Iraqi Communist Party - The 1940s

The 1940s

World War II posed a difficult predicament for the ICP, who looked to the Soviet Union for guidance but also vehemently opposed supporting the British Imperialist occupiers, whose occupation of Iraq in 1941 was partially premised on keeping supply lines open to the USSR. After Hitler’s invasion of the USSR in 1941, the ICP hesitated to officially lend their support to either side. While their ideological allies were the Soviet Union, the Soviets were allied with the British Imperialists, and the Germans also had significant influence in Iraq during the time of the Ottoman Empire. The party eventually ceded to supporting the Allies in May 1942, which essentially aligned them with the monarchy and the oppressive landowners for the time being.

In 1941 Yusuf Salman Yusuf became secretary general of the party, and set about revamping the organization and expanding membership among the working classes. He successfully laid the basis for the mass party of later years, and under his leadership the party became a considerable force among the Iraqi working class and a major focus for protest against British involvement in Iraqi affairs. In 1942 some of his decisions fell under criticism, and eventually split the party into several factions, each with their own newspaper. In 1944 the party launched a clandestine campaign to organize the nation’s industrial workers, spearheaded by lower middle class intellectuals. This led to a party conference in March 1944 and eventually to the party’s first congress in 1945, at which the dissidents of 1942 were reinstated into the party ranks.

Anti-British sentiment came back into the forefront of party concerns in April 1945, as the cost of living in the country grew higher and higher. The party attacked the government with criticisms and outright condemnations after the killing of protestors in June and July 1946, and as a result Comrade Fahd was arrested and sentenced to death, later reduced to life in prison. Between 1944 and 1946, major percentages (30-60%) of oil and railway workers, along with port workers in Basra, were unionized, all with ICP members as union leaders. As a result, massive strikes were organized between 1945 and 1947, demanding wage increases and the legalization of union organizations. The government initially granted wage increases, but soon dismantled the unions and arrested their leaders, contributing to Al-Wathbah, a period of urban unrest in Baghdad, beginning in January 1948. Another major issue for the party at this time was the Palestinian Question. Despite earlier support of Palestinian rights of self-determination, in July 1948 the party fell in line with Moscow's position of supporting a Zionist state. The party lost many supporters among the public because of this, and many members also resigned and left the party ranks in anger.

While this period brought many organizational victories for the party, it also brought devastating response from the government, due to the party's role in the al-Wathbah uprisings. Fahd and two comrades were publicly hanged in 1949, after being accused of organizing agitation from prison. The party was nearly decimated, and a period of reconstruction was to follow.