UNDER IRON FIST
(For those wishing for tougher hands)
Communist regimes give birth to dictators. In the name of ensuring national security, dictators hoard state power by selecting foreign countries as enemies, banning dissidents and opposition parties, and eliminating rivals within their parties.
They formulate a “theory” to rule the country, and cause bankruptcy by dedicating the entire economy to the military under the name of security. The people fall into poverty and starve. The main culprits are, of course, foreign and domestic enemies. They rule with an iron fist by spying on enemies, persecuting, and punishing them, exiling them, imprisoning them, and executing them. An elite class with fancy names such as the Politburo and the Supreme Governing Council will be formed, which leads to towns, places, special stores, hospitals, resorts, and even vehicles being created for their use. Their children marry each other and form a “special” class in the society.
The dictator establishes and strengthens special forces to detecting enemies and prosecuting them in an effort to ensure their privilege and safety. By instilling fear in the country, the cult of personality fully becomes above-the-law, absolute “monarch”. They are eventually removed in a coup d’état, but some are rule until death. When a tyrant dies, the country enters an orchestrated phase of exaggerated wailing and mourning. Soon, the hatred for them becomes clear. Even their remains are dumped in another place. Their descendants live amid disgust and resentment of the people.
This pattern and roadmap have been the case for many countries. The list includes USSR, China, Mongolia, Romania, Albania, North Korea, Cuba and many others. The list certainly will not end now.
Albania under Enver Hoxha
The allied forces left Albania at the end of World War II, which was followed by Enver Hoxha’s election as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Albania (CPA) during the convention of the Anti-Fascist National Liberation Council of Albania in May of 1944. After six months, Communists entered Tirana and seized control, establishing the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania by the beginning of 1946.
The following year, Enver Hoxha met Stalin in Moscow. The counterparts met five times in total. Stalin’s death in 1951 ended Stalinism in Eastern Europe, but this brutal ideology persisted only in Albania until the 1990s.
In December of 1944, E.Hoxha even arrested 66 former government officials and took them to a “special court”. He accused the Prime Minister, Chairman of Parliament and other ministers who were in office during the war of serving the Italian imperialists. These people were highly educated elites who studied in the West. The trial which was broadcast by radio took place in the Tirana National Theatre and presented its decisions in April of 1945. 17 people were to be executed, the rest to serve 20-30 years in prison while 5 people were vindicated. Hoxha’s brother-in-law was among those 17 individuals.
Hoxha constructed 70 camps and 39 new prisons. As part of his “exclusive war tax” policies, Hoxha levied extremely high taxes on rich individuals and merchants. Tax evaders were put in jail, where the majority of them died. The state seized private vehicles, homes, and other immovable assets. Land possessions were seized and given to cooperatives. In the process, communists educated in the East emerges as the new elite.
Based on Yugoslavia’s example, the Ministry of Internal Affairs soon developed a special service known as “Sigurimi”. During its 46 years of existence, this organization, whose main task is to protect the security of the regime, has become a formidable force in the hearts of every Albanian. It employed 200,000 people in total. By 1990, the organization had opened personal files on more than 1 million people (Albania’s population was 2.4 million in 1975) and knew each person’s political views, credibility, family, secret lover, when, with whom they met, what they did, and what they said. Almost everyone was spying, eavesdropping and reporting on each other. Listening through wall devices were widely used. In some prisons, 20 people were imprisoned in a 10 square meters cell. People who were deemed politically suspicious were detained and imprisoned; their families were placed in labor camps; and their children were not allowed to pursue higher education. Moreover, 175,000 bunkers were constructed across the country to fend off sudden attacks by foreign imperialists.
After Stalin’s death, Albania isolated itself from the outside world, and only kept official ties with the Chinese Communist Party and conducted certain amount of trade. By Hoxha’s death in 1985, Albania was the third poorest country in the world with a GDP per capita of 15 USD.
Khodja has not gone abroad since 1960, and he has not left Bloc, a special district of Tirana where the political elite live. Outside, the shops were empty and the population was starving, and inside this protected town, shops of Western food and goods served. They have their own special hospital, and a team of western doctors worked to treat Khodja. Upon learning that Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu’s son was married to the daughter of an anti-regime activist, Khoja became furious with his wife and replaced his supposed successor (Ramiz Alia), Mehmet promptly shot himself. After the death of Khoja in 1985, Ramiz Alia served as the head of state for 6 years.
Since 1960, Khodja has not traveled abroad or even outside of Blloku, a unique Tirana neighborhood inhabited primarily by the city’s political elite. Within this fortified town, stores selling Western food and products were open, while outside the shops were deserted and the populace was famished. Hoxha was treated by a group of western physicians at his own special hospital. Upon learning that Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu’s son was to be married to the daughter of an anti-regime activist living in exile in the West, Hoxha and his wife were furious and replaced him by Ramiz Alia as the supposed successor. Shortly after, Mehmet shot himself to death. For six years following Hoxha’s passing in 1985, Ramiz Alia led the country as the head of state.
In conclusion,
In recent years, Mongolia has seen an increase in voices demanding to be ruled under an iron fist. There are many aspects to be criticized in the current state of our country. Despite the many achievements in the three decades on the road to democracy, there are numerous problems, such as air pollution, traffic jams, poverty, educational disparity, illegal land and mineral licensing deals, and corruption, all of which we have not been able to solve. The citizens are frustrated and started to wish for a strong ruler to come and round the criminals all up and put them in jail.
However, the only way to address this issue in a democratic society is for the citizens to demand law enforcement. However, Mongolia no longer maintains the rule of law and corruption is its primary cause. The reason is that even the government cannot stand up to those who bought authority with money and subjugated the judiciary, legislature, and executive branches. The most glaring illustration of all of this is the case of D.Erdenebileg, also known by his nickname “Sakhal,” who bought the high ups in the government, and the court using public funds obtained through a variety of means. Numerous instances include the cases of Development Bank, loans for SMEs, theft from the Education Fund, coal theft, etc. None of the lawsuits have been completely settled as of yet. As a bystander to all of this, let me remind you of Albania’s tragic past under E.Hoxha.
If the courts fail to deliver justice and fail to solve anything for an extended period of time, there will be a public uprising, chaos, which lead to the crushing of the rebels, and ultimately the appearance of a dictator who claims to be a savior and will rule with an “iron fist”. Then the dictator is more likely to strengthen his dictatorship by using foreign enemies as threats, creating a special regime, and confiscating everyone’s property. A one-man rule only leaves two paths for the citizens: incarceration and beggaring.
(This article was written after my recent visit to Tirana. The facts and figures were retrieved from the internet and the book by Blendo Pevziu: Enver Hoxha the iron Fist of Albania)