Албанското „въоръжено” социзкуство
The Albanian Armed Socialist Art

Summary/Abstract: Art in Albania during the totalitarian socialist regime (1944-1990) developed in three thematic directions, defined in the directives of the Albanian Communist Party. Two of these topics are ‘armed’: the presentation of the National Guerilla War (1939-1944) and the most important histori- cal phenomena for the Albanian nation – the Albanian National Liberation movement for Freedom from Turkish Occupation and the image of its founder and leader, the national hero Skanderbeg. Both themes are valid till the end of the totalitarian regime: the presentation of the guerilla dominated in all annual exhibitions, while the historical theme was developed only on certain anniversaries. The present article studies the role that firearms played in the Albanian socialist paintings of the period 1950-1990. The thesis, supported by the author is that under the authoritarian rule of the dicta- tor Enver Hoxha and the Albanian Communist Party the method of ‘Socialist Realism’ in painting changed and ‘edited’ life in order to present reality in a ostentatious light where the leader and the party took the central position. This deformation of realism had its didactic aims for the achievement of which arms played an exceptionally important role: to glorify the power of the leader and the ruling class; to unite the people under the banner of the party; to create a new, powerful and all-conquering socialist citizen; to indoctrinate people with communist ideas; to keep active the spirit of struggle; to make citizens conscious of the inevitability of war that has to be fought in order to defend the land.

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