Political Standpoint and Achievements

In 1964 and 1965 the NLF tried to weaken the Federal regime and Britain’s hold over South Yemen. Its leaders often repeated the NLF’s goals: The release of political detainees, the return of exiled nationalists to Aden, the ending of the emergency situation in Aden, immediate British evacuation from the whole country, the abolition of the Federation and then, the arrangement of elections under UN supervision. ¹ The common denominator of the NLF’s efforts was its complete rejection of British policy as manifested in the 1964 and 1965 London conferences. The Front’s leaders condemned the official policy designed to lead to independence in 1968 as a forgery and as an “imperialist plot”. ² The Labour Party had not abandoned the “imperialist complex” (^c Uqdat al-^cUthmah) which had characterised previous governments, ³ The fact that the British contemplated allowing the “imperialistic agents” of the Federation to remain in power after independence turned all such plans into “a comedy” (mahzalah). ⁴ In February 1965, following a special session of its leaders, the NLF decided to reject the constitutional conferences’ decisions and forbade the South Yemeni people to accept them. ⁵