Proclamation of the Algerian National Liberation Front

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

The Proclamation of the Algerian National Liberation Front is a call to all Muslim Algerians for “direct action”—armed rebellion—and open resistance to the French colonizers. The FLN took upon itself the responsibility of leading the liberation movement and creating a provisional government that would provide direction after gaining independence. The document is addressed to the militants of the national cause. It challenges those who judge the actions of the FLN to understand that the purpose of distributing the proclamation is to help those less militant to understand the profound reasons that have forced the militants to call for direct action. The goal, of course, was independence. The document's drafters wanted to clarify their position to avoid the confusion promulgated by corrupt imperialist politicians and administrators.

The document opens by emphasizing that the independence movement struggled for decades against the French colonizers and has now reached its final stage. A goal of the movement, it states, has been to create conditions favorable to a liberation movement. Its first point is that the Algerian people are united behind the goal of independence and direct action. Its second point is that the Arab and Muslim communities across the region support the final step toward independence. The document makes reference to events in Morocco and Tunisia, which were embroiled in their own independence movements. During the early 1950s, Moroccans turned on the French after the French government exiled the country's sultan and replaced him with a puppet; the result was outbreaks of violence. At the same time, Tunisians clashed violently with the French government largely because of the imprisonment of Habib Bourguiba, the leader of the Tunisian independence movement (and, later, the country's first president), who was imprisoned by the French. The proclamation suggests that it is unfortunate that there had never been unity of action among the three countries. The three North African Muslim countries were all French colonies; however, Algeria was engaged in a furious independence war with France, while Morocco and Tunisia would negotiate their independence in 1956.

On the day the proclamation was read, the FLN resolutely stood on the direct path to independence, leaving behind all the years of internal conflict that had stalled the movement and had diminished its effectiveness. The proclamation notes that the movement had slowly begun to disintegrate while the colons, thinking that they had silenced the Algerian militants, increased their hold on the colony. But the hour had come, because a group of young leaders and activists had reinvigorated the national liberation movement by returning to the important cause and overcoming internal conflict. They put the movement back on the path to direct action. The FLN identifies itself as independent of any other factions vying for power and announces that it places national interest above all else. Its actions, it is said, are directed against colonialism in general and France in particular, which had always refused to grant Algeria freedom by peaceful means. The FLN opens up the possibility that all Algerian patriots of all social classes and all the purely Algerian parties and movements can integrate themselves into the current struggle for liberation.

The FLN then “spells out … the major elements of [its] political program”: The goal of the program was national independence. As the provisional government, the FLN proposes restoring the Algerian state to its former sovereignty within the principles of Islam. Because of its experience with discrimination at the hands of the French, it vows to preserve fundamental freedoms and disavows discrimination based on race or religion. The internal objective for the rebellion is to remove all political and governmental corruption that kept Algeria underdeveloped and to gather and organize the Algerian people to remove the last vestiges of the colonial system, thus returning to indigenous Muslim customs, traditions, and values. The external objectives included bringing Algerian complaints to the world, exposing the damage caused by colonialism, proposing North African unity within an Arab-Islamic framework, and seeking from the United Nations recognition of Algerian nationhood, separate from France.

The FLN specifies that the “Means of Struggle” would be to conform to revolutionary principles by any methods possible until the goal of independence was achieved. The FLN notes that the task ahead would necessitate the mobilization of all resources and manpower; it would be a long struggle, but the results were certain.

To prove a real desire for peace and limit the number of lives lost, the FLN proposes to French authorities a way to open negotiations. Negotiations would be with an authorized spokesperson of the Algerian people, based on recognition of sovereignty through Algerian liberation. A climate of confidence would be created through the liberation of all political prisoners, the lifting of all measures of exception to Algerian emigration to France, the end of all pursuit of fighting forces, and the recognition of Algerian nationality by an official declaration abrogating the edicts, decrees, and laws making Algeria “French soil.”

In return, the FLN pledges that “French cultural and economic interests, honestly acquired, will be respected, as will persons and families.” French people who want to remain in Algeria would choose between their nationality of origin, in which case they would be considered foreigners, or Algerian nationality, in which case they would be granted the rights of Algerians. The bonds between France and Algeria would be defined and would be the object of an agreement between the two powers on the basis of equality and mutual respect.

In the penultimate paragraph, the FLN invites all Algerians to join with the militants to save their country and restore it to freedom. The proclamation states that the National Liberation Front is their front, and victory is theirs. The FLN is resolved to pursue the struggle and give themselves to their homeland.