ALBANIAN RECONSTRUCTION AND ECONOMIC GAINS SINCE WORLD WAR II

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700010612-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 20, 2011
• Sequence Number: 612
• Publication Date: October 13, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

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Albania DATE OF
COUNTRY INFORMATION 1951
GUNHOTIAL
CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
SUBJECT Economic - Agriculture, industry
Transportation
HOW
PUBLISHED Book
WHERE
PUBLISHED Moscow
DATE
PUBLISHED 1951
LANGUAGE
DATE DIST. / ~ Oct 1951
NO. OF PAGES 9
SUPPLEMENT TO
-REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
TNIS.000UYENT CONTAINS IMF OSNATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL VENISON
0. ETNCE 31'AND SSTAR AMENDED. TITS TRANRNIRSI OF NE00ITN I REVELATION F
IRON SRITED. IS IRD
ANY
UNAUTH NIIITEO RT TLAW. IN REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM O15RIZED
Albaniya na Puti k Sotsializmu, P. Manchkha, Gospolitizdat, pp 44-67.
ALBANIAN RECONSTRUCTION AND ECONOMIC GAINS
SINCE WORLD WAR II
In June 1949, the Seventh Session of the People's Assembly of Albania dis-
cussed and passed the law on the Two-Year State Plan for the Development of the
National Economy of the People's Republic of Albania. The Two-Year Plan pro-
oduc
vided for a considerable expansion of the entire Albanian economy 5a and of
tion of the most urgently needed products in the period 1949
4,150,000,000.lek were allocated for this development.
Capital Construction and Mining
Of this total allocation, 1,009,237,000 lek were put aside for financing
capital construction. This has made it possible to begin construction on such
projects, large-scale for Albania, as a textile combine with 21,000 spindles,
a sugar combine which will have an output of 10,000 tons of sugar per year, the
Kashar-Tirana railroad line, and the continuation of the Durres-Pegin railroad
to link it with the city of Elbasan in central Albania. The capital-co.nstruc-
tion plan also provided for reconstruction and installation of new equipment in
a number of existing enterprises.
The textile combine in Tirana will completely meet the Albanian people's
needs for fabrics. Construction of the combine is proceeding succesThe
1949 plan for construction work on the combine was fulfilled 108.7 percent.
21 December, the textile combine was named in honor of Stalin.
The hydroelectric power station under construction in Selite is of tremendous
importance to the Albanian economy. When this station goes into operation, the
Albanian capital will obtain four times more water and ten times more electric ia was power than it had in 1949. Electric power prewstationsar aseinsim-
nificant. By the beginning of 1950, the pletely restored and produced twice as much power as in 1938.
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CLASSIFICATION
NSR9
T~ic
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~ construction projects were started in the country's ports,
In 1q,4/, large c and dirt roads oil coal and bitumen mines, adestroyededuringkthe Occupation, were restored and new
were built. Man; homes,
ones erected. with
The mining industry has an important place in the Two-Year Plan,
836 million lek allocated for its development. Petroleum extraction in the
Kucove and Patos oil fields in 1949 fulfilled xceeded prewar level. The
1949 plan for chrome ore mining was 107 tumennt;
117.4 percent. The Selenice bitumen mines fulfilled the 1949 plan
the Rrubig copper mines, 102 percent. Mining of chromites in Pogradec achieved
ii~C percent of plan,.
Transportation
Albanian transport cuffered particularly heavy damage at the hands of the
Italians and Germans, All bridges were destroyed, highways were made impassable,
port structures blown up, and horses taken from many peasants. The Albanian gov-
ernment and the Albanian Labor Party have paid much attention to the development
of transport, which has been the chief bottleneck inthehcountry's ecnomy. As
bridges were rebuilt in the first postwar year, and the highways and
a number of
were improved. In a short time, the Kucove-Peshkopi highway,
effo
the
out built
structur thellargerseaportswof Durrestand Valona wererrestored. yAutomobilettranspo tewasn
aided by imports of automobiles from the USSRandnCzechoslovakia. Motor vehicle
facilities, however, lag behind the rapidly gro, since
automobile and truck remain the chief means of transportation. Haulageibylpack.
horse and wagon plays an auxiliary role and is used particularly
Albania has no inland water transport.
