Area Handbook for Albania Part 16

_Luftetari_ Ministry of Defense (The Warrior)

_Mesuesi_ Ministry of Education and Culture (The Teacher)

_Nendori_ Union of Albanian Artists and Writers (November)

_Pionieri_ Central Committee of the Union of (The Pioneer) Albanian Working Youth

_Rruga e Partise_ Central Committee of the Albanian (Party Path) Workers' Party

_Shqiperia e Re_ Committee for Foreign Cultural Relations (New Albania) (in Albanian, Chinese, English, French, and Russian)

_Shqiptarja e Re_ Union of Albanian Women (The New Albanian Woman)

_Sporti Popullor_ General Council of the Union of the (People's Sport) Federation of Sports of Albania

_Teknika_ Ministry of Industry (Technology)

_Tregetija Popullore_ Ministry of Commerce (People's Trade)

_Ylli_ Central Committee of the Albanian (Star) Workers' Party -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Adapted from _Europa Year Book, 1969_, London, pp. 457-458.

The Albanian Telegraphic Agency (Agjencia Telegrafike Shqipetare) is government controlled and the only source of news, both domestic and foreign. It supplies all national and local newspapers with news items, as well as radio stations and the single television station. The agency has agreements with foreign news agencies for the exchange of news items.

RADIO AND TELEVISION

The radio is another important instrument of political and social indoctrination. It was barely in existence when the Communist regime came to power. In 1945 there were only two radio transmitters in the entire country. Since that time the radio system has been developing rapidly, although it still lags behind the press. In 1969 there were fifty-two radio transmitters, and in 1968 there were 150,000 receivers.

The radio system is under the jurisdiction of the Directorate of Radiobroadcasting, which is under the Council of Ministers. In actuality, however, the Party is in control because the members of the directorate, as well as all personnel involved in radio broadcasting, are Party members.

All but eight of the transmitters are shortwave, which is indicative of the emphasis placed upon transmitting propaganda abroad. Broadcasts from mediumwave transmitters, however, are directed to the countries of Eastern Europe, parts of the Soviet Union, Italy, and some Arab countries. Shortwave is used for domestic programs in cases where the mountainous topography creates an obstacle to the mediumwaves.

There are only six radio stations in Albania (see table 9). Radio Tirana is the largest, with four mediumwave transmitters and forty-one shortwave transmitters. Radio Gjirokaster and Radio Korce each have only one mediumwave transmitter. Radio Kukes and Radio Shkoder each have one mediumwave and one shortwave transmitter. Radio Stalin has only one shortwave transmitter. Radio Tirana broadcasts all of the programs directed abroad and has the most powerful transmitter (50,000 watts) for domestic programs, whereas local transmitters usually have only 200-watt power. Quite possibly the local stations simply relay programs from Radio Tirana.

The domestic service is on the air 13- hours daily and 17 hours on Sundays. In 1969 domestic programs were scheduled between 4:30 and 7:00 A.M. and 11:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M. daily. The Sunday schedule was from 5:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M. Included in the domestic programs were twelve daily newscasts, children's programs, theatrical presentations, operettas, and other types of cultural programs.

Foreign broadcasting is done in seventeen different languages and on five beams directed to Latin America, North America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Besides Albanian, the foreign broadcasts are made in Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, and Spanish.

_Table 9. Albanian Radio Stations, 1969_

---------------------------------------------------------------------- Total Number of Station Transmitters Shortwave Mediumwave ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Radio Gjirokaster 1 ... 1 Radio Korce 1 ... 1 Radio Kukes 2 1 1 Radio Shkoder 2 1 1 Radio Stalin 1 1 ...

Radio Tirana 45 41 4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Adapted from Foreign Broadcast Information Service, _Broadcasting Stations of the World_, Part I: Amplitude Modulation Broadcasting Stations According to Country and City, Was.h.i.+ngton, September 1, 1969.

As late as the end of 1967 the Albanian government reportedly was not jamming broadcasts from abroad. This probably was not because of a relaxed att.i.tude on the part of the ruling elite; rather, it was more likely because of the lack of technology necessary for jamming operations and the expense involved.

In 1964 the Albanian government published statistics on the distribution of radio receivers by social composition. The categories of "workers,"

"employees," and "peasants" were not explicated; however, it can be a.s.sumed that workers refer to blue-collar workers or manual laborers and that employees refer to white-collar workers or office, administrative, and professional personnel. In 1963, out of a total of 70,913 radio receivers, 28,672 were owned by workers, 30,391 were owned by employees, and 6,303 were owned by peasants. Clubs and inst.i.tutional enterprises held 1,236 receivers, and 4,311 were listed under the heading "other."

