JOINT STATEMENT OF THE FLN AND. THE FRENCH CP
Although Algeria has been an independent nation for more than two years, after having struggled arms in hand for almost eight years to free itself from French imperialism, it is first now that the = French Communist party finally sent a delegation there.
It_did so on the invitation of the FLN [Front de Libération Nationale], The visit, it can be assumed, was made possible by the death of Thorez, the long-time General Secretary of the French Communist party. Under his leadership, the standing of the party with the Algerians was not exactly glorious or appreciated.
The French Communist party leadership offered proof of the importance it placed on the junket. It was represented by Waldeck | Rochet himself, three other members of the Political Bureau, Guyot, Frischmann, Piquet, and | by a specialist in "colonial" questions, Lachenal.
In a joint statement issued in the name of the FCP and the. . FLN, .the Communist delegation said how much they had been impressed by the results up to now "to build a socialist Algeria." They forgot their insistence up to not so long ago that Algeria must find a place in the French Union, the “genuine French Union."
The French Communist delegates promised "to publicize the Algerian reality on a big scale in France, the Success of the Algerian people, their party and their government. . . * They promised ‘to intensify the action already begun against .the racist campaigns being conducted by the enemies of the two peoples."
‘However doubtful one may be that’ ‘the FCP, the most faithful servitor in Moscow's diplomacy, has assumed this new attitude out of disinterested reasons,* it would be extremely satisfying if the FCP would now match its words with deeds, if it would utilize the means at its disposal to draw the attention of the French workers to the problems of the Algerian Revolution, to the need for displaying workers solidarity with it. Better late than never!
“The essential reason for this turn is to reinforce the influence which the Soviet government would like to exercise in -Algerla by means of material aid, which has already been considerable. But the FCP leadership is also seeking its own advantage in this new move. Immediately following the liquidation of Khrushchev, Fajon, a member of the Political Bureau, explained to uneasy members of the French Communist party that they should not be bothered by what goes on in the USSR but should preoccupy themselves first of all with their tasks in France, In a second editorial in l'Humanité entitled "The Happy -Meeting with Algeria, " he breathed. smoke and flame for the Algerian Revolution in a style that many would have liked to see in past years.
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~--Nonetheless, it is not possible to discuss this event without calling attention to the following sentence in the joint declaration:
‘The Algerian delegates showed their gratitude for the support given to Algeria by the French Communist party during the war of liberation. . ..
Nothing testifies more to the diplomatic character of the document than this. Rather than recite the whole history of the policy of the FCP during the war with Algeria, we will cite only the terms in which it was characterized in the Charter adopted at the Congress of the FLN last April:
"Far from elucidating the nature of the Algerian resistance and the revolutionary meaning of the demand for independence, the parties of the French left made:a pretext of the insufficiencies of the FLN-and the existence of a European minority to camouflage their refusal to grant unconditional: support to the struggle of the. ‘Algerian people. .
“The vote for special powers# which signified intensification of the war in Algeria testified to their tendency to subordinate. the struggle of the Algerian national liberation movement. to the. French political game..
"In face of SFIO hostility. and the absence of practical and ideological support. from the. othar currents in the left, networks of support for the FLN were constituted in France. These networks, whose formation was followed by demonstrations among the conscripts, testified to the possibility of resistance among the French people to the war. . mae
In its relations with the anticolonialist movements - in France, the party (the FLN] must not give way to resentment. The necessities of the anti-imperialist struggle, the search for important allies must be Placed. above all other considerations."
= Bach one of these paragraphs is a slap in the face for the leaders of the French Communist party. We cannot blame the Algerians today for seeking to utilize allies who shone so little in the. past, if they now offer material aid of some value. But it is not necessary to pay for this by falsifying history. The leaders of
*On March 12, 1956, about ten weeks after the January 2 elections that gave a majority. to the left, which had promised to stop.the hostilities in Algeria, the government headed, by the Socialist Guy Mollet asked parliament for "special powers" ‘to “pacify”. Algeria. The main item Was: ‘authority to send troops to Algeria. Passage. of the demand for "special powers" meant sharpest intensification of the war.” THe, Comiuni st deputies, under pretext of fostering a united frort in the future with the Socialist party, voted for the ‘special powers." The vote shook the Communist rank and file.
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the FCP would have signed the joint communiqué if these few words had been left out.
More importantly, all of history, particularly that of Stalinism, demonstrates that lies about historical events do not serve the cause of the revolution, This is a law which the Algerian Revolution cannot escape.
GUERRILLA WARFARE IN. MOZAMBIQUE
The struggle to free Mozambique from Portuguese imperialism has taken’an active turn with resumption of