ABSTRACT
The sympathies which certain nationalists display towards Communist countries, particularly China, are markedly different from their attitudes to local Communist parties. According to some Arabs, the Soviet Union shares the cultural heritage of Europe. The Chinese example therefore appears to some nationalists worthy of emulation. The Chinese themselves make great efforts to ingratiate themselves with the Arabs. The Soviet Union is undoubtedly in complete control of the leadership of the Communist parties in North Africa. The Chinese, however, do not present themselves primarily as Communists, but hide under nationalistic sheep’s clothing. The Kremlin controls the North African Communist parties, but in the nationalist trade unions, from which the Communists have been removed, there is much sympathy for China. The colonial powers laid the foundations for the development of Nationalism by giving power to the central authority and by destroying the old particularistic laws of the village and the tribe.
