751S.00/5–1954
The Consul General at Algiers (Clark) to the Department of State1
No. 238
Subject:
- Political Situation in Algeria.
There is quoted below a memorandum of conversation I had with Governor General Leonard on May 18 from which it will be noted that although he believes he has the local nationalistic parties under control there may be trouble stirred up by terrorists from abroad, mentioning in this connection the recent exposure by his police of Spanish Communist activities. Likewise it will be noted the Governor General’s belief in the seriousness of the economic situation in Algeria where the increase in population is not offset by the requisite increase in economic wealth, with resulting unemployment and decreased standards of living. His solution, to which he is devoting much time, lies in greater emigration to Metropolitan France under conditions which will make the émigrés friends of France rather than its enemies.
“In answer to my inquiry the Governor General said that the fall of Dien Bien Phu would undoubtedly have repercussions in Morocco and in Tunisia and that it was inevitable that there would be some repercussions in Algeria. The so-called ‘anti-Colonialists’ would be bound to seize upon the fall of Dien Bien Phu, he said, as an indication of the weakening of French control, with the resulting increased possibility of success for nationalistic activity.
“M. Leonard said that he did not anticipate any difficulty in Algeria of domestic origin. He said that the PPA, as he insists on calling the MTLD, and the Communists were not in a position to do anything. They were, of course, prepared, he said, to seize on any incident which might give them a possibility of causing dissatisfaction with the existing regime or disorders, much as an infectious germ would enter any open wound available.
[Page 392]“M. Leonard anticipated that if difficulty arose it would come from terrorists sent into Algeria from abroad. He mentioned in this connection increased activity by the Arab League which he felt would step up action in the light of Dien Bien Phu, but then went on to say that his people had unearthed in the last week a very definite resurgence of Spanish Communist activity in Algeria. He said that the movement had been a very closely coordinated one in which each cell contained only about three people. Nevertheless, his police had discovered it and, he believed, had suppressed further activity. He did not agree that the danger from exterior intervention lay necessarily with the Communists, but thought it might easily come through action by the Arab League.
“In this connection the Governor General readily admitted that the economic situation in Algeria was most important. Unemployment had increased of late and he pointed to the fact that every four years there is an increase of a million in the population, with no comparable increase either in agricultural or industrial production. This was a matter, he said, to which he had given much attention. He had had a detailed study made of emigration from Algeria, by a professor whose name I recollect as being Montaigne, and this study, he said, had developed the fact that there was more coordination in emigration from Algeria to France than anyone had previously believed. This coordination, he said, was achieved by the Arabs themselves, principally by people from the villages of the Kabylie. The study had developed the fact that for one reason or another, someone from the Kabylie would achieve success in France and set up a coffee shop, or other enterprise, which would provide a magnet for other people in France from the same village or area. This had developed, he said, to such an extent that people from a particular village in the Kabylie would send their children to a particular region in France where they would immediately find a sympathetic environment. He said he thought this was all to the good as it gave to the Kabyle a good impression of conditions in France and let him return to his native village with a good taste in his mouth. He said also that, given the existing seclusion of the women of the Kabylie, it was a good idea for the women to remain in Algeria. Young men going to France under the conditions he had described should return at least once a year to maintain contact with their families in the Kabylie.
“He said that one of the difficulties with migration from Algeria to France had been that many young men went without contacts in France and after having been knocked about from pillar to post wound up working on some public works project where there was work today and none tomorrow. This bred insecurity and ill will toward France. This was a problem, he said, to which he is now devoting major attention. He said that in the mines in the north and in some of the factories management had of recent years taken greater interest in the welfare of Algerian labor. This was all to the good, he said, and should be continued and expanded. If the Algerian worker in France could find a sympathetic climate and retain a family in the Kabylie to which he could return periodically greater good could be done to the economy of Algeria. He insisted that the large sums donated by the Metropole each year to the well being of Algeria is well expended in the general interest of France, and he went on to say that he hoped to create more [Page 393] interest in the Metropole in the workers from Algeria engaged in public works in France. In the end, he returned to the problem presented by the rapidity of the increase in population in Algeria without the requisite increase in economic wealth, thus resulting in increasing unemployment and decreasing standard of living. He left me with the impression that he feels the answer in the foreseeable future lies in greater emigration to Metropolitan France under conditions which will make the émigrés friends of France and the French Union rather than its enemies. [”]
- This despatch was also sent to Paris, Rome, and Valetta.↩