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{{Short description|Syrian political party (1947–1966)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April  2025}}
{{About||the party which governed Iraq|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region|the party which governed Syria|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|other uses|}}
{{pp-move|small=yes}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party
| native_name      = {{nobold|حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي}}
| colorcode        = {{party color|Ba'ath Party}}
| secretary_general = [[Michel Aflaq]] (1954–65)<br>[[Munif Razzaz]] (1965–66)
| founders         = [[Michel Aflaq]]<br>[[Salah al-Din al-Bitar]]
| founded          = {{start date|1947|04|07}}
| merger           = [[Arab Ba'ath]]<br>[[Arab Ba'ath Movement]]<br>[[Arab Socialist Movement]]
| dissolved        = 1966 (as a unified party)
| successor        = [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region]] and [[Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction)|Ba'ath Party<br><small>(Iraqi-dominated faction)</small>]]<br>[[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region]] and [[Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction)|Ba'ath Party<br><small>(Syrian-dominated faction)</small>]]
| newspaper        = ''[[Al-Ba'ath]]''
| flag             = Flag of the Ba'ath Party.svg
| ideology         = [[Ba'athism]]
* [[Arab nationalism]]
* [[Arab socialism]]
* [[Pan-Arabism]]                                                     
* [[Anti-Zionism]]
* [[Revolutionary socialism]]
* [[Left-wing nationalism]]
* [[Anti-imperialism]]
* [[Secularism]]
| colors           = {{nowrap|{{color box|#000000|border=darkgray}} [[Black]] {{color box|#FFFFFF|border=darkgray}} [[White]] {{color box|#007a3d|border=darkgray}} [[Green]]}}<br>{{color box|#ce1126|border=darkgray}} [[Red]] ([[Pan-Arab colors]])
| position         = [[Left-wing politics|Left-wing]]
| slogan           = "[[Waḥda, Ḥurriyya, Ishtirākiyya|Unity, Freedom, Socialism]]"<br/>"Long Live The Arabs"<br/>"A single Arab nation with an eternal mission"<ref>Bengio, Ofra (1998). ''[https://archive.org/details/saddamswordpolit0000beng Saddam's Word: Political Discourse in Iraq]'' (Paperback). Oxford, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: [[Oxford University Press]]. p. 35. {{ISBN|978-0-19-511439-3}}. "The name Ba'th at once evokes the party's central slogans: "A single Arab nation with an eternal mission" and "Unity, freedom, socialism." The first slogan echoes several verses of the Qur'an where the words umma wahida (one nation) appear. Verse 209 of the sura al-Baqara, for instance, reads: "The people were one nation;  then God sent forth the Prophets, good tidings to bear and warning." The whole party phrase, with its internal rhyme in Arabic, elicits a longing for completeness, a yearning for a messianic transformation. The glorious past of the Arabs is made the source and aim fo emulation. Arsuzi wrote: "The Arabs conquered the world in order to civilize it and for that vision they sacrificed their lives... They spread their rule from the Chinese Wall to the Atlantic Ocean and from the center of Europe to the center of Africa... One caliph, one law, one official language."</ref>
| website          = {{url|baathparty.sy}} (link dead)
| country          = Syria
| country2         = Iraq
}}
{{Ba'athism sidebar}}
The '''Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party''' ({{langx|ar|حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي}} ''{{transliteration|ar|Ḥizb al-Baʿth al-ʿArabī al-Ishtirākī}}'' {{IPA|ar|ˈħɪzb alˈbaʕθ alˈʕarabiː alɪʃtɪˈraːkiː|}}), also known simply as '''Ba{{ayin}}th Party''' ({{langx|ar|[[:wikt:حزب البعث#Etymology 1.2|حزب البعث]]|translation=resurrection party}}),<ref>{{cite journal|author=
Mohammed Shaffi Agwani|date=January 1961|title=The Baʻth: A Study in Contemporary Arab Politics|journal=International Studies|volume=3|issue=1|pages=6–24|doi=10.1177/002088176100300102|s2cid=154673494|issn=0020-8817}}</ref> was a [[political party]] founded in [[Syria]] by [[Michel Aflaq]], [[Salah al-Din al-Bitar]], and associates of [[Zaki al-Arsuzi]]. The party espoused [[Ba'athism]], which is an ideology mixing [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalist]], [[Pan-Arabism|pan-Arab]], [[Arab socialism|Arab socialist]], and [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] interests. Ba'athism calls for the unification of the [[Arab world]] into a [[Arab Union|single state]]. Its motto, "[[Unity, Freedom, Socialism]]", refers to [[Arab Union|Arab unity]] and [[Anti-imperialism|freedom]] from non-Arab control and interference.

The party was founded by the merger of the [[Arab Ba'ath Movement]], led by ʿAflaq and al-Bitar, and the [[Arab Ba'ath]], led by al-ʾArsūzī, on 7 April 1947 as the '''Arab Ba'ath Party'''. The party quickly established branches in other Arab countries, although it would only hold power in [[Iraq]] and [[Syria]]. In 1952, the Arab Ba'ath Party merged with the [[Arab Socialist Movement]], led by [[Akram al-Hourani]], to form the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The newly formed party was a relative success, and it became the second-largest party in the Syrian parliament in the [[1954 Syrian parliamentary election|1954 election]]. This, coupled with the increasing strength of the [[Syrian Communist Party]],{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}} led to the establishment of the [[United Arab Republic]] (UAR), a union of [[Egypt]] and Syria, in 1958. The UAR would prove unsuccessful, and was dissolved following the [[1961 Syrian coup d'état]].

Following the break-up of the [[United Arab Republic|UAR]], the Ba'ath Party was reconstituted. However, during the UAR period, military activists had established the Military Committee that took control of the Ba'ath Party away from civilian hands. In the meantime, in Iraq, [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region|the local Ba'ath Party branch]] had taken power by orchestrating and leading the [[Ramadan Revolution]], only to [[November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état|lose power a couple of months later]]. The Military Committee, with Aflaq's consent, took power in Syria in the [[1963 Syrian coup d'état]].

A power struggle quickly developed between the civilian faction led by ʿAflaq, al-Bitar, and [[Munif Razzaz|Munīf ar-Razzāz]] and the Military Committee led by [[Salah Jadid]] and [[Hafez al-Assad]]. As relations between the two factions deteriorated, the Military Committee initiated the [[1966 Syrian coup d'état]], which ousted the National Command led by al-Razzāz, ʿAflaq, and their supporters. The 1966 coup split the Ba'ath Party between the [[Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction)|Iraqi-dominated Ba'ath Party]] and the [[Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction)|Syrian-dominated Ba'ath Party]]. There are currently no longer any Ba’athist countries after [[Fall of the Assad regime|the fall of the Ba’ath regime]] in Syria on 8 December 2024.
{{TOC limit|2}}

