— Stefan Kënuti, Scientific Collaborator at the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Studies —
This presentation is an excerpt from the study The Harmonization of General Interest With Other Interests in Our Socialist Society.
“The great strength of the line of our Party lies in its ability to harmonize personal interests with general interests.”[1]
The harmonization of general interest with personal interest, as well as with group interest, of the interests of our entire economy with those of its specific enterprises and branches, of immediate interests with long-term interests, and so on, is a problem of both theoretical and practical importance to which our Party and Comrade Enver Hoxha have devoted continuous attention throughout the construction of socialism in Albania.
Solving these issues correctly, in accordance with Marxist-Leninist principles and the concrete conditions of our country, represents valuable experience for our Party and contributes to the application and enrichment of Marxist-Leninist theory. In this paper, we will discuss certain aspects of the experience gained by our Party in harmonizing general interest with personal interest in our socialist society, in the education that prioritizes general interest and in the resolution of contradictions arising in this area.
1. The Relationship Between Personal and General Interest in Socialist Society
The individual is inseparably connected to society, outside of which they cannot live or act. All human activity is social. Lenin said, “It is impossible to live in society and be independent of it.”[2]
This close link between the individual and society is based on the fact that personal interests are connected to and in a determined relationship with the general interest of society. But depending on the nature of a given economic and social order, this link can take various forms; these two categories of interest may align, be in harmony, or be in contradiction. This also depends on the individual’s class affiliation, worldview and consciousness, as well as their level of understanding and attitude towards these categories of interest.
Unlike capitalist society, where the personal interests of the working masses are trampled upon by the exploitative state that defends the interests of the ruling class, our socialist society eliminates the antagonistic contradiction between the fundamental interests of individuals belonging to different classes and social strata. It also strives to increasingly smooth out secondary contradictions.
Socialism increasingly aligns the interests of the individual with those of other members of the community and of society as a whole. Under socialism, the individual feels for the first time that they are an integral part of a whole — the society — because socialist society neither disregards nor oppresses them; it honours the worker, whom it views as its most valuable asset.
“We make it a duty to defend the legitimate interests of our citizens,” Comrade Enver Hoxha emphasized, “and therefore we never violate the freedoms, rights or interests of the individual. Our socialist society consists of individuals, and it particularly cares for the happiness of each of them; that is why it teaches the individual to live honourably and with dignity, to respect themselves and others, to unite with comrades and to strive for the good of all.”[3]
In our socialist society, personal interest is closely connected to the general interest of society, but this does not mean that these two interests are of equal importance. To define the position of each concerning the other, our Party has always adhered to the Marxist thesis that the interests of society take precedence over individual interests. This thesis is based on the dialectical relationship between part and whole, where priority belongs to the whole, while the part submits to it and merges with it without losing its identity.
The primacy of the general interest over personal interest in our socialist society is justified not only because the former is more important, as it involves the development of society as a whole, the building of socialism and communism, and the fulfilment of the ever-growing material and spiritual needs of all the workers rather than a single individual, but also because under socialism, individual interests cannot be satisfied independently of or without fulfilling the general interest.
Under socialism, personal and general interests cannot be conceived as separate from each other. One implies the other, and both serve the same purpose — satisfying the ever-growing material and spiritual needs of the workers in all fields, which is also the goal of socialist production.
Remaining faithful to the principles of Marxism-Leninism at all stages of socialist construction, our Party has clarified that the primacy of the general interest in the construction of socialism over any personal interest does not mean the negation of the latter. Concerning this issue, Comrade Enver Hoxha teaches us: “…in socialist society, the general interest does not oppose the personal interests of the workers. When we speak of the primacy of the general interest, it does not mean that personal interests should be ignored. In socialist society, the general interest is not conceived as an end in itself but as something that must serve to fulfil the legitimate needs of the workers, the requirements for the well-being of the people and to strengthen the nation’s defence capability.”[4]
In socialist society, it is the working class, its Marxist-Leninist party and the proletarian state that express the general interest and provide the only guarantee for its true realization throughout society and for every worker. The class interests of the working class, its party and its proletarian state, far from opposing the interests of the other workers and the general interest, are the perfect embodiment of them and strive to meet these interests as well. This is the objective foundation of our society’s unity, the unity between the Party and the people. Given that it expresses the trend of social development toward communism, that it represents the interests of all the working masses, and that it is the most essential and important, the general interest evidently has primacy over the personal interests of every individual in socialist society.
2. The Harmonization of General and Personal Interests in Our Socialist Society
The correct combination and harmonization of the various interests within society, particularly of personal interest with general interest, is one of the fundamental traits of our socialist society and also constitutes an objective law of the socialist construction in Albania.
The experience gained by our Party in the revolution and socialist construction in Albania has shown that harmonizing these interests is not a simple or easy process. On the contrary, this harmonization requires great Marxist-Leninist maturity, skill and foresight. In fact, properly harmonizing interests in our socialist society means constantly defining the most appropriate relations between them, combining them in a way that they do not conflict and ensuring that, should contradictions arise, they are resolved promptly and wisely, always keeping these relations in view. Ultimately, harmonizing interests correctly in our society means subordinating lesser interests to greater ones, secondary interests to primary ones, partial interests to general interests, immediate interests to long-term ones, and so on.
