New Principles of Nationalism
Chapter VII
by Elias Farah
During the 1950s, Arab revolutionary ideology entered a new era, which was to tighten the bonds between nationalist theory and Unitarian strategy.
At the beginning of this period, nationalist socialist thought began by defining its essential principles and towards the end of it, achieved its first experience of unity between two Arab countries i.e. the fusion of 1958.
The eventful year of 1950 saw the appearance of an original series of amendments to the nationalist concept of Inqilab (radical change), which enabled it to start afresh on new foundations and draw together theory and its instrument. Reference to the many subjects covered by Michel Aflaq in "Following the Ba'ath" and the second volume of "The Ba'ath's Struggle" reveals through their title-headings the general framework of the amendments which enabled Arab revolutionary ideology to reach a level hitherto
unattained:
"The Future."
"The Global Intellectual Movement"
"The Arab Ba’ath is a Historic Movement."
"The Arab Ba’ath, an Expression of Our Great Determination"
"The Arab Ba’ath stands for Inqilab (radical change)."
"Time and the Movement of Inqilab, (radical change)"
"What is the Meaning of Inqilab (radical change)?"
"Concerning Inqilab (radical change)."
"The Meaning of the Eternal Mission"
"The Eternal Mission, Arabs between Past and Future"
"The Law of Patriotic Struggle; the Unity of the Movement and Stability of Thought"
"Progressivism Links Us to Our Past."
These titles reveal the salient points, which polarized Arab revolutionary thought during the period under review:
a) The determination revolutionary character of the conception of the Arab revolutionary movement and its organization.
b) The historic nature of the movement.
c) The global, systematic nature of the new Arab revolutionary doctrine.
These articles and conferences engaged a real dialogue with the new Arab generation and were addressed to every Arab in his wholeness, not simply to his reasoning faculty. A study of these can only be complete and objective if seen in the context of the struggle, which was their background.
Struggle itself entered into a dialogue —this time with reality, a reality bristling with contradictions, which could only be resolved by the maturation of the various combats resumed in Arab revolutionary ideology: those opposing fragmentation, colonialism, Zionist occupation, under-development and class exploitation.
In the light of the above, we can discern certain underlying principles:
1. Pertaining to Arab nationalism implies total revolt against the present condition of the Arab Nation. Faith in Inqilab (upheaval) presupposes affiliation to Arab nationalism. Any man who fails to establish a link between his affiliation to the Arab Nation and his rebellion against its condition, who revolts only with moderation against his own condition before joining the struggle against that of society, who fails to adopt the nationalist spirit totally and to think of himself as a representative of the whole Nation in miniature... this man has no right to claim kinship with Arab revolutionary ideology.
2. Any action aimed at helping the Arab Nation to rid itself of under-development and all the contradictions which at the moment make it a stranger unto itself and its present condition, inevitably correspond to the necessities of the stage in history through which the whole world is passing. It is in perfect harmony with logic and the march of history.
All those who work towards this end can count on a support, infinitely more valuable than that of its militants, which is visible but inevitably limited, for they also reap the benefit of the incalculable aid that the logic of History, the pressure of current and future events bring to bear on forces today. They are borne on by the future. The present moment is favorable to revolutionary forces all over the world.
3. In an ailing, under-developed society wherein the vast majority lives in ignorance of their true existence and is a prey to its weaknesses, to incomprehension and to servitude, the conscious minority, which is alive to its responsibilities, has a role of the first importance. This minority is divided into two camps—the first in favour of Inqilab (upheaval) and the second in favour of opportunism. The cardinal problem is that of leadership, the designation of those capable of aspiring to leadership. If our
society remains under-developed, it is due to the fact that those in place do not fulfill the necessary intellectual, moral and spiritual requirements.
4. The eternal mission of the Arab people is to launch themselves totally, audaciously, into changing their destiny and their present condition.
Even if the price exacted is great suffering and hardship, they must take to the road of resurgence. Their mission resides in their determination to reveal to the world the calamities of their society and the degrading nature of their lives, with the same candor they reveal in examining their own defects. They will need fierce, bold determination; they must rely on their own resources, without counting on any help from the outside world. But their mission will not stop there... It is intimately bound up with the Nation’s sons, their lives and experiences. And it is not for tomorrow; it is already on the verge of taking place.
5. "Nationalist strife must attain a high intellectual and scientific level of a universal, civilizing nature, capable of transcending time, in the same way that all nations which have attained prosperity and progress have done.
