‘I never asked myself about the meaning of freedom until the day I hugged Stalin. From close up, he was much taller than I expected.’

Lea Ypi grew up in one of the most isolated countries on earth, a place where communist ideals had officially replaced religion. Albania, the last Stalinist outpost in Europe, was almost impossible to visit, almost impossible to leave. It was a place of queuing and scarcity, of political executions and secret police. To Lea, it was home. People were equal, neighbours helped each other, and children were expected to build a better world. There was community and hope.

Then, in December 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, everything changed. The statues of Stalin and Hoxha were toppled. Almost overnight, people could vote freely, wear what they liked and worship as they wished. There was no longer anything to fear from prying ears. But factories shut, jobs disappeared and thousands fled to Italy on crowded ships, only to be sent back. Predatory pyramid schemes eventually bankrupted the country, leading to violent conflict. As one generation’s aspirations became another’s disillusionment, and as her own family’s secrets were revealed, Ypi found herself questioning what freedom really meant.

In December 2021, she came to Intelligence Squared to talk with award-winning journalist Luke Harding about themes of Free, her new memoir about growing up amid this political upheaval. She traced the limits of progress, the burden of the past, and helped us think critically about what it really means to be free.