The Albanians opened their first television station for experimentation in May 1960. At the end of 1969 they were still experimenting, transmitting programs three times a week. The government had reportedly asked the French to install a television network at the end of 1969. At that time there were about 2,100 television receivers in the country.

BOOK PUBLIs.h.i.+NG AND LIBRARIES

There were three book-publis.h.i.+ng enterprises in 1970, all of which were located in Tirana. Ndermarja e botimeve ushtarake (Enterprise for Military Publications) was operated by the Ministry of National Defense.

N.I.S.H. Shtypshkronjave "Mihal Duri" (State Printer "Mihal Duri") was operated by the Party, and Shtepia Botonjese "Naim Frasheri" (State Publis.h.i.+ng House "Naim Frasheri") was directed by the Ministry of Education and Culture. Ndermaja Shteterore Tregetimit te Librit (The Book Selling State Enterprise), located in Tirana, had a monopoly over the distribution of books under the direction of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

According to official Albanian statistics, there were 628 books published in 1967, with a total of 5,605,000 copies printed. This is a great increase over the number published in 1938: 61 books with a total of 183,000 copies printed.

According to the latest statistics available, a total of 502 books were published in 1965, of which 110 were literary works. Another 197 dealt with the social sciences; 42, with philology; 61, with pure science; 47, with the applied sciences; and 24, with geography and history. It was not indicated how many of these t.i.tles were first editions or how many were translations. In 1966, 140 translations from abroad were published, of which 72 dealt with the social sciences, 57 were literary works, 10 were pure science books, and 1 dealt with applied science.

Because books are an additional channel for propaganda, foreign works to be translated into Albanian are carefully scrutinized. Literary works must be of the sort that portray the ills and conflicts within capitalist societies. Often, although a literary work might be generally ideologically acceptable, parts of it are unacceptable. In such cases, the book is carefully edited and abridged before publication in the Albanian language is permitted.

Scientific and technical literature from abroad, on the other hand, is actively sought for translation. On December 21, 1967, the Council of Ministers issued a decision "On the a.s.surance, Publication, Organization, and Ma.s.sive Utilization of Technical-Scientific Literature" from abroad. In this decision, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was called upon to devise new ways for obtaining such literature through its emba.s.sies and through international organizations. Once the foreign works are obtained, the decision stresses that their translations must be of the best quality. Such translations are done under the direction of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

There are numerous libraries of varying sizes throughout the country.

Official sources report that in 1967 there were twenty-nine people's libraries with a total of 1,367,000 volumes, compared with only five such libraries in 1938 with a total of 12,000 volumes. The largest of these libraries is the National Library in Tirana, which in the late 1960s had 450,000 volumes. The second largest library is the University Library, also in Tirana, which in the late 1960s had 321,680 volumes and 19,640 periodicals.

Each district has at least one library. The local libraries are on a much smaller scale than those in Tirana in terms of their total number of volumes. In addition to the district libraries, there are several hundred houses of culture, cultural circles, and clubs that subscribe to the libraries in order to make books more accessible to the population.

CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Intellectual and Artistic Expression

In 1944, when the Communist regime came to power, there was little or no heritage in the various areas of cultural activity--literature, music, drama, or painting and sculpture--upon which the Communist leaders could build. Since the end of World War II, however, a consistent effort has been made to foster the growth of an Albanian cultural tradition and to generally raise the cultural level of the people. Writers and artists are supported by the state, and cultural inst.i.tutions have been established throughout the country to ensure maximum cultural exposure of the ma.s.ses. In 1967 there were 35 houses of culture in cities, 395 in villages, and 1,266 cultural circles throughout the country. In addition, there were 24 national museums and 25 local museums.

The various cultural inst.i.tutions sponsor plays, concerts, and literary readings; subscribe to libraries; arrange trips to museums; and direct other such activities. Often courses in the arts, such as music lessons, are conducted. The activities of the houses of culture and the cultural circles are not restricted to cultural recreation, however. They also have been a.s.signed the general task of educating the ma.s.ses.

Special cadres of culture are trained to direct the cultural inst.i.tutions. Their preparation extends beyond the realm of culture to Marxism-Leninism, however, and they are generally trained to enable them to become involved in all aspects of the life of the community. The various cultural inst.i.tutions, while genuinely serving to expose the ma.s.ses to culture, are also important instruments of political and social indoctrination.

