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The United States and North Africa
to its simplest political terins has been the sorting out of rela-
tions berween these forces and the search for a system in which
each will have its proper place. This was first exemplified by
the problem of incorporating all the undercover elements of
the struggle into the national political structure, and later by
the growing polarity between the throne and various political
groups, with each seeking a mandate from the Moroccan peo-
ple for the eventual shaping of a new framework. After the
King had become the symbol of national resistance in 1953,
there was an assumption in many quarters that he would on
his retum stay aloof from any political involvement, that he
would reign and not rule, and that he would remain the repre-
sentative of precious but precarious national unity. The
prestige of the monarchy was overwhelming and its latent
power immense, as it still is. But between 1956 and 1960 that
prestige was transformed into active political power as well
,
although the step was not taken until the inability of the
normal political organizations of the country to produce a
needed stability had been demonstrated.
At the beginning of 1956 Morocco faced a host of problems,
but none was more pressing than the insecurity and turbulence
which reigned in both town and country. The several resist-
ance movements which had come into being after 1953 had
grown up, as it were, on the streets without proper guidance.
They had siphoned off, especially toward the end of the under-
ground period, most of the active and aggressive young men
in the country. With the return of normalcy many of these
were unwilling to return to ordinary jobs or, in many cases,
unemployment and dreary poverty, and they turned to gang-
sterism, extortion, and various kinds of illegal activities. The
field was almost clear because Morocco was dependent on
French security forces, which were reluctant to intervene in
purely Moroccan affairs, until the national police was formed
in May 1956. Even as late as that summer, however, the police
had to fight pitched battles in Casablanca with the Black
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