

4446-572: The ongoing civil war in Greece , would back Greek demands for territory in southern Albania ; and anxieties grew in July when a United States Senate resolution backed the Greek demands. A major incident between Albania and Britain erupted in 1946 after Tirana claimed jurisdiction over the channel between the Albanian mainland and the Greek island of Corfu . Britain challenged Albania by sailing four destroyers into

4563-628: The " Law for the Protection of Macedonian National Honor ". In SR Macedonia the Bulgarophobia increased to the level of State ideology . Although the ruling communists discouraged religion , religious freedom was allowed to a certain extent. The authorities allowed the existence of the Macedonian Orthodox Church , which proclaimed autocephaly in 1967. In 1972 the construction of the largest orthodox church St. Clement of Ohrid in

4680-456: The 7th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania on the activity of the Party's Central Committee that the 1976 Constitution was an embodiment of the free will of the Albanian people, because genuine democracy was necessary in order for socialism to actually exist. He said that, "the broad masses of the working people freely aired their views on the new Fundamental Law of our state of the dictatorship of

4797-591: The APL and army, and using economic blackmail. "Soviet rats were able to eat while the Albanian people were dying of hunger," Hoxha railed, referring to purposely delayed Soviet grain deliveries. Communist leaders loyal to Moscow described Hoxha's performance as "gangsterish" and "infantile," and the speech extinguished any chance of an agreement between Moscow and Tirana. For the next year, Albania played proxy for China. Pro-Soviet Communist parties, reluctant to confront China directly, criticized Beijing by castigating Albania. China, for its part, frequently gave prominence to

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4914-642: The ASNOM became operational in December, shortly after the German retreat. Nevertheless, in December anti-communist Albanian nationalists in Western Macedonia tried to remain in control of the region after the Yugoslav Partisans announced victory. They aimed to resist incorporation of the area into communist Yugoslavia and it was only in early 1945 that the Yugoslav Partisans were able to establish their control over

5031-644: The Albanian government introduced an austerity program, appealing to the people to conserve resources, cut production costs, and abandon unnecessary investment. In October 1964, Hoxha hailed Khrushchev's fall from power, and the Soviet Union's new leaders made overtures to Tirana. It soon became clear, however, that the new Soviet leadership had no intention of changing its basic policies to suit Albania, and relations failed to improve. For decades, Tirana's propaganda continued to refer to Soviet officials as "treacherous revisionists" and "traitors to Communism," and in 1964, Hoxha said that Albania's terms for reconciliation were

5148-470: The Albanian leaders' morale, elevated diplomatic relations between the two countries to the ambassadorial level. Despite some cautious expressions of enthusiasm, Hoxha and Shehu quickly turned against Nikita Khrushchev 's programs of " peaceful coexistence " and "different roads to socialism". Raising concerns over supposed steps towards Marxist Revisionism , the Albanian Communists relationship with

5265-512: The Albanian nation and kept it mired in backwardness. Student agitators combed the countryside, forcing Albanians to quit practicing their faiths. Despite complaints, even by APL members, all churches, mosques, monasteries, and other religious institutions were closed or converted into warehouses, gymnasiums, and workshops by year's end. A special decree abrogated the charters by which the country's main religious communities had operated. The campaign culminated in an announcement that Albania had become

5382-747: The Albanians went so far as to seize the empty Soviet embassy in Tirana, and Albanian workers pressed on with construction of the Palace of Culture on their own. The shift away from the Soviet Union wreaked havoc on Albania's economy. Half of its imports and exports had been geared toward Soviet suppliers and markets, so the souring of Tirana's relations with Moscow brought Albania's foreign trade to near collapse as China proved incapable of delivering promised machinery and equipment on time. The low productivity, flawed planning, poor workmanship, and inefficient management at Albanian enterprises became clear when Soviet and Eastern European aid and advisers were withdrawn. In 1962,

5499-614: The Albanians' fulminations against the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, which Tirana referred to as a "socialist hell." Hoxha and Shehu continued their harangue against the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia at the APL's Fourth Party Congress in February 1961. During the congress, the Albanian government announced the broad outlines of the country's Third Five-Year Plan (1961–65), which allocated 54% of all investment to industry, thereby rejecting Khrushchev's wish to make Albania primarily an agricultural producer. Moscow responded by canceling aid programs and lines of credit for Albania, but China again came to

