nt Ciano was the best
man. On Ciano's return to Italy from the wedding, he proposed to his
father-in-law, Benito Mussolini, Fascist dictator of Italy, the
annexation of Albania. The following year, on April 7, 1939, Ciano's
suggestion was consummated. Italian forces invaded Albania on that day,
forcing Zog to flee the country, never to return. In the next few months
rapid steps were taken to unite Albania with Italy under the crown of
King Victor Emanuel III and to impose a regime similar to that of
Fascist Italy. Albania as an independent state disappeared.

COMMUNIST SEIZURE AND CONSOLIDATION OF POWER

Resistance to the Italian invaders began soon after the invasion, but
the few insignificant Communist groups that existed at that time did not
join the fray until after Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, attacked the
Soviet Union in June 1941. These Communist groups, acting generally
independently of each other, were composed chiefly of young
intellectuals who had revolted against the country's medieval society.
Educated mostly in the West, they felt that their country's economic
development and their desire to use their Western education for their
own and their country's advancement were frustrated by Zog's concept of
personal rule, by the hostility of traditional chieftains and _beys_,
and by the lack of opportunities in the country's underdeveloped society
and economy.

The leaders of these disparate groups convened clandestinely in Tirana
on November 8, 1941, and under the guidance of two emissaries from the
Yugoslav Communist Party, Dusan Mugosha and Miladin Popovic, founded the
Albanian Communist Party--known since 1948 as the Albanian Workers'
Party. Enver Hoxha, a young schoolteacher who had studied in France and
Belgium, was elected provisional and, subsequently, permanent secretary
general. In 1970 he still held the same position, under the title of
first secretary. From the outset the strategy of the Party was to
conceal its true Marxist program and orientation and to stress
nationalism and patriotism. To this end, the front technique, through
the National Liberation Movement, was used.

The National Liberation Movement was created by the Conference of Peze
that was convened, also clandestinely, on September 16, 1942, for the
purpose of creating a militant organization to coordinate and intensify
the activities of a number of guerrilla bands then active against the
Italian occupiers. It was sponsored by