ALGERIA CELEBRATES NINTH ANNIVERSARY
PARIS, Nov. 35 == Revolutionary Algeria was able to celebrate a glorious November 1 -=- the ninth anniversary of the launching of the freedom struggle against imperialist France. The crowds that filled the streets were in a happy and grateful mood. Threatened by war from monarchist Morocco, the threat had been repelled with but little bloodshed and if the sruce that was won by Ben Bella at Bamako was an uneasy one, nevertheless it was a truce that spelled precious time for Algeria.
The threat of counterrevolution in Kabylie seemed still further reduced although not eliminated and the chances of its spreading on a wide scale were clearly remote.
In addition the Revolution had gained importantly in the field of. mass consciousness, Dramatic rallies had seen hundreds of thous-~ ands of people responding in the streets to the revolutionary appeals of the government against the threat of the counterrevolution,
A three-day congress of peasants in Algiers October 25=27 at which some 2,500 delegates from all over the country participated, had brought the problems of the Revolution home in a new way.
The peasant congress was a remarkable gathering, for the main topic, discussed in the practical, matter-of-fact way of people close to the soil, was how can you best run agriculture along socialist Lines under conditions such as Algeria faces at the moment,
In the world press, Moroccots armed assault on Algeria occupied the center of attention. On the surface it seemed to be an unequal match and that, no doubt, was why King Hassan II struck, With a wellequipped, well-trained army, backed by the imperialist West, including Franco, tne king had evidently long studied the blow he intended to deliver,
Algeria on the other hand faced an armed uprising in the Kabylie, the country is poor, militarily weak, still suffering the terrible
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ravages of the most bitter colonial war in history. What chance did the ragged, politically divided peasants of Algeria nave against the sleek mobile forces of Hassan II?
If the attack succeeded, the Ben Bella government might be top» pled and with it the threat eliminated of another Cuba, of a contagi-~ ous deep=-going agrarian reform, of a socialist revolution that might become a shining example for all of Africa and the Middle East,
What the monarch and his imperialist backers did not ex xpect was the form of reply. The Ben Bella government openly appealed for political revolution in Morocco, In Algeria the government threw all its forces into mobilizing the people to defend their revolutionary gains anc their socialist goals,
These appeals met with an echo among the Moroccan people and Hassan II began to feel that his throne was not altogether secure, Among the Algerian people, fervor mounted to new heights throughout the nation, The recruiting stations were completely unable to regis~ ter the long lines of people who queued up.
The rest of the Arab world recognized that the Moroccan king did not know what he was playing with and that if new revolutionary fires were not to flare up the conflict must be stopped without delay. The various governments were all the more impelled into action because of the popular sentiment in their own countries in favor of Algeria. The Ben Bella government won the diplomatic contest hands down.
On the military side, too, Algeria had excellent chances of gain~ ing strength against the monarchical~imperialist combination. Arms were made available by Egypt, the East European countries and the | Soviet Union. Even Cuba was reported to have decided without the least hesitation. to share the precious stock accumulated for defense against the constant threat of invasion by the biggest bully on earth.
Some of the partisans of Hassan II are making out thet the monarch came out the winner, Right-wing papers in Paris saw Algeria the loser on three counts: the Algerian forces were pushed back militarily, and Ben Bella suffered a double diplomatic defeat at Bamako October 30 when he recognized that Morocco has border claims and when he agreed to stop propaganda calling for the overthrow of Hassan II.
Under the conditions of the truce, however, Hassan agreed to the withdrawal of all troops to lines to be determined by a four-power com= mission, [Algeria, Morocco, Mali and Ethiopia.] He also agreed that the frontier dispute should be settled within the frame of the Addis: Ababa charter.
Hassan had previously refused to go along with this charter since it calls on the African powers not to raise any disputes over borders, The agreement to withdraw his troops was also a bitter pill.
Clearly, the terms of the truce are not unfavorable to Algeria. Whether the truce will be observed by Morocco, of course, still remains to be seen,
A truce of this character is decidedly in the interests of the
~d~ Algerian Revolution, A military conflict, even of purely defensive character, could place an unbearable burden on the weak Algerian economy, What Algeria needs is peace, economic assistance, and time for the revolution to deepen and become better consolidated.
MOROCCAN EMBASSY PICKETED