Despite using peaceful methods of protest, the group's members were constantly pursued by the police in France and banned by French colonial authorities in Algeria.

Early May 1945, Pierre Gazagne, secretary of the general government headed by Yves Chataigneau, took advantage of his absence to exile Messali Hadj and to arrest the leaders of the PPA.

[2] The PPA was reconstituted October 1946 under the name Mouvement pour le Triomphe des Libertes Democratiques (MTLD).

A few ex-PPA members, having decided that freedom could only be acquired through military means, created the Organization Speciale (OS) while loosely maintaining membership in the MTLD.

Messali Hadj had completely lost control of the movement in a process that began more than two years earlier when he refused to compromise with the mainstream in the MTLD.