Ahmed Mahsas (November 17, 1923 – February 24, 2013) was an Algerian

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin ...

in the

nationalist movement The Nationalist Movement is a Mississippi-founded white nationalist organization with headquarters in Georgia that advocates what it calls a "pro-majority" position. It has been called white supremacist by the Associated Press and Anti-Defamati ...

against

French Algeria French Algeria (french: Alger to 1839, then afterwards; unofficially , ar, الجزائر المستعمرة), also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of French colonisation of Algeria. French rule in the region began in 1830 with the ...

Early life

Ahmed Mahsas was born on 17 November 1923 in Boudouaou,

Kabylia Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of ...

(now

Boumerdès Boumerdès ( ar, بومرداس; Kabyle: Bumerdas; formerly ''Rocher Noir'') is the capital city of Boumerdès Province, Algeria. It is located on the Mediterranean Sea. It had a population of 28,500 in 1998 and 15,000 in 1987. Boumerdès is a s ...

). He grew up in the wooded and mountainous region of the Col des Beni Aïcha. His family is from the village of Mahsas near Tidjelabine and the

Zawiyet Sidi Boumerdassi Zawiyet Sidi Boumerdassi ( ar, زاوية سيدي البومرداسي) or Zawiyet Ouled Boumerdès is a zawiya located within Boumerdès Province in Algeria. Construction The zawiya of Ouled Boumerdès was built in 1714 in the southern hei ...

. His parents settled in Boudouaou at the start of the 20th century.

Algerian nationalism

Mahsas was an early independence activist, and joined the

Algerian People's Party The Algerian People's Party (in French, Parti du Peuple Algerien PPA), was a successor organization of the North African Star (''Étoile Nord-Africaine''), led by veteran Algerian nationalist Messali Hadj. It was formed on March 11, 1937. In 1936, ...

(PPA) in Boudouaou in 1940 when he was 16. He was arrested by French authorities for the first time in 1941 with

Mohamed Belouizdad Mohamed Belouizdad ( ar, محمد بلوزداد; 3 November 1924, in Algiers – 14 January 1952, in Paris), was an Algerian militant and chief "responsible" (manager) of Special Organisation (OS), the military branch of the Algerian People's ...

for his actions within the PPA in the Belcourt ( Belouizdad) district of

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...

. He became a militant in

within organizations related to the PPA, such as the Central Youth Committee of Grand Paris (french: Comité central jeune du grand Paris) (CCJGA) and the Youth Committee of Belcourt (french: Comité de la jeunesse de Belcourt) (CJB). Mahsas was imprisoned several times for his militant activities and had important responsibilities within the PPA where he was a member of the Central Committee and the Organizing Committee. He also participated in organizational work at the territorial and national levels. Mahsas was drafted during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

to serve under France between 1944 and 1945, but he refused to join the colonial

French army History Early history The first permanent army, paid with regular wages, instead of feudal levies, was established under Charles VII of France, Charles VII in the 1420 to 1430s. The Kings of France needed reliable troops during and after the ...

. As a result, he was arrested in 1949 and sentenced by the court. He was appointed as the head of

wilaya A wilayah ( ar, وَلاية, wālāya or ''wilāya'', plural ; Urdu and fa, ولایت, ''velâyat''; tr, vilayet) is an administrative division, usually translated as "state", "province" or occasionally as "governorate". The word comes fr ...

(administration district) Constantine and member of the organizing committee of the PPA.

Special Organisation

Ahmed Mahsas - Réflexions sur le mouvement d'unité arabe et ses perspectives

In 1947, Mahsas was one of the founders of the Special Organization (OS) of which he was a national staff member with Belouizdad. When OS was dismantled by the

French police Law enforcement in France has a long history dating back to AD 570 when night watch systems were commonplace.Dammer, H. R. and Albanese, J. S. (2014). ''Comparative Criminal Justice Systems'' (5th ed.). Wadesworth Cengage learning: Belmont, C ...

in 1950, he was second-in-command. Mahsas was arrested in 1950 when OS was dismantled, and was held in a prison in

Blida Blida ( ar, البليدة; Tamazight: Leblida) is a city in Algeria. It is the capital of Blida Province, and it is located about 45 km south-west of Algiers, the national capital. The name ''Blida'', i.e. ''bulaydah'', is a diminutive ...

along with other nationalist activists of the

Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties The Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties (MTLD), name proposed by Maiza, was created October 1946 to replace the outlawed Parti du Peuple Algerien (PPA). Messali Hadj remained as its president. The MTLD was created on the same platform ...

