The Libyan Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Libico, PCL; ar, حزب الشيوعي الليبي) was a

communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

. Historically, Marxism came to Libya through bourgeois intellectuals who studied abroad and through Marxists that settled from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

.Omeish, Ibrahim (2009). "Political history and future of civil society in Libya" (in Arabic). ''Libya Almostakbal''. The party was established shortly after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but the Libyan authorities began a crackdown on the party shortly after the founding of the Communist Party. In November 1951, seven of its leaders were forced into exile, and the Communist Party was under police surveillance. The party's headquarters was in

Benghazi Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη (''Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghazi ...

. The influence of the party was limited to a small group in

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή ��παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...

. Communist militants took part in student demonstrations. In 1952 the government banned all political parties, forcing the party underground. A second wave of repression came with

Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

coming to power in 1969 and a subsequent wave of repression against communists. In 1973, during the Libyan

cultural revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, Gaddafi stated:

We must purge all the sick people who talk of Communism, atheism, who make propaganda for the Western countries and advocate capitalism. We shall put them in prison.

References

Banned communist parties Communism in Libya Defunct political parties in Libya Communist parties in Africa Socialist parties in Libya Political parties disestablished in 1952 Political parties with year of establishment missing 1952 disestablishments in Libya {{Libya-party-stub