The eight-day strike… the saga of a people who stood up to colonialism

On Wednesday, Algerians commemorate the 69th anniversary of the eight-day strike, an event that is considered a historical milestone in the path of the liberation revolution and the saga of a people who stood united in the face of colonialism.

In this context, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Azouz Nasseri, posted, through his personal account on the

Nasseri added, in the same tweet, that “the eight-day strike consolidated the people’s unity with their revolution, and established the era of a victorious Algeria loyal to a fixed principle: the right of peoples to self-determination.”

The aim of this comprehensive strike, which was decided by the Coordination and Implementation Committee of the National Liberation Front and entrusted with the task of preparing it to the leaders of the six states, from January 28 to February 4, 1957, was to involve mass organizations of all kinds, especially workers, merchants and craftsmen, in revolutionary work, unite the ranks of the Algerian people around their fateful cause, drop the colonial allegations that describe the mujahideen as outlaw elements, make the voice of the Algerian revolution heard, and expose the crimes of colonialism, while Emphasizing that the National Liberation Front is the sole legitimate representative of the Algerian people.

The 8-day strike, distinguished in its duration and comprehensiveness of the nation, achieved the most important goal of the liberation revolution, as it prompted the United Nations General Assembly, at its 11th session, to include the Algerian issue within the framework of the right of peoples to self-determination, at the request of the Arab-Asian bloc. It also thwarted the colonizer’s plans to isolate the people from their revolution using fallacies, distortion, and obfuscation, and made it possible to block the path of return for those calling for a “French Algeria” and bring about the final rupture between the colonial regime. And different groups of people.

Through their broad response to the strike, the Algerian people dealt a fatal blow to colonial France, which confronted the steadfastness of the Algerians with murder, barbaric abuse, arrest, torture, displacement, and the destruction of property. The National Liberation Front suffered important losses represented by the discovery by the French administration of a number of its cells in the capital and elements leaking within the colonial administration, especially after the arrival of General Lacoste, who announced the establishment of what he called the “Battle of Algiers.”

The French forces launched a campaign of arrests that targeted a number of the leaders of the revolution, led by Larbi Ben M’hidi, who was martyred as a result of the brutal torture he was subjected to. The hideout of Ali “Lapointe” and his companions who refused to surrender and opted for martyrdom was also discovered, in addition to the decline in the number of guerrilla operations for a long time in the capital.

Historians confirm that the French authorities carried out extensive sweeping campaigns to cordon off the strike and eliminate “about 1,500 armed guerrillas” in the Kasbah, who were supported by “about 5,000 civilians.” They also interrogated “40 percent of Algerian citizens and arrested and killed dozens of them, not to mention placing seven thousand other Algerians in the camps.”

However, all of this did not diminish the spirit of resistance among the Algerian people, which was proven by the uprising of December 11, 1960 and the continuation of the struggle in various ways until independence was achieved.

In one of his historical testimonies, the late Mujahid Yassef Saadi recounted the details of the preparation for this strike, which lasted 8 days, noting that he met at the end of December 1956 with Larbi Ben M’hidi, who informed him of the decision of the Coordination and Implementation Committee to launch the strike, and handed him money in order to ensure the supply of the residents of Algiers without the colonial army being aware of it.