This harmonization is unattainable in other economic and social systems where there is an irreconcilable contrast between the interests of exploiters and the exploited, a contrast generated by the harsh laws of private property. Despite the preaching of “social peace” and the “community of interests” between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat by bourgeois and revisionist ideologues, nothing can conceal the deep antagonism between these two classes and their interests; nothing can reconcile or restore “harmony” between them. Guided by the teachings of Marxism-Leninism and drawing valuable lessons from the negative experience of former socialist countries where the correct relations between various interests were undermined, our Party has always waged a fair struggle to harmonize the various interests within our socialist society.
In this struggle, our Party also takes into account that, as social phenomena conditioned by a given level of productive forces and production relations, interests are dialectical — they are not fixed once and for all but change with the improvement of production relations, the continuous rise of productive forces and the advancement of our society as a whole. Consequently, their relationships are not static but dialectical. Thus, our Party strives, at every stage of the revolution, to combine all categories of interests in the most judicious manner, never renouncing the primacy of the general interest of society in any time or circumstance.
Under this important aspect as well, the radiant reality of socialist Albania undeniably demonstrates the superiority of our socialist society over every system of exploitation. It would be enlightening to analyse how, over four decades of socialist construction in Albania under the leadership of our Party, it became possible to permanently overcome the antagonistic contradictions between class interests, between general and personal interests, and how a vast community of interests was established among individuals, groups and classes within our society, a community that makes the combination and harmonization of these interests possible.
This qualitative leap forward was fundamentally driven by our socialist revolution itself, which, by entirely eliminating private property, the exploitation of man by man, and the exploitative classes and replacing them with social ownership of the means of production, socialist relations in cities and the countryside, and two friendly classes — the working class and cooperative peasantry, along with the layer of the people’s intelligentsia — established the objective and real conditions capable of creating, in all domains, a community of fundamental interests among individuals, classes and our society as a whole.
By placing all individuals, groups or classes within our society in the same relation to the means of production and by aligning the various objectives of producers with the goals of socialist production, these objective conditions generate common fundamental interests that also align with the general interest of our society, its development towards communism. This constitutes the objective basis that enables the combination and harmonization of individual interests with the general interest.
However, in highlighting these processes, we must not assume that this harmonization occurs automatically or spontaneously. The objective conditions just mentioned only create the possibility and emphasize the necessity of harmonizing these interests, but to translate this imperative into reality, it is necessary to meet certain other, subjective conditions. On this point, the 6th Plenum of the Central Committee of the Party of Labour of Albania (PLA) in 1968 stated: “The socialist system creates the objective conditions, and the correct policy of our Party creates the necessary subjective conditions for establishing correct relations between the various interests in the socialist system, for their combination and harmonization.”[5]
Well-versed in Marxist-Leninist theory, the objective laws of socialist construction, the dialectical relationship between general and personal interest, and the primacy of the former over the latter, our Party has been able to develop and apply, at each stage of socialist construction in Albania, a correct and farsighted policy. It has combined general interest with personal interest in line with the specific tasks of socialist construction. At the 8th Congress of the PLA, Comrade Enver Hoxha stated: “The priority given to general interest over group or personal interest, to long-term interests over immediate interests, to the fundamental interests of the state over ministerial or local interests, has been a constant principle of the activity of our Party and our state in the construction and defence of socialism. This concern has been and remains a safeguard against any deviation from the correct Marxist-Leninist path, from the theory and practice of socialist construction.”[6]
The general interest of the social development of our country required it to embark on the path of socialism and communism. This necessity assigned great and difficult theoretical and practical tasks to our Party and people. Where to start, how to proceed, at what pace to advance and what proportions to establish? All these problems and many others required solutions suited to our country’s concrete conditions. Only by successfully accomplishing these tasks could the standard of living of the working masses be raised, and the interests of each individual in our society be satisfied.
All measures adopted by our Party in the framework of the general interest of socialist construction — economically, politically, and in areas such as education, culture, art and defence — have always served to satisfy the legitimate personal interests of all the workers simultaneously.
Concerning the achievement of the proletariat’s primary and fundamental interest after taking power, namely, the increase of product output and, as far as possible, of the productive forces of society, Lenin set the restoration of heavy industry as the primary task.[7] Faithfully applying Lenin’s teachings, our Party began the construction of socialism in Albania with the socialist industrialization of the country.
While driving socialist industrialization based on our own material, financial and human resources, our Party never viewed it as an end in itself, aiming solely to develop productive forces, build the material and technical base of socialism, etc. Focussed on the continuous increase of production and improvement of the welfare of the entire people, and therefore of every worker, this development was the best means of judiciously combining general interest with the personal interests of workers.
The correct policy of our Party of developing industry not only in a few main districts and cities but throughout the country — leading to their proportionate development without major disparities — was of great importance for harmonizing these interests as best as possible and avoiding contradictions that might arise between them. This directly contributed to the growth of the working class in every district and the full employment of members of both urban and rural families. Industrial development meant that by 1983, the country had 572,000 workers, 9.5 times more than in 1950.
This increase, aside from its political, ideological and social impact on the working class as the vanguard of our society, directly contributed to raising incomes and improving the welfare of the people. Moreover, the comprehensive development of industry resulted in better satisfaction of the people’s purchasing power through domestically produced goods and in an improved standard of living.
