Arab Unity

The cooperation realized by the Arab League charter is inadequate since this cooperation could take place among countries different from each other in language, race and history as they are far from each other regionally and separated from each other by continents. The charter, taken as a whole, is a confirmation of the present state of fragmentation in the Arab world, and an emphasis on the rulers' personal urges. It is also acquiescence on the part of League's states, to the policy of the "fait accompli", which made it easy for them to retreat before the designs of the foreigners on certain parts of the Arab homeland. Such retreat has taken the form of admitting that Palestine has not yet reached the stage of political maturity, neglecting the fate of other Arab lands in North Africa and elsewhere and the silence of these states vis-à-vis the Zionist menace, as well as the annexation of Alexandretta by Turkey.
(Our opinion of the Arab League Charter -The Periodical Publication No. (1) 4.April 4, 1945).


It is now the Arabs who quarrel among themselves over unity and federation, republic and democracy, freedom and sovereignty, or to put it more correctly and justly, the quarrel is between professional political cliques, which have sold themselves, and conscience to the foreigners. There are those who want to open the way for imperialist interests through the call for unity, the republic and freedom. There are Arab royalist governments in support of the republic in Syria. Others surrender to the foreigners but pretend to carry the banner of unity and federation. We must be above such disputes, which have no connection with the real issue of nationalism, even though they are named after it and take on Arabic terms and nomenclatures derived from nationalist aims. But, they are in fact alien to it.
(Our task is to struggle to safeguard the aims of the Arabs -Al-Baath, 4 -Dec. 29, 1949).


After the disaster of Palestine, no one can be deceived by appearances that are not based on truth or realities. Large numbers, after the defeat of the seven Arab states in the face of the Zionist gangs, are no longer sufficient to do without quality. Any union that the Arabs intend to realize, after the cruel experiences and predicaments they have undergone, should have the necessary elements of viability. It must acquire quality not quantity, form or territory. In brief, such a union has to rely on the unity of the forces of the people aiming at the increase of production and defence forces, as well as elevating the level of political and nationalist consciousness, which could be likened to spiritual production and spiritual defense and to the material production and military defense.
(We want positive objectives -Al-Baath 4 -January 4, 1950).


There is no doubt that the goals of "The Arab Baath," which we have summarized in “Unity, Freedom and Socialism,” are fundamentally equal in importance and should not to be separated from each other or to be postponed. In addition, unity has a moral priority and superiority which should not be overlooked by the Baathists lest they follow ideological and political currents that are most remote from the idea of Arab renaissance.
(The revolutionary nature of the Arab unity, 2 -February, 1953).


Therefore, unity is not an automatic act, which comes into being by itself as a consequence of circumstances and development. Circumstances do not help it and development may run counter to it, towards a false crystallization of fragmentation. According to this, unity is efficiency and a creation that goes against the current and a race with time. In other words, unity is a concept of radical change and an act of struggle. The onslaught of imperialism and Zionism is practically confined to preventing Arab unity.
Imperialism does not need direct intervention to counterfeit democracy and progressivism since fragmentation guarantees this as long as its position and logic tempt every part to exploit it with a view of attaining certain illusory benefits at the expense of the other parts.
(The revolutionary nature of the Arab unity, 2. February, 1953).


Whereas the "Unionists" of fragmentation consider unity an automatic creation that can be reached by political unification when circumstances and opportunities become propitious and that unity needs only political preparation, to be conducted through negotiations and maneuvers. As for ideological preparation this is, at best, nothing more than a generalized lip service to unity that is so wide, it includes all sorts of improvisations and incongruities. But, unity represents, in the eyes of regionalist parties with their well-known practices, a superficial thing which lacks seriousness and comes last in priorities when compared with regional preoccupations that practically dominate the interest of such parties. Unity, as seen by the "Arab Baath," is a fundamental and living idea, which has a theory in the same way as freedom and socialism have theories. It has its principled, daily organized and continuous struggle, as well as its stages of application that enhance the power of that struggle and paves the way for the final victory.
(The revolutionary nature of the Arab unity, 2 -February, 1953).


