In the party itself also sought pro-Soviet elements to overthrow Hoxha. In June, Politburo member Liri Belishova visited China and gave a speech on 6 June which, as Griffith put it, “could hardly have highlighted his pro-Soviet sympathies” after praising the Soviet Union, omitting the praise when the text was published the next day in the Zéri i Popullit party newspaper. [63] After the Hungarian uprising of November 1956, relations between Albania and the Soviet Union improved somewhat due to the role of Yugoslavia, a source of tension in Yugoslav relations. On November 7, Hoxha wrote an article for Pravda in which he denounced Tito for promoting rebel activities, although the Soviets soon repressed Hoxha for his harsh tone. [33] Soviet efforts to improve relations with Yugoslavia quickly resumed, leading to a further deterioration in relations between the Soviet Community and Albania. After another violent exchange of blows between Soviet and Chinese delegates over Albania at the 22nd Congress of the Soviet Communist Party in October 1961, Khrushchev accused the Albanians of executing a member of the pre-German, pro-Soviet Politburo Liri Gega, and the Soviet Union finally severed diplomatic relations with Albania in December. Moscow then removed all Soviet economic advisers and technicians from the country, including those who worked at the Palace of Culture, and suspended the supply of supplies and spare parts for equipment already located in Albania. In addition, the Soviet Union continued to dismantle its naval facilities on sazan Island, a process that had begun even before relations broke down. In his memoirs, Hoxha described the conference as a “coup d`etat” and added: “The revisionist apostates needed a new meeting of international communism to obtain the approval of their old plan for the definitive legitimization of modern revisionism,” because “[we] suspected that the problem of disputes between China and the Soviet Union would be discussed… we had heard only part of the argument, the Soviet side, and we were not familiar with the objections of the Chinese… They had to be whipped in depth, they had to be studied carefully, and it took time. That is why our party sent Comrade Hysni Kapo to Bucharest to discuss only the date of the future meeting” because decisions other than that date should not be taken at the conference itself.
[54] The Soviet-Albanian division refers to the gradual deterioration of relations between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the People`s Republic of Albania, Which took place during the period 1955-1961 following the rapprochement of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev with Yugoslavia at the same time as his “secret speech” and the subsequent de-instalinization, including efforts to extend this policy to Albania , as was the case in other Eastern States.