(MTLD). From 19 March to 27 May 1950, most of the networks of OS in

Constantinois Constantinois is a cultural and historical region of the Maghreb, located in northeastern Algeria. Geography The region corresponds roughly to six contemporary ''wilayas'': Constantine Province, Annaba Province, Guelma Province, Skikda Prov ...

, Algérois, and

Oran Oran ( ar, وَهران, Wahrān) is a major coastal city located in the north-west of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria after the capital Algiers, due to its population and commercial, industrial, and cultural ...

ia were dismantled with more than 500 arrests, or half the number of militants. Five out of seven members of the staff were imprisoned:

Ahmed Ben Bella Ahmed Ben Bella ( ar, أحمد بن بلّة '; 25 December 1916 – 11 April 2012) was an Algerian politician, soldier and socialist revolutionary who served as the head of government of Algeria from 27 September 1962 to 15 September 1963 ...

, Djillali Belhadj, Djillali Reguimi, M'hamed Yousfi, Ahmed Mahsas, Driss Driss, while others, including Mohamed Maroc,

Lakhdar Ben Tobbal Slimane Bentebal (1923, Mila, Algeria – 21 August 2010), better known as Lakhdar Bentobal, is a former Algerian resistance fighter. Biography Lakhdar Bentobal was a member of the nationalist Parti du peuple Algérien (PPA), and later moved ...

, Mohamed Boudiaf, and

Mourad Didouche Mourad Didouche (1927–1955 in Kabyle: Diduc Muṛad, Arabic: ديدوش مراد ) was a veteran of the Algerian War of independence (1954–1962). Biography Mourad Didouche, nicknamed si Abdelkader, was born on July 13, 1927 at ...

, escaped. Mahsas escaped with

from an Algiers prison in 1952. He then left

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

for France, where he joined members of the

Revolutionary Committee of Unity and Action Revolutionary Committee for Unity and Action (in French: ''Comité Révolutionnaire d'Unité et d'Action'') was a militant group in Algeria formed in order to fight French rule. CRUA regrouped former elements of the OS and radical members of the M ...

to prepare for the

Algerian Revolution The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

. During the crisis that arose in the MTLD after the April 1953 congress, Mahsas refused to choose between

Messali Hadj Ahmed Ben Messali Hadj (May 16, 1898 - June 3, 1974), commonly known as Messali Hadj, ar, مصالي الحاج, was an Algerian nationalist politician dedicated to the independence of his homeland from French colonial rule. He is often called ...

and the centralists.

Algerian Revolution

As soon as the Algerian Revolution began after the publication of the

Declaration of 1 November 1954 The Declaration of 1 November 1954 is the first independentist appeal addressed by the National Liberation Front (FLN) to the Algerian people, marking the start of the Algerian Revolution and the armed action of the National Liberation Army (AL ...

, Mahsas joined the National Liberation Front (FLN). When the FLN Federation of France was created in December 1954, Mahsas was part of the first circle which worked to root the militancy of the FLN, which competed with the Messalists to gain the support of Algerian emigrants. Mahsas joined the city of

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

in 1955 in order to join the FLN external delegation and become a member of the National Council of the Algerian Revolution in 1956 and 1957. Mahsas, like Ben Bella, denounced the results of the

Soummam conference The Congress of Soummam was the founding act of the modern Algerian State, and a crucial element of success of the Algerian war for independence. It took place on 20 August 1956 when the FLN's leadership within Algeria met secretly in the ''Soum ...

, and in December 1956 and early 1957 tried to bring dissident elements from the border regions with

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

together. After Ben Bella was arrested in 1956, Mohamed Boudiaf,

Hocine Aït Ahmed Hocine Aït Ahmed ( ar, حسين آيت أحمد‎; 20 August 1926 – 23 December 2015) was an Algerian politician. He was founder and leader until 2009 of the historical political opposition in Algeria. Life Aït Ahmed was born at Aï ...

Mohamed Khider Muhammad was an Islamic prophet and a religious and political leader who preached and established Islam. Muhammad and variations may also refer to: *Muhammad (name), a given name and surname, and list of people with the name and its variations ...

