Yusuf Salman Yusuf
Encyclopedia
Fahd the nom de guerre of Yusuf Salman Yusuf (Baghdad
1901 – 14 February 1949), an ethnic Assyrian
and Christian
was one of the first Iraq
i communist activists and was first secretary of the Iraqi Communist Party
from 1941 until his death on the gallows
in 1949. He is generally credited with a vital role in the party’s rapid organizational growth in the 1940s. For the last two years of his life he directed the party from prison
.
village in the province of Mosul
, northern Iraq. His family was humble, and his father is recorded as having made his living selling cakes and sweets. In 1907 he moved with his family to Basra
in the south of the country in search of a better livelihood.
Yusuf attended the Syriac Christian School in Basra from 1908 to 1914, and the American Mission School in the city from 1914 to 1916. His education was then interrupted as his father had fallen ill and he had to seek employment for the family’s upkeep. He first took a job as a translator and clerk with the British Army
in Basra, before moving to Nasiriyah
in 1919 to help his brother run a mill. In 1924 he returned to Basra and gained employment as a clerk at the Electricity Supply Authority.
, who introduced him to socialism and communism. He took part in the first communist circle established that year in al-Nasiriyya.
Two years later, in 1929, Yusuf left his job at the Electricity Supply Authority and applied for a passport to travel abroad. His application was refused due to his lack of funds, but he left the country anyway, traveling through Khuzestan, Kuwait
, Syria
and Palestine. In the course of this voyage he appears to have attempted to contact the Comintern and to have asked the Palestine Communist Party
for funds to help him engage in political work in Iraq.
In 1930, the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty
was signed, leading to widespread anger in Iraq. Yusuf returned home and a year later was active in organizing the July 1931 strikes in response to the introduction of a new municipal tax. He continued his agitational and propaganda activities in al-Nasiriyya until February 1935, when he left Iraq once more, this time headed for Moscow where he was due to enroll at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East
(KUTV) for training as a future leader of communist party activity. He traveled through Syria, France
and Italy
before arriving in the Soviet Union, where he remained a student until summer 1937. It appears that before his return to Iraq at the end of January 1938, he may have been entrusted with a Comintern mission in Western Europe; he seems to have spent the winter of 1938 in France and Belgium
.
In November 1942 Fahd demanded the sacking from the Central Committee of another member, Wadi' Talyah. His opponents on the committee refused to accept this, and accused him of egocentrism and dictatorship. The row had not been resolved when Fahd had to travel abroad. During his absence, Abdullah Mas'ud's supporters called a party congress without informing other members of the Central Committee. The congress, held on 20 November, dismissed all Fahd's supporters – but not Fahd himself – from the committee and elected Mas'ud first secretary.
As the new Central Committee had retained control of Al-Sharara, Fahd's supporters started issuing a new journal, entitled al-Qa'ida (the base), in February 1943. Fahd returned to Baghdad in April 1943, and the difficult process of reuniting the party began. However, he was soon able to concentrate on organisational work.
oilfield workers, the railwaymen, or the workers at Basra port, all of whom were in large measure won over to the party during Fahd's leadership.
In December 1943 to January 1944, the Syrian-Lebanese Communist Party
held a congress and adopted party rules and a programme couched in moderate terms. Perhaps inspired by this example – although his relationship with Khalid Bakdash
, first secretary of the Syrian party and doyen of the communist movement in the Arab
east, was never an easy one - Fahd relented on the question of holding a congress for the Iraqi party. A party conference met in March 1944 in Ali Shakar's house in the al-Shaikh 'Umar quarter of Baghdad and agreed a National Charter. It also adopted the Syrian party's slogan, A free homeland and a happy people (watanun hurrun wa sha'bun sa'id). The first party congress met a year later.
prison near the capital. Meanwhile Yehuda Siddiq took over as "first mas'ul" or comrade in charge. Fahd instructed him to hand over control to Malik Saif, but he initially refused to obey.
In Abu Ghraib the three were held in appalling conditions, deprived of daylight for long periods. On 13 June they started a hunger strike in protest. The authorities finally brought the three communists for trial at the High Criminal Court on 20 June. They were charged with "reliance on foreign sources of income", "contact with a foreign state" and with "the party of Khalid Bakdash", designs subversive of the constitutional order and incitement to insurrection, and the propagation of communism along members of the armed forces. On the 23 June all three were found guilty and condemned to death.