The ships of the Albanian maritime fleet are small, not capable of long-
distance voyages. Freight is handled through the ports of Durres, Valona,
Sarande, and others. The Albanian fleet consists of low-capacity sail and motor
vessels. The larger ships were captured by Italy and the royal government of
Yugoslavia and have not yet been returned, despite repeated requests by the Al-
banian government.
The Albanian Labor Party and the government are paying much attention to
the development of the maritime fleet. In 1949, Albanian-built ships were launched
ituledimportanceto builtin-
and in 1950, several additional low-tonnage ships are sc
Maritime transport exceeded the 1949 transport plan, and
creasing yearly. It plays a major role in the country's foreign trade. Much has
already been done to restore and improve the Albanian ports destroyed during the
Occupation.
Railroad transport has become increasingly important in the development of
the Albanian economy. In 1947, Albania was the only European country which
lacked railroads. The people's democratic
kregimeehasuotganized the construction -Peqin of railroads. On 7 November 1947,
the first in Albania, was put into operation. This road linked the Adriatic
coast with an important region.
With this line successfully completed, the government, party, and people of
on of the
country responded to thee,
Albania to the
Tirana connecting the capitalcwithrtheimain port.exThetremelyentirimportant
news of the choice of this line as the next project. Many thousand boys and
girls answered the party's appeal. In March 1948, the first rails were laid.
Under socialist competition, 4,127 construction nrk rkers1werergivensthe2honored
title of shockworker" for their outstanding
tinually exceeded the work norms, Inhabitants of villages near the project
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At the beginnirg of ouaust 1950, the Statistics Branch of the State Planning f Commission publishedrhe results of thejfirst11halfrofh1950 rwas
half of 1950, Production in in extraction of petroleum was 127 percent,
165 percent of the the f fitrs` half of 1949,
and production by the manufacturing industry, 133 percent. The total volume of
construction work under the Ministry of Construction was 143 percent of the first
half of 1949, The textile combine took first place in plan fulfillment. Produc-
tion plans are continually exceeded at this p:ojectume reightdturnover inwall128
types of transport increased considerably, The percent of the first half of 19k9..
~,Eiculture
Treme:dous ;banger have also been made in Albanian agriculture in the postwar
years. By the agrarian= reform law passed or. 29 August 1945, lands (together with
buildings on them) belong ng to landowners (beysand agat'd !ana -Scale oliveted
planta': ions, large vineyards, and, orchards were r confis
land was distribu`.ed among landless peasants or those wi'n little land,
Titois*,. "advisers" had a hostile hand in writing the Albanian agrarian re-
form law. At their insistence, up to 40 hectares of land were to remain for
private use Under Albanian conditions, this would have resulted Jr, the preserva-
tion of large-scale 1andowne*ship, while, at the same time, many peasants would
hav e aid of didenotmt uch thedkulak holdingG and. doolaw med many thousands
landless class.
In 1946, the.Albanian government made basic revisions in the agrarian reform
plots of
law, These revisions followed a policy of reduction
provide land for the working ng peasantry, The
work beganato be
pro hibn over to each
releasing of the. land. as
p int sale
effect. the reform, seven large landowners (bays) alone owned
put ut into effect, Until g
14,550 hectares of land, while at the same time,pent ofipeasant families
had no land. As a result of he reform, 70,211 peasant s or
no land obtained arable land, as well as 16,000 head of cattle and 474,000 olive
trees. The entire Albanian peasantry owned 320,000 hectares of arable land after
the reform,
In 1949, the sown area was 332,000 hectares, as compared with 317,000 hec-
tares in 1949. The augmented plan for sowing of grain crops was exceededpinn
1949 by 1.6 percent, including 11 percent for sowing corn. In 1949,
co-
for autumn sowing crops peasant
operatives, 13 13..9 P
holdings,
In 1949, the yields of agricultural crops were increased and the prewar
level for yields was exceeded.. The wheat yield in Albania increased hfromcnnot
over 7 centners per hectare in 1938 to an average of 10.8, ith1949; barley yii
yield, from 7 centners per hectare in 1938 to 7.5
from 7 in 1938 to 9.5 in 1949, etc,
The expansion of the sown area and the increased yields made possible an
increase in the total groin harvest as compared with previous years. The 1949
plan for total grain harvest. was fulfilled'112 percent, and for barley, 114 per-
cent,
Industrial crops -- cotton, sugar beets, castor oil plant, andhothersn--
were newly introduced to Albanian agriculture. On 10 March 1949,
government issued a decree on measures for the cultivation :f industrial crops
and improvement of their quality and on stimulating the delivery of these crops
to the state,
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The state farms created in the course of the agrarian reform have a great
