Democratic Front of Albania

(DFA), a mass sociopolitical organization.

The DFA was created in September 1942 on the initiative of the Communist Party at a conference in Peza, near Tirana, as the National Liberation Front of Albania. It set as its goal the unification of all the patriotic forces of the country for the struggle against the fascist aggressors and the collaborationists. In addition to the Communist Party, the front included youth organizations led by the Communists. The conference adopted a resolution on local bodies of the front—the national liberation councils. These were created on the initiative of the Communists in early 1942 and carried out various military and administrative functions. The conference elected the temporary General National Liberation Council to direct the front. In May 1944 the Antifascist National Liberation Congress was convened in Pérmet by resolution of the General National Liberation Council. The congress elected the Antifascist National Liberation Council of Albania as the supreme authority. This council created a supreme executive body, the Antifascist National Liberation Committee of Albania, with the functions of a provisional government. On Oct. 20, 1944, the second session of the Antifascist National Liberation Council of Albania adopted a resolution transforming the committee into the Provisional Democratic Government of Albania. A law on the local national liberation councils was adopted simultaneously: henceforth, these councils were to act only as agencies of state power. On Oct. 26, 1944, the member organizations of the National Liberation Front held a conference at which the General Council of the Front was elected as the general democratic body of the country.

In August 1945 the front was transformed into the DFA; at the same time, a program was adopted for the front. In May 1950 the second congress of the DFA adopted a charter. The DFA operates under the direction of the Albanian Workers’ Party. It has individual membership. Its highest body is the congress, which in accordance with the new charter, adopted at the third congress in June 1955, is to be convened once in four years; in the interval between congresses, the front’s General Council and the administration elected by it are the highest bodies of the DFA. The chairman of the General Council is E. Hoxha. The central organ of the DFA is the newspaper Bashkimi.