Enver Hoxha Mehmet Shehu Nikita Khrushchev Leonid Brezhnev The Albanian–Soviet split was the gradual worsening of relations between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the People's Republic of Albania, which occurred in the 1956–1961 period as a result of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's rapprochement with Yugoslavia along with his "Secret Speech" and subsequent de-Stalinization, including efforts to extend these policies into Albania as was occurring in other Eastern Bloc states at the time.

[1] The Albanian leadership under Enver Hoxha perceived Khrushchev's policies as contrary to Marxist–Leninist doctrine and his denunciation of Joseph Stalin as an opportunistic act meant to legitimize revisionism within the international communist movement.

[18]Jon Halliday noted that Moscow and Tirana's relationship was observably good until late 1950s, but Khrushchev's rapprochement with Yugoslavia in 1955 and his denunciation of Stalin in 1956 were the two main issues responsible for the deterioration of relations between the two states.

"[20] Hoxha, however, disagreed with this view, later writing, "even if the Yugoslav leadership had been unjustly condemned in 1949, as Khrushchev was claiming, nothing could permit or justify its falling into the lap of imperialism.

"[21] In May 1955, Khrushchev led a Soviet delegation to the Yugoslav capital of Belgrade with the aim of rehabilitating Tito, a move which encouraged reformist and dissident trends in Eastern Europe.

In addition to its attack on Stalin, Hoxha later stated about the Congress that: all the distortions of the major issues of principle, such as those about the character of our epoch, the roads of transition to socialism, peaceful coexistence, war and peace, the stand towards modern revisionism and towards imperialism, etc., etc., which later became the basis of the great, open polemic with modern revisionism, have their official beginning in Khrushchev's report to the 20th Congress ... we saw how the Khrushchevites, in order to consolidate their power, operated allegedly with "a great party spirit", "free from the fear of Stalin" ... Every good thing of the past was distorted, allegedly in light of the "new situations", "new developments", "new roads and possibilities", in order to go ahead.

In a February 1957 speech to a plenum of the Central Committee of the Party subsequently published in the newspaper Zëri i Popullit, Hoxha defended Stalin's legacy and attacked the Yugoslavs – but not the Soviet leadership by name.

[35] He added that, "In blackening Stalin, the enemies are not concerned about him as a person, but their aim is to discredit the Soviet Union, the socialist system, and the international communist movement, consequently, to undermine the workers' faith in socialism.

[45] At the end of 1958, Comecon had begun to push for what was later termed an "international socialist division of labor," in which Albania was relegated to "the task of supplying the member states with agricultural and mineral raw materials.

"[47] According to Hoxha, Khrushchev displayed contempt for Albanian archaeology in Butrint and said to Rodion Malinovsky, the Soviet Defense Minister who was visiting the country with him, "Look, how marvelous this is!

"[48] He was also said to have remarked to Hoxha to turn his country "into a flourishing garden," suggested he make it an attractive holiday spot for Soviet tourists, and rather than produce grain, Albania should focus on growing oranges for export.

"[49] By the beginning of 1960, Albania and China had concurred "on such questions as Yugoslav revisionism, global strategy, and de-Stalinization", and the Albanian leadership made "little secret of their sympathies for the Chinese stand.

"[45] Griffith added: "Hoxha viewed this move by Khrushchev as an implicit threat to partition Albania – the overwhelming traditional fear of all Albanian nationalists.

It delayed and in some cases ceased altogether the delivery of goods and industrial equipment to Albania, refused to ship the grain our people were in urgent need of ... sell[ing it] not through clearing but in free currency ... stopped all supplies for the Albanian People's Army, from food and clothing to weapons and technical equipment whose delivery had been approved by the Joint Command of the Warsaw Treaty.

"[68] Tashko, asked to speak on his own behalf, had his text prepared beforehand by the Soviet embassy and, having gotten confused, accidentally read the punctuation mark for a full stop in Russian amid a burst of laughter from those present.

"[71] Hoxha once again communicated via radiogram, writing to Kapo on October 13: "We are not of the same opinion as those who are trying to smooth out the problems by means of phrases in resolutions or declarations ... We are for carrying the matter through to the end.

"[72] On October 22, after the work of the commission had ended, Khrushchev invited the delegates to a dinner which, according to Alia, was used "to threaten those parties which might oppose the line of the Soviets in November."

to which Furtseva stated, "You have attacked the Soviet Union, but you are heading for trouble on that course," getting "the reply she deserved" from Kapo, with Alia further writing "her mission was just to transmit the signal.

"[73] From November 3–25, Enver Hoxha headed the Albanian delegation which would present its case at the Second International Conference of the Communist and Workers' Parties together with Kapo, Alia, and others.

"[80] Hoxha delivered his speech to the Conference on November 16, where he spoke "of the tremendous Soviet pressures to which the Albanian party and government had been subjected after the Bucharest meeting ...

His denunciation of Khrushchev made headlines round the world and even his harshest critics usually concede Hoxha turned in an able performance and showed personal courage.

After his speech, comrade Dolores Ibarruri, an old revolutionary and a devoted worker in the Communist movement, got up indignantly and said, very much to the point, that Hoxha was like a dog who bites the hand that feeds it.

"[91] According to an Albanian account, "Right after the 4th Congress of the PLA, when it became clear that its attempts at imposing its will on Albania were futile, the Soviet leadership cut off all the credits envisaged in the agreements between the two countries.

"[92] The Congress, which was the last one in which Soviet and East European representatives from other parties would attend, "confirmed that the rift with Russia was almost complete and the alliance between China and Albania an accomplished fact.

[97] An Albanian account of the economy during this period states observes "the foreign specialists left unfinished about 40 important objects of the 2nd Five-year Plan in the industrial sector alone.

"[98] Military pressure was stepped up still further; during summer "the training of all Albanian officers, cadets, and noncoms in the Soviet Union or the East European satellite countries was brought to a stop.

They came allegedly 'to reach agreement', but in fact they brought us an ultimatum: The Vlora base must be put completely and solely under Soviet command, which was to be subordinate to the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Warsaw Treaty.

"Thus," the Albanian account continues, "the Khrushchev revisionist group, consistent in its line, cut off all relations with socialist Albania at a time when it maintained contacts with and was drawing ever closer to the most reactionary regimes of the world.

"[109] In a December 10 Zëri i Popullit article, Hoxha wrote: The real cause [of the break in diplomatic relations] must be sought in the revisionist views of Khrushchev and in his anti-Marxist efforts to impose them on the other parties by any means ... with a view to silencing our Party, to subjugating it and giving a lesson to anyone that would dare to oppose him, Khrushchev extended the ideological disagreements to the field of state relations and began to behave with the PRA as towards an enemy country ... he aims to intimidate and subjugate the PLA, to shift it from its revolutionary Marxist–Leninist positions, to shake the confidence of our people in the PLA and its leadership, to upset the feelings of friendship of the Albanian people towards the Soviet Union ...

"[111] In the view of Bill Ash, writing in support of the Albanian position, "The final proof of the correctness of Albania's characterisation of Soviet revisionism came with the invasion and military occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968 – 'Khrushchevism without Khrushchev', since Brezhnev who succeeded the deposed revisionist leader followed the same line.