The Battle for the douars and the djemâa Elections of 1947
The nationalist mobilization of peasants in the Chelif market centres (Chapter 8) went in parallel with the first steps to extend anti-colonial organization directly into the mountainous interior and to form peasant-led cells. Contestation centred, in particular, on the election of the djemâas which allowed delegates to be elected on party lists, a political counter-weight to the caids and commune mixte apparatus. A number of case-studies of such direct penetration into the interior are investigated for the douars north and south of Duperré, to the east of Ténès, and near Cherchell, to track the process of radicalization, and the preparation of rural networks that later became the basis of the early guerrilla movement. The 1947 election marked an important watershed since the unexpected success of the communist and Messalist advance among the peasantry met with a ferocious response from the new governor Naegelin in early 1948, and a wave of police repression, arrests, electoral fraud, and annulling of electoral gains. This ensured the continuation of the moribund commune mixte system, with fatal long-term consequences for the intelligence state, while both communists and nationalists abandoned a peaceful route to independence by preparing for armed insurrection.