Ba'athism
Encyclopedia
Ba'athism is an Arab nationalist
ideology
that promotes the development and creation of an Arab nation through the leadership of a vanguard party
over a progressive
revolutionary
state. The ideology is officially based on the theories of Zaki al-Arsuzi
(according to the Syrian Ba'ath Party
), Michel Aflaq
and Salah al-Din al-Bitar
. A ba'athist society seeks enlightenment, renaissance
and rebirth
of Arab culture, values and society. It supports the creation of single-party state
s, and rejects political pluralism in an unspecified length of time – the ba'ath party theoretically uses an unspecified amount of time to develop an enlightened Arabic society. The two ba'athist states which have been in existance, through a policy of authoritarianism
, forbid opposition and criticism of their ideology. Through the policy of democratic centralism
, the ba'ath party is the supreme political institution of a ba'athist state.
Ba'athism is a left-wing
ideology, based on principles of Arab nationalism, pan-Arabism
, Arab socialism
, as well as social progress
. It is a secular ideology. A ba'athist state supports socialist economics to a varying degree; Syria, a ba'athist state, uses a centrally-planned
state socialist
economy while Iraq, under Saddam Hussein
, followed a policy of capitalist growth
led by the state. A ba'athist state supports public ownership over parts of the economy but opposes the confiscation private property
. Socialism in ba'athist ideology does not mean state socialism or economic equality, but modernisation; the only way to develop an Arab society which is truly free and united is by creating a socialist society first.
and Michel Aflaq
. Al-Arsuzi formed the Arab Ba'ath Party in 1940 and his views influenced Aflaq who, alongside junior partner Salah al-Din al-Bitar
, founded the Arab Ihya Movement in 1940 that later renamed itself the Arab Ba'ath Movement in 1943. Though Aflaq was influenced by him, al-Arsuzi initially did not cooperate with Aflaq's movement. Al-Arsuzi suspected that the existance of the Arab Ihya Movement, which occasionally titled itself "Arab Ba'ath" during 1941, was part of an imperialist plot to prevent his influence over the Arabs by creating a movement of the same name.
Al-Arsuzi was an Arab from Alexandretta who had been associated with Arab nationalist
politics during the interwar period. He was inspired by the French Revolution
, the German and Italian unification
movements, and the Japanese "economic miracle". His views were influenced by a number of prominent European philosophical and political figures, among them Georg Hegel, Karl Marx
, Friedrich Nietzsche
, and Oswald Spengler
. He was also influenced by the racial theories of Houston Stewart Chamberlain
and national socialism
. Al-Arsuzi claimed that historically Islam
and the Prophet Muhammad
had reinforced the nobility and purity of Arabs, which degenerated in purity because of the adoption of Islam by other people. He had been associated with the National Action League
, a political party strongly influenced by fascism
and national socialism with its paramilitary "Ironshirts", that existed in Syria from 1932 to 1940. Al-Arsuzi left the party in 1939 after its popular leader died and the party had fallen into disarray, he founded the short-lived Arab National Party
in 1939 and dissolved later that year.
On November 29, 1940, al-Arsuzi founded the Arab Ba'ath Party. Despite his pro-national socialist views, al-Arzuri did not support the Axis Powers
, and refused Italy's advances for an alliance.
A significant conflict and turning point in the development of Ba'athism occurred when Al-Arsuzi's and Aflaq's movements sparred over the the issue of the 1941 coupt d'etat by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani and the subsequent Anglo–Iraqi War
. Aflaq's movement supported al-Gaylani's government and the Iraqi government's war against the British, and organized volunteers to go to Iraq and fight for the Iraqi government. However, al-Arsuzi opposed al-Gaylani's government, considering the coup to be poorly-planned and a failure. At this point, al-Arsuzi's party lost members and support that transferred to Aflaq's movement. Subsequently, al-Arsuri's direct influence in Arab politics collapsed after Vichy French
authorities expelled him from Syria in 1941. Aflaq's Arab Ba'ath Movement's next major political action was its support of Lebanon
's war of independence from France in 1943. The Arab Ba'ath Movement did not solidify for years until it held its first party congress in 1947 when it merged with the Arab Socialist Party led by Akram al-Hawrani
to establish the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party.
, or at least, its most notable contributor. There were other notable ideologues as well, such as al-Arsuzi and Salah al-Din al-Bitar
. From the founding of the Arab Ba'ath Movement
until the mid-1950s in Syria and the early 1960s in Iraq, the ideology of the Ba'ath Party was largely synonymous with that of Aflaq's. Aflaq's view on Arab nationalism
is considered by some, such as historian Paul Salem, as romantic and poetic. In intellectual terms, Aflaq recasted the conservative Arab nationalist thoughts and changed them to reflect a strong revolutionary and progressive tendency which developed in harmony
alongside the decolonisation and other events which happened in the Arab world
at the time of his life. He insisted the overthrow of the old ruling classes, and supported the creation of a secular society by separating Islam
from the state. Not all these ideas were his, but it was Aflaq who suceeded in turning these believes into a transnational movement. Ba'athism is by definition Arab socialist
, a socialism
with Arab characteristics which is not associated with international socialist movement, and pan-Arab
ideology.
