Preparing for an alliance: China’s socialist model and Albania’s economic path in the Early Cold War

ABSTRACT

Based mainly on Albanian primary sources, this article explores the implications of Albania’s economic cooperation with China during the late 1950s and early 1960s. It shows that in Albania’s shifting alliances, the role of economic calculations has been as important as that of political convenience. The article argues that China’s emphasis on industrialization, mass mobilization and the principle of self-reliance was appealing to Albanian leaders’ long-term economic plans. This was even more so after the Comecon division of labour left Albania at the margin of the economic integration of the European Soviet bloc, relegating it to an agriculture-based development. The article also argues that although there was no substantial technological transfer between China and Albania during the 1950s, those years served for Albania as a period of study of the Chinese socialist system, which ultimately suited Albanian leaders’ political and economic aims more than the Soviet one. Economic relations with China opened new trade routes for Albania, potentially linking Albania’s economy with new markets and the international flows of goods. These opportunities, however, remained fully unexploited due to Albania’s own economic shortcomings, limited industrial capacity and poor infrastructure.

KEYWORDS:

• Sino-Soviet split
• China
• Albania
• economic exchanges

Acknowledgments

I am particularly grateful to Jan Zofka and Tao Chen for their invaluable comments which have greatly helped improve my article. A special thank you goes to the anonymous reviewers for their important suggestions which have contributed to the final version of the article. I want to thank Christian F. Ostermann and Charles Kraus for providing me with the opportunity to spend valuable time at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C., where I shared my research with scholars working for the Center’s History and Public Policy Program.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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2. Mëhilli, From Stalin to Mao.

3. Pula, Globalization Under & After Socialism, 38–40. On the Comecon see also Schiavone, The Institutions of Comecon.

4. Mëhilli, From Stalin to Mao; Mëhilli, “Socialist Encounters,” 107–33; Robert Graham, ed., Material Culture in Russia and the USSR.

5. Mëhilli, “Globalized Socialism, Nationalized Time,” 611–37.

6. Tirana, May 15, 1959. Report of the Head of the State Planning Commission Koço Theodhosi on the problems to be discussed with the Soviet comrades, in AQSH (Arkivi Qëndror i Shtetit/Central State Archive), F.495 (Fond/Folder), V.1959 (Viti/Year), D.2 (Dosje/File), f.10 (fletë/page).

7. Pula, Globalization Under & After Socialism, 38.

8. Perović, “The Tito-Stalin Split,” 42–57; Marku, “Shifting Alliances,” 83–115.

9. Records of the meeting of the Second Plenum of the First Congress of the Party of Labour of Albania, April 28, 1949, in AQSH, F.14, AP-OU, V.1949, D.1, f.24.

10. Suny, The Soviet Experiment: Russia, the USSR, and the Successor States, 188–212; Siegelbaum, Soviet State and Society between Revolutions, 1918–1929. See also Fitzpatrick, Rabinowitch and Stites, eds., Russia in the Era of NEP.

11. “Record of I. V. Stalin’s Conversation with E. Hoxha concerning Albanian-Yugoslavian Relations and the Foreign and Domestic Policy of Albania,” March 23, 1949, History and Public Policy Program Digital Archive, Vostochnaia Evropa, edited by G.P. Murashko, et al., vol. 2, pp. 44–57 (APRF, f. 45, op. 1, d. 249, 1. 5 5–74) http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/134384.

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17. Pula, Globalization Under & After Socialism, 36.

18. Transcript of the meeting of the government, July 2, 1954, in Tirana, which analysed the outcome of the government delegation that visited the Soviet Union, in AQSH, F.490, KM, V.1954, D.223, f.3.

19. AQSH, F.490, KM, V.1954, D.223, f.2–6.

20. Ministry of Trade, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1957, D.227, f.1–45; Ministry of Trade, June 2, 1959, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1959, D.195, f.2–9.

21. Ministry of Foreign Trade, in AQSH, F.503, V.1953, D.21, f.38–41.

22. Mëhilli, From Stalin to Mao.

23. Mëhilli, “Socialist Encounters,” 117–28.

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27. Information of the vice prime minister of Albania, Spiro Koleka, on the ninth session of the Comecon, Bucharest, June 26–30, 1958, in AQSH, F.14, KNER, V.1958, D.3, f.1–1, August 1, 1961. Project draft translated in Albanian (from Russian) regarding the main principles of the international division of the socialist labour drafted by the experts of the member states of the Comecon, in AQSH, F.14/AP, KNER, V.1961, D.10, f.11.

28. Mëhilli, “Socialist Encounters,” 112.

29. Information March 22, 1958, in AQSH, F.14, KNER, V.1958, D.2, f.4–6.

30. Crump and Godard, “Reassessing Communist International Organisations,” 5.

31. Information, of the vice prime minister Spiro Koleka, on the work of the ninth session of the Comecon held in Moscow, 26–30 June 1958, in AQSH, F.14/AP, KNER, V.1958, D.3. See also Baeva, “Bulgarisch-sowjetische Wirtschaftsbeziehungennach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg,” 171.

