Reading for theory in the Moroccan Marxist-Leninist testimonial literature

ABSTRACT

In this article, I argue that the testimonial literature of former members of the Moroccan Marxist-Leninist Movement (MMLM) is theoretical. Drawing on Abdelaziz Tribak’s Ilal Amam, autopsie d’un calvaire (2009), ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Shāwi’s Kitāb al-dhākira (2015), and Abraham Serfaty’s Le Maroc, du noir au gris (1998), I conceptualize testimonial literature as theory in the Moroccan context. I locate the theoretical thrust of the three memoirs I examine in: first, their critical engagement with the MMLM’s experience. Second, the use of trauma as a conceptual tool to analyze the history of the Moroccan left in the aftermath of the MMLM’s disintegration. Third, the use of testimonial literature as a space to refigure or retheorize the revolution that failed to materialize in the 1970s. The article combines history with literary analysis to shift the focus from testimonial literature as a source of information to approaching it as a space for ideation and critical thought.

KEYWORDS:

• Morocco
• Marxist-Leninist movement
• Abraham Serfaty
• Ilā al-Amām
• theory
• revolution
• years of lead

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. I use this periodization because Ilā al-Amām was officially dissolved in 1994.

2. All the translations from the Arabic and French are the author’s.

3. I will be using former MMLM members and former Frontistes interchangeably throughout this article because they refer to the same groups of activists. For more information about the genealogies and the evolution of these groups, see page 223 in El Ayadi (1999). Les mouvements de jeunesse au Maroc. In Le Saout, D., and Rollinde, M., Émeutes et mouvements sociaux au Maghreb, perspectives comparées (pp. 201–230). Paris: Karthala.

4. For an exhaustive list of these works see El Guabli (2020). Joint Authorship and Preface Writing Practices as Translation in post- ‘Years of Lead’ Morocco. In Rebecca Ruth Gould and Kayvan Tahmasebian, (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Activism (n.p.). New York: Routledge.

5. King Mohammed V used his prerogatives to create political instability that weakened the Independence Party. In less than four years, the king appointed four different governments. The first government was chaired by M’narek Bekkai between 7 December 1955 and 28 October 1956. Bekkai’s second government lasted from 28 October 1956 till 12 May 1958. The third government was formed by Ahmed Balafrej between 12 May 1958 and 24 December 1958. Finally, the fourth government, which would be the last one to be led by the nationalist parties, was formed by Abdallah Ibrahim from 24 December 1958 to 27 May 1960. With the termination of Ibrahim’s government, Morocco entered the era of full royal authoritarianism.

6. Although this document is published under the name of Ilā al-Amām, it is important to underline the fact that the distinction between Ilā al-Amām and Ḥarakat 23 Mārs was not clear in 1970. The two movements will separate in 1972. Therefore, it is important to underline that this document speaks for the MMLM.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Brahim El Guabli

Brahim El Guabli is Assistant Professor of Arabic Studies and Comparative Literature at Williams College. His first book manuscript is entitled  Other-Archives: Jews, Berbers, and Political Prisoners Rewrite the Post-1956 Moroccan Nation, and he is at work on a second book project entitled Saharan Imaginations, from Mild to Wild.