ALGERTIAN MAGAZINE
LtAlgérie dans le Monde, a new monthly magazine published in Algiers, should prove of special interest to everyone following developments in the newly independent country.
The first issue contains factual material on the rebellion in the Kabylie and the Moroccan border aggression as well as texts. of important speeches, resolutions, etc. A special section reports the activities of friends of Algeria, particularly those associated with groups attempting to organize nongovernmental aid for Algeria, Their work is reported coun= bry by country.
A one-year subscription is listed at 500 old francs [about $l U.S. or seven shillings U.K.] The magazine is published only in French. The . address: Algérie dans le Monde, 26 rue Ben-Mthidi-Larbi, Algiers, Algeria.
French OP and Algeria
| A TYPICAL CASE OF SOCTAI~CHAUVINISM
By Pierre Frank
Let a few lines appear in a bourgeois or pvetty-bourgeois journal touching the politics of the French Communist party [FoP] and the next day its central organ l'Humanité devotes an article to it, or a short note, or box, But it was necessary to wait a month before a reply was attempted in this journal to the fourth article of the series in the Chinese press against the Khrushchevists. This article, "“Apologists of Neo-Colonialism," devoted a long section to the policies of the FCP on the colonial question during a number of years, A whole month was necessary for Léon Feix, whom the Political Bureau placed in charge of colonial work, to reply to a "slanderous article" in the Chinese press, e long month of labor, so diffi-~ cult was it to torture the truth about the eighteen years since the end of World War II, during which French imperialism was occupied with the Vietnamese and Algerian revolutions,
However, the Chinese article had certain weaknesses, the main one being to reproach the FCP leadership with having renounced a policy of "national struggle," It happens that it is precisely a "national" policy wnich the Thorez leadership prides itself with following and which brought it into the most repugnant, the most treacherous of policies towards the uprisings of the colonial peoples against French imperialism, It was precisely in the name of a "national" policy that the Thorez leadership actually came out in favor of a "genuine French Union" (Fajon, April 13, 1956), and that Feix, in the same period, opposed the Algerians, who were: struggling arms in hand for their independence and for a united Maghreb ~ [Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco], with the declaration:
‘Another road is possible or better, still possible, for the peoples of North Africa: the road of the French Union," (Cahiers du Communisme. )
It was this "national" policy again that led the leadership of the FOP to characterize Dienbienphu as a defeat, whereas for every Leninist worthy of the name, this defeat of French Tmperialism by a people in revolt was also a victory for the proletariat of France, Two Finds in Dusty Archives
To carry out his demonstration, Feix went back to 1932; that is an epoch when the FCP, although already Stalinized, had not yet entered the road of. collaboration with the French bourgeoisie. Then he jumped to 1939, when, he pretends, "the big majority of the progressive Algerian movement held reformist, assimilationist positions,"
This is a slander of the Algerian movement which, by a very big majority, was alreedy for independence. But at that time, the leadership of the FCP identified this movement, the PPA [Parti Populaire Algérien] -with fascism. And it was still doing this in May 1945 when the masses of - Constantinois rose up and the Communist ministers of the time collaborated in the repression: BE
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"A joint delegation of the FCP and the acP [Algerian Communist party] were received May 10 by the chief of the cabinet of the governor general, The meeting took up the provocations of Hitlerite agents of ‘the Parti Populaire Algérien and other agents hidden in the organizations that pretend to be democratic,"
And a few weeks later, the delegate of the ACP at the tenth congress of the PCF was applauded when he declared:
"Those who demand indepéndénce for Algeria aré agents, conscious or unconscious, of another imperialism,"
Feix now writes that from November 8, 1954, "one week after the beginning of the insurrection, the PB [political Bureau] clearly demonstrated that the only solution to the conflict resided in recognition of the national demands of the Algerian people and the halting of military opera- . tions.” . -. . Does L'umanité dare reproduce the entire PB declaration of November 8, 1954? ”