Arab unity is an ideal and a standard, not the outcome or a consequence of the fight of the Arab people for liberty and socialism. It is a new ideal that should accompany and direct that fight. The potentialities of the Arab nation are not the numerical sum of the potentialities of its parts when they are in the state of separation; they are greater in quantity and different in kind.
(The revolutionary nature of the Arab unity, 2 February 1953).


Thus, we reach this fact: The Arab people will not realize the unity of struggle unless it practices the struggle for unity.
(The revolutionary nature of the Arab unity, 2 -February, 1953).


The idea of Arab unity is the ideal of radical changes. The nature of this ideal cannot be seized by the liberation from imperialism with all its seriousness and violence; nor can it be seized by social and socialist liberation that shatters in society the biggest interests and the strongest customs and rules. This is because external liberation benefits from the direct but passive emotion of the people, and social liberation depends on the direct and material interest of the people. Both of these liberations meet with the trend of our age, which is marching towards the liquidation of imperialism and class exploitation, whereas the ideal of unity does not have any passive meaning.
The material interest does not appear in it except partially, indirectly and with gains deferred. It is wholly positive, and it is spiritual rather than material. It is premeditated rather than spontaneous, as it goes beyond simplification and the immediate interests. It addresses the mind and profound faith and it requires the sacrifice of the present, in favor of the future and requires serious preparation and a new education.
(The unity of struggle and the unity of destiny, 1. August, 1955).


The liberty demanded by an Egyptian or an Iraqi party, and the socialism for which a Syrian or a Lebanese party works are something other than the liberty and socialism which the Arab nation needs and is capable of realizing, as a nation of a cultural heritage, capacity and potential for a new and genuine renaissance. The freedom, which every Arab region pursues all alone, cannot reach in profundity, comprehensiveness and positive significance the level of freedom to which the Arab nation aspires when it puts its destiny and the destiny of humanity in question. Similarly, socialism reduced and distorted within the borders of one region, to the point of confining itself to partial and deceptive reforms, will reach its full theoretical and applicable scope when its area becomes the Arab homeland as an economic unity and as a unity of popular struggle.
(Unity of struggle and unity of destiny, 1 -August, 1955).


When we take the Arab homeland as a unit, looking at its various economic potentialities, we see that they complement each other. When we want to realize some of these potentialities and make progress, we have to take into consideration this link, which binds the different parts of one
Homeland, so that we avoid building twenty ports in one region while neglecting other regions, and avoid establishing an industry in a region which does not have the raw materials for it and consequently becomes very costly for us while we can, by unifying our economy with other regions or with some of them, create an industry for us, Arabs, without having recourse to foreign capital or foreign raw materials.
(The nature of rule in Egypt, 5 -March, 1956).


Unification during the time of struggle is the correct one as it penetrates the souls very deeply, fusing the souls, emotions and everything. When every region becomes independent and arranges its conditions as an independent, unit difficulties arise in an unbelievable way.
(The Unity of struggle in the Arab Maghreb (North Africa), 1 -March, 1956).


The revolutionary nature of Arab unity, cannot therefore, be realized from above or on the basis on which the "Arab League" was established. It should come from the depths of the masses of the Arab people, fused with the innermost needs of this people, and with the core of its emancipation and social struggle. It also means that unity, even though it requires for realization time and effort in stages, has a precondition for attaining it, and it should be taken as a target and guideline for our struggle from the beginning. This means that all our other steps should be open to it, connect with it and lead to it. Meanwhile, we have to sacrifice many regional and immediate interests while overcoming the obstacles raised by regional thinking because we shall never find unity at the end of our path unless we put unity at its beginning.
(The revolutionary nature of the Arab cause, 2 -April 25, 1956).


The serious danger to unity comes from those who affect it, brag about it, who, when clinging to it, do so in order to fake it, suck out its blood, stifle it, and put on its mouth what it does not want to say, in order to make it a prisoner in their hands. They can then use it as a threat and bargain for it in exchange for base positions and personal leadership.
(On the unity of Egypt and Syria, its direction and the obstacles on its way, 2. April 7, 1956).