5616-400: The Chinese. The Soviet Union immediately retaliated by organizing a campaign to oust Hoxha and Shehu in the summer of 1960. Moscow cut promised grain deliveries to Albania during a drought, and the Soviet embassy in Tirana overtly encouraged a pro-Soviet faction in the Party of Labour of Albania (APL) to speak out against the party's pro-Chinese stance. Moscow also apparently involved itself in

5733-671: The Communist Party of Yugoslavia's Central Committee accused Hoxha of following "independent" policies and turning the Albanian people against Yugoslavia. This was the closest Hoxha ever came to being removed from power. Apparently attempting to buy support inside the Albanian Communist Party, Belgrade extended Tirana credits which were worth 40 million USD, an amount which was equivalent to 58% of Albania's 1947 state budget. A year later, Yugoslavia's credits accounted for nearly half of Albania's 1948 state budget. Relations worsened in

5850-625: The Communist authorities implemented harsh internal security measures. In September 1952, the assembly enacted a penal code that required the death penalty for anyone over eleven years old who was found guilty of conspiring against the state, damaging state property, or committing economic sabotage. Political executions were common and between 5,000 and 25,000 people were killed in total during the Communist era. Albania primarily depended on Soviet assistance and know-how after its break with Yugoslavia in 1948. In February 1949, Albania gained membership in

5967-551: The Socialist Republic of Macedonia could only be changed by decision of the republic's parliament. Its inhabitants held both Yugoslav citizenship and an internal Macedonian citizenship for state business. The Socialist Republic of Macedonia had its own constitution , presidency , government , parliament , official language , state symbols , Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts , Secretariat of Internal Affairs ( Interior ministry ), Bureau for Foreign Relations ( Ministry of Foreign Affairs ) and other state prerogatives. Also,

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6084-519: The Socialist Republic of Macedonia had its own Territorial Defence armed forces ( Macedonian : Територијална одбрана, Teritorijalna odbrana). The Socialist Republic of Macedonia was a one-party communist state , the ruling political party being the League of Communists of Macedonia (in Macedonian: Сојуз на Комунистите на Македонија, Sojuz na Komunistite na Makedonija , abbreviation : СКМ, SKM ). Being

6201-1238: The Socialist Republic of Macedonia. It was known as the Republic of Macedonia until February 2019 when it underwent an official name change following the Prespa agreement with Greece in June 2018 which resolved a long-standing naming dispute. Prvi člen Ustave SR Makedonije ( Ustav na SRM , 1974) je SRM definiral kot nacionalno državo makedonskega naroda ter albanske in turške narodnosti v njej. V členih 220 in 222 je bilo zapisano, da ljudje lahko prosto uporabljajo svoj jezik in pisavo za izražanje in razvijanje svoje kulture. Poleg tega so makedonske (in slovenske) javne osebe v okvirih SFRJ (zunaj SR Makedonije oziroma SR Slovenije) zelo redko upoštevale pravico do uporabe svojega jezika v javnem sporazumevanju, in to je dajalo vtis, da je edini uradni jezik na ravni države SFRJ srbohrvaščina. 42°00′N 21°26′E  /  42.000°N 21.433°E  / 42.000; 21.433 Socialist People%27s Republic of Albania The People's Socialist Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika Popullore Socialiste e Shqipërisë ), officially as

6318-559: The Soviet-Yugoslav split, Albania and Bulgaria remained the only countries that the Soviet Union could use to supply war material to the communists fighting in Greece . What little strategic value Albania offered the Soviet Union, however, gradually shrank as nuclear-arms technology developed. Aligned with the orthodox line of Stalin , Albania's Communist Party implemented elements of Stalinist policy and economics. In 1949 Albania adopted

6435-451: The Stalinist path which he had blazed for Albania. In December 1976, Albania adopted its second Stalinist constitution of the postwar era. The document guaranteed Albanians freedom of speech , the press , organization , association , and assembly but subordinated these rights to the individual's duties to society as a whole. The constitution continued to emphasize national pride and unity,

6552-467: The Union began to decline. Tirana and Belgrade renewed diplomatic relations in December 1953, but Hoxha refused Khrushchev's repeated appeals to posthumously rehabilitate the pro-Yugoslav Xoxe as a gesture to Tito. The Albanian duo instead entrenched their political position, expanding their control over their country's domestic life and letting the propaganda war with the Yugoslavs grind on. In 1955 Albania became

