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A Coming of Age
In 1945, Albania was an extremely under-developed nation compared to other countries in Europe. So in studying Enver Hoxha's forty-year reign (1945-85) it is necessary to recognize him as a leader who accomplished great things for Albania while concurrently enmeshing the country in policies that were not only counterproductive but self-destructive. This book studies a wide range of areas pertaining to Hoxha's impact upon Albania's development. O'Donnell shows that, while it is necessary to give Hoxha a mixed report card, he nonetheless enabled a small nation with a multitude of limitations to maintain its sovereignty and modernize through unorthodox methods.
- GenresNonfiction
266 pages, Hardcover
First published June 8, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 6, 2026
An overall balanced account of the successes and failures, achievements and excesses of socialist Albania.
It starts out stronger than it ends.
This book is at its best examining the pace of progress of social infrastructure (economic in terms of industry, social in terms of basic capacities such as literacy, life expectancy, women's liberation, etc.). It does so with the appropriate comparative "before & after" metric, keeping in mind what Domenico Losurdo, in War and Revolution: Rethinking the Twentieth Century and elsewhere critiques in the form of "Talmon's sophism":
In contrast,
It's at its worst, however, in its explicit "Great Man" style history, reducing the impetus for certain policies to mere attributes of Hoxha's personality.
I.e. on religion: there were clear excesses in its suppression, but this goes beyond a mere individual prejudice of Hoxha; some greater insights could have been gleaned by expanding on organized religion's role pre-revolution, during/post-WW2, and the forces arraigned both for and against either religious practice (especially its constitutional guarantees up to a point), secularism, or militant atheism.
On purges: O'Donnell cites one author describing Hoxha's use of purges as
But the paranoid psychology of runaway purges goes well beyond the whims of any one man, which is precisely what plays into the fears even of their instigators. See The Furies: Violence and Terror in the French and Russian Revolutions. (yet another book itching for a proper review when I can, *sigh*) for revealing case studies. Regardless of the force of Hoxha's intentions in determining policy, there's something at play beyond mere psychology.
Finally, the title is a dead giveaway for a broader discomfort I have with the overall thesis of this book, notwithstanding the fairly balanced content: In Orientalist fashion that reminds me of some unfortunate conversations, O'Donnell infantilizes the Albanian people. Literally, he compares development to "adolescence". There are some uncomfortable echoes of the trope that 'these primitives weren't ready for democracy and needed a strong-man to modernize them'. This is where the key and downplayed factor of imperialism (the author is avowedly not a Marxist) is crucial.
The late Michael Parenti would say, "They weren't underdeveloped, they were overexploited!" The pace of Albanian development clearly shows the means were there; development was arrested by imposed political constraints. There were the Ottomans, then the Italians, some unfortunate chauvinism from the Yugoslavs, and general Cold War geopolitics with the tendency of erstwhile allies to turn to what an avowed Marxist-Leninist would consider alarming degrees of marketization or 'peaceful coexistence' with U.S. imperialism (and most importantly for Albania, "development" proposals that would lock it into a position of raw materials supplier). This led to distrust and less-than-desirable relative isolation.
Ultimately, as Enver Hoxha himself told a 1969 delegation of Albanian nationals from several countries (as cited by the author);
Catching up to the level of technological development of the imperial hegemon without political changes beyond the Party of Labour of Albania's control would have been a fool's errand. There were arguably better paths forward while 'awaiting' such developments (Balkan Cyberia: Cold War Computing, Bulgarian Modernization, and the Information Age behind the Iron Curtain).
Hoxha can be faulted for taking isolation to an extreme, next to (for nearby examples) Yugoslavia's Non-Aligned Movement or Bulgaria's relations with Japan that allowed access to tech for reverse engineering, but before considering tactical approaches in specific economic relations, the appropriate extent of what Samir Amin called delinking is of course relative to how much the assessor values the broader political goals.
It starts out stronger than it ends.
This book is at its best examining the pace of progress of social infrastructure (economic in terms of industry, social in terms of basic capacities such as literacy, life expectancy, women's liberation, etc.). It does so with the appropriate comparative "before & after" metric, keeping in mind what Domenico Losurdo, in War and Revolution: Rethinking the Twentieth Century and elsewhere critiques in the form of "Talmon's sophism":
The sophism consists in comparing utterly heterogeneous magnitudes: a political tradition judged on the basis of a state of emergency in a situation of acute danger is contrasted with another political tradition judged exclusively on the basis of periods of normality, albeit that are fully enjoyed only by a privileged fraction of the total population.
