To say that Musa Juka had a history with the city of Shkodra was an understatement. He struggled to reconcile his current course of action with what he done just over four years ago. His actions during the Dukagjin revolt had been his grand entrance into national politics, establishing him as a man not to be trifled with. Together with Muharrem Bajraktari he had led a motley collection of tribal forces and gendarmes to "pacify" a tribal revolt in the Ottoman sense of the word to establish Zog's authority in the region. They robbed, flogged, burnt, and imprisoned their way through the surrounding hills and filled the jail to the extent that more than a few rebels suffocated before they could reach trial or Zog could free them when he made his triumphal procession a few months later. (1)
What would he think of all this?
Musa Juka could feel the fear radiating off the townspeople as he rode through the streets and found it comforting. Foreigners just didn't understand how things worked in this country. All that airy language filling the heads of the reformers these days didn't change the facts on the ground. This country was a still a nasty brutish country that barely thought of itself as a single entity. As nasty as the Dukagjin business was, it was the only way to make sure that every Northern Chieftain thought twice about taking Serbian money and to take Zog and the new government seriously. Would the tribes have surrendered their weapons without the object lesson of Dukagjin in their minds? (2) He didn't think so. Everyone talked a good game about wanting Albania to become a country of laws, but seemingly no one wanted to admit what it would take to bring the law to a country that had never known it. Like it or not Albania was going to need him and his methods no matter how "distasteful" they found it.
But for how much longer?
Times were changing, even here in the north. Though it was true that most of the workers for the new royal factories were from the South, even in the North it was becoming increasingly difficult to find a good blacksmith. The few that stayed were constantly working and hiring anyone with a pulse to become an apprentice. But more fundamentally, the King's new factories and his spending elsewhere had injected an unprecedented, completely alien substance into the public consciousness: hope. Every coffee shop seemed to be abuzz about the prospects for a new factory, road, or especially here in Shkodra the other "R" word Musa hated: reform.
At least it isn't Durres…
Of all the cities in the Kingdom of Albania. Musa had come to hate Durres the most. To the rest of the country, it had become emblematic of the new Albania, a blank slate upon which all their hopes and dreams were cast. Musa knew better though. Durres was a cacophony of noise, a cloud of dust, and an awful stench situated amidst a malarial swamp. The peaceful order that he strove to maintain everywhere else had completely vanished there as the old families retreated in the face of the ever-growing gangs of labourers and factory workers… not to mention the Italians. If all of it didn't also result in those same characters leaving the capitol, Musa might have considered burning the whole place to the ground and ridding Albania of the growing ulcer Durres was destined to become.
Then again, for all his whining about the constant state of change since the coronation, he had accepted that all of it had enriched him considerably. Every time his mind drifted to the admittedly tantalizing prospect of returning to the previous status quo, his wallet brought him back to reality. Perhaps it was all for the best. After all, he was no longer a young man. Did he really want to be "needed" for the rest of his days? The prospect of a true "retirement" spent on a secluded estate continually drove him to serve despite his disagreements. Well, that and the fact that he'd so closely tied himself to Zogu that the only realistic alternative was a hangman's noose. No Bey or Bajraktar would believe him for a second if he tried to turn his coat.
An American? From the Future?
Musa snorted quietly, they'd probably just shoot him in the street like a mad dog. Hell, for the first few days after his conversation with "Jack" he considered doing the deed himself. What kind of world was he living in where demons from the future could just possess men?
The kind of world where I make twice as much for half the work…
Compared with the monthly salary he now received, the thought of going back to ripping off the Ministry of Agriculture and the rest of the Gendarmes seemed pointless and exhausting. (3) Sure, he had received a degree of satisfaction from his illicit dealings, but nothing compared to the cold hard cash he had been getting for over a year now. Well, nothing except the promise of more to come. Demon or not, the American in control of Zog's body was clever even more so than Zog had been before the Italian money began to erode his faculties. When combined with his knowledge of the future, that cleverness made it all the more imperative for Musa to remain loyal. He'd always known hitching his horse to Zog was a smart move, but he never anticipated this.
Jack of course had been counting on this reaction when he'd called Musa into his office almost a year ago. To this day it still seemed like a dream, his eyes transfixed on the barrel of the Mauser pointed at his chest as Zog's voice detailed all of the schemes Musa was using to pad his official paycheck. The sudden shock when the chamber was empty followed by the confusion. The advance payment he received in that room was enough to buy his initial silence, the events that followed, exactly as Jack said they would, bought the following days. Jack needed him. Best to keep it that way.
