Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T20:43:00.971Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Socialist Management in Algeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

J. R. Nellis
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Algeria is important for its wealth, for its size and location, for the dynamism and austerity of its leadership, and for its pretensions to socialism and leadership of the Third World. Clearly, an imposing list. Yet the Algerian approach to development is little known and insufficiently understood, at least in the English-speaking world. In France, on the contrary, and throughout la francophonie, Algerian movements and events are closely watched and intensely debated. Much of the controversy has concentrated on the question as to whether or not Algeria deserves its self-proclaimed status as a socialist state; 1 the celebrated autogestion effort of the 1960s has been thoroughly and carefully analysed,2 and the nationalisations of foreign oil companies – as well as a few other salient economic enterprises – have received considerable attention.3 It should be noted that the extensive French literature on post-1962 Algeria has focused on events up to 1971, though a few materials on more recent developments are beginning to emerge,4 and that a small number of articles in English on major Algerian programmes, such as la révolution agraire, have recently been published.5

Type
Africana
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , December 1977 , pp. 529 - 554
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

page 529 note 1 See, for example, Chaliand, G., L'Algérie est-elle socialiste? (Paris, 1964),Google Scholar and more recently and more vehemently, Ammour, Kader et al. , La Voie algérienne: les contradictions d'un développement national (Paris, 1974).Google Scholar

page 529 note 2 See Duprat, Gérard, Révolution et autogestion rurale en Algérie (Paris, 1973)Google Scholar; Chaulet, Claudine, La Mitidja autogerée (Algiers, 1971)Google Scholar; and Koulytchizky, Serge, L'Autogestion, l'homme et l'état: l'expérience algérienne (Paris, 1974).Google Scholar

page 529 note 3 For an introduction, see Talha's, Larbi ‘L'Econornie maghrébins depuis l'indépendance’, in Centre de recherches et d'études sur les sociétés mediterranéennes, Introduction à l'Afrique du Nord contemporaine (Paris, 1975).Google Scholar

page 529 note 4 Good examples are the chapter by Bruno Etienne on ‘Le Socialisme algérien’, in ibid., and the article by Cubertafond, Bernard on ‘Réflexions sur la pratique politique algérienne’, in Maghreb/Mackrek (Paris), 69, 1975, pp. 25–32.Google Scholar

page 529 note 5 Some of these are: Stewart, P. J., ‘Algerian Peasantry at the Crossroads’, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Discussion Paper No. 69, 03 1975Google Scholar; Smith, Tony, ‘The Political and Economic Ambitions of Algerian Land Reform, 1962–1974’, in Middle East Journal (Washington), 29, 3, 1975Google Scholar; Waterbury, John, Land, Man and Development in Algeria (Hanover, N.H., Reports of the American Universities Field Staff, 1973)Google Scholar, pt. III; and John Nellis, ‘Workers’ Participation in Algeria's Nationalized Industries: la gestion socialiste des entreprises’, School of International Affairs, Carleton University, Ottawa, Occasional Paper No. 30, 1976.

page 530 note 1 From a speech made in November 1965; quoted by Waterbury, op. cit. p. 1.

page 531 note 1 David, and Ottaway, Marina, Algeria: the politics of a socialist revolution (Berkeley, 1970), p. 227.Google Scholar

page 531 note 2 Quoted in ibid. p. 270.

page 532 note 1 Gallagher, Charles F., ‘A Note on the Maghreb’, in Zartman, I. William (ed.), Man, State and Society in the Contemporary Maghreb (New York, 1973)Google Scholar, written originally in 1967, p. 12.

page 532 note 2 For a semi-official description of the steps and stages pursued since 1965, see the account of an address given by Professor Bouzidi of L'Institut des Sciences Économiques d'Alger in El Moudjahid (Algiers), 25 09 1975.

page 533 note 1 For a critical account of Algeria's post-coup rural and agricultural policies, see Hermassi, Elbaki, ‘Periphery Revolutions: commitment and disenchantment’, M.E.S.A. meeting, 1975Google Scholar. For a sympathetic view of the Algerian approach to socialist development which spells out the difilculties created by the emerging new class of bureaucrats, see the articles by Balta, Paul in Le Monde (Paris), 28–3012 1974Google Scholar; and for a detailed critique which rejects the claim that the bases are being laid for a socialist society, see Kader Ammour et al. op. cit.

page 533 note 2 I have seen cited, but cannot recall where, the figure of 30 per cent of Algeria's oil and gas revenues going to pay for food imports, mainly cereals. The Quarterly Economic Review of Algeria by The Economist (London), III, 1975, p. 3, reported that the 1975 wheat harvest was a poor 700,000 tons, leaving two million tons to be imported, thus giving some notion of the size of the problem.

page 534 note 1 ‘L'Industrialisation: remède unique aux problèmes du sous-développement’, in Bulletin Économique. Algérie Presse Service (Algiers), 11, 1975, pp. 3–6.

page 534 note 2 Quoted in the weekly economic supplement of El Moudjahid, 25 10 1975.

page 534 note 3 Ibid.

page 534 note 4 See the article signed by ‘B.T.’ on income division in gestion socialiste industries, which implies that few if any state enterprises are profitable, in El Moudjahid, 10 03 1976. The Quarterly Economic Review of Algeria, op. cit. p. 4, stated flatly that the state corporations ‘other than Sonatrach’ are running deficits.

page 535 note 1 See Sari, Djilali, ‘L'Évolution de l'emploi en Algérie’, in Maghreb/Mackrek, 69, 1975, pp. 42–9.Google Scholar

page 535 note 2 Front de Libération Nationale, Projet de Charte Nationale (Algiers, 1976).Google Scholar

page 535 note 3 Two detailed and highly critical articles by Azzedine Chabane on University reform were published by El Moudjahid, 24 and 25 October 1975.

