Lebanese People's Party

The Lebanese People's Party was the first formally organized Communist party in the Arab world. It was established October 24, 1924 by nine people, prominent among them Joseph Berger-Barzilai, Yusuf Ibrahim Yazbak and Fuad Shamali. The LPP published the leftist weekly newspaper al-Insaniyyah ('The Humanity'), also the first of its kind in the Arab world. The first edition was published May 15, 1925, but it lasted only five issues as the French colonial authorities shut it down on June 16, 1925.

The LPP later merged with the Armenian group "Spartacus" to create the Syrian-Lebanese Communist Party. The first (secret) meeting of the new party, which was attended by 15 representatives, was held on December 9, 1925.

References

• Ismael, Tareq Y., and Jacqueline S. Ismael. The Communist Movement in Syria & Lebanon. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1998. (ISBN 0813016312)