From shortage economy to second economy: An historical ethnography of rural life in communist Albania

Abstract

Few accounts exist of the nature of everyday rural life in communist societies, such as those which existed in Eastern Europe between the end of World War Two and circa 1990. In this paper we use oral-history testimonies from older people to reconstruct an 'historical ethnography' of rural life in Albania, the most isolated and repressive of the East European socialist regimes. We build our analysis around the dialectical relationship between the 'shortage economy', which was all-pervasive and derived from the Albanian regime's Stalinist policy of prioritising mining and heavy industry over consumer goods and agriculture, and the 'second economy' which developed as a bottom-up strategy to overcome some of the imbalances and blockages in the official or 'first' economy. Fieldwork was carried out in clusters of villages and settlements corresponding to cooperatives and a state farm in four locations in different parts of Albania. Within the symbiotic or 'lubricating' relationship between the shortage economy and the second economy, we examine the 'institutionalised hierarchy of access' that gave some people and groups privileged access to scarce goods, whilst others remained in a marginalised and partially excluded state.

Fragmented and Fluid Mobilities: The Role of Onward Migration in the New Map of Europe and the Balkans

“…During this period, Albanians were denied fundamental human rights such as travel abroad and the freedom to practice their religion (Islam, Orthodox Christianity and Roman Catholicism were the prevalent religions). Above all, participants remembered the impoverished living conditions they endured, especially in rural areas (see King and Vullnetari, 2016). Their situation then was seen as all the more miserable in the light of their subsequent experiences in Greece and England.…”

What explains collective action: The impact of social capital, incentive structures and economic benefits

“…Private land ownership was abolished and agricultural land was consolidated into state‐managed cooperatives and state‐owned farms. The government‐controlled production targets, resource allocation, and distribution, hindered market dynamics, and innovation, while productivity was low and declining resulting in food shortages, which was common among co‐operative members who were poorly paid (King & Vullnetari, 2016). Despite these challenges, the cooperative system remained dominant until the fall of communism in the early 1990s, when Albania shifted to a more market‐oriented agricultural system with private land ownership and individual farming enterprises.…”