==History==
{{main|History of the Ba'ath Party}}
The party was founded on 7 April 1947 as the Arab Ba'ath Party by [[Michel Aflaq]] (an [[Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch|Antiochian Orthodox]] [[Christians|Christian]]), [[Salah al-Din al-Bitar]] (a [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] [[Muslim]]), and the followers of [[Zaki al-Arsuzi]] (an [[Alawites|Alawite]] who later became an atheist) in [[Damascus]], Syria, leading to the establishment of the [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Syrian Regional Branch]].{{sfn|George|2003|p=66}} Other regional branches were established throughout the Arab world in the later 1940s and early 1950s, in, among others, [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region|Iraq]],{{sfn|Polk|2006|p=109}} [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Yemen Region|Yemen]] and [[Jordanian Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party|Jordan]].{{sfn|Seale|1990|p=98}} Throughout its existence, the National Command (the body responsible for all-Arab affairs) gave most attention to Syrian affairs.{{sfn|George|2003|p=66}} The 2nd National Congress was convened in June 1954 and elected a seven-man National Command; Aflaq, Bitar, and [[Akram al-Hourani]] were elected and represented the Syrian Regional Branch,{{sfn|Reich|1990|p=10}} while [[Abdullah Rimawi]] and Abdallah Na'was were elected to represent the Jordanian Branch.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=231}} The 1954 congress is notable for sanctioning the merger of the [[Arab Socialist Movement]] and the Ba'ath Party, which took place in 1952.{{sfn|Seale|1990|p=65}}

The Syrian Regional Branch rose to prominence in the 1940s and 1950s; in the [[1954 Syrian parliamentary election|1954 parliamentary elections]] the Syrian Regional Branch won 22 seats in parliament, becoming the second largest party in the country.{{sfn|Kaylani|1972|p=15}} 90 percent of Ba'ath Party members who stood for elections were elected to parliament.{{sfn|Kaylani|1972|p=15}} The failure of the traditional parties, represented by the [[People's Party (Syria)|People's Party]] and the [[National Party (Syria)|National Party]], strengthened the Ba'ath Party's public credibility.{{sfn|Kaylani|1972|p=16}} Through this position, the party was able to get two of its members into the cabinet; Bitar was appointed [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates (Syria)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]] and Khalil Kallas became Minister of Economics.{{sfn|Kaylani|1972|p=19}} Its new, strengthened position was used successfully to garner support for Syria's merger with [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]]'s Egypt, which led to the establishment of the [[United Arab Republic]] (UAR) in 1958.{{sfn|Kaylani|1972|pp=19–21}}
[[File:President_Gamal_Abdul_Nasser_with_Baath_Party_founders_Michel_Aflaq_and_Salah_al-Bitar_in_1958.jpg|thumb|240x240px|[[Michel Aflaq]] (left) and [[Salah al-Din al-Bitar|Salah al-Din Bitar]] (right) with Egyptian President [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] (centre) in 1958. The three leaders were prime advocates for a [[Arab Union|pan-Arab union]]]]
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.{{sfn|Oron|1960|p=271}} In light of these criticisms, the Ba'ath convened the 3rd National Congress, held 27 August–1 September 1959, 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.{{sfn|Ministry of Information|1971|p=33}} 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,{{sfn|Podeh|1999|p=219}} and for expelling Rimawi, the Regional Secretary of the Jordanian Regional Branch.{{sfn|Oron|1960|p=497}} Rimawi reacted to his expulsion by forming his own party, the [[Arab Socialist Revolutionary Ba'ath Party]], which established a rival National Command to compete with the original.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=203}} The National Command responded to the problems in Iraq by appointing a Temporary Regional Command on 2 February 1960, which appointed [[Talib El-Shibib]] as Regional Secretary,{{sfn|Oron|1960|p=271}} and on 15 June 1961 the National Command expelled Rikabi from the party.{{sfn|Oron|1960|p=271}}

In Iraq, the Iraqi Regional Branch had supported [[Abdul-Karim Qasim]]'s seizure of power and its ensuing abolishment of the Iraqi Monarchy.{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|pp=24–25}} The Iraqi Ba'athists supported Qasim on the grounds that they believed he would enter Iraq into the UAR, enlarging the Arab nationalist republic.{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|pp=24–25}} However, this was proven to be a ruse, and after taking power, Qasim launched an Iraq first policy.{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|pp=24–25}} In retaliation, the Ba'ath Party tried to assassinate Qasim in February 1959, but the operation, involving a young [[Saddam Hussein]], failed.{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|p=29}} Qasim was overthrown in the [[Ramadan Revolution]] led by young Ba'athist officer [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]]; long suspected to be supported by the American [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA),{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|p=40}}<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wolfe-Hunnicutt|first=B.|date=2015-01-01|title=Embracing Regime Change in Iraq: American Foreign Policy and the 1963 Coup d'etat in Baghdad|url=https://academic.oup.com/dh/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/dh/dht121|journal=Diplomatic History|language=en|volume=39|issue=1|pages=98–125|doi=10.1093/dh/dht121|issn=0145-2096|quote=While scholars and journalists have long suspected that the CIA was involved in the 1963 coup, as yet, there is very little archival analysis of the question. The most comprehensive study put forward thus far finds "mounting evidence of U.S. involvement" but ultimately runs up against the problem of available documentation.|url-access=subscription}}</ref> however pertinent contemporary documents relating to the CIA's operations in Iraq have remained classified by the U.S. government,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wolfe-Hunnicutt|first=Brandon|title=The Paranoid Style in American Diplomacy: Oil and Arab Nationalism in Iraq|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2021|isbn=978-1-5036-1382-9|location=|page=117|quote=What really happened in Iraq in February 1963 remains shrouded behind a veil of official secrecy. Many of the most relevant documents remain classified. Others were destroyed. And still others were never created in the first place.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Matthews|first=Weldon C.|date=9 November 2011|title=The Kennedy Administration, Counterinsurgency, and Iraq's First Ba'thist Regime|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/abs/kennedy-administration-counterinsurgency-and-iraqs-first-bathist-regime/B4DA680E1CD37E8293DCEE8788C7C826|journal=[[International Journal of Middle East Studies]]|language=en|volume=43|issue=4|pages=635–653|doi=10.1017/S0020743811000882|s2cid=159490612|issn=1471-6380|quote=Archival sources on the U.S. relationship with this regime are highly restricted. Many records of the Central Intelligence Agency's operations and the Department of Defense from this period remain classified, and some declassified records have not been transferred to the National Archives or cataloged.|access-date=30 July 2023|archive-date=3 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703150509/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/abs/kennedy-administration-counterinsurgency-and-iraqs-first-bathist-regime/B4DA680E1CD37E8293DCEE8788C7C826|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> although the Iraqi Ba'athists are documented to have maintained supportive relationships with U.S. officials before, during, and after the coup.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Matthews|first=Weldon C.|date=9 November 2011|title=The Kennedy Administration, Counterinsurgency, and Iraq's First Ba'thist Regime|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0020743811000882/type/journal_article|journal=[[International Journal of Middle East Studies]]|language=en|volume=43|issue=4|pages=635–653|doi=10.1017/S0020743811000882|s2cid=159490612|issn=0020-7438|quote=[Kennedy] Administration officials viewed the Iraqi Ba'th Party in 1963 as an agent of counterinsurgency directed against Iraqi communists, and they cultivated supportive relationships with Ba'thist officials, police commanders, and members of the Ba'th Party militia. The American relationship with militia members and senior police commanders had begun even before the February coup, and Ba'thist police commanders involved in the coup had been trained in the United States.|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wolfe-Hunnicutt|first=B.|date=2015-01-01|title=Embracing Regime Change in Iraq: American Foreign Policy and the 1963 Coup d'etat in Baghdad|url=https://academic.oup.com/dh/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/dh/dht121|journal=Diplomatic History|language=en|volume=39|issue=1|pages=98–125|doi=10.1093/dh/dht121|issn=0145-2096|url-access=subscription}}</ref> 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 November 1963.{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|pp=44–46}}

