The life and political activism of Messali Hadj (1898-1974), an Algerian internationalist politician who played a pioneering role in the process leading to Algerian independence, which he demanded as early as 1927. He was initially secretary of the North African Star (ENA), then in 1937 he founded the Algerian People's Party (PPA), in 1946 he founded the Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties (MTLD), and finally in 1954, the Algerian National Movement (MNA).

In 1937, the leadership of the North African Star (ENA) created its flag, green with a white star and crescent. Messali Hadj's wife, Emilie Busquant-Messali, simply sewed this ENA flag by machine; it would later become the flag of the PPA. The PPA's program was focused on achieving the demands of "Bread, Peace, Land, and Freedom," centered on the issues of a constituent assembly, universal suffrage, and the nationalization of banks and railways. At the time, the discovery of hydrocarbons had not yet occurred. Messali Hadj never separated the struggle for national demands from addressing the needs of poor workers and peasants.

In 1943, Messali Hadj, in collaboration with the party leadership, created the flag of the ENA-PPA, a green and white flag emblazoned with a red star and crescent, which would later become the current flag of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria.