Enver Hoxha

Biography

Enver Halil Hoxha (IPA: [ɛnˈvɛɾ ˈhɔdʒa]; 16 October 1908 – 11 April 1985) was an Albanian communist revolutionary, statesman, Marxist–Leninist political theorist, and dictator who was the leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 until his death, a member of its Politburo, chairman of the Democratic Front of Albania, and commander-in-chief of the Albanian People's Army. He was the twenty-second prime minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954 and at various times served as his own foreign minister and defence minister. After the Italian invasion of Albania, he helped unify the fractured Albanian communist movement into the Communist Party of Albania. He was elected First Secretary in March 1943 at the age of 34. Less than two years after the liberation of the country, the monarchy of Zog I was formally abolished, and Hoxha became the country's de facto head of state. A Marxist-Leninist, Hoxha converted Albania into a one-party communist state. By the 1960s he implemented a program of state atheism and ordered the anti-religious persecution of Muslims and Christians. Implementing his radical program, Hoxha used totalitarian methods of governance, creating one of the most repressive regimes of modern times. His government outlawed traveling abroad and private proprietorship. The government imprisoned, executed, or exiled thousands of landowners, rural clan leaders, peasants who resisted collectivization, and allegedly disloyal party officials. Hoxha was succeeded by Ramiz Alia, who was in charge during the fall of communism in Albania. Hoxha's government was characterised by his proclaimed firm adherence to anti-revisionist Marxism–Leninism from the mid/late-1960s onwards. After his open break with Maoism in the 1976–1978 period, Hoxha declared Albania would go at it alone in creating a socialist society. Following his lead, numerous parties around the world declared themselves Hoxhaist.