Ba'ath Party

The Arab Socialist Ba'th Party (also spelled Baath or Ba'ath; Arabic: ??? ????? ?????? ?????????) was founded in 1945 as a radical, left-wing, secular Arab nationalist political party. It functioned as a pan-Arab party with branches in different Arab countries, but was strongest in Syria and Iraq, coming to power in both countries in 1963. In 1966 the Syrian and Iraqi parties split into two rival organisations. Both Ba'th parties retained the same name and maintain parallel structures in the Arab world.

The Iraq-based Ba'th Party

Iraqi and Syrian Ba'thism today differ widely and partially oppose each other, though they only split a long time after their creation. They share one common feature in that under Saddam Hussein Iraq also moved away from Ba'athist principles.

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History

In Iraq the Ba'th party remained a civilian group and lacked strong support within the military. The party had little impact, and the movement split into several factions after 1958 and again in 1966. It lacked strong popular support, but through the construction of a strong party apparatus the party succeeded in gaining power.

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The Ba'thists first came to power in the coup of February, 1963, when Abd al-Salam 'Arif became president. Interference from the historic leadership around Aflaq and disputes between the moderates and extremists, culminating in an attempted coup by the latter in November, 1963, served to discredit the party. After Arif's takeover in November 1963, the moderate military Ba'thist officers initially retained some influence but were gradually eased out of power over the following months.

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In July, 1968, a bloodless coup brought to power the Ba'athist general Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr. Wranglings within the party continued, and the government periodically purged its dissident members. Saddam Hussein eventually succeeded al-Bakr in 1979 and ruled Iraq until 2003. Although almost all the Ba'thist leadership had no military background, under Hussein the party changed dramatically and became heavily militarized, with its leading members frequently appearing in uniform.

Related Topics:
Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr - Purge - Saddam Hussein - Iraq

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Structure

The Party cell or circle, composed of three to seven members, constitutes the basic organisational unit of the Iraqi Ba'th Party. Cells functioned at the neighborhood or village level, where members would meet to discuss and execute party directives introduced from above. Since individual cells had little contact with one another, those higher up could vigorously enforce party loyalties from the top down. As the U.S. and its allies discovered in Iraq in 2003, cell organization also made the Party highly resilient.

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A Party division comprised two to seven cells, controlled by a division commander. Such Ba'thist cells occurred throughout the bureaucracy and the military, where they functioned as the Party's watchdog, an effective form of covert surveillance within a public administration.

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A Party section, which comprised two to five divisions, functioned at the level of a large city quarter, a town, or a rural district.

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The branch came above the sections; it comprised at least two sections, and operated at the provincial level.

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The Party congress, which combined all the branches, elected the regional command as the core of the Party leadership and top decision-making mechanism.

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The national command of the Ba'th Party ranked over the regional command. It formed the highest policy-making and coordinating council for the Ba'ath movement throughout the Arab world at large.

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Post-Saddam

In June 2003, the US-led occupying forces in Iraq banned the Ba'th party. Some criticize the additional step the US took ? of banning all members of the Ba'th party from the new government, as well as from public schools and colleges ? as blocking too many skilled people from participation in the new government. Several teachers have lost their jobs, causing protests and demonstrations at schools and universities. Under the previous rule of the Ba'ath party, one could not reach high positions in the government or in the schools without becoming a party member.

Related Topics:
Occupying - Public school - College - School - Universities

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The party outside Iraq

The Iraq-based Ba'th Party had branches in various Arab countries, such as Lebanon and Jordan. After the fall of the Saddam government, many branches have distanced themselves from the central party, such as the branches in Yemen and Sudan.

Related Topics:
Lebanon - Jordan - Yemen - Sudan

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The branch amongst the Palestinians bears the name of Jabhat al-Tahrir al-'Arabiyah (the Arab Liberation Front, or ALF). ALF formed the major Palestinian political faction in Iraq during the Saddam years.

Related Topics:
Arab Liberation Front - Iraq

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In Bahrain, Rasul al-Jaishy leads the local pro-Saddam faction of the Ba'ah Party, the Nationalist Democratic Rally Society (Jami'at al-Tajammu' al-Qawmi al-Dimuqrati), which in an alliance with radical Islamists opposes the Bahrain government's political reforms.

Related Topics:
Bahrain - Nationalist Democratic Rally Society - Islamists

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An Iraq-oriented Ba'th Party branch formerly existed in Syria, which the Syrian government severely repressed.

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