December 5, 1952 : Launch of the decisive battle for liberation The strategy of liberation of Tunisia rested upon the mobilization of the national front, while endeavoring to rally the support of the French and international public opinion. It associated political action with armed struggle, as dictated by the nature of the battle, the balance of forces, and the situation of popular resistance; hence the priority accorded to the political dimension in this unequal fight and the importance of the comprehensive strategy adopted. The battle broke out on December 15, 1951, in direct reaction to a memorandum bearing the same date, in which the French government rejected the claims of the Tunisian people for developing the protectorate system, through peaceful means, toward internal autonomy. On December 16, 1951, the national organizations sent a message of protest to the French government, and decided to go on a three-day general strike. The success of this strike reflected the Tunisian people’s readiness to take up the challenge. In this context, numerous popular meetings were held by the Neo-Destour and other national organizations, aiming essentially at mobilizing the people and preparing it for the confrontation. Faced with the intensification of the demonstrations of protest in many regions of the country, the French authorities decided to suppress all popular movements. On January 18, 1952, the Party’s leader Habib Bourguiba, along with some twenty other nationalist militants, were arrested and deported to the south of the country. Popular anger reached its peak, giving rise to turbulent demonstrations in all the towns and villages of Tunisia. This marked the beginning of the decisive battle for national liberation. The Political Bureau, secretly formed by the Party, organized the resistance, oriented the public opinion, gave the watchwords, and launched calls for demonstrations and strikes. Groups of voluntary resistance fighters reached the mountain. The national front continued to mobilize citizens in all regions of the country and to coordinate the actions of resistance. Several Tunisian towns and villages witnessed, on January 22, 23 and 24, 1952, demonstrations and confrontations with the French police and army. These events caused tens of deaths and injuries among the demonstrators. Implacably chasing nationalist militants all over the country, the occupation authorities launched a campaign of mass arrests. Prisons were full of detainees, and concentration camps were established in many regions. About 10,000 citizens were victims of this campaign of repression. {mospagebreak}
The nationalist confrontation (December 1952 - September 1953) At a time when the UN political commission was examining the Tunisian cause, the French colonial authorities proceeded to the assassination of the union leader, Farhat Hached (December 5, 1952), through the extremists of the terrorist organization «Main Rouge» (Red Hand). This disgraceful act of murder, which ran counter to all international rules and standards of conduct and constituted a grave escalation of the policy of repression and tyranny followed by the General Residence and its allies, did nothing but intensify popular resistance which knew a decisive turning point. The armed struggle grew more intense, threatening seriously the « colonial security », chasing everywhere the colonialists and their collaborators, and engaging in fierce battles against the French military forces.
In an attempt to face the criticisms addressed to its policy vis-à-vis Tunisia, the French government reopened the file of reforms which had been rejected as they did not meet the claims of the Tunisian people, and consecrated the concept of « co-sovereignty ». It decided to organize elections of the workers’ councils on April 10, 1953, and municipal elections on May 3 of the same year, without giving any attention to the Tunisians’ opposition. In spite of the campaigns of arrest, however, the nationalist movement managed to bring to a failure the electoral sham. Bringing to failure the policy of pacification On September 2, 1953, the French Government designated a new President General, in an attempt to convince the international public opinion of France’s adoption of a new policy in Tunisia whose cause was being discussed in the United Nations, at the same time as that of Morocco. After one month of discussions, the UN Organization did not manage to adopt with a majority of two-thirds of its members a resolution in Tunisia’s favor. The French government took a set of measures, as part of what it called the policy of pacification. These measures included, in particular, restoring the security authority to the police, abolishing censorship and the coercive measures enforced in the Sahel (October 28, 1953), and releasing a number of detainees and deportees.
This period, marked by a colonial policy of shilly-shallying, knew a certain appeasement in the fight for liberation. However, the national movement soon grasped the real objective of the project of the French authorities which, in the end, would lead to an impasse, as it overlooked the claims of the Tunisian people, especially those regarding the recovery of sovereignty. The fight was soon resumed and acts of resistance grew more intense in June 1954, spreading terror among the settlers. Seeing their colonial presence as well as their activities and interests as a privileged group, seriously threatened and hindered, some of these settlers showed a predisposition to admit reality, while extremist settlers were intransigent in defending their privileges. The defeat of the French troops in Dieu Bien Phu (the Indochinese war) on May 7, 1954, changed the course of events, and reinforced, in France, the liberal and moderate political tendencies. On June 12, 1954, the government of Joseph Laniel fell.
