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Based mainly on Albanian primary sources, this article explores the implications of Albania's economic cooperation with China during the late 1950s and early 1960s. It shows that in Albania's shifting alliances, the role of economic calculations has been as important as that of political convenience. The article argues that China's emphasis on industrialization, mass mobilization and the principle of self-reliance was appealing to Albanian leaders' long-term economic plans. This was even more so after the Comecon division of labour left Albania at the margin of the economic integration of the European Soviet bloc, relegating it to an agriculture-based development. The article also argues that although there was no substantial technological transfer between China and Albania during the 1950s, those years served for Albania as a period of study of the Chinese socialist system, which ultimately suited Albanian leaders' political and economic aims more than the Soviet one. Economic relations with China opened new trade routes for Albania, potentially linking Albania's economy with new markets and the international flows of goods. These opportunities, however, remained fully unexploited due to Albania's own economic shortcomings, limited industrial capacity and poor infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Albania emerged from the Second World War as an appendage of Yugoslavia, the Albanian Communist regime soon turned against Yugoslavia and forged an alliance with the Soviet Union. However, after the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev launched a campaign of de-Stalinization, Albania's alliance with the USSR steadily eroded and collapsed altogether by the early 1960s. The PRC under Mao Zedong emerged as the new patron for the only Stalinist regime left in Europe. This article draws on recently declassified archival materials to reassess how and why Albanian Communist leaders shifted from one alliance to another. Both ideological and security considerations shaped the decision-making process. The article sheds light not only on Albania's Cold War history but also on the history of Eastern Europe and the Soviet bloc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This issue may get to the point that the Soviets may tell China that they will enforce their obligations toward Vietnam [a reference to the clauses of the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the Soviet Union and Vietnam signed in November 1979] and enter the war. B Enver Hoxha: b Yes, yes, they may tell China that they will comply with their obligations. When, in February 1979, China and Vietnam had a brief armed conflict at their border, the Albanian leaders followed the events with great interest. They want to show and tell China that they can reject China and leave China with shame, give China a lesson, and if China goes on.... These others [UN Security Council members] will "give China the grade" [criticize China].[34] B Ramiz Alia: b They will give the grade, and it will be a bitter grade. Yet, Albania maintained good relations with Hanoi, and some years later, in 1964, Hoxha proposed to China to form a formal military alliance which would include Vietnam and North Korea, plus Albania and China. [Extracted from the article]

This article analyses the political life of two important European communist activists who, in the aftermath of the Sino-Soviet split in the early 1960s, decided to support China and Albania against the Soviet Union: Kazimierz Mijal, a Polish communist who, in the mid-1960s, decided to exile himself to Albania, from where he promoted the 'China way' of communism; and Jacque Grippa, a Belgian communist who struggled to find space between the Western European left, Beijing, and Moscow. The article analyses how apparently marginal protagonists of the Cold War gained a prominent position and played an important role in the dynamics created within the communist world following the Sino-Soviet split. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the central decades of the Cold War, China was Albania’s only ally. The aim of this article is to analyse how the Chinese Cultural Revolution affected Sino-Albanian relations. This article argues that the events in China threatened to undermine the Sino-Albanian alliance, because Albania did not endorse most of the Cultural Revolution’s policies, but supported it only for the sake of relations with China and the benefits received from this alliance. In a time when the Cultural Revolution caused enormous difficulties to the Chinese economy, Albania nonetheless received an increasing amount of aid. Based on recently released archives, this case study sheds light on this underexplored Cold War alliance and adds to our understanding of how the Cultural Revolution had implications beyond China’s borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]