In practice, the principles of socialist realism require that literary and artistic works actively promote the goals of the Party and reflect Communist ideology. Besides generally being "a weapon for the education of the new man with the ideals of socialism and the principles of Communist morality," literature, drama, music, and art must inspire nationalism and allegiance to the Party and stimulate the people to work toward fulfillment of Party plans, whether they are in the economic or the social spheres. The criterion used to evaluate cultural works is the degree to which they further the goals of the Party and socialist development.

In conjunction with the initiation of the Cultural Revolution, Enver Hoxha expounded upon the vital role of the various aspects of culture in a speech to the Fifth Congress of the Albanian Workers' Party in November 1966. The task set by the Party is that "literature and art should become a powerful weapon in the hands of the Party for the education of the working people in the spirit of socialism and communism; that literature and art should stand at the vanguard of the struggle for the education of a new generation ideologically and morally pure; that all artistic creation should be of a high ideological level and be permeated by both the Party's militant revolutionary spirit and a healthy national spirit."

Such demands have been made of authors, artists, and musicians since the inception of the Albanian People's Republic. Since 1966, however, when the Cultural Revolution was initiated, the importance of culture has received greater emphasis and the demands for ideological purity of all creative works have increased. The Cultural Revolution was still in motion as of the early months of 1970.

The dominant themes of Albanian culture under communism have concerned the history of Albania, the struggle of the Communist-led partisans during the War of National Liberation, and the transformation of the backward, superst.i.tious society into one that is modern and governed by progressive, socialist principles. In the mid-1960s, however, the Party called upon writers and artists to go beyond these themes and to portray the contemporary struggles for the creation of socialism. Party guidance stipulates that it is not enough to describe the past struggles and achievements. The ongoing hards.h.i.+ps faced by the peasants and workers must be reflected in artistic works. The heroes are to be workers, peasants, and engineers, as well as the partisans.

Throughout the period of the Cultural Revolution, artists and writers have been going to the mountain villages, industrial centers, and agricultural cooperatives to live for varying lengths of time. Living and working with the people provides the writers and artists with insights into the life and problems that the various types of people must face. These experiences are designed to help them create themes that reflect the contemporary developments more accurately and to make cultural works more relevant to the ma.s.ses.

Given the influential role of culture in society, it was imperative that the Party establish strict control over all creative activities.

Authors, dramatists, musicians, and artists must belong to the Union of Artists and Writers. This organization is nominally independent of the Party, but in reality it is firmly under Party control. Another source of control is the Ministry of Education and Culture, which has close ties with the Directorate of Education and Culture under the Politburo of the Party. Furthermore, all individuals involved in cultural pursuits are dependent upon the state for their income as well as for the financing of their various projects.

The twofold task of the Party leaders in the cultural field--that of fostering cultural development while maintaining control over the content of the cultural works--was difficult in many respects and easy in others. The lack of a firmly established tradition in many cultural fields, as well as the lack of a substantial cultural community, facilitated the establishment of Party control. Writers and artists who received their training under the Party's tutelage know only the socialist realist approach. On the other hand, the lack of experience and personnel in many fields, such as drama, meant that the developments in these areas would be slow. Furthermore, the leaders were dependent first upon the Yugoslavs and, after 1948, on the Soviets to train people in the areas that were totally lacking in Albania's cultural heritage.

The paucity of artistic and intellectual achievements, compared with those of other nations throughout the world, was basically the result of Albania's long history of foreign domination and of the rugged topography of the country, which facilitated the isolation of many communities for centuries. During the several centuries of Turkish rule, the Albanians were forbidden to develop a written language. Furthermore, there were no schools that conducted cla.s.ses in the Albanian language; there were only Turkish schools for the Muslim population and Greek schools for the Orthodox population. To compound these difficulties, there are two major dialects of Albanian--Geg, spoken in the north, and Tosk, in the south. Albania did not have a uniform alphabet until November 1908, when a congress of intellectuals agreed upon the use of the Latin alphabet. It was not until the Communist regime came to power that it was decided that Tosk would be the official literary dialect (see ch. 2, Historical Setting; ch. 3, Physical Environment; ch. 4, The People).

An additional obstacle to the development of a substantial intellectual and artistic community and tradition was the fact that until 1957 there were no universities in the country. The State University of Tirana, Albania's only university, was not established until that year. Before World War II Albanian students went abroad, primarily to Western Europe, in the pursuit of higher education. After World War II students were usually sent to the Soviet Union or other Eastern European countries to attend universities and other inst.i.tutions of higher learning (see ch.