Three oddly assorted men emerged to lead the settlers' revolt in Algeria last week. The three:
Pierre Lagaillarde, 28. ex-paratrooper, who says: "I may be a fascist, but I'm not a reactionary. My great grandfather was on the barricades. I'm a plain revolutionary!" His egalitarian ancestor died in Paris in 1851 in a futile defense of the Second Republic against the incoming imperial regime of Louis Napoleon. Lagaillarde's principal resemblance to him is a common taste for barricades, but his great grandfather died trying to maintain the constituted authority of the state, not to overthrow it.
Lagaillarde, who has lived in Algeria since he was a year old, retains all the flamboyant swagger of his native Gascony. Graduating in law from Algiers University, Lagaillarde was conscripted, became a paratrooper and soon earned a second lieutenant's commission. As an interrogator of Moslems suspected of anti-French activities, he had the reputation of getting results, through torture if necessary.
Discharged from the army in 1957, Lagaillarde was married and divorced within three months. Returning to the University of Algiers to get his doctorate of law (both his mother and father were practicing lawyers), he was elected president of the student federation, still the main source of his political following. All Algeria became aware of Pierre Lagaillarde during the events of May 13, 1958. When the mob stormed the 14-story Government General Building, Pierre was one of its leaders, and thousands cheered as he mounted to the roof and triumphantly waved a huge Tricolor.
De Gaulle came to Algiers a week after taking power, and Lagaillarde daringly kidnaped two ministers of De Gaulle's Cabinet to prevent their appearing on the balcony with De Gaulle, a calculated humiliation of the ministers because they had served in the previous government. Elected to the National Assembly, Lagaillarde announced that he would resign his seat unless De Gaulle adopted the policy, and even the word, of integration for Algeria. He has not appeared in the Assembly since July 1 and says he is on "sick leave," but adds that it is the Assembly that is sick, not himself.
The top commander of the rebel barricades in the heart of Algiers, Lagaillarde wore his old paratroop uniform, sported a short paratrooper beard, was often accompanied by his second wife, a flashy blonde schoolteacher named Janine, but called "Coco." A violent nationalist and xenophobe, Lagaillarde declares himself antiCommunist, anti-Semitic and anti-Wall Street. As a teenager, when he recklessly engaged in hot-rod races on the twisting mountain roads outside Algiers, Lagaillarde was locally known as a casse-tout, or hell raiser. He has changed little with the years.