6669-506: The United States and the Soviet Union. Instead, Albania expanded its diplomatic ties with Western Europe and the developing nations , and it also began to stress the principle of self-reliance as the keystone of the country's strategy for economic development. Albania, however, did not have many resources of its own, and Hoxha's cautious opening to the outside world was not enough to bolster Albania's economy, and nascent movements for change stirred up inside Albania. Without Chinese or Soviet aid,

6786-489: The Yugoslav advisers in Albania 48 hours to leave the country, rescinded all bilateral economic agreements with its neighbor, and launched a virulent anti-Yugoslav propaganda blitz that transformed Stalin into an Albanian national hero, Hoxha into a warrior against foreign aggression, and Tito into an imperialist monster. Albania entered an orbit around the Soviet Union, and in September 1948 Moscow stepped in to compensate for Albania's loss of Yugoslav aid. The shift proved to be

6903-440: The academic and technical cadres necessary for construction of a socialist state and society, also improved dramatically. The number of schools, teachers, and students doubled between 1945 and 1950. Illiteracy declined from perhaps 85% in 1946 to 31% in 1950. The Soviet Union provided scholarships for Albanian students and supplied specialists and study materials to improve instruction in Albania. The State University of Tirana (later

7020-466: The alliance before 1990, an action which was occasioned by the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. The government implemented reforms which were aimed at modernizing Albania, and they resulted in significant gains in the areas of industry, agriculture, education, the arts, and culture, which contributed to a general increase in the Albanian population's standard of living. However, these developments coincided with political repression by

7137-438: The army's commander in chief . Xoxe remained both internal affairs minister and the party's organizational secretary. In late 1945 and early 1946, Xoxe and other party hard-liners purged moderates who had pressed for close contacts with the West, a modicum of political pluralism, and a delay in the introduction of strict communist economic measures until Albania's economy had more time to develop. Hoxha remained in control despite

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7254-442: The basic elements of the Soviet fiscal system, under which state enterprises paid direct contributions to the treasury from their profits and kept only a share authorized for self-financed investments and other purposes. In 1951 the Albanian government launched its first five-year plan, which emphasized utilizing the country's oil , chromite , copper , nickel , asphalt , and coal resources; expanding electricity production and

7371-414: The best exemplars of this type of speech, though not always the case, are actors , teachers and writers. A high degree of social prestige and respect is assigned to those who can use the standard language in the appropriate situations. In extremely rare examples, some speakers will use the standardized code exclusively in everyday conversational speech. While acquisition of the formal code constitutes

7488-407: The blame for the country's woes on Yugoslavia and Xoxe. Hoxha had Xoxe sacked as Albania's internal affairs minister in October, and he was replaced with Mehmet Shehu . After a secret trial in May 1949, Xoxe was executed. The subsequent anti-Titoist purges in Albania brought the liquidation of 14 members of the party's 31 person Central Committee and 32 of the 109 People's Assembly deputies. Overall,

7605-455: The cancellation of Soviet wheat shipments despite a paucity of foreign currency and its own economic hardships. Albania again sided with the People's Republic of China when it launched an attack on the Soviet Union's leadership of the international communist movement at the November 1960 Moscow conference of the world's 81 communist parties. Hoxha inveighed against Khrushchev for encouraging Greek claims to southern Albania , sowing discord within

7722-408: The capital of Skopje began. Muslims , Catholics , Protestants and other religious communities also could maintain their own organisations and places of worship . The Socialist Republic of Macedonia was the 4th largest constituent country of SFR Yugoslavia both by area and population. Within Yugoslavia, it had an internal border with the Socialist Republic of Serbia to the north and its subunit

7839-408: The channel. Two of the ships struck mines on 22 October 1946, and 44 crew members died. Britain complained to the UN and the International Court of Justice which, in its first case ever, ruled against Tirana. After 1946 the United States and the United Kingdom began implementing an elaborate covert plan to overthrow Albania's Communist government by backing anti-Communist and royalist forces within

7956-480: The communist leadership voted to merge the Albanian and Yugoslav economies and militaries. Hoxha even denounced Spiru for attempting to ruin Albanian-Yugoslav relations. During a party Political Bureau ( Politburo ) meeting a month later, Xoxe proposed appealing to Belgrade to admit Albania as a seventh Yugoslav republic. However, when the Cominform expelled Yugoslavia on 28 June, Albania made a rapid about-face in its policy towards Yugoslavia. Three days later, Tirana gave