future. They were seTup on
there w14 statetf from Tand hey+operatenon By
the begi nning of 1950, were
state land and are actually socialist enterprises. Advanced agricultural methods
are used on these farms, crop rotation has been introduced, and modern machines
are used. The sown area on state farms has been increasing every year. In 1949,
the amount of land operated by state farms increased by 23 percent. The sown
area in 1949 increased 22 percent over 1948. The yield of grain crops on these
farms is higher, by an average of 60 to 250 percent, than the yield on individual
peasant holdings The 1949 wheat eov farms was an average of 16.5
centners per hectare; rye, 17 1
The machine-tractor stations, organized by the government and the party,
are playing an important role in socialist reorganization of agriculture in Al-
bania. The first .9.':S I.t the country was organized at the beginning of 1947, and
during that year, s'.x `4?'S were created. In 1948 - 1949, an additional four MTS
were organized By the beginning of 1950, Albania had ter. MPS equipped with
tractors, threshing machines, and other modern agricultural machinery Their ma-
chine and tractor park is being increased each year by tractors produced in
plants, In 1947, the MPS had 128 tractors and by 1950, 222 ,
77 caterpillar tractors, 260 threshers, and many other machines.
CONFIBE`MAL
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1y1.}
The MTS conclude contracts with cooperatives and individual peasants for com-
pletion of a specific type of work and obtain payment in kind upon completion of
this work. In 1949, nearly 40 percent of all land in agricultural cooperatives
was worked by MPS tractors, The MPS are gaining more and more favor with the
peasants.
In prewar'Albania, no pore than 200,000 hectares of land were cultivated.,
At the beginning of 1950, as a result of measures put into effect by the state,
the area of cultivated land exceeded 332,000 hectares. Additional arable land
is being created through drainage of swamp regions. Thus, in southern Albania,
reclamation work was begun in 1946 on the swamp region of Maliq. As a result,
Maliq is being transformed into a fertile granary.
The 100-percent increase (from 200,000 to 400,000 hectares) rone example of
arable land area in the course of 10 years (1946 - 1955) pne
inexhaustible creative potentialities.
MTS and state farm workers are following the example of industrial workers
by adopting methods of socialist competition, The Presidium of the People's
Assembly has awarded high honors to tractor operators who did outstanding work
in 1949. As the collective forms of organizations expand, socialist competition
will also expand widely, even in rural areas.
The first cooperative enterprises in Albanian rural areas were organized
in 1946 in the Lushnje region, By 1948, Albania already had 56 agricultural co-
operatives with more than 2,500 peasant families. By 1950, the number of coopera-
tives had increased to 58, With approximately 3,000 peasant families. The Al-
banian government offers every kind of encouragement to the collective form of
agriculture -- state aid to the collectives in the form of seed and credit on spe-
cial terms, and privileges to peasants in cooperatives in regard to taxes and
grain levies,
The decree on agriculture of t"P First Congress of the Albanian Communist
Party has been of great significance in the cooperatives' orrganiZuaia~nindrative
economic development. The congress demanded that party, state,
organs help in further strengthening the cooperatives. It ordered that the
creation of new agricultural cooperatives and the enlistment of peasants into them
must be carried out exclusively on a voluntary basis,.
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The number of these cooperatives is increasing, labor organization in them is
improving, labor discipline is being heightened, the sown area is expanding, yields
in material
the cooperatives fhaseinpeasts is creased 155opercentupgrade. In
2ryQars, thensown and the
The first congress of representatives of agricultural cooperatives, held in
Tirana on 15 February 1949, has also played an important part in the building of
the cooperatives. The congress adopted the uniform statute of regulations for a
cooperative, based in principle on the statute of an agricultural artel in the
USSR., According to the statute, a peasant is admitted to the cooperative on a
voluntary basis only He turns over for collective use his land, work cattle, and
agricultural equipment.., Field work is done collectively. Wages are paid according
to the quality and quantity of the work
Prior to adoption of the new statute, unearned income, that is, rent for land,
had a place in the agricultural cooperatives of Albania. The article in the old
statute which provided for payment of 40 percent of income as rent for land given
to the cooperative caused many complaints and dissatisfaction on the part of the
poor and medium peasant members; The old statute placed no restrictions on kulak
holdings. The new statute does not permit the admission into cooperatives of
kulaks and individuals deprived by law of voting rights, and eliminates unearned
income in the form of land rent paid for land given over to community use.