Ba'athism, as developed by Aflaq and Bitar, was a unique left-wing Arab-centric ideology. The ideology presented itself as representing the "Arab spirit against materialistic
communism
" and "Arab history against dead reaction
." It held ideological similarity and a favourable outlook to the Non-Aligned Movement
politics of Jawaharlal Nehru
, Gamal Abdel Nasser
, and Josip Broz Tito
, and historically opposing affiliation with either the the American
-led Western Bloc
and Soviet
-led Eastern Bloc
of the Cold War
.
that language was the principal defining unifying factor of the Arab nation because language led to the unity of thought, norms and ideals. History was also another unifying feature, as it was the "fertile ground in which our consciousness took shape." The centre of Aflaq's ba'athist thought was the feature ba'ath (literally meaning "renaissance
"). This renaissance could only be reached by uniting the Arab nations, and it would transform the Arab world politically, economically, intellectually and morally. This "future renaissance" would be a "rebirth", the first Arab renaissance, according to Aflaq, was the origins of Islam in the seventh century. The new "renaissance" would bring another Arab message; this view was summed up in the ba'ath party's slogan "One Nation, Bearing an Eternal Message". The Arab nation could only reach this "renaissance" through a revolutionary process towards the goals of "unity, liberty and socialism". In Aflaq's view, a nation could only "progress" or "decline"; Arab nations of his time could only progressively "decline" because of their illnesses – "feudalism
, sectarianism
, regionalism
, intellectual reactionism. These problems, Aflaq believed, could only be resolved through a revolutionary process. A revolution could only succeed if the revolutionaries were pure, and devoted nearly religiously to the task. Aflaq supported the marxist
view of the need of a vanguard party
following a successful revolution; a successful revolution was not an "inevitable outcome". The vanguad, in ba'ahist ideology, was the ba'ath party. Aflaq believed that the youth were the key for a successful revolution, the youth were open to change and enlightenment because they still hadn't been indoctrinated with other views. A major problem, according to Aflaq, was the disillusionment of the Arab youth. Disillusionment led to individualism
, and individualism was not a healthy sign in a underdeveloped country, in contrast to developed countries were it was a healthy sign.
Aflaq supported the idea of democratic centralism
and a committed activist revolutionary party
based on the Leninist model
. The revolutionary party would seize political power and from there on, transform society for the greater good. While the revolutionary party was numerically a minority, it was an all powerful institution, which had the right to initiate a policy even if the majority of the population were against it. As with the leninist model, the ba'ath party knew what was right and what was wrong; the population as a whole did not know this yet, they were still influenced by the old value and moral system.
(1916–1918) against the Ottoman Empire
failed to unify the Arab world
because it was led by a reactionary class. He believed the ruling class, who supported the monarchy as the leaders of the Arab Revolt did, were synonymous with a reactionary class. In ba'athist ideology, the ruling class is replaced by a revolutionary progressive class. Aflaq was bitterly opposed to any kind of monarchy
, and described the Arab Revolt as "the illusions of kings and feudal lords who understood unity as the gathering of backwardness to backwardness, exploitation to exploitation and numbers to numbers like sheep." It was the reactionary class's view of arab unity which had left the Arab Revolt "struggle for unity without blood and nerve." Aflaq saw the German unification
as proof of this. This view was in stark contrast to other Arab nationalist thoughts, most Arab nationalists were Germanophile
s. According to Aflaq, Bismarck
's unification of Germany established the most repressive nation the world had ever seen, this could largely be blamed on, according to Aflaq, the existing monarchy and the reactionary class. To copy the German example would be disastrous, according to Aflaq, and would lead to the enslavement of the Arab people.
The only way to combat the reactionary classes laid in "progressive" revolution, central to which is struggle for unity. This struggle could not be separated from the social revolutio – to separate these two would be the same as to weaken the movement. The reactionary classes, who are content with the status quo
, would oppose the "progressive" revolution. Even if the revolution succeeded in one "region" (country), that region would be unable to develop because of the resource constraints, small populations and the anti-revolution forces held by other Arab leaders. For a revolution to succeed the Arab world would have to evolve into an "organic whole" (literally become one). In short, Arab unity is both the cause of the "progressive" revolution and its effect.
A major obstacle to the success of the revolution is the Arab League
. Aflaq believed that the Arab League strengthened both regional interests and the reactionary classes, thus weakening the chance of establishing an Arab nation. Because of the world situation, were the majority of Arab states were under the rule of the reactionary classes, revised his ideology to meet reality. Instead of creating an Arab nation through a Arab wide progressive revolution, the main task of country's were progressive revolutionaries had succeeded was to spread the revolution. These progressive revolutionary countries would then one by one unite until the Arab world had evolved into an Arab nation. The revolution would not succeed if the progressive revolutionary governments did not contribute to spreading the revolution.
