You don’t think of Communist, suddenly Atheist, Albanians building a Greek style temple to culture. That is what they did though and it shows how serious they were about going it alone under Enver Hoxha. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
I keep coming back to this stamp issue from 1953. I have covered other ones here https://the-philatelist.com/2017/11/09/communism-provides-smokes-for-atheists-and-then-a-refugee-camp-for-muslims/ , and here https://the-philatelist.com/2018/08/24/albania-1953-it-was-correct-to-chose-the-forces-of-hoxha-over-fake-royal-zog/ . The communist government was new and facing many challenges. It also had an ideal of where it wanted to go. To get there, the country had to have a unique advanced culture. In 1953, the country opened its first film studio, in order to tell the countries’ story at home and abroad. The Greek temple like structure shows how important it was to Albania, and how much resources were allocated. This had never happened before and to date has not happened since.
Todays stamp is issue A94 a 5 Lek stamp issued by Albania on August 1st, 1953. It was an 8 stamp issue in various denominations. The stamp displays the new that year Kino movie studio. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $2.10 unused.
Germans and Italians abandoned their occupation of Albania in late 1944. The former royal, King Zog was quickly deposed and sent abroad. The most effective resistance to the Axis was Communists. Communism is an international movement that was to be locally organized. Marshal Tito in neighboring Yugoslavia thought that he did the hard work of kicking out the Axis while local Communist leader Enver Hoxha was just a subordinate.. At first there were attempts at cooperation. A joint 5 year plan had the Albanian Lek currency devalued and all raw inputs from Albania exported to Yugoslavia to be processed and then reimported at high prices. Hoxha saw this as exploitive and broke ties. There was a scism among Communists in the 1950s between Stalinists and those who wanted a reformed Communism. Albania stayed Stalinist, isolating itself. After Mao died in China, Albania also broke ties with it. Some international communist organizations began referring to themselves as Hoxhaist.
The Albanians made some progress going it alone. Literacy went from 5 percent to 98 percent. Starting lower and ending far higher than what India achieved in the same period. See https://the-philatelist.com/2019/07/17/india-1958-is-this-girl-really-reading/ . The country was electrified. A free national health service expanded to even the smallest villages. The country had no foreign debt and a small trade surplus. Albania was still the poorest country in Europe and always has been as would be expected of a Muslim country, and Hoxha was trying his best to spread scientific Atheism. Hoxha also built modern cultural institutions such as the Kino studio in Tirana.
The Kino studio opened in 1953. The first film produced was called “Scanderbeg” about a 14th century Albanian that rose up against the Ottomans. The Albanians are portrayed as noble and the Ottomans are portrayed as unEuropean pedophile brutes. A perhaps stereotypical Balkan portrayal of Ottomans see https://the-philatelist.com/2018/10/16/ottoman-empire-1873-what-to-modernize-what-to-protect-what-bills-to-pay-and-what-to-do-with-all-these-people/ , but a professional movie with a classic orchestral score and a large cast. You can watch it here https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=film+scanderbeg&view=detail&mid=3E543D940FC0815BE1C33E543D940FC0815BE1C3&FORM=VIRE . Pretty good for a small, poor, mostly illiterate, Muslim country. The studio went on to make over 200 films. Hoxha was against bringing in foreign culture to Albania. He found the modern culture with it’s long hair and rebellion to be degenerated and designed with a glossy veneer to convert the masses from strivers into passive consumers. He spotted all this before the smart phone when it all became more obvious.
Hoxha died in 1985 and the regime was not the same without him. It was overthrown in 1991 and Hoxha’s statue was pulled down in Scanderbeg Square. Ironic no? Kino studio would not be needed by a modern Albania and closed in 1996. The building on the stamp still stands but now is a derelict. Albania now is famous for exporting it’s people and it’s mob crime. The trade balance has gone negative and they have acquired much foreign debt. Not it worry, there is attempt to join the EU and the EU gives over a billion Euros a year in pre-entry aid. Money well spent?
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast Hoxha. It is not popular to toast people like him but I don’t think there has been anyone better for Albania before or since. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.