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 party's commitment to [[Arab nationalism]] while emphasizing more the socialist character of the party.{{sfn|Seale|1990|p=66}}{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=24}} A year later, during the UAR's nadir in Syria, the Syrian General [[Abdul Karim al-Nahlawi]] launched [[1961 Syrian coup d'état|a coup on 28 September 1961]], which led to the reestablishment of the Syrian Arab Republic.<ref name="USDoS">{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3580.htm|title=Background Note: Syria|work=[[United States Department of State]], Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs|date=May 2007|access-date=8 August 2013|archive-date=21 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121022641/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3580.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Rule in Syria, infighting, the 1966 coup and split: 1963–1966===
The challenges of building a Ba'athist state led to considerable ideological discussion and internal struggle within the party.{{sfn|DeFronzo|2009|p=61}} The Iraqi Regional Branch was increasingly dominated by self-described [[Marxism|Marxist]] [[Ali Salih al-Sa'di]].{{sfn|DeFronzo|2009|p=61}} Al-Sa'di was supported in his ideological reorientation by [[Hammud al-Shufi]], the Regional Secretary of the Syrian Regional Branch;<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Westley|first1=F.C.|title=A weekly review of politics, literature, theology, and art.|journal=[[The Spectator]]|date=1964|volume=212|pages=473|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ciQ-AQAAIAAJ&q=shoufi}}</ref> Yasin al-Hafiz, one of the party's few ideological theorists; and by certain members of the secret Military Committee.{{sfn|Seale|1990|p=87}} 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",{{sfn|Ali|2004|p=105}} "[[Collective farming|collective farms]] run by peasants", "workers' democratic control of the means of production", and other demands reflecting a certain emulation of [[Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet-style socialism]].{{sfn|Hiro|1982|p=143}} 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.{{sfn|Ali|2004|pp=106–107}}

In 1963, the Ba'ath Party [[1963 Syrian coup d'état|seized power]] in Syria, and from then on the Ba'ath functioned as the only officially recognized Syrian political party, but factionalism and splintering within the party led to a succession of varying governments and new constitutions.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=55}} On 23 February 1966, [[1966 Syrian coup d'état|a coup d'état]] led by [[Salah Jadid]], the informal head of the Military Committee, overthrew Aflaq and Bitar's cabinet.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=59}} The coup sprung out of factional rivalry between Jadid's "regionalist" (qutri) camp, which promoted ambitions for a [[Syria (region)|Greater Syria]], and the more traditionally [[Pan-Arabism|pan-Arab]] faction then in power, the "nationalist" (qawmi) faction.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=59}} Jadid's supporters were considered to have been more left-wing then Aflaq and his peers.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=213}} Several of Jadid's opponents managed to make their escape, and they fled to [[Beirut]], [[Lebanon]].{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=59}} Jadid moved the party in a more radical direction. Although he and his supporters had not signed onto the victorious far-left line at the 6th Party Congress, they had now moved to adopt its positions.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=213}} The moderate faction, formerly led by Aflaq and al-Bitar, were purged from the party.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=213}}

While it took some years, the 1966 coup resulted in the creation of two competing National Commands, [[Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction)|one Syrian-dominated]] and another [[Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction)|Iraqi-dominated]].{{sfn|Ali|2004|pp=106–107}} 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.{{sfn|Ali|2004|pp=106–107}} One consequence of the split was that [[Zaki al-Arsuzi]] took Aflaq's place as the official father of [[ba'athism|Ba'athist thought]] in the pro-Syrian Ba'ath movement, while the pro-Iraqi Ba'ath movement still considered Aflaq the ''[[de jure]]'' father of Ba'athist thought.{{sfn|Bengio|1998|p=218}}

==Organization==
The organizational structure of the Ba'ath Party was created at the 2nd National Congress (1954) by amending the party's Internal Regulations ({{transliteration|ar|An-Nidhāmu-d-Dākhilī}}), which had been previously approved at the party's 1st National Congress (1947).{{sfn|Batatu|1999|p=392}} The organizational structure ran from top to bottom, and members were forbidden to initiate contacts between groups on the same level of the organisation, i.e., all contacts had to pass through a higher command level.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}}

===National organization===
{{Further|National Command of the Ba'ath Party}}
The National Command was the ruling organ of the party between sessions of the National Congress and was headed by a Secretary-General.{{sfn|Commins|2004|p=65}} Between National Congresses, the National Command was held accountable by the National Consultative Council (Arabic: ''al-majlis al-istishari al-qawmi'').{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=231}} The National Consultative Council was a forum made up of representatives from the party's regional branches.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=231}} However, the number of National Consultative Council members was decided by the size of the regional branch.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=231}} The National Congress elected the National Command, National Tribunal, the party's discipline body, and the Secretary-General, the party leader.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=231}} The congress delegates determined the party's policies and procedures.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=231}}

Before 1954, the party was ruled by the Executive Committee, but this organ, along with others, too, was replaced at the 2nd National Congress in 1954.{{sfn|Commins|2004|p=65}} In Ba'athist jargon, "Nation" means the [[Arab nationalism|Arab Nation]], because of that, the National Command formed the highest policy-making and coordinating council for the Ba'ath movement throughout the Arab world.{{sfn|Commins|2004|p=65}} The National Command had several bureaus, similar to those of the Regional Command.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=231}} National Command sessions were held monthly.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=231}} Of these, the National Liaisons Office was responsible for maintaining contact with the party's Regional Branches.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=148}}

===Regional organization===
A "region" (''quṭr''), in Ba'athist parlance, is an Arab state, e.g., Syria, Iraq, or Lebanon.{{sfn|Choueiri|2000|p=234}} Use of the term ''region'' reflected the Party's refusal to acknowledge these countries as separate nation-states.{{sfn|Choueiri|2000|p=234}} The Regional Congress, which combined all the provincial branches, was the region's highest authority and elected a Regional Command, the party leadership in a specific region; the Regional Tribunal, the body responsible for discipline inspection; and a Regional Secretary, the regional party leader.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} The Regional Congress was made of delegates from the provincial branches; other members attended, but as observers.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} The Regional Congress was responsible for evaluating the party's performance since the last Regional Congress, while at the same time formulating new policies for the next period, which would last until the next Regional Congress was held.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} How long this period lasted was decided by the Regional Command.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} The Regional Command, similar to the Branch Command, operated through bureaus and met for weekly-sessions.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}}

Below the Regional Commands were ''branches''.{{sfn|Choueiri|2000|p=234}} The branch came above the sub-branch; it comprised at least two to five sub-branches{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} and operated at the provincial level.{{sfn|Choueiri|2000|p=234}} The branch held a congress periodically in which it elected a Command and a Secretary (leader).{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} The Command operated through bureaus, such as the Workers Bureau and the Bureau of the Secretariat.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} The ''sub-branch'' level constituted three to five sections "and was the lowest level of the party to hold a periodical Congress."{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} Some sub-branches were independent of central authority and elected their own Command and secretaries, while other sub-branches were incorporated into the branches.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} In the latter case, the sub-branch secretary would be appointed by the superior branch.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}}

A ''section'', which comprised two to five divisions, functioned at the level of a large city quarter, a town, or a rural district.{{sfn|Commins|2004|p=65}} It elected its own command, composed of five members, but the sub-branch appointed the command's secretary.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} Beneath the section were ''divisions''.{{sfn|Commins|2004|p=65}} A division comprised two to seven ''circles'', controlled by a division commander.{{sfn|Commins|2004|p=65}} The lowest level was the circle. It was composed of three to seven members, constituting the basic organizational unit.{{sfn|Commins|2004|p=65}} Such Ba'athist groups occurred throughout the bureaucracy and the military. They functioned as the Party's watchdogs and were an effective form of covert surveillance within a public administration.{{sfn|Choueiri|2000|p=234}}