, colonialism
, religious or a none-enlightened dictatorship weakened liberty; ideas came from above, not from below through human interaction. One of the ba'ath party's main priorities according to Aflaq, was to disseminate new ideas and thoughts; it would interpose itself not only between the Arab nation and the imperialists, but also the people and the tyrants. While the notion of liberty was an important ideal to Aflaq, he failed to create a society were liberty was protected by a set of institutions and rules. His vision of a one-party state ruled by the ba'ath party, which disseminated information to the public, was in many ways, contrary to his view on individual interactions. The ba'ath party through its preeminence would establish liberty, according to Aflaq, liberty could not just come from nowhere, it needed an enlightened progressive group to create a truly free society. In short, Aflaq's view on liberty is different from the liberal democratic
view of what liberty is; in Aflaq's vision liberty would be ensured by a ba'ath party which was not elected by the populace, because the party had the common good at heart. The weakness of such a system, is according to historian Paul Salem, "quite obvious".
to be one of the greatest human discoveries of all time. However, he disagreed on the marxist view that dialectical materialism was the only truth, Aflaq believed that marxism had forgotten human's spirituality. While believing that the concept would work for small and weak societies, the concept of dialectical materialism as the only truth in Arab development was wrong. For a people as spiritual as the Arabs, the working class was just a group, albeit the most important group, in a much larger movement to free the Arab nation. Aflaq agreed to Karl Marx
's view that the working class was a central force, but not which role it played in history. In contrast to Marx, Aflaq believed in nationalism
, and believed that all classes, and not just the working class, were working against "capitalist domination of the foreign powers"
. What in the west was a struggle between various classes was in the Arab world a fight for political and economic independence.
Like unity and liberty, socialism was a mean to initiate an Arabic renaissance period, in other words, a period of modernisation. While unity brought the Arab world together and liberty provided the Arab people with freedom, socialism was the cornerstone which made unity and liberty successful. No socialism, ment no revolution. According to Aflaq, a liberal democracy was of little use in a country such as, for instance, Syria
. Syria was a country dominated by a "pseudo-feudalism" economic system, the repression of the peasant in this pseudo-feudalist system nullified the people's political liberty. Liberty ment little to nothing to the general poverty striken populace of Syria; socialism was the solution to this crisis. According to Aflaq the ultimate goal of socialism's not to answer the question of how much state control
was necessary or economic equality, but instead socialism was "a means to satisfy the animal needs of man so he can be free to pursue his duties as a human being". In other words, socialism was a system which freed the population from enslavement and created independent individuals. However, economic equality was a major tenet in ba'athist ideology; the elimination of inequality would "eliminate all privilege, exploitation, and domination by one group over another". In short, if liberty was to succeed, the Arab people needed socialism. Aflaq labelled this kind of socialism "Arab socialism
", to signify that it lived in harmony and was in some ways subordinate to Arab nationalism
. According to Aflaq, who was a christian, the teaching and reforms of the Prophet Muhammed had given socialism an authentic Arab expression. Socialism was viewed by Aflaq as justice
, and the reforms of the Prophet Muhammed were both just and wise. The ba'athist would, in modern times, initiate another way of just and radical forms just as the Prophet had done in the seventh century.
, but also against fundamentalism
; the fundamentalists represented a "shallow, false faith." According to ba'athist ideology, all religions were equal. Despite his anti-atheist stance, Aflaq was a strong supporter of secular government, and stated a ba'athist state would replace religion with a state "based on a foundation, Arab nationalism, and a moral; freedom." During the shia riotes against the Iraqi ba'ath regime in the late-1970s, Aflaq warned Saddam Hussein
of making any concessions to the rioters, exclaiming that the Ba'ath Party "is with [religious] faith, but is not a religious party, nor should it be one." During his vice presidency, at the time of the shia riots, Hussein discussed the need to convince large segments of the population to convert to the party line
's stance on religion. Hussein's stance on secularisation changed following the Iran–Iraq War, when a law was passed allowing men to kill their sisters, daughters and wives if they were unfaithful. When Aflaq died in 1989, an official announcement made by the Iraqi Regional Command
stated that Aflaq had converted to Islam prior to his death – Aflaq's family were unaware of his conversion according to a Western journalist. Prior, during and after the Gulf War
, the regime became progressively more Islamic, by the beginning of the 1990s Saddam proclaimed the ba'ath party to be the party "of Arabism and Islam."
Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism is a nationalist ideology celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language and literature of the Arabs, calling for rejuvenation and political union in the Arab world...
ideology
Ideology
An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to...
that promotes the development and creation of an Arab nation through the leadership of a vanguard party
Vanguard party
A vanguard party is a political party at the forefront of a mass action, movement, or revolution. The idea of a vanguard party has its origins in the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels...
over a progressive
Progressive
Progressive is an adjectival form of progress and may refer to:-Politics:* Progressivism, a political ideology* Progressive Era, a period of reform in the United States Progressive is an adjectival form of progress and may refer to:-Politics:* Progressivism, a political ideology* Progressive Era, a...
revolutionary
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
state. The ideology is officially based on the theories of Zaki al-Arsuzi
Zaki al-Arsuzi
Zakī al-Arsūzī born Latakia June 1899, died Damascus July 1968) was a Syrian political activist and writer, and is widely regarded as a main inspiration for the Ba'ath Party...
