Iraqi Communist Party - The Party Under Baathist Rule

The Party Under Baathist Rule

The Ba'athist coup of 8 February 1963 was accompanied by street fighting as Communist activists and supporters resisted the coup attempt. Fighting in Baghdad continued for three days, concentrated in the party's strongholds in the poorer, mainly Shia, districts. When the Baath consolidated its power the ICP suffered an unprecedented campaign of mass physical liquidation. Leading figures and cadres of the Party were tortured to death, including Husain al-Radi. The total number of communists killed is unknown, but was certainly in the thousands.

In the mid 1960s the U.S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 15000 (0.47% of the working age population of the country).

In 1967 Aziz al-Hajj split from the ICP, establishing the Iraqi Communist Party - Central Command, and initiated an armed struggle, which the ICP at the time opposed.

In 1973 ICP secretary Aziz Muhammad signed a National Action Pact with President Hasan al-Bakr, forming a National Progressive Front together with the Ba'ath Party. The ICP was permitted to operate legally, publish and revive its flanking organisations. However, this was coupled with elements of repression, and by the autumn of 1974 the party tried to increase its security through a more clandestine mode of operation. In 1978 Saddam Hussein unleashed a renewed campaign of repression against the party, including the execution of large numbers of party members. In 1979 the party officially broke with the regime.

In 1993 the Kurdish branch of the party was transformed into a semi-autonomous party, the Kurdistan Communist Party.