The Military Organization was made up of branches similar to those in the Ba'ath's civilian sector.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} However, unlike the civilian sector, the Military Organization was controlled by a separate Military Bureau and held periodical Military Congresses.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} The Military Organization and the Civilian Organization converged at the Regional Congress.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}}

===Membership===
There existed three types of membership categories in the Ba'ath Party: Active member (Arabic: ''udw ämil''), Apprentice Member (Arabic: ''udw mutadarrib'') and Supporter (Arabic: ''firqa'').{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} An Active member had to attend all formal meetings of his party unit, was given the right to vote in party elections,{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} and could run for party office.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}} In the Syrian Regional Branch, a member had to spend 18 months as a Supporter to be promoted to Apprentice status, and then wait another 18 months to be promoted to Active member status.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=230}}

==Ideology and policy==
{{Further|Ba'athism}}
===Foundational Ba'ath: 1947–1960===
====Arab Nation====
[[File:Ba'ath Constitution.jpg|thumb|right|Part of the 1947 Ba'ath Party constitution]]
For more than 2 decades, [[Michel Aflaq]]'s essay compilation titled "''Fi Sabil al-Ba'ath''" (translation: "The Road to Renaissance") was the primary ideological book of the Ba'ath party. The work was published by Aflaq in 1940.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Michel Aflaq|url=https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/michel-aflaq|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021035254/https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/michel-aflaq|archive-date=21 October 2020|website=harvard.edu}}</ref> From its very beginning, the party was a manifestation of [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalist]] thought, with the party describing itself as "The Party of Arab Unity".{{sfn|Batatu|1999|p=134}}  The pan-Arab tendencies of the party's predecessor, the [[Arab Ba'ath Movement]], were strengthened in 1945–1947 by recruiting members from [[Zaki al-Arsuzi]]'s Arab Ba'ath.{{sfn|Batatu|1999|p=135}} The first article of the party's constitution stated that: "...the Arabs form one nation. This nation has the natural right to live in a single state. [As such,] the Arab fatherland constitutes an indivisible political and economic unit. No Arab can live apart from the others."{{sfn|Claessen|2010|p=24}}

To express his heartfelt belief in Arab nationalism, Aflaq coined the term "one Arab nation with an eternal message" ({{langx|ar|ummah arabiyyah wahidah thatu risalah khalidah}}).{{sfn|Seale|1990|p=30}} Party ideology, and Ba'athism in general, was not based on concepts such as the purity of the Arab race or ethnic chauvinism, but on idealistic concepts borrowed from the [[Age of Enlightenment|enlightenment era]].{{sfn|Seale|1990|pp=30–31}} According to author Tabitha Petran, the basic tenet of the party's ideology was:{{sfn|Moaddel|2005|p=229}}

<blockquote>...that the Arab nation is a permanent entity in history. The Arab nation is considered, philosophically speaking, not as a social and economic formation, but as a transcendent fact inspiring different forms, one of its highest contributions taking the form of [[Islam]]. It was not Islam that modeled the peoples of Arabia, the [[Fertile Crescent]], and [[North Africa]], equipping them with Islamic values, especially the Arabic language and the Arabic culture, but the Arab nation which created Islam. This conception of the Arab nation implicitly advantages the Arab contribution to history. On the other hand, Arab decadence can be overcome through a purifying and spiritual action, not religious but moral.{{sfn|Moaddel|2005|p=229}}</blockquote>

====Peasant and workers====
{{One source|date=December 2024}}
The early Ba'ath gave little attention to the problems facing the peasants and workers.{{sfn|Batatu|1999|p=136}} As the historian [[Hanna Batatu]] notes, "Aflaq was basically urban in outlook. The peasants never constituted an object of his special concern. In his writing there is scarcely an expression of concentrated interest in the country's husbandsmen."{{sfn|Batatu|1999|p=136}} While peasants and the issues they faced are mentioned in some of Aflaq's work, there was scarcely any depth given to them.{{sfn|Batatu|1999|p=136}} Aflaq never expressed explicit enmity towards traditional landowners.{{sfn|Batatu|1999|p=136}} Issues such as these would only gain prominence when [[Akram al-Hourani]] became a leading party figure and when the "transitional Ba'athists" took power.{{sfn|Batatu|1999|p=136}} Of the four members in the 1st Executive Committee, [[Wahib al-Ghanim]] was the only one who paid much attention to the problems of peasants and workers,{{sfn|Batatu|1999|p=136}} as the other members (Aflaq, [[Salah al-Din al-Bitar]] and Jalil al-Sayyide) had a [[middle class]] upbringing and upheld middle-class values.{{sfn|Batatu|1999|pp=134–136}} 

The early party organization never cultivated a deep following in rural areas.{{sfn|Batatu|1999|p=136}} In fact, at the party's founding congress, only one peasant and one worker were present among the 217 delegates.{{sfn|Batatu|1999|p=136}} Most of the delegates were either school teacher or students attending universities.{{sfn|Batatu|1999|p=136}} When [[Akram al-Hourani]]'s [[Arab Socialist Movement|Arab Socialist Party]] (ASP) merged with the Ba'ath Party, the majority of ASP members of peasant origin did not join the Ba'ath Party, instead becoming personal followers of Hawrani.{{sfn|Batatu|1999|p=136}} However, the majority of Ba'ath members were of rural upbringing.{{sfn|Batatu|1999|p=136}} The "Transitional Ba'ath", which grew out of the dissolution of the Syrian Regional Branch (1958) and the Military Committee, was more rural in outlook, policy and ideology.{{sfn|Batatu|1999|pp=144–145}}

===="Unity, Freedom, Socialism"====
{{Main|Waḥda, Ḥurriyya, Ishtirākiyya}}
The slogan "[[Waḥda, Ḥurriyya, Ishtirākiyya|Unity, Freedom, Socialism]]" is the key tenet in Ba'athist thought.{{sfn|Salem|1994|p=62}} Unity stood for the creation of an independent, strong Arab Nation.{{sfn|Salem|1994|p=65-66}} [[Liberty]] did not mean [[liberal democracy]], but rather freedom from colonial oppression and [[freedom of speech]] and [[freedom of thought|thought]].{{sfn|Salem|1994|pp=66–68}} Aflaq believed that the Ba'ath Party, at least in theory, would rule, and guide the people, in a transitional period of time without consulting the people,{{sfn|Salem|1994|pp=67–68]}} however he did support intra-party democracy.{{sfn|Salem|1994|p=67}} The last tenet, 'socialism', did not mean socialism as defined in the West, but rather a unique form of [[Arab socialism]].{{sfn|Salem|1994|pp=69–70}} According to Ba'athist thought, socialism had originated under the rule of the Prophet [[Muhammad]].{{sfn|Salem|1994|pp=69–70}} The original interpretation of Arab socialism did not answer questions regarding economic equality or how much [[State socialism|state control]] was necessary, but instead focused on freeing the Arab Nation and its people from colonization and oppression in general.{{sfn|Salem|1994|pp=69–70}}

