The Ksar Hellal Congress was the first and founding congress of the Neo Destour party. The 1934 Neo Destour Congress was organized by the secessionist members of the Destour party, in Ksar Hellal, on March 2, 1934. It ended, that very night, with the creation of a new political party.
Upon the weakening of the Destour, that adopted a "shy" policy towards the Residence, the colonial French administration in Tunisia, a new generation of provincial thirties, with a European education and a close relationship with the French socialists, emerged. Mainly compounded of Habib Bourguiba, Mahmoud El Materi, Bahri Guiga, Tahar Sfar and M'hamed Bourguiba, it acquired a huge popularity thanks to its bold articles in newspapers, such as L'Action Tunisienne. However, the differences they had with the elders of the party led them to resign from the executive committee, the party's leadership, following the Tunisian naturalization issue.
The congress was held on March 2, 1934 to discuss the continuity of this youth's activism which ended with the founding of their own new political party, the Neo Destour, starting, thanks to its new methods, the renewal of the Tunisian nationalism and its movement.
Historical context
There were numerous reasons leading to the birth of the Neo Destour: The Great Depression and its impact in Tunisia, in the early 1930s, the reactions denouncing the international eucharistic congress of Carthage, held to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the French colonization of Algeria, the Tunisian naturalization issue but mainly the policy and behavior adopted by the Destour towards these events. Indeed, the party activism decreased in the midst of the 1920s, precisely on January 29, 1926, when "scoundrel decrees" were enacted by the Residence, the French colonial administration. In result, the first exclusively Tunisian labour union, the General Confederation of Tunisian Workers (GCTW), founded by Mohamed Ali El Hammi, was dissolved. Furthermore, nationalist newspapers such as Ifriqiya, Al-Asr, Al Jadid and Le Libéral were prohibited. The party soon bursted in pieces with the departure of Hassen Guellaty and Mohamed Noomane, who founded the Reformist Destourian Party, but also Farhat Ben Ayed, who created the Independent Destourian Party. In this context, a new generation of nationalists emerged.
Background
Emergence of a new generation of nationalists
In the early 1930s, a new generation of nationalists emerged and joined the Destour party. Deeply marked with the Eucharistic Congress of 1930, considered as a "violation of Islam lands by Christianity" and a revolting shame to the Tunisian people, the new generation feared the celebration of the protectorate's 50th anniversary, the next year. In this context, the Destour leadership gathered in L'hôtel d'Orient. Habib Bourguiba, Mahmoud El Materi, Bahri Guiga and Tahar Sfar took part in the meeting. It was decided to support La Voix du Tunisien, a nationalist daily newspaper managed by Chedly Khairallah. Bourguiba, El Materi, Guiga and Sfar decided to join the drafting committee of the paper and stood out from their elders with their daring to challenge the protectorate. Bourguiba wrote:
With the originality with which they approached problems, the young team made La Voix du Tunisien a popular newspaper. They soon stood out from their elders of the Destour by establishing a new thinking: They were in favor of the inviolability of the national personality and political sovereignty of the Tunisian people plus a gradual emancipation of the country, by advocating for a nationalism that fought against a regime and not against civilization. But their new thinking soon started a fight with Khairallah about the management of the newspaper. It ended with the resignation of the five editors who decided to found their own paper. A drafting committee gathering Habib and M'hamed Bourguiba, Guiga, Sfar, El Materi and Ali Bouhajeb, a pharmacist friend, created L'Action Tunisienne. Its first edition was published on November 1, 1932. Disappointed in the resigned moderation of their elders, the team worked on defending lower classes and expressing colonial inequalities.
Reviving the national movement: The Tunisian naturalization issue
With the economic crisis that worsened and the popularity of the new generation, the young nationalists felt they needed a good reason to revive the national movement, weakened by the 1926 repression, on new basis. They benefited from the Tunisian naturalization issue that restarted in the early 1930s. Previously, the nationalists protested strongly against the December 20, 1923, laws that favored the access of non-French protectorate inhabitants to French citizenship., The discontent following the enactment of these measures receded but reappeared in the beginning of 1933. On December 31, 1932, upon the announcement of a Muslim naturalized's death in Bizerte, Mohamed Chaabane, individuals gathered in the Muslim cemetery to stop the interment of the dead. They obtained the support of the city's mufti who delivered a fatwa prohibiting naturalized citizens to be buried in Muslim cemeteries.,
Bourguiba decided to start a press campaign in L'Action, reprised by many other nationalist newspapers. In order to calm down the turmoil that spread all over the country every time a naturalized died, the Residence asked a fatwa from the Sharaa court, in April. But it resolved nothing: The sheikhs maintained the apostasy of the naturalized but affirmed that if he repented, even verbally, and that before his death, his interment in Muslim lands would be granted. This decision angered nationalists who opposed the fatwa and started riots in Kairouan and Tunis., The campaign led by the new generation of nationalists pressured the Residence to take a two-faced decision: Firstly, it yield to the nationalists stating that naturalized should be buried in special cemeteries. Then, resident-general, François Manceron enacted "scoundrel decrees", granting him the right to imprison at his will any nationalist and suspend newspapers and associations "hostile to the protectorate". Despite that, the victory over the Residence led to the election of El Materi, the Bourguiba brothers, Guiga and Sfar to the executive committee of the party during the extraordinary Destour congress held on May 12 and May 13, 1933.
