Nevertheless, the campaign provoked unexpectedly violent reactions among French workers and the Left where the F.L.N. could most expect to find friends. The Communist leader, Maurice Thorez, was particularly severe in his condemnation: “The methods employed by the F.L.N. in France have not, it must be stated categorically, served the just cause of the Algerian people…. If the F.L.N. is proposing to arouse public opinion, it is practising self-deception. It is arousing feelings against itself….”

QUESTION: Would be worth verifying the broader context of this referendum and terrorist offensive to understand the full strategic picture.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 971