So far things seemed to be going well. In the grand scheme of things, Jack's arrival hadn't substantially changed Albanian politics. In the most fundamental ways it was still just as corrupt as it had ever been, perhaps moreso if one counted the sheer amounts being exchanged. At the end of the day that proved to be enough for almost everyone. As long as the money kept flowing, people didn't seem to care if it came from the King or from a horde of unwashed peasants, especially since the King paid better. That being said, what was more Albanian than trying to get a better deal on the side? Unfortunately for them, Musa was no longer content on keeping track of these transactions for blackmail purposes. His new salary required more immediate action.
Except for Krosi…(4)
If there was a more corrupt individual in the country, Musa needed a better network. Abdulramman Mati was another one of Zog's inner circle, but unlike Musa was far less useful to Jack. In one of their candid conversations after Friday prayers, Jack had confessed that he didn't think Krosi could handle the new situation. (5) Unlike Musa, Jack feared Krosi would see through his attempt to play Zog and no amount of money could get him to join the new order. After all, Krosi's family had been bailiffs for the Zogollis for generations. So, Jack had sent him back to Mati along with Zog's mother Sadije to oversee the increasingly expensive reconstruction of Castle Burgajet as a way of buying him off and keeping him at a suitable distance. Musa would have preferred to kill him off instead, but Jack insisted that Krosi's time was coming.
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The infamous "Krosi." More on him later!
In the meantime, Musa's position as Minister of Interior and the right hand of the King meant that he set his eyes on smaller fish. Most of the time, his unannounced visits in the dead of night were enough to convince the men in question to accept their bolstered salary and quit looking for additional funds, but every now and again someone thought they could slip something by him. In those cases, Jack had been content to swallow his American sensibilities and let Musa handle it however he liked so far, but this time was different. Fiqri Dine (6) had been one of Zog's closest allies and had used that position to secure command of the Gendarmerie in the formerly volatile Northwest. Jack had offered him a great deal to entice him and his men to clean up their acts, but it apparently wasn't enough as the complaints continued to mount.
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Fiqri Dine during his time in the Gendarmerie
Unfortunately for Fiqri, he wasn't as competent in Jack's history as his fellow Gendarme commander Muharrem Bajraktari or Musa himself and he wasn't as useful in the short term as Krosi. Moreover, Jack wagered that his arrest, trial, and replacement, would begin the process of reconciliation between his regime and Shkodra. (7) So, whereas Bajraktari had been given one last chance to accept his new paycheck and the stipulations attached to it, today Fiqri was getting a visit from Musa and his entourage. To ensure that Musa followed the agreed upon script today, Jack had insisted that Musa's entourage included none other than the Inspector General of the Gendarmerie Lt. Col. William Francis Stirling himself.
Strange times make for strange bedfellows indeed…
Prior to discovering Jack's arrival in Zog's body, Musa had nothing but contempt for Stirling especially once he learned that the veteran had not used his experience with Lawrence of Arabia to do the reasonable thing and secure a sinecure, but actually wanted to follow through on his reformist rhetoric. He always suspected that Stirling was having him followed and trying to get him arrested, apparently in Jack's history he almost succeeded but Zog had refused to turn on Musa and had replaced Stirling instead. (8) Given the friendship that had developed between Jack and Stirling since his arrival, Musa wondered if part of Jack's decision to reveal himself had come from a fear that said friendship might cause Musa to turn on him…
He shook his head. Every now and again these "what if" questions plagued him, leaving him spiraling for hours. They were ultimately useless as what had been done could not be undone. He and Stirling had gone from bitter enemies to reluctant but extremely effective allies in taking on Albanian corruption. Stirling might have balked if he knew Musa's true salary but given the British man's belief about the impropriety of such financial questions, the topic probably wouldn't raise its head. Months of working side by side with the man, coupled with knowledges of his near success in Jack's history had given Musa a newfound sense of respect for his former foe. Dine and his ilk were going to have a tough decade ahead of them.
Turning the corner, Musa's hand drifted towards the revolver at his belt as his eyes fixed on the door of the Northwestern Gendarmerie Headquarters. To his credit, Fiqri was ready for him, standing at the doorway with a rifle in his hands. As unpopular as he was in these parts, he was not without friends or the means to buy informants it seemed.
Something to look into later…
Musa had done his best to keep this outing quiet in the hopes of a more contained confrontation inside the headquarters building, but if Fiqri wanted it to happen in the streets, so be it.
"Mr. Minister, what brings you to Shkodra this fine day?"
Musa cleared his throat before bellowing out his response. "By order of the King you are hearby removed of command of the Gendarmes in the Northwest Region. You have been charged with abuse of power and my orders are to escort you to Tirana to stand trial."