(according to the Syrian Ba'ath Party
Ba'ath Party (Syrian-led faction)
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party is a Ba'athist political party, with branches across the Arab world. The party emerged out of a split in the original Ba'ath Party in 1966. The party leads the government in Syria. For many years, the party was led by the Syrian president Hafiz al-Assad...
), Michel Aflaq
Michel Aflaq
Michel Aflaq was a Syrian philosopher, who is credited with being the ideological founder of ba'athism, a hybrid of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism.-Early life:...
and Salah al-Din al-Bitar
Salah al-Din al-Bitar
Salah ad-Din al-Bitar , was a Syrian politician who, with Michel Aflaq, founded the Arab Ba'th Party in the early 1940s. During their student days in Paris in the early 1930s, the two worked together to formulate a doctrine that combined aspects of nationalism and socialism...
. A ba'athist society seeks enlightenment, renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
and rebirth
Rebirth
-Spiritual:* Reincarnation, the migration of a deceased person's spirit to a newborn body** Rebirth * Baptism, a Christian ritual representing spiritual cleansing* Resurrection of the Dead-Music:* Rebirth Brass Band* Rebirth...
of Arab culture, values and society. It supports the creation of single-party state
Single-party state
A single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election...
s, and rejects political pluralism in an unspecified length of time – the ba'ath party theoretically uses an unspecified amount of time to develop an enlightened Arabic society. The two ba'athist states which have been in existance, through a policy of authoritarianism
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
, forbid opposition and criticism of their ideology. Through the policy of democratic centralism
Democratic centralism
Democratic centralism is the name given to the principles of internal organization used by Leninist political parties, and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for any Leninist policy inside a political party...
, the ba'ath party is the supreme political institution of a ba'athist state.
Ba'athism is a left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
ideology, based on principles of Arab nationalism, pan-Arabism
Pan-Arabism
Pan-Arabism is an ideology espousing the unification--or, sometimes, close cooperation and solidarity against perceived enemies of the Arabs--of the countries of the Arab world, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea. It is closely connected to Arab nationalism, which asserts that the Arabs...
, Arab socialism
Arab socialism
Arab socialism is a political ideology based on an amalgamation of Pan-Arabism and socialism. Arab socialism is distinct from the much broader tradition of socialist thought in the Arab world, which predates Arab socialism by as much as fifty years...
, as well as social progress
Social progress
Social progress is the idea that societies can or do improve in terms of their social, political, and economic structures. This may happen as a result of direct human action, as in social enterprise or through social activism, or as a natural part of sociocultural evolution...
. It is a secular ideology. A ba'athist state supports socialist economics to a varying degree; Syria, a ba'athist state, uses a centrally-planned
Planned economy
A planned economy is an economic system in which decisions regarding production and investment are embodied in a plan formulated by a central authority, usually by a government agency...
state socialist
State socialism
State socialism is an economic system with limited socialist characteristics, such as public ownership of major industries, remedial measures to benefit the working class, and a gradual process of developing socialism through government policy...
economy while Iraq, under Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
, followed a policy of capitalist growth
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
led by the state. A ba'athist state supports public ownership over parts of the economy but opposes the confiscation private property
Private property
Private property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which refers to assets owned by a state, community or government rather than by...
. Socialism in ba'athist ideology does not mean state socialism or economic equality, but modernisation; the only way to develop an Arab society which is truly free and united is by creating a socialist society first.
History
The origins of Ba'athism began with the political thought developed by Zaki al-ArsuziZaki al-Arsuzi
Zakī al-Arsūzī born Latakia June 1899, died Damascus July 1968) was a Syrian political activist and writer, and is widely regarded as a main inspiration for the Ba'ath Party...
and Michel Aflaq
Michel Aflaq
Michel Aflaq was a Syrian philosopher, who is credited with being the ideological founder of ba'athism, a hybrid of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism.-Early life:...
. Al-Arsuzi formed the Arab Ba'ath Party in 1940 and his views influenced Aflaq who, alongside junior partner Salah al-Din al-Bitar
Salah al-Din al-Bitar
Salah ad-Din al-Bitar , was a Syrian politician who, with Michel Aflaq, founded the Arab Ba'th Party in the early 1940s. During their student days in Paris in the early 1930s, the two worked together to formulate a doctrine that combined aspects of nationalism and socialism...
, founded the Arab Ihya Movement in 1940 that later renamed itself the Arab Ba'ath Movement in 1943. Though Aflaq was influenced by him, al-Arsuzi initially did not cooperate with Aflaq's movement. Al-Arsuzi suspected that the existance of the Arab Ihya Movement, which occasionally titled itself "Arab Ba'ath" during 1941, was part of an imperialist plot to prevent his influence over the Arabs by creating a movement of the same name.
