YEARS OF TURBULENT TURNING POINTS: NATIONAL PROJECTS IN KOSOVO BETWEEN ALBANIAN NATIONALISM AND COMMUNISM (1943–1948)

Abstract

This paper examines the complex political and ideological dynamics in Kosovo during the period 1943–1948, focusing on the antagonism between the project of Albanian nationalists and that of Albanian communists aligned with the Communist Party of Yugoslavia (CPY). While in most parts of Europe during these years the war against the Axis powers was approaching its end and geopolitical interests were stabilizing — peace was being established and the reconstruction of societies devastated by war had begun — in Kosovo the conflict did not cease. On the contrary, it resumed in a context marked by political uncertainty and contradictory demands, particularly between the aspiration for national affirmation and self-determination of Albanians and Kosovo — promised within the ideological discourse of Yugoslav communism — and the subsequent disappointment resulting from Kosovo’s remaining within Serbia/Yugoslavia.
One of the primary aims of this paper is to argue that the anti-communism of this political, military and clandestine movement at that time was directed against communism as an ideology in general — both against communism in Yugoslavia and against communism in Albania. This dualist character would not remain present for many decades afterward, neither in Albanian political thought in Kosovo, nor among illegal organizations and groups, nor among Albanian communists in Yugoslavia.
Consequently, as demonstrated through a comparative analytical approach, the findings of this paper suggest that Albanian political thought of that time exhibited a particularly high level of functional religious tolerance, perhaps among the most developed in modern Albanian history. At the same time, the geographical scope of anti-communist activity at that scale would never again be repeated in later periods among other Albanian movements.
The paper also attempts to answer why, during this period, no other political alternative emerged for Albanians and Kosovo beyond the two dominant projects: communism and fascism. The lack of international support for the Kosovo question had a long-term impact on the development of Albanian political thought. For a long time, political thought among Kosovo Albanians would be influenced both by Yugoslav communism and by the Albanian communist model under Enver Hoxha. As a consequence, the liberal-democratic reforms that later spread across most of Eastern Europe were delayed in Kosovo.