THE FRENCH COMMUNIST PARTY
AND THE ALGERIAN REVOLUTION the natural friends of the colonial peoples are the 1954, the French CP issued a communiqué in which,
### PREFATORY NOTE
The fact that the bourgeois press occasionally reports the trials in Algeria of Communist Party members accused of aiding the Algerian people to free itself from the French colonial yoke is likely to mislead the uninformed concerning Stalinist policy toward the Algerian anti-imperialist struggle. The militants of the Algerian C P are far to the left of its leadership, which is in turn to the left of that of the French C P, whose behavior toward the fight for Algerian liberation can be characterized only as hypocritical and scandalous.
The straight facts, set out in the following document, require no repetition here. What does need stressing, however, is the effort of the French Stalinist leadership to play simultaneously on two keyboards, to eat its cake and have it. At rare intervals, it isolatedly pastes up a poster objecting in a routine way to the continued slaughter in Algeria, or casually calls for a quite unprepared and unorganized day of protest — just enough "to make the record." But in reality it has not lifted a finger to help the fighters for Algerian freedom by a genuine mobilization of the broad masses of French workers still under its influence, or by practical aid — even to the extent of mimeographing a communiqué for the police-hounded French Federation of the FLN (National Liberation Front).
Faced with the French CP's double-faced attempt to corral credit for backing the fight for Algerian independence, the bitter cup of the Algerian nationalists recently overflowed, and the French Federation of the FLN issued an official document exposing the real record of the French CP. the interests of historical clarification, we are reprinting below this document of well-justified protest.
THE DOCUMENT
This text that we are submitting to French opinion is more an attempt at clarification than a negative or impassioned criticism of the French Communist Party concerning its Algerian policy.
We are duty-bound to specify a certain number of historical and political points on which the French CP up until now has not behaved according to what would be demanded by the principle that it claims to hold: unconditional support for the struggle of oppressed people against imperialism.
In view of the assertions of the leaders of the French Communist Party, it has become necessary, indispensable, to place clearly the responsibilities that weigh on their shoulders concerning the immobilization of the social strata they control or influence.
In emphasizing the gap between action and political thought and the reality of facts, which characterize the attitude of the French C P in face of the Algerian Revolution, we are conscious of helping the French workers to a better understanding of the deep nature of the Franco-Algerian conflict. For in the long run the attitude of the French people in its constituent parts will not be devoid of consequences upon future relations between Algeria and France.
The publication by France-Observateur of articles taken from the Moudjahid and of an article by Jean Amrouche, has been the pretext for the French CP to justify once more its Algerian policy. bv Elie Mignot in France Nouvelle opened the debate. The following week there appeared in the same organ an article by Léon Feix, a member of the CP's Political Bureau and a "specialist" in colonial matters. text begins with a mild review of Jean Amrouche whom Léon Feix reproaches for having forgotten "that metropolitan working class and its party." Let us take up again, therefore, the positions of the French CP, which is not to be confused with the French working class, and let us examine how this line in question-solidarity with oppressed people— is applied in fact. actions (demonstrations in the Gare de Lyon, in Rouen, Grenoble...).
The attitude of the mobilized reservists seemed to contradict the pessimism of those who brought up 1937 and the banning of L'Etoile Nord-Africaine, or 1945 and the slaughter in the region of Constantine. events that followed were to show that the political apparatuses which officer and lead the working class have not learned anything from history and always know how to overcome the upsurges that could turn the solidarity of the working class with the colonial peoples into a living and lasting reality. On March 12th, the French CP, which did not wish to sacrifice "the whole" , i e, the alliance with the Socialists whose "anti-colonialism" was displayed during the whole war in Indochina, and in the persons of officials in Africa such as Naegelen, Béchard...) to "the part," i e, the struggle against the war in Algeria, voted for the extra-constitutional military laws. That put an end to an illusion.
A REMINDER OF SOME SLOGANS
On November Ist 1954 the radio announced that a series of attacks had taken place in Algeria. armed struggle was beginning. On November 8th
32 according to a process of thought we shall often find again, it admitted that "a problem of a national character" (a fine euphemism) was being raised in Algeria, in order to get away with its disavowal of the movement. It wrote :
Holding fast to Lenin's teaching, the French
CP, which could not approve a resort to individual acts liable to play into the worst colonialists' hands, if indeed they were not provoked by these very elements, assures the Algerian people of the solidarity of the French working class in its mass struggle against repression and for the defense of its rights.
