The Workers' Party (, ) is a

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

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

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, closely linked with the Independent Workers' Party of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The party is led by

Louisa Hanoune Louisa Hanoune (; born 7 April 1954) is the head of Workers' Party (Algeria), Algeria's Workers' Party (Parti des Travailleurs, PT). In 2004, she became the first woman to run for President of Algeria. Hanoune was imprisoned by the government sev ...

. The Workers' Party, which uses the abbreviation "PT", advocates for the protection and promotion of trade union movements in Algeria, from its claims, including a figure egalitarian doctrine is to claim that a better distribution of wealth on the people of country. The creation of this party back to the year 1990, one year after the constitutional reform which introduced a multiparty system. Its Secretary General is

, who in 2004 was the first woman in the Arab world to stand as a candidate for a presidential election. The Workers' Party received 3.3 percent of the vote and elected 21 members to parliament in the 2002 legislative elections. In the 2004 presidential elections, Hanoune was the first woman in Algeria to run for the office. She received 101,630 votes (1 percent). In the 2007 parliamentary elections it was the biggest opposition party, winning 5.08% of the vote and 26 seats out of 389. The three party coalition ( National Liberation Front (FLN), National Rally for Democracy (RND) and

Movement of Society for Peace The Movement of Society for Peace () is a Sunni Islamist party in Algeria, led by Mahfoud Nahnah until his death in 2003. Its current leader is Abderrazak Makri. It is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Roots in the Muslim Brotherhoo ...

) won 249 of the 389. Turnout was just 35% In the 2007 regional and municipal elections, it won in over 1,000 elections winning 6.5% of the vote.

History

The Workers' Party was founded in 1990 by workers, trade unionists, peasants and youth at the initiative of the Socialist Workers Organization, on a platform of

class struggle In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

deriving from what it sees as the major contradiction between the interests of workers and "exploited classes", and "oppressed" and those of owners, "exploiters" and "oppressors".

has been its president since its inception. The PT aims to provide workers with independent political representation. The Workers' Party claims continuity with the Algerian national movement, in particular the North African Star and the

Algerian People's Party The Algerian People's Party, was a successor organization of the North African Star, led by veteran Algerian nationalist Messali Hadj. It was formed on March 11, 1937. In 1936, the Etoile Nord Africaine (ENA), its predecessor, had joined the Fren ...

. It is at odds with what it sees as "imperialism" embodied in the activities of the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

, the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, the

New Partnership for Africa's Development The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is an economic development program of the African Union (AU). NEPAD was adopted by the AU at the 37th session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in July 2001 in Lusaka, Zambia. ...

(NEPAD), etc. Part of the

labor movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...

internationally, the Workers' Party wishes to achieve

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

. The party is a member of the International Liaison Committee for a Workers' International.

The PT

The PT campaigns for the cancellation of external debt, the defense of nationalization of land, natural soil and subsoil, businesses and infrastructure (railways, water, electricity, ports, airports, cultural and artistic heritage, telecommunications, air and sea). It favors the preservation of public enterprises against privatization and for the re-nationalization of public services and enterprises which have been privatized. It campaigns for the right to free and compulsory public education until the age of 16, and against private education. It campaigns for the prohibition of child labour, the right to public health care, for the

right to housing The right to housing (occasionally right to shelter) is the economic, social and cultural right to adequate house, housing and shelter (building), shelter. It is recognized in some Economic, social and cultural rights#National constitutions, nat ...

. It campaigns for a national development plan based around public works, funded by public investment and agrarian reform. The party opposes localism.

Ideology and Issues

The PT is a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

party in the

tradition. The party supports cancellation of international debts, favors compulsory education until the age of 16, and the nationalization of natural resources. The Workers' Party calls for the election of a Constituent Assembly by direct universal suffrage and secret ballot. In the immediate future the Workers' Party considers major issues to be: *The release of all political prisoners. *The resolution of the issue of missing persons. *The right to organize *The restoration of all democratic freedoms, including lifting the state of emergency and all emergency measures, the restoration of freedom of the press, and allowing for trade union activity. *Respect for the multiparty system. *The equal rights between women and men, which would entail the repeal of the Family Code and the enactment of civil laws giving full citizenship to women, *The recognition of

Tamazight The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight, are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related but mostly mutually unintelligible languages spoken by Berber communities, who ar ...

as an official language, and that it be taught in schools and used in public institutions. *The right to a permanent work for all those who live. *A sliding scale of wages and pensions, indexed for the cost of living. *The preservation of the social security system and retirement pay. *The right to collective bargaining. *The preservation of current positions within the public sector *Prohibition of any wages below the minimum wage. *The ratification of all ILO Conventions *The establishment of a minimum income for first job seekers and unemployment compensation for laid-off workers. To achieve its objectives, the Workers Party is in favor of utilizing instruments of democracy, political action, and organized workers' groups.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

People's National Assembly elections

References

External links

Official site PT
{{Algerian political parties 1990 establishments in Algeria Algerian democracy movements Communist parties in Algeria Far-left political parties Political parties established in 1990 Political parties in Algeria Trotskyist organizations in Africa