History cannot be rewritten, much less invented! Particularly when it relates to recent events witnessed by those who, still alive today, are able to corroborate or refute what has been asserted, based on facts.
Indeed, it is particularly futile to make statements about the life and work of a cherished departed one, whose accomplishments when it comes to business, social action and, last but not least, patriotism, are universally recognised.
This is a necessary preamble to an article which has been written to set the record straight, not out of frivolity, but to disprove the obvious untruths that have been recently published on an online French-language portal.
In fact, one reads that the late Abdelaziz Tazi, who passed away recently, God rest his soul, was the ‘founder of the Moroccan Communist Party (PCM) along with Ali Yata’.
Nothing could be further from the truth and for several reasons.
The late Abdelaziz Tazi, as those closest to him can vouch, joined the PCM as a result of his friendship with the late Abdallah Layachi, the longstanding leader of the Moroccan Communist Party.
But Si Abdallah, God rest his soul, joined the Moroccan Marxist-Leninist party only in 1949. At that time, his militant predecessors Abdeslem Bourquia, Mohamed Ferhat, Larbi Alaoui and Ali Yata, had already been members of the PCM for between five and seven years.
Bourquia and Yata, for example, had been members of the PCM’s Central Committee since 1946 and it was indeed in 1949 when Ali Yata was elected to the post of First Secretary of the PCM.
The latter had joined the ‘Communist Party in Morocco’ at the end of 1942. When talking about his action and role in founding the Moroccan Communist Party, what stands out, in particular, is the contribution he made to ‘Moroccanising’ the communist movement in Morocco and to the fight for national independence and ending the protectorate.
This was a process that came to fruition in August 1946 when Ali Yata, as rapporteur to the Central Committee, argued in favour of a resolutely patriotic stance whilst many of his European comrades in Morocco, who were communists, viewed such an historic watershed, which was entirely consistent with the aspirations of the Moroccan people, with a degree of reluctance.
At that time, despite what some may say, the late Abdelaziz Tazi, founder of Richbond Group, was not yet a member of the PCM’s inner circle and, as has been confirmed to the author of this article who possesses a not insignificant knowledge of the Moroccan communist movement, the late Abdelaziz Tazi joined the PCM as a result of his friendship with the late Abdallah Layachi and his association with the Black Crescent, a covert action group comprising both communists and nationalists, of which Layachi was one of the leaders in Casablanca.
Many of the former PCM-PLS-PPS militants still alive today have also confirmed that Si Tazi, God rest his soul, was always discreet about his political involvement, particularly when it came to the PCM, especially post-independence.
However, it is widely acknowledged that he was a generous contributor to Party finances for decades and enjoyed a strong lifelong friendship with the late Ali Yata, based on mutual esteem and respect, until the death of the PPS’ General Secretary in August 1997.
There is therefore no need to ‘embellish history’ with erroneous statements when acknowledging that the late Abdelaziz Tazi was unquestionably a man who stood for progress, a genuine patriot, a generous patron as well as having an enormous flair for business.
This article has been penned to set the record straight, to honour the memory of those concerned and their respective actions and combat, as well as rejecting, personally and on behalf of the many PCM militants who are still alive, the misappropriation of facts.
Fahd YATA
Original article : https://lnt.ma/fondation-parti-communiste-marocain-lhistoire-ne-se-reecrit/