Communist Albania Wanted To Be Self-Reliant
Vložit
- čas přidán 13. 01. 2024
- For more information about the rise and life of Enver Hoxha, I recommend this book "Enver Hoxha: The Iron Fist of Albania" by Blendi Fevziu. It is fantastic: www.amazon.com/Enver-Hoxha-Ir...
Links:
- The Asianometry Newsletter: www.asianometry.com
- Patreon: / asianometry
- Threads: www.threads.net/@asianometry
- Twitter: / asianometry
It was found later that Enver Hoxha's elaborate system of mini-bunkers were and ideal environment for growing mushrooms. Produce is grown in abundance with the surplus being shipped to the finest restaurants in Milan.
Mushroom sauce with an aroma of Cold War Nuclear Holocaust Paranoia? I am in.
Hoxha's bunkers being used in a capitalistic pursuit to be sold to Italy of all countries must have him rolling in his grave. 😂
The dude was on shrooms... that explains so much!
If that's true that's crazy
You got to love a country with a King named Zog. What I remember of Albania is listening to Radio Tirana in the 1980s on shortwave telling us how the people live in paradise while the capitalist world is in decline.
King Zog betrayed Albania by selling out our country to Fascist Italy and fleeing the country like a country a few days before Italy invaded Albania in April 1939.
King Zog was a legend. He smoked over 200 cigarettes per DAY!
Yes, it's always amusing to see a renowned leader with an epithet for a name!
@@MomMom4Cubs Technically it's an acronym
Damn.All Hail Zog has a nice ring to it.@@RT-qd8yl
You forgot to mention that Albania was particulalry valuable to China because it was part of the UN. China used Albania to bring up the issue of Taiwan in the international scene and ended its recognision as the "True China"
China used to use Albanian flags on ships
A friend of mine played youth-league soccer in West Germany in the 80s when he was a teen. He told me that they once played an exhibition match against a team from Albania, and one of the Albanians defected. He told my friend that before going to Germany, government agents told them that all the wealth and prosperity they were going to see in West Germany was an elaborate capitalist deception created just to fool them. Imagine, all of West Germany making such an effort to deceive an Albanian youth soccer team, lol.
And they were wrong???
I mean you could have luxurious thirst trap cities like dubai or las vegas have severe human right abuses and violation of workers rights.
But it's true. The prosperity you experience in the more developed countries today is paid for by the suffering of people who are exploited. What's more, the fact that you can buy more stuff is used to make people less connected to each other - because they care a lot about what is "their own" and not what is common. Not to mention the fetishes people develop that are connected with having stuff or acquiring stuff. And not to mention the almost complete lack of political agency of most people, despite those countries being called "democracies".
Not saying Albania was in any way better, but the criticism is valid.
@@r0galik The point being that the kid was told that the elaborate deception was all done for the sake of his soccer team.
@@r0galikutter paranoid schizophrenic bollocks!
@@imagographics5096 NK does this elaborate things for some Tours ,
That's not Khrushchev in the picture with Stalin at 17:18. That is Soviet Marshall Georgy Zhukov.
You got an eagle eye !
I’m Albanian.
This was very good.
🇦🇱🇮🇱🇽🇰🇺🇸❤️
The name pronunciations were horrendous. He apologized for butchering a Yugoslav last name, but got the Albanian names 100 times more wrong 😆
Also it does not mention the PRIMARY reason for the Soviet-Albanian split. The Soviet Union basically wanted to reign in its authority, trying to lessen Albanian sovereignty. Hoxha didn't want to just be another Soviet satellite, he wanted Albanian autonomy within the Warsaw pact
This was well researched!
Who cares😂
Great summary here. As a sidenote, would have loved to see a mention of the stupendous amount of bunkers that were built during the Hoxa years, about 750,000 of them. Imagine what the money used to build them could have done to improve infrastructure.
It always surprises me how often conservatives live in constant fear and waste so many resources indulging in their fears, all the while believing everyone else has those same fears, when that belief is often not correct.
Lots of fear-based construction/waste is basically paranoia that they believe everyone is going through. It's really weird. American gun culture is a similar example. American gun nuts buy lots of guns for threats that they believe are way more prevalent than they are("I'm gonna get mugged everyday"), all the while ignoring the massive risks they're introducing(suicide, guns getting stolen, negligent discharges, kids dying, domestic violence, etc) and the money/time wasted on those firearms. It's really weird.
Turns out it was an enormous amount of waste at the time.
Imagine the irony if it is what makes Albania a post-climate-wars pinnacle of resilience and prosperity
what is there more to say about those bunkers, some of which were built in nonsensical locations without consideration for how they'd actually be used
@@b.6603 It's hard to see how. The vast majority are built to a design so small/low slung they aren't even decent sheds, and any future infrastructure would probably prefer purpose built concrete pads rather than repurposing often inconveniently placed bunkers. Most of the ones which could be repurposed have been.
