Editing Ba'ath Party (section)

{{Short description|Syrian political party (1947–1966)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April  2025}}
{{About||the party which governed Iraq|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region|the party which governed Syria|Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region|other uses|}}
{{pp-move|small=yes}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party
| native_name      = {{nobold|حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي}}
| colorcode        = {{party color|Ba'ath Party}}
| secretary_general = [[Michel Aflaq]] (1954–65)<br>[[Munif Razzaz]] (1965–66)
| founders         = [[Michel Aflaq]]<br>[[Salah al-Din al-Bitar]]
| founded          = {{start date|1947|04|07}}
| merger           = [[Arab Ba'ath]]<br>[[Arab Ba'ath Movement]]<br>[[Arab Socialist Movement]]
| dissolved        = 1966 (as a unified party)
| successor        = [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region]] and [[Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction)|Ba'ath Party<br><small>(Iraqi-dominated faction)</small>]]<br>[[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region]] and [[Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction)|Ba'ath Party<br><small>(Syrian-dominated faction)</small>]]
| newspaper        = ''[[Al-Ba'ath]]''
| flag             = Flag of the Ba'ath Party.svg
| ideology         = [[Ba'athism]]
* [[Arab nationalism]]
* [[Arab socialism]]
* [[Pan-Arabism]]                                                     
* [[Anti-Zionism]]
* [[Revolutionary socialism]]
* [[Left-wing nationalism]]
* [[Anti-imperialism]]
* [[Secularism]]
| colors           = {{nowrap|{{color box|#000000|border=darkgray}} [[Black]] {{color box|#FFFFFF|border=darkgray}} [[White]] {{color box|#007a3d|border=darkgray}} [[Green]]}}<br>{{color box|#ce1126|border=darkgray}} [[Red]] ([[Pan-Arab colors]])
| position         = [[Far-left politics|Far-left]]
| slogan           = "[[Waḥda, Ḥurriyya, Ishtirākiyya|Unity, Freedom, Socialism]]"<br/>"Long Live The Arabs"<br/>"A single Arab nation with an eternal mission"<ref>Bengio, Ofra (1998). ''[https://archive.org/details/saddamswordpolit0000beng Saddam's Word: Political Discourse in Iraq]'' (Paperback). Oxford, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: [[Oxford University Press]]. p. 35. {{ISBN|978-0-19-511439-3}}. "The name Ba'th at once evokes the party's central slogans: "A single Arab nation with an eternal mission" and "Unity, freedom, socialism." The first slogan echoes several verses of the Qur'an where the words umma wahida (one nation) appear. Verse 209 of the sura al-Baqara, for instance, reads: "The people were one nation;  then God sent forth the Prophets, good tidings to bear and warning." The whole party phrase, with its internal rhyme in Arabic, elicits a longing for completeness, a yearning for a messianic transformation. The glorious past of the Arabs is made the source and aim fo emulation. Arsuzi wrote: "The Arabs conquered the world in order to civilize it and for that vision they sacrificed their lives... They spread their rule from the Chinese Wall to the Atlantic Ocean and from the center of Europe to the center of Africa... One caliph, one law, one official language."</ref>
| website          = {{url|baathparty.sy}}
| country          = Syria
| country2         = Iraq
}}
{{Ba'athism sidebar}}
The '''Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party''' ({{langx|ar|حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي}} ''{{transliteration|ar|Ḥizb al-Baʿth al-ʿArabī al-Ishtirākī}}'' {{IPA|ar|ˈħɪzb alˈbaʕθ alˈʕarabiː alɪʃtɪˈraːkiː|}}), also known simply as '''Ba{{ayin}}th Party''' ({{langx|ar|[[:wikt:حزب البعث#Etymology 1.2|حزب البعث]]|translation=resurrection party}}),<ref>{{cite journal|author=
Mohammed Shaffi Agwani|date=January 1961|title=The Baʻth: A Study in Contemporary Arab Politics|journal=International Studies|volume=3|issue=1|pages=6–24|doi=10.1177/002088176100300102|s2cid=154673494|issn=0020-8817}}</ref> was a [[political party]] founded in [[Syria]] by [[Michel Aflaq]], [[Salah al-Din al-Bitar]], and associates of [[Zaki al-Arsuzi]]. The party espoused [[Ba'athism]], which is an ideology mixing [[Arab nationalism|Arab nationalist]], [[Pan-Arabism|pan-Arab]], [[Arab socialism|Arab socialist]], and [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] interests. Ba'athism calls for the unification of the [[Arab world]] into a [[Arab Union|single state]]. Its motto, "[[Unity, Freedom, Socialism]]", refers to [[Arab Union|Arab unity]] and [[Anti-imperialism|freedom]] from non-Arab control and interference.

The party was founded by the merger of the [[Arab Ba'ath Movement]], led by ʿAflaq and al-Bitar, and the [[Arab Ba'ath]], led by al-ʾArsūzī, on 7 April 1947 as the '''Arab Ba'ath Party'''. The party quickly established branches in other Arab countries, although it would only hold power in [[Iraq]] and [[Syria]]. In 1952, the Arab Ba'ath Party merged with the [[Arab Socialist Movement]], led by [[Akram al-Hourani]], to form the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The newly formed party was a relative success, and it became the second-largest party in the Syrian parliament in the [[1954 Syrian parliamentary election|1954 election]]. This, coupled with the increasing strength of the [[Syrian Communist Party]],{{Citation needed|date=May 2020}} led to the establishment of the [[United Arab Republic]] (UAR), a union of [[Egypt]] and Syria, in 1958. The UAR would prove unsuccessful, and was dissolved following the [[1961 Syrian coup d'état]].

Following the break-up of the [[United Arab Republic|UAR]], the Ba'ath Party was reconstituted. However, during the UAR period, military activists had established the Military Committee that took control of the Ba'ath Party away from civilian hands. In the meantime, in Iraq, [[Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region|the local Ba'ath Party branch]] had taken power by orchestrating and leading the [[Ramadan Revolution]], only to [[November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état|lose power a couple of months later]]. The Military Committee, with Aflaq's consent, took power in Syria in the [[1963 Syrian coup d'état]].

A power struggle quickly developed between the civilian faction led by ʿAflaq, al-Bitar, and [[Munif Razzaz|Munīf ar-Razzāz]] and the Military Committee led by [[Salah Jadid]] and [[Hafez al-Assad]]. As relations between the two factions deteriorated, the Military Committee initiated the [[1966 Syrian coup d'état]], which ousted the National Command led by al-Razzāz, ʿAflaq, and their supporters. The 1966 coup split the Ba'ath Party between the [[Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction)|Iraqi-dominated Ba'ath Party]] and the [[Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction)|Syrian-dominated Ba'ath Party]]. There are currently no longer any Ba’athist countries after [[Fall of the Assad regime|the fall of the Ba’ath regime]] in Syria on 8 December 2024.
{{TOC limit|2}}