We must follow our natural path. It is this nucleus, totally devoted to the national cause, which is called upon to acquire sufficient clarity of mind to guide their steps and bestow on them self-command and the strength to assume their tasks with all the gravity the situation requires. In every Arab, lies the germ that is hidden of moral values, a feeling of deep responsibility and the spark of faith. When we say that we desire to create a whole new generation, we do not mean that we shall infuse into it all
knowledge; we only aspire to calling out its virtues, reviewing its culture and giving it true orientation. To bring this to pass all we need is a movement capable of controlling and accelerating the course of time."
6. "The whole problem is to create out of Arab aspirations for a better life and their desire to extricate themselves from their present condition, a movement capable of dominating every possible situation. The first condition it must fulfill is to become equal to the cause it seeks to defend: the spirit on which it is built must draw its inspiration from the Arab personality in its entirety and resolve all the important problems of daily life. The same is true for the movement’s organization; it must remain faithful to the Arab soul and draw its support from the classes which live these cardinal problems from day to day."
7. "The Nation can only retrieve unity through ardent strife... and by thoroughly examining its own condition. Struggle, in its widest and deepest sense, is the means by which the Arab soul can be reborn and Inqilab (radical change) become a reality. Real unity is a serious matter. It is not the same thing as political unity, for it implies spiritual unity between members of the same Nation. Only steadfast effort in struggle can give us access to the depths of this soul."
8. "We stand for Freedom, Socialism and Unity. This is the Nation's interest. When I say 'Nation,' I speak of the great majority of the people, not the small, incongruous minority, foreign to the Nation, which enslaves the people so better to satisfy its egotism and self-interest. These have no place in the Nation… "We stand for the amalgamation of three main forces: the interest of the Arab people today, Arab history of the past and the history of Man in his evolution towards freedom, socialism and unity."
9. "We are militating to combat social and political situations, lies and corruption, not only with a view to eliminating and changing these factors, but also to ensuring that the Nation shall retrieve unity in strife. As a result of the interminable period of lethargy into which it fell, and the lies told about it, the Nation has become a stranger unto itself. Like its members, it no longer recognizes its own face. It has lived in a state of acute division; it accepted submission and became a prisoner to private interests and chronic stagnation. Can such a state of things encourage the unity of the Nation? It must now take the opposite road and set its face against the present situation, dominated by sickness and corruption. It must stem the current and change its course.
It devolves from this that Inqilab (upheaval) is the way to the aim and to the sound society to which we aspire. It is not one way among many others. It is the only way. Our past was synonymous with Inqilab and Inqilab alone can enable us to rise to the level of our past and become one with it.
Only the progressive path militating towards Inqilab (radicalchange) can link us fully with our past; our progress will be assured; we shall never fall into decay, never go back, and never congeal in immobility.
10. Since Inqilab's objective is the building of a new future, totally different from our present situation, what are our future perspectives?
The Nation will define these in complete freedom, according to requirements. In the measure that the Nation is able to dispose freely of its destiny, it will find increased harmony within itself, greater fidelity to its nature and to its very genius.
11. If differences between reactionary and revolutionary concepts are not clear and decisive, a large proportion of freedom-forces will be totally wasted. Amendments made by the revolutionary party should put an end to the destructive period and open the way to national reconstruction on sound foundations. It is not, as partisans of conservatism and exploitation would have us think, progress towards freedom, which may prove a danger.
Danger comes rather from the propagation of lies and misrepresentations: these congeal vital elements in conservative circles where they are imprisoned. It also comes from lack of firmness on the part of freedom-forces when it comes to putting an end to superficial pretences and the slovenliness of uncertain elements.
12. A clear dividing-line must be established between the reactionary conception, which opposes historic and social evolution, and that of revolution, which enables society to forsake inertia and rise above stagnation and under-development. The latter is, however, viewed by reaction as an annihilation of the past. The revolutionary conception is, in reality, an immediate reply to any attempt to lead the people into error and clarifies the view of a secular state. It is precisely the secular conception, which will give new significance to spiritual values and preserve them from misuse and decadence.
"It is by contending established values to the ultimate limit of contradiction that a spiritual vocation frees itself and acquires its true value. It takes wing, rises above all falsehood and becomes a transparent receptacle in which material and social problems come to rest. A spiritual vocation is forged in the crucible of genuine problems, and it is out of them that it draws the strength to rise, through hardship and suffering, to its apex. With material problems resolved, it then reveals itself to us in its truth and its reality.
