Arab Revolutionary Workers Party

The Arab Revolutionary Workers Party (Arabic: حزب العمال الثوري العربي Hizb Al-'Amal Al-Thawriy Al-'Arabi) is a political party active in Iraq and Syria.[1][2][3] As of 2008 the general secretary of the party is Abdul Hafiz Hafiz.[4] As of 2011, the chairman of the party is Tariq Abu Al-Hassan.[5][6]

Arab Revolutionary Workers Party
حزب العمال الثوري العربي
ChairmanTariq Abu Al-Hassan
Secretary-GeneralAbdul Hafiz Hafiz
FounderYasin al-Hafiz
Founded1966 (1966)
Split fromBa'ath Party
IdeologyMarxism
Scientific socialism
Political positionLeft-wing
National affiliationNational Democratic Rally
Council of Representatives of Iraq
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People's Council of Syria
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The party was founded in 1966 by Yasin al-Hafiz, as a Marxist splinter group of the Ba'ath Party.[7][8] The party rejected the Ba'athist ideology of Michel Aflaq as reactionary and backward-looking. Instead the party opted for scientific socialism.[7][9] Another early prominent leader of the party was Ali Salah Saadi.[8] This split in the Ba'ath Party emerged parallel to the growth of leftist dissent in the Arab Nationalist Movement.[10]

The party was active in Lebanon during the 1970s.[11] During the initial years of the Lebanese Civil War (1975–76), al-Hafiz lived in Beirut.[12] Al-Hafiz died in Beirut in October 1978.[13]

During the "Damascus Spring", the initial period of Bashar al-Assad's rule, the party could meet somewhat undisturbed under the guise of the 'Left Forum'.[14] The party, along with other left-wing groups in Syria, decided to boycott the 2003 parliamentary election.[15] The party was one of the forces behind the National Democratic Gathering and the Damascus Declaration.[4]

The party is part of the Syrian opposition and was active in the civil uprising phase of the Syrian Civil War. On June 30, 2011 the party took part in forming the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change. A politburo member of the party, Hazem Al-Nahhar was included in the leadership of the Association.[2] On October 10, 2011 the party decided to withdraw from the Coordination, but retained its commitment to working with the National Democratic Rally.[3]

References
  1. National Democratic Institute. NDI Assessment Mission to Iraq June 23 to July 6, 2003 Archived May 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  2. Al-Ahram. New voices for change Archived September 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. Nidaasyria. حزب العمال الثوري العربي.. قرار انسحاب من هيئة التنسيق الوطني Archived April 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  4. Damascus Centre for Theoretical and Civil Rights Studies. أمين عام حزب العمال الثوري العربي يدعو للإفراج عن معتقلي إعلان دمشق وطي ملف الاعتقال السياسي Archived April 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  5. World Bulletin. Who is who in Syrian opposition?
  6. Asrarr. سورية - الأحزاب السياسية
  7. Tibi, Bassam, Marion Farouk-Sluglett, and Peter Sluglett. Arab nationalism: between Islam and the nation-state. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. p. 212
  8. Seddon, David. A Political and Economic Dictionary of the Middle East. London: Europa Publications, 2004. p. 63
  9. Choueiri, Youssef M. Islamic Fundamentalism: The Story of Islamist Movements. London: Continuum, 2010. p. 117
  10. Salem, Paul. Bitter Legacy: Ideology and Politics in the Arab World. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 1994. p. 187
  11. Buwārī, Ilyās. Tārīkh al-ḥarakah al-ʻummālīyah wa-al-niqābīyah fī Lubnān. Bayrūt: Dār al-Fārābī, 1979.
  12. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East 2. D - K. New York [u.a.]: Macmillan [u.a.], 1996. p. 756
  13. سؤال التنوير. في الذكرى الثلاثين لوفاة ياسين الحافظ Archived February 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  14. Zîser, Eyāl. Commanding Syria: Bashar Al-Asad and the First Years in Power. London [u.a.]: Tauris, 2007. p. 83
  15. Al-Ahram Center for Political & Strategic Studies. I. Internal Reforms in the Arab World Archived April 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
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