===Transitional Ba'ath: 1960–1964===
====Regionalists versus nationalists====
After the failure of the [[United Arab Republic]] (UAR), a union of Egypt and Syria, the Ba'ath Party was divided into two main factions, the Regionalists ({{langx|ar|Qutriyyun}}) and the Nationalists (pan-Arab) ({{langx|ar|Qawmiyyun}}).{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=36}} When the union with Egypt collapsed, the Ba'ath Party was put in a difficult position, as the party still sought Arab unity but did not oppose the UAR's dissolution and did not want to seek another union with Egypt under [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]]'s rule.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=36}} However, being the unionist party that it was, the party's leaders could not state their position on this issue.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=36}} The end result was that the pro-Arab nationalists within the Ba'ath Party became committed [[Nasserism|Nasserists]], while the more moderate Arab nationalists founded the pro-Nasserite [[Socialist Unionist Party (Syria)|Socialist Unionists]] party.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=36}} A third group, led by people disenchanted with both Nasser and the union period, remained in the Ba'ath Party but stopped believing in the feasibility of pan-Arabism.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=36}} On 21 February 1962, the National Command issued a new policy regarding the pan-Arab project by first mentioning the successes and failures of the UAR, but ending the statement by calling for the reestablishment of the UAR as a decentralized [[Federation|federal union]] with Nasser's Egypt.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=37}} Many rank-and-file members opposed this change in policy, with many members being both disenchanted with pan-Arabism and Aflaq's continued party rule.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=37}}

When the Syrian Regional Branch was reestablished, the majority of its members in the provinces were of communal origins – Druze, Alawi, or Ismaili.{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|p=166}} The provincial party members had not been told of the Syrian Regional Branch's dissolution, which in fact broke the communication line with provincial branches and the National Command.{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|p=166}} While it is true that in 1962 the Regionalists supported the slogan adopted at the 5th National Congress, "the renewal of the union with Egypt while taking note of past mistakes", they treated such a slogan as a propaganda slogan rather than a feasible goal.{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|pp=166–167}}

====The "Arab road to socialism"====
The disillusionment felt among party members on the pan-Arab project, led to the radicalization of the party's interpretation of socialism.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=41}} Yasin al-Hafiz, a former member of the [[Syrian Communist Party]], was an early frontrunner for the party's radicalization.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=41}} While he didn't oppose the pan-Arab project, he wanted to turn the concept of Arab socialism into a [[Scientific socialism|scientific]] and [[Revolutionary socialism|revolutionary socialist]] ideology which adapted [[Marxism]] to local conditions.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=41}} [[Jamal al-Atassi]], who had been a moderate socialist for most of his life, called for the renunciation of Arab socialism in 1963 and the adoption of a "virtually Marxist concept of socialism" by claiming that [[Class conflict|class struggle]] was the moving force in society.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|pp=41–42}}

[[Hammud al-Shufi]] became the leader of the party's Marxist faction during his short stint as Syrian Regional Secretary, literally the head of the Syrian Regional Organization.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=77}} Shufi was able, due to his position as head of the Organization Bureau of the [[Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Regional Command]], to recruit several Marxist or Marxist-leaning members to the top of the Syrian Regional party hierarchy.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|pp=77–78}} Radical socialists led by Ali Salih al-Sadi took control of the [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region|Iraqi Regional Branch]] in 1963, which led to the official radicalization of the party's ideology.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|pp=82–83}}

The delegates at the 6th National Congress elected an Ideology Committee that was responsible for writing a charter about the party's ideology.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|pp=84–86}} The end result was the document ''Points of Departure''.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|pp=84–86}} The document, which was approved by the 6th National Congress, relegated Arab unity to a secondary role and gave socialism prominence.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|pp=84–86}} Marxist concepts were used interchangeably alongside Ba'athist ones; however, the document was reluctant in explicitly admitting that certain ideas were of Marxist origins.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=87}} The 6th National Congress borrowed key [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] tenets such as "[[People's democracy (Marxism–Leninism)|people's democracy]]" and emphasized the need of a [[Vanguardism|socialist vanguard]] in-order to:

<blockquote>"play the role of mediator and leader (even if it is in power) that acts to direct the journey of the masses towards the socialist future in a scientific way and in a democratic style".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ginat|first=Rami|date=April 2000|title=The Soviet Union and the Syrian Ba'th regime: From hesitation to Rapprochement|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284075|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|volume=36|issue=2|pages=151–152|doi=10.1080/00263200008701312|jstor=4284075|s2cid=144922816|access-date=2023-02-21|archive-date=2023-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221122004/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284075|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref></blockquote>

While the ''Points of Departure'' didn't create a break with the party's traditional ideology, it criticized the party's old guard for giving Arab unity primacy over socialism and their failure to turn Ba'athism into a comprehensive theory.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=87}} While the documents says Arab unity is progressive, the reason for it being important changed.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=88}} The document stated: "Arab unity is an indispensable basis for the construction of a [[Socialist economics|socialist economy]]."{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=88}} Aflaq also believed that Arab unity was only an intermediate goal, but it stood at the centre of classical Ba'athism.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=88}} In the ''Points of Departure'', despite not firmly stating it, the goal of creating a socialist society seemed to be both an immediate goal and the main goal of the party.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=88}}

The concept of Arab socialism, accused of being narrow-minded and nationalistic, was replaced with the "Arab road to socialism" concept.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=88}}  The ''Points of Departure'' criticized the classical Ba'athist view regarding [[Private property|private ownership]].{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=88}} Classical Ba'athists supported private ownership as a way to recruit into the party many [[Petite bourgeoisie|petty bourgeois]] elements.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=89}} The document called for [[nationalization]] of the commanding heights of the economy, the slow incorporation of the petty bourgeoisie into the socialist economy and the elimination of the [[Bourgeoisie|national bourgeoisie]] and its allied classes.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=89}} To safeguard the party from evolving into one supporting [[state capitalism]], the socialist economy would be controlled by a [[Vanguardism|vanguard party]] together with popular participation from the toiler masses.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=89}} Major policies in the "Arab road to socialism" included:

<blockquote>The [[nationalization]] of the major branches of the economy with the participation of the toiling masses in the management of the economy, and for the creation of [[Collective farming|collective farms]] to effect the [[revolution]] necessary for the peasants...the Congress stipulated that the changes be directed by a "revolutionary vanguard", the final aim being to establish a "popular democracy" that was to guarantee freedom to the classes which constitute the true people and ensure the country's rapid development. This regime was to center on the party, leading the popular organizations and councils and operating according to the principle of "[[democratic centralism]]"<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ginat|first=Rami|date=April 2000|title=The Soviet Union and the Syrian Ba'th regime: From hesitation to Rapprochement|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284075|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|volume=36|issue=2|pages=157|doi=10.1080/00263200008701312|jstor=4284075|s2cid=144922816|access-date=2023-02-21|archive-date=2023-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221122004/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284075|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref></blockquote>

====Stance on religion====
[[State atheism|Militant secularism]] was emphasized in the "''Declaration of Principles''" manifesto published by the Ba'ath party in 1960; which declared that the party's "educational policy" was to build a "new generation of Arabs that believe in the unity of the nation and the eternity of its mission".<ref>{{cite web|title=Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview|url=http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723214138/http://www.herzliyaconference.org/_Uploads/2590Bashars.pdf|archive-date=23 July 2011|accessdate=8 March 2013|pages=364–365}}</ref> The manifesto also stated that this envisaged Ba'athist generation would be "committed to [[Science|scientific thought]] freed from the shackles of superstition and backward customs" and replace religion with [[Arab nationalism]] as their belief system.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rubin|first=Barry|title=The Truth About Syria|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2007|isbn=978-1-4039-8273-5|location=New York, NY|pages=38|chapter=2: The World's Most Unstable Country, 1946-1970}}</ref>