"We call for a secular state to avoid religion being weighted down by the burden of politics, to avoid its implication in political ambiguities.
Only if it is free in this way can religion find its true place in the lives of individuals and of society."
13. The relationship between State and religion is one of the major preoccupations of the Nation, and one of more than immediate impact. It is deeply linked with the Nation and its past, and with its future. The very spiritual and legal foundations of future Arab nationalism depend upon it.
From this introduction to an article entitled "Arabs between Past and Future," it can be deduced that the Arab Ba’ath is a national movement and addresses itself to all Arabs, independently of their doctrine or religion.
For Michel Aflaq, freedom of conscience is a sacred thing. He places all religions on the same footing and looks on them with the same respect and the same esteem. The social basis of the State is nationalism, and its moral basis is freedom. The State's secular character will only confirm freedom in its spiritual and moral aspect. We call for a secular state to avoid religion being weighted down by the burden of politics and to avoid its implication in political ambiguities. Only if it is free in this way can religion find its true place in the lives of individuals and of society. So, will it find its own truth; so will it know the rejuvenation of its eternal soul; this is one of the indispensable conditions for the resurgence of the Nation.
We, thus perceive that the new nationalist conception avoids for Arab nationalism the distortions and errors of both abstract and religious nationalism. The new vision of national life which is that of the Arab revolutionary movement is not to be confused with religion, but it does, on the other hand, categorically refuse stagnation, opportunism and hypocrisy by remaining true to the principles which offer Arabs the means to extricate themselves from under-development, fragmentation and the denial of spiritual and social values.
14. Real progressivism is the liberation of the natural evolution of a nation with a future, and the recognition of all that makes up its living history. The freedom for which we clamor is the freeing of the Nation from bondage and from its consequences, by which it has been weighted down throughout this interminable period of paralysis and stagnation. In order to retrieve its free, creative spirit, the Nation must break for ever with under-development, as we know it today, realize the impossible and conjugate all its efforts to create a new personality. Reaction stands for treason on two fronts —that of the Nation's past and that of its future.
15. Real struggle, the struggle that will bring victory, is founded on the vital forces of the Nation, which it assembles and organizes. In its fight to bring about great national objectives: Freedom, Socialism and Unity, the Arab people encounter formidable reactionary opposition, from within and from without. The Nation can only ensure success if it is buttressed by vital forces fighting for freedom. A single movement is therefore indispensable to carry out this task and give direction to these forces by adopting a common road towards a sole objective.
"The definition of the progressive conception emphasizes the contradiction opposing reactionary tendencies to the Nation's interest and to the march of history and contributes to defining the Arab revolutionary movement's attitude concerning the Nation's past... In the same way, the road we have mapped out, which enabled Arab revolutionary thought o break through and find expression, helps us to distinguish between militants and adventurers.
We can say, in all objectivity, that militants 'create' strife but remain the true gents of the movement they have founded; they sacrifice the fruits of their struggle and lace them at the movement's service in order that the latter may continue on the true path and keep faith with the logic of its ideology. In the case of adventurers, however, struggle attracts and fascinates during periods of facility; they hurl themselves onto the battlefield with no real conviction. As soon as they make a name and obtain a measure of power, they rebel against the constraints of struggle, in the hope of leaping ahead and ensuring their own personal success. Sooner or later they inevitably find themselves obliged to plot against and betray the Nation.
It is clear from this that, during the early 1950s, the cardinal principles which left their mark on the Arab revolutionary movement revolved around the axis of Arab unity in struggle, both as an idea and as an instrument, and around intellectual requirements and organizational imperatives for the launching of the Arab revolution on new bases.
These principles gave rise to the adoption of a critical attitude with regard to the revolutionary movement's organization, which was to become the instrument for achieving specific aims.
"The Arab Ba'ath has rendered two major services to the Arab cause; the first was the clarification of the justness of Arab objectives, their correlation and unity; the second was the tracing of the true path which would bring these objectives to fruition. We can, moreover, affirm that the Ba'ath's major activity to date has been largely confined to giving the movement direction and preparing the climate and the intellectual and
psychological conditions favorable to the acceptance of revolutionary ideology. We must, however, admit that before the Arab Ba'ath can be considered a fully-fledged movement, there is still much to be done."
This attitude is an indication of the new approach of the Arab revolutionary movement, which, thanks to Arab evolutionary ideology’s watchwords, responded to all the subjective and objective requirements of the new phase.
In 1951, the Arab revolutionary movement adopted Unitarian political positions, which translated its main theories on a practical, scientific level.
