CONGRESS OPENS IN ALGERIA
By Livio Maitan
AIGIERS, April 17 -- The long-awaited National Congress of the FLN [Front de Libération Nationale] opened yesterday in the Empire theater -~- rebaptized “Hall of Africa" for the occasion, According to the information released up to this point, between 1,700 and 1,800 delegates are present, They were elected on the basis of one for every two hundred members of the local organizations of the party, Also entitled to participate are the former regional chiefs of the ALN [Armée de Libération Nationale], members of the former organizations of the revolution such as the CNRA [Conseil National de la Rdpubltace te ger one? the GPRA [Gouvernment Provisoire de la République Algérienne|, the members of the Political Bureau, the editors of the party press, Algerian ambassadors abroad, etc.
A placard in the hall of the theater gives figures on the militants and adherents of the FLN, ("Adherents," according to provisions in the statutes, include, by and large, either sympathizers or probationers,) Militants are listed as 153,316; adherents, 619,610, The figures are divided according to the following federations: Greater Algiers and Blida, Annaba (formerly Bone), Constantine, Colomb-Méchar, Médéa, Mostaganem, Oran, El-Asnam, Ouargla, Saida, Sétif, Tizi-Ouzou, Tlemcen, Amicale des Algériens in France and Europe. . The strongest federation is Ouargla, both in absolute figures and. according to the ratio of inhabitants in the zone.
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After. brief greetings from Ben Bella in the name of the Political Bureau, the Congress elected a Bureau to guide the work, Minister of Economy Bachir Boumaza was designated chairman and he is to be aided by Souiyah Houari and Mazouzi as vice~chairmen, and Djermane, Ouzegane, Boubekeur and. Ben Hamouda. as secretaries,
The Congress, which is taking place in closed sessions (except. for the opening and closing ones), adopted rules which included among other things the designation of three commissions -- credentials, political line and statutes, economic and social questions. Any delegate can speak before the commissions whether at his own request or by invitation,
According to article 7 of the rules, members of the Political Bureau, reporters for the federations, and for the national organi-« zations can take the floor, :
Article 8 permits members of the GPRA, the heads of the former Wilayas as well as members of the government "to speak in the plenary session on subjects dealing with théir administration, With regard to the program placed before the Congress, their remarks must-be made within their respective federations,"
On the eve of the Congress, there was talk in Algiers and in the foreign press about the possible participation of the former leaders, whether they had retired or. had, indifferent ways, gone into opposition. Most of them had already decided, in fact, to abstain despite the rights reserved to them under the norms stated in convoking the Congress, Those not participating in the Congress thus include Boudiaf, Ben Khedda, Khider, Bitat, Ferhat Abbas, not to mention Ait Ahmed, ‘who is continuing his adventure’ in the moun-~ tainous area of the Kabylie. On the other hand, among those who took their seats in the Hall of Africa -- at least on the first day ~were “Belkacem Krim, Abdel Hafid Boussouf and Lakhdar Ben Tobbal,
Ahmed Ben Bella opened the ‘politioal part of the work with a réport presented in the name of the outgoing Bureau, For two hours the delegates, who reflect even in their clothing the composition of the cadres of the FLN (the oldest fellahs being dressed generally in the traditional manner) followed with the keenest attention a report that deserves to be read in its entirety.
The report was very clear, very concrete, very balanced in its various sections and took up the fundamental problems in a masterly way. In short Ben Bella singled out and emphasized the essential and most progressive aspects as well as the experience of the revolution up to the time of the new program for the party over which the Congress is now deliberating, thus showing once again how well he measures up to his extremely arduous tasks,
The report confirms, if further proof were needed, that the Algerian revolution is definitely on the road toward socialist con-
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struction <= the process which brought Algeria more and more toward installation of a workers state is continuing and even becoming accentuated, It follows very clearly from the report that the -private sector of the economy will have an ever decreasing role and that a new agrarian reform will deal a new blow to indigenous land pro-~ prietorship. (Despite everything, this still remains important, if, according to the reporter, "there are in Algeria 8,500 private fola~ ings, each one containing more than 100 hectares [one hectare = 2,47 acres] and 15,000 holdings of more than 50 hecteres each," amounting to a total of almost 4,500,000 hectares.) In addition, the government appears: to have now decided to imapidly take in hand foreign trade as a whole."