But the maintained turmoil led the Residence to censor nationalist press and suspend the Destour, on May 31. Bourguiba, deprived of means of expression, benefited from the events of August 8, when riots started in Monastir upon the forced interment of a naturalized's child. The fight between law enforcement and inhabitants ended up with one dead and many injured. Bourguiba then convinced Monastirian notables to choose him as their lawyer in order to defend their case. On September 4, without informing the Destour about his initiative, Bourguiba led a protest delegation to the bey. In response, the party leadership decided to inflict a blame to the young activist, to which Bourguiba responded with his resignation from the party on September 9.
Split-up with the Destour
The rest of L'Action team soon conflicted with the Destour elders. The differences between the groups were not only age but also ideological and methodical. Peyrouton, the new resident-general attempted to calm down the situation by announcing social and economic reforms. By the end of October 1933, he met with a delegation of the Destour executive committee, led by Ahmed Essafi and comprising Salah Farhat, Mohieddine Klibi, Ali Bouhajeb, Moncef Mestiri and Bahri Guiga. He wanted to offer them to join an advisory committee of Tunisian reforms that would stop the transfer, to colonial land agencies, lands mortgaged by farmers reduced to misery. In order to avoid opposition, he asked them to keep these arrangements confidential. At the end of the interview, the delegation members gathered in Moncef Mestiri's house in La Marsa to agree on the portion of the interview to be made public. Guiga, who was a delegation member refused to yiel to "game of the resident" and joined his friends in Tunis to inform them about what had been negotiated. The very evening, he told the manager of Le Petit Matin about the talks with the resident-general.
The news fastly spread in the city which angered Peyrouton and the Destour leadership, mainly Essafi who asked for the gathering of the executive committee on November 17 to force Guiga's exclusion from the party. On December 7, solidary with their friend, M'hamed Bourguiba, El Materi and Tahar Sfar resigned from the executive committee which refused to reconsider its decision. Habib Bourguiba decided to join the "rebel faction", gathered under El Materi's commands, to start an explanation campaign to the activists. Called "traitors" by the Destour, the incident delighted the Residence, as it divided the nationalists.
Preparations
In order to explain themselves to the people, Sfar, Bourguiba and Guiga decided to start a campaign in Ksar Hellal and Moknine, seriously hit by the economic-social crisis. At their arrival, they were subject to the hostility of the inhabitants because of the Destour propaganda to discredit them. However, they found support in Ahmad Ayad, a Ksar Hellal notable, who invited them to hold a gathering and explain themselves. The meeting happened in his house on January 3, 1934. Soon, their speeches and determination to act proved to be successful and pleased the inhabitants. Belgacem Gnaoui, then leader of the carter union and who would become the General secretary of the General Confederation of Tunisian Workers, testified that "at the slightest sign, we were ready to close our shops and march in the streets [...] Young people urged us to protest strikes. On day, Ahmad Essafi, General secretary of the Destour, convened a gathering in the Andalous quarter. He was violently attacked by the participants who accused him of enjoying the comfort while we were starving in our hovels".
Meanwhile, the Destour executive committee pursued its campaign to discredit the new generation of nationalists. In response, Bourguiba replied with more violence, aggression and contempt in his speeches. As for El Materi, they should not stoop to the elders' level; He advocated for reforming the party's methods in peace and understanding or split up from the movement and found their own one. He stated: "My opinion is that we should let them cry in the wilderness, only a few people took them seriously". Sfar also criticized the Destour leadership writing: "Too much conservatism harms society because it is a factor of immobility and death; it solidifies everything, destroyes all initiative spirit, opposes any vivifying and creating force and therefore stops any progress, breaks the momentum and growth of individuals and groups".
Since then, the number of Destourian representations asking for an extraordinary explanatory congress increased. They addressed letters to Mohieddine Klibi who responded with a revealing stiffening of the danger the young nationalists were for the Destourian establishment. The idea spread across the country mainly in Tunis, Menzel Temime, Moknine, Gafsa and Bizerte. On the other hand, the young team pursued its tour and asked for a loyal showdown with their opponents: An interim committee including El Materi, the Bourguibas, Sfar and Guiga was formed and decided to organize an extraordinary congress on March 2, 1934, in Ksar Hellal to settle the disagreement. They obtained the support of M'hamed Chenik and many of his major clients who guaranteed the smooth progress of the event. Bourguiba drafted the convening letters inviting delegates to participate in order to settle the dispute arose within the Executive committee, develop the propaganda and action methods of the dissenting team. The establishment of a new political movement was even considered.
The congress