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The Syrian Communist Party (Arabic language: الحزب الشيوعي السوري, transliterated al-hizb ash-shuyū'ī as-sūrī) has been the name of a political party in Syria since 1944. Since a split in 1986, the name has been used by two competing parties. The party is part of the world communist movement, and historically had a pro-Soviet orientation. Since 1972, it has been a member of the National Progressive Front, which provides a legal framework for activity by parties supporting the Syrian government's socialist and Arab nationalist orientation and accepting the leadership of the Ba'th Party. Arabic (العربية al-arabiyyah, or less formally arabi) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ...
Due to the fact that the Arabic language has a number of phonemes that have no equivalent in English or other European languages, a number of different transliteration methods have been invented to represent certain Arabic characters, due to various conflicting goals: A desire to stay consistent with traditional usage...
The Elections and Parties Series Democracy Representative democracy History of democracy Referenda Liberal democracy Representation Voting Voting systems Ideology Elections Elections by country Elections by calendar Electoral systems Politics Politics by country Political campaigns Political science Political philosophy Related topics Political parties Parties by country Parties by name Parties by...
1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...
1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ...
Soviet redirects here. ...
1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ...
The National Progressive Front (NPF), established in 1972, is a political party created by former Syrian President Hafiz Al-Asad to give the impression of a democratic state. ...
The color red and particularly the red flag are traditional symbols of Socialism. ...
Arab nationalism refers to a common nationalist ideology in wider Arab world. ...
Baath Party flag The Baath Parties (also spelled Baath or Bath; Arabic: اﻟﺒﻌﺚ) comprise political parties representing the political face of the Baath movement. ...
Beginnings
The party evolved out of the Communist Party of Syria and Lebanon, founded in Beirut in 1924. It was suppressed shortly afterwards, but was revived after an interlude of several years. In 1936 Khalid Bakdash, a Damascene who had been recruited to the party in 1930 and later studied at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East in Moscow, took control as secretary of the party, and set about building up its organisation. Central Beirut (2004) Beirut (Arabic: , transliterated Bayrūt - the French name, Beyrouth, was also commonly used in English in the past) is the capital, largest city and chief seaport of Lebanon. ...
1924 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Khalid Bakdash (born 1912, died 1995; occasionally spelled Khalid Bagdash) was the leader of the Syrian Communist Party (SCP) from 1936 until his death. ...
Damascus by night, pictured from Jabal Qasioun; the green spots are minarets Damascus (Arabic officially دمشق Dimashq, colloquially ash-Sham الشام) is the capital city of Syria and is the oldest inhabited city in the world. ...
1930 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ...
Moscow (Russian: МоÑкваÌ, IPA: listen?) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva. ...
Bakdash's leadership and organisational growth The party was involved in opposition to the Vichy French presence in Syria, and when the Free French took control of the country it was legalised. In 1944 the Syrian and Lebanese parties became separate organisations. Bakdash sought to present the Syrian Communist Party as an essential part of the national movement, in the context of Syria's struggle against the French mandate. The party adopted a moderate programme and opened its ranks to all those accepting it, rather than functioning as a restricted Leninist vanguard organisation. It built up a significant support base among the working class, Kurds and intellectuals. Presidential flag of Vichy France Vichy France, or the Vichy regime (in French, now called: Régime de Vichy or Vichy; at the time, called itself: État Français, or French State) was the de facto French government of 1940-1944 during the Nazi Germany occupation of World War II...
The Free French Forces (Forces Françaises Libres in French) were French fighters who decided to go on fighting against Germany after the Fall of France and German occupation and to fight against Vichy France in World War II. General Charles de Gaulle was a member of the French Cabinet in...
1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...
League of Nations mandates were territories established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, 28 June 1919. ...
Vladimir Lenin in 1920 Leninism is a political and economic theory which builds upon Marxism; it is a branch of Marxism (and it has been the dominant branch of Marxism in the world since the 1920s). ...
In 1954, after a series of military dictatorships that had lasted since 1949, Syria became a democracy, and in the elections held that year, Khalid Bakdash won a seat in parliament for the Damascus area, becoming the first communist elected to an Arab parliament. The party was cautious about proposals to unify Syria with Gamal Abdal Nasser's Egypt, the main political question of the 1950s in Syria. The Egyptian Communist Party was banned under Nasser, and communists and other leftists had been jailed in large numbers. However, popular desire for unity was such that the party felt it could not afford to oppose it outright. 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
1949 is a common year starting on Saturday. ...
Gamal Abdel Nasser (Arabic: جمال عبد الناصر) Gamal Abdel Nasser (January 15, 1918 - September 28, 1970) was the second President of Egypt after Muhammad Naguib and is considered one of the most important Arab leaders in history. ...
1950 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Suppression under Nasser and the Ba'th, 1958 - 1970 The United Arab Republic (UAR) was formed in February 1958, and towards the end of that year a savage campaign of repression against the party began. Nasser was provoked to action by a harshly critical statement made by Bakdash, who called for transformation of the UAR into a loose federation. Communists were imprisoned and in some cases killed. Capital Cairo Created 1958 Dissolved 1961 Demonym Arab The United Arab Republic (Arabic: Al Džumhuriya Al Arabia Al Mutahiba) (UAR) was a country that existed as a union between the republics of Egypt and Syria between 1958 and 1961; though Egypt continued to be known as the UAR until...
