CHAPTER 2 : SOCIALISM

Art. 10 – Socialism is the irreversible choice of the people, as expressed in a sovereign way in the national Charter. It shall be the only way of completing national independence.

Socialism, understood in conformity with the spirit and the letter of the national Charter, is a deepening of the November 1^st Revolution and is its logical outcome.

The Algerian Revolution is socialist. It aims at the elimination of man’s exploitation of his fellow man. Its motto is “By the People and for the People.”

Art. 11 – The aim of socialism is to ensure the development of the country, to turn workers and peasants into conscious and responsible producers, to establish social justice, and to favour the flourishing of the citizen.

The essential lines of action of the socialist revolution aim to speed up the promotion of man to a condition that meets the standards of modern life, and to endow Algeria with a socio-economic foundation free from exploitation and underdevelopment.

The socio-economic system on which socialism lies shall be continuously perfected so that it takes advantage of the scientific and technical progress.

Art. 12 – Socialism aims at three objectives:

1)  The consolidation of national independence;
2)  The establishment of a society freed from man’s exploitation of his fellow man; and 
3)  The promotion and the flourishing of man.

The Party and the State institutions shall be entrusted with the mission of achieving the above inseparable and complementary goals.

Art. 13 – The socialization of the means of production constitutes the fundamental basis of socialism, and State property represents the highest form of socialist property.

Art. 14 – State property is defined as the property owned by the national community represented by the State.

State property is established in an irreversible way over pastoral lands, nationalized farming lands or lands with a farming character, forests, water, the subsoil, mines and quarries, natural energy sources, mineral, natural, and living resources of the continental shelf, and the exclusive economic area.   

Furthermore, all companies, banks, insurance companies, nationalized installations, railway, maritime and air transports, ports and communication means, post office, telephone, and telegraph services, television and broadcasting, the principal land transport means, all plants, companies, and economic, social, and cultural installations that the State has built, developed or acquired or shall do so in the future, shall be considered as State property in an irreversible way.

State monopoly is established in an irreversible way over foreign commerce and wholesale trade.

Such monopoly shall be exercised within the framework of the law.

Art. 15 – The socialist companies to which the State entrusts the valorization, the management, or the development of part of its patrimony shall, in accordance with the provisions of the law, state in their balance sheets, the value of the assets corresponding to the value of the patrimony entrusted to them.

The amortization and possibly, the reassessment of the value of such assets shall be performed in accordance with the rules and methods fixed by the law.

Art. 16 – individual ownership of personal of family property shall be guaranteed.

Private, non-exploiting property as defined by law shall be an integral part of the new social organization.

Private property, especially in the economic sector, shall contribute to the development of the country and shall have a social usefulness. It shall be guaranteed within the framework of the law.

The right to inherit shall be guaranteed.           

Art. 17 – Expropriation shall only take place within the framework of the law.

It shall entitle to a just and fair compensation.

No international convention shall be invoked to oppose the execution of an expropriation measure taken for public interest purposes.

Art. 18 – The cultural Revolution, the agrarian Revolution, the industrial Revolution, regional balance, and the socialist forms of management constitute the main lines of the building of socialism.

Art. 19 – The objectives of the cultural Revolution are, in particular, the following:

a)      To affirm the national identity, and to promote cultural development;

b)      To raise the standard of education and the technical competence of the nation;

c)      To adopt a lifestyle in harmony with Islamic morals and the principles of the socialist Revolution as defined by the national Charter;

d)      To motivate the masses in order to mobilize them for the struggle of socio-economic development of the country, and for the defence of the attainments of the socialist Revolution;

e)      To raise social awareness , and to take appropriate action to change the archaic and unfair structures of society; 

f)        To combat social ills and the harms of bureaucratic red tape; and

g)      To proscribe feudal behaviour, regionalism, nepotism, and all counter-revolutionary deviations.

Art. 20 – The agrarian Revolution shall create a new model of society that prefigures an Algeria whose various urban and rural regions shall develop in a harmonious way.

The objectives of the agrarian Revolution are:

a)      to destroy the material foundations and the anti-social concepts of man’s exploitation of his fellow man;

b)      to break the bonds of dependence and exploitation of the old economic order;

c)      to build social relationships in the rural environment on new foundations;

d)      to eliminate the disparities between towns and countryside, especially by building socialist villages; and

e)      to make productive work the fundamental basis of economic organization in the countryside.

Art. 21 – The goal of the industrial Revolution is, besides economic growth, the transformation of man, the raising of his technical and scientific standard, the recasting of society, and at the same time, the remodelling of the country.

The industrial Revolution lies within the scope of a socialist perspective that shall give it profound meaning and political dimensions.

Art. 22 – The policy of regional balance is a fundamental choice. It aims to level off regional disparities and promote as a priority the most destitute communes to ensure a harmonious national development.      

Art. 23 – The socialist forms of management of companies constitute a factor of emancipation of workers. Through their involvement in the management process, workers shall take on actual responsibilities as producers aware of their rights and duties.

Art. 24 – Society is based on work. It utterly rejects parasitism. It is governed by the socialist principle “ From each one according to their capacities, to each one according to their work.”

Work is the essential condition for the development of the country and the means by which the citizen shall ensure his existence.

Work shall be assigned in accordance with the exigencies of the economy and society, and in conformity with the choice of the worker and his abilities and qualifications.