===Neo-Ba'ath: 1964–1966===
{{Further|Neo-Ba'athism}}
[[Neo-Ba'athism]] refers to the dramatic changes that manifested in Ba'athist ideology from 1960 to 1964, and the Military Committee's takeover of the Syrian Regional Branch and the National Command in the period 1964 to 1966.{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|pp=170–175}} The 6th National Congress signified the takeover of the party by an anti-militarist left, which opposed both the traditional leaders in the National Command and the pragmatists in the Military Committee.{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|pp=174–175}} When the anti-military left called for [[popular democracy]], no involvement of the military in national politics and popular struggle, the Military Committee became concerned.{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|p=175}} In 1965, Ba'athist President [[Amin al-Hafiz]] imposed the socialist policies adopted in the 6th National Congress; fully nationalizing Syrian industry and vast segments of the private sector, and establishing a centralized [[Planned economy#Command economy|command economy]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ginat|first=Rami|date=April 2000|title=The Soviet Union and the Syrian Ba'th regime: From hesitation to Rapprochement|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284075|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|volume=36|issue=2|pages=157–158|doi=10.1080/00263200008701312|jstor=4284075|s2cid=144922816|access-date=2023-02-21|archive-date=2023-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221122004/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284075|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

By 1965 the anti-military leftists began to "spread rumors about the rightist character of the military junta [Military Committee] within the party and their subversive efforts to engulf it. There was not a single officer in the party who was not accused of conspiracy and reactionary tendencies."{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|p=177}} In collaboration with the National Command, the Military Committee succeeded in expelling the anti-military left from the party at the 7th National Congress.{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|p=179}} The Military Committee, which now controlled the Syrian Regional Branch, took control of the Ba'ath Party in the [[1966 Syrian coup d'état|coup of 1966]].{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|p=180}} The military committee accused the Old Guard of diluting socialist ideology and casting aside "[[collective leadership]]".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ginat|first=Rami|date=April 2000|title=The Soviet Union and the Syrian Ba'th regime: From hesitation to Rapprochement|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284075|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|volume=36|issue=2|pages=153|doi=10.1080/00263200008701312|jstor=4284075|s2cid=144922816|access-date=2023-02-21|archive-date=2023-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221122004/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284075|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> According to Middle East expert Avraham Ben-Tzur, "the [neo-]Ba'th in its latest variant is a bureaucratic apparatus headed by the military, whose daily life and routine are shaped by the rigid military oppression on the home front, and [Soviet aid among others] military aid."{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|p=181}}

==Regional branches==
===Iraq===
{{main|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region}}
[[Fuad al-Rikabi]] founded the Iraqi Regional Branch in 1951{{sfn|Polk|2006|p=109}} or 1952.{{sfn|Ghareeb|Dougherty|2004|p=194}} There are those who trace the branch's founding to Abd ar Rahman ad Damin and Abd al Khaliq al Khudayri in 1947, after their return from the 1st National Congress, which was held in Syria.<ref>{{cite web|author=Metz, Helen Chapin|author-link=Helen Chapin Metz|url=http://countrystudies.us/iraq/77.htm|title=Iraq — Politics: The Baath Party|publisher=[[Library of Congress Country Studies]]|access-date=23 October 2011|archive-date=12 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111012073305/http://countrystudies.us/iraq/77.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Another version is that the branch was established in 1948 by Rikabi and Sa'dun Hamadi, a [[Shia Islam|Shia]] [[Muslim]].{{sfn|Sheffer|Ma'oz|2002|p=174}} However, Efraim Karsh and Inari Rautsi contend that the Regional Branch was established in the 1940s, but that it received official recognition as a Regional Branch of the Ba'ath Party in 1952 by the National Command.{{sfn|Karsh|Rautsi|1991|p=13}} What is certain is that Rikabi was elected the Regional Branch's first Regional Secretary in 1952.{{sfn|Sheffer|Ma'oz|2002|p=174}}

The party initially consisted of a majority of Shia Muslims, as Rikabi recruited supporters mainly from his friends and family, but slowly became [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] dominated.{{sfn|Nakash|2003|p=136}} The Regional Branch, and other parties of pan-Arab inclination, had difficulties in recruiting Shia members.{{sfn|Dawisha|2005|p=174}} Most Shi'ites considered pan-Arab ideology as a Sunni project, since the majority of Arabs are Sunnis.{{sfn|Dawisha|2005|p=174}}

At the time of [[14 July Revolution]] in 1958, which overthrew the [[Kingdom of Iraq|Hashemite monarchy]], the Regional Branch had 300 members.{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|p=22}} The Iraqi Regional Branch supported [[Abdul-Karim Qasim]]'s rule on the grounds that he would seek Iraq's entry into the [[United Arab Republic]].{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|pp=24–25}} Of the 16-members of Qasim's cabinet, 12 of them were Regional Branch members.{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|pp=24–25}} After taking power, Qasim changed his position on the UAR, reverting to the old "Iraq first policy".{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|pp=24–25}} This turn displeased the Regional Branch and other Arab nationalists groups.{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|pp=25–26}} Due to his policy reversal, the Regional Branch gathered a group, led by [[Saddam Hussein]], which tried but failed to assassinate Qasim.{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|p=26}}

The Regional Branch seized power in the [[Ramadan Revolution]].{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|p=39}} The coup was led by leading Regional Branch member [[Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr]].{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|p=39}} The plotters appointed [[Abdul Salam Arif]], a Nasserite, to the [[President of Iraq|Presidency]] while al-Bakr was appointed the [[Prime Minister of Iraq|country's Prime Minister]].{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|p=41}} However, real power was in the hands of Ali Salih al-Sadi, the branch's Regional Secretary.{{sfn|Mufti|1996|p=161}} After taking power, the Regional Branch through its militia, the National Guard, initiated what Iraqi expert Con Coughlin referred to as an "orgy of violence" against [[Communism|communist]] and [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] elements.{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|p=41}} These repressive measures coupled with factionalism within the Regional Branch led to the [[November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état]] by President Arif and his Nasserite supporters.{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|p=44}} Iraq expert Malik Mufti believes Aflaq may have supported Arif's coup because it weakened al-Sadi's position within the party and strengthened his own.{{sfn|Mufti|1996|p=165}} The coup forced the branch to go underground.{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|pp=46–48}} Due to the coup, several leading Ba'athist were jailed, such as al-Bakr and Saddam.{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|pp=46–48}} Despite this, the Regional Branch elected al-Bakr as Regional Secretary in 1964.{{sfn|Coughlin|2005|pp=46–48}}

===Jordan===
{{Further|Arab Ba'ath Progressive Party|Jordanian Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party}}
Following the party's establishment in Syria, Ba'athist ideas spread throughout the Arab world. In Jordan Ba'athist thought first spread to the [[Transjordan (region)|East Bank]] in the late-1940s, most notably at universities.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=135}} While the Regional Branch was not formed until 1951, several meetings took place at the universities where students and professors alike would discuss the Ba'athist thought.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=135}} Despite the ideology being very popular, it took time before the actual Regional Branch was established.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} A group of teachers established the Regional Branch in the city by [[Al-Karak]].{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} At the very beginning, the clinic owned by Abd al-Rahman Shuqyar was used as the branch's meeting place.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} Bahjat Abu Gharbiyah became the Regional Branch's first member in the [[West Bank]], and was thus resigned the responsibility of building the party's organization in the area the branch secretary in the West Bank, and was thus responsible in that area.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} In the West Bank, the branch was most active in the cities of [[Jerusalem]] and [[Ramallah]].{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}}

