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{{Short description|Ruling party of Albania from 1945 to 1991}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox political party
| colorcode = {{party color|Party of Labour of Albania}}
| name = Party of Labour of Albania
| native_name = Partia e Punës e Shqipërisë
| native_name_lang = sq
| logo = Partia e Punës e Shqipërisë.svg
| logo_size = 250px
| leader1_title = First Secretary
| leader1_name = {{ubl|class=nowrap|[[Enver Hoxha]] (first)|[[Ramiz Alia]] (last)}}
| foundation = {{start date|1941|11|08|df=yes}}
| dissolution = {{end date|1991|06|13|df=yes}}<ref>{{cite book|author-first=Robert |author-last=Elsie |author-link=Robert Elsie |date=2010 |title=Historical Dictionary of Albania |publisher=[[Scarecrow Press]] |pages=422}}</ref>
| international = [[Cominform]] (1947–1956)
| successor = [[Socialist Party of Albania|PSSh]]<br />[[Communist Party of Albania (1991)|PKSh]]
| headquarters = [[Tirana]]
| newspaper = {{lang|sq|[[Zëri i Popullit]]}}
| youth_wing = [[Labour Youth Union of Albania]]<br />[[Pioneers of Enver]]
| national = [[Democratic Front of Albania]]
| flag = [[File:Flag of Party of Labour of Albania.svg|250px]]
| membership = 147,000
| membership_year = 1986
| wing1_title = Military wing
| wing1 = [[National Liberation Movement (Albania)|National Liberation Movement]] (1942–1945)
| ideology = {{ubl|class=nowrap
| [[Communism]]
| [[Marxism–Leninism]]
| [[Stalinism]]
| [[Hoxhaism]]
| [[Anti-revisionism]]
}}
| position = [[Far-left politics|Far-left]]
| colours = {{Color box|{{party color|Party of Labour of Albania}}|border=darkgray}} [[Red]]
| country = Albania
}}

The '''Party of Labour of Albania''' ('''PLA'''),{{efn|{{lang-sq|Partia e Punës e Shqipërisë}}. Abbreviated in Albanian as ''PPSh''.}} also referred to as the '''Albanian Workers' Party''' ('''AWP'''), was the [[Ruling party|ruling]] and [[One-party state|sole legal party]] of [[Albania]] during the [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|communist period]] (1945–1991). It was founded on 8 November 1941 as the '''Communist Party of Albania''' ({{lang|sq|Partia Komuniste e Shqipërisë}}, '''PKSh''') but changed its name in 1948. The party was dissolved on 13 June 1991 and succeeded by the [[Socialist Party of Albania]]. For most of its existence, the party was dominated by its First Secretary, [[Enver Hoxha]], who was also the ''de facto'' leader of Albania.<ref name="Kryeministrat dhe ministrat e shtetit shqiptar në 100 vjet">{{cite book|title=Kryeministrat dhe ministrat e shtetit shqiptar në 100 vjet|last=Dervishi|first=Kastriot|year=2012|publisher=Shtëpia Botuese "55"|location=Tiranë|isbn=978-9994356225|pages=272|oclc=861296248 |url= https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/861296248}}</ref>

==Background==
In the 1920s, Albania was the only Balkan country without a communist party. The first Albanian communists emerged from the followers of Albanian clergyman and politician [[Fan S. Noli]]. Once in Moscow, they formed the National Revolutionary Committee and became affiliated to the [[Comintern]]. In August 1928, the first Albanian Communist Party was formed in the Soviet Union. The most prominent figure of the party was [[Ali Kelmendi]] who left Albania in 1936, to fight in the [[Spanish Civil War]]. He was later regarded as the leader of a small group of Albanian Communists in France. However, no unified organisation existed in Albania until 1941.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Krasniqi |first1=Afrim |title=Sistemet Politike në Shqipëri (1912–2008) |publisher=Shtypshkronja "EMAL" |location=Tiranë |isbn=978-99956-19-36-7 |edition=2nd}}</ref>