8073-425: The country began to experience widespread shortages of everything from machine parts to wheat and animal feed. Infrastructure and living standards began to collapse. According to the World Bank , Albania netted around US$ 750 in gross national product per capita throughout much of the 1980s. As Hoxha's health slipped, muted calls arose for the relaxation of party controls and greater openness. In response, Hoxha launched

8190-425: The country, charging that they had instigated anti-Communist uprisings in the northern mountains. Britain announced in April that it would not send a diplomatic mission to Tirana; the United States withdrew its mission in November; and both the United States and Britain opposed admitting Albania to the United Nations (UN). Albania feared that the United States and Britain, which were supporting anti-Communist forces in

8307-411: The country, including those at work on the Palace of Culture , and halted shipments of supplies and spare parts for equipment already in place in Albania. In addition, the Soviet Union continued to dismantle its naval installations on Sazan Island , a process that had begun even before the break in relations. China again compensated Albania for the loss of Soviet economic support, supplying about 90% of

8424-585: The country. By 1949 the United States and British intelligence organizations were working with King Zog and the mountainmen of his personal guard. They recruited Albanian refugees and émigrés from Egypt , Italy , and Greece; trained them in Cyprus , Malta , and the Federal Republic of Germany ( West Germany ); and infiltrated them into Albania. Guerrilla units entered Albania in 1950 and 1952, but Albanian security forces killed or captured all of them. Kim Philby ,

8541-453: The death of Joseph Stalin . The invasion served as the tipping point, and within one month (September 1968) Albania formally withdrew from the Warsaw Pact . Leonid Brezhnev made no attempt to force Albania to remain. In the mid-1960s, Albania's leaders grew wary of a threat to their power by a burgeoning bureaucracy . Party discipline had eroded. People complained about malfeasance , inflation , and low-quality goods. Writers strayed from

8658-590: The early 1950s. The number of Albanian doctors increased by a third to about 150 early in the decade (although the doctor-patient ratio remained unacceptable by most standards), and the state opened new medical-training facilities. The number of hospital beds rose from 1,765 in 1945 to about 5,500 in 1953. Better health-care and living conditions produced an improvement in Albania's dismal infant-mortality rate, lowering it from 112.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1945 to 99.5 deaths per 1,000 births in 1953. The education system, geared towards cementing communism and creating

8775-460: The early 1970s, and its press and radio ignored President Richard Nixon 's trip to Beijing in 1972 . Albania actively worked to reduce its dependence on China by diversifying trade and improving diplomatic and cultural relations, especially with Western Europe . But Albania shunned the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe , and it was the only European country that refused to take part in

8892-505: The existence of distinct Macedonian language. Thus, the standard variety of Macedonian is phonologically and morphologically based on the central Western Macedonian dialects (in particular, the Prilep-Bitola and Skopje-Veles dialect ) with its lexicon influenced by all Macedonian dialects . Educated speakers will usually use, or aim to use, the sanctioned standard in public settings and in most forms of written language . Probably

9009-454: The fact that he had once advocated restoring relations with Italy and even allowing Albanians to study in Italy. The government took major steps to introduce a Stalinist-style centrally planned economy in 1946. It nationalized all industries, transformed foreign trade into a government monopoly, brought almost all domestic trade under state control, and banned land sales and transfers. Planners at

9126-499: The fall, however, when Spiru's commission developed an economic plan that stressed self-sufficiency, light industry, and agriculture. The Yugoslavs complained bitterly. Subsequently, at a November 1947 meeting of the Albanian Economic Central Committee, Spiru came under intense criticism, which was spearheaded by Xoxe. Failure to win support from anyone within the party (he was effectively a fall guy for Hoxha) he

9243-451: The first publishing house "Prosvetno Delo" was established on 16 April 1945. The state was formed on the territory of Vardar Banovina , a part of the wider geographical region of Macedonia , which was divided between several countries. Some Macedonian politicians from the Republic advocated the idea of a United Macedonia , which would include Aegean Macedonia and Pirin Macedonia . The idea

9360-502: The former. Ramiz Alia , at the time a candidate-member of the Politburo and Hoxha's adviser on ideological questions, played a prominent role in the rhetoric. The Sino-Soviet split burst into the open in June 1960 at a Romanian Workers' Party congress, at which Khrushchev attempted to secure condemnation of Beijing . Albania's delegation, alone among the European delegations, supported