Léon Feix, commenting this statement in an article (Cahiers du Communisme, February 1955) casts light on it as follows :
The Communists send a warning to the working class and to the masses against what runs the risk of causing them to deviate from their essential aim or weakening them in their struggle, especially in falling into the enemy's traps or in facilitating his plans in any manner whatsoever.
The platform of action proposed by the French CP to the French masses shows its absolute lack of understanding of the meaning of our struggle.
Our people, unanimously, leaving the old organizations, was mobilizing itself to claim a right to live as a nation, and the French CP put forward the following hodge-podge of slogans : "defense of the material demands of the Algerian workers (family grants, etc...) ; struggle against repression and for an amnesty; support for the well-grounded demands for the liberty of the Algerian people." Passing over almost in silence the existence of the National Liberation Front — its leading role and the support that the masses gave it — the Communist press for months was to refer to "Algerian patriots," "negotiations with authorized representatives." On the other published euphoric statements about the role of the Algerian CP, which, repaying the courtesy, adopted the French CP slogans in Algeria. A dialogue was established between the French CP leaders ...and their mirror.
The January 2nd 1956 election took place. showed what everyone knew: the expression of the possibilities latent in the French masses for carrying on an anti-colonial struggle. On March 2nd 1956, the Political Bureau of the French CP issued a statement which was to be the basis of the French CP struggle at a time it counted on emerging from its isolation.
We are in favor of the existence and the permanence of special political, economic, and cultural bonds between France and Algeria... A radical change in policy is needed. It is necessary to desire to restore peace in Algeria. There are no other ways of achieving it than to negotiate first with those against whom the fighting is waged, in order quickly to reach a general cease-fire
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL under freely debated conditions, a cessation of repression. and the release of all prisoners.
would allow the opening of loyal negotiations between the French government and the repre.
sentatives of all the currents of the national movement, of all the social strata of the Algerian population without distinction of origin.
What does such a communiqué contain ?
1) "Durable bonds." For is there a better way of admitting the famous "right to divorce" than by emphasizing "the union"?
2) "A cease-fire without a political prerequisite.' Concerning Algeria the French CP is not as firm as the Front since the very interests of the Algerian people and its aspirations are at stake.
3) An implicit negation of the existence of "valid counter-spokesmen." Not a word about the National Liberation Front. Better still, the fighters with whom a cease-fire will be concluded are differentiated from the representatives of all the currents of the national movement, which are carefully not named
4) Lastly, the political demand is expressed by one of those formulæ wrought with a great care for shad. ings of meaning, which is found in every article : "the national fact in Algeria."
Months went by. The prospect of the United Front grew fainter. The sacrifice of the "part" "whole" does not seem to have furthered the latter : worse, it has postponed it. 1957 was to be the year of the compromise. In October, at the Cirque d'Hiver. Maurice Thorez exclaimed :
It is known that we have clear ideas about this problem : recognition of the Algerian nation and of its right to independence ; discussion with the
Algerian people to establish new relations, freely negotiated and profitable [sic] to both countries
But we do not ask other parties to fall in with our point of view. It is a question of coming to an agreement on a programme acceptable for all
It is a question of working out a compromise advantageous for the country.
The French leaders refused to negotiate with the National Liberation Front — never mind, the French CP is a counter-spokesman that does not make a prerequisite of independence. So is was to propose a platform whose only result would be to develop in France a belief in the Algerian patriots' intran. sigence. For, after all, what is a compromise but an agreement in which everyone proposes to give up something ? Now what is the French CP ready to give up, if not the right to Independence itself — a right on which no Algerian patriot would ever SLOGANS AND ACTION
The different slogans launched by the French CP since November Ist 1954 and their evolution in relation to the progress of our Revolution found an expression
and Lebanon it was Anglo-Saxon imperialism which and were such bonds a justification for denying Algeria
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL on the plane of action in the refusal of the struggle and in the negation in fact of the so-called "uncondi. tional support for colonial peoples." Solidarity with the Algerian workers in emigration in France has been almost nil. No demonstration or action found support other than words among the workers' organizations Against the repression that is every day striking at our compatriots, no struggle has been organized.
