By Michael Wongsam
The article below is the fourth in a series of articles discussing the relation of Marxism and the class struggle, with the struggle for Black liberation. The complete discussion can be downloaded from
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NZAeA3uXZqqbA6UJHN3YJkTxo2_EWCFh/view
Algeria provides a stark example of settler colonialism and violent resistance. Whereas the United States was born of a struggle between the settlers themselves for self determination and the right to development based on the continued extermination of the indigenes and the exploitation of slavery, Algeria was born of the struggle of the indigenes against the settlers1. The French settler colony of Algeria existed from 1830 until the successful Algerian war of independence in 1962. By 1875 an estimated 825,000 indigenous Algerians had been killed. In the case of Algeria, the indigenes comprised the majority of the population, and although brutalised by both the French administration and settlers, nevertheless were not subject to the same level of exterminist practice as in the case of North America.
Despite the settlers being a demographic minority, the signature racial contours of settler colonialism characterised the society.
A tiny minority of settlers grew rich upon the profits of export agriculture, while the vast majority were poorer than their contemporaries in mainland France. Although settlement was frequently represented as a process of making a barren land bloom, particularly in the marshy Mitidja area just south of Algiers, most settlers lived in the coastal towns and cities. Those who had fled from Alsace-Lorraine following German annexation in 1871 found themselves at the apex of a system of social privilege, above other Frenchmen, Italians and Spaniards, and settlers from Malta, who were perceived to occupy a liminal cultural and racial space which separated Europeans from Berbers and Arabs. Political and social inequality was the cornerstone of settler society. Following legislation in 1889, most Europeans in Algeria regardless of origin had the rights of French citizens, while the Arabo-Berber majority was governed according to a separate legal code. Limited interaction between settlers and the so-called ’indigenes’ contributed to a deeply ingrained settler racism that was particularly hostile to any sign of Arabo-Berber social and political advancement.
…In the decades following the French invasion, settler leaders and commentators anticipated the disappearance of these populations, through demographic decline or communal segregation. The demographic resurgence of these populations from the end of the nineteenth century, however, meant that by 1936 the Arabo-Berber population stood at 6 million, in comparison to the settler minority of 1 million. As forms of Arabo-Berber political organisation diversified from the turn of the twentieth century, settler leaders directed their energies towards ensuring the political and social privilege of the European minority. Fear of Arabo-Berber incursions on settler privilege also contributed to a strong strain of anti-Semitism in settler society. The enfranchisement of the Algerian Jews by the republican government in 1870 met continued and violent opposition from settlers, who feared that this concession would ultimately lead to citizenship for the Arabo-Berber majority, and the end of French Algeria2.
Incidentally, the granting of French citizenship to some 35,000 to 37,000 native Jews living in the three northern departments (Algiers, Oran, and Constantine) of French Algeria, created a deep legal and social division between the native Jewish and Muslim populations, where none had previously existed3.
Between 1908 and 1946, while the settler population growth stagnated, the Algerian Muslim population growth increased to seven million. Dissatisfaction among the Muslim population, due to their lack of political and economic freedom, fueled calls for greater political autonomy, and eventually independence from France. The result of the Algerian war of independence was decolonisation — which led to the exodus of settlers at the point of Algerian independence.
The process of the general postwar decolonisation followed many paths — in some cases independence was won through armed struggle; in other cases it was negotiated with the colonising powers as they came to recognise the changing circumstances. Arguably, the main event which determined that Algeria was to follow the path of an irreconcilable armed struggle for national liberation were the events that took place on May 8th 1945 — Victory in Europe day, when Nazi Germany surrendered — which marked the moment when the door definitely closed on political compromise4.
On 8 May 1945, the Algerian people marched in the main cities of Algeria to demand the release of certain political detainees and the application of human rights on the national territory. In response to French police firing on demonstrators during a protest in S ́etif native Algerians rioted in the town. The French colonial authorities, including the army and police together with European settlers’ militias retaliated by killing 45,0005 Algerian Muslims in the region. The S՜etif and Guelma massacre, marked a point of no return in Franco-Algerian relations and led to the outbreak of the Algerian War which was characterised by the use of the armed struggle and guerrilla warfare by the National Liberation Front from 1954, and crimes against humanity by the French. Among those impacted by the massacre were those that had been mobilised to fight in the ranks of the French army6 against Nazi Germany, including Ahmed Ben Bella.