The sentences created uproar, and the government backed down, commuting them to life imprisonment for Fahd and fifteen years for Bassim and Shmayyel. The three were transferred from the death row at Abu Ghraib to Baghdad Central Prison and then to Kut
Prison.
From Kut, Fahd was able to communicate regularly with the party. After the revolutionary episode of al-Wathbah
(the leap of January 1948 in Baghdad), he demanded constant activity. In line with his orders, the country was shaken by strikes and demonstrations between January and May. However, the agitation that took hold of Iraq on account of the Arab-Zionist conflict in Palestine distracted attention from issues that favoured the communists, and the party then lost considerable credibility when it accepted the Soviet Union's position in favour of the partition of Palestine.
A graver setback yet came when, on 9 October 1948, a party member told police the location of the party's secret headquarters. The police raided the house and arrested Yehuda Siddiq, who after 28 days under torture broke down and told his interrogators that Malik Saif was the first mas'ul. Saif, when interrogated, admitted everything. The government thus found out that Fahd was secretly directing the party from Kut prison, and it decided to dispose of him.
, in a square that was later named the Square of the New Museum. The bodies were left hanging for several hours as a warning to the populace. Fahd was then buried by the police in an unmarked grave in al-Mu'azzam cemetery.
The death of Fahd appeared at the time to be a grave blow to the Iraqi communist movement. However, a few years later, the party was stronger than ever; a genuine mass movement, it seemed one of the most powerful political organisations of any Arab country. Fahd's organisational work, and the aura of martyrdom associated with his death at the hands of a deeply unpopular government, were essential factors in creating that movement.
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
1901 – 14 February 1949), an ethnic Assyrian
Assyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
and Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
was one of the first Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i communist activists and was first secretary of the Iraqi Communist Party
Iraqi Communist Party
Since its foundation in 1934, the Iraqi Communist Party has dominated the left in Iraqi politics. It played a fundamental role in shaping the political history of Iraq between its foundation and the 1970s. The Party was involved in many of the most important national uprisings and demonstrations...
from 1941 until his death on the gallows
Gallows
A gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging, or by means to torture before execution, as was used when being hanged, drawn and quartered...
in 1949. He is generally credited with a vital role in the party’s rapid organizational growth in the 1940s. For the last two years of his life he directed the party from prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
.
Early life
Yusuf Salman Yusuf was born in Baghdad in 1901 to a father from an AssyrianAssyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
village in the province of Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...
, northern Iraq. His family was humble, and his father is recorded as having made his living selling cakes and sweets. In 1907 he moved with his family to Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
in the south of the country in search of a better livelihood.
Yusuf attended the Syriac Christian School in Basra from 1908 to 1914, and the American Mission School in the city from 1914 to 1916. His education was then interrupted as his father had fallen ill and he had to seek employment for the family’s upkeep. He first took a job as a translator and clerk with the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
in Basra, before moving to Nasiriyah
Nasiriyah
Nasiriyah is a city in Iraq. It is on the Euphrates about 225 miles southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. It is the capital of the province of Dhi Qar...
in 1919 to help his brother run a mill. In 1924 he returned to Basra and gained employment as a clerk at the Electricity Supply Authority.
Early communist activity and travel abroad
In 1927, Yusuf met Piotr Vasili, an undercover emissary of the CominternComintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
, who introduced him to socialism and communism. He took part in the first communist circle established that year in al-Nasiriyya.
Two years later, in 1929, Yusuf left his job at the Electricity Supply Authority and applied for a passport to travel abroad. His application was refused due to his lack of funds, but he left the country anyway, traveling through Khuzestan, Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, 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....
and Palestine. In the course of this voyage he appears to have attempted to contact the Comintern and to have asked the Palestine Communist Party
Palestine Communist Party
The Palestine Communist Party was a political party in British Mandate of Palestine formed in 1923 through the merger of the Palestinian Communist Party and the Communist Party of Palestine...
for funds to help him engage in political work in Iraq.
In 1930, the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty
Anglo-Iraqi Treaty
The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1921 was an agreement signed by the governments of the United Kingdom and the government of Iraq. The treaty was designed to allow locals a limited share in power while allowing the British to control foreign and military policy...
was signed, leading to widespread anger in Iraq. Yusuf returned home and a year later was active in organizing the July 1931 strikes in response to the introduction of a new municipal tax. He continued his agitational and propaganda activities in al-Nasiriyya until February 1935, when he left Iraq once more, this time headed for Moscow where he was due to enroll at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East
Communist University of the Toilers of the East
The Communist University of the Toilers of the East or KUTV was established April 21, 1921, in Moscow by the Communist International as a training college for communist cadres in the colonial world. The school officially opened on October 21, 1921...