There and there the solidarity of the French workers manifests itself. It remains, however, indi. vidual and up till now, has never taken on the aspect of organized action. Recent instances are a proof of
Algerian trade-unionists are put under arrest and transferred to Algeria. The event rates only a few discreet lines in l'Humanité.
In 1955-1956, workers' demonstrations against the call-up of reservists ran up against underhand oppos ition by the French CP. L'Humanité denounced the "leftists," the "provocateurs," of Grenoble ; and did not call for extending the action, offered no slogan at all to the soldiers who were going off to preserve the colonialists' privileges, and long kept silent about the gesture of those who, like Liéchti, refused to bear arms against our people. The vote in favor of the extra-constitutional powers was followed by a deep sleep marked by the constant aggravation of the war and its horrors.
"The vote of the extra-constitutional powers is a capital that we must make bear fruit," Léon Feix declared with a straight face. The resultant immobilization from March 1957 to October 1957 was the bitter fruit of this "capital."
The alibi demonstration of October 17th 1957 showed the regression in the consciousness of the French toiling masses toward the Algerian problem, a regression confirmed by the still greater failure of the "week for Algeria" started by the FSM and taken up by the CGT. THE THEORETICAL BASES OF FRENCH CP POLICY A) The French Union
The first characteristic of the French CP's attitude toward the colonial question is to shout urbi et orbi that the interest of oppressed peoples is to remain tied to their metropolitain country : "the right to divorce does not entail the obligation to divorce," writes Maurice Thorez who draws the conclusion of the necessity of union. This way of seeing theings betrays an under. evaluation of, if not scorn for, liberation movements in colonies, and the intention to use them as contributory forces for French movements. Before the war the union was necessary in North Africa, for instance, because of the "Franquist or Italian pretensions."
Today the same applies on account of "the pretensions of American imperialism." In 1945 in Syria justitied criticisms against the liberation movement If the contradictions between French imperialism and its supposed rivals are always resolved for colonial peoples on behalf of French imperialism, then indeed the right to divorce vanishes, for these contradictions will disappear only when colonizing imperialism itself
It is in fact to deny the colonies the right to separation, hence to self-determination. What would have become of Syria and of Lebanon today had the! considered it their interest to remain tied to France ? Let us continue the analysis of the French CP's texts. In his speech to the Assembly on March 20th 1957, Laurent Casanova clearly summed up this policy :
Our party takes the following complementary factual data into account. First, the existence of historical bonds between France and Algeria
Next, the presence on African soil for several generations of an Algerian population of French and European origin whose interests have nothing to do with colonialism. Lastly, the aid that newly emancipated peoples require to make up the backwardness imposed on them by the colonial regime.
Starting from such premises, the French CP declared favor (Fajon, April 13th 1954) "of the existence of lasting bonds between France and Algeria in the political, economic, cultural domains, within a genuine French Union." In 1956, in the Cahiers du Communisme, Léon Feix specified the theoretical bases of the French CP's attitude.
Some nationalist leaders advocate the fusion of the three countries in an Arab or Moslem
Maghreb, tied up with all the Moslem or Arab countries, from Morocco to Pakistan. That is an old idea of the Arab League, taken up and stimulated by the leading bourgeois cireles of Cairo and Karachi. A long time ago Lenin and Stalin showed the inevitably reactionary character of currents based on race or on religion. It is quite natural that the Algerians, the Tunisians, and the Moroccans entertain fraternal feelings for one another. It is equally natural that they feel strongly drawn to the peoples of the Near and
Middle East, owing both to the community of religion and the similarity of language, and to the support which they have received from these peoples during these last years.
But that does not justify a political community against which so many historical, geographical, and economic elements work. Another way is available, or better, still available, for the peoples of North Africa: the way of the French Union.