==History==
===World War II===
Following the [[Operation Barbarossa|German attack on the Soviet Union]] in June 1941, Yugoslav leader [[Josip Broz Tito]] under Comintern directives sent two Yugoslav delegates [[Miladin Popović]] and [[Dušan Mugoša]] to Albania. These two helped unite the Albanian communist groups in 1941.<ref>{{cite book|title=Komunist: organ Centralnog komiteta KPJ. |language=sr |trans-title=Communist: a body of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7rM4AQAAIAAJ |year=1949 |publisher=Borba |quote=Дугим радом и убеђивањем на састанцима с појединцима и с по двојицом-тројицом, другови Миладин Поповић и Душан Мугоша сломили су групашки отпор код већине албанских другова. Они су успели да их убеде како је Партија неопходна радпим масама у њи- ховој борби за ослобођење од капиталистичке експлоатације и импе- ријалистичког поробљавања. Тај рад довео је до састанка 8 новем- бра 1941 године, на коме је било присутно преко двадесет{{nbsp}}... |trans-quote=With long work and persuasion at meetings with individuals and with two or three, comrades Miladin Popović and Dušan Mugoša broke the group resistance of most Albanian comrades. They succeeded in convincing them that the Party was necessary for the working masses in their struggle for liberation from capitalist exploitation and imperialist enslavement. This work led to a meeting on 8 November 1941, which was attended by over twenty{{nbsp}}...}}</ref> After intensive work, the Albanian Communist Party was formed on 8 November 1941 by a delegates from [[Shkodër]] with Enver Hoxha from the [[Korçë|Korça]] branch as its leader.<ref>{{cite book|author-first=Miranda |author-last=Vickers |title=The Albanians: A Modern History |publisher=IB Tauris |location=New York |date=1995 |isbn=978-1850437499}}</ref>

The PKSh was the dominant element of the [[National Liberation Movement (Albania)|National Liberation Movement]] (LNC), formed in 1942. The LNC drove out the German occupiers (who had taken over from the Italians in 1943) on 29 November 1944. From that day onward, Albania was a full-fledged [[People's Republic of Albania|Communist regime]]. In every other Eastern European country, the Communists were at least nominally part of a coalition government for a few years before seizing power at the helm of out-and-out Communist regimes. [[Zog I of Albania|King Zog]] was barred from ever returning to Albania, though the monarchy was not formally abolished until January 1946.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Omari |first1=Luan |title=Sistemi Parlamentar |date=2000 |publisher=Botimet "Elena Gjika" |location=Tiranë |isbn=9789992769836 |pages=238}}</ref>

In the [[1945 Albanian parliamentary election|elections for the Constituent Assembly held on 2 December 1945]], voters were presented with a single list from the [[Democratic Front of Albania|Democratic Front]], organised and led by the PKSh. The Front received 93.7% of the vote.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

===Hoxha era (1945–1985)===
In a meeting with [[Joseph Stalin]] in July 1947 Stalin suggested the party be renamed to the "Party of Labour of Albania" because peasants were a majority in the country. Hoxha accepted this suggestion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hoxha/works/stalin/meet1.htm |title=Enver Hoxha: 'With Stalin – Memoirs from my Meetings with Stalin.' |date=1981}}</ref>

Under Hoxha, the party became the most rigidly [[Anti-revisionism|anti-revisionist]] party in the [[Soviet Bloc]]. In 1961, Hoxha [[Soviet-Albanian split|broke with Moscow]] over [[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s supposed deviations from fundamental principles of Marxism-Leninism, though relations between Tirana and Moscow had begun to chill as early as 1955.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Halliday |editor-first=J. |author-first=Enver |author-last=Hoxha |author-link=Enver Hoxha|title=The Artful Albanian: The Memoirs of Enver Hoxha |location=London |publisher=Chatto & Windus Ltd |year=1986 |isbn=9780701129705}}</ref> Hoxha opted instead to align with the [[People's Republic of China]] under [[Mao Zedong]]. In 1968, Albania formally withdrew from the [[Warsaw Pact]]. The party even went as far as to engineer an [[Cultural and Ideological Revolution|Albanian version]] of China's [[Cultural Revolution]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Buda |first1=Aleks |title=Fjalori Enciklopedik Shqiptar |date=1985 |publisher=Akademia e Shkencave e RPSSH |location=Tiranë |pages=1245}}</ref>

After [[Death and state funeral of Mao Zedong|Mao's death]], the PKSh [[Sino-Albanian split|felt increasing chagrin]] as Mao's successors [[Chinese economic reform|moved away]] from his legacy. In 1978, Hoxha declared that Albania would blaze its own trail to a socialist society.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

Hoxha led the party and state more or less without resistance until his death in 1985.

===Post-Hoxha (1985–1991)===
Hoxha's successor, [[Ramiz Alia]], was forced to initiate gradual reforms in order to stop the country's economic downspiral. However, in late 1989, various elements of society began to speak out against the restrictions still in place. The execution of [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romanian]] dictator [[Nicolae Ceauşescu]] led Alia to fear he would be next. In response, he allowed Albanians to travel abroad, ended the regime's longstanding policy of state atheism, and slightly loosened government control of the economy. However, these measures only served to buy Alia more time. Finally, bowing to the inevitable, on 11 December 1990, Alia announced that the PPSh had abandoned power and legalised opposition parties. The PPSh won the [[1991 Albanian Constitutional Assembly election|Constitutional Assembly elections of 1991]]. However, by then it was no longer a Marxist-Leninist party, and was powerless to prevent the adoption of a new interim constitution that formally stripped it of its monopoly of power.

