Out now: 'European Revolutionaries and Algerian Independence, 1954-1962'

http://www.revolutionaryhistory.co.uk/

This summer will mark the fiftieth anniversary of Algerian independence.
Anyone who has seen the film Battle of Algiers may well see certain clear
parallels between past events and the present: “terrorism”, torture,
organising anti-war activity in workplaces and the armed forces, attitudes
to a Muslim-led nationalist movement, etc.

Both the similarities to and the differences from the current situation
are instructive. The war remains a question of current interest in France,
and full information about the role of the French state, notably in the
October 1961 massacre, has only recently been available

The book considers the course of Algerian War 1954-1962, and the response
of the French left.

It will give the fullest account in English of the role of the
revolutionary left in giving political and practical solidarity to the
Algerian liberation struggle.

It presents substantial extracts from Sylvain Pattieu’s, Les camarades des
frères (Paris 2002), and will gives the fullest account of the role of
Trotskyists in this period, drawing on documents and interviews with
participants.
An Appendix considers how the war has been reflected in fiction.

Contents: Introduction, Translation of Sylvain Pattieu: The Comrades Of
The Brothers, Chapters 3-6, with summaries of the other chapters.
Additional documents: Article by Lambert, 16 December 1955; Article by
Lambert, 17 October 1957; Note on the Comité pour la Libération de Messali
Hadj ; Review from Lutte Ouvrière, 22 December 1979, of Les Porteurs de
valises; Extract from a text presented at an Lutte Ouvrière public meeting
in March 1985; Socialisme ou barbarie; Interview with H & C Benoîts;
Letters from La Vérité des travailleurs, October 1955, on conscript
resistance ; Article from Vérités Pour on Lenin and desertion; Article
from Vérités Pour on desertion; The MNA; The role of François Mitterrand;
Austria; John Baird; Report to North African Interfederal Communist
Conference 1922; Reply by Hadjali 1923; Reply by Robert Louzon 1923;
Algeria and 1968; Bibliography; Appendix on fiction; Cover illustrations
from woodcuts of Otto Rudolf Schatz Other Contents: Work in Progress,
Obituaries, Reviews. Letters.

Pbk ISBN 978 0 85036 665 5 GB Pounds 20.00