Albania’s Foreign Economic Relations, 1956–1977: Between Moscow and Beijing

Abstract

This article analyses the economic relations of the People’s Republic of Albania with socialist countries in the late 1950s–1970s, as well as the Soviet Union’s strategy of using the “economic factor” in its relations with Albania. The main sources for the article were documents of the embassies of the USSR in socialist countries, information notes of Soviet economists, reports of special services and analytical materials compiled in the Central Committee of the CPSU. The author concludes that both the Soviet Union and China sought to use economic cooperation with Albania to draw it into the orbit of their international policies. To this end, Moscow and Beijing developed complex strategies of foreign economic relations, which included interstate cooperation and partnership within the framework of international socialist cooperation of the economies of the people’s democracies. The amount of economic aid received by the PRA was significant and allowed the country to enter the stage of industrial development. At the same time, both the Soviet and Chinese partners tried to contain the gigantomania of their ally’s plans by reducing loans to certain obviously unprofitable enterprises. The Albanian elite, however, could not admit the fallacy of its economic policy and therefore attributed its low effectiveness to external enemies. Neither the Soviet Union nor the People’s Republic of China managed to use the “economic factor” to influence the internal politics of the PRA for a long period of time. Skillfully maneuvering between Moscow and Beijing and playing on the contradictions of the two leading powers of the world socialist system, Tirana maintained its socio-economic model, which proved surprisingly stable.