1 Declaration of 13 Kabyle deputies to the National Assembly, September 1963 (cited in William Quandt, The Berbers in the Algerian Political Elite, in Ernest Gellner and Charles Micaud, eds, Arabs and Berbers, Duckworth, London, 1972, p. 296).

2 An explicitly ‘Berberist’ riot occurred at Larbaa n'Ait Irathen in the heart of Kabylia in May 1974. For an analysis of this, see my doctoral thesis: Political Development in Algeria: the region of Greater Kabylia (Oxford University, 1980), pp. 351–59.

3 Arab Bessaoud, Mohamed, Le FFS: Espoir et Trahison, Paris, Imprimerie Cary, 1966, pp. 96, 159 Google Scholar.

4 Le Monde, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 18, 22, 23, 29 April 1980.

5 Jean‐François Mongibeaux, ‘La Révolte des Berbères’ (Quotidien de Paris, 17 April 1980); Rahmani, Abdelkader, Le Coup de Sang des Berbères Eurafriques, No. 296–7, 2 05 1980 .Google Scholar

6 Ernest Gellner, Introduction to Gellner and Micaud (eds), op. cit., p. 20.

7 Charles Micaud, Conclusion to Gellner and Micaud (eds), op. cit., p. 433.

8 Gellner, loc. cit., p. 11.

9 Micaud, loc. cit., p. 433.

10 Gellner, loc. cit., p. 13.

11 Micaud, loc. cit., p. 433.

12 Micaud, ibid.

13 Micaud, ibid.

14 Micaud, loc. cit., p. 434.

15 For which they have been rebuked by, among others, Abdallah Mazouni, Culture et Enseignement en Algérie et au Maghreb, Paris, Maspero, 1969, p. 73.

16 El Moudjahid, Carnet des naisances, mariages et décès, 18 May 1978.

17 Jeanne Favret, ‘Traditionalism through ultra‐modernism’ in Gellner and Micaud (eds), op. cit., pp. 307–24.

18 William Quandt, 1972, art. cit., p. 303.

19 Julien, Charles‐André, Histoire de l’Algérie Contemporaine, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1964, p. 180 Google Scholar.

20 Charles‐Robert, Ageron, Les Algériens Musulmans et la France, Paris, PUF, 1968, 2 vols, vol. 1, pp. 267–77Google Scholar; Fanny Colonna, Instituteurs Algériens, Paris, Presses de la Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, 1975, p. 112, n. 29.

21 Ageron, , op. cit., vol. 1, p. 273, No. 5.Google Scholar

22 Ageron, loc. cit., p. 273 and pp. 332–37.

23 Ageron, loc. cit., pp. 270–1, 275–7, 482.

24 Ageron, loc. cit., pp. 279–80.

25 Minister of National Education, 1965–70; Minister of Information and Culture 1970–77; Minister‐Counsellor attached to the presidency since 1977.

26 Ahmed Taleb Ibrahimi, Dr, De la Décolonisation à la Révolution Culturelle, Algiers, SNED, 1973, p. 225 Google Scholar. (All translations from French are mine.)

27 Etienne, Bruno, L’Algérie, Cultures et Révolution, Paris, Le Seuil, 1976, p. 147.Google Scholar

28 Mazouni, op. cit., p. 71.

29 Etienne, op. cit., ibid.

30 Etienne, op. cit., p. 103.

31 Quandt, 1972, art. cit., p. 285.

32 Favret, art. cit., pp. 319, 323.

33 Gellner, Ernest, Saints of the Atlas, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1969, pp. 12–13.Google Scholar

34 Pierre Bourdieu, The Algerians, Boston, USA, Beacon Press, 1962, p. 27.

35 Fanny Colonna, ‘Rituels et Histoire: à propos d';un ancien pélérinage aurasien’, in Ernest Gellner and Jean‐Claude Vatin (eds), Islam et Politique au Maghreb, Paris, Editions du CNRS, 1981, p. 95.

36 For a fuller discussion of the sociology of Islam in Kabyliia, see my article ‘The Conversion of the Mrabtin in Kabylia’ in Gellner and Vatin, (eds), op. cit., pp. 101–25.

