Enver Hoxha

Hoxha, Enver (1908–85), Albanian leader. He helped found the Albanian Communist party in 1941 and was the first premier of the new communist government (1944–54). Continuing as party secretary after 1954, he remained a Stalinist and fell out with the USSR during the latter's de-Stalinization phase. Hoxha became allied with Communist China in the early 1960s. Later this friendship cooled when China moved toward closer ties with the West.

See also: Albania.