n position of
power. Operating under the banner of a mass organization known as the
Democratic Front, the Communist Party strengthened its hold on the
country and in early 1946 promulgated a Constitution based on Yugoslav
and Soviet models. This Constitution provided for a unicameral
legislature, a collective executive branch, and an independent
judiciary. Actually, the Albanian Workers' Party, formerly the Communist
Party, which is mentioned in the Constitution as "the vanguard
organization of the working class," uses the formal governmental
structure as the instrument for governing the nation and for
implementing its own policies.

The Albanian People's Republic in its twenty-five years as a Communist
nation has remained as rigidly authoritarian and Stalinist in its
approach to government as it was at the end of World War II. The Party
is all pervasive, the leadership is glorified to an extreme degree, and
Party pronouncements are treated as infallible doctrine. The average
citizen casts his ballot in periodic elections for local and national
offices, but two conditions invariably exist: a candidate for office is
a member of the Party, and only one name is listed for any particular
office. It has become standard practice for well over 99 percent of the
electorate to vote and for over 99 percent of those voting to approve
the single candidate. Absolute control of the government, the economy,
and the cultural life of the country is assured by a system that places
the leading officers of the Party in the top positions of government.

Albanian history as a Communist state can be divided into three distinct
phases based on outside influence: the Yugoslav period, the Soviet
period, and the Chinese period. Yugoslav influence began with the
founding in 1941 of the Albanian Communist Party, in which some Yugoslav
nationals played leading roles, and lasted until Yugoslavia's expulsion
from the Cominform in 1948. From 1948 until 1961 the Albanians looked to
the Soviet Union for assistance and advice, and after 1961 Communist
China became the foreign power wielding greatest influence in the
country.

In 1970 Albania continued as the only European ally of Communist China.
Hoxha and Shehu continued the harsh polemics with the Soviet Union; made
tentative gestures of friendship toward Yugoslavia; continued their
tirades against Western imperialism; and, in general, tried to present
themselves to the world as the embodiment of tru