The Arab Revolutionary Workers Party ( ar, حزب العمال الثوري العربي ''Hizb Al-'Amal Al-Thawriy Al-'Arabi'') is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

active in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. As of 2008 the general secretary of the party is Abdul Hafiz Hafiz. As of 2011, the chairman of the party is Tariq Abu Al-Hassan. The party was founded in 1966 by , as a

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

splinter group of the

Ba'ath Party The Arab Socialist Baʿath Party ( ar, حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي ' ) was a political party founded in Syria by Mishel ʿAflaq, Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn al-Bītār, and associates of Zaki al-ʾArsūzī. The party espoused B ...

. The party rejected the

Ba'athist Ba'athism, also stylized as Baathism, (; ar, البعثية ' , from ' , meaning "renaissance" or "resurrection"Hans Wehr''Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic'' (4th ed.), page 80) is an Arab nationalist ideology which promotes the creation a ...

ideology of

Michel Aflaq Michel Aflaq ( ar, ميشيل عفلق, Mīšīl ʿAflaq‎, , 9 January 1910 – 23 June 1989) was a Syrian philosopher, sociologist and Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and its politic ...

as reactionary and backward-looking. Instead the party opted for

scientific socialism Scientific socialism is a term coined in 1840 by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his book ''What is Property?'' to mean a society ruled by a scientific government, i.e., one whose sovereignty rests upon reason, rather than sheer will: Thus, in a given ...

.Tibi, Bassam, Marion Farouk-Sluglett, and Peter Sluglett.
Arab nationalism: between Islam and the nation-state
'. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. p. 212 Another early prominent leader of the party was Ali Salah Saadi.Seddon, David.
A Political and Economic Dictionary of the Middle East
'. London: Europa Publications, 2004. p. 63 This split in the Ba'ath Party emerged parallel to the growth of leftist dissent in the

Arab Nationalist Movement The Arab Nationalist Movement ( ar, حركة القوميين العرب, ''Harakat al-Qawmiyyin al-Arab''), also known as the Movement of Arab Nationalists and the Harakiyyin, was a pan-Arab nationalist organization influential in much of the Ar ...

. The party was active in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

during the 1970s. During the initial years of the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

(1975–76), al-Hafiz lived in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. Al-Hafiz died in Beirut in October 1978. During the "

Damascus Spring The Damascus Spring ( ar, ربيع دمشق, ) was a period of intense political and social debate in Syria which started after the death of President Hafiz al-Asad in June 2000 and continued to some degree until autumn 2001, when most of the act ...

", the initial period of

Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...

's rule, the party could meet somewhat undisturbed under the guise of the 'Left Forum'. The party, along with other left-wing groups in Syria, decided to boycott the 2003 parliamentary election.Al-Ahram Center for Political & Strategic Studies.
I. Internal Reforms in the Arab World
'' The party was one of the forces behind the National Democratic Gathering and the

Damascus Declaration The Damascus Declaration ( ar, إعلان دمشق) was a statement of unity by Syrian opposition figures issued in October 2005. It criticized the Syrian government of the Assad dynasty as "authoritarian, totalitarian and cliquish," and called ...

.Damascus Centre for Theoretical and Civil Rights Studies
أمين عام حزب العمال الثوري العربي يدعو للإفراج عن معتقلي إعلان دمشق وطي ملف الاعتقال السياسي
The party is part of the

Syrian opposition The Syrian opposition ( ar, المعارضة السورية ', ) is the political structure represented by the Syrian National Coalition and associated Syrian anti-Assad groups with certain territorial control as an alternative Syrian gover ...

and was active in the civil uprising phase of the Syrian Civil War. On June 30, 2011 the party took part in forming the

National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change The National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCC), or National Coordination Body for Democratic Change (NCB) ( ar, هيئة التنسيق الوطنية لقوى التغيير الديمقراطي ), is a Syrian bloc chaired by ...

. A politburo member of the party, Hazem Al-Nahhar was included in the leadership of the Association.''

Al-Ahram ''Al-Ahram'' ( ar, الأهرام; ''The Pyramids''), founded on 5 August 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after '' al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majori ...

''.
New voices for change
'' On October 10, 2011 the party decided to withdraw from the Coordination, but retained its commitment to working with the National Democratic Rally.Nidaasyria
حزب العمال الثوري العربي.. قرار انسحاب من هيئة التنسيق الوطني

References

{{Syrian political parties 1966 establishments in Iraq 1966 establishments in Syria Arab nationalism in Iraq Arab nationalism in Syria Arab socialist political parties Ba'ath Party breakaway groups Political parties established in 1966 Political parties in Iraq Political parties in Syria Socialist parties in Iraq Socialist parties in Syria Syrian opposition Transnational political parties