In view of this we entered the national coalition government on the condition that it should undertake to achieve federation between Egypt and Syria, because we knew that national rule, which means among other things postponing or narrowing the internal battle, loses its "raison d'etre" and changes into a means to lull the people, if its price is not the gain on the national field, that is, federation. To defer the internal battle with nothing in exchange and for no justification is no more than striking a blow at liberation policy and going back to imperialist dependence.
(The federation of Syria and Egypt is the fruit of the Arab emancipating struggle and the guarantee for its continuity June 22, 1956).


Does unification of defense confine itself to the leadership of the two armies, and would it be sufficient to unify at last the economy by the exchange of commodities and by a lifeless coordination of present economic conditions in the two regions, instead of achieving a deep interaction between the producing forces in light of the new needs and the new outlook inspired by the federation which should direct production towards the exigencies of the higher national objectives?
If we make such enquiries, it is only because that deviations and deceipt threaten unity in its first step and because the obstacles in its path are neither few nor easily overcome.
(On the unity of Egypt and Syria and the obstacles, 2 - April 7, 1956).


The Arab people, in the different parts of its homeland, whether small or large in number, struggles armed by the force of the whole Arab nation because it struggles for the freedom of the whole Arab nation.
(The federation of Egypt and Syria, 2 -July 6, 1956).


We make a grave mistake if we concede the benefit of this step without conceding its imperative necessity, for it is not only a step forward but also the only guarantee that we will not go back on what we have achieved up to now and so that we will not lose. Every liberation not guaranteed by unity remains precarious and susceptible to relapse. Every progress remains superficial, distorted and disfigured unless unity gives it the natural soil for its growth.
(The federation of Egypt and Syria, 2 -July 6, 1956).


If there is an issue, which could and should transcend party differences and narrow thinking, it is that of unity.
What is the use of thinking of parties and their practices, nay, what is the use of their existence if our homeland remains dismembered and fragmented? No fragment, however large and strong--could ever carry alone, deeply and genuinely, the burden of the principles declared by the parties, the principles that could never claim profundity and genuineness if they were not inspired by the history of the Arab nation when it was unified and if the image of the forthcoming unity does not exist continually in the minds and hearts of people holding these principles.
(The federation of Egypt and Syria, 2 -July 6, 1956).


There is no guarantee for what the Arabs have achieved in relative and partial emancipation and progress, and they will not have the capacity to repulse external dangers accumulating around them unless they follow the path of Arab unity.
(The rejoice of imperialist powers, 5 -AI-Baath -July 13, 1956).


One of the features of Arab awakening is that it endeavors to emerge from economic backwardness by setting out economic policies on popular, progressive and revolutionary bases. Most efforts are to be directed towards raising the standard of the greatest number of the Arabs and concentrating on fundamental matters such as strengthening defense and establishing basic industries in order to liberate the homeland from foreign dependence. All this should take place in the framework of the logic of Arab unity, which requires that the Arab economy should be integrated with every part complementing others and become open to unifying steps while enhancing them.
(The outcome 0£ a stage 0£ struggle, 5 -December, 1956).


The Arab homeland is an economic whole in addition to being a political and military whole, that is to say the parts of this homeland complement each other. What Syria has by way of resources, raw materials and means of production is nothing but a part of this economic whole which is the Arab land in its entirety. Therefore, when the economy in Syria is organized on the principle that it should have a complete industry comprising all the industries that an independent state requires, and that it should have the facilities and the armory needed by an independent state, and Lebanon and Iraq and others plan in the same way, a few years will not pass without each region drowning in a state of fragmentation, and all the forces of the world will be incapable of extricating it from this state so that it may become open to Arab unity, cooperate and be unified with other regions. Thus, most of the potential of the Arab nation become wasted, especially in the economic field. We can apply this to all other fields, as the efforts exerted for the benefit of one region could be sufficient for all regions.
(On the situation in Egypt, 2 January 21, 1956).


Our United Arab Republic is the offspring of the revolution of the Arab people and its struggle in all its regions. In order to comprise all the Arab regions, it should be the fountainhead and the nourishment of revolution in all parts of the Arab homeland, for the principle which was the origin and the base of its creation and preparation for it for so many years, the principle of Arab unity and the oneness of its cause and struggle, is alone that can guarantee its survival and growth until it realizes its message, the all-embracing and liberating unity.
(This unity is an Arab revolution and a world revolution, 2 -February 8, 1956).


