Union of Working People's Forces-Corrective Movement

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Union of Working People's Forces – Corrective Movement
General SecretaryIssam Al-Arab (1974–1978)
Hasan Qubaysi (1978–?)
Founded1974
IdeologyNasserism

The Union of Working People's Forces – Corrective Movement or UWPF-CM (Arabic: اتحاد قوى الشعب العامل - الحركة التصحيحية | Ittihâd qiwâ al-'amal al-cha'b al-'âmil – al-harakat al-tashihia), also designated variously as the Nasserite Correctionist Movement – NCM (Arabic: الحركة التصحيحية الناصرية | Harakat al-Islahiat al-Nassery) and the Nasserite Socialists (Arabic: الاشتراكيون الناصريون | Al-Aishtirakioun al-Nassery), was a Nasserist political party in Lebanon,[1] which was active during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990).

Origins[edit]

Led by Issam Al-Arab,[1][2] the party was formed through a split from the Union of Working People's Forces in October 1974.[1][3] Apart from Al-Arab, co-founders of the group included Fouad Itani and Samih Hamada.[4]

In founding the new party, Al-Arab condemned the support of the Union of Working People's Forces leadership to the new Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.[5] Al-Arab argued that the Egyptian government under Sadat had abandoned Nasserism.[6] The party joined the Lebanese National Movement (LNM), whilst its mother party Union of Working People's Forces parted ways with the LNM as it sided with the Syrian government.[2][7]

Military structure and organization[edit]

Like other Lebanese Nasserist parties, the UWPF-CM had its own militia, the Nasser's Forces (Arabic: قوات ناصر | Quwwat an-Nasir) or Forces de Nasser in French,[1][5] whose formation was announced on April 15, 1975.[4] The party and its military wing were supported financially and militarily by the Libyan government.[5]

The UWPF-CM in the Lebanese Civil War[edit]

Although small in size, the Nasser's Forces took part in fighting in Beirut, in the Battle of the Hotels,[8][9][10] Chyah, on the Ras Nabi-Sodeco axis, at Khandak El Ghamik as well as in combats in Mount Lebanon (Aley, Qmatiyeh and Bdadoun).[7][4]

However, relations with its LNM coalition partners were strained to the point of the Nasser's Forces battling rival Nasserite parties such as the Al-Mourabitoun in November 1975 over control of the Karantina district in East Beirut.[11]

The party underwent a split in 1978. In an extraordinary congress there was a dispute between Al-Arab, who argued in favour of alliance with the governments of Iraq and Libya, and his opponents led by Hassan Qubaysi. On July 23, 1978 Al-Arab was declared expelled from the party and Qubaysi was named new General Secretary of the party.[4]

The Nasser's Forces continued confronting the Christian Lebanese Front right-wing militias between 1978 and 1982.[4] After the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the departure of PLO, the Nasser Forces went underground and supposedly converted itself into a clandestine resistance group.[4]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Albert J. Jongman (1988). Political Terrorism: A New Guide To Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, And Literature. Transaction Publishers. p. 611. ISBN 978-1-4128-1566-6.
  2. ^ a b SAIS Review. School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University. 1982. p. 80.
  3. ^ Itamar Rabinovich (30 June 2019). The War for Lebanon, 1970-1983. Cornell University Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-5017-4295-8.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Almodon. خمسة أحزاب انتهت في الحرب
  5. ^ a b c Frank Tachau (1 January 1994). Political Parties of the Middle East and North Africa. Greenwood Press. p. 343. ISBN 978-0-313-26649-2.
  6. ^ Translations on Near East and North Africa. Joint Publications Research Service. 1975. p. 60.
  7. ^ a b Marius Deeb (February 1980). The Lebanese civil war. Praeger. pp. 68–69. ISBN 978-0-03-039701-1.
  8. ^ Jureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), p. 6.
  9. ^ O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 29.
  10. ^ Tony Badran, Lebanon's Militia Wars in Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict, and Crisis (2009), p. 38.
  11. ^ O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 36.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Edgar O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon, 1975-92, Palgrave Macmillan, London 1998. ISBN 0-333-72975-7
  • Itamar Rabinovich, The war for Lebanon, 1970-1985, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London 1989 (revised edition). ISBN 978-0-8014-9313-3, 0-8014-9313-7 – [1]
  • Marius Deeb, The Lebanese Civil War, Praeger Publishers Inc, New York 1980. ISBN 978-0-03-039701-1
  • Paul Jureidini, R. D. McLaurin, and James Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas, 1975-1978, Aberdeen, MD: U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Technical Memorandum 11–79, June 1979.
  • Tony Badran (Barry Rubin ed.), Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict, and Crisis, Palgrave Macmillan, London 2010. ISBN 978-0-230-62306-4