, and Mostefa Lacheraf started a power dispute between supporters of Ben Bella and those of

Abane Ramdane Abane Ramdane (June 10, 1920 – December 26, 1957) was an Algerian political activist and revolutionary. He played a key role in the organization of the independence struggle during the Algerian war. His influence was so great that he was know ...

. After a disagreement started between him and the other revolutionary leaders, Mahsas was ousted from the FLN base in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

. He was then sentenced to death by Amar Ouamrane and imprisoned in a Tunisian prison. He escaped with some help, left for

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and remained there until Algerian independence in 1962. After Mahsas had taken refuge in Germany, Ouamrane, who was in Tripoli, asked

M'hamed Issiakhem M'hamed Issiakhem (17 June 1928 – 1 December 1985) is one of the founders of the modern Algerian painting. Biography M'hamed Issiakhem born on 17 June 1928 in Taboudoucht, a small village near Azeffoun, around 43 kilometers from Tizi Ouz ...

to kill Mahsas in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

. Bachir El Kadi gave 1,000 dollars to Issiakhem to go to Bonn. Issiakhem found Mahsas and informed him about Ouamrane's plan before giving him 500 dollars and a recommendation to leave Germany.

Career

After Algeria became independent in 1962, Mahsas held several positions, including director of the home ownership and rural exploitation fund (french: Caisse d’accession à la propriété et à l’exploitation rurale), and director of the National Office for Agrarian Reform (french: Office national de la réforme agraire). He was appointed on 18 September 1963 as Minister of Agriculture in Ben Bella's government, a post that he kept during the government reshuffle of 2 December 1964. He was elected to the

People's National Assembly The People's National Assembly ( ar, المجلس الشعبي الوطني, al-Majlis al-Sha'abi al-Watani; ber, Asqamu Aɣerfan Aɣelnaw; french: Assemblée populaire nationale), abbreviated APN, is the lower house of the Algerian Parliament ...

as deputy for the

Algiers Province Algiers Province ( ar, ولاية الجزائر, ', ; french: wilaya d'Alger or ) is a province (wilayah) in Algeria, named after its capital, Algiers, which is also the national capital. It is adopted from the old French department of Algiers a ...

on 20 September 1964, and was then elected member of the political bureau and of the central committee of the FLN. The day after

Houari Boumédiène Houari Boumédiène ( ar, ; ALA-LC: ''Hawwārī Būmadyan''; born Mohammed Ben Brahim Boukherouba; 23 August 1932 – 27 December 1978) was an Algerian politician and army colonel who served as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of Alge ...

organized the

1965 Algerian coup d'état The 1965 Algerian coup d'état brought Colonel Houari Boumédiène to power as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council in Algeria. The bloodless ''coup d'état'' saw Algeria's first President, Ahmed Ben Bella, arrested and his closest supporters im ...

on 19 June against the power of Ben Bella, Mahsas rallied the Revolutionary Council (french: Conseil de la révolution) and was thus maintained in his post of Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform in the new government formed on 10 July. Mahsas then was appointed member of the Revolutionary Council resulting from this coup, which led to Ben Bella's incarceration for 14 years. But after a little more than a year of service under tutelage of the Revolutionary Council, a conflict arose between Mahsas and Boumédiène, which prompted the former to submit his resignation to be replaced on 24 September 1966 by the lawyer Ali Yahia Abdennour.

Doctoral studies

After settling in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in September 1966, Mahsas resumed his university studies in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 1974 Mahsas defended a thesis to obtain a graduation diploma at the

École pratique des hautes études The École pratique des hautes études (), abbreviated EPHE, is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is highly selective, and counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions. It is a constituent college o ...

(EPHE), the theme of which was Notations on the establishment of agricultural self-management in Algeria (1962-1964) (french: Notations sur la mise en place de l'autogestion agricole en Algérie (1962-1964)). He obtained a degree in

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

, and in 1978 defended his thesis "The revolutionary movement in Algeria from World War I to 1954" (french: Le mouvement révolutionnaire en Algérie de la Première Guerre mondiale à 1954) under the direction of

Jacques Berque Jacques Augustin Berque (4 June 1910, Molière, Algeria – 27 June 1995) was a French scholar of Islam and sociologist of the Collège de France. His expertise was the decolonisation of Algeria and Morocco. Berque wrote several histories on th ...