Against the national liberation forces organised in the Front de Lib ́eration Nationale (FLN) were ultra right wing French nationalist forces the Front pour l’Alg ́erie Fran ̧caise (FAF, the forerunner of the Organisation de l’Arm ́ee Secr`ete, or OAS), who viewed the FLN as both communist inspired and Nasserist7. ”Overall, the most careful estimates suggest that between 150,000 and 215,000 Algerians, in arms or not, were killed by French action in 1954–62. Very many more, certainly numbered in the millions, were imprisoned, detained, injured, or subjected to confiscation and destruction of property, forcible resettlement, and so on. Rape was widespread but it is impossible to estimate how many women were subjected to it”.
Between December 9th and 11th, De Gaulle, visiting Algeria, was the target of four failed or aborted assassination attempts by the FAF, signaling the beginning of the disintegration of the French effort in Algeria into an intra-French near-civil war8. Mass demonstrations in Algerian cities in support of the FLN, marking the decisive turning point of public, popular adhesion to the cause of independence. On December 19th, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for self-determination for Algeria. A referendum on self-determination was held on January 8th, 1961. By this time, De Gaulle was having severe misgivings about retaining French colonial rule over Algeria9.
Charles De Gaulle expressed concern privately that if Algerian independence was not granted, France would be unable to absorb 10 million Muslims who would soon become 20 million and then 40 million. He feared France would cease to be what it is, a European people of the white race, Greek and Latin culture, and the Christian religion, and that churches would be replaced by mosques.
In 1962 Algeria had more than 1 million French colonists — one tenth of the Algerian population. Most of the French, including the pieds-noire, left for France soon after the revolution, and the European population of Algeria is now less than 1%. A large proportion of the returning settlers, harboring feelings of betrayal, constituted a significant bedrock of support for the French far right.
Notes
1 There was however, a tension between the settler community and the government in Paris. ”Settler leaders frequently sought to bend Paris-appointed officials to their will and, if unsuccessful, manoeuvred to remove them. Such interactions reflected a deeply held suspicion of the government in Paris, particularly evident in the settler protests of the 1890s. These protests led to the creation, in 1901, of the D ́el ́egations financi ́eres, a local assembly which enjoyed some measure of budgetary independence under the auspices of a French state.” Barclay, Fiona; Chopin, Charlotte Ann and Evans, Martin; Introduction: settler colonialism and French Algeria; SETTLER COLONIAL STUDIES, 2018; VOL. 8, NO. 2, 115130 https://doi.org/10.1080/2201473X.2016.1273862. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/2201473X.2016.1273862
2 Barclay, Fiona et al
3 See Abitbol, Michel; Le Passé d’une Discorde. Juifs et Arabes depuis le VIème siècle. Perrin, Paris, 2003; The Crémieux Decree: Decree No. 136 of October 24, 1870 declaring the Jews natives to Algeria to be French citizens; https://www.marxists.org/history/algeria/1870/decree-jews.htm.
4 Charef, Abed; The Tragedy That Paved the Way for Algerian Independence; Rosa Luxemberg Stiftung, https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/46481/the-tragedy-that-paved-the-way-for-algerian-independence
5 Barclay, Fiona et al
6 Conscription of Algerian Muslims was introduced in 1911 primarily due to a demographic imbalance between France and Germany. ”Settler leaders were horrified by this proposal, opposing the arming of Algerians on the basis that the new recruits could turn this military knowledge against settler rule. Furthermore, settlers feared that conscription could lead to Algerian demands for citizenship rights”. Barclay, Fiona et al
7 McDougall, James; The Impossible Republic: The Reconquest of Algeria and the Decolonisation of France, 1945 – 1962 ; University of Oxford; https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3fcec5a2-738d-4cc7-ae7d-0e8acd9adae7/files/m5f6bda2c69c6c14c0faeed5a2c680c42
8 By this time, France was attempting to reform French Algeria by creating greater equality in colonial society at the expense of the settler community. Barclay, Fiona et al, p.9
9 Massad, Joseph; Algeria, Israel and the last European settler colony in the Arab world; Middle East Eye, July 19th 2022; https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/france-algeria-israel-settler-colonies-arab-world
The above article was originally published here on the For Liberation, Against Racism blog. The full article, “Marxism, Black Liberation and the Global Class Struggle” is available publicly here. To follow the For Liberation, Against Racism blog – subscribe here .