Before the new st..atuee was adopted, a peasant joining a cooperative could
retain up to 12 decares of land for his own use. This is a considerable amount
in land-poor Albania. The old statute also failed to establish the minimum work-
day for every able-bodied
havmeer e for his ownpusetland Accoring to the ew
one thirdtofuae,
a cooperative member
hectare,
Before the new statute, a member of a cooperative could have unlimited numbers
of livestock, whereas under the new law, a family joining the cooperative may have
for its own use the following numbers of livestock-.
No in Family
6 10 15 Over 15
Cows 1 2 3 4
2 3 4
Calves 1 40
Sheep and goats 15 25 30
Pigs 1 1 2 1 3
Horses 1 1 1 The statute permits cooperative members to keep any number of poultry for
their own use.. An obligatory minimum of work calculated in workdays has been es-
tablished for each member of a cooperative,
The members of a cooperative elect an administration of from five to seven
persons headed by a chairman and a financial control commission of three to five
persons to administer the enterprise. The cooperative's foremost duty is to
deliver grain and other agricultural products to the state, The cooperative
administration according to the statute maintains the seed and insurance funds,
and a 2-percent fund for the aged, invalids, and sick members. After settling
accounts with the state and building up these funds, the cooperative's members
distribute according to workdays the cash and goods income, each receiving pay-
ment according to the number of workdays put in.
Albanian agricultural cooperatives enjoy many privileges. The agricultural
tax on peasant holdings which have been entered into cooperatives is 50 percent
less than the tax levied on individual holdings, The obligatory deliveries of
agricultural products per hectare of sown area are 10 percent less for cooperatives
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than for individual h01''.ing" Th.e total loans extended to cooperatives on special
terms by the government are -*.n':.reasi._rg every year In 1947, the cooperatives ob-
tained loans to+aling 3,338,100 lek, and 13 million lek in 1949, In 3 years, the
amount of loans has quad.rupled..
The 19LL9 wheat yield in the cooperatives averaged 13 centners per hectare,
exceeding the 1948 yield by 44 percent. In some cooperatives, the yield was as
high as 20 centners per hectare, For example, the "Hammer and Sickle" Cooperative
in Maminas village achieved a yield of 23 hectandare,cornan
high yield for Albania, :n the cocp__a , the 1949 increased on an average 27 percen' over 1948.
Livestock raising is on the increase in the cooperatives. The number of
cattle in r_ooperati?'es increased 65 percent over 1948, sheep 77 percent, and
hogs 1,027 per-.e:)'
With the increass in the =ooperatives' income, the payment per workday is in-
creasing and the peasan'S' material condition is improving In 1949, the "Hammer
and Sickle" Cooperative gave its members an average of 7 kilograms of grain per
workday, while the "Chiflik" Cooperative gave 5 kilograms per workday
Seit Dz.erdthi, a member of the "Hammer and Sickle" Cooperative, in 1948 ob-
tained from the cooperative 36 centners of wheat, 3 centners of kidney beans,
and 9,000 lek in cash for his workdays In 1949, he received 62 centners of wheat
4 centners of kidney beans, and 54,000 lek,
Training is not being neglected, and young administrators of collective
coend of mpleted 1949, 4 chairmen
are necessary
and 60 brigade experience. leadersy had the
enterprises agricultural cooperati courses.
In fall 1949, a delegation
of Albanianepeasants vinitedrthe USSR, The a Ad
banian peasants made a g
state farms in the Azerbaydzhan SSR, North Osetia, and Moscow Oblast
1cceOn theirved
return, the peasants told their fellow peasants of the tremendous
by the kolkhoz peasantry of the USSR. Their reports strengthened the Albanian
peasants' desire to join cooperatives and to achieve the same results in collec-
tive management of enterprises. Further study and introduction of the experience
gained in kolkhoz management in the USSR will enable the Albanian peasants to im-
prove their own cooperative system, increase the numbers of cooperatives, and im-
prove their own condition.