This clearly shows that the satisfaction of general interest naturally facilitates the satisfaction of the workers’ personal interests, interests that directly depend on the level of development of productive forces and relations of socialist production. For instance, it would not have been possible to meet the people’s housing needs if our Party had not approached and solved this problem from the perspective of the general interest, while simultaneously developing the building materials industry rapidly. Consequently, “Today, around 80 per cent of the population lives in housing constructed under people’s rule.”[8]
Similarly, by 1984, light and food industry production had increased by 102.7 and 86.5 per cent compared to 1938, while retail goods circulation and the commercial network had grown by 17 and around 8 times compared to 1950, enabling better satisfaction of the people’s material and cultural needs.
In agriculture, too, our Party harmoniously combined the general with the specific, the general interest with the personal interests of the workers. In the countryside, it faced many significant challenges, such as the petty-bourgeois mentality of our peasantry, the survival of strictly personal interest primacy. It was not easy to “detach” peasants from this mindset, to convince them to abandon this negative feeling instilled in them for centuries by private property, especially since they had just taken possession of the land given to them by the agrarian reform.
Through participation in the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War, our peasantry raised its level of political awareness and gained great trust in the Party and its line. This was a very important factor, but it was not enough to bring our peasantry to the necessary forward leap in its mentality. To do so, it was necessary to find a way to “combine private interest, the interest of private trade, with the monitoring and control exercised over it by the state… to subordinate personal interest to general interests.”[9] Lenin saw this way in cooperation, in uniting large segments of the population into cooperatives.
Our Party perfectly implemented Lenin’s teaching. At the 1st Congress of the Communist Party of Albania, Comrade Enver Hoxha stressed: “Agricultural cooperatives are the most perfected organizations capable of harmonizing individual interests with the general interests of the state.”[10] Throughout the socialist collectivization of our countryside, our Party had to conduct explanatory, propaganda, educational and organizational work in all areas, not only to carry out this collectivization but also to convince the peasantry that it did not harm their personal interests but rather represented a necessary condition for their increasingly better satisfaction.
Today, the simplest of peasants realizes how right the Party was. They clearly see that the Party’s policy of extensive and intensive socialist development of the collectivized countryside, the substantial state aid and large investments in rural areas, the continuous reduction of essential disparities between countryside and city, between working class and peasantry, between cooperatives in the plains and those in hills and mountains, etc., have continually improved the peasantry’s standard of living, increased real per capita income and better satisfied their personal interests. This is also evidenced by the fact that agricultural production has grown twice as fast as the population, while real income per capita for the peasants has increased by 10 to 20 per cent each five-year period. Additionally, the general development of education, culture, art, science, sports, etc., has directly served to meet the spiritual needs of the working masses.
Comrade Enver Hoxha said: “Our Party has constantly emphasized that in our work, we must never forget the individual, with all their material, economic, spiritual, moral, political, ideological, psychological, cultural, educational and professional interests.”[11] Our Party has consistently applied and continues to apply this line unwaveringly throughout the construction of socialism in Albania. It is reflected in all Party documents and the works of Comrade Enver Hoxha, embodied in the practice of socialist construction in our country. At the 8th Congress of the PLA, Comrade Enver Hoxha reiterated: “The line of the Party is correctly and consistently applied when attention to economic issues and concern for general interest are never separated from concern for the individual, from concern for meeting their material and spiritual needs.”[12]
Our Party has not subordinated the judicious harmonization of general interest with the personal interests of workers to subjective desires or to various international situations but has based it on the objective laws of socialist construction. On this point, Comrade Enver Hoxha stated: “The economic laws of socialism and the experience we have gained in building socialism have convinced us that to judiciously harmonize these interests, it is necessary to increase the accumulation fund at a rate that is always faster than the consumption fund.”[13]
The experience of our country in this field, namely maintaining a high accumulation rate of about 30 per cent, has not harmed the well-being of the working masses, as our accumulation aims at the rapid and general development of productive forces, which belong to the whole society, at strengthening the country’s defence capabilities, and most importantly, at ensuring the continuous, uninterrupted and overall improvement of the people’s well-being, not only for today and for a given generation but also for the future generations. Moreover, although maintained at about 70 per cent of the total product, the consumption fund has experienced rapid absolute growth, reflecting national income growth rates.
By establishing correct relations between the accumulation fund and the consumption fund, between the product for oneself and the product for society, our Party has been able, through socialist planning, to ensure a growth rate of social product and national income two to three times higher than that of population growth. This has contributed directly not only to the general interest, the development of productive forces and the increase of social product but also to the continuous improvement of the well-being of the working masses, the increase of real per capita income, the rise of purchasing power, and therefore to the ever-better satisfaction of workers’ personal interests.
By skilfully using these paths and combining them with others, our Party has strived to create all necessary conditions to prevent contradictions between general and personal interests, and when these contradictions have arisen, to address them early, smooth them out in the right place and time, without allowing them to intensify or become a trend, thereby ensuring progress toward the complete construction of socialist society and later communism. Our Party has thus acquired very rich experience in this area as well.
