The Iraqi Communist Party of 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....

 was a short-lived political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in 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....

, which existed parallel to the main (and illegal) 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...

. It emerged in 1960, after the enactment of the Associations Law

Associations Law

The Associations Law was a law in Iraq, which legally regulated political parties. The law was promulgated on January 1, 1960. Prior to the adoption of this law, political parties had been banned since 1954...

. Daud as-Sayegh was the chairman of the party. The party published the daily newspaper al-Mabda'

Al-Mabda'

Al-Mabda' was a communist daily newspaper published from Baghdad, Iraq. Al-Mabda was founded by the dissident communist politician Daud as-Sayegh . 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...

.

As-Sayegh, who had been expelled from the Iraqi Communist Party in 1958, was able to register his party with the name 'Iraqi Communist Party' on February 9, 1960 (having presented their application on January 9, 1960). Simultaneously, the main Iraqi Communist Party was denied registration. As-Sayegh's party had only been able to attract a tiny fraction of the following of the main Iraqi Communist Party. The party was condemned by the main Iraqi Communist Party and in the international communist press (such as Pravda

Pravda

Pravda was a leading newspaper of the Soviet Union and an official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party between 1912 and 1991....

and World Marxist Review). At the time, reports circulated that as-Sayegh's party was financially supported by the Qassim government. Moreover as-Sayegh was accused of having forged, or at least misused, signatories for the registration of his party.

As-Sayegh made a public appeal to all communists to join his party. The main Iraqi Communist Party, having been denied legal recognition, did engage in talks with as-Sayegh's party. Considering the wide differences in strength, the main Iraqi Communist Party foresaw that it would be able to seize control over as-Sayegh's party. During the spring of 1960, Baha ud-Din Nuri managed the negotiations on behalf of the mainstream communists. However as-Sayegh set as a precondition for a merger the expulsion of Salam Adil, Jamal al-Haidari

Jamal al-Haidari

Jamal al-Haidari was an Iraqi communist politician. He joined the Iraqi Communist Party in 1946, and became the leader of a rebel communist faction during the 1950s. After rejoining the Communist Party in 1956 he became a prominent leader but was entangled in the internal disputes of the party...

 and Amir Abdullah. The mainstream communists refused to accept this demand. In June 1960 negotiations reopened, and by this point the mainstream communists had de facto accepted as-Sayegh's demand (by forcing the three leaders to step down from their positions due to 'health reasons'). However, the merger talks were spoiled as as-Sayegh noticed that Baha ud-Din Nuri was conspiring with Abd as-Samad Hamid (a Central Committee member of as-Sayegh's party) to seize control of his party.

On November 9-11, 1960, as-Sayegh's party held its party convention (it should have been held by May 1960 at the latest according to the Associations Law, but the party was received a special dispense from the Minister of Interior to postpone the convention). According to a report in al-Mabda', there were 160 delegates present. A Central Committee

Central Committee

Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...

 with 17 members was elected, including as-Sayegh, Ibrahim Abd al-Hussein, Abd al-Jabbar Ghafuri, Abd as-Samad Hamid.

In October 1961, the authorities closed down the 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...

branch of the party, claiming that it had become inactive.

On December 2, 1961, the party held its second convention. 120 delegates took part in the deliberations. A new Executive Committee was elected, with as-Sayegh as chairman. Other members of the committee were Sa'ad Muhsin, Ali Hadi, Abd al-Jabbar Majid, Ibrahim Abd al-Hussain, Ghadban Hamzah, Muhammad Jawad Ta'mah, Abd al-Karim al-Asadi, Umar Sufi, Karim Nasif, Zuhayr at-Ta'i, Turki Abd al-Jafur, Falih Hasan, Khalil as-Salihi, Jasim Isma'il, Anwar Taha and Abd al-Jabbar Hasan