The 1st Regional Congress was held in 1951 in the home of [[Abdullah Rimawi]].{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} The congress mapped out the "future course of the party".{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} The next year, the 2nd Regional Congress was held, this time in Abdallah Na'was' home.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} It elected a Regional Command and appointed Rimawi as the branch's Regional Secretary.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} Shugyar, Gharbiyah and Na'was agreed to serve in the Regional Branch's Central Committee.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} Rimawi and Na'was, his deputy, would prove effective leaders.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} Shortly after the 2nd Regional Congress, the branch launched a successful recruitment campaign in Jordanian and Palestinian neighbourhoods and cities.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} On 28 August 1956 the branch was legalized by a High Court.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|pp=136–137}}

Both Rimawi and Na'was were [[Parliament of Jordan|elected to Parliament]] in the [[1950 Jordanian general election|1950]] and [[1951 Jordanian general election|1951 elections]] as [[Independent politician|independents]] (the branch was not a legal party at the time).{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=137}} In the 1951 election, the branch managed to elect three members to parliament.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=135}} Rimawi was able to retain his seat in parliament until the [[1956 Jordanian general election|1956 election]].{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} None of these elections can be considered democratic.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=175}} Shuqyar, during the 1951 elections, was imprisoned by the authorities because his views were deemed too radical.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=175}} Less than a month before the election day, the British Embassy in Amman had estimated that Shuqyar would gain an easy victory.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=175}} However, because of the undemocratic nature of the election, Shuqyar was not elected.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=175}}  As voting patterns would prove, voters who voted for Ba'athist candidates lived in [[Irbid]] and [[Amman]] on the East Bank, and Jerusalem and [[Nablus]] on the West Bank.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}}

Shuqyar during a government-imposed exile to Southern Jordan, used his spare time reading Marxist and [[Leninism|Leninist]] literature.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=137}} While he never became a communist, Shuqyar began to support communist concepts.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=137}} On his return from exile he tried to persuade the Regional Branch to join in an electoral front with the [[Jordanian Communist Party]].{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=137}} However, the Regional Branch leaders Rimawi, Na'was, Gharbiyah and [[Munif Razzaz]] opposed such an idea, and because of it, Shuqyar left the Ba'ath Party.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=137}}

Rimawi and Na'was were elected to the National Command at the 2nd National Congress (held in 1952).{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=231}} At the 6th and 7th National Congress, the Regional Branch elected Razzaz to the National Command.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=227}}

===Lebanon===
{{Main|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Lebanon Region|Socialist Arab Lebanon Vanguard Party}}
The Lebanese Regional Branch was formed in 1949–1950.{{sfn|Seddon|2004|p=85}} During the existence of the UAR, the Regional Branch was split into two factions, those supporting Nasser and those opposing him.{{sfn|Oron|1960|p=497}} However, in April 1960, the UAR denied the Regional Branch organ ''As Sahafäh'' access into the UAR-ruled Syria.{{sfn|Oron|1960|p=497}}

The Regional Branch was strongest in the city of [[Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli]].{{sfn|Oron|1960|p=356}} In the [[1960 Lebanese general election|1960 elections]], [[Abd al-Majid al-Rafei]] was just a few votes short of being elected to parliament.{{sfn|Oron|1960|p=356}} However, a persistent problem for him during his election campaign was the vocal criticism of him and the Regional Branch by the [[Lebanese Communist Party]].{{sfn|Oron|1960|p=356}} In Tripoli the Communists supported the candidacy of [[Rashid Karami]], to ensure themselves of a Regional Branch victory.{{sfn|Oron|1960|p=348}} On 17 July 1961 a group of rival Ba'athists led by Rimawi opened fire on several of the Regional Branch's members.{{sfn|Oron|1960|p=378}}

During the UAR years, the same factional lines that developed in the Syrian Regional Branch came to the Lebanese Regional Branch.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=23}} At the 4th National Congress (held in Lebanon), which was mainly attended by delegates representing Lebanon, several resolutions with a pronounced anti-Nasser tone were approved.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|pp=23–24}} At the same time, criticism of Aflaq and Bitar was severe, both their leadership records and their ideology were criticized.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=24}} A resolution was approved, which stated that the party leaders (Aflaq and al-Bitar among others) had too hastily entered into a union with Egypt, had wrongly dissolved the Syrian Regional Branch in 1958, and had given pan-Arabism primacy when socialism was more important. The resolution also affirmed the need to use a more Marxist lens rather than a Ba'athist one to analyze the current situation, and the need for the party to strengthen their positions among the workers, peasants, artisans, and shopkeepers.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=24}} Because of the position of the Lebanese Regional Branch, Aflaq at the 5th National Congress invited enough Iraqi Regional Branch delegates to neutralize the Lebanese delegates.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=37}} However, at the same time, the Lebanese Regional Branch opposed Hawrani and his faction.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=39}} At the 6th National Congress, the Lebanese Regional Branch elected Jubrän Majdalani and Khalid al-Ali to the National Command.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=227}}

At the 7th National Congress, the National Command in collaboration with the Military Committee removed leftists, such as those found in the Lebanese Regional Branch, from leadership positions, and expelled them from the party in the most severe cases.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=106}} The Lebanese Regional Branch managed to elect three members to the National Command at the 7th National Congress; Majdalani, al-Ali and Abd al-Majid Rafi.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=227}}

===Libya===
{{main|Libyan Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party}}
The Regional Branch was founded in the 1950s{{sfn|Simmons|1993|p=166}} by Amr Taher Deghayes.{{sfn|Wright|1981|p=227}} Ba'athism was a major political force in Libya following the establishment of the [[United Arab Republic]]. Many intellectuals were attracted to Ba'athist ideology during the later years of the [[Kingdom of Libya]]. However, with help from Nasserist propaganda, several Ba'athists changed affiliation and became Nasserists instead.{{sfn|Wright|1981|p=94}} The growth of these pan-Arab ideologies concerned the government, which led to the incarceration of several Nasserist and Ba'athist military officers in the early sixties.{{sfn|Wright|1981|p=96}} The Ba'athist were accused of working to overthrow "the political, economic and social system" of the Kingdom; the sentences ranged from everything to eight months to two years.{{sfn|Simmons|1993|p=161}} By 1964, the Libyan Regional Branch had only managed to establish one-level below the Regional Command, the branch-level.{{sfn|Devlin|1979|p=18}} Syrian specialist John Devlin estimated that the Libyan Regional Branch had been 50 and 150 members in 1964.{{sfn|Devlin|1979|p=18}}

===Syria===
{{Main|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region}}
Syrian politics took a dramatic turn in 1954 when the military government of [[Adib Shishakli]] was overthrown and the democratic system restored. The Ba'ath, now a large and popular organisation, won 15 out of 142 parliamentary seats in the [[1954 Syrian parliamentary election|Syrian election]] that year, becoming the second-largest party in parliament. Aside from the [[Syrian Communist Party]] (SCP), the Ba'ath Party was the only party able to organise mass protests among workers.{{sfn|Peretz|1994|p=413}} The party was supported by the [[intelligentsia]] due to their pro-Egyptian and [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] stance along with their advocation of social reform.{{sfn|Finer|Stanley|2009|p=149}}