9477-418: The genuinely socialist character of Albania's socialist democracy. During the Cultural and Ideological Revolution, traditional kinship links in Albania, which were centered on the patriarchal family, were shattered by the postwar repression of clan leaders, collectivization of agriculture, industrialization, migration from the countryside to urban areas, and suppression of religion. The postwar regime brought

9594-539: The government confiscated property belonging to absentee landlords and people not dependent on agriculture for a living. The few peasants with agricultural machinery were permitted to keep up to 40 hectares (99 acres) of land. Landholdings of religious institutions and peasants without agricultural machinery were limited to 20 hectares (49 acres). Finally, landless peasants and peasants with tiny landholdings were given up to 5 hectares (12 acres), although they had to pay nominal compensation. In December 1945, Albanians elected

9711-472: The groundwork for integrating the Albanian and Yugoslav economies. The pacts provided for coordinating the economic plans of both states, standardizing their monetary systems, and creating a common pricing system and a customs union. So close was the Yugoslav-Albanian relationship that Serbo-Croatian became a required subject in Albanian high schools. Yugoslavia signed a similar friendship treaty with

9828-473: The intellectuals (Hoxha and his allies) of the Albanian Party and, through Xoxe and his loyalists, attempted to unseat them. In 1947, Yugoslavia acted against anti-Yugoslav Albanian communists, including Hoxha and Spiru. In May, Tirana announced the arrest, trial, and conviction of nine People's Assembly members, all of whom were known for opposing Yugoslavia, on charges of antistate activities. A month later,

9945-541: The issue of Albanians in Kosovo . There was further tension over a Comecon plan for integrating the East European economies, which called for Albania to produce agricultural goods and minerals instead of emphasizing the development of heavy industry. On a twelve-day visit to Albania in 1959, Khrushchev reportedly tried to convince Hoxha and Shehu that their country should aspire to become " socialism 's orchard". Albania played

10062-427: The joint stock companies. In addition, the Albanians sought investment funds to develop light industries and an oil refinery, while the Yugoslavs wanted the Albanians to concentrate on agriculture and raw-material extraction. The head of Albania's Economic Planning Commission, and Hoxha's right-hand man, Nako Spiru , became the leading critic of Yugoslavia's efforts to exert economic control over Albania. Tito distrusted

10179-506: The last years of Stalin's life, although Albania was an economic liability for the Soviet Union. Albania conducted all its foreign trade with Soviet European countries in 1949, 1950, and 1951 – and over half its trade with the Soviet Union itself. Together with its satellites, the Soviet Union underwrote shortfalls in Albania's balance-of-payments with long-term grants. Although far behind Western practice, health care and education improved dramatically for Albania's 1.2 million people in

10296-453: The military, and renounced professionalism in the army. Railing against a "white-collar mentality," the authorities also slashed the salaries of mid- and high-level officials, ousted administrators and specialists from their desk jobs, and sent such persons to toil in the factories and fields. Six ministries, including the Ministry of Justice, were eliminated. Farm collectivization even spread to

10413-556: The mountainous area. The nature of the new Yugoslav state remained unclear immediately after the war. Yugoslavia was envisioned by the Partisans as a "Democratic Federation", including six federal states. When Tito's nomination as Prime Minister was accepted on 29 November 1945, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was declared, with its constitution coming into force in 1946. As a result, Macedonia changed its name to

10530-463: The newly founded Economic Planning Commission emphasized industrial development and in 1947 the government introduced the Soviet cost-accounting system. Until Yugoslavia 's expulsion from the Cominform in 1948, Albania was effectively a Yugoslav satellite. In repudiating the 1943 Albanian internal Mukaj agreement under pressure from the Yugoslavs, Albania's communists had given up on their demands for

10647-414: The official name of the entity, and on 7 June the new name Republic of Macedonia was officially established. After the process of dissolution of Yugoslavia began, the Republic of Macedonia issued a Sovereignty Declaration on 25 January 1991 and later proclaimed itself a fully independent country, following a referendum held on 8 September 1991. The Republic of North Macedonia is the legal successor to

10764-607: The orthodoxy of socialist realism , which demanded that art and literature serve as instruments of government and party policy. As a result, after Mao Zedong unleashed the Cultural Revolution in China in 1966, Hoxha launched his own Cultural and Ideological Revolution. The Albanian leader concentrated on reforming the military, government bureaucracy, and economy as well as on creating new support for his system. The regime abolished military ranks, reintroduced political commissars into