Bunkers were more than just concrete buildings. When you are a truly SOVEREIGN NATION AND ALL AGGRESSIVE IMPERIALIST POWERS WANT TO OVERTHROW YOUR GOVERNMENT YOU WILL BUILD MILITARY AND DEFENSE CAPABILITIES.
Those bunkers were in case a major war erupted and we were against everyone the US, USSR and any major power. Despite all those flaws and mockery the US "spreading democracy" propaganda, we were not US asses.
Now that we are US slaves and neo colony and we got this amazing democracy and market economy I can see the dispair in people's eyes multifold more times than his regime.
A lot of fun stories come from the football teams that were the very frew who were allowed outside the country (because its big here). During the late 80 a team from Tirana went to spain for a match with Barcelona, as per usual they wernt allowed to do anything free, the funding was so little, that they brought food with them from Albania, bread and chees and some tomatoes, the only things they were allowed to eat. One day after practice they managed actually visit around the place, as per usual they were stunded. Just imagine a dozen of skinny tall elegante and fit dudes walking around in their uniforms(unchanged). When they pasted a restorant, the owner notticed that they where the team that would play against Barca. Fortunately for you, he said, i am a Real Madrid fan and as their rival i invite you to my restaurant. As one of the players said. I hadn't feasted in so much food and in so much diversity my entire life, it was devastating to see how my friend and I were brought to this level of hunger...
I mean...bread, cheese, and tomatoes at least they were bio from the village. Today you would pay 10 euros calling them a Greek salad.
On another note, due to inflation and the economic isolation from both West and East, there was a time in Albania that leaks were the most available product in the stores. People would invent all sorts of ideas to make a stew with leaks, burek with leaks, salad with leaks, snacks with leaks, aperitive with leaks🤣, except cakes.
There is also an expression in Albania today for someone that his head is not on his shoulders, and his feet are not on the ground.
We would say this person is flying with a leak in his a*s.
Very cool story but the team was Flamurtari from Vlorë not from Tirana
@@octomagnus7029 oh right the unbreakable team! Thanks for reminding me!!👍
It is an amazing story because Flamurtari beat Barcelona 1-0 in Vlore but Barca qualified. I have a friend from Vlora born on 2001 and he celebrates that match like a mad man even though it happened 20 years before he was born.
entire sports teams from other countries have escaped when abroad, why not them? :)
Ironically, this comes as Albania is having a moment, with record tourism, the main airport reaching twice its pre pandemic levels and its economy so strong that currency appreciation is actually an issue. Only took 35 years after the iron curtain collapsed...
@@RoHo702don't forget multiple wars and ethnic cleansings
@@derekhenschel3191 Years, if not decades in isolation under the highly authoritarian rule of an extremely vicious opportunist in Enver Hoxha can and will lead to significant scarring further down the road; scarring which takes considerable amounts of time to heal after the fact.
@@Iamwolf134yes lets blame it all on hoxha because pre communism albanians were the envy of the civilized world! 😂😂😂
I'm watching this from Albania.
I flew in on a whim because I didn't know much about the country. I plan to come back in the summer.
Self reliance is not a crazy idea..... in countries like Russia, China, USA, Brazil, etc.
And even then it is a hard sell
In countries like North Korea or Albania.... well, good luck
I laughed out loud at "As you might expect, the Chinese love affair did not last for very long"
Nothing chinese lasts
@@GodisMyNo1 sigh There always has to be some pointless racism in the comments section.
"But then he died, as humans unfortunately tend to do"
@@EuropeanQoheleth I was referring to the products that they make in China, not to chinese people. How is that r.acist if my comment is about products, not people?
@@GodisMyNo1 The great wall that lasted thousands of years begs to differ
As an Albanian myself im very surprised you touching upon this topic. Im curious how come you got into history of my country? I would suggest you to read the book called: Free, from Lea Yupi. Gives an interesting glimpse of what comes after as well. Great video. Very impartial datas are given. Much appreciated.
Albania is cool because GTA4 mentioned it when I was a kid and it was basically North Korea 2.0. Hoxha spending a big % of the GDP on concrete bunkers is insane.
Your country is becoming very popular with tourism a fast growing asset. The images of her landscape and beaches look a lot like Greece and its islands which are popular with (western) European holiday makers. Stay out of the EU though, in future years. If you can. Those beaurocrats in Brussels are nothing but trouble and everyone's trying to leave their little club.
Old German soccer players relayed a lot about Albania. Like how absolutely surreal it felt to be there. Those guys had travelled the world. Nobody has ever compared the conditions in, say, poorest Africa to Albania because Albania was so much worse, every last bit being purely self inflicted in a way. (Of course, of course, once you are under so wonderful a government, it is too late to change things, but still, there is always a part played by the nation - any nation to fall under something like this). I think everybody who has heard or read these soccer player accounts will be fascinated by Albanian history.