In 1991, the PPSh dissolved and refounded itself as the social-democratic [[Socialist Party of Albania]], which is now one of the two major political parties in Albania. A group called "Volunteers of Enver", led by [[Hysni Milloshi]], laid claim to the identity of the PPSh as the [[Communist Party of Albania (1991)|Communist Party of Albania]].

==Structure==
The ideology of the PPSh was an [[Anti-revisionism|anti-revisionist]] variant of [[Marxism-Leninism]] known as [[Hoxhaism]]. The party organisation was built up following [[democratic centralism|democratic centralist]] principles, with Hoxha as its First Secretary. Article 3 of Albania's 1976 Constitution identified the Party as the "leading political force of the state and of the society." To help carry out its ideological activities it had an associated mass organization known as the [[Democratic Front (Albania)|Democratic Front]]. Its daily publication was {{lang|sq|[[Zëri i Popullit]]}} (Voice of the People) and its monthly theoretical journal was {{lang|sq|Rruga e Partisë}} (Road of the Party).

The highest organ of the Party, according to the Party statutes, was the Party Congress, which met for a few days every five years. Delegates to the Congress were elected at conferences held at the regional, district, and city levels. The Congress examined and approved reports submitted by the Central Committee, discussed general Party policies, and elected the Central Committee. The latter was the next-highest level in the Party hierarchy and generally included all key officials in the government, as well as prominent members of the [[Sigurimi]]. The Central Committee directed Party activities between Party Congresses and met approximately three times a year.

As in the Soviet Union, the Central Committee elected a [[Politburo of the Labour Party of Albania|Politburo]] and a [[wikt:secretariat|Secretariat]]. The Politburo, which usually included key government ministers and Central Committee secretaries, was the main administrative and policy-making body and convened on a weekly basis. Generally, the Central Committee approved Politburo reports and policy decisions. The Secretariat was responsible for guiding the day-to-day affairs of the Party, in particular for organising the execution of Politburo decisions and for selecting Party and government cadres.

==First Secretaries of the Party of Labour of Albania==
*Enver Hoxha (8 November 1941–11 April 1985)
*Ramiz Alia (13 April 1985–13 June 1991)

==External following==
The staunchly orthodox stand of the PPSh attracted many political groupings around the world, particularly among [[Maoist]]s who were not content with the [[Communist Party of China]]'s attitude in the late 1970s. A large number of parties declared themselves to be in the "PPSh line", especially during the period 1978–1980. However, many of them abandoned this certain affiliation after the fall of the socialist government in Albania. Today, many of the political parties upholding the political line of the PPSh are grouped around the [[International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations (Unity & Struggle)|International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations]].

The following parties were followers of the PPSh during the Cold War:
*[[Communist Party of Denmark/Marxist–Leninists]]<ref name="Hobday1986">{{cite book|author-last=Hobday |author-first=Charles |author-link=Charles Hobday |title=Communist and Marxist Parties of the World| year=1986 |publisher=Longman |location=Harlow |pages=410–411 |isbn=9780582902640}}</ref>
*[[Workers' Communist Party of France]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Communist Party of Germany/Marxists–Leninists]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist)]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist–Leninist)]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Communist Movement M-L]] (Iceland)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist–Leninist)]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Communist Party of Italy (Marxist–Leninist)]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Portuguese Communist Party (Reconstructed)]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Communist Party of Spain (Marxist–Leninist) (historical)]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Communist Party Marxists-Leninists (revolutionaries)]] (Sweden)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Communist Party of Benin]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Houngnikpo |first1=Mathurin C. |last2=Decalo |first2=Samuel |title=Historical Dictionary of Benin |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0yGPTsRubWEC&pg=PA282 |edition=Fourth |year=2013 |publisher=The Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham |isbn=978-0-8108-7171-7 |page=282 |chapter=Parti Communiste du Bénin (PCB)}}</ref>
*[[Voltaic Revolutionary Communist Party]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Union for People's Democracy]] (Senegal)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist)]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Marxist–Leninist Popular Action Movement]] (Nicaragua)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Communist Party of Trinidad and Tobago]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Communist Party of Brazil]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Peruvian Communist Party – Red Flag]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Revolutionary Vanguard (Communist Proletarian)]] (Peru)<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Communist Party of Suriname]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Communist Party of New Zealand]]<ref name="Hobday1986"/>
*[[Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey]]

==Friendship Associations==
Various friendship associations were also formed by international Communist sympathizers who supported the Party:
*[[China–Albania Friendship Association]]
*[[Soviet–Albanian Friendship Society]]
*[[USA–Albania Friendship Association]]
*[[Friendship Association Norway–Albania]]
*[[Spain–Albania Friendship Association]]
*[[Swedish–Albanian Association]]

