Area Handbook for Albania Part 21

Foreign Trade

Because of the dearth of domestic resources in relation to the needs for economic development and consumption, foreign trade has consistently shown a negative balance. A marked improvement in this respect has taken place since 1955, even though the absolute deficit has been growing with the rising trade volume. In the 1960s exports covered 60 percent or more of imports, compared with 47 percent in the 1956-60 period and 31 percent in the preceding eleven post-World War II years. This improvement in the trade balance has been achieved through a consistent policy of diversifying domestic production with a view to import subst.i.tution, developing all possible resources for the production of exportable goods, improving product quality, and severely restricting domestic consumption. The annual trade deficit in 1967 and 1968 was about 200 million leks.

The volume of trade has been rising quite steadily from 140 million leks in 1950 to 950 million leks in 1968. During this period imports increased from 110 million to 580 million leks, and exports rose from 30 million to 370 million leks. The Fourth Five-Year Plan calls for an increase of 31 percent in total trade over the volume of the preceding five years, including an increase of 36 percent in exports and 28 percent in imports. These figures imply a planned average annual trade volume in the 1966-70 period of 885 million leks, of which 355 million leks were exports and 530 million leks imports. Although the rate of trade expansion during 1966-68 exceeded the target, the export-import ratio was not as favorable as that called for by the plan.

The directional pattern of the country's foreign trade has conformed to the general observation that trade follows aid. The a.s.sumption by Communist China in 1961 of the major aid donor position previously held by the Soviet Union had an immediate and p.r.o.nounced impact on the direction of trade. In 1960 Communist China accounted for only 7 percent of the total trade volume, as against 54 percent for the Soviet Union.

By 1962 trade with Communist China had grown to 51 percent of a somewhat smaller total volume, whereas trade with the Soviets had ceased altogether by 1963. In 1964 Communist China's share of the trade was equal to that of the Soviet Union in 1960, and the actual volume represented by that share was 23 percent larger. During the 1962-68 period trade with Communist China amounted to about half the total trade volume, but the share of Communist China declined below that level toward the end of this period. This decline was the result of a successful effort by the leadership to expand the country's trade with both Communist Eastern Europe and the non-Communist West.

Trade with the Communist countries of Eastern Europe, other than Yugoslavia, continued after the break with the Soviet Union and increased by 66 percent from 226 million leks in 1960 to about 375 million leks in 1968. The share of this group in total trade rose during this period from 35 to 40 percent, almost entirely after 1964. Albania's most important trade partner in this group has been Czechoslovakia, second only to Communist China with a volume of 118 million leks in 1968, equivalent to about 12 percent of Albania's total trade volume in that year. Following Czechoslovakia in order of importance were Poland, East Germany, and Bulgaria, with trade volumes ranging from 69 million to 53 million leks. Trade with Hungary and Romania amounted to about 40 million leks and 32 million leks, respectively. With the exception of Poland and Romania, Albania's trade balance with the countries of Eastern Europe was positive between 1960 and 1968. The excess of exports over imports during this period totaled about 65 million leks.

During the early years of the country's dependence upon Soviet aid, trade with non-Communist countries and with Yugoslavia had been discontinued, but it was resumed on a very small scale by 1955. In 1964 this trade amounted to only 65 million leks (equivalent to US$13 million at the official rate of exchange), or 8 percent of the total trade turnover. Fully two-thirds of this trade was accounted for by Italy and France. During the following four years trade with the West and Yugoslavia increased 2- times to 160 million leks in 1968, and the share of this trade in the total turnover doubled.

Italy continued to be the major Western trade partner, with a turnover of 66 million leks in 1968, but the largest advance was made in the trade with Yugoslavia. The total trade turnover with that country rose fiftyfold in one year, from 400,000 leks in 1965 to more than 20 million leks in 1966. Under the 1970 trade agreement the trade volume is scheduled to reach 50 million leks. In 1968 Italy and Yugoslavia together absorbed four-fifths of the combined exports to the West and Yugoslavia and supplied more than half the imports from that area.