We do not say that Arab unity will be reached in one stroke, but say that it is natural and reasonable that it should be achieved in stages and we hold this view, the view of stages, and work by it and for it: federation between two or three regions is a stage on which all our efforts should concentrate until they come to fruition, this stage, in turn, will facilitate reaching a higher stage, on the path towards a larger and greater unification.
(Arab unity and socialism, 5 -February, 1956).


When the day comes when Iraq is delivered from its unnatural conditions there will be nothing more precious than federation with Iraq.
(Arab Unity and Socialism, 5 February, 1956).


When we linked unity to socialism we were acting neither recklessly nor at random, but we found this the only path to make unity in our life a living and dynamic reality, which every laborer demands when he claims his bread, a rise in his wages and medicine for himself and his children. When every poor and oppressed peasant demands the restoration of his right to his produce and delivery from injustice and enslavement, we have likewise made of Arab unity a living and realistic requirement that merges with the life of the Arab people as individuals throughout their daily living circumstances and with the simplest thing in their lives, their material needs.
(The role of workers in the realization of unity and socialism 1 -March, 1956).


Now that the Arab liberation struggle has reached the level that has appeared in Egypt and Algeria, accompanied by and fused with a social and progressive consciousness, which is continually increasing and ascending, the subject of Arab unity and the steps for its realization can no longer be ambiguous or confused. Unity has become axiomatically synonymous with liberation since Imperialism fears nothing as it fears unity. Unity has also become synonymous with progressiveness inside the Arab nation, for reactionaries who capitulate to imperialism and ally themselves with its against the social demands of the people cannot but support imperialism in its resistance to the current of unity.
(There is one road for unity 5 -June 21, 1957).


Unity is a revolution coming to eradicate distortion and change the actual situation, discover the depths, release suppressed forces and put an end to negative well as regional characteristics whether genuine or fake and negative, the latter being nothing but the consequence of the absence of unity Not everything in our actual existence is worthy of survival just because it exists. As for the sound and positive elements, these enrich unity and become harmonious with it, in fact they are preconditions for its coming into existence.
(Questions and Answers, 1-1957).


Federation is no longer a project among projects or a slogan among slogans. It has become an actual fact, nay, a predetermined destiny, for behind it there is a big nation suffering from deep injustice and affliction. It struggles in its various regions and on many fronts, inside and outside, in order to gain its freedom and march forward to perform its mission. Behind this federation there is also the logic of history, the trend of the age and the will for liberty, progress and peace of the peoples of the world, for these people have begun to realize the positive role reserved for the Arab nation when it becomes free, unified and up against all odds.
(The federation of Egypt and Syria supports the revolutionary trend and guarantees its continuity, 2 -December 6,1957).


Therefore it is not right to imagine unification as a process of adding separate elements, for it is not a unification of sound parts, nor it is a consequence of new and accidental fragmentation. Unity is an active and creative interaction between the parts and is necessary within each part itself before it can be posited as a form of relationship between the parts aiming at cooperation and solidarity. Unity does not deprive the part of its personality. On the contrary, it accentuates and deepens it. It gives reality, genuineness and creativeness to every part when it puts it in its living place as part of a living whole.
(Questions and Answers, 1-1957).


Unity has been a pursuit of the Arab nation since it has been afflicted with fragmentation. The Baath did not create the demand or the objective of unity, but gave it a new conception that makes it realizable.
Unity, in the view of the Baath, is a revolutionary idea and a revolutionary action in contrast to the concept prevalent in the past, whose consequences survive to this day. That concept meant merely putting together and binding the parts of the Arab homeland, whereas the revolutionary understanding of unity means creativeness in thought and struggle which stand opposed both to the state of fragmentation and to what has been bequeathed and fabricated by fragmentation in terms of mentality, emotions, interest and political, economic and social conditions inside every region of the nation.
Thus unity, in its revolutionary conception becomes linked with the two other revolutionary objectives, liberty and socialism, interacts with them, nourishes them and nourished by them. Thus unity enters, for the first time in many generations, into the very fabric of the life of the Arab people and into the innermost points of its struggle for its freedom, independence, political rights, and its daily bread as well as for the economic and social condition conducive to its human dignity and its national mission.
(Questions and Answers, 1-1957).


