Front, the successor
in 1945 to the National Liberation Front; the Union of Albanian Working
Youth; the United Trade Unions; and others. Direct election of
governmental bodies, from the people's councils in villages to the
People's Assembly at the national level, gave the appearance of
representative institutions. While seemingly democratic, these
assemblies met infrequently and for short periods and had no real power.

The average citizen has never had any influence in national politics.
During the 1920-39 period vested interests, mostly landowners and clan
chiefs, were the predominant influence. A middle class was lacking, and
the great bulk of the population, the rural peasantry, was held in a
state of subservience by local leaders. Under Communist rule political
power has been concentrated completely in the Party leadership (see ch.
2, Historical Setting; ch. 6, Government Structure and Political
System).

The system of controls circumscribed individual freedoms and reached
nearly every facet of day-to-day life. The Communist regime, by its
totalitarian rule, extended and increased obedience to, and fear of,
centralized authority. A new ruling elite, that of the Party, was
substituted for the _beys_ (see Glossary) and _pashas_ (see Glossary) of
pre-Communist times (see ch. 6, Government Structure and Political
System).

The goals of the Communist regime as revealed during the 1944-70 period
were to strengthen and perpetuate the Party's hold on the reins of
government, to maintain Albanian independence, and to modernize society
according to the Leninist-Stalinist model. By capitalizing on the
divisions among the Communist nations and by eliminating or rendering
harmless internal opposition, the Party had a firm grip on the
instruments of control, and by 1961 independence was reasonably well
secured. Only modest progress had been made by 1970 toward
modernization. The lack of extensive natural resources and continued
reliance on foreign aid caused much strain and required sacrifices by
the ordinary citizen (see ch. 2, Historical Setting; ch. 9, Internal and
External Security).

Albania tended to be highly aggressive and partisan in the ideological
struggles between the Communist and Western democratic states and those
between the Communist nations. The successive close relationships with
Yugoslavia (1944-48), the Soviet Union (1949-60), and China after 1961
reflected the inherent insecurity of a weak state. Alth