FROM STALIN TO MAO FROM STALIN TO MAO Albania and the Socialist World Elidor Mëhilli CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON This publication was made possible in part by a grant from the Barr Ferree Foundation Fund for Publications, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, and by a grant from the First Book Subvention Program of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. Copyright © 2017 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2017 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Mëhilli, Elidor, 1981– author. Title: From Stalin to Mao : Albania and the socialist world / Elidor Mëhilli. Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017022614 (print) | LCCN 2017023206 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501712234 (epub/mobi) | ISBN 9781501709593 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501714153 (cloth : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Albania—Relations—Communist countries. | Communist countries—Relations—Albania. | Socialism and culture—Albania. | City planning—Albania—History—20th century. | Albania—Civilization—20th century. Classification: LCC DR953.C725 (ebook) | LCC DR953.C725 M45 2017 (print) | DDC 303.48/249650171709045—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017022614 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu. Cover photograph: Construction site of the Stalin textile complex, early 1951. The flag is adorned with pictures and quotations from Lenin, Stalin, and Hoxha. Courtesy of Arkivi i Agjencisë Telegrafike Shqiptare. Prindërve Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: A New World 1 Breaks 5 Contacts 9 To Be Modern 12 Mussolini to Mao 14 1. Ten Years of War 17 Socialism with a Fascist Façade 23 Old Plans, New Rules 29 Italy’s Miserable Souls 35 Trial and Error 38 Conspiracy All Around 45 What Does a Communist Party Do? 48 2. The Discovery of a World 54 Mental Map 57 Moscow Days 62 Forging a Friendship 68 Mechanisms of Discovery 71 Months, Weeks, Days, Hours 79 The Language of Lenin 83 The Price of Discovery 86 Gorky’s Shadow 90 3. The Methods of Socialism 94 Soviet Labor, Albanian Lives 96 Kombinat 98 Stakhanov Travels to the Balkans 109 Exemplary Bodies 117 Staging 125 4. Socialism as Exchange 130 Commonwealth of Plans 133 Making Up Socialist Experience 137 The Problem of Comparison 146 Encounters 150 vii viii CONTENTS 5. Mud and Concrete 159 The Invention of Urban Planning 161 Borrowing from the Bloc 167 Going to Berlin 172 Albanian Soil, Italian Traces, Socialist Slabs 176 Tirana to Beijing to Havana 182 6. The Great Leap 187 A Garden of Rocks 191 The Ruins of Friendship 195 Saving the Revolution 203 Geopolitics Is Personal 207 701 Million 211 Broken World, New World 216 Destruction: A Crossroads with China 220 Afterword: 1991 226 Note on Sources 233 Notes 237 Bibliography 303 Index 317 Illustrations 1. Stalin in a foundry, Tirana, 2007 2 2. Stalin’s unveiling, Yzberish, 1951 3 3. The Ministry of Justice, Tirana, undated postcard 26 4. The Ministry of National Economy, Tirana, undated photograph 28 5. The Luogotenenza building, Tirana, 1942 34 6. Beginning of work for the Durrës-Tirana railway, 1948 40 7. Boxes of industrial equipment shipped from the Soviet Union, 1951 51 8. Meeting of a “high-quality brigade,” Qyteti Stalin (Stalin City), 1952 59 9. Gathering in honor of the Nineteenth Soviet Party Congress, Tirana, 1952 60 10. Gani Strazimiri’s urban plan for Tirana, 1950 66 11. Soviet-inspired residential building, Tirana, late 1950s 67 12. A Soviet mobile film projector donated to the Society for Albanian-Soviet Friendship, 1953 78 13. Architectural model of the Stalin textile complex, 1951 99 14. The construction site of the Stalin textile complex, 1951 101 15. Game room at the workers’ club, 1951 103 16. A female worker at the Stalin textile complex, 1953 107 17. Workers’ emulation board at the Stalin textile complex, 1951 111 18. A worker at the Enver Hoxha Auto and Tractor Plant, 1950 112 19. A Soviet Stakhanovite visits Tirana, 1952 113 20. On-site demonstration of metoda sovjetike, 1951 119 21. Politburo member Gogo Nushi inspects East German light bulbs, 1958 145 ix