Messali Hadj (مصالي الحاج) was the founder of the Mouvement National Algérien, an early Algerian nationalist group and rival of the Front de Libération Nationale. The Mouvement National Algérien is a movement founded by Messali Hadj between the two World Wars. ... Nationalism is an ideology that creates and sustains a nation as a concept of a common identity for groups of humans. ... The National Liberation Front (French: Front de libération nationale aka FLN, Arabic: Jabhah al-TaḩrÄ«r al-WaÅ£anÄ«) is a socialist political party in Algeria. ...

Ahmed Ben Messali Hadj was born in 1898. In 1927 he was elected leader of an Algerian workers' association based in Paris. He attended the Anti-Imperialism Congress in Belgium that year, and met with Viet Nam's Ho Chi Minh. Hồ Chí Minh Hồ Chí Minh (meaning Ho, Enlightened Will) (Chinese : 胡志明) ▶(?) (May 19, 1890 – September 2, 1969) was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman, who later became Prime Minister (1946-1955) and President (1955-1969) of North Vietnam. ...

In France and in his native Algeria, then a French colony, the Communist Messali helped build an underground movement and work towards Algerian independence. He was known as a fiery speaker with a wild, black beard. In the 1920s he started Étoile Nord-Africaine (North African Star) and in 1937 he founded the Algerian Popular Party (PPA). Both groups were suppressed by France, and in November, 1937, Messali was put on trial for agitation, and imprisoned for several years.

During World War II, Messali worked through Ferhat Abbas, an Algerian Social Democrat who converted to Communism. Their goals were Algerian independence and confiscation of land owned by French colonialists. In May 1945, an outbreak of gunfire between French troops and native Algerians led to reprisals; thousands of Algerians were killed. The independence movement fractured and grew more radical and violent.

In 1946 Messali and Abbas founded the Mouvement pour le Triomphe des Libertés Démocratiques. Messali lived under house arrest in Brittany, France, and could not travel to Algeria. His group was perceived as moderate and accommodating . Moslems were not convinced that Communism would solve their problems, and Messali had always been a Communist. His faction was popular in France, but in Africa, more extreme groups and methods worked towards independence. Messali was no longer their inspiration.

From France, Messali led the Algerian National Movement, but Algerian independence was achieved through the Algerian War of Independence and another organization's efforts: the Front de Liberation Nationale or National Liberation Front (Algeria). Messali's followers clashed with the Front; his was the only Socialist faction not absorbed into the Front's fight for independence. In fact, France's desire to include Messali's group in negotiations impeded independence talks in 1961, and may have led to more violence. In 1962, Messali transformed his group into a legitimate political party, but it was not successful. The Algerian War of Independence (1954–62) was a period of guerrilla strikes, maquis fighting, terrorism against civilians on both sides, and riots between the French army and colonists, or the colons as they were called, in Algeria and the FLN (Front de Libération Nationale) and other pro-independence... The National Liberation Front , (Arabic: Jabhat al-Taḩrīr al-Waţanī, French: Front de Libération Nationale aka FLN) is a socialist political party in Algeria. ...

Messali Hadj continued to live near Paris, and died in 1974.

External Website: The Messali Hadj Archive [1]