As we have indicated, the conscious combination and harmonization of interests are typical traits of our socialist society. “But under socialism,” Comrade Enver Hoxha points out, “where private property has been eliminated and society develops consciously, we still encounter different interests, aspirations and ideas, a series of contradictions, because people live and act in different conditions and circumstances, because significant differences persist between friendly classes, between cities and countryside, between manual and intellectual labour, etc.”[14]
This implies that in socialist society as well, contradictions can and indeed do arise between personal and general interests. The Marxist-Leninist Party must not close its eyes to these contradictions or underestimate them when they first appear but must detect them early to prevent them from worsening and turning into antagonistic contradictions. Following a correct line and conducting ardent revolutionary activity, the Marxist-Leninist Party struggles at every moment, with maturity and moderation, to resolve these contradictions in the right place and time, ensuring progress towards socialism and communism. This has been the approach of our Party since its foundation to this day.
In our socialist society, individuals’ personal interests are multiple and varied — political, economic, social, cultural and others. They manifest throughout their practical, productive, political, social and cultural activities, in work, social life, family and everywhere else. These are legitimate and natural interests whose satisfaction aligns with socialist principles, the level of economic and social development and the possibilities of our society at any given period.
However, some individuals inherit from the past or display under certain conditions a negative tendency to satisfy their personal interests not according to socialist principles or in consideration of the level of development and concrete possibilities of our society. As a result, these personal interests conflict with the general interest, harm it, and consequently harm the legitimate personal interests of other individuals.
This contradiction, which appears as a tendency, as a feeling driving people to place personal interest above general interest, is typical of exploitative societies where private property over the means of production prevails, generating a mentality that views everything from the perspective of strict personal interest, of “self,” of the thirst for individual gain and well-being. Conversely, our socialist society is characterized by the primacy of general interest. Placing personal interest above general interest constitutes a manifestation foreign to socialism, observed in certain individuals.
This contradiction manifests in various areas and directions, taking on different forms and nuances depending on individuals, their backgrounds, and the environment in which they live and act. In short, this contradiction appears whenever one seeks to receive more from society than is one’s due, to secure privileges and profits in violation of the political, legal, economic, social and moral norms of socialism.
One form of this prioritization of personal interest over the general interest is the pursuit of individual gain in abnormal ways, harming the interests of the economy and the people. For example, seeking a higher-paying job at all costs, maintaining low productivity standards to exceed them easily and earn a higher wage, engaging in planning with hidden reserves, obtaining sick leave by dishonest means or abusing power to gain undeserved material benefits.
The contradiction between personal and general interest also appears whenever a worker (or cooperative member) does not meet their productivity target or the plan set for them, when they are absent from work without reason, produce poor-quality items, etc. In such cases, this does not only affect their own or their family’s income but also the income of society, the general interest.
The mindset of private property and the feeling of putting strictly personal interest above the general interest are observed not only in attitudes toward work but especially in attitudes toward socialist property. Although, in general, people here have a socialist attitude toward work and property, some individuals with inadequate ideological and political training harm socialist, social or cooperative property.
Appropriating socialist property is one of the most blatant manifestations of strictly personal interest over general interest, of opposition of the individual to society. Unlike what happens in capitalist and revisionist societies, where thefts and robberies, along with other crimes, are massive and characteristic phenomena inherent in the very nature of such societies, in our socialist society, we find only isolated occurrences of these phenomena, which are decreasing due to the development and strengthening of the economic base of socialist society, the intensification of the educational work of our Party, improvements in organization and control, the strengthening of revolutionary vigilance and so forth.
So, how can we explain that in our socialist society, where private ownership of the means of production no longer exists, where exploitative classes and the exploitation of man by man have been eliminated, some individuals still retain the feeling, beliefs and practices of strictly personal interest as primary?
This is largely due to the legacy of past psychology, which exerted a strong influence in this regard. Although the shift to a socialist economy, socialist property and collective work in both industry and agriculture has created a new material base that has engendered a new, collectivist mindset prioritizing general interest, people here could not suddenly rid themselves of the ideas that private property and individual labour had instilled in them over centuries. It is known that changes in consciousness always occur more slowly than changes in the material domain. This is one reason why the psychology of private property and, consequently, the priority concern for strictly personal interest are tenacious and persist for a relatively long period, continuing to manifest even in socialist society.
Old petty-bourgeois and bourgeois ideas of strictly personal interest are also propagated and supported by elements of the old exploitative classes among us, encouraged by our external enemies through their ideological and propaganda arsenal.
Apart from these factors, the emergence of a contradiction between strictly personal interest and general interest is also influenced by the fact that socialist society, during its transitional period, has not yet been freed from certain vestiges of the past, such as the existence of classes and significant differences between them, the historical limitations in the development of productive forces, the existence of “bourgeois right” without the bourgeoisie, and so on.
This attachment to strictly personal interest is not only rooted in objective foundations; it also has subjective bases. The fact that this sentiment is observed in certain individuals rather than in the masses of our society shows that it does not infect all members of society equally. This is primarily due to the differing levels of ideological and political work conducted among people in enterprises, cooperatives, institutions, schools and even families. Additionally, not all people are made the same; they have different backgrounds and are influenced by bourgeois and petty-bourgeois psychology to varying degrees. Often, their education is not pursued uniformly, which contributes to the persistence of personal interest attachment. The narrow perception that some hold about the relationship between general and personal interest significantly influences this tendency. “Some people do not understand, as they should,” Comrade Enver Hoxha points out, “that the well-being of the state, socialist property, is inviolable, that each person’s interest depends on the proper management of socialist property, its protection and its economical use.”[15]
Unconscious people who prioritize their personal interest above all else exploit weaknesses in production organization, work discipline, control, etc., to gain benefits at society’s expense.