@@kevindurand3237 everyone being the UK that instantly regretted it.
I met an Albanian once and asked him what it was like under Communism. He said 'we thought we were the most luckiest people on earth until it ended and we realised how duped we were by the propaganda". He was laughing as he said it.
Misinformation at its finest. Yes, as someone who has lived under Socialism: We were tricked into giving that up.
.
The workers democratically controlled every space. Now we don't. Capitalism will once again cause World War and we will see new Socialist countries being born.
I hope one day USA citizens and all vassal state citizens realise how duped we have been by fascism
@@arostwocentscommie
@@arostwocents "America is LITERALLY FASCIST"
grow up
TBF, capitalists turned an already shit situation into a hellhole by driving the Albanian economy into bankruptcy through a national level Ponzi scheme right after communism collapsed there.
Fun fact - one of the mountain ranges in Albania goes by the name "Accursed Mountains".
Other fun fact apparently there was still some sacrifices to Zojz their equivalent of Zeus as late as 1900!
Albanians and Greeks same people same blood politics dived us so sad 😢@@williamboisdenghien2849
Why were they called that? were dead bodies thrown there?
@@rickv9180
The story goes that some mythical creatures called “shtojzovalle”, one day cursed and turned into stone a group of men who were passing by trying to attend a wedding in a nearby village. Since then, other passersby going through the mountain, have to say loudly “shtojzovalle”, which translates to “may God give increase to their dance”, referring to the mythical creatures, in order to be safe.
@@rickv9180 very harsh conditions, very wild and unaccessible. Like dolomites but much larger. Beautiful but dangerous too.
We lived in Albania for 1 year ....from Vlore to Schengjin .
Our most favorite people of Europe are the Albania.
Rakia & Peja camping at Plazh Dalan .................
Peja beer? It comes from Kosovo, actually geographically Metohija
@@aurelijekosovo is albania
@@blacks_life_doesnot_m..... Kosovo is Kosovo like Austria is not Germany. Will they unite in one country I have no clue but even then it will stay geographicaly Kosovo. Like Herzegovina in Bosnia and Montenegro and even a small part of Serbia is Herzegovina. Don't mix politics and geography. Kosovo to the Kosovo inhabitants!
@@aurelije so what if it comes from kosovo, kosovo is 98% Albanian and the owner of peja beer is Albanian also
@@speeddemon8977 beer has no ethnicity, if it had it woud probably be German or Czech. I am telling about geography. Video was about Albania and Peja is not in Albania. The beer factory used to be owned by their workers and now by one guy. Great change!
Albanian Alps is such a funny term, since both have the same Latin root word.
It's like saying "mountains from the land of mountains"
no, they're not.
@Fuddleton...and it becomes even more curious when you think that the real Latin tribes were called Alban people...who lived in Alba Longa around 1152 BC from which many of Rome's prominent patrician families descend, including that of the empreror Caesar (Julia gens)
It is kind of funny. But remember that this is an English name for the Dinaric Alps. In Albanian, they are referred to as, “Bjeshkët e Nëmuna” or, “The Cursed Highlands”.
The common theory is that they were cursed by invading armies, such as the Romans, Slavs and Ottomans, who never achieved full control of the mountains areas of Albania.
Asianometry said forget the Asian theme I'm just going to talk and make a video about topics I find interesting 😂😂😂😂 I respect that
Well, historically, up until the days of colonialism, Europe wasn't seen as much of a continent in its own right so much as a backwoods little peninsula of Asia.
@@hieronymusbutts7349no, that’s just modern American revisionism.
@@hieronymusbutts7349Source: "I just made it up"
@@peterfireflylund 😂
@@peterfireflylunddude the amount of trade, innovation, population in europe was tiny compared to asia. Even the romans had a huge trade deficit even though they controlled most of europe.
6:50 I would like to add that Yugoslavia too is often referred to as one of the countries who liberated itself
Another note: Its Zukhov at 17:22 not Khrushchev. Sorry for being a nerd.
*Khrushchov
Zushchev
@@LMB222 it's Kruščev, "ev" not "ov". Nikita Kruščev.
Shouldn't it be Хрущёв?@@AnnatarTheMaia
@@davidm8930 that would still be "Hrušev" with "ev", but it's missing the č: "Hruščev".
A country that tries to stand totaly alone falls totaly alone.
totalitarian alone
No country is an island, even australia, sadly it a continent.😂
Applies to person/people too
Standing alone was just a massive cope by Hoxha after his egotistic diplomacy totally isolated Albania.
Albania doesn't have much of a large land mass to be independent.
Comic-Con is serious business
Damm Commie-Con
Cosplaying Tito in Albania could earn you scandalous status.
