“A past can hide other pasts. It is known – and this elucidates in part my career as an historian – that I was born into a Jewish family from Algeria. Without a doubt, the pain of exile, my attachment to my childhood and the trauma of the war which I lived through from 1955 to 1962 have encouraged my research into the depths of Algerian history, which I began in the 1970s. But another element sheds new light on my career: my political commitment. Few people know the extent to which political militancy was a part of my earlier life, and this text will come as a surprise.”
Benjamin Stora is indeed much better known for his numerous works on Algeria and North Africa than for his itinerary as a trotskyite within the OCI. In this very personal book, both endearing and rigorous, he plays two roles at the same time: that of the historian and that of the witness. He breaks a long period of silence and reconstructs – without illusions or repudiation – the collective adventure of militants fascinated by the past (and October 1917 in particular) who were looking for a possible future between reform and revolution.
A professor of the History of North Africa at INALCO (Institute of Oriental Languages and Culture, Paris), Benjamin Stora is the author of about twenty published works, including La gangrène et l’oubli, la mémoire de la guerre d’Algérie (La Découverte, 1991), Ils venaient d’Algérie, l’immigration algérienne en France (1912-1992) (Fayard, 1992), Appelés en guerre d’Algérie (Gallimard, 1997), Algérie, Maroc, Histoires parallèles destins croisés (Maisonneuve et Larose, 2002).
Benjamin Stora est beaucoup plus connu en effet pour ses nombreux travaux sur l’Algérie et le Maghreb que pour son itinéraire de militant trotskiste à l’OCI. Dans ce livre personnel, attachant et rigoureux, où il tient à la fois le rôle du témoin et celui de l’historien, il rompt un long silence. Révélant des faits ignorés, il brosse quelques portraits surprenants et restitue, sans illusions ni reniement, ce mélange de passion politique et d’aveuglement dogmatique, de générosité et d’intolérance, de dévouement et de violence qui a caractérisé cette aventure collective. Celle de militants fascinés par le passé, celui d’octobre 1917 en particulier, qui cherchaient leur avenir entre réforme et révolution.