Mélanie Torrent

Algerian Independence and the British Left

Solidarities and Resistance in a Decolonising World

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Based on archives from governments, parties, organisations and individuals, this book investigates the relationship between the British left and Algerian liberation movements during the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962). It explores the presence of representatives of the Mouvement national algérien (MNA) and the Front de libération nationale (FLN) in London, where they actively sought support for peace, independence from France and the global end of European domination. By surveying their interactions with individuals and groups in the anticolonial left, including prominent Labour MPs, and Trotskyist groups, Asian and African associations and students' unions, Torrent shows how and why solidarity was interpreted differently across the left, and in relation to Britain's own end-of-empire conflicts. Tracing connections across Europe and beyond, this book demonstrates how the war influenced conceptions of socialism, communism and internationalism in Britain, what being European meant, and what place the Commonwealth should have in a world where armed struggle and liberation diplomacy disrupted boundaries.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury Academic
• Seitenzahl: 640
• Erscheinungstermin: 3. Oktober 2024
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 234mm x 156mm x 25mm
• Gewicht: 454g
• ISBN-13: 9781784537890
• ISBN-10: 1784537896
• Artikelnr.: 70450594

Autorenporträt

Mélanie Torrent

Inhaltsangabe

Preface by Martin Evans Acknowledgments List of acronyms List of
illustrations A note on aims, sources and terms Introduction Chapter 1.
Putting Algeria on the anticolonial map: North Africa and the politics of
empire in post-war Britain Chapter 2. Algeria in anticolonial and pro-peace
networks in Britain: self-determination, world security and early
appraisals of Algerian nationalist movements Chapter 3. Searching for
socialism under Guy Mollet: French socialists, Algerian nationalists and a
divided British left Chapter 4. A world of military force? France, Algeria
and Labour's internationalist policies at the time of Suez Chapter 5.
Labour and Algeria's first unofficial diplomats in Britain: testing
anticolonial ideas, practices and networks Chapter 6. 'No longer domestic':
Labour activism and the British debate for rights, peace and justice in
Algeria Chapter 7. Democracy under threat? The British left and the
Algerian birth of the Fifth Republic Chapter 8. Meeting the FLN in Africa:
new international forces, new Labour perspectives? Chapter 9. Beyond the
politics of war? H-bomb protests, refugee relief and the limits of
anticolonialism in British society Chapter 10. Algeria in the year of
Africa: winds of change for the British left? Chapter 11. Individual
freedoms and collective security: reassessing violence and diplomacy at the
end of empire Chapter 12. Independence at long last: a victory for
socialism? Chapter 13. After Algeria's independence: perspectives and
limits of a Labour government in waiting Conclusion Sources Index