FLN CONGRESS REAFFIRMS ALGERIA'S SOCIALIST ORIENTATION
By Livio Maitan
ALGIERS, April 23 -- The congress of the FLN [Front de Libération Nationale] came to a close Monday night with speeches by Chairman Bachir Boumaza and Ahmed Ben Bella, who was elected Secre~ tary General, On Tuesday afternoon a mass meeting was organized in Algiers to present the members of the newly elected Central Committee. Ben Bella utilized the occasion to make another speech, commenting on the decisions of the congress and on the current political situation.
As was expected, the congress unanimously adopted the program and the resolutions proposed by the political commission and by the economic and social commission, The general line of these texts was
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not questioned in actuality by anyone. The amendments that were accepted, although in certain instances not without interest, did not involve the essential points and implied no essential modifications.
This outcome of the congress, we repeat, should arouse no sur prise, It is clear, in fact, that what in Algeria is currently called the "socialist optiont corresponds to the deepest aspirations of the Algerian masses, Under these conditions opponents could not attack the fundamental lines of the program without suffering a very severe defeat, It must not be forgotten in addition that on the theoretical and programmatic level, the left holds big advantages, while the conservative and rightist elements are much less clear politically. Furthermore they do not preoccupy themselves with work-~ ing on programs and texts, It is significant in addition that outside opponents -~- those who did not participate in the congress -thought it necessary themselves.in some of their declarations to the press abroad not to question the "socialist option,"
Having said this, it would be altogether wrong to conclude from this that the congress expressed substantial unity and represented an absolutely positive acquisition. In reality, rather profound differences found expression in quite distorted and deformed ways at the congress, and there is no doubt that Ben Bella felt very strong pressures, perhaps stronger than he had expected,
It is difficult to single out and characterize currents, political tendencies, which in reality exist only in a rather approximate form, The often very lively debates brought into relief the existence or the survival of groups and "clans" the origin of which goes back to the past, including the crisis of the summer of 1962 and October 19635, The arguments advanced and the themes in dispute appeared secondary in themselves, at times being more linked to the past than the present, But at bottom, they expressed political differentiations and oppositions, -
In a general sense the congress was the rather faithful reflec~ tion of the present political scene in Algeria. (Those absent, it is hardly still worth noting, achieved, so to speak, their own liquidation and more than ever are outside the real play of forces.) And the conservative resistance -- which is real, and despite everything, very powerful in the country, was evident at the congress, at times even with extreme proposals, These were primarily the Islamic themes which were advanced by sectors as an ideological cover for their real tendency and their real interests, One delegate even went so far as to propose that it must be made obligatory for women to wear the veil and to completely cover their arms with sleeves!
The polemic about and between the military figures also won the attention of the congress. The old rivalries between the army of the interior and the army of the frontiers was revived, feeding on new themes and grievances, Colonel Boumedienne, whose role appears
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to be declining in the present phase, was reproached, for example, for utilizing a certain number of cadres out of the French army. In his defense, Boumedienne invoked technical reasons and said he was ready to give up the cadres referred to, in the event different means could be provided to meet the technical requirements,
But the struggle became sharp and rough above all in connection with the election of the Central Committee. It is evident that where. it is undesirable or impossible to openly question the general orientation and program, the real game becomes the. conquest of positions in the leadership, of key posts (this is true obviously not only of the party but also, and. even more, of the state, the administration, the economy, etc.). Thus there were fierce encounters, not in the full sessions, in the official meetings, but in the circles where the list of candidates was being made up to submit to the congress, There is no need to cite the rumors, founded on leaks, A sentence in the closing speech by Ben Bella says much about the atmosphere in the final phase of the first sessions of the FLN. “It is my duty to tell you," said Ben Bella, "that for three or four days, after overworking, I have been under nervous tension, Jf TI have offended some brothers with my words, I beg their pardon from the depths of my heart,"
The composition of the Central Committee, composed of eighty members and 25 alternates, is, on the whole, the most significant indication of the congress, Roughly speaking, two groups can be dis-~ tinguished of almost equal force (thirty odd members each), representing respectively the tendency that is most properly Ben Bellist, and the army of the interior, It should be noted that chiefs of the former wilayas, including some who openly fought against Ben Bella, are on the Central Commitiee -~ even people who for a time took to the hills such as the well-known Mohand Ou El Hadj who was with Ait Ahmed last fall, The Boumedienne group is represented by about fif-~ teen persons, the others being linked in general to the former Federation of France and the present organization of the Algerian emigrants in France and Europe [Amicale des Algériens en France],
Another aspect worth underlining: The Ben Bellist tendency includes at the same time elements of the left who favor self-management, etc., such as Mohamed Harbi the cditor of Révolution Africaine, anc others who could be considered to be a tendency more inclined | toward bureaucratic solutions and less enthusiastic about self~management (for example, Mahsas, Boudissa).
It is thus to be seen that the Central Committee is a body containing a certain equilibrium of forces and in which Ben Bella plays and will continue necessarily to play the role of an arbiter to a considerable degree. In fact, his personal position has been still further reinforced, and an amendment to the statutes approved by the congress goes in the same direction: while the original draft envisaged the election of the Secretary General by the Central Comnittee, it was finally decided that the Secretary General is to be elected by the congress,
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New Political Bureau
The Political Bureau elected by the Central Committee also. includes representatives of all the groups and tendencies, ineluding elements that are flatly conservative, even reactionary, who took to the hills, The Political Bureau, after the departure of Khider and Bitat, had been reduced to three members, all of whom were re-elected, The new ‘Bureau of seventeen members is as follows:. Ahmed Ben Bella, Secretary General of the party and President of the Republic; Col, Houari Boumedienne, First Vice-President of the Council and Minister of Defense; Said’ Mohammedi, Second Vice-President. of the Council; Bachir Boumaza, Minister of the National Economy; Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Minister’ of Foreign Affairs; Ahmed Ali Mahsas, Minister of the Agrarian Reform; Mohammed Seghir Nekkache,. Minister’ of Social Affairs; Ahmed Medeghri, Minister of the Interior; Hadj Ben Alla, President of the. National Assembly; Ali Mendjeli, Vice- President of the Assembly; Omar Benmahjoub, Deputy of Orléansville; Col, Tahar Zbiri, Head of the General Staff of the ANP [Algerian National People's Army]; Col. Mohand Ou El Hadj, former Commander. of the Seventh Region (Kabylie); Col. Chaabani, former Commandant of the Fourth Region (Biskra); Youcef Khatib (Gol. Si Hassan), former Commandant of Wilaya 4 (Algérois); Hocine Zaouane, representative of the Federation of Greater Algiers; Ait El Hocine, Chairman of the Amicale des Alg6ériens in France,
From all the evidence, it is clear that the situation at the congress led to a certain retreat on some very indicative points (role and. conception of Islam), This was evident in a clear and unmistakable way in the differences between the speeches made by Ben Bella at the beginning of the congress and at the meeting in the Esplanade. de ltAfrique,
Almost all the conscious cadres in Algeria are now convinced that the socialist orientation has been settled and that the progran has been more or less accepted. But the real problem now, they feel, is its application -~ how to apply the line and program and by what means, by what instruments.
This problem remains to be solved and it is on its solution that the revolutionary experience now under way in Algeria will be determined in the period now closely ahead,
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FOURTH INTERNATIONAL SENDS GREETINGS TO FLN CONGRESS
The United Secretariat of the Fourth