page 536 note 1 La Charte Nationale, p. 11.

page 536 note 2 In the spring of 1976 the intense national debate over La Charte Nationale revealed the extent and depth of popular discontent with many programmes and the public style of the régime. Significantly, the top leadership appeared to be well regarded.

page 537 note 1 Some French observers, long accustomed to codification, saw the lack of an Algerian constitution as a potentially dynamic and liberating innovation. See Cubertafond, loc. cit.

page 537 note 2 République Algérienne Démocratique et Populaire, Front de Libération Nationale, Charte et Code de la Gestion Socialiste des Entreprises (Algiers, 1971), p. 5.

page 538 note 1 El Moudjahid, 1 January 1974. But the Minister in charge of G.S.E., Mohamed Said Mazouzi, was later quoted as saying that ‘The Charter will touch all enterprises, whether they are of an economic, social or cultural character’ ibid. 15 February 1975.

page 538 note 2 Charte et Code, p. 12.

page 538 note 3 Ibid. pp. 8–9. At the time of writing (July 1977) there is still no national salary scale.

page 539 note 1 Ibid. p. 9.

page 539 note 2 President Boumediène, quoted in ‘L'Organisation socialiste des entreprises’, in Visages de l'Algérie (Algiers), 22, 1973, p. 13, published by Le Ministère de l'Information et de la Culture.

page 540 note 1 Figures mentioned in El Moudjahid, 1 and 2 February 1974, respectively. Public enterprises in Algeria are sociétés nationales, and are called by their initials, usually starting with the letters Sn or the syllable Son. Thus, Snema: Société Nationale des Eaux Minérales, and Sonitex: Société Nationale des Industries Textiles.

page 541 note 1 Charte et Code, p. 13. Final authority on disciplinary matters rests with la tutelle.

page 541 note 2 Ibid. pp. 13–14.

page 542 note 1 Ibid. p. 16.

page 542 note 2 Ibid. p. 20.

page 542 note 3 Ibid. p. 24.

page 544 note 1 Bownediène, among others, has made this point, notably in a major speech to a national conference on socialist management, reported in El Moudjahid, 18 July 1974.

page 545 note 1 Ibid. 29 December 1973. See also the article by Hamouni, A. in El Moudjahid, 8 02 1975Google Scholar, for a lengthy exploration of how the ‘pragmatism’ of the programme had necessitated a slow start.

page 545 note 2 Hamdani, Smail, Secretary-General of C.N.G.S.E., reported in El Moudjahid, 2 01 1975, p. 2Google Scholar.

page 545 note 3 La République (Oran), 9 01 1974.

page 546 note 1 See the article written by Mohammedi, Mustapha, El Moudjahid, 19 01 1974Google Scholar.

page 546 note 2 Ibid. It should be noted that in some industries, especially textiles, women form 25–30 per cent of the workforce, but constituted only about so per cent of the candidates and 6 per cent of the elected. Ibid. 13 February 1975.

page 547 note 1 The public administration sector was mentioned in ibid. 24 January 1976, and the first application of la gestion socialiste in ibid. 13 February 1976.

page 547 note 2 Ibid. 19 February 1976.

page 548 note 1 Numerous articles in El Moudjahid have analysed the shortcomings of the programme, notably – and often critically – during the first national congress on la gestion socialiste in July 1974. Cf. ibid. 17 July 1974, and also 28 February 1975 and the weekly economic supplement of 7 October 1975.

page 548 note 2 Ibid. 17 July 1974.

page 548 note 3 They are not alone in this view. Managers in Hungary, which in 1974 introduced workers' participation into its factories, are said to be opposed to the scheme and willing to support it ‘only if everybody gets fired when there is a failure to meet production targets’. The Guardian Weekly (London), 14 09 1974, p. 18.

page 548 note 4 See the four-part series on la gestion socialiste which appeared in El Moudjahid, 17–20 December 1975.

page 549 note 1 A view expressed most forcibly by Minister Mazouzi. See ibid. for an interview with the Minister, 19 December 1975.

page 549 note 2 From the important statement entitled ‘Point de la situation sur la gestion socialiste des entreprises’, ‘Gestion de l'entreprise socialiste’, Vlème Colloque des Écoles Nationales d'Administration du Maghreb, Rabat, 03 1975, p. 39.

page 549 note 3 El Moudjahid, 24 December 1975.

page 549 note 4 Ibid. 24 February 1976.

page 550 note 1 Ibid. 14 January 1976.

page 550 note 2 Minister Mazouzi has emphasised this point strongly. See ibid. 19 December 1975.

page 550 note 3 Smail Hamdani, Secretary-General of the C.N.G.S.E., reported in ibid. 7 November 1975.

page 551 note 1 El Moudjahid, 7 October 1975.

page 551 note 2 This figure was cited frequently during the conference, and was published in El Moudjahid, 5 December 1975.

page 551 note 3 See ibid. 20 to 23 December 1975 for full coverage of the conference.

page 551 note 4 Ibid. 23 December 1976.

page 552 note 1 Following an established Algerian tradition, Boumediène has warned of ‘the dangers of the bureaucracy, which constitute a handicap for the revolution. It is bureaucracy which hinders socialism, to which it represents the grand enemy’. El Moudjahid, 18 07 1974. See also the critical discussion on ‘La Bureaucratic en question’, in ibid. 12 December 1975.

page 553 note 1 Francos, Ania and Sereni, Jean-Pierre, ‘La Soif de démocratie’, in Jeune Afrique (Paris), 806, 18 06 1976, p. 33.Google Scholar

page 553 note 2 The Economist (London), 27 07 1974, p. 107.