1. The Arab Revolutionary Movement warned the Arab League against any adherence to the Western colonialist bloc. It exacted the adoption of a neutral position with regard to international conflicts, expressing in this way the independence of Arab nationalism and the Leftist tendency adopted by the movement. In the declaration of June 27, 1951, it stated: "The Arab people fighting throughout the length and breadth of their territory against foreign colonization and exploitation within their frontier's, reject all attempts to implicate them in a battle which would be of no service to their cause and would constrain them to abandon the national interest at the present time. Their national interest is the freeing of Arabs from the yoke of British, French and American colonialism, and the realization of global, national unity and the establishment of a free, socialist system, guaranteeing social justice and dignity of life."
This declaration did not limit itself to "warning the Arab League against adherence to either of the two blocs." It also denounced all forms of false neutrality, which were "both senseless and absurd." It equally exacted that "the Arab League adopt true neutrality and so prevent united Western colonialist powers from transforming our country into military zones and using our petrol and other resources in the battle they are presently waging." It added that the masses alone, and in no case governments were the true guarantors of neutrality. It demanded, "Nationalist forces be mobilized to guarantee neutrality and define the reality of the cause for which the Arab people are fighting in order to regain their rights and undo the conspiracies of colonialists and their henchmen." Neutrality, as understood by the Arab revolutionary movement, corresponds to an attitude and to a political and strategic theory situating the Arab revolution, which is an integral part of the Arab movement at the very heart of world-struggle.
The movement is fighting for the realization of the revolution's objectives.
2. This attitude became manifest in the appeal launched to the Arabs, inciting them to lead the patriotic movement's cause to victory, enabled the Arab revolutionary movement to bring all its weight to bear in Marrakech's struggle against colonialism. The declaration of March 2, 1951 , stated our firm conviction that the Arab cause was one. By responding to the appeal for help launched by Marrakech, the people gave, above all else, "absolute proof of the Unitarian aspect of the Arab Nation." Colonialism offers the same characteristics everywhere. It was responsible for the hanging of free men in Egypt. It shelled Damascus, tortured Lebanese militants and brutalized combatants in Iraq. Only the unity of the people can bar the way to colonialist forces as a whole, and it is for this reason that the declaration ended with an appeal to "the struggle for unity."
3. In the declaration issued during the Party Council in July 1951, the Arab revolutionary movement called on "the Arab people, wherever they may be, to unify the Arab struggle." The revolutionary movement emphasized, "Governments are instruments of division, an obstacle to struggle and an incitement to perpetuate the present deplorable situation." It added, "The Arab League is, in miniature, a perfect reflection of these governments, who created the League with the intention of preventing the Arabs from realizing genuine, positive unity." It calls on all socialist parties throughout Arab countries to unite their efforts to create a common national charter. The declaration expressed the Arab people's refusal to be diverted from the question of Palestine and their firm intention to continue in their acute involvement. "The Arabs must on no account be fobbed off with a strip of land on which to park refugees. Neither must they stretch out a hand to "Israel", nor make peace with her. Negotiation of any sort would inevitably consolidate both the Zionist State and colonialism, which encouraged the birth of Israel and uses it as a powerful weapon against the Arabs."
4. By means of a series of manifestations, political stands, telegrams and declarations, the Arab revolutionary movement expressed its support of the Arab people's combat against British colonialism in Egypt and its adhesion to the watchwords calling for strife. This was destined to undo colonialist conspiracies, which, on the pretext of defending the Middle East, reduced the movement's plan to ashes. All these stands require unity in the Arab struggle, and the refusal of any alliance what so ever with colonialism or neutrality. The junction between the struggle for freedom and the national struggle against fragmentation is the essential principle which must condition all solutions, and political analyses devolve out of the stands mentioned above.
"Throughout every region, Arabs who are victims of fragmentation and colonialism must look on colonial enemy powers as a united whole, hostile to the freedom of the Arab people and its national unity. They must oppose colonialist projects by forming united groups and waging furious combat against them. They must pay no attention to the supposed Soviet threat brandished by colonialist powers. The Arab problem is the violent opposition of Western colonialism and Zionism. In the eyes of the Arab Ba’ath, the only real problem for Arabs in every Region of the Nation is that of Unitarian strife against colonialism and Zionism."
