Sana Tannoury-Karam
This paper contextualizes the emergence of communism in Lebanon at the end of WWI and the beginning of the period of French Mandate rule. In a post-WWI world, there were several ‘options’ of ideas and worldviews. However, for a group of Lebanese intellectuals and workers, communism became the dominant choice, even when other options were not excluded. I build upon the history that has been written about the establishment of a communist party in Lebanon in the mid-1920s, and I expand on it by considering both the local as well as global contexts from which the party and its founders emerged. This allows me to, first, understand the organic local origins of communism in Lebanon, while positioning Lebanese communists in the circles of an interwar world and their relationship to the Soviet Union. Second, it allows me to unpack some of the tropes and frameworks in which international and local actors packaged communism, giving these actors agency in the development of their ideas and actions. Zooming in and out of these global and local contexts, I argue that those who founded the Lebanese communist party were attracted to an idea that, at the time, allowed them to combine a mélange of causes and identities, primarily: an opposition to imperialism, a push back on the effects of an intensifying capitalist pull, and a challenge to local religious and sectarian forces. Furthermore, I trace the emergence of an anti-imperialist current within the communist circles in Lebanon by placing the development of the movement within the context of an interwar world. That world had emerged post-WWI with a growing resentment for colonialism and intensified efforts by leaders of the colonized world to combat imperialism and achieve national independence. The Soviet Union came to represent, within that world, a beacon of hope for colonized people, especially following the failure of the Wilsonian moment. This paper places the emergence of a communist movement in Lebanon within this interwar global context. I show that the attraction of the idea of communism to the inhabitants of the Levant was part of this post-WWI moment and a direct result of the disappointment with French imposed rule on Lebanon and Syria. For the Lebanese communists engaged in these global interactions, their ideas developed from anti-colonialism to anti-imperialism through their engagement with the events of the Syrian Revolt, the League Against Imperialism, and anti-capitalist campaigns.