32. Report, June 12, 1961, of the Albanian delegates at the Comecon regarding the treatment of foreign experts, in AQSH, F.14/AP, KNER, V.1961, D.8, f.2–12.

33. Li, Mao and the Economic Stalinization of China, 1948–1953, 3; Gnoinska, “Chipolbrok – Continuity in Times of Change: Sino-Polish Relations during the Cold War, 1949–1969.” Shen and Xia, Mao and the Sino-Soviet Partnership, 101–31.

34. Jersild, “Socialist Exhibits and Sino-Soviet Relations, 1950–60,” 275–89.

35. Li, Mao and the Economic Stalinization of China, 3.

36. Tirana, November 3, 1954. Report of comrade Behar Shtylla on his visit to the People’s Republic of China, in AQSH, F.14, OU, V.1954, D.39, f.11–14.

37. Ministry of Trade, October 5, 1955, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1955, D.328, f.2.

38. Correspondence between the Party of Labour of Albania and the Embassy of People’s Republic of China in Albania regarding the participation of the Albanian delegation headed by Enver Hoxha at the 8^th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, in AQSH, F14, AP-MPKK, V.1956, D.2.

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40. King, “Reconstructing China,” 143.

41. AQSH, F.14, OU, V.1956, D.54, f.11.

42. Ibid., f.15.

43. King, “Reconstructing China,” 143, 153.

44. AQSH, F.14, OU, V.1956, D.54, f.10.

45. Marku, “Sino-Albanian Relations during the Cold War, 1949–1978: An Albanian Perspective,” 167.

46. Mëhilli, “Defying De-Stalinization: Albania’s 1956,” 4–56; Shen and Xia, Mao and the Sino–Soviet Partnership, 145–52.

47. Tirana, December 3, 1955. Agreement between the People’s Republic of Albania and the People’s Republic of China regarding the provision of a loan from the People’s Republic of China to the People’s Republic of Albania, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1955, D.271; October 7, 1958. Correspondence PLA-CCP regarding the request for the loan of 55 million roubles, and the acceptance by China, in AQSH, F.14, AP-MPKK, V.1958, D.1, f.1–9.

48. Tirana, Ministry of Trade, December 3, 1954. Protocol of the Joint Commission for Technical and Scientific Cooperation between Albania and China, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1954, D.75.

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52. Ministry of Trade, March 1958, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1957, D.268.

53. Albanian Embassy in Beijing to the Ministry of Trade of Albania, October 30, 1958, in AQSH, F.503, V.1958, D.293, f.21–24.

54. Ibid, f.21–24.

55. Beijing January 5, 1959. Report of the trade attaché at the Albanian Embassy in Beijing, Dailan Buxheli, sent to the Ministry of Trade of Albania, in AQSH, F.503, Ministry of Trade, V.1958, D.293, f.27–29.

56. Ibid.

57. Ibid, f.28.

58. Report of the Ministry of Trade (Vice Minister Niazi Demi, doc. dated 1958) sent to Enver Hoxha and Mehmet Shehu on the possible expansion of trade towards capitalist markets, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1958, D.226. See also AQSH, F.503–504, V.1958, D.280–283; List of items from Italy as part of the agreement on war reparations, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1957, D.262.

59. Politburo transcripts, Tirana, June 6, 1959, in AQSH, F.14, OU, V.1959, D.18.

60. Ministry of Construction, in AQSH, F.499, V.1961, D.454; Ministry of Construction, in AQSH, F.499, V.1960, D.606, D.609,

61. Tirana, May 17, 1959. Report of the State Planning Commission “Some Issues of the Economy of Albania,” in AQSH, F.495, V.1959, D.2, f.33.

62. Letter of the East German vice minister of foreign trade Erwin Kerber, to the Ministry of Trade of Albania, March 19, 1959, in AQSH, F.503, V.1959, D.252, f.1–2.

63. Koço Prifti, Rome, September 28, 1959. Report on the participation of our country at the Bari Trade Fair, in AQSH, F.503, V.1959, D.270, f.7–11 & f.23.

64. Information (undated) regarding the export with the West in 1959, in AQSH, F.503, V.1959, D.315. It is unclear why the statistics were provided in roubles, but for an explanation of the exchange rates between the rouble and US dollar until 1960 see Wyczalkowski, “The Soviet Price System and the Rouble,” 203–23.

65. Transcript of the meeting of the government, July 2, 1954, in AQSH, F.490, KM, V.1954, D.223, f.2–6.

66. Tirana, November 13, 1959. Report of the State Planning Commission, in AQSH, F.495, V.1960, D.18, f.23.

67. Tirana, November 10, 1959. Report of the State Planning Commission. On the expected completion of the FYP, in AQSH, F.495, V.1960, D.18, f.36–78. Detailed tables of the FYP production are in AQSH, F.495, V.1960, D.115.

68. Ministry of Trade, June 2, 1961. List of loans provided to Albania during 1945–60, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1960, D.376.

69. Tirana, Ministry of Trade, November 14, 1960. Report on the trade 1956–60, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1956, D.150.

70. Tirana, Ministry of Trade, undated. Dynamics of the Albanian exports during the Second FYP 1956–60, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1960, D.362, f.1.