Another striking example of the country's trade expansion effort is the agreement with Greece, a country with which Albania has had no political or economic relations for thirty years. Signed by the chambers of commerce of both countries in January 1970 and effective for one year, this agreement provided for an initial turnover of 7.5 million leks, of which 4 million leks were in imports and 3.5 million leks in exports.

Commercial orders worth about 1.5 million leks on both sides were reported to have been placed by mid-1970.

In 1969 trade relations were officially reported to have been maintained with forty different countries. Relations with thirteen of these countries, both Communist and non-Communist, were formalized by trade agreements.

Imports have overwhelmingly served the needs of production and industrial expansion. Almost 50 percent of the imports in 1964 consisted of machinery, equipment, and spare parts. More than 23 percent was accounted for by minerals and metals, chemical and rubber products, and construction materials. Another 16 percent was made up of agricultural raw materials, about two-thirds of which was destined for the food-processing industry. Only 11 percent of the imports consisted of finished consumer goods and ready-to-eat foods. Continuing Party and government emphasis on increasing production and the improved domestic output of foods suggests that the production-oriented nature of imports did not change significantly by 1970.

Exports have consisted predominantly of minerals and mineral products but have also included significant amounts of agricultural products and manufactured consumer goods. In 1969 petroleum and natural bitumen, chromium and ferronickel ores, and copper (including copper wire), const.i.tuted 55 percent of exports. Another 25 percent comprised processed foods, such as canned fish and vegetables and preserved fruits; light industry products, including cotton and linen textiles and some readymade clothes; and a few chemicals. The balance of 20 percent was represented by fresh fruits and vegetables and by agricultural raw materials, such as hides and skins, tannins, and medicinal plants.

Exports of fruits and vegetables to central and northern Europe have been growing rapidly.

The share of manufactured and semiprocessed products in exports was also officially reported to be increasing and to have const.i.tuted 51 percent of the export volume in 1968. Students of Albanian affairs have reported that some of the country's exports are not compet.i.tive in world markets and that Communist China has been willing to absorb them at a good price only for political reasons, as did the Soviet Union before 1961.

CHAPTER 9

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL SECURITY

The armed forces in 1970 were under the Ministry of People's Defense, and all elements were included within the People's Army. Total personnel strength was about 40,000. Most troops were acquired by conscription, and about one-half of the eligible young men were drafted, usually at age nineteen. All of the tanks, aircraft, and vehicles used by the armed forces were of Soviet design, but since 1961 all external a.s.sistance has been provided by the Communist Chinese. Military ranks were abolished in 1966, but the force organization at lower levels in all service components was conventional.

The modern armed forces grew out of the partisan units of World War II, during which they fought against the Italians, the Germans, and each other. By the time of the German evacuation of Albania in November 1944, the Communist-led National Liberation Front held the dominant position among the partisans and was able to a.s.sume control of the country without fighting any major battles.

The Albanian Workers' Party (Communist Party) had an active organization within the services. All or nearly all officers in the regular services were Party members in 1970. All cadets over eighteen years of age in the officer candidate military schools were also Party members. Younger cadets were members of the Union of Albanian Working Youth. Probably only a very few of the conscripts were Party members, but nearly all were members of the youth organization. In addition to the influence exerted by Party cells, political commissars throughout the armed forces structure enforced ideological conformity.

The Albanian fighting man has had an excellent reputation for 2,000 years but, with the exception of Skanderbeg, the fifteenth-century national hero--he was born Gjergi Kastrioti and renamed Skanderbeg after Alexander the Great--the military forces of the country have disclaimed any heritage antedating the partisan activities of World War II.

Skanderbeg gained brief independence for the country during his opposition to the Turkish invaders, but his exploits in support of nationalism stood almost alone over the entire period between Roman times and the twentieth century.

Moreover, national independence in 1912 did not result from a major military victory. National feelings, aroused late in the nineteenth century, became more intense during the early 1900s but, although there were clashes between fairly sizable armed groups of Turks and Albanians, freedom was not attained from armed struggle involving organized military forces. Rather, in the interests of the balance of power the greater European powers recognized the declared independence of Albania (see ch. 2, Historical Setting).