One of my favourite countries in Europe. We did a road trip around most of the country this summer and really enjoyed it. Lots of beautiful places to see and friendly people. We never experienced any trouble with crime etc (though your mileage may vary) and you seem to get left alone a decent amount. Even in the tourist areas they are more laid back than places like Turkey and even some parts of Montenegro (which are probably their biggest competitors for tourism). That did however lead to what I can only call 'abuse' to some of their natural beauty. Tourists were taking liberties around some areas (especially Italians for some reasons) acting like they owned the place and in a manner that will eventually make these places worthless. Little consideration is given to protection of those places for future generations and it's truly open season for capitalism in those areas atm.
But there were still a lot of stunning places and we went about them respectfully in the hopes to preserve it for others to see and I loved the vibe in Tirana which seems to be a real up and coming city, new big buildings going up everywhere in the centre. I hope the Albanian people can benefit from all this extra tourism and trade and hope to see them make it into the EU, along with some of their neighbours we visited.
Self reliance was impossible for the third reich so it makes sense that a tiny country didn’t manage it. Even a huge country such as the USSR couldn’t truly achieve it. Yet I sometimes see individual people saying they are moving towards being self sufficient. It makes no sense to me. Trade and cooperation has always been essential. It makes everyone better off. It doesn’t matter if you are capitalist or socialist. You need trade and cooperation.
I think there's space for inter-societal self sufficiency that doesn't rely on global supply chain or global capitalism. Obviously no iphone under communist self sufficient society, but in terms of meeting basic needs, it could be doable. There's lots of really cool projects in this space to create sustainable self reliant technological solutions as well, look up the global village construction kit for example, they're publishing designs for every piece of equipment you'd need to build a village with farms and etc. Or look up the collapseOS people and that whole squad of tech prepper nerds, they do things like make microchips out of sand. No 6nm processors of course, but they can build working computers. Pretty cool space, and I think every country could stand to develop this self reliance a bit, so you don't end up like e.g. america addicted to foreign oil or whatever. Or with your defense sector crippled because someone in china ate a bat and now there's no chips anywhere.
that is pretty much the world we already live in since many countries keep key industries in their country. keeping out of international trade for ideological reasons seems silly and nationalistic to me.
There then lies the problem of capital flight, economic sanctions and embargos. The thinking goes the more self-sufficient you are, the less likely you are to be influenced by outside forces, especially with US at the head of western order and its itchy finger on the economic sanctions and color revolutions.
North Sentinel Island's indigenous community is as close it gets to truly independent self sufficiency. The Indian Navy enforces a 5 mile exclusion zone around the island.
They use bows and arrows to enforce their isolation when someone gets past the Indian Navy. It last happened in 2018 when an overzealous missionary violated their territory.
China is going for a path of disaster now?
I thank God that despite all the coruption problems still, beloved Albania is now a free independent democracy.Shume faleminderit !
I visited the island of Corfu back in '86.I took a boat trip around the island and sailed past the Albanian cost.Through binoculars I observed a small town,complete with mid-rise apartment blocks,sports fields etc but not a soul to be seen. At night you could hear distant artillery being fired .Also,at that time Greek TV reception on Corfu was poor but Albanian TV reception was very good but in B+W.Albanian TV programming was limited to news,sports,folk music and political speeches.I became intrigued with the place from that time but there was very little in English to read on Albanian history,😮 especially the Communist regime under Hoxha.
You are doing great work, sir. When I see one of your videos, I feel both smarter, and aware of new gaps in my knowledge.
As far as I am concerned, you are one of the heroes of CZcams.
I don't use these videos as my only source in conversation, but to people who are like "How do you know so much about the semiconductor industry?" I say to start with Asianometry.
The work you do is a positive force in my life. Thank you.
I'll check out the mech store. I don't usually rock any recognizable brands--even as a kid I wanted a plain lunchbox. . . . but you have earned my respect. I think more people should watch this fine work.
rb
Asianometry going global baby
I know it's a really complex and extremely touchy topic. But could you make a video about Taiwan & Mainland China relations, specially given the recent election? Two points I would find interesting to explore: 1) Independence vs Status Quo vs Unification sentiments within the Taiwanese population 2) Ignoring the politics, what are the realities of these relations on the ground in terms of trade (ex: many Taiwanese companies manufacture in China, how does it works?) and social exchanges (ex: do 'mixed' families exist?).
I agree would be cool video, but the answers are also pretty easy to find online, or just talk to taiwanese people. First off... don't call it "mainland china" lmao, just china or PRC, there is no "main land" of taiwan other than i guess the largest island with taipei and all the other major cities on it. As for independence vs status quote, polling shows that the vast majority of taiwanese (>90%) support the status quo, which is independence. Many fewer support changing the constitution to change the country name from ROC to Taiwan or do other explicit moves to remove claims to the PRC territories, but, there's a reason not even the KMT talks about unifaction anymore. Realities is many taiwanese move to shanghai for work because the pay is better, and tons of landlords here in taiwan are PRC citizens. But taiwanese identity gets stronger and more separate from chinese identity every year IMO, especially after COVID.
