Albania after Enver Hoxha death : the destruction of communist system

Enver Hoxha, who for more than 40 years ruled in communist Albania, died in April 1985. The policy of continuation, as announced by Hoxha’s successor Ramiz Alia at the Ninth Congress of the Albanian Party of Labor (November 1986) soon turned out to be a fi ction, and a growing social and economical crisis forced the Albanian authorities to be more open to the cooperation with countries of the Balkan region and some countries of Western Europe. After the changes taking place in 1989 in Eastern Europe, the concern for the preservation of Enver Hoxha’s legacy was becoming an anachronism dangerous for the future of Albania. Demonstrations of young people and intellectuals at the University of Tirana in 1990, but also signs of anarchy in the state, forced the communist authorities to start democratic changes and to introduce political pluralism. This was crowned by the next elections – in March 1991, which did not produce a lasting settlement, and the elections in March 1992, which ended in the success of the democratic opposition. The contemporary Albanian discourse on communism marginalizes the events that took place after Hoxha’s death, focusing on proving the thesis of the Albanians’ consistent and long-term resistance to communism, and on discrediting Enver Hoxha and his associates, as responsible for the “communist catastrophe.