lly in 1970. In 1970 the
Chinese were believed to be enabling Albania to maintain its forces at
approximately the same levels that had been reached by 1960 with Soviet
assistance (see ch. 6, Government Structure and Political System).

SECURITY FORCES

Albanian sources publish little concerning the security police except
for some articles expressing gratitude for their services and a
smattering of information relative to their responsibilities. Few of the
observers who have visited the country since 1945 have been in positions
to see, or have been qualified to judge, their actual performance. It is
undoubtedly true that the Albanian leadership emulated many of Joseph
Stalin's techniques for controlling the population, that it modified its
attitudes and practices less than did the other East European Communist
countries after Stalin's death, and that it has maintained a high degree
of Stalinism since its break with the Soviet Union and alignment with
Communist China (see ch. 6, Government Structure and Political System).

There is probably credibility in reports stating that no other Communist
country has as extensive a police and security organization relative to
its size as that which operates in Albania. Hoxha has regarded the
security police as an elite group, and they have been the mainstay of
his power. By 1961, although arrests had tapered off from earlier
levels, fourteen concentration or labor camps were still in use. Foreign
visitors in Tirana have reported that it is impossible to move around
the city without escorts and that conversations with ordinary citizens
are discouraged. Local police, servicemen, and security police are in
evidence everywhere.

All security and police forces were responsible in the governmental
structure to the Ministry of the Interior. The minister in 1970 was
Kadri Hasbiu. Each organization--the Directorate of State Security, the
People's Police, and the Frontier Guards--constituted a separate
directorate of the ministry. The total regular uniformed security
personnel numbered approximately 12,500. This figure did not include the
plainclothes security police, informers, or the citizens who were
performing their two months of mandatory auxiliary duty attached to
local police units.

A larger proportion of personnel in the security forces are Party
members than is the case in the regular military forces. In the state
security organization, nearly all of those who serve in import