The F.L.N. welcomed Mendès-France’s fall because liberal reform threatened their independence goal.
Evidence
In Algeria, moderate nationalists greeted his demise with gloom; and the F.L.N. with joy, in that they regarded Mendès-France with his promises of liberal reform as the one French leader capable of achieving reconciliation and thus halting them short of their goal of total independence. — Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Algeria 1954-1962, 340
Categorization
- XREF: Contradicts the naive assumption that nationalists always favor moderate reformers; echoes earlier chapters on how settlers’ enemies shape resistance. — connects to: Defeated reformism pushed moderate nationalists toward the F.L.N. and total independence
Related
- Defeated reformism pushed moderate nationalists toward the F.L.N. and total independence (similarity 0.87)
- The F.L.N. framed independence as seized, not granted. (similarity 0.80)
- France’s refusal to restrain settler fascism drove liberal Algerians to the F.L.N. (similarity 0.79)
- France’s rejection of moderate Algerian reformers radicalized them into revolutionaries (similarity 0.79)
- Pressure from the settler right and Paris politics crushed moderate reform from both sides (similarity 0.79)