Certainly, these factors contribute to prioritizing narrow personal interest over general interest. However, it should not be concluded that this tendency is unchangeable, that it is a fatality. On the contrary, on this subject, Comrade Enver Hoxha has stated, “But these factors cannot justify the tendency to place personal interest above general interest. In our socialist society, all possibilities exist to increasingly limit foreign phenomena to socialism through the strengthening of mass education efforts, the development of production, the improvement of economic relations and the rigorous application of state laws.”[16]
Aware of the danger these tendencies, ideas, mindsets and harmful actions pose to society, our socialist society and each individual, our Party has continually and successfully fought against all tendencies to place personal interest first.
Comrade Enver Hoxha advises, “We must regard the fight against any manifestation of the tendency to place personal interest above general interest as a fundamental question of all the ideological work of our Party.”[17] Our Party has always conducted this struggle with caution and tact, depending on the individuals who exhibit this tendency and the concrete conditions that foster it, as well as their worldview, ideological and political consciousness level, educational level, and the living, working, and active conditions of the various social groups and the individuals within them.
This differentiated approach can be and has been successfully pursued if one has concrete knowledge of the people with all their ideas, goals, demands, needs and interests.
Faithfully applying the teachings of Marxism-Leninism, our Party tirelessly works in this direction, and we thus increasingly see the formation of the new man, ready to sacrifice even his life if the interests of the Party and the people, the interests of the socialist revolution, demand it.
3. The Correct Policy of Our Party for Satisfying the Legitimate Interests of the Working Masses According to Their Work and Through Social Consumption Funds
No other economic and social system creates conditions capable of satisfying the fundamental interests of every working individual as our socialist system does, where the vast masses — all workers, not a privileged “elite” of exploiters — enjoy the material and spiritual wealth of society.
Socialism is a system of labour, where work is honoured and considered the main criterion by which any individual’s activity is judged. It is precisely for this reason that our Party regards work as the most important element, the fundamental factor by which the personal interests of each working individual are met. Without work and socialist property, there can be no satisfaction of personal interests, nor can they be combined with the general interest.
The socialist organization of work in our socialist society is one of the main ways to harmonize personal interest with the general interest, as work organized in a socialist manner appropriately combines the relationship between work for oneself and work for society. Recognizing the importance of a well-organized work system, compensation, etc., Comrade Enver Hoxha emphasizes that workers “will see in work the combination of personal interest and general interest.”[18]
In this regard, the creation of new jobs is of great importance, for even though the role of work in satisfying workers’ interests may be acknowledged in principle, various contradictions and difficulties can arise if concrete measures are not taken to ensure employment for the entire working-age population.
It is a fact that our country has had, and continues to have, high rates of population growth. In 1983, its population was 273 per cent greater than in 1938. This rapid growth is primarily characterized by the significant proportion of young people and the increase in the labour force. Consequently, from 1950 to 1983, the working-age population grew by more than 2.6 times, currently making up more than half of the population. Despite these high growth rates, we have never felt a shortage of jobs here, unlike in many bourgeois and revisionist countries. Our Party responded to this demographic growth by accelerating the rate of development of our economy by two to three times, which enabled us to employ all available labour forces. In other words, in every family of five people, two or three earn a nominal salary.
Concerned with satisfying the workers’ personal interests, our Party consistently adhered to the Marxist-Leninist principles “He who does not work shall not eat” and “From each according to his ability, to each according to his work.” In our socialist society, these principles are embodied in the wages earned by workers based on the quantity and quality of their work. Wages represent the primary means by which our workers meet their material and cultural needs.
Over the 41 years of people’s rule, our Party developed a fair wage policy in line with Marxist-Leninist principles and applied it creatively in the conditions of socialist construction within the country. This policy aimed to, and succeeded in, continuously raising the material and cultural standard of living of all our working masses, justly meeting their legitimate interests. From the early years of socialist construction, our Party recommended to the Council of Ministers to “…re-examine the wage system and take measures to correct errors and anomalies in the current wage system, guided by the socialist principle ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his work,’ so that each worker’s material interest is closely tied to the outcome of their work, thereby creating an incentive for competition and continuous production growth.”[19]
Indeed, socialist Albania is the only country where the ratio between the lowest average wage and the highest salary is the smallest. After measures taken by our Party to lower high salaries and reduce wage disparities (especially after steps taken in 1966 and 1975), this ratio is currently 1 to 2, whereas in revisionist countries, the opposite trend prevails.
Satisfying our workers’ personal interests through their work and according to socialist principles of distribution is the primary means of ensuring the harmonization of these interests. However, as a Marxist-Leninist party, our Party also pursued another path alongside the first: satisfying the legitimate interests of the working masses through social consumption funds. Evidence of this can be seen in the rapidly increasing expenditures by our socialist state on social and cultural measures. Whereas in 1950, these expenses accounted for 15 per cent of the state budget, in 1983, they made up more than 27 per cent. In other words, each family receives an annual benefit of around 4,000 leks from the social consumption, free of charge, about ten times more than in 1950. This is a clear example demonstrating the correct path our Party has followed in meeting the vital interests of our workers, judiciously harmonizing the two aforementioned approaches.