In contrast,
The concept of viewing events within Albanian parameters is a recurring theme of this study.
It's at its worst, however, in its explicit "Great Man" style history, reducing the impetus for certain policies to mere attributes of Hoxha's personality.
I.e. on religion: there were clear excesses in its suppression, but this goes beyond a mere individual prejudice of Hoxha; some greater insights could have been gleaned by expanding on organized religion's role pre-revolution, during/post-WW2, and the forces arraigned both for and against either religious practice (especially its constitutional guarantees up to a point), secularism, or militant atheism.
On purges: O'Donnell cites one author describing Hoxha's use of purges as
Enver Hoxha...orders purges like other people order out for pizza—that is, whenever the urge hits him.
But the paranoid psychology of runaway purges goes well beyond the whims of any one man, which is precisely what plays into the fears even of their instigators. See The Furies: Violence and Terror in the French and Russian Revolutions. (yet another book itching for a proper review when I can, *sigh*) for revealing case studies. Regardless of the force of Hoxha's intentions in determining policy, there's something at play beyond mere psychology.
Finally, the title is a dead giveaway for a broader discomfort I have with the overall thesis of this book, notwithstanding the fairly balanced content: In Orientalist fashion that reminds me of some unfortunate conversations, O'Donnell infantilizes the Albanian people. Literally, he compares development to "adolescence". There are some uncomfortable echoes of the trope that 'these primitives weren't ready for democracy and needed a strong-man to modernize them'. This is where the key and downplayed factor of imperialism (the author is avowedly not a Marxist) is crucial.
The late Michael Parenti would say, "They weren't underdeveloped, they were overexploited!" The pace of Albanian development clearly shows the means were there; development was arrested by imposed political constraints. There were the Ottomans, then the Italians, some unfortunate chauvinism from the Yugoslavs, and general Cold War geopolitics with the tendency of erstwhile allies to turn to what an avowed Marxist-Leninist would consider alarming degrees of marketization or 'peaceful coexistence' with U.S. imperialism (and most importantly for Albania, "development" proposals that would lock it into a position of raw materials supplier). This led to distrust and less-than-desirable relative isolation.
Ultimately, as Enver Hoxha himself told a 1969 delegation of Albanian nationals from several countries (as cited by the author);
Of course, you do not compare these things with the palaces which you see in the centre of Ankara, in the Champs-Elysees of Paris, or with the sky-scrapers of New York, which were not built in 25 years, but began to be built centuries ago with the sweat, blood and the sufferings of the working people for the benefit of the magnates, the wealthy, the millionaires. Looking at Albania from this correct angle, the differences within 25 years are like the difference of night from day.
.. .It is true that we received credits from the Soviet Union of the time of Stalin and from China for the projects we have built or are building, but you and the whole world must know that the valuable and necessary credit which has been given us is infinitesimal in comparison with the investments of billions of leks and the great economic strength which the Albanian people have created with their own toil and sweat.
Catching up to the level of technological development of the imperial hegemon without political changes beyond the Party of Labour of Albania's control would have been a fool's errand. There were arguably better paths forward while 'awaiting' such developments (Balkan Cyberia: Cold War Computing, Bulgarian Modernization, and the Information Age behind the Iron Curtain).
Hoxha can be faulted for taking isolation to an extreme, next to (for nearby examples) Yugoslavia's Non-Aligned Movement or Bulgaria's relations with Japan that allowed access to tech for reverse engineering, but before considering tactical approaches in specific economic relations, the appropriate extent of what Samir Amin called delinking is of course relative to how much the assessor values the broader political goals.
April 16, 2024
Interesting short book that resembles more a series of light lectures than an in depth analysis of Albania under Enver Hoxha. Would recommend for an introductory read on the topic.
June 28, 2024
Overview of Albania under Hoxha's rule. Author is by no means a Communist, being heavily critical of the government for it's foreign policy, attitude towards religion (rightly so, in my view), dissidents, etc. However, even he is forced to admit the strides made in healthcare, education, women's rights and the economy (despite correctly appraising that the latter was also negatively affected by the turns in foreign policy, first switching from the patronage of the U.S.S.R to much poorer China, and then pursuing a ridiculous policy of autarky after 'revisionists' came to power in Beijing.)
Ultimately, the author concludes that Communist rule in Albania was a 'coming of age' for the country. Brutal, ultimately necessary, and destined to fall when it did. This I of course disagree with, but irregardless a good read.
Ultimately, the author concludes that Communist rule in Albania was a 'coming of age' for the country. Brutal, ultimately necessary, and destined to fall when it did. This I of course disagree with, but irregardless a good read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews