The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Iraq [Paperback]

This book follows the rise and fall of the Iraqi Communist Party through original records.In this first comprehensive work to examine the complex transformation of the Iraqi Communist Party, Tareq Y. Ismael tracks the partys trajectory from vanguard actor under Iraq's conservative monarchy between the two world wars, to suppression, to deference to Soviet interests during the Cold War, and then to rearguard lackey under U.S. occupation.In this first comprehensive work to examine the complex transformation of the Iraqi Communist Party, Tareq Y. Ismael tracks the partys trajectory from vanguard actor under Iraq's conservative monarchy between the two world wars, to suppression, to deference to Soviet interests during the Cold War, and then to rearguard lackey under U.S. occupation.This is the first comprehensive work to examine the complex transformation of the Iraqi Communist Party from vanguard actor under Iraq's conservative monarchy to rearguard lackey under U.S. occupation. The Communist Party of Iraq was initially fostered by Iraq's embryonic intelligentsia as an approach to national liberation during the period of British domination. By 1963, the conservative Baath party had quashed the Communist Party, killing its members or sending them into exile. Dependent on the Soviet Communist Party, the Iraqi Communist Party floundered until the U.S. government took it under its wing in the 2003 occupation.1. The Communist Party of Iraq: origins and foundations; 2. Ascent of the ICP in Iraqi politics; 3. Party rift: the emergence of the central leadership; 4. Alliance with the Ba'th; 5. The rebirth of central leadership in the 1970s; 6. Crisis: disintegration or renewal; 7. Conclusion: the legacy.