Al-Arsuzi was an Arab from Alexandretta who had been associated with Arab nationalist
Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism is a nationalist ideology celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language and literature of the Arabs, calling for rejuvenation and political union in the Arab world...
politics during the interwar period. He was inspired by the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, the German and Italian unification
Italian unification
Italian unification was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century...
movements, and the Japanese "economic miracle". His views were influenced by a number of prominent European philosophical and political figures, among them Georg Hegel, Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
, Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
, and Oswald Spengler
Oswald Spengler
Oswald Manuel Arnold Gottfried Spengler was a German historian and philosopher whose interests also included mathematics, science, and art. He is best known for his book The Decline of the West , published in 1918, which puts forth a cyclical theory of the rise and decline of civilizations...
. He was also influenced by the racial theories of Houston Stewart Chamberlain
Houston Stewart Chamberlain
Houston Stewart Chamberlain was a British-born German author of books on political philosophy, natural science and the German composer Richard Wagner. He later became a German citizen. Chamberlain married Wagner's daughter, Eva, some years after Wagner's death...
and national socialism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. Al-Arsuzi claimed that historically Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and the Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
had reinforced the nobility and purity of Arabs, which degenerated in purity because of the adoption of Islam by other people. He had been associated with the National Action League
National Action League
The Nationalist Action League is a Syrian nationalist political party, created in 1932-1933 by a lawyer of Homs, Abderrazak al-Dandashli.This party was created in response to particular referred to the Turkish Sanjak of Alexandretta...
, a political party strongly influenced by fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and national socialism with its paramilitary "Ironshirts", that existed in Syria from 1932 to 1940. Al-Arsuzi left the party in 1939 after its popular leader died and the party had fallen into disarray, he founded the short-lived Arab National Party
Arab National Party (historical)
The Arab National Party was an Arab nationalist party in Syria in 1939, founded by Zaki al-Arsuzi. Al-Arsuzi had been associated with Arab nationalist politics during the interwar period. He had been associated with the National Action League, a political party strongly influenced by fascism and...
in 1939 and dissolved later that year.
On November 29, 1940, al-Arsuzi founded the Arab Ba'ath Party. Despite his pro-national socialist views, al-Arzuri did not support the Axis Powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
, and refused Italy's advances for an alliance.
A significant conflict and turning point in the development of Ba'athism occurred when Al-Arsuzi's and Aflaq's movements sparred over the the issue of the 1941 coupt d'etat by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani and the subsequent Anglo–Iraqi War
Anglo-Iraqi War
The Anglo-Iraqi War was the name of the British campaign against the rebel government of Rashid Ali in the Kingdom of Iraq during the Second World War. The war lasted from 2 May to 31 May 1941. The campaign resulted in the re-occupation of Iraq by British armed forces and the return to power of the...
. Aflaq's movement supported al-Gaylani's government and the Iraqi government's war against the British, and organized volunteers to go to Iraq and fight for the Iraqi government. However, al-Arsuzi opposed al-Gaylani's government, considering the coup to be poorly-planned and a failure. At this point, al-Arsuzi's party lost members and support that transferred to Aflaq's movement. Subsequently, al-Arsuri's direct influence in Arab politics collapsed after Vichy French
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
authorities expelled him from Syria in 1941. Aflaq's Arab Ba'ath Movement's next major political action was its support of Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
's war of independence from France in 1943. The Arab Ba'ath Movement did not solidify for years until it held its first party congress in 1947 when it merged with the Arab Socialist Party led by Akram al-Hawrani
Akram al-Hawrani
Akram al-Hawrani |transcribe]]d Hourani or Hurani) , was a Syrian politician who played a prominent role in the formation of a widespread populist, nationalist movement in Syria and in the rise of the Ba'th Party...
to establish the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party.
Definition
Aflaq is today considered the founder of the ba'athist movementArab Ba'ath Movement
The Arab Ba'ath Movement , also literally translated as Arab Resurrection Movement or Arab Renaissance Movement, was the Ba'athist political movement and predacessor of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party...
, or at least, its most notable contributor. There were other notable ideologues as well, such as al-Arsuzi and Salah al-Din al-Bitar
Salah al-Din al-Bitar
Salah ad-Din al-Bitar , was a Syrian politician who, with Michel Aflaq, founded the Arab Ba'th Party in the early 1940s. During their student days in Paris in the early 1930s, the two worked together to formulate a doctrine that combined aspects of nationalism and socialism...
. From the founding of the Arab Ba'ath Movement
Arab Ba'ath Movement
The Arab Ba'ath Movement , also literally translated as Arab Resurrection Movement or Arab Renaissance Movement, was the Ba'athist political movement and predacessor of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party...
until the mid-1950s in Syria and the early 1960s in Iraq, the ideology of the Ba'ath Party was largely synonymous with that of Aflaq's. Aflaq's view on Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism is a nationalist ideology celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language and literature of the Arabs, calling for rejuvenation and political union in the Arab world...
is considered by some, such as historian Paul Salem, as romantic and poetic. In intellectual terms, Aflaq recasted the conservative Arab nationalist thoughts and changed them to reflect a strong revolutionary and progressive tendency which developed in harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
alongside the decolonisation and other events which happened in the Arab world
Arab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
at the time of his life. He insisted the overthrow of the old ruling classes, and supported the creation of a secular society by separating Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
from the state. Not all these ideas were his, but it was Aflaq who suceeded in turning these believes into a transnational movement. Ba'athism is by definition Arab socialist
Arab socialism
Arab socialism is a political ideology based on an amalgamation of Pan-Arabism and socialism. Arab socialism is distinct from the much broader tradition of socialist thought in the Arab world, which predates Arab socialism by as much as fifty years...