@@komali2 It is an interesting topic, I would say very unique, even more than for example North and South Korea. And it is also interesting how ordinary people found coexistence when governments didn't. Both sides were apart so long, they became a separate cultural identity. Even countries like Germany, which were shattered and later reformed, still have significant divides along the old lines (Germany is a special case anyway, because there is still strong local culture over federal, "German" culture). Taiwan/PRC case looks like the perfect libertarian case of "governments suck and people find their way by themselves".
These kind of videos are amazing. Thank you for making them.
I worked night shift with about 20 young Albanian men at a rubbish recycling facility just outside of London in the U.K for six months. Yes it was a very glamorous job sorting other people's waste for 10 hours a night,13 nights per fortnight, we had every second Sunday night off. There were about 160 working each night out in the rain, cold and filth. Most were Polish, African or Asian. Only two were English and I was the lone Australian. I spent my nights operating in a lovely warm, clean relatively new excavator while most everyone else had to stand beside a conveyor belt and literally pick shit and stuff out of the rubbish. To help prevent getting infections we often had to get injections from the company nurse, hepatitis, septicaemia, and so many more.
Two things really stood out about the young Albanian fellows, many or most had either gunshot or knife wounds, some got them when they were just kids. The other is they really hated me using the word ethic.
I was proud to be an immigrant in the U.K., as were many of my friends from Poland, South Africa, India, Lithuania and other countries. We had a habit of greeting each other with the phrase " hello ethnic " especially if there was someone from the U.K within hearing.
Good times
Some of that probably was because they came from a region of people killing each other in civil wars about ethnicity all the time. Not many countries have quite the same twisted sense of humor that Aussies do with the UK from being founded as a penal colony... 😉
Sounds more like ' shit times'
@@matthewhall5571 There's never been a civil war in albania. His comment is incoherent jibberish
@@alwynraynott7303There was a civil war, the subject of the early part of the video between Nationalists and Communists
@@bengaliinplatforms1268 It wasn't a civil war, but a struggle for power. It's like saying Italy had a civil war because the Fascists came to power. It's important to represent history correctly, and it's frankly annoying that you're replying to my comment by asserting a falsehood.
From the "North Korea of Europe" to a properous country that has a bright future with young hard working people! Albanians are hospitable people that went thru hard times in history. I remember going there when it just opened up in the 90's it was like going back into the past century.
In 1982 being a tourist in Europe i tried to visit Albania..ruled in those days by Enver Hoxha..found a consulate in Belgrad and applied for a tourist visa..they took my passport and make me wait almost 3 hours ..at last they flatly refused to issue a visit permit...without a reason...may be someday i will visit Albania..kind regards..👍👍🇸🇻
That is a difference between Yugoslavia, the land of freedom and Albania the prison of their own people
You should visit, in the last 10 years Albania has become a tourist hot spot they had more than 10 million tourists in 2023
@@georgeskanderbeg3242of course...may be some day...living in Latin America is not that easy..but it worth..no doubt about that...👍🇸🇻
@@aurelijeYugoslavia was a land of fake communist that sold their countries to the western capitalists. Something that Albania under Enver Hodxa never did. So I guess you mean a land of quasifree peasants that waged war on themselves.
the time is now 🙂, you should visit.
Your videos are so good. I relish watching them. Long may you continue. It's just such a good formula that you have developed. Very polished and unique.
Im an American of Albanian decent. This video seems really well done. It lines up with the family stories I've heard about hoxha and the complete ruin he brought.
Complete ruin? Dude, what stories did your family carry?
Albania is no longer the poorest country in Europe because Moldova started being counted. The country has one train line, none electrified. I'm sure there's a motorway now, but there was none for a long time.
The society is practically 1-2 generations after tribalism. Family feuds still replace the legal system.
Hoxha saved Albania from becoming an african 3rd world shithole if it did not do the miraculous reforms between 1945 till 1990. There were problems.
Even when the West brought democracy and market economy in 1990s they found a modest but modern state not a backwater as it was in 1945. And in these 30 years I see how many "good things" Albania has achieved more than bad things but if we are good and better than most of the world which were plundered by their western colonial masters its because Socialist Albania left its mark in history.
In post 1990s how many people have been killed in civil war in 1997 and all these years. How much in dispair is the common albanian population now 34 years after communism is gone. You cannot blame communism anymore for 34 years of failed democracy under US tutelage.
I welcome you to visit Albania and if you want you can get the Albanian citizenship by descent. But majority of those who left Albania do not want to turn back and most youth is leaving the country. This is not a good thing. Anyway. It is better than most countries in the world. We are not a big nation.
Greetings from Albania.
Përshëndetje nga Shqipëria.