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76. Report of Hysni Kapo on the work experience of the Chinese Communist Party, in AQSH, F.14, AP-MPKK, V.1959, D.6, f.2.

77. AQSH, F.14, AP-MPKK, V.1959, D.12–D18.

78. AQSH, F.14, AP-MPKK, V.1959, D.6.

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81. Ibid, f.25–30.

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83. Report of the Albanian Embassy in Beijing, July 1960, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1960, D.333, f.22.

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85. Report of the trade attaché in Beijing, October 26, 1960, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1960, D.333, f.27–29.

86. Lüthi, The Sino-Soviet Split: Cold War in the Communist World.

87. Marku, “Communist Relations in Crisis,” 813–32. For the Sino-Soviet split see, among many, Li and Xia, Mao and the Sino-Soviet Split, 1959–1973; Lüthi, The Sino-Soviet Split.

88. Protocol of the talks between the economic delegation of Albania and the delegation of the Soviet Union, in Moscow, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1961, D. 256. Information of our governmental trade delegation in Moscow on the divergences with the Soviet side regarding the [economic] agreements for the year 1961, and for [the period] 1961–65, in AQSH, F.503–504, Ministry of Trade, V.1961, D.260.

89. Ministry of Trade, F.503–504, V.1960, D.228, D.240, D.241, D.278, D.336.

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91. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Albania. Document undated. On the relations of our country with China during 1961, AMPJ, V.1961, D.165, f.70–72.

92. Marku, “Communist Relations in Crisis”; Marku, “Shifting Alliances.”

93. Chen, “East German Pragmatism, China’s Policy of Differentiation, and Soviet Miscalculation,” 85–99.

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95. Notes from the meeting of Spiro Koleka with Zhou Enlai in Beijing on January 30, 1961, in AQSH, F.14, AP-MPKK, V.1961, D.1, f.7–13.

96. Speech of Enver Hoxha, November 20, 1961, during the concluding session of the Fourth Party Congress, in AQSH, F.14, OU, V.1961, D.25, f.1.

97. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, June 1961. On the Assistance of the People’s Republic of China for the FYP 1961–65, in AMPJ, V.1961, D.168/2, f.16–24.

98. Transcript of the meeting of the party plenum on February 6, 1961, in AQSH, F.14, OU, V.1961, D.29, f.5–6.

99. Ministry of Trade (Minister Kiço Ngjela) to the Albanian trade attaché in Beijing, Dailan Buxheli, in AQSH, F.503, V.1958, D.293, f.33–35; This was often the case in the Communist camp; see Chao, “Pitfalls in the Use of China’s Foreign Trade Statistics.”

100. Ministry of Trade (minister Abdyl Këllezi) to the Albanian Embassy in Beijing, June 22, 1961, in AMPJ, V.1961, D.168, f.6.

101. Ministry of Industry and Mining, September 5, 1958, in AQSH, F.490, KM, V.1958, D.521.

102. See also transcripts of the government meeting, May 16, 1961, in AQSH, F.490, V.1961, D.24, f.4.

103. Radiogram from the Albanian economic delegation in China to the leadership in Albania (Abdyl Këllezi to comrades Enver Hoxha and Mehmet Shehu), December 26, 1961, in AMPJ, V.1961, D.168, B1, f.86–90.

104. Ambassador (to China) Reis Malile to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, May 17, 1962, in AMPJ, V.1962, D.171, f.9–10.

105. Report of the Albanian ambassador in China Reis Malile on the work of the trade delegation in China headed by Abdyl Këllezi, January 29, 1962, in AMPJ, V.1961, D.171, f.4.

106. Vice minister of foreign affairs, Vasil Nathanaili, to the Ministry of Trade, February 8, 1960, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1960, D.334, f.1–3.

107. Report of the Albanian Embassy in Beijing, June 1960, in AQSH, F.503–504, V.1960, D.335.

108. Report on the meetings of the Albanian economic delegation headed by Abdyl Këllezi, with the leaders of China, in December 1961 and January 1962 [meeting with Zhou Enlai, December 31, 1961] in AMPJ, V.1962, D.155, f.19.

109. Report of the ambassador in Beijing, Reis Malile, October 12, 1962, in AMPJ, V.1962, D171, f.23–26.

110. Minutes of the meeting of the party plenum on June 30 and July 1, 1961, in AQSH, F.14, OU, V.1961, D.31, f.324.

111. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tirana, June 1961. On the Assistance of the People’s Republic of China for the FYP 1961–65, in AMPJ, V.1961, D.168/2, f.24. See also Transcripts of the government, May 16, 1961, in AQSH, F.490, V.1961, D.24, f.3.

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Ylber Marku

Ylber Marku is a Cold War historian focused on the communist past of Albania, Albania’s relations with China, Eastern European history, expertise circulation during the Cold War, and the international communist movement during the 1960s. He has published, among others, with Cold War History, The International History Review and the Journal of Cold War Studies. He is currently working on several research articles concerning the international political and economic networks of communist Albania, as well as on a monograph on Sino-Albanian relations during the Cold War.