, a socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
with Arab characteristics which is not associated with international socialist movement, and pan-Arab
Pan-Arabism
Pan-Arabism is an ideology espousing the unification--or, sometimes, close cooperation and solidarity against perceived enemies of the Arabs--of the countries of the Arab world, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea. It is closely connected to Arab nationalism, which asserts that the Arabs...
ideology.
Ba'athism, as developed by Aflaq and Bitar, was a unique left-wing Arab-centric ideology. The ideology presented itself as representing the "Arab spirit against materialistic
Materialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
" and "Arab history against dead reaction
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
." It held ideological similarity and a favourable outlook to the Non-Aligned Movement
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2011, the movement had 120 members and 17 observer countries...
politics of Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
, Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death. A colonel in the Egyptian army, Nasser led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 along with Muhammad Naguib, the first president, which overthrew the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, and heralded a new period of...
, and Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
, and historically opposing affiliation with either the the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-led Western Bloc
Western Bloc
The Western Bloc or Capitalist Bloc during the Cold War refers to the powers allied with the United States and NATO against the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact...
and Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
-led Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
Renaissance and rebirth
Aflaq supported Sati' al-HusriSati' al-Husri
Sāti` al-Husrī was an Ottoman and Syrian writer, educationalist and an influential Arab nationalist thinker in the 20th century.-Early life:...
that language was the principal defining unifying factor of the Arab nation because language led to the unity of thought, norms and ideals. History was also another unifying feature, as it was the "fertile ground in which our consciousness took shape." The centre of Aflaq's ba'athist thought was the feature ba'ath (literally meaning "renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
"). This renaissance could only be reached by uniting the Arab nations, and it would transform the Arab world politically, economically, intellectually and morally. This "future renaissance" would be a "rebirth", the first Arab renaissance, according to Aflaq, was the origins of Islam in the seventh century. The new "renaissance" would bring another Arab message; this view was summed up in the ba'ath party's slogan "One Nation, Bearing an Eternal Message". The Arab nation could only reach this "renaissance" through a revolutionary process towards the goals of "unity, liberty and socialism". In Aflaq's view, a nation could only "progress" or "decline"; Arab nations of his time could only progressively "decline" because of their illnesses – "feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
, sectarianism
Sectarianism
Sectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...
, regionalism
Regionalism
In politics, regionalism is a political ideology that focuses on the interests of a particular region or group of regions, whether traditional or formal...
, intellectual reactionism. These problems, Aflaq believed, could only be resolved through a revolutionary process. A revolution could only succeed if the revolutionaries were pure, and devoted nearly religiously to the task. Aflaq supported the marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
view of the need of a vanguard party
Vanguard party
A vanguard party is a political party at the forefront of a mass action, movement, or revolution. The idea of a vanguard party has its origins in the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels...
following a successful revolution; a successful revolution was not an "inevitable outcome". The vanguad, in ba'ahist ideology, was the ba'ath party. Aflaq believed that the youth were the key for a successful revolution, the youth were open to change and enlightenment because they still hadn't been indoctrinated with other views. A major problem, according to Aflaq, was the disillusionment of the Arab youth. Disillusionment led to individualism
Individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...
, and individualism was not a healthy sign in a underdeveloped country, in contrast to developed countries were it was a healthy sign.
Vanguard party
The party's main task, before the revolution, was to spread enlightened ideas to the people and to challenge reactionary and conservative elements in society. According to Aflaq, a ba'ath party would ensue a policy of proselytization; to keep the uneducated masses out of the party until the party leadership was enlightened with the thoughts of enlightenment. However, the party was also a political organisation, and as Aflaq's notes politics was "a means [...] is the most serious of matters at this present stage". Ba'athism was similar to communist thought in that a vanguard party would rule for an unspecified length to construct a new society".Aflaq supported the idea of democratic centralism
Democratic centralism
Democratic centralism is the name given to the principles of internal organization used by Leninist political parties, and the term is sometimes used as a synonym for any Leninist policy inside a political party...
and a committed activist revolutionary party
Revolutionary Party
Revolutionary Party is the name of several political parties, including:*Dominican Revolutionary Party*Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity*Revolutionary Progressive Nationalist Party of Haiti*Democratic Revolutionary Peoples Party, India...
based on the Leninist model
Leninism
In Marxist philosophy, Leninism is the body of political theory for the democratic organisation of a revolutionary vanguard party, and the achievement of a direct-democracy dictatorship of the proletariat, as political prelude to the establishment of socialism...
