Lebanese Communist Party

(LCP; Hizb al-Shuyui al-Lubnani), formed as an independent party in 1944. From 1924 to 1944, Lebanese communists belonged to the Syrian Communist Party (SCP), which in January 1944 split into two communist parties, the Syrian and the Lebanese. A party congress held in January 1944 adopted the Party Rules, proclaiming democratic centralism to be the basis of the party’s organizational structure. Farajallah Helou was elected party chairman. The LCP played an important role in the people’s struggle for national independence and the withdrawal of foreign troops from Lebanese soil. Banned in January 1948, the LCP became a legal party in August 1970. In 1948 the LCP merged with the SCP to form the united Communist Party of Syria and Lebanon. Lebanese communists opposed the antinational policies of President Chamoun, and in 1958 they participated in the armed uprising of the Lebanese people against the pro-imperialist Chamoun regime and the American occupation of Lebanon.

When Syria and Egypt merged to form the United Arab Republic in February 1958, the November 1958 Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Syria and Lebanon adopted a resolution dividing the party into the SCP and the LCP. Faraj Allah Hulw and Niqula Shawi were elected secretaries of the Central Committee of the LCP. In 1959, Farajallah Helou was arrested in Damascus and died in prison under torture. The Second Congress of the LCP, held in July 1968, adopted a party program aimed at strengthening Lebanon’s independence and freeing its economy from the domination of foreign capital. The LCP supports the strengthening of democracy, social and economic reforms in the interests of the working people, the rallying of the patriotic forces to repulse Israel’s aggressive acts against Lebanon, the elimination of the consequences of Israeli aggression against Arab countries, the strengthening of Lebanon’s ties with other Arab countries, and the implementation of an independent foreign policy by Lebanon.

The Third Congress of the LCP, held in January 1972, confirmed the party’s internationalist course and declared its support of the struggle to satisfy the vital needs of the working people and to democratize Lebanon’s social and political life in cooperation with the country’s other progressive forces. The congress defined the party’s policy on the agrarian question and adopted a resolution on the Palestinian problem. Delegations of the LCP took part in the international conferences of communist and workers’ parties in Moscow in 1957, 1960, and 1969. The LCP approved the documents adopted by these conferences. The general secretary of the party is Niqula Shawi.