Daud as-Sayegh

Daud as-Sayegh was an Iraqi communist politician. As-Sayegh was a Christian lawyer from Mosul. He entered and left the Iraqi Communist Party several times during the 1940s and 1950s.[1]

As-Sayegh had sided with Iraqi Communist Party leader Fahd in the 1942 split in the party. However, in February 1944 as-Sayegh broke away from the party and formed the League of Iraqi Communists. As-Sayegh denounced Fahd's leadership in the Iraqi Communist Party, accusing him of adventurism and undemocratic practices.[2]

As-Sayegh was readmitted to the Iraqi Communist Party in 1957. In early 1958 as-Sayegh, then a Central Committee member of the Iraqi Communist Party, was expelled from the party after disagreements with Salam Adil and Amir Abdullah.[3][4] In 1959 as-Sayegh he founded his own newspaper al-Mabda'.[1] As-Sayegh organized his own Iraqi Communist Party, with a tiny fraction of the membership of the original party. As-Sayegh's party applied for registration as the 'Iraqi Communist Party' in January 1960 as did the original Iraqi Communist Party. As-Sayegh's party was accorded recognition whilst the original party was denied registration.[5] As-Sayegh was a personal friend of Abd al-Karim Qasim and his party received support from the government.[5] As-Sayegh became the subject of virulent attacks in the Iraqi and foreign communist press. The (original) Iraqi Communist Party press stated that as-Sayegh did not represent the working class and that he suffered from megalomania. They stated that as-Sayegh had become a tool of the government in order to weaken the Iraqi Communist Party. As-Sayegh on his part rebuffed these accusations, stating that he represented the original party leadership formed in 1934.[6]

Soon after its foundation, as-Sayegh's party whithered away.[7]

References
  1. Gabbay, Rony. Communism and agrarian reform in Iraq. p. 97
  2. Ismael, Tareq Y. The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Iraq. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. p. 29
  3. Middle East Record 1960. London: published for the Israel Oriental Society, the Reuven Shiloah Research Center. pp. 243-244
  4. Ismael, Tareq Y. The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Iraq. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. p. 98
  5. Middle East Record 1960. London: published for the Israel Oriental Society, the Reuven Shiloah Research Center. p. 239
  6. Middle East Record 1960. London: published for the Israel Oriental Society, the Reuven Shiloah Research Center. pp. 241-242
  7. Ismael, Tareq Y. The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Iraq. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. p. 101
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