@@G.S.30 Right On
@@LMB222 Most people, even across Western Europe, were really poor 70 years ago. Today, that's not the case, and the standard of living across Europe, even Eastern is fairly high. The country does have a railway though it does lack transportation infrastructure, but I wouldn't use that as a be all end all metric of gauging its economic situation, which is healthy though could be healthier.
5:29 and here I was thinking they were big fans of a certain Soviet submachine gun.
Dude, how could you not mention all the bunkers!
Very well-made and researched video. Extra points for going out of your way to get pronunciations of names as accurate as possible. Well done.
Wow, this is the most well produced piece of media on Bunker Man that I’ve ever seen brilliant!🔥🔥🔥
Meh not really he completely left out the constant attempts of the US Britain Italy Yugoslavia and Greece to infiltrate the country like in Operation Fiend basically justifying Hoxhas disdain towards everyone
That's Stalin and General Zhukov at 17:25. Khrushchev is the one in the car in the following picture (with Tito wearing glasses).
The history of Albania is fascinating. It probably would have been better for the people of Albania to join Yugoslavia or at least to keep cooperating with their neighbours.
No! the whole point of Albania braking with soviets and being fiercely independent with crazy military and defences was because of the antagonistic neighbours. Yugoslavia and Greece wanted to tear it up. Half of our nation was already outside its borders. The tiny new Albania couldn't afford to lose its autonomy.
Those were crazy times and Albania's deterrence worked. He wasn't all that crazy as people portray him to be today. There were concrete plans and agendas.
Stories of the communist era blow my mind every time. I can't believe such societies existed
I can't believe that there are still people who support these regimes...
@@user-bi7xd8ry5p Rose-colored glasses, mate. Nostalgia for an era that didn't exist because they remember the positives and have blocked out the horrors. It happens all the time unfortunately.
Existed? Cuba and North Korea are alive and well at this exact moment.
@@CausticLemons7 People in the future will think same about capitalism lauding citizen. Most, always live in rose tinted glasses.
@CausticLemons7 I can understand that, but I wasn't talking about these people. I was talking about the communists in the West.
I'm surprised Khrushchev, being a Communist and, therefore, atheist, used a Christian reference with the thirty pieces of silver remark.
Yes - until you remember that a murderous KGB terrorist now styles himself the defender of Christendom...
Culturally still Christian even if officially atheist. Just how Czechs still have laws derived from Christian morality and will understand references such as the pieces of silver.
*Khrushchov
russian language is filled with sayings from the bible. everyone uses them with no connection to christianity
Not all communists were atheists, in fact the USSR did allow a bunch of religious groups to stay in operation as long as they didn't go counter to the party line (which is less than ideal but better then nothing)
Great video for background sound. Very level and interesting. Great to listen to while tinkering.
I am amazed by your videos and breath of content and topics. I learn so much from your research. WOW!
If theres one thing that i can learn from Supplyvand Demand is that No Country in the world is a self reliant.
Holy smokes, you researched into detail, all the way to Milovan Đilas (pronounced "Geelas")! Outstanding work. Well done! Well done! (Loading Star Control...)
Fun fact: there’s a mall in Tirana called the Taiwan Center. Not sure why.
Taiwan donated the fountain to that mall and the name was a gesture to express the sympathy with the smaller nation being oppressed by big neighbour. Albania had the same experience from history.
Also the architecture of the building is similar to the old Chinese/Japanese buildings
No mall in Albania is called Taiwan. There is a cafeteria complex called Taiwan in Rinia Park. The reason why its called that is because right in that corner of the park there used to be a small coffee shop where people would go to hang out in Commie times. The corner of the park where the Cafe was would get quite muddy in winter and pools of water would surround it. During the times Taiwan news would come up quite often that people would watch at the Cafe and often it was regarding hurricanes and typhoons hitting Taiwan. The cafeteria didn't have a name so people started to call it "Taiwan" in slang because of these two circumstances.
Come the 90s and end of communism, the Park was littered with bars and clubs and each corner of the Park had a slang term where youngsters would go clubbing. That corner of the park was still remembered as the "Taivani" "Taiwan", So the owners of the new complex kept the name for the new business. Thats all.
Great video, very original and fascinating
I'll never look at Comic-Con the same way again...
Sure says a lot about your government and nation as a whole that a great achievement like self sufficiency in bread grain can actually “be believed” 😂😂😂
Thanks so much for your videos. I reallly appreciate all the work you put into them and I have learned so much from them. One tiny quibble on this video, the photo at 17:18 is of Stalin and Marshal Zhukov (not Khrushchev).
Very interesting video. Just a note: at 17:21, it is not Stalin and Khrushchev, it is Stalin and Zhukov.
"king Zog" sounds like a villam from a 60's sci fi movie
General Zod was one of Superman's arch enemies!
Amazing documentary. Thank you for this
"The liquidations will continue until morale improves." - Enver Hoxha probably
Another banger episode!
Another amazing video.
