Ba'ath Party

The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (Arabic: حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي Ḥizb al-Baʿth al-ʿArabī al-Ishtirākī [ˈħɪzb alˈbaʕθ alˈʕarabiː alɪʃtɪˈraːkiː]), also known simply as the Baʽth Party (Arabic: حزب البعث, lit. 'resurrection party'), was a political party founded in Syria by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, and associates of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party espoused Ba'athism, which is an ideology mixing Arab nationalist, pan-Arab, Arab socialist, and anti-imperialist interests. Ba'athism calls for the unification of the Arab world into a single state. Its motto, "Unity, Freedom, Socialism", refers to Arab unity and freedom from non-Arab control and interference as well as supporting socialism.

The party was founded by the merger of the Arab Ba'ath Movement, led by Aflaq and al-Bitar, and the Arab Ba'ath, led by al-ʾArsūzī, on 7 April 1947 as the Arab Ba'ath Party. The party quickly established branches in other Arab countries - although it would only hold power in Iraq and Syria. In 1953, the Arab Ba'ath Party merged with the Arab Socialist Movement, led by Akram al-Hourani, to form the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The newly formed party was a relative success, and it became the second-largest party in the Syrian parliament in the 1954 election. This, coupled with the increasing strength of the Syrian Communist Party, led to the establishment of the United Arab Republic (UAR), a union of Egypt and Syria, in 1958. The UAR would prove unsuccessful, and was dissolved following the 1961 Syrian coup d'état.