Jordanian Communist Party

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Jordanian Communist Party (in Arabic:حزب الشیوعی الاردنی transliterated to:Hizb al-Shuyu'iyah al-Urduni) is a communist political party in Jordan. The party was founded in 1948. JCP publishes al-Jamahir (The Masses). The general secretary of the party is Dr. Munir Hamarana.

[edit] History of the party

In June 1951 the Palestinian communists in the West Bank, then organized in the National Liberation League, joined JCP. During the years to come the main stronghold of the party was in the West Bank, and the party leadership was predominantly Palestinian. Prior to the merger into JCP, the Palestinian communists had opposed the annexation of the West Bank by Jordan. However, in 1951 that policy was reversed and JCP recognized the West Bank as part of Jordan.

The main leaders during the initial period were Fu'ad Nassar, Fahmi al-Salfiti and Fa'iq Warrad. The party gained influence amongst urban intellectuals in Nablus and Jerusalem. In particular, the party developed a strong position in the Salfit village outside of Nablus, from were many prominent JCP leaders hailed. Other areas in which the party was active were Ramallah, Bethlehem and amongst refugees near Jericho. The main party organ was al-Muqawamah ash-Shabiya (Popular Resistance), a monthly publication.

The party faced harsh repression from the Jordanian state. On December 29 1951 Fu'ad Nasser was arrested. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. In 1953 a legislation was passed that ordered forced labor for JCP cadres. However, the party continued to work in a clandestine way.

The party built up mass organizations, such as the Democratic Youth Association and the Peace Partisans. In May 1954 it formed the National Front, through which the party took part in the elections that year. In that election the National Front won one parliamentary seat, Abd al-Qadir Salih from Nablus.

The party reached the peak of its influence in 1956-1957, following the Suez crisis and during the mobilizations against the Anglo-Jordanian Treaty. In the 1956 elections the National Front won three seats. Salih retained his seat, and Fa'iq Warrad won in Ramallah and Yaqub Ziyadin won a seat in Jerusalem. Following the elections, there was a brief opening for the party. Salih was appointed as Minister of Agriculture in the government of Nablusi. Prisoners, like Fu'ad Nassar, were released from jail. The party press could be circulated openly. Its main opponent at the time was the Baath Party, which also sought to make inroads amongst the secular sectors.

The opening would however become very short. In January 1957 King Hussein attacked the party on all front. The communists were accused of collaborating with Israel. Ziyadin and Warrad were arrested, after having their parliamentary immunities removed. They were sentenced to 19 and 16 years imprisonment respectively. The party activities nearly halted, except for internal cadre schooling and publication of al-Muqawamah ash-Shabiya.

At the same time, the party suffered from internal divisions. The acting General Secretary in Amman, Fahmi al-Salfiti led the moderate sections of the party. He stood for rapprochement with the Jordanian royal house. He opposed guerrilla actions and expressed a will that King Hussein would take the leading role in the struggle against Israel. The al-Salfiti fraction supported Resolution 242 of the UN Security Council. al-Salfiti was opposed by the exiled leadership, led by the party general secretary Fu'ad Nassar.

After the 1967 war the party organization in the West Bank was led by Na'im al-Ashhab, Sulayman al-Najjab, 'Arabi 'Awwad and later, Bashir Barghuti. In the West Bank, the party started publishing al-Watan (The Fatherland). Under a-Ashhab's direction, the West Bank communists remain cautious of armed struggle, arguing that it was premature under existing conditions. However the changed political scenario in the West Bank would force the local activists to review their stands. The pro-Jordanian positions of the party and its ambiguity towards the armed struggle were becoming more and more problematic. The West Bank communists moved closer to the Palestinian liberation movement. By 1973 the West Bank communists supported the formation of an independent Palestinian state of the West Bank and Gaza. These developments strained the relations between the West Bank communists and their formal leadership in Amman.

In exile Fu'ad Nassar built up an armed militia for the Palestinian communists, the al-Ansar Forces, in March 1970. In theory the al-Ansar Forces would remain under the supervision of the JCP, the Syrian Communist Party and the Iraqi Communist Party. In practice the group would not play a major role, largely due to the passivity of JCP. By 1975 the structure was disbanded.

In 1975 the West Bank communists split in two separate organizations. The pro-Salfiti branch formed the Palestinian Communist Youth Organization. The group which remained in JCP was reorganized as the 'Palestinian Communist Organization', which achieved autonomous status within JCP.

On February 10 1982 the Palestinian Communist Organization was separated from JCP, after many debates. The Palestinian Communist Party was constituted as a separate party, merging the JCP branch in the West Bank and the Palestinian Communist Organization in Gaza.[1]

JCP was illegal until 1993.

In May 2006 it organized a 'Unity Conference of Jordanian Communists', merging sectors that had left the party.[2] The main splintergroup, the Jordanian Communist Toilers Party, did however stay out of the process.