It would not be possible to get into so few lines more historical untruths and political blindness. Let us examine the real content of these writings. 1) The concrete historical bonds between France and
Algeria What are they save bonds created by colonialism ?—
34 separation from France, then a colony must never separate from its metropolitan country, for this kind of historical bond exists between all metropolitan countries and their colonies.. And if we must talk about real historical bonds, we beg to evoke, beside those created among the three countries by the community of language and of culture, those created by the community of struggle against French colo-
To compare the support of the Moroccan and Tunisian peoples for our struggle with that of the French people shows in facts and not merely in theory which are our main natural allies. 2) Aid to newly emancipated peoples
So, then, tyrannical colonialism, scarcely defeated, would be transformed into a loyal guardian ? The experience of Tunisia and of Morocco every day demonstrates the aberration of such views. A colony which obtains its political independence must also secure its economic independence. To do so, its interest is to remain free of bonds and to use offers only with regard to its own interests, "to avoid the bondages of tête-à-tête relations." As for the "political bonds," the lack of content leaves it a mere abstraction unless the French CP implies (and in that case it must be explicitly said federative bonds:
This orientation, whose jingoist and flag-waving aspect has not escaped the notice of anyone, save its suchas french greatness" or "the legitimate interests appeals to equivocal and confused notions of France."
Etienne Fajon thus expresses himself when he asserts that the maintenance of Algeria within the French orbit is "the interest of France and the guarantee of its keeping its rank as a great power." Maurice Thorez thus expresses himself when he presents the victories of oppressed peoples as so many defeats for France :
Ten years, and longer, ago, we were asking for the establishment of other relations than colonial relations between France and overseas countries.
Our voice was not heard and the results of the imperialist policy have been what everyone knows in Syria and in Lebanon, then in Viet-Nam, and now in Morocco.
And he adds these phrases that our brothers, who are suffering from the barbarity of the French military hordes, duly appreciate :
Fortunately the great mass of the army — the men of the annual draft, the majority of the noncoms and officers even up to some generals - demonstrate their indignation against these fascist methods [it is only a question of tortures]. Even
General Navarre protests today against the tasks which the army has been made to do. B) Algeria, a nation in formation
In the case of Algeria, the theorv of the French Union has been propped up by the theory of Algeria, a nation in formation. Restored to its historical
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL context, this thesis was to be used as a barrier against nationalism and the demand for independence. To get a fuller understanding of its meaning, let us refer to Maurice Thorez's speech as it is published in his complete works. a) Anti-historical content :
From a reading of this speech, it seems that Algeria is an accumulation of different peoples and races, each of them contributing equally to the whole. Neither the decisive influence of Arab civilization, nor what our country was in 1830, is taken into account. An amusing parenthesis Frenchmen of Algeria are characterized: "Frenchmen, and what Frenchmen ! Frenchmen of the French lands of Corsica and of Savoy, from the land of Alsace who emigrated in 187l so as not become Prussians." (1)
Ignorance of the history of Algeria serves as a foundation for theoretical concoction.
In 1830, the Algerian state existed, recognized on the international The national consciouness was shown by a resistance which lasted scores of years, a consciousness similar in many respects to that of Egypt under Mohammed Ali or that of Morocco under Sidi Abderrahmane. To deny existence to the Algerian nation is to pass over a territorial, historical, linguistic, and cultural unity which colonialism has not been able to destrov.
Today there is on the one hand French imperialism which conquered Algeria by arms, nation which wants to regain its liberty by arms.
The problem remains that of an implanted European minority in no way assimilated to the Algerian nation To note such a factual situation, far from depreciating the doings of certain Europeans, magnifies them. To assimilate such a minority to the remainder of the Algerian people, is deliberately to ignore its "poor white" character and the benefit it draws from the colonial status.
It is to bind the liberation movement to the destiny of this minority and to compel it to wait for an integration impossible within the colonial framework Does the existence of a minority bring into question the very existence of a nation? Whether the French of Algeria are brought to assimilate to the nation, as the National Liberation Front proposes, or coëxisi as a foreign minority, that nowise changes the realit! of Algeria as a nation. b) Assimilationism :
If it is possible for the French in Alsace and
Lorraine to have a special religious status... why.
once having admitted it in the light of French unity, could we not grant it to Moslems in Algeria for the same reason ? c) Confusionism :
To unite all men who wish to live freely... all the French of France and all the French of
(1) The Alsatians were settled in Algeria on lands confiscated from Algerians following on the 1871 National Uprising.
