Wikipedia Reference: Baath Party history ( Syria ) Founding, early years and seizing power: 1947–1963 The party was founded on 7 April 1947 as the Arab Baath Party by Michel Aflaq (a Christian), Salah al-Din al-Bitar (a Sunni Muslim) and the followers of Zaki al-Arsuzi (an Alawite) in Damascus, Syria, leading to the establishment of the Syrian Regional Branch. Other regional branches were established throughout the Arab world in the later 1940s and early 1950s, in, among others, Iraq, Yemen and Jordan. Throughout its existence, the National Command (the body responsible for all-Arab affairs), gave most attention to Syrian affairs. The 2nd National Congress was convened in June 1954, and elected a seven-man National Command; Aflaq, Bitar and Akram al-Hawrani were elected and represented the Syrian Regional Branch, while Abdullah Rimawi and Abdallah Nawas were elected to represent the Jordanese Branch. The congress is notable for sanctioning the merger of the Arab Socialist Party and the Baath Party, which took place in 1952. The Syrian Regional Branch rose to prominence in the 1940s and 1950s; in the 1954 parliamentary elections the Syrian Regional Branch won 22 seats in parliament, becoming the second largest party in the country. 90 percent of Baath Party members who stood for elections were elected to parliament. The failure the traditional parties represented by the Peoples Party and the National Party, strengthened the Baath Partys public credibility. Through this position, the party was able to get two of its members into parliament; Bitar was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and Khalil Kallas became Minister of Economics. Its new, strengthened position, was used successful to garner support for Syrias merger with Gamal Abdel Nassers Egypt, which led to the establishment of the United Arab Republic (UAR) in 1958. On 24 June 1959, Fuad al-Rikabi, the Regional Secretary of the Iraqi Regional Branch, accused the National Command of betraying Arab nationalist principles by conspiring against the UAR In light of these criticisms, the Baath convened the 3rd National Congress (held 27 August – 1 September 1959), which was attended by delegates from Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, South Arabia, the Gulf, Arab South, Arab Maghreb, Palestine and Party student organisations in Arab and other universities outside the [Arab] homeland. The congress is notable for endorsing the dissolution of the Syrian Regional Branch, which had been decided by Aflaq and Bitar without inner-party consultation in 1958, and for expelling Rimawi, the Regional Secretary of the Jordanese Regional Branch. Rimawi reacted to his expulsion by forming his own party, the Arab Socialist Revolutionary Baath Party, which established a rival National Command to compete with the original. The National Command responded to the problems in Iraqi by appointing a Temporary Regional Command on 2 February 1960 which appointed Talib Hussein ash-Shabibi as Regional Secretary, and on 15 June 1961 the National Command expelled Rikabi from the party. In Iraq, the Iraqi Regional Branch had supported Abd al-Karim Qasims seizure of power and its ensuing abolishment of the Iraqi Monarchy. The Iraqi Baathists supported Qasim on the ground that they believed he would enter Iraq into the UAR, enlarging the Arab nationalist republic. However, this was proven to be a ruse, and after taking power Qasim launched an Iraqi first policy. In retaliation, the Baath Party tried to assassin Qasim in February 1959, but the operation (which was led by a young Saddam Hussein) failed. Qasim was overthrown in a 1963 coup led by young Baathist officer Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr, and rumoured to be supported by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The Iraqi Regional Branch, when it took power, was so riven by factionalism that its purported allies, launched a counter-coup forcing them out of power, in coup détat in November 1963. The 4th National Congress, held in August 1960, criticized the leadership of Aflaq and Bitar, called for the reestablishment of the Syrian Regional Branch and deemphasized the partys commitment to Arab nationalism while emphasizing more the socialist character of the party.[20][21] A year after, at the UARs nadir in Syria, the Syrian General Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi launched a coup on 28 September 1961 which led to the reestablishment of the Syrian Arab Republic. Rule in Syria, infighting, the 1966 coup and split: 1963–1966 The challenges of building a Baathist state led to considerable ideological discussion and internal struggle within the party. The Iraqi Regional Branch was increasingly dominated by Ali Salih al-Sadi, a self-described Marxist. He was supported in his ideological reorientation by Hammud al-Shufi, the Regional Secretary of the Syrian Regional Branch, Yasin al-Hafiz, one of the party’s few ideological theorists, and by certain members of the secret Military Committee. The Marxist-wing gained new ground at the 6th National Congress (held in October 1963), in which the Iraqi and Syrian regional branches called for the establishment of socialist planning]], collective farms run by peasants, workers democratic control of the means of production, and other demands reflecting a certain emulation of Soviet-style socialism. Aflaq, angry at this transformation of his party, retained a nominal leadership role, but the National Command as a whole came under the control of the radicals. In 1963 the Baath Party seized power, from then on the Baath functioned as the only officially recognized Syrian political party, but factionalism and splintering within the party led to a succession of governments and new constitutions. On 23 February 1966, a coup détat led by Salah Jadid, the informal head of the Military Committee, overthrew Aflaq and the Bitars cabinet. The coup sprung out of factional rivalry between Jadids regionalist (qutri) camp, which promoted ambitions for a Greater Syria and the more traditionally pan-Arab, in power faction, called the nationalist (qawmi) faction. Jadids supporters are considered more left-wing then Aflaq and his peers. Several of Jadids opponents managed to make their escape and fled to Beirut, Lebanon. Jadid moved the party in a more radical direction, although he and his supporters had not been supporters of the victorious far-left line at the 6th Party Congress, they had now moved to adopt its positions. The moderate faction, formerly led by Aflaq and al-Bitar, were purged from the party. While it took some years, the 1966 coup resulted in the creation of two competing National Command, one Syrian-dominated and another Iraqi-dominated. However, both in Iraq and Syria, the Regional Command became the real centre of party power, and the membership of the National Command became a largely honorary position, often the destination of figures being eased out of the leadership. A consequence of the split was that Zaki al-Arsuzi took Aflaqs place as the official father of Baathist thought in the pro-Syrian Baath movement, while the pro-Iraqi Baath movement still considered Aflaq the de jure father of Baathist thought.
Posted on: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 01:00:59 +0000
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