Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Dossier

Vol. 26 No. 1 (2023): Viaggio e lotta politica in Italia e nel Mediterraneo

Gli “ambasciatori” del Partito Comunista Italiano nell’Algeria postcoloniale e socialista di Boumedienne (1965-1978)

  • Lorenzo Scala
Submitted
June 24, 2024
Published
2024-06-24

Abstract

After Algeria gained independence in 1962, the Italian Communist Party (PCI) became a significant interlocutor for the leaders of the National Liberation Front (FLN) within the European Left, while the PCI viewed Algeria as a valuable experience of African anticolonial liberation and postcolonial socialism. Algeria’s independence hence sparked nearly thirty years of collaboration between these organizations (PCI and FLN), involving continuous exchanges of political, press, technical, and professional delegations. This paper aims to explore the conceptual and experiential achievements, shifts in posture, and ideological inputs that the PCI experienced while engaging with the FLN and revolutionary Algeria. It will primarily focus on the initial years of Houari Boumedienne’s rule, as his ousting of Ahmad Ben Bella from power in 1965 tested the aspirations of a significant portion of the European and Italian Left regarding the future of socialism in Algeria. Nevertheless, socialist and statist principles continued to underpin Boumedienne’s industrialization strategy. The analysis is centered on the political journey and personal experiences of Loris Gallico, who served as an official envoy for the communist newspaper “l’Unità” in Algiers from 1964 to 1969.