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| Lebanese Communist Party الـحـزب الشـيـوعـي اللبـنـانـي hizbu-sh-shuy‘uī-l-lubnānī) |
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 Lebanese Communist Party flag |
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| Leader | |
| Founded | 1924[1] |
| Religion | Officially Secular |
| Political ideology | Marxist |
| Nationality | Lebanese |
| Website | Official website |
| Lebanon |
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The Lebanese Communist Party (LCP; Arabic: الـحـزب الشـيـوعـي اللبـنـانـي Hizbu-sh-shuy‘uī-l-lubnānī) is a Marxist and democratic socialist political party in Lebanon, founded in 1924 by the Lebanese intellectual, writer and reporter Farajallah el Helou.
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Declared illegal in when the French ruled Lebanon 1939, the ban was relaxed during World War II.[1] For about twenty years, the LCP controlled communist political activity in both Lebanon and Syria, but in 1944 the party was split into the Lebanese Communist Party and the Syrian-Lebanese Communist Party.[1]
During the first two decades of Lebanon's independence, the LCP enjoyed little success. In 1943, the party participated in the legislative elections but failed to win any seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The LCP again ran for election in 1947, but all of its candidates were defeated; in 1948 it was outlawed. During the 1950s, the party's inconsistent policies on Pan-Arabism and the Nasserite movement cost it support and eventually isolated it. The party was active on the anti-government side during the 1958 uprising. Surviving underground, the LCP in 1965 decided to end its isolation and became a member of the Front for Progressive Parties and National Forces, which later evolved into the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) under Druze leftist leader Kamal Jumblatt.
In the mid 1960s, the U.S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 3000.[2]
The 1970s witnessed something of a resurgence of the LCP. In 1970, Kamal Jumblatt as Minister of the Interior legalized the party. This allowed many LCP leaders, including Secretary General Niqula Shawi, to run for election in 1972. Although they polled several thousand votes, none of them succeeded in claiming a seat. But the LCP's importance grew with the arrival of the civil disturbances of the mid-1970s.
During the early 1970s, the LCP established a well-trained militia, the Popular Guard, which participated actively in the fighting of 1975 and 1976 at the start of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). The LCP was aligned with the mostly-Muslim LNM-Palestinian coalition, despite its mainly Christian membership (in particular, Greek Orthodox and Armenian).[3]
Throughout the 1980s, the LCP generally declined in influence. In 1983, the Tripoli-based Sunni Islamist movement Islamic Unification Movement (Tawhid), reportedly executed fifty Communists.[4] In 1987, in union with the Druze Progressive Socialist Party, the LCP fought a week-long battle with the Shi'a militants of the Amal in West Beirut, a conflict that was finally stopped by Syrian troops.
Also in 1987, the LCP held its Fifth Party Congress and was about to oust George Hawi, its Greek Orthodox leader, in favor of Karim Murrawwah, a Shi'a, as Secretary General. Syrian pressure, however, kept Hawi in his position. Hawi, who had been a close ally of Damascus, was reportedly unpopular for his lavish life-style and for spending more time in Syria than in Lebanoncitation needed. Murrawwah was probably the most powerful member of the LCP and was on good terms with Shi'a groups in West Beirut. Nevertheless, between 1984 and 1987 many party leaders and members were assassinated, reportedly by Islamic fundamentalists.
In an interview for al-Jazeera in June 2005, George Hawi, who had by then left the party, claimed that Rifaat al-Assad, brother of Hafez al Assad and uncle of Syria's current President Bashar al-Assad, had been behind the 1977 assassination of Kamal Jumblattcitation needed. It is claimed by the March 14 Alliance that Syria was also behind Hawi's own death in a car bomb some days latercitation needed Hawi's son, however, denies this charge and awaits an investigation into his father's death.citation needed
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