Police and security forces were under the control of the Ministry of the Interior. They were organized into three directorates: the Directorate of State Security, Frontier Guards, and the People's Police. Except for the fact that they were subject to the same system of military justice, they were entirely separate from the armed forces of the Ministry of People's Defense. The Albanian security police in 1970 were believed to exert more rigid controls over the population than was exercised by similar forces in any other East European Communist country or in the Soviet Union.

The Directorate of State Security contained the internal security police. Organized to protect the Party and governmental system, they were responsible for suppressing resistance to, and deviation from, Party ideology, and for combating crimes that had a national character.

Frontier Guards, as their name implies, accomplished border security.

The People's Police were the local or munic.i.p.al police, with the typical routines and local interests of such forces.

It is difficult to ascertain the overall effectiveness of the various police and security forces in the maintenance of public order because no official crime statistics are published. Official statements in the press provide little or no information on the extent of crime other than the inordinate coverage of those crimes that are political in nature and considered threatening to the Party or the state. Statements by the rare Western visitors to the country concerning the police state atmosphere have led to the a.s.sumption that public order is rigidly maintained.

Although military and security forces were small in proportion to the size of the military age male population, they were nearly double the per capita average maintained by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or by Warsaw Pact nations. Whether or not the people recognized the armed forces as a burden, the country has never had the industrial or economic base to maintain them. Since World War II it has relied, in turn, on Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and Communist China for aid.

Chinese a.s.sistance since 1961 has been sufficient to maintain equipment previously furnished by the Soviet Union and to replace some of the older weapons as they became obsolete.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The free-spirited and hardy Albanian mountaineers have had excellent reputations as individual fighters. The Romans recruited some of their best soldiers from the regions that later became Albania. In succeeding periods many Albanians became famous in the military service of the Ottomans.

Nationalism was rarely necessary to motivate these men. Before 1912 the country had independence for only one brief period. It was gained then by the national hero, Skanderbeg, and freedom evaporated almost immediately upon his death in 1468. The history and legends attached to him make up a large part of the national military tradition. Other than in his day, freedom was rarely fought for except in the context of defense of tribal areas against the incursions of marauding neighbors.

There were few occasions when Albanians rose up against occupying foreign powers. Conquerors generally left the people alone in their isolated mountain homelands and, as a feudal tribal society persisted, there was little if any feeling of national unity in the country (see ch. 2, Historical Setting).

Organized military action also played an almost negligible part in attaining independence. Some revolutionary activity occurred during the rise of national feeling in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There were clashes between insurgents and Turkish forces as early as 1884 but, at the same time that the Albanians were resisting Turkish practices they considered oppressive against themselves, they were defending the Turks in their hostilities with the Greeks or the Slavs. They continued to be recruited into, and to serve in, the Turkish army.

By 1900 about 8,000 armed Albanians were a.s.sembled in Shkoder, but they were unopposed, and a situation resembling anarchy more than revolution prevailed in the country during the early 1900s. There were arrests, incidents of banditry and pillage, and many futile Turkish efforts to restore order. Guerrilla activity increased after about 1906, and several incidents occurred, which produced martyrs but which were not marked by great numbers of casualties. Nevertheless, although it was unorganized and never a.s.sumed the proportions of a serious struggle, the resistance was instrumental in maintaining the pressure that attracted international attention and led the great powers, when they intervened after the Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913, to recognize the independent state of Albania.

World War I began before the country could establish a viable governmental body--much less form, train, and equip a military establishment. During the war years it was occupied by the warring parties, and the last of them remained into 1920.

Ahmet Zogu--as minister of the interior and minister of war until 1922 and prime minister from 1922, except for a brief exile in 1924, until he became King Zog in 1928--created the first national forces of any consequence. Before 1925, so that he would have some a.s.surance of their loyalty, these consisted of about 5,000 men from his home tribal district. Starting in about 1925 with Italian a.s.sistance and a considerable degree of Italian control over the forces, men were drawn through universal conscription. The first drafts called about 5,000 to 6,000 annually from the approximately 10,000 young men who became eligible for the draft each year. Italian aid equipped the forces, and Italian officers provided most of the training and tactical guidance, to the point that they had effective control over their employment.