The “self reliance” years are a perfect mirror of what happened in the West for Spain between 1939 and late fifties when the isolation stopped and American aid started to come in exchange of military bases. My father remembers having to hunt forest rats to complete the diet.
Very well done and informative
“Utopias Elsewhere” has a fascinating chapter on Albania.
There was a story some years back that one of the staffers for the prime minister or president was driving an BMW X5 which had been stolen in Germany.
It is a beautiful country, but it is also a scary country to drive in - I was shocked to see the number of memorials at the mountain roads.
Excellent as always. Thank You. Incidentally, the photo about 17 minutes into the video was not Stalin & Khrushchev. It was Stalin & Zhukov. Small matter. Thanks again.
Thank you for this. Excellent.
17:22 that isn't Krushchev. That's Zhukov next to Stalin.
Interesting to learn from your video that the nationalist Albanians were allied with the Nazi; wasn’t aware of that before
As an Albanian currently living in Taiwan, let me praise you for well-detailed and holistic insights you provided. Even though there are some minor mistakes, but I commend you for the whole work. Awesome!
Thank you for this quality presentation. The absence of an AI voiceover and no annoying "background mood music" is awesome! 👍
Just to note King Zog I would be pronounced King Zog The First. Like King Charles III would be called King Charges the Third.
Shoutout to my buddy Albanian Dan and his British wife. 👍😎🇦🇺
great video!
Thank you for your videos! Here are some ideas for content: the rise of linux under tovald, the rise of Python as a programming language, network (e.g. DAG) of regional east-asian relations (taiwan-s.korea, taiwan-japan, taiwan-philippines, s.korea-japan,philippines-japan, hongkong etc.)
You didn't mention the bunkers the man had placed all over the country. I think most of them are still there. GREAT VIDEO!!!!!!!
He talked about them in another video a year or two ago.
@17:20 Stalin with Kruschev is incorrect, it is Stalin and marshal Zhukov. For one thing, unlike Stalin Kruschev rarely appeared in military uniform.
I knew very little about Albania, now I know a lot more, this is an excellent post, very informative well worth watching, thank you for what must have been a long time researching, greetings from Wales 🏴
17:19 isn't that Gregory Zhukov and not Khruschev ?
Love your videos, including this one.
However, I would like to correct something: Albania formally cancelled it's membership of the warshaw pact after the soviet union occupied czechoslovakia.
Regarding the comecon, they paused their membership and cancelled it in the end of the 80s.
Since you mentioned Sazan, the soviets hat 11 submarines there and after the breakup Albania kept 4 of them, considered them as albanian. Apart from threats, nothing happened and they kept them.
that's right
Babe, wake up! Albania joined Asia!
It joined the anti-revisionist bloc, if they were not so isolationist they too would have discovered the glory of the mangoes.
I occasionally heard Radio Tirana during my shortwave radio listening years. It was a nightly look into the mind of Enver Hoxha, which clearly failed to grasp reality. All other Eastern European shortwave stations seemed sensible in comparison to Radio Tirana. I loved Radio Moscow, Radio Sofia Bulgaria, and Radio Budapest. But, oh, Radio Tirana!
My favorite memory was a show that started with military music and the powerful rhythm of boots during marching. Then finally the announcer would introduce the show: _"The Working Man -- the Grave Digger of Capitalism."_ This was circa 1980, so a "revolutionary" movement failing to catch wind of the fact that women work too let leftists such as myself know that Stalin-inspired systems were nothing progressive.
The BBC reported about a listeners poll conducted by a magazine which ranked Radio Tirana Albania the worst shortwave station in the world. Sorry, Enver.
Excellent delivery. Very relaxing to listen to. Enjoyable channel. I'm all in.
While America was making it possible for every citizen to own a house and a car, Albania made it possible for every family to have their own bunker.
Yugoslavia achieved that too.
jealous? I'm sure every american would love to have their own bunker. 😂
Cars are overrated, I want my bunker!!
Enver Hoxha was a mass murderer I had family from there.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
17:19 Not that big a deal. But I believe that the picture is Stalin and General Zhukov.. Not Kruschev. The Soviet equivalent to General but not President Eisenhower,, eh
Correct. It is Stalin and Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhokov. Marshal of the Soviet Union is the equivalent to a 5 star general in the US.
Here is a picture of Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev, 1936. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_Stalin_and_Nikita_Khrushchev,_1936.jpg
When visiting Corfu in the early 80s, we were warned about Albania, not to enter it's territorial waters.
The title of the photo @17:20 is incorrect. The photo shows Stalin & Marshal Gregori Zhukov.
Great video, any plans to make one on Turkey?
Not gonna happen. His absent reflection on historical election in Taiwan tells a lot about his CCP alignment. And Turkey is an ally of Chinese communists.
