Étoile Nord-Africaine

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The Étoile Nord-Africaine or ENA (French for The North African Star) was an early Algerian nationalist organization, and a forerunner of the FLN and MNA, who fought France and each other during the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62).

It was formed in 1925 by Marxist politician Messali Hadj, and called for an uprising against French colonial rule and total independence, but had no armed wing and attempted to organize peacefully. The party maintained links with the Parti Communiste Français (PCF, the French Communist Party), but the connection was later broken as the PCF considered Algerian national independence premature. The Étoile was dissolved by the French authorities in 1929, and Hadj was imprisoned. It is often considered the first modern Algerian political party, and a pioneer in contemporary Algerian nationalism.

Later, Étoile leaders including Messali would found the Parti du Peuple Algerien (PPA), another short-lived creation that was dissolved in 1935; Messali then went on to other forms of organization until becoming leader of the FLN's main rival, the ultimately unsuccessful Mouvement National Algérien (MNA).

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[edit] Literature

  • Rachid Tlemcani, State and Revolution in Algeria, Boulder: Westview Press (1986).