 At the time, Algeria was a governorate of France, but with the exception of European settlers, Algerians were not accorded civil rights.He quickly became active in politics, and joined Messali Hadj's Parti du peuple algérien (PPA) leftist nationalist movement in 1939.During the Second World War, he was arrested by colonial authorities for nationalist agitation and for inciting Algerian conscripts to refuse military service in the French army (while also condemning Nazism).