Messali Hadj (1898-1974) is considered the founder of the Algerian nationalist movement, having first spoken the word "independence" at an anticolonial congress in Brussels in 1927. After leading the most radical wing of Algerian nationalism for more than a quarter century, he was left behind in 1954 by the new generation of men who actually launched the Algerian revolution.

Messali Hadj was born on March 16, 1898, in the western Algerian city of Tlemcen. He was the youngest of seven children in a traditional family whose economic circumstances were extremely marginal. He attended a Qur'anic (Koranic) school and also a local French primary school. But because his parents sent him out to work during his tenth and eleventh years, Messali was 18 years old before he completed the primary curriculum. That ended his formal education.

Just before his 20th birthday, Messali Hadj was drafted into the French army, where he served three years...