Since its foundation in 1934, the Iraqi Communist Party (in Arabic: الحزب الشيوعي العراقي Al-Ḥizb al-Shīūʿīy al-ʿIrāqīy, Kurdish: حزبی شیوعی عێراق) has dominated the left in Iraqi politics. It played a fundamental role in shaping the political history of Iraq between its foundation and the 1970s. The Party was involved in many of the most important national uprisings and demonstrations of the 1940s and 1950s. It suffered heavily under the repressive regimes of the Ba'ath party and Saddam Hussein, but remained an important element of the Iraqi opposition, and was a vocal opponent of the United Nations sanctions imposed on Iraq after the Kuwait War of 1991. It opposed the United States invasion of Iraq in 2003 but since then has participated in the new political institutions. It received little support in the Iraqi general elections of 2005.
Read more about Iraqi Communist Party: Roots of The Party: 1924-1929, The 1930s, The 1940s, 1950-1958, The Party Under Qasim, 1958-1963, The Party Under Baathist Rule, After The Occupation of Iraq, Party Institution, Symbols and Leadership, Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the words iraqi, communist and/or party:
“I will cut the head off my baby and swallow it if it will make Bush lose.”
—Zainab Ismael, Iraqi housewife. As quoted in Newsweek magazine, p. 31 (November 16, 1992)
“The terrible thing is that one cannot be a Communist and not let oneself in for the shameful act of recantation. One cannot be a Communist and preserve an iota of one’s personal integrity.”
—Milovan Djilas (b. 1911)
“If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened—that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death. ... “Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan,”controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.””
—George Orwell (1903–1950)