Joseph Andras's Novel Examines Fernand Iveton's Execution During Algerian War

Joseph Andras's debut novel 'Tomorrow They Won't Dare to Murder Us' explores the final months of Fernand Iveton, a Communist member of Algeria's National Liberation Front executed by guillotine on 11 February 1957. Iveton, a pied-noir born during French colonial rule, was arrested in November 1956 after a failed bombing attempt intended only to damage machinery. He remains the sole pied-noir FLN member executed by the French state during the Algerian War, rather than killed in combat. Justice Minister François Mitterand pushed for the execution while using the slogan 'Algeria is France', though he later abolished the death penalty as president in 1981. Iveton's complex identity positioned him between colonizer and colonized, loving France but hating colonialists, and joining the FLN after the Communist Party hesitated on armed struggle. His romance with wife Hélène, who aided the WWII Resistance, and his commitment to Algerian independence unfold through flashbacks. The narrative contrasts Iveton with Albert Camus, another pied-noir who opposed independence and may have sought clemency for him. Published by Verso and translated by Simon Lester, the novel priced at £8.99 in softcover examines justice, identity, and political action through Iveton's trial and imprisonment.