1958 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The union ended in 1961 when a coup led to Syria's secession. The Communist Party was strongly identified with the secessionist tendency and suffered a loss of popular support and membership as a result. Worse was to follow, when the pro-unification coup of 1963 brought a military-based government consisting largely of Ba'thists and Nasserists to power and the party was once again repressed. 1961 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...
1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Baath Party flag The Baath Parties (also spelled Baath or Bath; Arabic: اﻟﺒﻌﺚ) comprise political parties representing the political face of the Baath movement. ...
Legal operation in the National Progressive Front from 1972 In 1970 Hafiz al-Asad came to power in Syria and announced his intention of allowing limited political pluralism in the context of popular democracy. This took the form of the National Progressive Front, established in 1972. Only parties participating in the Front would be allowed to operate: to join, they were required to accept the socialist and Arab nationalist orientation of the government. The Ba'th Party was guaranteed leadership of the Front and the new constitution, promulgated the same year, provided that it would "lead society and the state". Furthermore, only the Ba'th would be allowed operate in the armed forces and among university students. 1970 was a common year starting on Thursday. ...
Hafez al-Assad (October 6, 1930 - June 10, 2000) was the President of Syria from 1971 to 2000. ...
The National Progressive Front (NPF), established in 1972, is a political party created by former Syrian President Hafiz Al-Asad to give the impression of a democratic state. ...
1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ...
Faced with the choice between accepting these restrictions and the prospect of illegal operation, Bakdash and the majority of the party chose to join the Front. The good relations between Syria and the Soviet Union rendered this option somewhat more palatable; the Soviets did not particularly want the party to be too critical of the government, and could use their influence to lighten government pressure on it. The more radical elements in the party were unhappy about participation in the Front. However, the breaking point did not come until 1976 and the Syrian intervention in the Lebanese Civil War on the side of rightist, Maronite-led elements against the nationalist bloc and its allies in the Palestine Liberation Organization. This was too much for the radicals, and Riyad al-Turk led them into opposition. His faction was termed the Syrian Communist Party (Political Bureau) or Syrian Communist Party (Riyad al-Turk). 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...
The Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) had its origin in the conflicts and political compromises of Lebanons colonial period and was exacerbated by the nations changing demographic trends, Christian and Muslim inter-religious strife, and proximity to Syria and Israel. ...
Maronites (Marunoye ÜܶÜܢܘܪܡ in Syriac, Mâruniyya مارونية in Arabic) are members of one of the Eastern Rites of the Catholic church. ...
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) (Arabic: Munazzamat al-Tahrir al-Filastiniyyah منظمة التØرير الÙلسطينية ) is a political and paramilitary organization of Palestinian Arabs dedicated to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the area historically known as Palestine. ...
The 1980s: repression and split In the early 1980s the Syrian government clamped down on political activity, and the Communist Party was subject to severe restrictions despite its participation in the NPF. It was prevented from publishing its newspapers Sawt ash-Sha'b and An-Nour, and its activities were closely monitored by the security services. It effectively operated underground throughout most of the 1980s, with membership lists a closely guarded secret. 1980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...
In 1986, a difference of opinion between Bakdash and deputy secretary Yusuf Faisal led to another split in the party, with many of the party's intellectuals leaving with Faisal while much of its Kurdish base remained supportive of Bakdash. Both factions retained the name "Syrian Communist Party" and continued to participate in the NPF. 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
The collapse of the Soviet Union and of so-called "real existing socialism" led to a considerable loss of support for the party. Apart from the obvious ideological problems that this posed, much of the attraction of communism had derived from the prestige of the Soviet Union as a major power which many in the Arab world saw as opposing United States imperialism and Israeli aggression in the Middle East. Participation in current politics Towards the end of the presidency of Hafiz al-Asad, there was a limited increase in political freedom, and the parties were able to resume publishing their two newspapers. Communists played a prominent part in the Damascus Spring of 2000. This article is about the year 2000. ...
The two parties now follow a similar political line, harshly critical of United States policy in the Middle East and supportive of the government's foreign policy (this latter is effectively a requirement of NPF membership). At the same time, they have actively called for democratic reforms and have strongly criticised maladministration and corruption as well as the liberal economic reforms implemented or proposed by the government in recent years. In 2005 Riyad al-Turk's party changed its name to the Syrian Democratic People's Party in preparation for the anticipated legal changes that would allow alternative political parties to form. 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Timeline - 1924: Communist Party of Syria formed
- 1954: Khalid Bakdash is the first communist to be elected to an Arab parliament.
- 1973: "Political Bureau" group splits and forms separate party
- 1986: Split led by Yusuf Faisal, forming third communist party
- 1987: The CPS (Bagdash) is the second-largest legal political party in Syria. [1]
- 2004: The 80th anniversary of the foundation of the original CPS. [2]
See also Links - An-Nour, publication of the CPS (Faisal), in Arabic
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