THE DYNAMICS OF LEADERSHIP AND INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION:
AHMED BEN BELLA, FREEDOM FIGHTER, PRIME MINISTER,
PRESIDENT AND LEADER
Art Madsen, M.Ed.
The qualities, above all others, which distinguish a leader include universal appeal, charisma and the indispensable concept advanced by Alvin Toffler known as "accelerative thrust" (Work, 1996:72). Casting a glance back over recent history, one political figure who reflects these characteristics, even under considerable stress and enormous pressure, was Ahmed Ben Bella, Prime Minister and then President of the Algerian Republic in the 1962 to 1965 time frame. He embodied such genuine concern for his Nation, such love for his people and such "elan vital", that Algerian refugee boys in Tunisia considered him their personal hero, posting snapshots and news clippings of him in their dormitories in 1961, while Ben Bella was still imprisoned in France (Horne, 1977:404).
Beyond the affection which Ben Bella emanated for his country, he possessed the quintessential components of leadership. There was consistency of character, a sensitivity to human emotions, an awareness of reality and the ability to inspire confidence. His appeal was to the masses of Algerians who had suffered under French domination. He reflected their ideals and aspirations; he felt their needs and identified with their values.
Public Administration theorists, such as John W. Work, point out eloquently that socio-demographic change is often related to the rise of a new leader (Work, 1996:73). Ahmed Ben Bella, struggling for his Country's independence from the earliest days of the Revolution, grasped the importance of remaining faithful to the changes underway in the late Colonial period. He adapted, by virtue of both his heart and mind, to the needs and priorities of the first anti-French resistance movement, known as the Comite Revolutionnaire d'Unite et d'Action , and pursued his dreams and hopes to the end of the Revolution, years later, with the signing of the Evian Accords. He was universally accepted as a leader of this early group, initially consisting of only 30 men, which ultimately toppled the French presence in Algeria.
However, it is crucial to review some of the events and interpersonal links among Ben Bella and his associates in the early days of the Revolution in order to analyze what could be construed as the primary origins and components of leadership. Indeed, the vision which Ben Bella and his co-revolutionaries had for their nation was formulated on the basis of trust, fidelity, allegiance and honor, all of which values firmly "bonded" Ben Bella to his contemporaries, on a limited scale in the early days, and on an incredibly broad scale later in the struggle.
All of Ben Bella's brothers perished before him. He was the youngest of five boys and several girls. Born in 1916, he attended French schools until he was 13 years old and was later drafted into the French Colonial Army during World War Two. He served with valor and won many honors and distinctions, particularly in the Italian theater. Although he had served the French cause, he was cruelly shocked, after the war, at the age of 29, when he observed the brutal massacre of his fellow Algerians at Setif in 1945, one of the first uprisings against the colonial presence. He joined the Parti du Peuple Algerien, an outlawed faction which vocally opposed the French and had been doing so since 1937, and, in the Spring of 1949, he participated in the attack on Oran's Main Post Office, a famous turning point in the resistance movement. His compatriots began to discern special qualities in Ahmed and turned to him for advice and direction. Shortly thereafter, he was imprisoned by the French for two years until 1952, when, again demonstrating acumen and intelligence, he escaped. He fled to Cairo, but joined Algerian revolutionaries in exile, coordinating the administrative and financial support of his brethren back home (Heggoy, 1981:72-73).
Because he was clearly the most effective "mobilizer" of material, money and manpower in the days immediately preceding the actual commencement of hostilities, the French considered him a prime target. Indeed, French Intelligence intercepted Ben Bella, now a widely known resistance figure among his fellow Algerians, on a flight from Cairo to Morocco. He was taken into custody and imprisoned in France until 1962. Eight years of isolation in France did not tarnish his reputation among his fellow-resistors. In fact, his name was glorified in news releases and his fame grew. His semi-martyrdom in a French prison tended to solidify support among revolutionary groups waging an on-going, and ever-spiraling battle against the French throughout Algeria.
As opinion shifted, due to pressure from the United Nations on France, and as the Revolution became more of a threat to political stability within France itself, the pendulum swung enough to envisage, with the talks at Evian, the release of Ben Bella. A French lawyer, who later resided in Algeria, Madam Marie-Claude Radziewski, was instrumental in laying the groundwork, socio-juridically, for Ben Bella's repatriation in 1962 (Madsen, 1996:21).
Ben Bella possessed all of the requisite attributes for high-level insertion into the hierarchy of the National Liberation Front (F.L.N.) , the victorious revolutionary party which came to power, after limited internal dissent, upon final confirmation of the Evian Accords. He was eloquent, a resistance fighter, a victim of French oppression, and a man who had demonstrated ability to raise vast sums of money and enormous resources during the crucial days in 1952 and 1953 when resistance was coalescing.
His charisma, based on personal accounts of significant accomplishments, and on his promises to the Algerian people to emphasize education, social and agrarian reforms, led him to be appointed Prime Minister for one year, and then President of the Republic. He was a leader whose policies extended beyond the frontiers of Algeria. France, having fought, and lost, the most savage of wars against an "internal enemy", was unwilling to embark on further campaigns in French West Africa or in French Equatorial Africa. Ben Bella's government spread the doctrine of Liberation throughout these countries, many of which were breaking free of French domination politically and economically during the early 1960s.