The Second National Conference of the Albanian Labor Party demanded that
party, state, and administrative organs "give particular attention to strrengthhen-
ing the agricultural cooperatives so they may serve as an example for
tion of new cooperatives" (Bashkimi, 23 April 1951).
Animal husbandry also plays an important role in Albanian agriculture.. Small
livestock, s':ch as sheep and goats, predominate, as they are better acclimated to
mountain conditions. (Livestock in Albania graze
tthe he entire Pyeay and Fascist
slaughtered large numbers of livestock. The ment are giving much a'cennion to the development of animal husbandry.: As early
as 1940, the number of livestock livestockrexlevel, ceededatheaprewarblevel.
of 1950, The government ser.. up seven special animal husbandry farms for breeding pedigreed
livestock., The number of livestock in agricultural cooperatives has risen substan-
tially.. The Albanian government and the Labor Party are striving for a further
development of animal husbandry, the creation of a stable feed base, and an in-
crease in livestock productivity.
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The continual increase in retail trade turnover is due to increaseedtacctiivity
in the state and cooperative networks, By the beginning of 1950, s
accounted for 32 9 percent trade for commeraransactions, cooperative trade for
45 percent, and private 1 percent. Trade turnover in the rural consumers' cooperatives in 1949 increased 12
times in comparison wy c on9 Pss' cooperativescincreased 30*percent overl1948 and
trade turnnovever r 2 in city P
80 percent over 1947 In 1949, the consumers' cooperatives had 156,438 share-
holders
In m`d-1949, The Cec:tral. Comm?tt?ee of the Albanian Labor Party and. the govern-
ment issued a decree on the reorganization of the work of the consumers' coopera-
tives. This decree provided f'-)r the organizational strengthening of the rural and
city coopers. ra.ves by onsolidation of the cooperatives, At the beginning of 1950, there were 26 city cooperatives with 60,30L persons and 155 rural eoereratives with
124,583 persons.
The work of the consumers' cooperatives is improving every year, In 1949,
Albanian consumers' cooperatives atives procured percent butter. 19h8,
71 percent more fruits, percent more eggs, and 85 percent more r. ine
cooperatives are helping to improve the supply of agricultural pr_
dustrial goods to the popu.lation and are increasing the workers' material welfare.
Albanian foreign trade is expanding each year. The foreign trade monopoly
has its legal basis in the Constitution of the People's Republic of Albania. The ith Albanian government has oreigndtradeais prrovidingsAlwith baniahwithSadditional resall
people's s democracies. Foreign
for the development of its economy. Trade relations with the USSR occupy a central
role in Albanian foreign trade, The USSR supplies Albania with equipment, machines
for building industry and transport, and consumers' goods.
On 18 January 1950, the 1950 trade agreement between. one bniananddBulgariaril
was signed in Tirana, This agreement was supplementary
1949 in Sofia. Bulgaria supplies Albania with industrial goods, construction ma-
terials, and agricultural products. Albania provides petroleum, bitumen, chrome
ore, olives, lemons, etc., to Bulgaria
In November 1949, the Albanian government concluded a trade agreement with
Poland which provided for a further development of trade between the two countries.
In March 19149, the Albanian government signed a trade agreement in Prague
with Czechoslovakia, which is supplying Albania with mine machinery, agricultural
machinery, trucks, and textile products. These supplies from Czechoslovakia are
of great importance for economic development. Albania provides Czechoslovakia
with copper and chrome ore, lumber, and other products.
Trade relations between Albania and Rumania have been strengthened by trade
agreements concluded on 31 March 1949 and on 19 January 1950 in Bucharest: Rumania
provides machines for industry and transport and consumers' goods.
In March 1949, the Albanian government signed a trade agreement with the
Hungarian government in Budapest Hungary provides Albania with machines, spare
parts, and consumers' goode, receiving in return products of the Albanian mining
industry.
In February 1949 Albania was accepted into the Council of Mutual Aid, permit-
ting her to obtain assistance from the USSR and the people's democracies,.
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