(KUTV) for training as a future leader of communist party activity. He traveled through Syria, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
before arriving in the Soviet Union, where he remained a student until summer 1937. It appears that before his return to Iraq at the end of January 1938, he may have been entrusted with a Comintern mission in Western Europe; he seems to have spent the winter of 1938 in France and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
.
Return to Iraq
On his return Yusuf – for the moment going by the party name of Sa'id - met Abdullah Mas’ud, who was organising a communist group in Baghdad. He then travelled around the country for some time, but in December 1940, on hearing that Mas'ud was launching a communist journal, al-Shararah (the spark), he returned to Baghdad and requested that he be in charge of it. This Mas'ud refused, but he suggested that Fahd stay in Baghdad and engage in party work on a stipend, and Fahd accepted the offer.Leader of a split party
On 29 October 1941, the police arrested Abdullah Mas'ud and Fahd took over his leadership role. In November he was elected first secretary of the Iraqi Communist Party, and immediately set about imposing his authority on the organization, dismissing most members of the old Central Committee. Fahd's leadership style led to a dispute with a prominent member of the leadership, Zhu Nun Ayyub, who repeatedly demanded that Fahd convene a party congress which would adopt rules for the party. Fahd responded by having Ayyub and his supporters expelled in August 1942.In November 1942 Fahd demanded the sacking from the Central Committee of another member, Wadi' Talyah. His opponents on the committee refused to accept this, and accused him of egocentrism and dictatorship. The row had not been resolved when Fahd had to travel abroad. During his absence, Abdullah Mas'ud's supporters called a party congress without informing other members of the Central Committee. The congress, held on 20 November, dismissed all Fahd's supporters – but not Fahd himself – from the committee and elected Mas'ud first secretary.
As the new Central Committee had retained control of Al-Sharara, Fahd's supporters started issuing a new journal, entitled al-Qa'ida (the base), in February 1943. Fahd returned to Baghdad in April 1943, and the difficult process of reuniting the party began. However, he was soon able to concentrate on organisational work.
Building the base for a mass party, 1943 - 1947
In building up the party, Fahd was guided by his own class feelings and political distrust of the intelligentsia and students, as much as by Leninist principles. He concentrated on the workers in the foreign-owned industries, and was assisted primarily by his trusted supporters Ali Sakar, Zaki Bassim and Ahmad 'Abbas. While a large proportion of the industrial workforce was employed in small locally-owned workshops, the party paid less attention to this sector; in many cases they were working for members of their extended family, and in addition they did not have the strategic importance of the KirkukKirkuk
Kirkuk is a city in Iraq and the capital of Kirkuk Governorate.It is located in the Iraqi governorate of Kirkuk, north of the capital, Baghdad...
oilfield workers, the railwaymen, or the workers at Basra port, all of whom were in large measure won over to the party during Fahd's leadership.
In December 1943 to January 1944, the Syrian-Lebanese Communist Party
Syrian-Lebanese Communist Party
Syrian-Lebanese Communist Party , a communist political party operating in Syria and Lebanon founded in 1924 by the Lebanese Egyptian Fu'ad al-Shimali, the Lebanese Yusuf Yazbek and the Armenian Artin Madoyan. Its general secretary was Khalid Bakdash....
held a congress and adopted party rules and a programme couched in moderate terms. Perhaps inspired by this example – although his relationship with Khalid Bakdash
Khalid Bakdash
Khalid Bakdash was the leader of the Syrian Communist Party from 1936 until his death. In 1954 Bakdash became the first member of a communist party to be elected to an Arab parliament. He has since been called the "dean of Arab communism."-Early life:Bakdash was a Damascus native of Kurdish origin...
, first secretary of the Syrian party and doyen of the communist movement in the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
east, was never an easy one - Fahd relented on the question of holding a congress for the Iraqi party. A party conference met in March 1944 in Ali Shakar's house in the al-Shaikh 'Umar quarter of Baghdad and agreed a National Charter. It also adopted the Syrian party's slogan, A free homeland and a happy people (watanun hurrun wa sha'bun sa'id). The first party congress met a year later.