In working towards building socialist society, our Party has the merit of also considering the future of this society, laying the foundations for communist society even during the stage of socialist construction. Within this framework, viewing socialist society as a base on which the “structure” of communist society is slowly built, our Party has also successfully incorporated certain elements or “new growths” of communist distribution during this process, which grow robustly and constitute a guarantee for the future.
Our Party has carefully utilized the social consumption fund as an element of distribution according to needs, alongside the socialist principle of distribution according to work performed, which it has given the primary focus. To assess this, let us refer to the following table, which illustrates the ratio and place assigned by our Party to individual consumption and social consumption during each five-year period.[20]
| (In percentage) | Five-Year Plans | |||||
| I | II | III | IV | V | VI | |
| 1951-1955 | 1956-1960 | 1961-1965 | 1966-1970 | 1971-1976 | 1975-1980 | |
| Total national income for consumption | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| Individual | 89.7 | 88.7 | 89.1 | 88.1 | 85.7 | 84.2 |
| Social | 11.3 | 11.3 | 10.9 | 11.9 | 14.3 | 15.8 |
As we can clearly see, this ratio has shifted in favour of social consumption, especially during the last two five-year plans, with social consumption increasing in line with the development of productive forces and the overall growth of production over these two periods.
However, the fact that the social consumption fund represents 15.2 per cent of the general consumption funds shows that the prevailing principle is currently that of socialist distribution according to the work performed. But the future perspectives are clearly outlined. During the complete construction of socialist society and later in communist society, this ratio will change according to the Marxist-Leninist directive given by Comrade Enver Hoxha: “Our society has advanced and will continue to advance towards strengthening the social nature of meeting the needs of the workers”[21] (emphasis by S.K.). Consequently, workers’ personal interests will increasingly be met through the social consumption fund until the communist principle of distribution “according to needs” gradually becomes predominant.
In the path followed by our Party to consolidate the social nature of meeting the needs of workers, certain “milestones” stand out, such as significant measures applied with Marxist-Leninist courage and maturity. Examples include the complete abolition of taxes and duties, the continuous and periodic reduction of retail prices and service rates — resulting in a gain of approximately four billion leks for the population — the establishment of a free education system and free medical assistance for all, state subsidies covering rents for state-owned buildings, as well as costs associated with rest homes, vacation colonies, nurseries and the supply of medicines to pharmacies, state aid for natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, fires, etc.), family benefits for mothers with many children, the very low prices of cultural, artistic and sports activities, and more.
Such a combination of these two approaches cannot be achieved by just anyone. It is the exclusive result of a correctly applied Marxist-Leninist policy in the interest of the working masses by a Marxist-Leninist party such as the Party of Labour of Albania.
To follow these two paths, our Party primarily relies on prioritizing general interest, proportionate and planned development of the economy and culture in the country, our economic stability, socialist relations of ownership, exchange and distribution, strengthening a communist worldview among the workers, the moral and political unity of the people around the Party, a proper understanding of interests and the reinforcement of the tendency to prioritize the general interest above all.
In this context, the experience gained by our Party in its struggle to block manifestations of the tendency of some executives and managers in economic enterprises to underestimate the legitimate personal interests of workers from the outset is of particular importance. Criticizing those who, in the name of general interests, fail to properly consider the workers’ interests, Comrade Enver Hoxha states: “Here, everything that happens and is created is for the sake of and in the interest of the working man. From this perspective, the method and practice of certain executives, especially in the organs of power and economic bodies, who concern themselves with everything from bolts to cows but forget what is essential and decisive in every activity — namely, the individual, the care he should receive, attention to his life and health, his safety at work, hygiene and the proper maintenance of the facilities he lives in, his vacation, his education and his leisure — must be severely criticized and mercilessly condemned.”[22]
In most cases, this behaviour foreign to socialism arises mainly for subjective reasons — errors in the work methods of some leaders of state and economic organizations, a one-sided and superficial understanding of the policies of the Party in various areas of interests, and often due to the incompetence, negligence and indifference of some executives who do not wish to worry or commit all their efforts to meet the workers’ legitimate personal interests.
As we can see, the tendency to underestimate the workers’ legitimate personal interests is based on an imperfect understanding and application of the correct line of our Party. This means that this contradiction is not inherent in the socialist system and does not stem from the line of the Party; it results from the violation of this line by certain individuals. Therefore, one of the main approaches to resolving this contradiction, as always emphasized by our Party and Comrade Enver Hoxha, is the consistent application of the line, directives and decisions of the Party at all levels. “The application of the correct line of the Party facilitates the solution of the problems raised,”[23] Comrade Enver Hoxha teaches us.