10881-400: The other Chinese leaders reassessed their commitment to Albania. In response, Albania began to broaden its contacts with the outside world. Albania opened trade negotiations with France , Italy , and the recently independent Asian and African states, and in 1971 it normalised relations with Yugoslavia and Greece . Albania's leaders abhorred the contacts of China with the United States in

10998-445: The parts, foodstuffs, and other goods the Soviet Union had promised. China lent Albania money on more favorable terms than Moscow, and, unlike Soviet advisers, Chinese technicians earned the same low pay as Albanian workers and lived in similar housing. China also presented Albania with a powerful radio transmission station from which Tirana sang the praises of Stalin, Hoxha, and Mao Zedong for decades. For its part, Albania offered China

11115-481: The party encouraged women to take jobs outside the home in an effort to compensate for labor shortages and overcome their conservatism . Hoxha himself proclaimed that anyone who trampled on the party's edict on women's rights should be "hurled into the fire." Albanian-Chinese relations had stagnated by 1970, and when China began to reemerge from isolation and the Cultural Revolution in the early 1970s, Mao and

11232-469: The party expelled about 25% of its members. Yugoslavia responded by launching a propaganda counterattack and canceling its treaty of friendship with Albania and in 1950, it withdrew its diplomatic mission from Tirana. Albania's relations with the West soured after the Communist government's refusal to allow free elections in December 1945. Albania restricted the movement of United States and British personnel in

11349-533: The party's first secretary, Enver Hoxha , became Albania's prime minister . From the start, the LNC government was an undisguised Communist regime . In most of the rest of what became the Eastern Bloc, the Communist parties were nominally part of a coalition government for a few years before seizing full control and creating one-party states. Having sidelined the nationalist Balli Kombëtar after their collaboration with

11466-473: The people " and " war criminals ". Many were sentenced to death. Those spared were imprisoned for years in work camps and jails and later settled on state farms built on reclaimed marshlands. In December 1944, the provisional government adopted laws allowing the state to regulate foreign and domestic trade, commercial enterprises, and the few industries the country possessed. The laws sanctioned confiscation of property belonging to political exiles and "enemies of

11583-400: The people. It demonstrated in practice that in socialist Albania the people are the masters, that nothing is done against their will." The numerous testimonies of those who suffered under the religious persecution of this era, however, casts serious doubts into how "free and fruitful" the thrashing out of opinions in this grand debate were, and consequently as critics of the regime would argue,

11700-480: The people." The state also expropriated all German- and Italian-owned property, nationalized transportation enterprises, and canceled all concessions granted by previous Albanian governments to foreign companies. In August 1945, the provisional government adopted the first sweeping agricultural reforms in Albania's history. The country's 100 largest landowners, who controlled close to a third of Albania's arable land, had frustrated all agricultural reform proposals before

11817-441: The power grid; increasing agricultural output ; and improving transportation . The government began a program of rapid industrialization after the APL's Second Party Congress and a campaign of collectivization of farmland in 1955. At the time, private farms still produced about 87% of Albania's agricultural output, but by 1960 the same percentage came from collective or state farms. Soviet-Albanian relations remained warm during

11934-420: The proletariat. About 1,500,000 people, practically the entire adult population of the country, participated in the meetings which were held, and about 300,000 people contributed to the discussion... The great popular discussion, characterized by a free and fruitful thrashing out of opinions, by lively and constructive debate, was a clear expression of our socialist democracy in action and the genuine sovereignty of

12051-490: The purpose of inculcating the scientific materialist world outlook in people" and Article 55 explicitly forbade the formation of "any type of organization of a fascist, anti-democratic, religious, and anti-socialist character" and stated that "Fascist, anti-democratic, religious , war-mongering, and anti-socialist activities and propaganda, as well as the incitement of national and racial hatred are prohibited." On 1 November 1977, Enver Hoxha claimed in his Report submitted to

12168-544: The remnants of Bulgarophile sentiments, the Yugoslavian communists started a process of Macedonization and nation-building . The Socialist Republic of Macedonia, which was defined as a nation-state of the Macedonians and also a state of its ethnic minorities , had some powers normally associated with an independent state . The Constitution also recognized the right of self-determination and secession . The borders of

12285-463: The remote mountains. In addition, the government attacked dissident writers and artists, reformed its educational system, and generally reinforced Albania's isolation from European culture in an effort to keep out foreign influences. After the 5th Congress of the Party of Labor of Albania and Enver Hoxha's speech on 6 February 1967, the authorities launched a violent campaign to extinguish religious life in Albania , claiming that religion had divided