At about the same time the Gendarmerie was formed with British a.s.sistance. It had an Albanian director, a British general who served as its inspector general, and a staff of British inspectors. The Gendarmerie became an effective internal security and police organization. It had a commandant in each of the ten prefectures, a headquarters in each of the subprefectures (up to eight per prefecture), and a post in each of the nearly 150 local communities. Its communications network was for many years the most complete telephone system in the country.

Although the Italians objected strenuously, King Zog used the Gendarmerie as a safeguard against the possible consequences of Italian domination of his regular armed forces. He kept the force under his direct control and retained its British advisers until 1938. Zog also retained a sizable armed group from his old tribal region.

King Zog's efforts to reduce Italian control over his forces were insufficient to save them from quick humiliation before World War II.

The Italians attacked on April 7, 1939, and, although annual conscription had created a trained reserve of at least 50,000 men, it was never called. Resistance was overcome in about a week. Later in 1939 the Italians incorporated Albanian units into their forces. Little benefit was derived from the Albanians, who could see little point in fighting for the Italians, even against their traditional enemies, the Greeks. They deserted in large numbers (see ch. 2, Historical Setting).

Resistance to the occupation grew rapidly as signs of Italian weakness became apparent. At the end of 1942 guerrilla forces had numbered no more than perhaps 8,000 to 10,000. By the summer of 1943, when the Italian effort collapsed, almost all of the mountainous interior was controlled by various resistance groups.

The Germans took over the occupation from the Italians and inflicted near-decisive defeat upon the guerrillas in January 1944. Resistance grew again, however, as final defeat for the Axis powers appeared certain, and by the end of 1944 guerrilla forces probably totaled about 70,000 men. In addition, by their count, they had suffered about 28,000 casualties. The Communist-controlled National Liberation Movement had then solidified its hold over the guerrilla groups and was able to take over the country after the war. Enver Hoxha had been the chief political commissar of the General Staff that was created in July 1943. From that post he rose rapidly to leadership of the group and through it became the head of the Communist government that took over at the end of World War II.

Albania's first Communist military forces were equipped, trained, and modeled after Yugoslavia's. When Yugoslavia embarked on its separate road to socialism in 1948 and was expelled from the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform--see Glossary), Albania aligned directly with the Soviet Union. This did not involve an immediate change in materiel, organization, or training because the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia had had much the same relationship before their break.

Soviet aid included advisory personnel, a considerable amount of modern conventional armament, a few small World War II naval vessels, and a number of aircraft. This aid was halted entirely in 1961. The Soviet submarine flotilla that had been based on Sazan Island, off Vlore, pa.s.sed Gibraltar in June 1961 on its way back to northern Soviet ports.

Communist China succeeded the Soviet Union as Albania's ally. Albania can provide China with little of tactical importance, but its value as an ally from a political standpoint has been sufficient to warrant continuation of aid in quant.i.ties sufficient to maintain the armed forces at about the same levels of personnel strength and equipment that they had achieved when they were supported by the Soviet Union, although interruptions in training are believed to have caused a deterioration in technical skills and know-how.

THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT

Position in the Government

The People's Army, which encompa.s.ses the ground, naval, and air arms of the regular armed forces, is under the Ministry of People's Defense, which, in turn, is within the Council of Ministers. The ministers are selected from the People's a.s.sembly which, with its Presidium, is at the top of the governmental structure (see ch. 6, Government Structure and Political System).

In mid-1970 the minister of defense, Beqir Balluku, was also a deputy prime minister and a member of the Political Bureau (Politburo) of the Albanian Workers' Party. Balluku had a military career background and held the rank of colonel general in the army before its ranks were abolished in 1966. As defense minister he exercised direct operational and administrative control over all elements of the military establishment.