Gaston Revel

Biography

Gaston Revel, born in Laure-Minervois (Aude) on February 20, 1915, and died on January 27, 2001, in Carcassonne, was a French anti-colonial communist activist. He was a schoolteacher, a communist municipal councilor in Bougie (representing the second electoral district, a nearly unique case in Algeria), head of the local CGT union, and a local correspondent for the newspaper Alger Républicain. Born in the Aude region, he entered the teacher training college in Carcassonne in October 1933. In September 1936, he transferred to the teacher training college in Bouzaréah, near Algiers, to learn how to teach the "natives." Politically, Gaston Revel was initially drawn to the SFIO (French Section of the Workers' International). He supported the Popular Front. In the late 1930s, he moved closer to the communists. In September 1937, he began his military service in Saint-Cloud. On September 1, 1939, the war began. He was mobilized in Moselle, along the Maginot Line. After the defeat of the French Army, he was demobilized on July 26, 1940. He obtained his first teaching position in Aïn Tabia, a small village in the Kabylie region of Collo, a forested mountain range in northern Constantine. There, he discovered a deplorable Algeria. Appointed to Bougie (Bejaïa) in 1942, he witnessed the Anglo-American arrival during Operation Torch. He was incorporated into the Army of Africa and thus participated in the Tunisian campaign and the Allied landings in Provence (September 1944). From May to September 1945, he was in occupied Germany. Returning to Algeria in October 1945, he joined the Algerian Communist Party (PCA) and the General Confederation of Labour (CGT). A very active communist militant, he ran in numerous elections, such as the April 1948 election to the Algerian Assembly. He also became a very active local correspondent for Alger républicain, a newspaper then edited by his friend Henri Alleg. A testament to his popularity among Muslims, he was elected municipal councilor in the second electoral college on a UDMA/PCA/progressives list. Along with councilors such as Mabrouk Belhocine, he tirelessly denounced the colonial system and, in particular, the actions of Mayor Jacques Augarde. In October 1955, a few months after the start of the Algerian War, he was banned from residing in the department of Constantine. Consequently, he returned to mainland France. In September 1962, he returned to Algeria, settling in Bougie. He participated in the building of an independent Algeria. He encountered various difficulties there. For example, he was imprisoned in May 1963 without valid reason and released three weeks later by Ben Bella. In July 1965, following Colonel Boumédiène's coup d'état, he returned permanently to France. He resumed his activities as a grassroots activist in the Communist Party in Carcassonne. Gaston Revel died on January 27, 2001, in Carcassonne, at the age of 85.