View source for Syrian Communist Party

{{Short description|Political party in Syria (1944–1986)}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Infobox political party
| country          = Syria
| colorcode        = {{party color|Syrian Communist Party}}
| name             = Syrian Communist Party
| native_name      = الحزب الشيوعي السوري
| native_name_lang = ar
| logo             = Syrian Communist Party Logo.svg
| founder          = [[Khalid Bakdash]]
| foundation       = 1944
| national         = [[National Progressive Front (Syria)|National Progressive Front]]
| dissolved        = {{end date|1986}}
| predecessor      = [[Syrian–Lebanese Communist Party]]
| successor        = Split into two factions: the [[Syrian Communist Party (Unified)]] and the [[Syrian Communist Party (Bakdash)]]
| ideology         = [[Communism]]<br />[[Marxism–Leninism]]
| position         = [[Far-left politics|Far-left]]
}}
{{Communist parties}}
{{Politics of Syria}}
The '''Syrian Communist Party''' ({{langx|ar|الحزب الشيوعي السوري|translit=al-Ḥizb aš-Šuyūʿī as-Sūrī}}) was a [[political party]] in [[Syria]] founded in 1944 as a division of the [[Syrian–Lebanese Communist Party]], which later split into the Syrian Communist Party and the [[Lebanese Communist Party]].{{sfnp|Velasco Muñoz|2019|p=109}}

In 1972, it became a member of the [[National Progressive Front (Syria)|National Progressive Front]], the coalition of parties sanctioned by the [[Ba'athist Syria|Ba'athist regime]]. The party split in two in 1986 with two separate parties claiming to represent the original Syrian Communist Party; the [[Syrian Communist Party (Unified)]] and the [[Syrian Communist Party (Bakdash)]].

== Beginnings ==
The party evolved out of the [[Syrian-Lebanese Communist Party|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 [[Damascus|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.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite web |title=Khalid Bakdash |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Khalid-Bakdash |website=Britannica |access-date=28 December 2020}}</ref>

== Bakdash's leadership and organisational growth ==
The party was involved in opposition to the [[Vichy France|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 [[League of Nations Mandate|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.

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.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Khalid Bakdash elected to Syrian parliament|magazine=Time |date=11 October 1954 |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,936433,00.html |access-date=28 March 2023}}</ref> 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.

== Suppression under Nasser and the Ba'ath and tolerance by the Neo Ba'ath 1958–1970 ==
The [[United Arab Republic|United Arab Republic (UAR)]] was formed in February 1958. Toward the end of 1958, a 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.<ref name=brti>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/615447/United-Arab-Republic-UAR|title=United Arab Republic (U.A.R.)|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2012-08-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814103230/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/615447/United-Arab-Republic-UAR|archive-date=2012-08-14|url-status=live}}</ref>

The union ended in 1961 when a [[1961 Syrian coup d'état|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'th Party|Ba'thists]] and [[Nasserism|Nasserists]] to power and the party was once again repressed.

In 1966, the Syrian Ba'ath's secret military committee took power, and implemented a far-left line. Bakdash was allowed to return from Moscow, but forbidden from engaging in public political activity.

== Legal operation in the National Progressive Front from 1972 ==
In 1970, [[Hafez al-Assad]] 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 (Syria)|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.

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 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 People's Democratic Party|Syrian Communist Party (Political Bureau)]] or Syrian Communist Party (Riyad al-Turk).{{sfnp|Velasco Muñoz|2019|pp=118–120}}

== The 1980s: repression and split ==
During 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 ''Nidhal ash-Sha'b'' ("the People's Struggle") and ''an-Nour'' ("the Light"), 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. In 1986, the anti-communist crackdown ended and the ban on the communist party was lifted by Assad as a concession to the Soviets.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B9L9ZWtnYsgC&q=scp+temporarily+banned+by+assad|title=Syria A Country Study|author=Federal Research Division|year=2004|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|isbn=1-4191-5022-7|page=217|access-date=2011-05-12}}</ref>

In 1986, Bakdash and deputy secretary [[Yusuf Faisal]] differed over the policies of [[perestroika]] and [[glasnost]] adopted by [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet Communist Party]] general secretary [[Mikhail Gorbachev]]. Faisal was supportive of Gorbachev's reforms, while Bakdash was opposed. This led to another split in the party, with many of the party's intellectuals leaving with Faisal to the [[Syrian Communist Party (Unified)]] while much of its Kurdish base remained supportive of Bakdash in the [[Syrian Communist Party (Bakdash)]]. Both factions continued to participate in the NPF. <ref>{{cite web |title=Guide to Syrian Political Parties|url=https://heystacks.com/doc/342/syrian-civil-war-factions |access-date=28 March 2023}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |first1=Rosa |last1=Velasco Muñoz|title=In: Communist Parties in the Middle East: 100 Years of History |chapter=The Syrian Communist Party |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |location=Oxford |isbn=9780367134457 |pages=109–128}}
{{refend}}

{{Syrian political parties}}
{{Middle East communist parties}}
{{Portal|Communism|Asia}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Communist parties in Syria]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1944]]
[[Category:1944 establishments in Mandatory Syria]]
[[Category:1986 disestablishments in Syria]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1986]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in Syria]]