37 According to the official census carried out in that year. The figure may well underestimate the true number, which is generally agreed to be in the region of 2 million today.

38 According to the 1966 census figures, cited in Adler, Stephen, International Migration and Dependence, London, Saxon House, 1977, p. 164. Google Scholar

39 Colonna, 1975, op. cit., pp. 107–8.

40 Colonna, loc. cit., pp. 107–8.

41 Colonna, loc. cit., p. 106. The arrondissement of Tizi Ouzou in the colonial period corresponded to what is now the wilaya of Greater Kabylia.

42 Lebjaoui, Mohamed, Bataille d’Alger ou Bataille d’Algérie? Paris, Gallimard, 1972, pp. 27–9.Google Scholar

43 Member of the CNRA 1956; commander of wilaya I 1956–57; member of the CCE 1957; Minister of Armaments and Supplies in the GPRA 1958–60.

44 Several journalists noted it at the time, however, but their insights were subsequently forgotten or, in some cases, discounted because of the generally pro‐ French tenor of their writings, for example, Clark, Michael, Algeria in Turmoil (2nd edition), New York, Grosset ’ Dunlap, 1960, pp. 343–63.Google Scholar Recently recognition of the Kabyles’ role has come from an author of impeccable nationalist credentials, Mohamed Harbi, in his book Le FLN: Mirage et Réalité, Paris, Editions J. A., 1980, pp. 169–93.

45 The FLN divided Algeria into six military commands. Until the Soummam Congress of 1956 these were known as ‘zones’ thereafter the term wilaya was used.

46 Quandt, William, Revolution and Political Leadership: Algeria 1954–1968, Cambridge, Mass. and London, M. I. T. Press, 1969, p. 100 Google Scholar et seq.

47 Harbi, 1980, op. cit., p. 176.

48 Yves Courriére, La Guerre d'Algérie: vol. 1: Les Fils de la Toussaint, Paris, Fayard, 1968, pp. 287–90, 291–2, 305–6.

49 Mellah was better equipped than most Kabyles for this task, being literate in Arabic. This did not save him from the consequences of the arrogant behaviour of his Kabyle subordinates towards the Arabophone population of southern Algeria. He and his lieutenants were murdered on the orders of a local rival early in 1957 (Courrière, op. cit., vol. 3, L’Heure des Colonels, Paris, Fayard, 1970, pp. 63–70).

50 As were several of his colleagues, for example, Abdennour Ali Yahia, secretary of the Dockers’ Federation.

51 Notably the Mouvement National Algérien (MNA) founded by Messali Hadj. Both FLN and MNA were products of the radical nationalism pioneered by Messali in the Etoile Nord‐Africaine and its successor, the Parti du Peuple Algérien and its legal front, the Mouvement pour la Triomphe des Libertés Démocratiques (MTLD).

52 Courrière, op. cit., vol. 2, Le Temps des Léopards, Paris, Fayard, 1969, pp. 160–65; Lebjaoui, Mohamed, Vérités sur la Révolution Algérienne, Paris, Gallimard, 1970, p. 75. Google Scholar

53 Harbi, 1980, op. cit., p. 174.

54 Lebjaoui, 1970, op. cit., p. 77.

55 Ottaway, D. and M., Algeria: the politics of a socialist revolution, Berkeley, USA, 1970, p. 298. Google Scholar

56 Harbi, 1980, op. cit., p. 404, footnote 5.

57 The Berber patronymic Ait (equivalent of the Arabic Beni:‘the sons of, the family of’ etc.), while common to all Berberophone regions of Morocco, is nowadays used in Algeria only in Kabylia, and even there is commonly encountered only among the population of the Jurjura massif. Thus an Algerian named ‘Ait X’ is certain to be a Kabyle and very likely to be from the Jurjura area (i. e. Ain el Hammam ‐ex‐Michelet ‐ and its environs).

58 Quandt, 1969, op. cit., p. 121; Henry Jackson, The FLN in Algeria: Party Development in a Revolutionary Society, Conn., USA, Greenwood, 1977, p. 164.

