Adonis Diaries

What is “Syria National Social Party”? (Part 3)

 Note:  Part 3 will state the latest ideological foundations of the SNSP before the execution of its founder and leader Antun Saadeh.   Part 4 will attempt to develop on any revisions or extensions to the principles after its founder.

Before the founder and leader of the SNSP (Antun Saadeh) was executed by a firing squad on July 8, 1949, in a makeshift military trial, he delivered a series of lectures at the American University of Beirut.  The 10 doctrines for the ideology of the party were collected in a book “The ten lectures“.

The first principle states that “Syria is a total, complete and indivisible Nation. The Syrian people constitute one nation with a civilization enjoying unique characteristics.”  The Syrian Nation is an amalgam of ethnicities that evolved uninterruptedly since the beginning of time and formed a population with specific cultures, customs, traditions, and spiritual identities.  All the Empires that dominated Syria since the antiquity did not transform our fundamental culture but ended up being enriched with our civilization.

The second principle delimits the natural boundaries of Syria. This potential nation is bordered from the East by the Zahgross and Bakhtiyari Mountain Chains (in present Iran and facing the Arab/Persian Gulf). These mountain chains link with the Kurdistan Mountain Chains up north and then the Taurus Mountain Chains in present Turkey to the Mediterranean Sea.  The south-east merges with the western desert of the Arabian Peninsula.  The south border is bounded by the Arabian Sea.  The south-west is bording the Sinai Desert and the west by the Mediterranean Sea.  Thus, this potential nation included present States of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, part of west Iran, and part of south Turkey. Actually, the mandated French power ceased valuable lands in norther Syria to Turkey in 1936.

The third principle states that Syria is one of four Arab nations with a common classical language.  The other Arab nations are the Arabic Peninsula, the Nile States of Egypt and Sudan, and the Northern African States of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco called the Maghreb (the sunset States of the Arab World).  Saadeh didn’t view the Arabic issue from a romantic perspective of rough bedouins and so forth.

In fact, Saadeh’s father Khalil lambasted Britain for appointing Faisal of Hijaz (Arabic Peninsula) as King to Syria in 1919 because Syria was urban in nature and didn’t care for bedouins’ mentality of razzias and loot.  Thus, Syria is Arabic by language with shared common long history during the Islam domination.  The capital of the first Arab Caliphate dynasty (the Umayyad) was Damascus for over 100 years and then the Ayyubid Dynasty during the life of Saladin.  Saada and his family spoke classical Arabic.

The fourth principle is the complete separation of State and religion in the administration and running of the State.  In fact, Antun Saadeh instituted the first civil marriages among the members of the party and the ceremony to be resumed by a cleric if desired.  Till now, wedding registers are the domain of the 19 recognized sect or castes; a civil marriage to be recognized has to be done outside Lebanon.

Saadeh wrote a book titled “Islam in its two messages: Christ and the Prophet Mohammad”.  Islam (submission to One God) shares common denominators in belief system between the Christian sects and Moslem sects when all the administrative, civil laws, and political decisions have been excluded from the fundamental belief system.

I doubt that Saadeh would have encouraged the creation of an alternative religion (it would contradict the separation principle), but he might have encourage the publication of a unified book containing the verses common to both monolithic religions for educational purposes and for strengthening the unity of the society.  Saadeh confessed to a cleric before his execution so that individual religious beliefs are independent of social responsibilities and rights.

I will quickly go through a few other political, economic, and philosophical principles.  The ideology of the SNSP is neither communist (purely material philosophy) or racist (purely spiritual philosophy) or capitalist (unfair distribution of wealth and labor).  The SNSP will not take side in the War II, but will fight both sides for the independence of Syria: the party cannot side with the Nazi axes (a racist ideology of domination) or the “Allies” axes because they still maintain their mandated powers over the Syrian States and plan to establish the State of Israel, our “existential archenemy”.

The SNSP was the first political organization in the Middle East that instituted order, structural hierarchy, and way of conducts, regulations, and tight discipline.  Saadeh claimed that if the Syrian people fail to unite under an organized central command then the Zionist movement will inevitably succeed in establishing their State.  The SNSP organization was based on a culture of symbols extracted from our mythologies.

Saadeh was a rational and positive thinker and encourage discussions within the party, but never tolerated public dissensions.  The principle of ex-communication was applied to members who were expelled from the ranks and no communication with them was permitted.  Thus, the combination of set of symbols, ex-communication, tight discipline, and the principle of the leader (Zaim) for life (a contract between the member and the Zaim) is a reminder that the philosophy of Antun Saadeh is a Church ideology adapted to civilian setting.  It is the same with communism in its practice.

Actually, the SNSP never managed to get beyond the ideology of its founder, as if this ideology is a dogma that transcend time, and hardly tried to learn to adapt with the changing environment, cultures, and trends.

Note: You might ask: “Are there any ideological revisions or clarifications in the last 20 years?” I think “None”.  Total inertia, a stone attitude.  You might as well call it “The Petra Period”

 Are there any political revisions or changes?  It appears that the party has allied with the Syrian regime, and is unable to negotiate with all existing political parties in Lebanon, without prior green light from Syria…

Are there any re-organization and administrative changes in the SNSP?  Yes.  Lately, the SNSP conducted a true democratic transition of power through the various echelons but ended up electing mostly the same figures of the last 20 years.