If (May God forbid this to happen) the efforts of the republic are confined to the inside and should it fail in its duties toward its brethren in the other regions, this will threaten its existence. As we believe that the Arab cause is one and that the Arab fate is one, our new republic, in supporting Algeria and in working for the liberation of any fighting Arab region, is defending itself and building its structure. The present unity of Syria and Egypt, achieved after numerous experiences and a long struggle, is indebted to this fact: That our cause is one and that its future should be committed to this unity and it should see its life in the life of the other Arab regions.
(The unity of Egypt and Syria, 2 -February 20, 1958).


But it is important to know that the beginning is always hard and exposed to danger, and we should be aware that we have a sacred duty to protect this historic step and nourish it with all our strength. We should never in it a justification for respite, withdrawal from action or claiming the price for past efforts. This step is still open to many risks, the overt risks are the smallest because they are naked, but the concealed risks do not appear often or with complete clarity. The most important of these is which means that residue from the mentality of fragmentation the unity becomes entangled with the threads of fragmentation whereupon it becomes inconsistent and fails.
(The unity of Egypt and Syria, 1 -February 20, 1958).


When Arab unity becomes the axis of our revolution, the heart that nourishes it, the horizon that inspires it and gives it fervor, it will negate all the reasoning and precautions which, some ten or twenty years ago, imposed on our life that low level of thinking and action and that superficial and shameful conduct of our affairs and conditions. In both the battle for liberation and independence and the battle for progress and social revolution, the idea of unity has opened the door in every Arab region for radical and decisive solutions, because it makes every Arab region responsible for the burden of the Arab nation in its entirety, while at the same time replenishing them with the potential of the whole Arab nation. The revolutionary nature of the unity becomes apparent in the fact that it elevates the Arab struggle to profound suffering and the gravest danger, that is, to the level of the causes of Palestine and Algeria.
(The revolution of Algeria and the revolution of unity, 2 April 4,1958).


The battle, in my view, is between unity and secession, although, in a very short time it has been turned into battle between nationalism and communism. Had we
given unity its complete and sound meaning, clear in every way, the battle would not have been turned to easily and so quickly by new complications, to the battle between nationalism and communism.
(The battle of unity in Iraq, 1 -April, 1959).


If mistakes have been made, unity is deeper than everything and can rectify the mistakes. This insistence on and acceleration of realizing a step toward unity in nothing but evidence of the need of the nation to cut shorts the way to unity because it is the way to power.
(Landmark of progressive nationalism, 1960).


Unity cannot become a retreat. It is the revolutionary unity of this age, a unity embraced by the masses and fused with the socialist struggle, nay, its struggle is fused with the experience of the whole nation at this stage. This deep human experience cannot be an automatic process, but a process of a new creation of the nation. This should become clear.
(Landmark of progressive nationalism.1960).


Unity is not addition and connection and a materialist process. Unity is a new fusion through the new experience of the Arabs.
(Landmark of progressive nationalism, 1 -1960).


The danger to the nationalist cause presented by the errors, which have been responsible for the failure of the experience of unity, will end as soon as the people are aware of these errors and know how to rectify and avoid them. As for the danger of the separatist situation this will not be brought to an end merely by knowing its reality, a reality which is unmasked, but the people must summon up all their fighting energy to resist the reactionary and imperialist privileges of which the new situation is made up.
(The relapse into secession, 2-Februarv. 1962).


In face of historic responsibilities of the first experiment in unity, after hundreds of years of dismemberment of the Arab countries, it was imperative, in order to make this experiment healthy encouraging and the bearer of the seeds of life and growth, that the leadership and the burden of colossal responsibilities be entrusted to the experience of an elite of fighting men from the Arab nation east and west, and that there be a deep and continuous interaction between this experience and the revolutionary experience in each region.
It was imperative also that this experience be attuned from the beginning to the diseases of fragmentation and its residues, to the problems of the backward Arab society and to the obstacles that reactionary, regional and imperialist interests put on the way of unity.
(The relapse into secession. 2 -February, 1962).