This goal is directly pursued through the various norms of communist education for the workers applied in schools, families, mass organizations, propaganda organs, revolutionary actions, etc. Thanks to this, the various manifestations of the tendency to underestimate and harm the workers’ legitimate personal interests that we have mentioned above are not typical of our socialist society, and indeed, they clash with our healthy reality. One of the most important approaches our Party has always followed to combat these tendencies from their roots is to subject executives, employees and high officials to dual supervision — by the Party and by the masses. This is the aim of the unrelenting struggle waged by our Party to strengthen all forms of control, especially control exercised by the working class over the work of state organs, economic organizations, etc., and to enhance the revolutionary vigilance of the working masses against such tendencies, the consolidation of legislation and so forth. On this subject, Comrade Enver Hoxha stated: “The people observe and assess all actions of the leaders of the Party and state accurately. Therefore, it is absolutely essential for the executives to remain humble and know that the people and the Party are always aware of their behaviour and will respect them as long as they work well and follow the line of the Party. Otherwise, sooner or later, they will be discredited.”[24]
Revolutionizing the cadres themselves, the state and economic apparatuses, has been and remains a highly effective way to block tendencies foreign to our society. The Party’s continuous struggle against bureaucracy, technocracy and intellectualism in all areas, to revolutionize the working methods of power and economic apparatuses, bring the government closer to the base, refresh the apparatuses by bringing in dedicated individuals from the base, especially from the working class, raise the political education level of the masses and the cadres, etc., constitutes a valuable, positive experience for maintaining correct relations between general and personal interest.
4. The Primacy of General Interest, a Distinctive Trait of Our People
Our Party and people’s state power constantly strive to satisfy our workers’ legitimate interests. As a result, the working class, cooperative peasantry and the people’s intelligentsia in our country put general interest first in their activities, consciously subordinating personal and group interests to those of society, the people and socialism. This very important distinctive trait did not form on its own but is the result of the tireless work carried out by our Party in every area. It has been difficult work, as it involved transforming the consciousness of our people, purging it of traits sustained by private property and the old exploitative system, such as the focus on strictly personal interest, individualism and selfishness. To educate our workers to prioritize general interest above all, our Party followed two main approaches: fostering a theoretical awareness of this necessity and promoting practical, revolutionary activity. These two approaches aimed to instil a deep, firm conviction among the people of the need to act at every step in accordance with the general interest, placing it at the forefront. Our Party has gained very rich experience in this regard.
From its founding and throughout the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War, our Party educated its members, partisans and the people in the spirit of the higher interests of the Homeland, the revolution and the future of the country, teaching them to sacrifice even their lives for these interests. Drawing on the teaching of the great Lenin, which states that “making the masses understand the objectives and reasons for the struggle is of great importance and ensures victory,”[25] our Party conducted extensive explanatory work among the people, convincing them that the only way to free themselves from servitude, oppression and exploitation was through armed struggle against the nazi-fascist occupiers and their instruments, the traitors.
Our Party instilled in the masses a correct understanding of the relationship between personal and general interest; this was one of the fundamental factors that enabled it to successfully conclude the National Liberation War. In his address to the 1st Congress of the Front, Comrade Enver Hoxha said: “The war has taught our people to place the great general interest above mere personal interest, to sacrifice everything, even their lives, for this general interest. Our people understood that personal interest would be considered and fulfilled when the general interest is viewed objectively and everyone works toward it.”[26]
After the liberation of the country and throughout the period of socialist construction, our Party continued its efforts to instil in every worker’s consciousness the sense of the primacy of the general interest. By basing socialist construction primarily on our internal strengths and working masses, our Party made the problem of reconstruction and the general development of the country a matter for the entire people. Responding to the call of the Party, thousands of volunteers — workers, peasants, intellectuals, young men, young women and women — organized into reconstruction work brigades, undertook with exemplary enthusiasm and self-sacrifice the task of eliminating the aftermath of the war. They launched mass actions to rebuild houses, roads, bridges and ports destroyed by the war, construct the first railways and aid war victims. What guided people in these mass actions and this revolutionary communist activity was their great confidence in their Party, the feeling of finally working for themselves, for their people, and not for the exploiters. And at that time, Comrade Enver Hoxha advised, “We must place the interest of the Party above all, as everything depends on that.”[27]
Later, with the beginning of the construction of the economic base of socialism following five-year plans, our Party continued to focus on educating the people in the spirit of the primacy of general interest. The 2nd Congress of the PLA emphasized, “Our Party must continually work to teach people always to be guided by the interests of the people and our government.”[28]
Our people were convinced of this not only by the Party’s words but also by its actions and by reality itself, as everything done in the general interest of the Homeland, society and state also benefited them.
Thus, they saw the great socialist principle put into practice: the primacy of general interest, far from denying individuals’ legitimate interests, is one of the necessary conditions for their continuous improvement. This awareness of the primacy of general interest over all other interests was so strengthened during socialist construction that our people, with unwavering trust in the Party and Comrade Enver Hoxha and a commitment to place the interests of socialism and the Homeland above all, heroically faced and overcame the blockade and multifaceted pressures of the Khrushchevite revisionists.
This reality shone brightly during the period of the general revolutionary transformation of the life of the country, especially with the launch of the movement prioritizing general interest over personal interest in all areas. “The essence of this movement,” as noted in the History of the PLA, “was the general assault launched against petty-bourgeois psychology to elevate the socialist consciousness of the workers,… strengthen the awareness of the primacy of general interest over personal interest.”[29]
In all areas — economic, political, cultural, social and defence — the masses demonstrated a high spirit of sacrifice, prioritizing general interest over strictly personal interests. The many initiatives of the time were a brilliant manifestation of our people’s socialist patriotism, of their awareness of the primacy of general interest over personal interest.
