ITALIAN SOCIALIST VIEW OF ALGERIA a,
[Under the title "From One Algeria to Another," M.R,Pistone, editor of the Rome monthly Incontri Mediterranei singled out for discussion in the October ‘issue the recent turmoil on the other side of the Mediterranean, The complete text of this interesting editorial follows, Incontri Mediterranei is published in English and French as well as Italian, Since the English edition is not readily available in Paris, we have made our own translation, «- Editor. ]
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Mr. Ahmed Ben Bella does not have an easy task, since he finds himself under fire from all of the enemies of independent Algeria (independent, of course, from the neocolonial French forces and those of the rest of the world)»: - , -
What his adversaries, like Mr, Ait Ahmed and Colonel Mohand, reproach ‘him for is above all his loyalty to the cause of the Algerian peasantry the same source that furnished the shock troops of the ALN-FLN [Nationad Liberation Army and National Liberation Front]. in the war of national ; liberation, to whom is due the success of the struggle against the French © colons who held twoethirds of the arable land in Algeria, _
When one speaks of revolution in Algeria, an essentially agricultural country, it is understood that this means first of all the overthrow of the vormer juridical, economic and social structure of the agricultural economy, The rest is only abstract theory, That is why Mr. Ben Bella «=~ who has a keen sense of the realities -- grasped the key of the essential — problems of independent Algeria when == in contrast to the chiefs of the | former GPRA [Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic] -- he posed from the beginning the problem of distributing the land to the peasants fighting in the ranks.of the Liberation Army, And since -- as we have just said -- the srable land was for the most part in. the possession of the French colons who, moreover, had left Algeria, abandoning their farms, it was quite necessary to seize these properties as a public utility in order to place them at the disposition of the peasants,
The Algerian nation had no recourse but to pass the decrees of March 1963 on self-management, resolving the problem of the land abandoned by the French colons who were completely compromised with the criminals of the OAS: [Secret Army Organization of French terrorist reaction], while granting the workers the most ample rights now in existence on our planet in the , question of managing the economy, More than 1,600,000 hectares of European and Algerian land have been placed under this'regime, already constituting a considerable proportion of the new agricultural economy of the Algerian nation. ,
It is natural and understandable that Ben Bella's policy should please the great majority of Algerians as much as it displeases the French colons, who fled to France, and the conservatives of other European countries, who are against a serious agrarian reform in their own lands.
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The big European press reflects this state of mind, of agrarian con= servatism, in relation to Ben Bellats policy, They fear above all that the example of Algeria can set off a chain reaction in the other sectors of the Mediterranean where (in Italy, for example, not to mention Spain) the absence of an adequate agrarian reform has entailed the exodus of the peas«= ants from the underdeveloped regions of the "Mezzogiorno"s toward the most industrialized zones of the Common Market.
At the present time, a large part of the Italian territory is undergoing the gravest agricultural crisis yet experienced. The almost total abandonment of formerly cultivated lands, because of lack of labor, consti~ tutes a problem the study of which is no longer avoidable even by some of the organizations of the landlords thet have been opposed to agrarian reform: up to now,
This means that it is beginning to be seen what importance for the underdeveloped zones of the "Mezzogiorno" of Italy..is implied by the experience of the new agricultural management installed, under the force of historic and social necessity, in the decolonialized countries of North Africa, especially Egypt and Algeria.
In the light of these considerations, it is easier to appreciate the potential role that could be played by the Ait Ahmeds on the one hand and Hassan II on the other in relation to the fundamental interests of the Algerian nation and the Maghreb.x*
Everyone wonders if a secret agreement did not exist between them on the unleashing of military hostilities against the Algiers government and Algeria.
In fact, the existence of such an agreement cannot be confirmed, But everything began to develop as if there were a close understanding between the conservative domestic forces and the forces of Moroccan conservatism, so clearly represented by the monarchy,
It is interesting to recall in this respect the declaration made to Candide by Mr, Ait Ahmed, on the eve of his departure for the mountains of. abylie.
‘The chief of the anti-Ben Bellist revolt declared in particular: "Don't forget that independence came through a replacement solution, after the bankruptcy of integration. Ben Bella betrayed France and his friends, The nationalizations are nothing but spoliations. .
One must admire the extreme clarity with which Mr, Ait Ahmed expressed . himself on the key problems of Algerian politics,
Why then should there be astonishment, if, after the leader of the anti-Ben Bellist revolt took this position, even the Kabyle peasants did not follow the example of the "separatists"?
_ Why should there be astonishment if the Algerian people seem more than ever determined to support the work of Mr, Ben Bella?
On the dispute over the Algerian-Moroccan frontier, so dramatically
posed by Morocco, the least one can say is that it was badly posed. First. of all because it is not by attacking Algeria that such a problem can be solved (a problem common, moreover, to almost all the new African states who inherited it from the colonial regimes). In the second place because. “His Majesty the King. of Morocco knows very well that the frontiers of the Maghreb do not go through Tindouf nor Colomb-Béchar, If however =-- after having left the Addis Ababa conference -- he persists in posing this pro# blem in military terms, it must be believed that he rejects not only the common principles™ agreed on at Addis Ababa, but also the project of a. Great Maghreb,
And all this -- it must be stated -- certainly does not add to the prestige of the Shereef monarchy, neither in Africa nor anywhere else, least of all -- in our opinion -- among the Moroccan people,
% "“Mezzogiorno" means "noon" in Italian. It is the name given the lower two-fifths of the Italian peninsula, Containing 19,329,335 people [1961 census] it is notorious for permanent unemployment, underemployment, high. illiteracy, poor transportation, poor communications and appalling poverty. x Maghreb -- name given by the Arabs to the North African area now divided into Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. One of the aims of the freedom fight~ ers in all three countries has been to reunite the area,