It is necessary to differentiate between two processes taking place at the same time. The first is that the mistakes made in affecting unity, in addition to the low level of awareness of most of the popular movements in the Arab homeland, made the failure of this first experiment in unity almost inevitable. The second fact is that secession was the result, not only the failure of the experiment of unity but, primarily, of the fact that reactionary interests, relying on imperialism in this area and in the whole Arab homeland, exploited the bad application of unity in order to establish new conditions in Syria and in the area so that the nationalist cause would retreat and set the cause of the underprivileged classes many years back. At the same time, such conditions were to restore imperialism at a time when it was at the stage of liquidation, to strengthen "Israel" and open before it a wide future of security, to solidify the rule of kings, princes and companies and all exploiters and enslavers of the people and to turn the Arab unity to the realm of illusion and fantasy and the imperialist designs.
(The relapse into secession, 2 -February, 1962).


It is imperative for this unified Arab struggle, in order to safeguard the concept of unity against doubts and stumbling, that its work for unity be based on a clear vision of a system of unity capable at the same time of preserving its nationalist significance and preventing it from regional hegemony. The system which the party has called for, since the deliberation about unity, and which it regards as ensuring this purpose, is the system of one federal state.
This system takes into consideration at one time the fact of the oneness of the Arab people on the one hand and the actual existence of the Arab regions on the other.
(The relapse into secession, 2 -February, 1962).


But the errors of the ruling system in the United Arab Republic, however grave they may be, do not justify secession, for the fact remains that the failure of the experiment in unity is a consequence of certain mistakes and that secession is a consequence of planning, designs and conspiracy.
(The relapse into secession, 2 -February, 1962).


In order to safeguard unity against the maneuvering of politicians and their verbal bargaining, and to exclude those whose class and regional interests are farthest from it, (the party) gave it blood and life and gathered around it the popular forces that are loyal to it and capable of accomplishing it.
(The relapse into secession, 2 -February, 1962).


Now that the first and most precious experiment in unity was achieved and has failed, secession represents a new kind of fragmentation, which has its own basis, logic and justifications. They are unifying their forces, which are those of imperialism, Zionism, Arab reactionaries and Arab haters, not only to confront any possibility of the establishment of a new unity, but also to track down the idea of unity and unitary forces and shatter them everywhere. Secession is the realization of fragmentation; it makes it something realistic and valid. It is an attempt to make of the failure of the experiment
of unity a refutation of unity from its foundations and give the practical proof that the present existence of fragmentation is genuine and eternal and that the existence of independent Arab entities is the final and everlasting form of existence.
(Imperialism and reaction perform the greatest conspiracy against our nation, 2 -July 20, 1962).


The separatist retrogression of today is an expression of reactionary interests and Arab-hating thought as well as a regional logic. The duty of the progressive movement
is to go back to the essence of the orientation it set for itself from the start in the field of Arab nationalism.
We mean the interaction between the nationalist revolution and the social revolution and the integrated manner of working for them.
(For unity it is necessary to have a daily revolutionary fighting stand, 2 -August. 1962).


This separation stemming from the failure of the first experiment in unity is nothing but an example of the colossal difficulties on the way of unified thinking and action, especially in the nationalist and progressive rank itself. This relapse, in one of its forms, is an expression of the weariness that sometimes comes over certain fighters calling for the nationalist trend when the task appears to them almost impossible, while at the same time they are attracted by the facility of success if they concede the regional actuality.
(For unity it is necessary to have a daily revolutionary fighting stand -August, 1962).


Historical development does not bring about unity accidentally and gratuitously. Unity needs daily creation and nourishment as well as daily explanation, education and organization. It is the nationalist goal that is most in need of all these things, in view of the fact that it is an action on a plane other than the immediate one occupied by the Arab people in the regions of its fragmented homeland. It is an action that goes beyond the regional and direct limits and problems. Therefore the important thing is to realize unity, take it out of the realm of theory and thinking and hopes and bring it nearer and nearer, day by day, to be possibility of realization. The basic problem is to be on guard against the evils of false and suspect projects: Imperialism and reaction and all the enemies of unity have been occupying the Arabs for decades. They are capable of occupying them for long years to come by false and suspect projects so that the whole Arab action will be confined to rejection and passiveness, in other words, to the maintenance of fragmentation, weakness and exploitation.
(For unity it is necessary to have a daily revolutionary fighting stand. August, 1962).


