The Wretched of the Earth

Fanon criticizes local nationalist parties for their attempt to mindlessly mimic the political structures of the mother country and their inability to include the peasant population in the liberation struggle. National elites absorb too much of the colonial structure and worldview then attempt to replicate it in the colony without considering the very different and diverse realities on the ground. Such attempts to impose foreign political structures and bureaucracy on the local population result in mutual distrust between political leaders and peasants.

Fanon explains why it is crucial to include peasants in the liberation movement. In industrialized societies the urban proletariat is usually the group of people who initiate the revolutionary struggle, while farmers tend to be the least politically aware and the most disorganized social class. In a place like Algeria, however, the urban workers and traders are the ones who benefit the most from the colonial system. It is not in their interest to change the status quo, as they might lose all their privileges. Furthermore, in colonial societies—which tend to be premodern, with the exception of certain settler-owned factories or mines—the peasants still live in small, tight-knit communities and have nothing to lose. The clans are well organized and follow the lead of their wise men: elders, medicine men, and oracles. In other words, the peasants could become the decisive force behind the struggle for independence, but the local politicians and urban elites alienate them by attempting to enforce foreign structures and ideas. When clan leaders feel threatened by progressive ideas coming from the cities and do not understand the ideological platform of nationalist parties, they are likely to collaborate with colonial authorities to preserve the status quo and their own influence.

According to Fanon, the situation can change when radical nationalists, fleeing the police, seek refuge in the countryside. Such men are protected by the peasants and begin to better understand the farmers’ concerns and interests. Gradually, radicals begin to educate their fellow countrymen, and eventually the peasants can reach a level of political self-awareness that can lead to uprisings.

Another social class that is essential to the liberation struggle is the so-called “lumpen-proletariat,” or the dispossessed young men who leave their villages to find work in the city but are condemned to a life of deprivation on the margins of society. These people are uneducated and unskilled and inhabit the shanty towns beyond the town limits. They have nothing to lose and find self-validation in the revolutionary struggle. Fanon, however, cautions that the lack of understanding and political self-awareness makes these people easy tools in the hands of the colonizers. Often unknowingly, members of the lumpen-proletariat help their masters to the detriment of their fellow countrymen.

Fanon concludes that the separation between the different segments of society, perpetuated and exacerbated by colonial policies, can be overcome by violence. When engaging in a common struggle, it is possible to forgive and forget political and cultural differences.

The author next describes the different stages of the liberation struggle. The initial rebellion usually results in defeat as the colonial powers pretend to make concessions as a way to defuse the situation. However, these surface changes do not extend to the fundamental injustice inherent in the colonial system. In the second stage of the struggle, when it becomes clear that it is impossible to overcome the occupying forces in one go, the fight is diffused through guerrilla warfare. In this stage the population at large becomes better educated and more self-aware, and each side of the conflict becomes more nuanced. The struggle is no longer a clear-cut fight between settlers and natives. Some locals choose to collaborate with the colonizers and to exploit their compatriots. There are also settlers and members of the colonial forces that no longer support the mother country’s policies, such as soldiers who refuse to obey orders and prefer prison to killing or torturing locals.

Fanon concludes Part 2 by iterating that “violence alone, violence committed by the people, violence organized and educated by its leaders, makes it possible for the masses to understand social truths and gives the key to them” (118). Without the struggle, only a few things might change at the top of the political hierarchy, leaving the majority of the colonized in the same deplorable situation.