Early Life of Enver Hoxha

Enver Hoxha was, like many Marxist-Leninists, an intellectual who was dissatisfied with the excesses of the monarchy that ruled his homeland. However, like many of his contemporaries, he ultimately proved that a dictatorship of the proletariat is just as problematic as a dictatorship of divine right.

Birth and teenage rebellion

In 1908, Enver was born in Albania to a Muslim cloth merchant who traveled extensively in Europe and the United States. Hoxha's youthful outlook was shaped by the democratic nature of the countries he visited, which culminated in the creation of a school society that protested against King Zog's rule. After the government eliminated the society, Enver moved to France to continue his studies, and it was there that he first read the Communist Manifesto.

Biology, law and communism

Though he originally studied biology at Montpellier, under a scholarship from the Queen Mother of King Zog, Enver quickly lost interest in that subject and moved to Paris, hoping to study either law or philosophy. He studied at the Sorbonne and wrote articles on Albania for the French communist newspaper, L'Humanite. This brought him to the attention of Llazar Fundo, a member of the Albanian Communist Group, who brought Enver into the group and taught him law. Enver again dropped out of school and went to work in Brussels at the Albanian consulate, but was dismissed from his position after he left Marxist materials in the consul's office.

Returning home to Albania

Enver began teaching upon his return to Albania, but did not give up the communist philosophy. When Italy invaded Albania in 1939, he was fired from his teaching position for refusing to join the Albanian Fascist Party. Changing occupations once more, Enver opened a tobacco shop called Flora that soon attracted a small group of communist sympathizers, but the government closed silenced Enver's dissent once more, closing his shop and leaving Enver without means of support in 1941.

Despite the wandering uncertainty of his youth and his bouts of joblessness, Enver Hoxha was on the verge of his greatest successes in life, as he went on to create a partisan communist group that overthrew the Italian puppet government, placing him as the leader of Albania for the rest of his natural life.