Constitution 55, or Agitation and Propaganda against the State (), was a

criminal offence In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

Communist Albania The People's Socialist Republic of Albania, () was the Marxist-Leninist state that existed in Albania from 10 January 1946 to the 29 April 1991. Originally founded as the People's Republic of Albania from 1946 to 1976, it was governed by the Pa ...

. This law was used from 1945 until 1991 and was part of the Constitution of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. The term was interchangeably used with counterrevolutionary agitation. The latter one was in use after the Albanian Resistance of World War II and was gradually phased out by the end of the 1990s in favor of the former one. According to article 55 of the Albanian Penal Code enacted during

Hoxhaism Hoxhaism ( , ) is a variant of Marxism–Leninism developed in the late 1970s as a result of a schism in the anti-revisionist movement, namely between the Chinese Communist Party and the Party of Labour of Albania. The ideological dispute be ...

, "propaganda and agitation that called to overturn or undermining of the Albanian power" was punishable with at least 6 months of imprisonment and up to the death sentence in the periods of war or unrest.

Definition

Article 55 was defined: :The creation of any type of organization of a fascist, anti-democratic, religious, and anti-socialist character is prohibited. :Fascist, anti-democratic, religious, war-mongering, and anti-socialist activities and propaganda, as well as the incitement of national and racial hatred are prohibited.

Usage

The article 55 was considered by the critics of the Albanian System as a grave violation of the

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

. It was among the main legal instruments for the prosecution of the Albanian dissidents, some other being the

punitive psychiatry Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or suffering, unpleasant outcome upon an individual or group, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a deterrent to a particular actio ...

and the offense of the social parasitism. While the clauses were phrased using the provision "with the purpose of", official commentaries (referred to as "Additions and Explanations to..."), as well as the actual legal practice made it sufficient to assert that the prosecuted person of sane mind must have realized the malicious implications of their utterances. This article was the most common tool in fighting Albanian dissidents. The first time the law was used was in 1951 at the bombing of Soviet Embassy.

Trivia

Gazeta 55 uses number "55" because Article 55 of the Constitution of communist Albania, dealt with Agitation and Propaganda related crimes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agitation And Propaganda Against The State 1945 in law People's Socialist Republic of Albania Legal history of Albania 1991 disestablishments in Albania