The Ba'ath faced considerable competition from ideological competitors, notably the [[Syrian Social Nationalist Party]] (SSNP), which supported the establishment of a [[Syria (region)|Greater Syria]]. The Ba'ath Party's main adversary was the SCP, whose support for class struggle and internationalism was anathema to the Ba'ath.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=211}} In addition to parliamentary-level competition, all these parties (as well as [[Islamism|Islamists]]) competed in street-level activity and sought to recruit support among the military.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|pp=210–211}}

By the end of 1957, the SCP was able to weaken the Ba'ath Party to such an extent that the Ba'ath Party drafted a bill in December that called for a union with Egypt, a move that proved to be very popular. The Ba'ath leadership dissolved the party in 1958, gambling that the illegalisation of certain parties would hurt the SCP more than it would the Ba'ath.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|pp=211–212}}

[[File:Hawrani Aflaq 1957.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Akram al-Hourani]] (left) with [[Michel Aflaq]], 1957.]]
A [[1961 Syrian coup d'état|military coup]] in [[Damascus]] in 1961 brought the UAR to an end.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|pp=52–53}} Sixteen prominent politicians signed a statement supporting the coup, among them al-Hawrani and [[Salah al-Din al-Bitar]] (who later retracted his signature).{{sfn|Podeh|1999|pp=152–153}} Following the UAR's dissolution, the Ba'ath Party was reestablished at the 1962 congress.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=55}} The Military Committee did not show itself to the civilian wing of the party at this congress.{{sfn|George|2003|p=68}} During the congress, Aflaq and the Military Committee, through [[Muhammad Umran]], made contact for the first time; the committee asked for permission to initiate a coup d'état; Aflaq supported the conspiracy.{{sfn|Seale|1990|p=75}}

Following the success of the [[Ramadan Revolution]], led by the Ba'ath Party's [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region|Iraqi Regional Branch]], the Military Committee hastily convened to hatch a coup against [[Nazim al-Qudsi]]'s presidency.{{sfn|Seale|1990|pp=76–78}} The [[1963 Syrian coup d'état|8 March Revolution]] proved successful, and a Ba'athist government in Syria was established.{{sfn|Seale|1990|pp=76–78}} The plotters first order was to establish the [[National Council for the Revolutionary Command]] (NCRC), consisting entirely of Ba'athists and Nasserists, and controlled by military personnel rather than civilians from the very beginning.{{sfn|Seale|1990|p=78}}

While the Ba'ath Party had attained power, there was significant infighting.{{sfn|George|2003|pp=68–69}} The Military Committee, which was itself a tiny minority of the already small Ba'ath Party membership, ruled by force.{{sfn|George|2003|pp=68–69}} The Ba'ath Party lacked a popular base, as it had only 2,500 members by mid-1963. Even if membership expanded, the authoritarian rule it had introduced would only increase.{{sfn|George|2003|pp=68–69}}

The civilian wing was plagued by infighting between the radical socialist and moderate faction, while the military stood more unified.{{sfn|George|2003|p=69}} Whatever the case, the [[Central Command of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|Syrian Regional Command]] slowly amassed its powers by weakening the National Command.{{sfn|George|2003|p=69}} This all came to a head in the [[1966 Syrian coup d'état]].{{sfn|George|2003|p=69}}

The party officially indefinitely suspended all activities in Syria on 11 December 2024, following the [[Fall of the Assad regime]].<ref>\{{cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20241211-live-syrian-refugees-attempt-return-to-homeland-after-assad-regime-ousted|title=Assad's Baath party suspends work indefinitely in Syria|publisher=France 24|date=11 December 2024}}</ref>

===Others===
Following the Ba'ath Party's founding, regional branches were established in [[Kuwait]], [[Saudi Arabia]] and [[Oman]] .{{sfn|Goldman|2002|p=60}} Not long after it established branches in [[Kingdom of Yemen|North Yemen]] and [[Protectorate of South Arabia|South Yemen]].{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=169}} In [[Tunisia]], a [[Tunisian Ba'ath Movement|Regional Branch]] was established in the 1950s, but was forced underground for much of its existence.<ref name="underground">{{cite web|url=http://www.tunisia-live.net/2012/01/04/tunisian-baath-party-celebrates-5th-anniversary-of-saddam-husseins-death/|publisher=Tunisia-live.net|title=Tunisian Baath Party Celebrates 5th Anniversary of Saddam Hussein's Death|date=4 January 2012|access-date=19 February 2012|author=Ajmi, Sana|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310042933/http://www.tunisia-live.net/2012/01/04/tunisian-baath-party-celebrates-5th-anniversary-of-saddam-husseins-death/|archive-date=10 March 2012}}</ref> The Saudi Regional Branches elected Ali Ghannäm to represent them at the 7th National Command.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=227}} While its currently unknown which side the Saudi Ba'ath took after the 1966 split, it published a newspaper, ''Sawt al-Tal'iyya'', from 1973 to 1980. It was an ardent critic of the [[House of Saud|Saudi royal family]] and [[US imperialism]]. The majority of its members were [[Shia Islam|Shia]] [[Muslim]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/documents/CTC_EmbattledInArabia_ShiisAndThePoliticsOfConfrontationInSaudiArabia.pdf|publisher=Human Security Gateway|title=Embattled in Arabia|access-date=20 February 2012|date=3 June 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121222114159/http://www.humansecuritygateway.com/documents/CTC_EmbattledInArabia_ShiisAndThePoliticsOfConfrontationInSaudiArabia.pdf|archive-date=December 22, 2012}}</ref> In late 1963, Ba'ath cells were being established in Sudan, and there were even rumours that a Ba'ath cell had been established in Egypt.{{sfn|Seale|1990|p=90}} A [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party of Algeria|regional Ba'ath Party branch]] was established in [[Algeria]] in 1988 after the one-party system ended.<ref name="baathflagbook">{{cite web|author=Belamry, Algiers-Ramada|date=8 September 2008|title=Baath Party resumes underground activities|url=http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/09/08/56229.html|access-date=10 July 2013|publisher=alarabiya.net|archive-date=9 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080909114209/http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/09/08/56229.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
;Articles & journals
*{{cite journal|last1=Ben-Tzur|first1=Avraham|date=July 1968|title=The Neo-Ba'th Party of Syria|journal=[[Journal of Contemporary History]]|volume=3|issue=3|pages=161–181|publisher=[[Sage Publishing|SAGE Publications]]|doi=10.1177/002200946800300310|jstor=259704|s2cid=159345006}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Kaylani|first1=Nabil|date=January 1972|title=The Rise of the Syrian Ba'th, 1940–1958: Political Success, Party Failure|journal=[[International Journal of Middle East Studies]]|volume=3|issue=1|pages=3–23|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|doi=10.1017/s0020743800030014|jstor=162353|s2cid=154642979}}

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{{Refend}}

==External links==
*[http://albaath.online.fr/ The five volumes of Michel Aflaq's ''On The Way Of Resurrection'' (Fi Sabil al Ba'th)] {{in lang|ar}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050203235613/http://baath-party.org/eng/constitution.htm The Constitution of the Arab Socialist Ba'th Party]
{{Ba'ath Party}}
{{Arab nationalism}}
{{Iraqi political parties}}
{{Syrian political parties}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Ba'ath Party| ]]
[[Category:Anti-Israeli sentiment in Syria]]
[[Category:Arab nationalist political parties]]
[[Category:Arab socialist political parties]]
[[Category:Ba'athism]]
[[Category:Left-wing nationalist parties]]