ABSTRACT
Under communist rule Albania was to attempt a transition from being Europe's most backward state to one which was in the vanguard of social and political progress. Success in this gargantuan task could not be achieved, Albania's rulers believed, without strict internal controls and substantial external help, at least in the initial stages of the process. The belief in the necessity of strict discipline at home made the Albanian regime the most vicious and vindictive in Europe. Its dependence on help from without produced abrupt changes in external orientation but did not moderate its intense nationalism.