59 Apart from Larbi Ben M’Hidi, ex‐commander of wilaya V (Oranie) and a ’chef historique’, the other non‐Kabyles in the first CCE, Benyoucef Benkhedda and Saad Dahlab, were relative late‐comers to the FLN and did not possess any independent personal followings within it. Both had been recruited for their political skills by Abane and were his faithful lieutenants. Their elimination from the CCE in August 1957 was the prelude to Abane’s own downfall in the autumn of the same year.

60 Source: Harbi, 1980, op. cit., page 177. This table does not take into account the logistical position in wilaya I for which no data is available. This wilaya, corresponding primarily to the Aurès region, was in political chaos from mid‐1956 onwards, following the death of its first commander, Mustapha Ben Boulaid.

61 Krim entrusted the command of wilaya III to Mohammedi when he himself joined the CCE in Algiers in August 1956. Mohammedi was a most ineffective leader, however, and Krim replaced him with Amirouche in July 1957.

62 That is, the troops based in Tunisia and Morocco who were prevented from rejoining the guerrilla struggle inside Algeria by the extremely effective ‘Ligne Morice’ of electrified barriers and minefields constructed by the French in 1958.

63 Courrère, 1970, op. cit., p. 245; Mohamed Arab Bessaoud, Heureux les Martyres qui n’ont rien vu, Paris, Imprimerie Cary, 1963, p. 107.

64 Mohammedi was persuaded to accept a largely token place in the GPRA as Minister of State.

65 Notably Abdelhafid Boussouf (commander of wilaya V 1955–57; member of the CCE 1957–58; Minister of Armaments and General Liaisons in the GPRA 1960–62); Houari Boumediene (commander of wilaya V 1957–58; head of COM‐Ouest 1958–60; Chief of the General Staff 1960–62). The Oranie had been massively Messalist in 1954. In consequence, wilaya V was led by men from the Constantinois during the first four years of the war.

66 The fourth Berberophone population in Algeria, the Tuareg of the central Sahara, have played no part in national politics.

67 Source: Quandt, 1969, op. cit., pp. 291–93.

68 Source: Jean Leca and Jean‐Claude Vatin, L'Algérie Politique: Institutions et Régime, Paris, Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, 1975, pp. 491–3; Etienne, op. cit., pp. 36–37 and 53.

69 Tahar Zbiri, formerly commander of wilaya I from 1960 to 1962, was named Chief of Staff in 1963 and played a key role in Boumediene's coup in 1965. He fell out with Boumediene in the autumn of 1967 and, with the support of other ex‐maquisards from the Aurès, mounted a bloody but unsuccessful putsch before escaping into exile.

70 Quandt, 1972, art. cit., p. 291.

71 Quandt, ibid., p. 292.

72 Ben Bella and the other members of the External Delegation of the FLN were opposed to Abane's perspectives, as he was to theirs. Of Ben Bella's companions in Cairo only Hocine Ait Ahmed approved the decisions of the Soummam Congress and acknowledged its legitimacy.

73 By early 1954 the PPA‐MTLD was profoundly split into two tendencies, that represented by the majority of the Central Committee (the ‘Centralists’) which sup ported a reformist and legalist perspective for the nationalist movement and that represented by the founder of the PPA‐MTLD, Messali Hadj, which adhered to a revolutionary vision. The FLN was founded by militants exasperated by the conflict between these two camps (but who had originally been closer to the former in most cases, with the notable exception of Krim). Messali never came to terms with the young Turks who had pre‐empted his strategy and founded the MNA in a bid to take them over. The FLN refused to unite with the MNA and physically liquidated its guerrilla forces.

74 The Union Démocratique du Manifeste Algérien, founded by Abbas in April 1946.

75 The arrest and execution of Ben M'Hidi during the Battle of Algiers deprived Abane of his most important ally on the question of the primacy of the political over the military.

76 Commander of wilaya II (Nord‐Constantinois) from January 1955 until his death in action in September 1956. It was Zighout who effectively created the maquis in wilaya II.

77 El Moudjahid (organ of the wartime FLN) No. 4, Algiers, November 1956.

78 Again, Harbi is an honourable exception, 1980, op. cit., pp. 195–205.