The unity that was achieved between Syria and Egypt in February 1958 was not sudden nor was it rash and unmediated. It was not an accident brought about by circumstances. It had a history and a past and behind it, there was thinking and planning, effort and struggle. The Arab Baath Socialist Party had planned it two years before it emerged and had put its representatives in the coalition government in Syria since June 1956, on condition that the government would adopt the project of federation between Syria and Egypt and work for its realization. At that point, the Baath Party thought and declared that behind its intention to realize the first step in Arab unity was its will to restore to all the Arabs their confidence in the idea of unity and its capacity for realization, and to make the first state of unity a support and foundation for the Arab struggle in every part of the Arab homeland, especially for the struggle of Algeria. and Palestine. The party saw in the conditions of Syria and Egypt the soundest conditions for the initiation of the unifying process. At the time when the Secretary General of the Party went to discuss with President Abdul Nasser the issue of unity, Abdul Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company, which started the well-known battle. Since that date, the work of the Party, in all its Arab branches, has turned to the defense of Egypt in its new battle against imperialism. That stand was made imperative not only by the unity of struggle, but also because it was paving the way for unity and making Egypt aware of the truth of unity and its reality. The Party, in all the regions of the East, waged the battle of the Canal as a preparation and model for the battle for unity. During this battle the Party was working under the guidance of its Arab revolutionary ideology, inspired by its doctrine that unity is revolutionary and that it does not come accidentally, without a daily struggle for it.
(The relapse into secession, 2 -February, 1962).


The realization of unity has aroused enthusiasm and optimism among Arabs who have reached consciousness more than it has aroused in them the conscious appreciation of the importance of this step and the necessity to be vigilant about it and safeguard it from errors and stumbling. Most of Arab progressive and revolutionary movements put unity to their account, exploiting it and strengthening themselves with it for the benefit of their regional affairs, without being ready to carry their share of responsibility for keeping an eye on unity and the soundness of its direction. Rather, blind support of it, stemming from a narrow regional outlook and transitory interests, encouraged and facilitated deviation and contributed to the failure which involved all these movements nay, all the Arab people.
(The relapse into secession, 2 -February, 1964).


The unitary orientation in the view of our Party is not merely an intention and a claim but a projection of an actual reality. Our Party was considered unitarian because it believed in the theory of unity and created its structure on unitary foundations and not because it only declared slogans of unity. The regional orientation, as a theoretical, political and organizational direction, is rightwing, and deviationist. It is a direction hostile to socialism, unity and revolutionary organization as well as to the really popular action. The duty of the Party is to liquidate this orientation once and for all for it is a disease in the body of this Party and disease should be eradicated.
(A speech to the branches -The Syrian Region, 3 -January 18, 1966)


The unity of the Arab nation is both a positive and negative fact. Positive, because it is the power and the right order of things. It is a negative fact because the enemies are conspiring against the whole Arab nation and when they hit one of its regions they hit the nation in its entirety.
(The distant horizons of revolutionary action, 3. October 14, 1968)


There is a great obstacle which made the effort of the Arab nation futile despite the changes which have taken place in the last twenty years, and despite the emergence of more progressive systems in many of the Arab regions, existed and despite serious changes in social and production relationships and also in the means of production.
In spite of all this, the Arab effort has remained incapable of being on a par with that of the external enemy and of being steadfast before its aggression, to the point that it reached the defeat sustained by the Arab states. The basic obstacles, my comrades, are the actuality of fragmentation. The changes, which took place, along with the progress, could not transcend fragmentation, eradicate it from the roots and annihilate its causes. We have consequently reached a state where the very existence of the Arab nation is threatened with annihilation, for the pace of our progress and that of the enemies coveting us is unequal and time will not be in our favor if£ we do not find the correct equation to rectify the method of revolutionary action practiced during the last twenty years.
(The new stage is a founding stage, 3 -October 23, 1969)


The frontiers of every Arab region are the frontiers of the whole Arab nation; its boundaries are the boundaries of the entire Arab homeland, the boundaries of the whole Arab existence. Nothing could guarantee the security of any Arab region as its participation in the great Arab cause.
(The new stage is a founding stage, 3 -October 23, 1969)