"I assure you Mr. Minister, no such abuse of power has occurred. It has all been a deception by our political opponents…"
Dine didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as one of "his" men, placed a loaded revolver at the base of his neck. Musa couldn't help but smirk as he and his entourage closed the distance. One of these days he imagined that someone would wise up to Jack's strategy and pay their subordinates well enough to insulate them from the government's superior offer. On that day these kinds of arrests would become considerably more difficult, but until then, Musa was content to do it this way as his rate remained the same regardless. Though it didn't have the same kind of satisfaction as his past illegal activities, when combined with the money coming in from Jack's Oil, Stock and Factory revenue, the satisfaction it did bring was enough to make Musa look forward to a long career as Minister of the Interior. He knew that despite all of Jack's high hopes, paying the Gendarmerie and civil servants more with the expectation that they stop their corrupt practices wasn't going to work. Sooner or later, the inner nature of every Albanian would rear its ugly head regardless of who Jack found to replace the corrupt officials. Even Dine's replacement, Ndoc Çoba, (9) who was riding beside him and saw all of this go down, would one day succumb to the siren call of power, they all did even Musa in his own way. But when they did Musa's network would be there, and he would deal with it, leaving him a necessary and increasingly wealthy part of the state for the foreseeable future.
(The Following is an excerpt from "The Albanian Model" by Walter Bloch)
Despite other aspects of the First Albanian Economic Miracle such as FMSh getting more attention, Zog's anti-corruption campaign arguably had a far greater impact on the country as a whole and did far more to lay the foundation for the much larger Second Albanian Economic Miracle. Almost all of his other accomplishments emerged either destroyed or severely damaged from the ruins of the Albanian civil war, but in drawing the lines for the conflict and laying the foundation for his eventual victory, Zog's anti-corruption campaign effectively made Albania what it is today… Though certainly Zog's other measures all contributed to the Second Albanian Economic Miracle, every successful component built upon the ironclad commitment to fight corruption which Zog began to forge following his coronation…
…All of this is not to say that Zog's initial "carrot and stick" approach to fighting corruption during the early part of his reign did not have a tangible effect on the remarkable economic success of the First Economic Miracle. Over and over again, Zog, other Albanian officials, and foreign observers note the importance of a transparent civil service and gendarmerie to the 1931 Tax Reform. As it was the reform stretched the capabilities of the Albanian government, treasury, and national psyche as Zog attempted to wrench his nation into the modern era leading the King to remark after the war: "Had the new tax been marred with the same corruption found in the old Ottoman System my reign would have ended right then and there."
Having spent the initial years of his reign focused on shoring up political support and establishing FMSh, Zog's attempt to modernize the tax regime Albania inherited from the Ottoman Empire marked the first of many reforms. Though often the postwar land reform and even his westernization of the Albanian Legal code in 1936 (10) take precedence in modern accounts of Zog's reign, the tax reform arguably laid the foundation for both of these more popular measures through both building the Zogist constituency and securing the economic growth necessary to maintain it. Even Kemal Ataturk, never a friend of Zog's, recognized the importance of the reform, though he complained until his dying day that it was far too friendly to the Beys. Funnily enough, Zog never disagreed publicly with Ataturk and prior to the Albanian civil war continually dodged the issue by focusing on the necessity of a simple tax system for the overworked Albanian civil service. Only after the war did Zog's true feelings emerge about the 1931 Flat Tax as he eagerly supported Llazar Fundo's reform efforts. (11)
Fundo's post-war reforms would have been impossible in 1931 Albania as Zog faced not only a relatively intact Albanian aristocracy but an Italian patron eager to expand its control over the region by encouraging them to rebel. Had he not commanded an overwhelming amount of foreign wealth it's unlikely that Zog would have even tried to reform the archaic Ottoman tax regime. Yet by 1931 it had also become apparent that to delay reform efforts any longer in favour of bolstering FMSh risked alienating key reformist figures in Albanian politics. When combined with harsh climactic conditions which threatened to wreck the 1931 harvest, and rising food prices due to urbanization, Zog felt he had no choice but to boldly push ahead with a substantive reform package. So, in the midst of one of the worst winters in recent memories, Zog publicly proclaimed the replacement of the three most hated taxes in Albanian society, the tithe, the livestock poll tax, and corvee labour with a sales tax of 15%. He also announced a dramatic restructuring of Albanian tariffs to facilitate food imports and keep prices down while protecting nascent Albanian industries. Despite considerable pushback, Zog stalwartly maintained that such drastic measures were necessary to account for the changing nature of the Albanian economy while also acting to ensure that as much Albanian food made it to market as possible during the upcoming famine. (12)
Fortunately for Zog, while he missed the mark on adapting the tax regime to the changing Albanian economy, he did succeed in dramatically lowering food prices, increasing distribution, and preventing the 1931 famine from devastating his country. Despite the best efforts of the gendarmerie and civil service, it took several years for Zog's flat tax to be applied in the isolated valleys that comprised the majority of the Albanian countryside rendering most areas located away from major cities and roads effectively tax-free zones. The removal of the dreaded annual tax assessment from these impoverished areas resulted in a flourishing of commerce and did far more to establish regional economic centers than Zog's rural infrastructure program ever did. When combined with the lowering of tariffs on imported food, these reforms kept food affordable for the average Albanian even in a time of widespread crop failure.