. He published his thesis the same year at

L'Harmattan Éditions L'Harmattan, usually known simply as L'Harmattan (), is one of the largest French book publishers. It specialises in non-fiction books with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. It is named after the Harmattan, a trade wind in W ...

, where he explained the theory of the

and its achievements on the historical level, and describeed the context surrounding creation of the PPA and the OS.

Political opposition

In his Parisian exile with Bachir Boumaza (1927-2009), Mahsas tried to collaborate in an action against Boumédiène power by joining the Clandestine Organization of the Algerian Revolution (french: Organisation clandestine de la révolution algérienne) (OCRA). the organization was created in April 1966 headed by Mohammed Lebjaoui, a former leader of the Federation of France (french: Fédération de France du FLN). Mahsas quickly withdrew from OCRA because he saw leaders like Aït Ahmed and Boudiaf who had distanced themselves from it. As a doctor in sociology, Mahsas returned in 1978 to the political struggle a year before Boumédiène's death, and he with Ahmed and Tahar Zbiri, created an opposition structure in Paris called the National Rally for Democracy and Revolution (french: Rassemblement national pour la démocratie et la révolution), which dissolved with the end of the old regime.

Return to Algeria

Mahsas returned to Algiers in 1981, a day after Boumédiène's death. He was then appointed by the government of the new president,

Chadli Bendjedid Chadli Bendjedid ( ar, الشاذلي بن جديد; ALA-LC: ''ash-Shādhilī bin Jadīd''; 14 April 1929 – 6 October 2012) was the third President of Algeria and an Algerian Nationalist. His presidential term of office ran from 9 February 19 ...

, as Advisor to the National Publishing and Distribution Company (french: Société nationale d’édition et de diffusion) (SNED). With the establishment of a democratic multiparty system in Algeria the day after the 1988 October Riots, Mahsas created a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

called the Union of Democratic Forces (french: Union des forces démocratiques) (UFD). The UFD was of

Algerian nationalism Algerian nationalism is pride in the Algerian identity and culture. It has been historically infuenced by the conflicts between the conflicts between the Deylik of Algiers and European countries, the French conquest of Algeria and the subsequen ...

obedience with an

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

orientation according to the precepts of the

. The UFD was deactivated per the law on political parties adopted by the National Transitional Council (french: Conseil national de transition) (CNT) in 1996. Mahsas tried to reactivate the UFD in 2006, but failed.

Death

Mahsas died on 24 February 2013 in the Aïn Naâdja military hospital located in

Djasr Kasentina Gué de Constantine is a suburb of the city of Algiers in northern Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algi ...

at age 90. He was to have been honored at the Moufdi Zakaria Palace of Culture as a former nationalist activist and previous minister of agriculture, but was evacuated and transferred to the military hospital in Algiers after suffering from a health problem on the sidelines of the ceremony of honor. He was kept in the hospital's intensive care unit, and scans and tests revealed that he was bleeding internally. He was buried the next day in the

El Alia Cemetery El Alia Cemetery ( ar, مقبرة العالية ) is a cemetery in a suburb of Algiers in the commune of Oued Smar in Algeria. The name "El Alia" means in Arabic ''which is high'', but came from the surname of the donor of the land in 1928, ...

Books

Mahsas had written several books during a long political and academic career, including: * ''Réflexions sur le mouvement d'unité arabe et ses perspectives'' (1974) * ''L'autogestion en Algérie: données politiques de ses premières étapes et de son application'' (1975) * ''L'Algérie: la démocratie et la révolution'' (1978) * ''Le mouvement révolutionnaire en Algérie, de la Première Guerre mondiale à 1954: Essai sur la formation du mouvement national'' (1979, 1990) * ''Algérie, réalités coloniales et résistances: origines culturelles et socio-économiques de la révolution'' (2006)

External links

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahsas, Ahmed 1923 births People from Boudouaou People from Boudouaou District People from Boumerdès Province Kabyle people 2013 deaths Deaths in Algeria Algerian resistance leaders Algerian political people Arab politicians National Liberation Front (Algeria) politicians People of the Algerian War Government ministers of Algeria École pratique des hautes études alumni University of Paris alumni Algerian academics Algerian sociologists Algerian writers Algerian writers in French Members of the People's National Assembly Members of the Parliament of Algeria Members of the Council of the Nation Algerian expatriates in France Burials in Algeria 21st-century Algerian people Members of the National Liberation Front (Algeria)