. But what makes the report most significant is the strong confirmation -- there is no mistaking this -- in favor of socialist construction on the basis of workers and farmers democracy and against the bureaucratic and authoritarian conceptions, Once again, it is precisely on this level that the original and highly progressive traits of the Algerian socialist orientation are being affirmed,
Thus Ben Bella, without hiding the existing difficulties or those that might arise in any case even in the near future, remains more than ever a fervent partisan of the institution of self-management, which is actually the key element of the current experience in Algeria. He openly polemicized against any bureaucratic conception | of socialism, against any form of "revolution by power of attorney,' to quote his’ formula, and he did not cease stressing the vital importance of an equalitarian inspiration for the revolution, With regard to this, an interesting passage in his report noted the necessity "to set a maximum" in pay for party cadres as well as those in the state and to require all cadres of the FLN to make "a declaration on their possessions, held or acquired since November 1954,"
Another central point of the report concerned the problem of necessary renewal of the state machinery and the relations -between the party and the state. The program which the party has already been discussing, includes important points as a whole, There are others, it is true, that are less clear and, at bottom, even dangerous, The report appears to place the accent on the most progressive aspects even on this level, Above all the theme, evidently of prime importance, of insisting on avoiding confusing-and identifying the party and the state machinery, was developed forcefully.
The Algerian leadership, at least its most experienced men, have without any doubt reflected a great deal about the experiences of the bureaucratized workers states. Moreover, they have already had occasion to directly experience the dangers of bureaucratization, Naturally, this cannot be countered by mere programmatic declarations, but it is of enormous importance to specify the dangers and to ‘denounce them as Ben Bella did, to arm the cadres and the militants,
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The parts of the report dealing with the social composition of the party and the need during the current year to accept as new mem bers. only poor peasants and workers offer supplementary confirmation of Ben Bellats will to face in an organized and concrete way the problem of struggling against what he himself calls bourgeoisification and degeneration,
The report also posed, at the very beginning in fact, the proplem of the "historic chiefs" and the relations between. the loaders and the masses, Resorting to an expression, utilized at times against him, Ben Bella affirmed that “there is only one hero, the people," le insisted on the vital necessity of mobilizing the mas~ ses, of their conscious participation in the process of political » and economic construction, In this way, he formulated inescapable Gomends and at the same time. struck a blow at those among his adveraries who still dream -- moreover without any real basis -- about a possible compromise among the "great" traditional chiefs, in abstrac~
tion from the will and the aspirations of the masses,
If one wished to pick out passages in the report which could be considered as reflecting some concessions which Ben Bella is disposed, perhaps, to grant to the right, those passages should be noted that deal primarily with the Islamic conception and the interpretation which the reporter gives it. ("Islam, far from being contrary to our option, is identified, in the minds of the masses, with equality and thus goes in the. direction of socialism.") In addition ene cannot pass by in silence the formulation “in principle" that fino post whatever of an even indirectly political character can be confided to foreigners," even if what is meant here is the legitimate desire for freedom from no matter what kind. of tutelage, .
But, aside from these points and others of less importance,: the report, we repeat, took up and clearly expressed once more the most progressive and stirring aspects of the orientation of the Algerian revolution, Ben Bella was able even on this occasion to speak a. language that reached the masses in the closest way and the warm applause that greeted the essential passages of his text gave addi-~ tional proof of this,
All this indicates that in the main the outcome of the Congress will hold no surprises, The opposition of the "great" names, will either not be manifested or will have no genuine echo, The real battle, without doubt, will be the blind, stubborn battle that will take place in the commissions, in the committees, in the corridors,
It is probable, moreover, that the real opposition that counts now, the one, let us say, of the bureaucratic current, will limit itself to struggling for posts in the Central Committee or in the ‘Political Bureau, reserving itself now for later pursuit of its struggle, meanwhile trying above all not to criticize or to offer open combat on the programmatic and political level to the line of Ben Bella and his team, simply trying to slow it down and sabotage its practical application.