Neo Destour
Socialism was not initially a major part of the Neo Destour project, but the government had always held and implemented redistributive policies. A large public works program was launched in 1961. Nonetheless in 1964, Tunisia entered a short lived socialist era. The Neo Destour party became the Socialist Destour ("Parti Socialiste Dusturien" or PSD), and the new minister of planning, Ahmed Ben Salah, formulated a state-led plan for agricultural cooperatives and public-sector industrialization. The socialist experiment raised considerable opposition within Bourguiba's old coalition. Ahmed Ben Salah was eventually dismissed in 1970, and many socialized operations (e.g., the farm cooperatives) were returned to private ownership in the early 1970s. In 1978, a general strike was repressed by the government with its forces killing dozens; union leaders were jailed.