Here is how it presented the "beginning of the insurrection":
"The FCP cannot approve recourse to individual acts capable of playing the game of the worst colonialists, if they are not even fomented, by. them, assuring the Algerian people of the solidarity of the French working class in its mass struggle against the repression and in defense of its rights," Thorez!s Singular Concept of Algerians
Feix, faithful lackey of Thorez, praises his master as the one who long ago saw the "Algerian nation in "formation." The Algerian nation did not wait for Thorez to form itself, and above all not in the singular fashion in which he visualized the process, We are willing to bet that Feix will not reproduce these sentences from the speech made by Thorez in February 1939:
"When I say French of Algeria, I mean all of you “present here, you who were born French, the naturalized French, the Israelites and you, too, the Arab Muslims and * the Berbers. .. French and what French! The French of the French land of Corsica. and of Savoy, those of the land of Alsace who came in 1871 in order not to be Prussians,"
Pieds noirs [the French born in Algeria], and you, too, Arabs, all _ French == that was Thorez! idyllic conception of the Algerian nation$
Against the "slanders" of the Chinese with regard to the lack of ‘solidarity from the leadership of the FCP, Feix pretends that "the truth - « e is in the minds and hearts of comrades of various countries that are free today. . .“ Besides that, he makes bold to speak of “actions. of all kinds" during the years of the war with Algeria,
In the heart of the Algerians? A few days carlier, l'Humanité permitted itself to treat the Algerian Minister Ouzegane as a “renegade” precisely
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oe because he dared to bare before a Chinese audience what he had:.on his Ninind | and heart" concerning the policy of the FCP during the war with Algeria, [For Ouzegane's remarks see World Outlook November 8,]
Among the "Actions" -
How could the Algerians forget what a great many Communist militants haventt forgotten; namely, for example, that among the "actions of all kinds" there was the vote in favor of special powers made by the Communist deputies March le, 1956, a vote which made possible sending contingents to Algeria and in "fact introducing a fascist regime there. .
"actions of all kinds"? It. would be useful to have a list of: all “ those who were expelled from the FCP for having given practical aid to the FLN [Front de ees Nationale].
The leaders of the FCP, replying through the pen of Feix, contend tnat "the leaders of the Chinese CP resurrect against the FCP many "attacks which the latter had to face during the past fifteen years." Thorez-and Company could not show better where the shoe pinches, During the past fifteen — years, criticism came from only a small minority within and around the French labor movement. A minority whom it was very easy to slander, Today, in face of identical attacks from the Chinese CP, slimy explanations are offered: No "verbal gestures that would have cut us off from the wide masses. « . « it was necessary to proceed by allusions, in order to maintain the legal possibilities. ...." How will Feix explain the vote in favor of special powers as a demonstration in favor of independence for: Algeria? A demonstration by allusions, perhaps, to maintain legal possibilities for the party? ew
To conclude, it is necessary to raise a criticism that is not to be found in the Chinese material but which is all the more important since the leadership of the FCP is today trying to minimize the social transformations occurring in Algeria.
Throughout the war with Algeria, the leadership of the FCP never employed the term Algerian revolution used by the Algerian leaders. At the time of the Evian agreement, when the FLN adopted the Tripoli progres the leadership of the FCP in accordance with their manner of thinking found it too advanced and denounced the- idea of a socialist Algeria as a utopia. Finally, one of the main arguments employed at meetings of the FCP to excuse not aiding the struggle of the Algerians as so many of the Communist militants desired, was that it was not a movement of social liberation, since it was not led by the ACP, but was a mere mavement.of national liberation, Who can forget all this?
Theoretical bankruptcy, political bankruptcy, betrayal for years, then slinking in the final fifteen minutes to help the victory -- that was the line of the Thorez leadership, If one wishes to reproach. the Chinese for: anything in this section of their article, it is that they did not give the full dose necessary to-condemn this line and this leadership.
“November 21, 1963 .