From internal autonomy to total independence • The political turning point (June 13 – July 31, 1954)The departure of Joseph Laniel, and his replacement, at the head of the French government, by Mendès France, constituted a major political turning point. From his accession to power, the new president of the Council focused on the Indochinese file. Negotiations were undertaken in Geneva with the concerned parties, the objective set by Mendès France being to make them reach, by the date of July 20, agreements that would bring the conflict to an end.The attention of the French government was then focused on “the Tunisian question.” The fall of the government of Mohamed Salah Mzali in Tunisia (June 16, 1954), far from calming things, did nothing but engender a serious escalation in the national struggle. Having reached its final stages, the Tunisian resistance, based on its capacities of adaptation to the requirements of the time and to the conditions of confrontation with the regular army and the terrorist organization « la main rouge », in addition, of course, to its own forces, managed to impose itself on the scene, by reinforcing political action and providing propitious conditions for the launching of an efficient dialogue that would lead to the recognition of the Tunisian sovereignty. • Recognition of internal autonomy (July 31, 1954) The project of Mendès France with regard to Tunisia was submitted to the Cabinet on July 30, 1954. The communiqué released after the meeting included the decision of the French government to « give a new breath of air to the Tunisian-French relations », without revealing the content of the project, lest it provoked a negative reaction on the part of the French community in Tunisia and its partisans in France and Algeria. On July 31, 1954, Mendès France paid a secret and impromptu visit to Tunis, at the head of a delegation, and announced, in an official speech before the Bey of Carthage, the granting of internal autonomy to Tunisia.Meeting on August 3, 1954 in Geneva, the Political Bureau of the Neo-Destour decided to participate in the government of negotiation. {mospagebreak} • Tunisian-French negotiations (September 4, 1954 - April 22, 1955) The Tunisian-French negotiations were launched on September 4, 1954 in Tunis and resumed, in Paris, on the 13th of the same month. Serious disagreements emerged concerning the content of internal autonomy and the time-limit for the transfer of power.Complying with the instructions of the leaders of the national movement, resistance fighters moved away from towns and coastal areas, in order to avoid any possible confrontations. This, however, did not prevent the French forces from pursuing their policy of chasing militants, which led to the continuation of battles in October and November 1954.
While the Tunisian government asked for a truce, the French government demanded from the Tunisian delegation participating in the negotiations to convince resistance fighters to get down from the mountain and to lay down their arms, considering that the continuation of the armed struggle was incompatible with the participation of the Neo-Destour Party in the government of negotiation. This demand having been satisfied, on November 20, 1954, the path was open for the pursuing of talks which, after having faced some difficulties, managed to go beyond the question of principles to reach that of time-limits. On January 31, 1955, Mendès France joined the group of negotiators, in an attempt to reach a positive result before the holding of the parliamentary session devoted to the discussion of the policy of the French Council president vis-à-vis Tunisia. The government of Mendès France, however, had to face violent criticisms from the colonial right (February 3-5), which ultimately led to its fall on February 5, 1955.
After the accession of Edgar Faure to the presidency of the Council on February 23, the Tunisian-French negotiations were resumed on March 15, to reach, on June 3, 1955, the signature of agreements providing for internal autonomy. • The agreements, a bone of contention between the party’s leaders Following the signing of the internal autonomy agreements, Tunisia witnessed a period of serious discord and divergence regarding the provisions of these agreements, opposing the leadership of the national movement inside the country and its representatives abroad, including, in particular, the secretary general of the Neo-Destour, Salah Ben Youssef. While the internal leadership took into consideration the conditions of confrontation with the French forces and the reality as it presented itself on the ground, as well as the evolution of the French policy, the Party’s secretary general and some of its leaders in offices established abroad assessed the situation in light of the emergence of the Afro-Asian movement, the rise of the Nasserite pole, and the growing interest accorded in the Arab world to the Tunisian cause.
 In a merciless confrontation, each of the two parties, the advocates of Bourguiba and those of Ben Youssef, held popular meetings to denounce and attack the position of the opposing party. Meeting on October 8, 1955 under the chairmanship of the leader Habib Bourguiba, the Political Bureau of the Neo-Destour decided to hold the Party’s congress on November 15, to dismiss Salah Ben Youssef from the Secretariat General, and to exclude him from the Party. The Party’s congress, held on November 15-19 in Sfax, settled the conflict in favor of the Political Bureau.
Ben Youssef, however, pursued his campaign in the south where he organized, at the end of November, a number of meetings which gave rise to confrontations with the advocates of the Political Bureau. From that time, the conflict went beyond the purely political framework to turn into an armed confrontation. Having been informed of the decision taken by the Tunisian government to bring him under arrest, Salah Ben Youssef went into exile on January 28, 1956, and pursued from abroad, particularly from Egypt, his fierce opposition to the internal autonomy agreements that his advocates and himself considered as a « step backward ». {mospagebreak} • The proclamation of total independence (March 20, 1956) Contrary to the position taken by the « Youssefists », the congress of Sfax considered that the Tunisian-French internal autonomy agreements constituted « an important step on the road to independence » which represented « the supreme objective of the Party’s struggle ». The congress called for achieving this objective « within a context of free cooperation and taking into consideration the process of historical evolution ». Conditions having been provided to claim recognition of Tunisia’s independence, Habib Bourguiba went, to this end, to France where he met, on February 3, 1956, with Guy Mollet, at that time secretary general of the French Socialist Party, and then president of the Council (January 31, 1956). It was agreed that a delegation be sent to negotiate the Tunisian claims. Effectively, negotiations were launched on February 29. After 18 days of shilly-shallying on the part of the French, an agreement was reached on March 20, 1956. Consecrating the recognition, by France, of Tunisia’s independence, the agreement provided, in particular, for « Tunisia’s exercise of its responsibilities in the fields of foreign affairs, security, defense, and the constitution of a Tunisian national army ».
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