A book of Today - for all serious students of POLITICAL HISTORYAlbania's difference with the Soviet Union over the issue of the true nature of socialism, coupled with its fraternal alliance with People's China, has been at the very core of the split in the world communist movement.Yet, until William Ash wrote this book, no adequate history of Albania has been published in the West.PICKAXE AND RIFLE is more than an historical account of this interesting but little-known country: it is a political and sociological study of the only socialist state in Europe.Having liberated themselves from fascist occupation, how did the Albanian people free themselves also from the whole system of exploitation and defend their new socialist state from the hostile countries all around them?What new social institution and governmental organisation reflect the transfer of state power into the hands of the working people?What are the characteristics of real socialist society as developed by the Albanians, and how have they guaranteed it against the distortions and deformations which have overturned the other East European peoples' democracies?And as a result, what is the quality of life in Albania today?William Ash, author of MARXISM AND MORAL CONCEPTS, was invited to Albaniain 1969 to tour the country extensively and to collect material for this book. Again, in1971, the author had an opportunity of visiting Albania at the time of the Sixth Congress of the Party of Labour of Albania, and of checking the draft typescript of his work with historians, with State and Party leaders and, most important of all, with the people in factories and on the collective farms.The result is a most compelling account of real socialism in action.[back cover, ca. 1974].