Al-Mabda' was a communist daily newspaper published from Baghdad

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...

, 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....

. Al-Mabda' was founded by the dissident communist politician Daud as-Sayegh

Daud as-Sayegh

Daud as-Sayegh was an Iraqi communist politician. As-Sayegh was a Christian lawyer from Baghdad. He entered and left the Iraqi Communist Party several times during the 1940s and 1950s....

 (who had just broken away from the original 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...

). The first issue of al-Mabda' was published on November 21, 1959. The newspaper was allegedly supported by the government of Abd al-Karim Qasim. According to Neue Zürcher Zeitung

Neue Zürcher Zeitung

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung is a major German language Swiss daily newspaper based in Zurich.One of the oldest newspapers still published, it originally appeared as Zürcher Zeitung, edited by Salomon Gessner, from January 12, 1780, and was renamed to Neue Zürcher Zeitung in 1821...

, the Qassim government had issued a substantial loan to as-Sayegh for the sake of publishing al-Mabda'.

In early 1960 two editorial secretaries of al-Mabda', Kazim Shawi and Adb al-Amir Hassun al-Haddad, resigned from as-Sayeghs party. In June 1960 al-Madba' issued an appeal to the members of the (original) Iraqi Communist Party to join as-Sayegh's party. In November 1960 al-Madba' was closed down, with no public explanation.

Al-Mabda' was re-launched as a weekly on February 4, 1961. At the time, al-Mabda' stated that the November 1960 disruption in publication had been caused by an urgent lack of funds. Al-Mabda' complained that the newspaper was treated with intense hostility from other leftwing sectors, and its readers frequently attacked in public. All in all, twenty-two issues of al-Mabda' were published in its second year of existence. On November 25, 1961 an anniversary issue was released, in which al-Mabda' criticized the unwillingness of the followers of the (original) Iraqi Communist Party to join the ranks of as-Sayegh's legal Iraqi Communist Party.