The declaration by the CC of the PLA and the Council of Ministers of the PR of Albania on April 29, 1967 not only generalized and legalized these revolutionary initiatives of the working masses but also announced the adoption of a series of measures to promote the movement for the primacy of general interest. As part of this, material incentives that fostered privileged classes were abolished and replaced by moral incentives; the modest-to-high wage ratio was adjusted by lowering higher salaries and measures were taken to benefit the cooperative peasants and workers.
All of this raised the revolutionary consciousness of our people to a higher level and enabled them to take new initiatives in this direction. Notably, the initiative of the wealthier agricultural cooperatives and farms to provide a large quantity of livestock free of charge to cooperatives in remote mountainous areas was of particular significance. This was another tremendous leap forward, especially considering the traditional mindset of our peasants, who for centuries had been attached to small land ownership and personal livestock. It highlighted the great educational and transformative power of the Party, its correct line and the socialist system itself. Also, the movement for mutual aid and sharing experience among agricultural cooperatives demonstrated that our peasantry understood that its interests were inseparable from the general interests of socialist construction.
Another inspiring example of our people’s awareness of the primacy of general interest is the heroism, high spirit of solidarity and strong determination they showed and continue to show in response to each natural disaster that struck the country or specific districts. This was confirmed once again by the efforts made to eliminate the damage caused by heavy snowfall in the north of the country in January and February 1985. This positive phenomenon of our socialist reality best demonstrates the Leninist teaching that the dictatorship of the proletariat is “the only solid power that marches side by side with the working masses and can awaken in them true heroism, which consists of sacrificing personal interests.”[30]
Published from issue no. 9/1985 in Albanian from the journal Political and Social Studies.
Notes
[1] Enver Hoxha, An Earthquake Can Shake Mountains, But Not the Albanians, Alb. ed., Tirana 1979, p. 150.
[2] V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Alb. ed., vol. 10, p. 38.
[3] Enver Hoxha, An Earthquake Can Shake Mountains, But Not the Albanians, Alb. ed., Tirana 1979, p. 151.
[4] Enver Hoxha, Report to the 8th Congress of the PLA, French ed., Editions “8 Nëntori,” Tirana 1981, pp. 140-141.
[5] Ramiz Alia, On Intensifying the Socialist Revolution Through the Development of Class Struggle and the Application of the Mass Line, in Main Documents of the PLA, Alb. ed., vol. 5, p. 481.
[6] Enver Hoxha, Report to the 8th Congress of the PLA, French ed., Editions “8 Nëntori,” Tirana 1981, pp. 139-140.
[7] See V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Alb. ed., vol. 33, p. 201.
[8] Enver Hoxha, Report to the 8th Congress of the PLA, French ed., Editions “8 Nëntori,” Tirana 1981, p. 58.
[9] V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Alb. ed., vol. 33.
[10] Enver Hoxha, Selected Works, French ed., vol. 2, Editions “8 Nëntori,” Tirana 1975, p. 19.
[11] Enver Hoxha, Reports and Speeches 1969-1970, Alb. ed., p. 334.
[12] Enver Hoxha, Report to the 8th Congress of the PLA, French ed., Editions “8 Nëntori,” Tirana 1981, p. 141.
[13] Enver Hoxha, Collected Works, Alb. ed., vol. 34, p. 88.
[14] Enver Hoxha, Reports and Speeches 1970-1971, Alb. ed., p. 105.
[15] Enver Hoxha, Collected Works, Alb. ed., vol. 21, p. 298.
[16] Enver Hoxha, Report to the 8th Congress of the PLA, French ed., Editions “8 Nëntori,” Tirana 1981, p. 140.
[17] Enver Hoxha, Collected Works, Alb. ed., vol. 47, p. 237.
[18] Enver Hoxha, Reports and Speeches 1970-1971, Alb. ed., p. 256.
[19] Communiqué of the 10th Plenum of the CC of the PLA, April 16-18, 1954, in Main Documents of the PLA, Alb. ed., vol. 2, p. 473.
[20] These data are extracted from 40 Years of Socialist Albania (Statistical Data on Economic and Cultural Development), French ed., Tirana 1984, p. 136.
[21] Enver Hoxha, On the 7th Five-Year Plan, Alb. ed., p. 90.
[22] Enver Hoxha, Reports and Speeches 1969-1970, Alb. ed., p. 383.
[23] Enver Hoxha, Reports and Speeches 1982-1983, Alb. ed., p. 268.
[24] Enver Hoxha, Reports and Speeches 1982-1983, Alb. ed., p. 269.
[25] V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Alb. ed., vol. 31, p. 143.
[26] Bashkimi, August 7, 1945.
[27] Enver Hoxha, Collected Works, Alb. ed., vol. 3, p. 289.
[28] Enver Hoxha, Collected Works, Alb. ed., vol. 9, p. 284.
[29] History of the Party of Labour of Albania, 2nd French ed., Editions “8 Nëntori,” Tirana 1982, p. 456.
[30] V.I. Lenin, Collected Works, Alb. ed., vol. 28, pp. 120-121.