It's Stalin and Zhukov at 17:26, not Stalin and Khrushchev :)
At 17:20 the picture shows Stalin and Zhukov, not Khruschchev
It was the hardest dictatorship in Europe. Our North Korea. Today the country is quite unrecognizable.
Albania was a true socialist (not communism, communism has never been achieved) Marxist Leninist state, sovereign from both NATO and Warsaw Pact. It thought for the people and inspired other people worldwide for their rights.
North Korea started as socialist. Kim il Sung was socialist, but then he and Kim Jong Il transitioned to Juche (Korean social ultranationalism or social fascism) with family monarchy.
But certainly even North Korea does not forget how the Korean wars, how many innocent died because of the West's trying to spread democracy.
Nor do the vietnamese.
So North Korea despite that brutal regime, does not want anyone to mess up with its internal affairs. Plus they are in good terms with Russia and China.
And saying this I do not support North Korea. They are a fascistic monarchist regime now. But I am sure even in South Korea who is hyperdeveloped (one of the few cases democracy and market economy worked) has its own problems.
@@G.S.30”it was not Communism. True Communism hasn’t been tried yet.” Moron.
@@G.S.30 lol
@@G.S.30
Fascism is communism's offspring.
@@G.S.30 What are you even saying? Try to read your comment back to yourself
2:45 "Kneel before Zog!"
Thats Stalin and Zhukov, not Jruschov in the pic at 17:20
@17:18, you sure that isn't Zhukov?
Great video, as always!
I wonder if the photo of Khruschev and Titon is actually Khruschev and Jhivkov, the Bulgarian communist dictator?
17:23. It’s Stalin and Zhukov.
The Albanian case is a poster child of a common thread along the former communist block in Europe -- the pursuit of rapid industrialization and maximum economic independence, combined with different degrees of isolation from the global markets, all under the rule of centrally planned economic policies of state run enterprises. It all ended with huge debts, mass corruption along the entire social strata, under-served civil sectors and bloated state apparatus. The moral of the story is, no country can be 100% "self-sufficient" in our industrialized civilization. Commerce, trade and international relations have to flow in and out for prosperity to benefit all the people.
The problem is that the damn peasants somehow KNOW that there is actual food in the other countries, and therefore they hate their government.
As an Albanian and history enthusiast, i must say this is a very well made review for a much debated topic here. Bravo!
Very shortly after the end of the communist rule, the new capitalist Albania was hit with an economic crisis propelled by a large financial swindle. I don't recall details, but it prompted a mass exodus from Albania, with large number of people stowing away on ships crossing to Italy. It created immediate fond memories of Enver Hoxha's system.
I read a National Geographic article on Albania circa 1979 which said Hoxha was popular among rural Albanians, citing the government's taking land from the absentee oligarchs, a move which improved the lives of small farmers, even with the privations of excess centralization.
Stalin was actually popular with many Russians, then and in retrospect, we must admit.
So was Hitler. People who praise tyrants either worked for or received financial favors from them.
Both my parents were born and lived all their first 35 years into this hell. My dad always reminded me that all his life he never actually filled his stomach with enough food. for 35 years.
Better then then now sold our country out too the west Albanians marrying outside disgrace
Yours should be the most thumbs up comment. Pro Hoxha cucks probably Party members lamenting the loss of their ill gotten gains.
You seriously didn't say that that is Kruschev 17:20
Where is the photo from 32:49 from?
17:18 haha! double check the guy to the right before calling him Khruschiov
Thanks for this. Very informative. I've always heard of Albania but in name only. Feel like its history should be taught in schools.
Then again, I suppose it's not surprising they don't generally teach kids about such a country, given it's quite the black eye for communism.
Great content
This was an excellent summary. I have learned a lot about one of Europe's least known countries.
Hoxha: "Stalin was the greatest human being to ever live, I learned everything I know from him."
Stalin: "Be lenient about religion, don't do anything drastic."
Hoxha : *proceeds to ban all religions*
They failed to accomplish the primary reason why Constantine legitimized them. Instead of unifying people, religions were used as means to justify wars.
Stalin used to be more anti religion prior to WW2 but was surprised that during the nazi invasion the Orthodox church rallied to him in the name of national salvation. So he became a bit more lenient in that regard.
in reality the Soviet Union was an idea copied and inspired by the Albanians of Egypt.... After defeating the Ottomans and the Mamluks, the Albanians mercenaries transformed Egypt a united country and into a regional power
@@BVargas78 USSR had similar problem as communist Poland. You cannot kill everybody who believes in God or worship him because then you end up with massive popular uprisings and/or no people. You can decimate clergy as a power structure but religion is much harder to uproot. And you have massive distances of the USSR, which means there would always be places where religion still has strong grip on people. Stalin was a very cynical man, so his "leniency" was very close to Hitler's or Mussolini's, tactical "wait and see" game, combined with undermining of The Church as much as possible.
Stalin deported and committed genocide against multiple Muslim groups and practically banned their culture what