==Electoral history==

===Parliamentary elections===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!Election
!Party leader
!Votes
!%
!Seats
!+/–
!Position
!Government
|-
|[[1945 Albanian parliamentary election|1945]]
|rowspan=10|[[Enver Hoxha]]
|colspan=2 rowspan=11|{{small|as part of [[Democratic Front of Albania]]}}
|{{Composition bar|82|82|hex={{party color|Party of Labour of Albania}}}}
|{{increase}} 82
|{{increase}} 1st
|{{yes2|Sole legal party}}
|-
|[[1950 Albanian parliamentary election|1950]]
|{{Composition bar|121|121|hex={{party color|Party of Labour of Albania}}}}
|{{increase}} 39
|{{steady}} 1st
|{{yes2|Sole legal party}}
|-
|[[1954 Albanian parliamentary election|1954]]
|{{Composition bar|134|134|hex={{party color|Party of Labour of Albania}}}}
|{{increase}} 13
|{{steady}} 1st
|{{yes2|Sole legal party}}
|-
|[[1958 Albanian parliamentary election|1958]]
|{{Composition bar|188|188|hex={{party color|Party of Labour of Albania}}}}
|{{increase}} 54
|{{steady}} 1st
|{{yes2|Sole legal party}}
|-
|[[1962 Albanian parliamentary election|1962]]
|{{Composition bar|214|214|hex={{party color|Party of Labour of Albania}}}}
|{{increase}} 26
|{{steady}} 1st
|{{yes2|Sole legal party}}
|-
|[[1966 Albanian parliamentary election|1966]]
|{{Composition bar|240|240|hex={{party color|Party of Labour of Albania}}}}
|{{increase}} 26
|{{steady}} 1st
|{{yes2|Sole legal party}}
|-
|[[1970 Albanian parliamentary election|1970]]
|{{Composition bar|264|264|hex={{party color|Party of Labour of Albania}}}}
|{{increase}} 24
|{{steady}} 1st
|{{yes2|Sole legal party}}
|-
|[[1974 Albanian parliamentary election|1974]]
|{{Composition bar|250|250|hex={{party color|Party of Labour of Albania}}}}
|{{decrease}} 14
|{{steady}} 1st
|{{yes2|Sole legal party}}
|-
|[[1978 Albanian parliamentary election|1978]]
|{{Composition bar|250|250|hex={{party color|Party of Labour of Albania}}}}
|{{steady}}
|{{steady}} 1st
|{{yes2|Sole legal party}}
|-
|[[1982 Albanian parliamentary election|1982]]
|{{Composition bar|250|250|hex={{party color|Party of Labour of Albania}}}}
|{{steady}}
|{{steady}} 1st
|{{yes2|Sole legal party}}
|-
|[[1987 Albanian parliamentary election|1987]]
|rowspan=2|[[Ramiz Alia]]
|{{Composition bar|250|250|hex={{party color|Party of Labour of Albania}}}}
|{{steady}}
|{{steady}} 1st
|{{yes2|Sole legal party}}
|-
|[[1991 Albanian parliamentary election|1991]]
|1,046,120
|56.17 (#1)
|{{Composition bar|169|250|hex={{party color|Party of Labour of Albania}}}}
|{{decrease}} 81
|{{steady}} 1st
|{{yes2|Majority}}
|}

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== See also ==
*[[Democratic Front of Albania]]
*[[History of Albania]]
*[[Fall of communism in Albania]]
*[[Eastern Bloc politics]]
*[[Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania]]

==References==

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last1=Krasniqi |first1=Afrim |title=Partitë politike në Shqipëri: 1920-2006: Historia dhe tiparet e partive, të parlamenteve dhe të zhvillimeve politike |date=2006 |publisher=Eurorilindja |location=Tiranë |isbn=99943-861-1-5 |language=sq}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*[http://ciml.250x.com/archive/pla.html Documents of the Party of Labour of Albania]
*[http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hoxha/works/nov1961.htm A speech delivered by E. Hoxha commemorating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the PPSh]

{{Albanian political parties}}
{{Eastern Bloc parties}}
{{Pro-Albanian communist parties}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Labour Party of Albania| ]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in Albania]]
[[Category:Communist parties in Albania]]
[[Category:Comintern sections|Albania]]
[[Category:Stalinist parties]]
[[Category:Hoxhaist parties]]
[[Category:Anti-revisionist organizations]]
[[Category:Parties of one-party systems]]
[[Category:People's Socialist Republic of Albania]]
[[Category:Formerly ruling communist parties]]
[[Category:Eastern Bloc]]
[[Category:1941 establishments in Albania]]
[[Category:1991 disestablishments in Albania]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1941]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1991]]

Party of Labour of Albania - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article