The Young Algerians (french: Jeunes Algériens) were a political group established in French Algeria in 1907. They were assimilationists, meaning that they wanted Algerian society to integrate with French colonial society. As such, they called for reforms that would give France's Algerian subjects the same rights as French citizens enjoyed. Influential figures in the group included

Khalid ibn Hashim Khaled ibn Hashimi ibn Hajj Abd al Qadir (1875 – January 1936) was the grandson of the military leader Abd al Qadir and was for a time a prominent opponent of the nature of French colonial rule in Algeria. Early years Khaled ibn Hashimi was born ...

and

Ferhat Abbas Ferhat is a Turkish given name and the Turkish spelling of the Persian name Ferhad ( fa, فرهاد, ''farhād''). It may refer to: Given name Ferhad * Ferhad Ayaz (born 1994), Turkish-Swedish footballer * Ferhad Pasha Sokolović 16th-century Ott ...

History

The Young Algerians emerged from a new group of middle class Algerians who were integrated into the French economic system and had gone through the French education system. They were influenced by the

Young Tunisians The Young Tunisians ( ar, حركة الشباب التونسى ') (french: Jeunes Tunisiens) was a Tunisian political party and political reform movement in the early 20th century. Its main goal was to advocate for reforms in the French protector ...

movement, and established a number of study circles. In 1908 they went to France to meet Prime Minister

Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...

and expressed their opposition to Algerian conscription unless they were extended full civil rights. Clemenceau subsequently gave Muslims the right to elect Algerian members of the general councils, rather than have them appointed by the French. They sent another delegation to France in 1912 to present the "Young Algerians Manifesto", which demanded reforms including equal taxation, representation in the French National Assembly, wider suffrage and the abolition of the Code de l'Indigénat.Frank Tachau (1994) ''Political parties of the Middle East and North Africa'', Greenwood Press, p. 2 Only minimal reforms were made in French parliamentary debates in 1913-1914, as French settler interests in the parliament were able to push back on major reforms. They published a number of journals including ''L'Islam'' and ''El-Hack''. Although the group was, for a time, at the forefront of the Algerian resistance to French colonial policy, it never gained much support either from the Algerians, who saw them as aloof and overly French, or from the ''colons'' (European immigrants), who feared and suspected them. This meant that they usually performed badly in elections. In an attempt to overcome this, the Young Algerians gained the support of the popular Khalid ibn Hashim, the grandson of Abd al Qadir, the resistance fighter of the 1830s. The Young Algerians successfully used France's need to conscript its Algerian subjects for

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

to extract a number of minor reforms from France in the immediate pre-war years. In 1917, when Clemenceau returned to power in France, a more serious attempt at reform was made but due to ''colon'' opposition, this was watered down and became the

Jonnart Law The Jonnart Law was the culmination of Governor General Charles Jonnart's reform program for French Algeria, passed on 4 February 1919. Although it increased the number of Algerian Muslims eligible to vote for the Muslim members of municipal counc ...

passed in 1919. This reform was divisive, splitting the movement between Khalid, who demanded much more far reaching reform, and more moderate elements such as Benthai, who were largely content with the reforms as a step in the right direction.Ruedy, pp. 110–113.

References

{{Algeria-hist-stub Defunct political parties in Algeria French Algeria Political parties established in 1907 1907 establishments in Algeria Political parties with year of disestablishment missing 1907 establishments in the French colonial empire