Albania: From the Yugoslav Orbit Towards the Soviet Orbit
摘要
The Albanian leadership only became aware of Stalin’s March letter to Tito on April 23, 1948, while Eastern European communist politburos had already discussed and declared their solidarity with Moscow. Despite Stalin’s uncertainty about Albanian support, Enver Hoxha forcefully denounced all economic and military agreements with Yugoslavia, accusing the Yugoslav Communist Party of colonial exploitation and infringement of sovereignty. This denunciation revealed, first, that the union project had been a nightmare for the Albanian leadership and, second, the existential need to enter the Soviet orbit, accompanied by pledges of loyalty. Part of this theme is the complex issue of Kosova, following its historical marginalization and the failed promises during the war for self-determination. Hoxha’s later efforts to revive the Kosovo issue within the context of anti-Tito agitation reveal both nationalist aspirations and strategic opportunism. Finally, the chapter documents the fate of Yugoslav Cominformist émigrés in Albania, whose lives were shaped by surveillance, ideological indoctrination, and failed revolutionary ambitions.