Arrest and imprisonment, 1947 - 1949
On 18 January 1947 the police found Fahd and Zaki Bassim at the house of a party member, Ibrahim Bajir Shmayyel. All three were arrested and interrogated in the Central Baghdad Investigation Department, before being transferred to Abu GhraibAbu Ghraib
The city of Abu Ghraib in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq is located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000. The old road to Jordan passes through Abu Ghraib...
prison near the capital. Meanwhile Yehuda Siddiq took over as "first mas'ul" or comrade in charge. Fahd instructed him to hand over control to Malik Saif, but he initially refused to obey.
In Abu Ghraib the three were held in appalling conditions, deprived of daylight for long periods. On 13 June they started a hunger strike in protest. The authorities finally brought the three communists for trial at the High Criminal Court on 20 June. They were charged with "reliance on foreign sources of income", "contact with a foreign state" and with "the party of Khalid Bakdash", designs subversive of the constitutional order and incitement to insurrection, and the propagation of communism along members of the armed forces. On the 23 June all three were found guilty and condemned to death.
The sentences created uproar, and the government backed down, commuting them to life imprisonment for Fahd and fifteen years for Bassim and Shmayyel. The three were transferred from the death row at Abu Ghraib to Baghdad Central Prison and then to Kut
Kut
Al-Kūt is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about 160 kilometres south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 374,000 people...
Prison.
From Kut, Fahd was able to communicate regularly with the party. After the revolutionary episode of al-Wathbah
Al-Wathbah
Al-Wathbah uprising or simply Al-Wathbah , which means The Leap in Arabic, was the term that came to be used for the urban unrest in Baghdad in January 1948. The protests were sparked by the monarchy’s plans to renew the 1930 Anglo-Iraqi Treaty that effectively made Iraq a British protectorate...
(the leap of January 1948 in Baghdad), he demanded constant activity. In line with his orders, the country was shaken by strikes and demonstrations between January and May. However, the agitation that took hold of Iraq on account of the Arab-Zionist conflict in Palestine distracted attention from issues that favoured the communists, and the party then lost considerable credibility when it accepted the Soviet Union's position in favour of the partition of Palestine.
A graver setback yet came when, on 9 October 1948, a party member told police the location of the party's secret headquarters. The police raided the house and arrested Yehuda Siddiq, who after 28 days under torture broke down and told his interrogators that Malik Saif was the first mas'ul. Saif, when interrogated, admitted everything. The government thus found out that Fahd was secretly directing the party from Kut prison, and it decided to dispose of him.
Death of Fahd
On 10 February 1949, Fahd was court-martialled on a charge of organising communist activity from prison, along with Zaki Bassim and Muhammad Husain al-Sabibi. All three were sentenced to death. They were hanged on 13 and 14 February in public squares in Baghdad. Fahd was hanged in al-KarkhKarkh
Karkh or Al-Karkh is historically the name of the western half of Baghdad, Iraq, or alternatively, the western shore of the river Tigris as it ran through Baghdad. The eastern shore is known as Al-Rasafa....
, in a square that was later named the Square of the New Museum. The bodies were left hanging for several hours as a warning to the populace. Fahd was then buried by the police in an unmarked grave in al-Mu'azzam cemetery.
The death of Fahd appeared at the time to be a grave blow to the Iraqi communist movement. However, a few years later, the party was stronger than ever; a genuine mass movement, it seemed one of the most powerful political organisations of any Arab country. Fahd's organisational work, and the aura of martyrdom associated with his death at the hands of a deeply unpopular government, were essential factors in creating that movement.
Sources
- Batatu, HannaHanna BatatuHanna Batatu was a Palestinian American Marxist historian specialising in the history of Iraq and the modern Arab east. His work on Iraq is widely considered the pre-eminent study of modern Iraqi history.Born in Jerusalem in 1926, Hanna Batatu emigrated to the United States in 1948, the year of...
, The Old Social Classes and New Revolutionary Movements of Iraq, London, al-Saqi BooksSaqi BooksSaqi Books is an independent UK publisher co-founded in 1984 by author and feminist Mai Ghoussoub to "print quality academic and general interest books on the Middle East". It now claims to be "the UK's largest publisher of Middle Eastern and Arabic titles"...
. - Ismail, Tariq, The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Iraq, Cambridge University Press (2008).
- Salucci, Ilario, A People's History of Iraq: The Iraqi Communist Party, Workers' Movements and the Left 1923-2004. Haymarket Books (2005) ISBN 1-931859-14-0