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL
Algeria, the naturalized French, the Israelites, and vou too, Arabs and Berber Moslems, all the sons united by ties of blood or at least by the heart of the great French Revolution.
d) Retreat from the national demand :
We acknowledge the right to a free life as individuals of a collectivity to the Algerians :
French by birth, Arabs, Berbers, or Jews (2).
e) Ridicule :
There are French citizens who have a particular status. I am very well acquainted with a Senegalese negro deputy, Citizen Galandou
Diouf, concerning whom the Paris press informed us that he had just brought to Paris his youngest, sixth, wife. If it is possible for the Senegalese
Galandou Diouf to be polygamous and at the same time both a French citizen and a deputy, why would it not be possible for the Moslems of
Algeria? Why two laws and measures ?
The theory of the nation in formation, taken up after November Ist 1954, has been used to justify advice against armed action. Indeed, is it possible to approve of it if its echo in the masses is doubted and how can this echo be believed in, if the national consciousness is evaluated on the basis of the European minority and the progress of integration among the ethnic elements living on Algerian soil ? History is not waiting for the French CP ideologists' convenience to shatter these inadequate schemata. the strength of the Liberation Movement, it became difficult to maintain certain myths. Maurice Thorez, who for years contended that without integration between Europeans and Algerians, no Algerian nation would be formed, on February 15th 1957 declared the integration to have been carried out and the Algerian nation constituted, whereas the quasi-totality of the Europeans had rallied around the colonialists.
### CONCLUSIONS
A gap between action and political thought on the one hand, and between political thought and factual reality on the other, comes from the French CP's purely and simply adopting a policy of blocs. The French CP does not hesitate, and has never hesitated, to transform itself into a contributory force for colonialist or neo-colonialist circles when they agree with it as to a parliamentary regrouping around certain objectives of foreign policy. History attests this. At the expense of colonial peoples there were brought about :
1) the Popular Front, for it was necessary not to displease the Radical-Socialists, opposed to Germany... till 1940 ;
to 19th Seil, Comman Capist unity from 1945
(2) Guy Mollet said nothing different in his speech of March 12th 1956.
35
3) the unity against the European Defense Community in the vote for Naegelen as President of the Republic ;
4) the attempt at unity around Guy Mollet in 1956, and the vote of extra-constitutional powers.
Now, in 1958, we are witnessing this parody in which the French CP hurls itself against atomic war and considers the struggle against the war in Algeria, which mobilizes 600,000 men, as an objective of secondary importance. And Monsieur Thorez very coolly states: "The people of France love peace. The French CP wishes to be considered as the outstanding anti-colonialist party.
The Algerians have good grounds for believing that, if unity had been brought about in 1956 (the Communists taking part in the governement), their country would have been used as small change for bargaining. The early part of the war in Indochina is a proof of this. Up until March 1947 the Communists never blocked the vote of the military credits. Far better, was not Jacques Duclos seen to bow in homage to the suffering and the spirit of self-sacrifice "of the expeditionary corps" (March 8th 1947) ? It is true that at the time colonialism was for Monsieur Duelos not "the external expression of relationships of internal oppression, but a system its good and bad aspects." At the National Assembly on March 18th 1947, he exclaimed :
Just as it is false, so also it would be unfair, not to take facts into account, and not to stress the inescapable difference between civilizing actions which were carried out in the overseas territories, and less civilizing actions, as much it would be unfair to deny that colonialist excesses were committed; if these acts had not existed, why should have we felt it necessary to condemn colonialism in our Constitution ?... I say this because it is also a question of tact with regard to the population of oversea territories.
These populations must be spoken to in a language they can understand. We must not heap all the faults upon them and adorn ourselves with all the virtues. Here also facts must be taken into account.
Such oratorical variations give food for thought about the ideological level of some people.
*
The just fight of the Algerian people for its independence is the best demonstration of Democracy in action. As such it is a help and an example for those who, all over the world, wish to live as free men. Whatever be the obtusenesses of some, the inconsistencies of others, our glorious people, aroused and led by the National Liberation Front, will bring the fight to its final outcome : the foundation of a Democratic and Social Algerian Republic.
2 February 1958