As strong and dynamic as Ben Bella was seen to be, he was an inwardly trusting and sensitive person, and hence, perhaps vulnerable in many ways. Ben Bella's rise to power was, in part, due to his having placed trust and confidence in two significant individuals, each of whom had designs of their own which would propel them to positions of prominence, at Ben Bella's expense.
Following the Evian Accords, granting independence from France, there was a brief struggle for power within Algeria itself. In 1962, the A.L.N., the National Liberation Army, predecessor of the F.L.N., was the predominant force, having fought a consistently brilliant and effective campaign. Among its ranks were Ahmed Ben Bella, Colonel Houari Boumedienne, Saadi Yacef, and Colonel Slimane. Also prominent among them was Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who had served a critical role as "liaison-contact" between Ben Bella (when in prison) and the General Staff of the A.L.N. The dynamics among these four or five men were powerful, obviously well beyond the control of Ben Bella, even when this "great leader", in the eyes of an admiring public, had risen to the Presidency of the Republic.
Leadership, within the Algerian context, must be redefined to some extent. There is a distinct element of "perception of power and strength" in the mind of the Algerian. A constant renewal of this perception is essential to ensure continued leadership, as challenges are launched and waters tested. There is no reason to think that these gestures of defiance and perhaps even of insubordination were not common among the early Algerian "leadership" elite.
As was the case among the Free Officer group in Egypt, the Algerian governing elite emerged from a military force forged in the heat of one of the most inhumane of wars ever fought. The principal figures who gathered around the charismatic Ben Bella, handsome and well-liked, were inwardly aggressive and mercenary in ways difficult to define. While they paid homage to the ideals of their new Nation, they were bent on personal aggrandizement and empowerment. Ben Bella, although head of the Party's Political Bureau, was often confronted with massive dissention among his policy-makers and ministers. In these confrontations at the highest levels of government, he may have experienced difficulty, perhaps, in converting his "hero" image to an image of "leadership", impervious to attack and above reproach (Work, 1996:72). Ben Bella's external reputation, in the eyes of the younger generation who admired him immensely, was not a factor within the ruling Political Bureau where in-fighting and interpersonal strife often flared. Surely, decorum reigned at these meetings, but simmering under the surface, were jealousies and rivalries which would, in a matter of merely two years, overthrow Ahmed Ben Bella's presidency, perceived by an on-looking world as the Algerian equivalent of John F. Kennedy.
The actual mechanics of Ben Bella's overthrow are well known. At odds over certain matters of foreign policy with his Foreign Minister, Bouteflika, President Ben Bella attempted to remove him from power. Yet, Colonel Boumedienne, respected within inner ruling circles far more than by the public at large and a loyal friend of Bouteflika, utilized his solid connections within the military to oust Ben Bella from power in June of 1965 (Heggoy, 1981:88). Realizing the immense popular appeal of Ben Bella, Colonel Boumedienne ostensibly placed him under house-arrest, and he disappeared from sight, in spite of political groups forming, such as the Organisation Clandestine de la Revolution Algerienne, to attempt restoration of his administration (Heggoy, 1981:32). Years elapsed during which no one knew what had transpired. It was only in 1979, after Boumedienne's death, that Ben Bella, then 63 years old, was released by Algeria's third president, Chadli Bendjedid.
The fabric of an entire society had been altered by Ahmed Ben Bella. He had led his people symbolically when imprisoned in France; he led them as Prime Minister, President and even vicariously when under house-arrest, influencing tens of millions of young Algerians, inspiring them to further their education, to reach for the ideals of a society free from French oppression and to take collective pride in their nation's potential.
He was known among the common people as the leader who founded schools for tens of thousands of youngsters who had been "shoe-shine boys" under the French, who raised the academic standards for all Algerians and implemented collectivist reforms in the fields of industrial relations, agriculture and energy. He laid the groundwork for enormous State-Owned Enterprises such as Sonatrach, Sonarem, Sonatour and guaranteed state subsidies for widows of Revolutionary Mouhadjedine. In keeping with his early revolutionary philosophy, he supported Wars of Independence in many Third World Nations and aligned his country with the Socialist Bloc. Within the context of Algeria's history of colonization, this could be easily understood and was a policy much admired around the world. He gave shelter and solace to great artists and writers, such as Frantz Fanon and Assia Djebbar. His successor, it is widely recognized, fell short of these lofty ideals and brought an aura of secrecy and tacit repression to Algeria which, for only a brief dawn, had tasted the freedom which she had so justly deserved and for which she had sacrificed so dearly.
Ben Bella was a significant leader for his era by virtue of fulfilling several of John W. Work's theoretical leadership criteria:
Ahmed Ben Bella, an Algerian 'warrior-hero-leader', has justly earned his place among the socio-historical Pantheon of North African Statesmen.
REFERENCES
Heggoy, A. and Crout, R. Historical Dictionary of Algeria, Scarecrow Press, Inc., Metuchen, N.J., 1981.
Horne, A. A Savage War of Peace: 1954-1962, The Viking Press, New York, N.Y., 1977.
Madsen, A.The El Outaya Salt Refinery Project: A Joint Venture of the Algerian Society for Mining Research & Development and Dravo Corporation, an abridged version of which is now published in The Proceedings of the Conference of the International Academy of African Business and Development(April 2001) held in Washington, D.C., originally prepared as coursework by Art Madsen, M.Ed. for the College of Business Administration and Economics, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, April 1996.
Work, John W. "Leading a Diverse Work Force" in Frances Hesselbein, The Leader of the Future, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1996, pp. 71-80.