. The revolutionary party would seize political power and from there on, transform society for the greater good. While the revolutionary party was numerically a minority, it was an all powerful institution, which had the right to initiate a policy even if the majority of the population were against it. As with the leninist model, the ba'ath party knew what was right and what was wrong; the population as a whole did not know this yet, they were still influenced by the old value and moral system.
Reactionary classes
According to Aflaq, the Arab RevoltArab Revolt
The Arab Revolt was initiated by the Sherif Hussein bin Ali with the aim of securing independence from the ruling Ottoman Turks and creating a single unified Arab state spanning from Aleppo in Syria to Aden in Yemen.- Background :...
(1916–1918) against the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
failed to unify the Arab world
Arab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
because it was led by a reactionary class. He believed the ruling class, who supported the monarchy as the leaders of the Arab Revolt did, were synonymous with a reactionary class. In ba'athist ideology, the ruling class is replaced by a revolutionary progressive class. Aflaq was bitterly opposed to any kind of monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
, and described the Arab Revolt as "the illusions of kings and feudal lords who understood unity as the gathering of backwardness to backwardness, exploitation to exploitation and numbers to numbers like sheep." It was the reactionary class's view of arab unity which had left the Arab Revolt "struggle for unity without blood and nerve." Aflaq saw the German unification
Unification of Germany
The formal unification of Germany into a politically and administratively integrated nation state officially occurred on 18 January 1871 at the Versailles Palace's Hall of Mirrors in France. Princes of the German states gathered there to proclaim Wilhelm of Prussia as Emperor Wilhelm of the German...
as proof of this. This view was in stark contrast to other Arab nationalist thoughts, most Arab nationalists were Germanophile
Germanophile
A Germanophile is a person who is fond of German culture, German people, and Germany in general, exhibiting as it were German nationalism in spite of not being an ethnic German or a German citizen. Its opposite is Germanophobia...
s. According to Aflaq, Bismarck
Bismarck
- People :* Bismarck family, a German noble family descending from Herebord von Bismarck* Otto von Bismarck , German statesman of the 19th century* Herbert von Bismarck , Secretary of State, son of Otto von Bismarck...
's unification of Germany established the most repressive nation the world had ever seen, this could largely be blamed on, according to Aflaq, the existing monarchy and the reactionary class. To copy the German example would be disastrous, according to Aflaq, and would lead to the enslavement of the Arab people.
The only way to combat the reactionary classes laid in "progressive" revolution, central to which is struggle for unity. This struggle could not be separated from the social revolutio – to separate these two would be the same as to weaken the movement. The reactionary classes, who are content with the status quo
Status quo
Statu quo, a commonly used form of the original Latin "statu quo" – literally "the state in which" – is a Latin term meaning the current or existing state of affairs. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are...
, would oppose the "progressive" revolution. Even if the revolution succeeded in one "region" (country), that region would be unable to develop because of the resource constraints, small populations and the anti-revolution forces held by other Arab leaders. For a revolution to succeed the Arab world would have to evolve into an "organic whole" (literally become one). In short, Arab unity is both the cause of the "progressive" revolution and its effect.
A major obstacle to the success of the revolution is the Arab League
Arab League
The Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States , is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia . It was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan , Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Yemen joined as a...
. Aflaq believed that the Arab League strengthened both regional interests and the reactionary classes, thus weakening the chance of establishing an Arab nation. Because of the world situation, were the majority of Arab states were under the rule of the reactionary classes, revised his ideology to meet reality. Instead of creating an Arab nation through a Arab wide progressive revolution, the main task of country's were progressive revolutionaries had succeeded was to spread the revolution. These progressive revolutionary countries would then one by one unite until the Arab world had evolved into an Arab nation. The revolution would not succeed if the progressive revolutionary governments did not contribute to spreading the revolution.
Liberty
Aflaq saw liberty as one of the defining feature of ba'athism. Articulation of thoughts and the interaction between individuals were a way of building a new society. It was liberty, according to Aflaq, which created new values and thoughts. Aflaq believed that living under imperialismImperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
, colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
, religious or a none-enlightened dictatorship weakened liberty; ideas came from above, not from below through human interaction. One of the ba'ath party's main priorities according to Aflaq, was to disseminate new ideas and thoughts; it would interpose itself not only between the Arab nation and the imperialists, but also the people and the tyrants. While the notion of liberty was an important ideal to Aflaq, he failed to create a society were liberty was protected by a set of institutions and rules. His vision of a one-party state ruled by the ba'ath party, which disseminated information to the public, was in many ways, contrary to his view on individual interactions. The ba'ath party through its preeminence would establish liberty, according to Aflaq, liberty could not just come from nowhere, it needed an enlightened progressive group to create a truly free society. In short, Aflaq's view on liberty is different from the liberal democratic
Liberal democracy
Liberal democracy, also known as constitutional democracy, is a common form of representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive...
view of what liberty is; in Aflaq's vision liberty would be ensured by a ba'ath party which was not elected by the populace, because the party had the common good at heart. The weakness of such a system, is according to historian Paul Salem, "quite obvious".