5. The anniversary of the Balfour Declaration on November 2, 1951, gave the Arab revolutionary movement an opportunity to define the operational strategy, which should inspire Arab activity in the current phase, on the basis of an analysis of this particular date's significance. The salient points were as follows:
a) Support for Egypt in its fight for liberation in the face of British colonialism.
b) The fight for the withdrawal of foreign troops in all other Arab territories.
c) The setting-up of a system of common defence, in spite of the incitation of Arab governments to reject such a project definitively.
d) The decision to adopt a policy of neutrality in the international conflict.
e) The fight for the establishment of a popular regime, capable of realizing Arab unity and dealing a fatal blow at colonialism and its ally Zionism.
It thus becomes clear that the correlation between national objectives and those of freedom were the central axis around which nationalist ideology, and all its attendant attitudes, revolved. The first practical application of this strategy was the appeal launched by the headquarters of the Arab revolutionary movement to all its members. It conjured them to offer their lives to the unity of the Arab struggle by joining the ranks of the liberation-troops in Egypt; unity in the struggle is our only salvation.
6. In an article published in the Ba’ath Party's newspaper on December 22, 1951, titled "The Arab Cause is One, for it represents the Cause of a Single Nation which is One and the Same,” the Arab revolutionary movement denounced the colonialist policy of a dialogue aiming at the annihilation of the Arab struggle and, particularly, at isolating Egypt from other Arab countries during the fierce combat it was waging against British colonialism. The following is an extract from the article in question."
"What colonialism most fears is Arab union in the struggle. It has broken up the Arab Homeland into small countries and fomented internal conflicts around artificial problems. It now finds itself confronted with a new attitude, for the Arabs are on the march towards unity, the unity of the Nation and of their destiny. With a view to demolishing the idea of unity, colonialism has created various nations and aroused contradictory interests around the united Arab cause. The Arabs must never take their eyes off this fact; the Arab cause must consider, among its most formidable threats, the danger represented by the eventual disintegration of nationalist ideology. Division of the nation's cause would ineluctably lead to division in the people’s Unitarian struggle and a consequent weakening of militant spirit. This is the most serious danger that can threaten us. The danger of the entire Homeland being occupied by great armies would be diminished for the Nation if the people preserved their sense of unity in strife. Arab policy must for this reason be based on the unity of the people in struggle."
Basing on the above, its criticism of the reactionary regime which preceded for a period of seven months, the Revolution of July 23rd in Egypt, until the Constitution of the Phalanx of Loyalty, the Arab revolutionary movement continued in the following terms:
"We do not believe that the 'pashas' are capable of leading the Egyptian people to victory, for they understand nothing of the people and belong to the feudal class in power. Everyone knows that in Egypt the reactionary regime, in alliance with colonialism, is plotting to bind Egypt hand and foot indirectly by means of a military pact at the service of the West."
This article, published in the Ba’ath Party newspaper on December 22, 1951 , ended with an appeal to the people to destroy colonialism, within and without; colonialism was opposed to the freedom of the people and was doing all in its power to prevent the realization of the union of the whole Arab people in its fight against colonialist alliances.
NOTES
28. Michel Aflaq: Following the Ba'ath. "Arabism and the Movement fighting for Inqilab, (radical change)." 3rd Ed. pp. 170-175
29. U.Ibid.
30. Michel Aflaq: Following the Ba'ath, "Arabism and the Movement fighting for Inqilab (upheaval)." 3rd Ed.
31. The Eternal Mission” 4th Ed., p. 109.
32. "Time and the Movement of Inqilab (radical change)" 4th Ed. p. 75-77.
33. "The Global Intellectual Movement," 4th Ed., p. 32-33.
34. "The Arab Ba'ath Stands for Inqilab (radical change)" 4th Ed. pp. 65-70.
35. "The Ba’ath is the will of life" 4th Ed. pp. 40-42.
36. "What is the meaning of Inqilab (radical change)" 4th Ed., pp. 84-89.
37. "Arabs Between Past and Future" 4th Ed., pp. 160-168.
38. Id. Ibid.
39. The Ba'ath's Struggle, Vol. II, p. 40
40. The Ba'ath's Struggle, Voll. II, p. 40
41. “The Organization of Inqilab (radical change)” 4th Ed. pp. 71-74.
42. The Ba'ath 's Struggle, Vol. II, p. 89.
43. Id: Ibid; p.103
44. Id: Ibid; p. 132.
45. Id: Ibid; pp. 149-150.
46. U: Ibid; p. 161.
47. Id: Ibid; p. 172.
48. Id: Ibid; p. 174.
The Revolutionary Arab Ideology