The new 1931 flat tax faced far more resistance in areas where it was actually enforced, but even here a concerted effort from Musa Juka and the reformed civil service kept dissent to manageable levels. Many Albanian townspeople even seemed pleased that not only were their taxes being assessed more empirically, but at long last the well compensated employees of FMSh were paying their share into the government. Only the beys remained resolute in their opposition towards both the new tax regime and tariff changes as, despite being applied evenly across society, they shifted the burden of taxation away from the Albanian peasantry and onto them. Had the majority of them not decided to follow Shefqet Verlaci's lead in competing with Zog in the stock market, they might have had more resources with which to combat the changes yet as it was they were forced to let their resentment simmered as they awaited more favourable political circumstances.
Such a situation seemed to be imminent as the initial returns from the new 1931 tax regime came in far below even Zog's most pessimistic projections. A lack of manpower and training meant that in addition to not enforcing the tax in much of the countryside, a good deal of tax-evasion occurred in more densely populated areas as well. Fortunately, Zog once again stepped into the gap and injected his own considerable wealth to cover the difference and ensure that the state's budget remained unaffected. Money from East Texas, FMSh, and his substantial stock holdings all contributed to balancing the budget in several lean years. Though most men would have balked at such a situation, to his credit, Zog remained committed to his new tax regime and continued to shore up the Albanian budget until revenues rose to a point where he no longer needed to. Unfortunately, the shock that this delivered to both the beys and the Italians did little to quiet their resentment as instead all it did was force them to bury it in the hopes of finding a more opportune time to address their grievances.
Notes
1. Musa Juka's actions in Dukagjin and their 1926 revolt is all from OTL.
2. In OTL, Zog's undertook a massive campaign to disarm some of the northern tribes. More on this in the promised military update.
3. Musa Juka's corruption here is from OTL. Zog knew about it but did nothing due to the central role Juka and his network of secret police played in keeping his regime afloat.
4. Krosi was the nickname for Abdulrahman Mati, one of Zog's closest confidants in OTL and one of the most corrupt Zogists (that's saying something!) Krosi means bald or scabby head. More on him in the next update.
5. Remember that the SI has adopted the outward trappings of Muslim religiosity to help shore up support in Central Albania. This helps him somewhat with Juka who was the most outwardly religious of all the Zogists.
6. Dine was indeed one of Zog's closest allies during this period and was notoriously corrupt. No records exist to my knowledge of his corruption as Gendarmerie commander but eventually in OTL his corruption led him to ultimately abandon the Zogist cause in May 1944 to become the second last Prime Minister of the German backed government of Albania until the end of July 1944. During his tenure as PM he consistently used his position to enrich himself and freed many suspected "Communists" for substantial payouts.
7. Muharrem Bajraktari is from OTL and struggled with corruption. In OTL however he eventually became a key leader in the non-Communist resistance against Italian and later German occupation. He's going to show up again.
8. Stirling is a real figure from OTL. His substantially younger wife also played a prominent role in the extent of his success in Albania as their happy marriage and her considerable equestrian skills did a great deal to win over skeptical Albanian tribal leaders.
9. Çoba is a real figure as well. Formerly aligned with Fan Noli in OTL, Çoba eventually found a position as a leader at the prefecture level for Shkodra during the latter half of the 1930s. His wife was also a prominent Albanian feminist. In TTL Jack is able to bring him around earlier.
10. In OTL Zog reformed the Albanian legal system right away on paper. Unfortunately, corruption, a lack of money and training all contributed to little real change in the lived experience of most Albanians. In TTL Jack postpones his legal reform to focus on other things.
11. In OTL Fundo ran afoul of Hoxha despite being one of Albania's most prominent socialists. He'll be showing up more in the future.
12. Jack knows that in OTL the Italians engaged in a massive spending spree following their invasion which caused food prices to skyrocket. Though at this point, his spending is nowhere near Italian levels, he's mindful of taking measures to keep basic goods affordable to average Albanians.