12402-525: The rescue. After additional sharp exchanges between Soviet and Chinese delegates over Albania at the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Twenty-Second Party Congress in October 1961, Khrushchev lambasted the Albanians for executing an allegedly pregnant, pro-Soviet member of the Albanian party Politburo Liri Gega , and the Soviet Union finally broke diplomatic relations with Albania in December. Moscow then withdrew all Soviet economic advisers and technicians from

12519-521: The rights of the ethnic minorities (official term: narodnosti ) were guaranteed by the Constitution. The official language of SR Macedonia was Macedonian, however Macedonian Albanians and Macedonian Turks had the right to use their own languages within the school system and the media. The constitution of the SR Macedonia defined the state as the national state of the ethnic Macedonians, but also as

12636-677: The secret police, the Sigurimi , for the purposes of preventing a counter-revolution , which included dismissal from employment, imprisonment in forced labor camps and executions. The first multi-party elections in Socialist Albania took place on 31 March 1991 – the Communists gained a majority in an interim government . The Republic of Albania was proclaimed on 29 April 1991 and the country's first parliamentary elections were held on 22 March 1992 . The People's Socialist Republic of Albania

12753-456: The state of Albanians and Turks. From the start of Yugoslav rule in Macedonia, accusations surfaced that the new authorities were involved in retribution against people who did not support the formation of the new Macedonian national identity. The number of victims due to organized killings of Bulgarians is unclear. Bulgarian sources claim that thousands of people were killed after 1944 and that more than 100,000 people were put in prison under

12870-407: The two Albanian leaders. Tirana soon came under pressure from Moscow to copy, at least formally, the new Soviet model for collective leadership . In July 1953, Hoxha handed over the foreign affairs and defense portfolios to loyal followers, but he kept both the top party post and the premiership until 1954, when Shehu became Albania's prime minister. The Soviet Union, responding with an effort to raise

12987-473: The war. The communists' reforms were aimed at squeezing large landowners out of business, winning peasant support, and increasing farm output to avert famine . The government annulled outstanding agricultural debts, granted peasants access to inexpensive water for irrigation , and nationalized forest and pastureland. Under the Agrarian Reform Law, which redistributed about half of Albania's arable land,

13104-641: The world's first atheistic state , a feat which was trumpeted as one of Enver Hoxha's greatest achievements. While the Albanian Constitution had formally guaranteed freedom of religion to the Albanian people right up until that time, religious freedom was virtually non-existent after 1967. The 1976 Constitution of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania later stipulated in Article 37 that "The state recognizes no religion whatever and supports atheist propaganda for

13221-462: Was assassinated the very next day and his death framed as a suicide. The insignificance of Albania's standing in the communist world was clearly highlighted when the emerging Eastern European nations did not invite the Party of Labour of Albania to the September 1947 founding meeting of the Cominform . Rather, Yugoslavia represented Albania at Cominform meetings. Although the Soviet Union gave Albania

13338-590: Was formally proclaimed under the name Democratic Federal Macedonia ( Macedonian : Демократска Федерална Македонија , romanized :  Demokratska Federalna Makedonija ) at the First Plenary Session of the Anti-Fascist Assembly for the People's Liberation of Macedonia (ASNOM) during World War II . It was set up clandestinely on 2 August 1944 in the Bulgarian occupation zone in Yugoslavia (in

13455-553: Was officially dissolved on 28 November 1998 upon the adoption of the new Constitution of Albania . On 29 November 1944, Albania was liberated by the National Liberation Movement (In Albanian: Lëvizja Nacional-Çlirimtare LNÇ). The Anti-Fascist National Liberation Council, formed in May, became the country's provisional government. The government, like the LNÇ, was dominated by the two-year-old Communist Party of Albania, and

13572-426: Was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , and a nation state of the Macedonians . After the transition of the political system to parliamentary democracy in 1990, the Republic changed its official name to Republic of Macedonia in 1991, and with the beginning of the breakup of Yugoslavia , it declared itself an independent country and held

13689-402: Was somewhat supported by the federal Yugoslav authorities on some occasions, or repressed, depending on the regional and international political situation. Some people were against the federation and demanded greater independence from the federal authorities, leading to their persecution. One of the notable victims of these purges was the first president , Metodija Andonov-Čento . To wipe out

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