Tareq Y. Ismael

Tareq Y. Ismael’s “The Rise and Fall of the Communist Party of Iraq” is a disappointingly dull and tiresome analysis of the Iraqi Communist Party, from its formation in 1934 to its role as a rearguard lackey of U.S. imperialism.

Unlike the author’s book on the Sudanese Communist Party, in this book the author almost exclusively focuses on the various schisms in the Iraqi Communist Party, with the majority of the book consisting of large block quotes of various reports and resolutions and their corresponding counter-reports and counter-resolutions between the various schisms. This is especially true during the period between the Pol Pot-style slaughter of communists by the Baathist regime in 1963 and the Anglo-American occupation in 2003. Any major domestic or political event within that period — the Iran-Iraq War, the Iranian Revolution, the Gulf War, the Kurdish rebellions, etc. — is discussed only insofar as it affected the formation or destruction of the various factions within the Iraqi Communist Party.

Although there were sections, especially near the end, that I thought were interesting, the overwhelming majority of the book consists of reports, resolutions, and congresses (or lack thereof), which I found tiresome and monotonous after a while.… (meer)

“The Sudanese Communist Party: Ideology and Party Politics” by Tareq Y. Ismael is a comprehensive analysis of the history, evolution, and tactics of the Sudanese Communist Party, once considered “the largest, best organized, and most prominent communist party in the Arab world, with an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 members and supporters” in 1971.

Major areas of focus in the book include: the conditions leading up to the founding of the Sudanese Communist Party in 1949 and the role of the Party in the national revolutions in 1964, 1969, and 1985; the crisis in the Party following the military coup by Jaafar Nimiri and, after a coup attempt by some members of the Party, the bloody repression of the Party under his rule; the Party’s ongoing opposition to the regime of Omar al-Bashir; the crisis in the Party following the overthrow of the Soviet Union; the Party’s role in the First and Second Sudanese Civil Wars and the Party’s relationship with John Garang and his Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM); the Party’s response to the crisis in Darfur; and the Party’s policies vis-à-vis Palestine, Arab nationalism, and other issues concerning the Middle East.

I’d recommend this book for anyone interested in socialism, Arab nationalism, and the development, evolution, and tactics of communist parties.… (meer)