Arab unity will not be achieved unless it becomes a fighting unity, unless a great majority of the people are armed and defend it by arms, unless it becomes the unity of liberation. We must unite to liberate our usurped land, for imperialism and Zionism will never leave us united for a single day.
(The role of the working class in building the Arab revolution, 3 -November, 1969)


The battle of destiny faced by our Arab nation requires all the capacities and potential of this nation. This is a truth, which has become axiomatic. But the natural start of deploying and unifying the capabilities of the Arab nation is in the beginning stage and is concentrated in the unity of the masses of the regions surrounding "Israel" and these are: Egypt, Iraq and Syria.
(The call of historic responsibility, 3 -March, 1971)


Giving primary importance to the region, that is to the part, before the whole, will lead to forfeiting the Arab cause. A gathering of regions will not lead to unity, and a collection of regional interests will not lead to the national interest.
(The regimes and the masses are two opposing sides of the Arab nation April 15,1974)


The solution of the Arabs today is in unity and their road for achieving unity is through democracy. In order that unity does not remain a theoretical quest, and so that democracy does not deviate to objectives less fundamental than unity, the masses should direct their efforts to wresting their right in a democracy linked with unity .In other words, they should achieve unity as masses and realize democracy through the unifying struggle of the masses.
(The regimes and the masses are two opposing sides of the Arab nation -The Arab Revolutionary -April 15, 1974)


We must reject a Palestinian state created through the settlement. We must reject the restoration of Palestinian lands to Hussein. (King Hussein). What is required is to undo the settlement in Egypt and Syria and urge every Arab region to participate in undoing it for this is the basis of the Palestinian state settlement of the settlement of restoring the lands to Hussein. What is required is to start the battle again to be ready for it. Either "Israel" retreats unconditionally and in exchange for nothing, whereupon a national authority will be established on that part of the land of Palestine pending the complete liberation, or the struggle will continue until liberation is completed in the future.
(The regimes and the masses are two opposing sides of the Arab nation -The Revolutionary Arab -April 15, 1974)


Future conditions or stage will prove in a more realistic and tangible way than in the past that the Palestinian cause is in effect the cause of the whole Arab nation and that this challenge with which the imperialist Conspiracy in Syria and Jordan and everywhere is being faced will reach the point of resorting to arms for the liberation of Palestine. The fear that they will disarm the Palestinians and the Palestinian resistance is a valid and just fear and we must be on our guard in this respect. But with our awareness' and our aspiration for the future, we have to create Palestine in every Arab region and urge the Arab masses to carry rifles for the sake of Palestine.
(Palestine, the Arab Revolution's cause, 7 -The speech of the Founder to the political committee of the Palestinian revolution in Iraq and the heads of the popular unions -April 22, 1974)


Our understanding of the actuality of fragmentation and regional entities will help us to overcome them in the future... will facilitate for us the process of Arab unification in the future. Ignoring this actuality will not facilitate unity.
(The growing Arab capacity to confront the enemies, 7 - The speech of the Founding Leader to the Syrian Comrades in Baghdad -June 23, 1974)


Comrades we must look at the Arab unity, which every time that it comes near, slips from our hands, with a new look so that involves no erroneous thoughts and in order not to become subject to unjustifiable despair. Arab unity is approaching and we are now nearer to it than at any other time in the past because it is incorporated in the consciousness of the Arab masses. The awareness of unity has grown a great deal, especially during the last war and the period after. We can reach unity by various ways provided that this new level of maturity which our masses have attained prevents us from the old emotional stands which meant that either the others accepted unity with us or we become enraged, hurt and distressed. Unity means that we have to seize every opportunity and use every field of communication and cooperation and common formation in the Arab regions. We should consider governments and all these barriers temporary and ephemeral and we should build for tomorrow, for posterity. We have to open our way to the masses even in the regions where the governments of which, have capitulated to imperialism. The plan of the enemies is to find us isolated, shrunken, within a cocoon, surrounded, so that they can enter the inside of our house. This plan should be forced to fail through repeated and various initiatives. Iraq must be open to all the Arab regions but should be very careful to define its distance from them in matters concerning principles and the soundness of policy.
(The experiment of Baath in Iraq is a starting point for the Arab revolution, 7 -June 24, 1974)
 

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