[4] He attended events sponsored by the French Communist Party and helped develop black-based trade unions.

[2] According to author Victor T. Le Vine, Matsoua was comparable to Kimbangu, becoming a "martyr in the eyes of his followers" and developing a "quasi-religious aura".

[5] In December 1929, he was arrested in Paris and set to be tried in Brazzaville, under the fallacious motive of swindling money of the African Indigenous people in French Congo.

In 1940, during World War II, he was wounded on the front in Lorraine during fighting against the Germans and was sent to Beaujon Hospital in Paris for treatment.

[2] After independence, Congolese politicians of many ideological shades attempted to capitalize on Matsoua's popularity, including Presidents Abbé Fulbert Youlou, Alphonse Massamba-Débat and Denis Sassou-Nguesso, as well as the insurgent leader Bernard Kolélas.