Socialism
Aflaq deeply supported some marxist tenets, and he considered the marxist discovery of the "importance of material economic conditions in life"Dialectical materialism
Dialectical materialism is a strand of Marxism synthesizing Hegel's dialectics. The idea was originally invented by Moses Hess and it was later developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels...
to be one of the greatest human discoveries of all time. However, he disagreed on the marxist view that dialectical materialism was the only truth, Aflaq believed that marxism had forgotten human's spirituality. While believing that the concept would work for small and weak societies, the concept of dialectical materialism as the only truth in Arab development was wrong. For a people as spiritual as the Arabs, the working class was just a group, albeit the most important group, in a much larger movement to free the Arab nation. Aflaq agreed to Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
's view that the working class was a central force, but not which role it played in history. In contrast to Marx, Aflaq believed in nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, and believed that all classes, and not just the working class, were working against "capitalist domination of the foreign powers"
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
. What in the west was a struggle between various classes was in the Arab world a fight for political and economic independence.
Like unity and liberty, socialism was a mean to initiate an Arabic renaissance period, in other words, a period of modernisation. While unity brought the Arab world together and liberty provided the Arab people with freedom, socialism was the cornerstone which made unity and liberty successful. No socialism, ment no revolution. According to Aflaq, a liberal democracy was of little use in a country such as, for instance, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
. Syria was a country dominated by a "pseudo-feudalism" economic system, the repression of the peasant in this pseudo-feudalist system nullified the people's political liberty. Liberty ment little to nothing to the general poverty striken populace of Syria; socialism was the solution to this crisis. According to Aflaq the ultimate goal of socialism's not to answer the question of how much state control
State socialism
State socialism is an economic system with limited socialist characteristics, such as public ownership of major industries, remedial measures to benefit the working class, and a gradual process of developing socialism through government policy...
was necessary or economic equality, but instead socialism was "a means to satisfy the animal needs of man so he can be free to pursue his duties as a human being". In other words, socialism was a system which freed the population from enslavement and created independent individuals. However, economic equality was a major tenet in ba'athist ideology; the elimination of inequality would "eliminate all privilege, exploitation, and domination by one group over another". In short, if liberty was to succeed, the Arab people needed socialism. Aflaq labelled this kind of socialism "Arab socialism
Arab socialism
Arab socialism is a political ideology based on an amalgamation of Pan-Arabism and socialism. Arab socialism is distinct from the much broader tradition of socialist thought in the Arab world, which predates Arab socialism by as much as fifty years...
", to signify that it lived in harmony and was in some ways subordinate to Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism
Arab nationalism is a nationalist ideology celebrating the glories of Arab civilization, the language and literature of the Arabs, calling for rejuvenation and political union in the Arab world...
. According to Aflaq, who was a christian, the teaching and reforms of the Prophet Muhammed had given socialism an authentic Arab expression. Socialism was viewed by Aflaq as justice
Justice
Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...
, and the reforms of the Prophet Muhammed were both just and wise. The ba'athist would, in modern times, initiate another way of just and radical forms just as the Prophet had done in the seventh century.
Role of Islam
Aflaq viewed the creation of Islam as proof of "Arab genius", and a testiment of Arab culture, values and thought. The essence of Islam according to Aflaq was its revolutionary qualities. Aflaq called on all Arabs, both Muslims and non-Muslims alike, to admire the role Islam had played in creating an Arab character. But his view on Islam was purely spiritual, and Aflaq emphasised that it "should not be imposed" on state and society. Time and again Aflaq emphasised that the ba'ath party was against atheismAtheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, but also against fundamentalism
Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...
; the fundamentalists represented a "shallow, false faith." According to ba'athist ideology, all religions were equal. Despite his anti-atheist stance, Aflaq was a strong supporter of secular government, and stated a ba'athist state would replace religion with a state "based on a foundation, Arab nationalism, and a moral; freedom." During the shia riotes against the Iraqi ba'ath regime in the late-1970s, Aflaq warned Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
of making any concessions to the rioters, exclaiming that the Ba'ath Party "is with [religious] faith, but is not a religious party, nor should it be one." During his vice presidency, at the time of the shia riots, Hussein discussed the need to convince large segments of the population to convert to the party line
Party line
The phrase party line may refer to:*Party line , an informal term for the agenda of a political party*Party line , a system where multiple telephone customers are connected to the same phone line...
's stance on religion. Hussein's stance on secularisation changed following the Iran–Iraq War, when a law was passed allowing men to kill their sisters, daughters and wives if they were unfaithful. When Aflaq died in 1989, an official announcement made by the Iraqi Regional Command
Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region is a ba'athist regional organisation founded in 1951 by Fuad al-Rikabi...
stated that Aflaq had converted to Islam prior to his death – Aflaq's family were unaware of his conversion according to a Western journalist. Prior, during and after the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, the regime became progressively more Islamic, by the beginning of the 1990s Saddam proclaimed the ba'ath party to be the party "of Arabism and Islam."