Middle East Information Resource
Political Entities - Ba`th
Ba`th (Renaissance) is a radical pan-Arab party which is nominally socialist. It originated in Syria and has ruled Syria since 1963. The Iraqi Ba`th party has been in power since 1968.
Ba`th regards the Arab states as only a step towards an all-Arab state, which it intends to bring about by any means. The party`s regional leadership (qjada qutriyya) is accountable to a "national," all-Arab leadership (qiyada qawmiyya). However, a Syrian and an Iraqi versions of the all-Arab leadership have competed since 1966. The Ba`th parties of Syria and Iraq were each co-opted into the state institutional structure.
The Ba`th Pan-Arab vision is simple, but its socialist doctrine is vague. It has never developed a clear political or economic theory to elaborate upon the theme of Pan-Arabism, or any significant programs. It is based on nationalizm; there is private enterprise, but the economy still revolves around state enterprise. The party has a monopoly in the name of a "national progressive" front. It tolerates other groups that meet its "Socialist Unionist" standards, including communists, but bans all other political organizations. The Ba`th is secular, but in practice it recognizes and even appeals to the Islamic character of the Arab state. It opposes and suppresses extremist Islamic groups.
The Ba`th was founded in the mid-1930`s by students and young intellectuals, especially Michel Aflaq and Salah-al-Din Bitar. The first congress of the "Arab Renaissance Party" (Hjzb al-Ba`th al-Arabi) was in 1947. In 1947 and 1949 party members stood unsuccessfully in Syrian elections. Secretary-General Aflaq served in 1949 as Minister of Education. In 1953 the party merged with the "Arab Socialist Party", to become the "Arab Socialist Renaissance Party" (Hizb al-Ba`th al-Arabi al-Ishtiraki).
The party helped to overthrow Adib Shishakli in February 1954 and grew steadily thereafter. Its attraction for young people was its simply formulated Pan-Arabism, and its anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, and anti-Zionist fervor. Ba`th became really powerful when it recruited army officers; it always seized power by coups and held it with the army and the secret police. Once in power the Ba`th officers were not very concerned with Ba`th ideology. This use of army officers was replicated in other Arab states, but only succeeded in Syria and Iraq. In Jordan, Sudan, Yemen and Tunisia Ba`th remained subversive but ineffective.
In 1957, the Syrian Ba`th officers pushed Syria towards union with Egypt in the UAR in February 1958. The Ba`th expected set the agenda in the new state; but President Abdel Nasser disolved all parties other than his "National Union" party. Nasser was perhaps influenced by Ba`th ideology, but he never acknowledged it. He remained hostile to Ba`th. In the UAR, the Ba`th maintained some underground cells, but its leaders were gradually eliminated from positions of power. In the summer of 1959 the Syrian party leadership, whose activity had been ceased in Syria, renewed its activities in Lebanon. Their growing opposition to Nasser`s authoritarian rule of Syria contributed to Syria`s secession from the Union, in the coup of September 1961.
The new regime in Syria turned rightist and did not offer the Ba`th officers positions of power. The officers returned to factional fighting and intrigue, and in March 1963, they were the principal partners of a new army coup in Syria. This coup came a month after a military coup in Iraq, led by Ba`th officers who joined with (non-Ba`th) Abdel-Salam Aref to depose Abdel-Karim Qassem`s military regime.
The Ba`th party was troubled by the role it had played in the succession of 1961, but it maintaind its unionist doctrine. It advocated a federation rather than a union, even though this violated its theory of nationalism. However, the purpose of the new Ba`th regimes was to win Nasser`s recognition as a source of legitimacy in their countries. In April 1963 the Syrian and Iraqi Ba`th regimes together worked out an agreement with Egypt for a tripartite federal union, a new "United Arab Republic," and a detailed draft constitution. An internal power struggle in Syria between the Ba`th and the Nasserists, caused the plan to lose momentum. In November 1963 the Iraqi Ba`th was also weakened by bitter factional struggles and was ousted from the government by President Aref.
In Syria, the Ba`th has been in power since 1963, but has been divided. Factions struggled for power and even carried out military coups against each other. A rightist faction is identified politically and militarily with General Amin al-Hafez and ideologicalIy with by Michel Aflaq. It ruled Syria until February 1966 and controlled the "national," all-Arab leadership and the Iraqi Ba`th. A military faction, more leftist and doctrinaire, was headed by Generals Salah Jadid and Hafez al-Asad. They gradually gained control of the Syrian regional command, and in February 1966 ousted the Hafez-Aflaq group in military coup.
In Iraq the Ba`th again came to power in a coup, in July 1968. The Iraqi Ba`th embraced the former national leadership of Syria. The military faction in Syria split; General Asad headed a new faction that condemned Jadid and his associates, Zu`ayyin, Makhus, Nur al-Din al-Atassi, as too leftist-revolutionary, and not pan-Arab enough. The rift was catalyzed by ideology but revolved principally around power. In 1969 Asad gained control in a coup, but agreed to keep some of the incumbants in leading positions. In November 1970 he took full control. In 1971 Asad became President of Syria, Secretary-General of the Syrian Ba`th and of Syria`s all-Arab command.
In both Syria and Iraq the Ba`th party has become a tool serving a ruling group of officers, headed by Asad in Syria and by Saddam Hussein in Iraq. The Iraqi and Syrian Ba`th regimes have shown pragmatic flexibility along with hard line and extremity both in international and inter-Arab affairs and particularly vis-a-vis Israel.
In Lebanon the pro-Iraqi Ba`th is weak and pro-Syrian branch is dominant. The Lebanese Ba`th is almost irrelevant because the Syrian Ba`th projects power directly in Lebanon. Nevertheless, the Ba`th was represented in the National Unity Government formed in December 1990. Abdallah al-Allin, a Shi`i Muslim, served as minister in several Lebanese governments since. The leader of the pro-Iraqi wing, Dr. Abd al-Majid al-Rafi`i, a member of parliament from 1972 to 1992, is residing in France, like many Lebanese opposition leaders. In Jordan, a Ba`th party was legal in the mid-1950`s and represented in parliament. After 1957, the Ba`th was outlawed in Jordan and went underground. It no longer had any political influence, but did join other radical groups in creating disruption. Among the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza the Ba`th played a role until 1967, but with the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, it became unimportant. As an all-Arab political movement, the Ba`th has deteriorated.