The old social classes and the revolutionary movements of Iraq : a study of Iraq's old landed and commercial classes and of its Communists, Baʻthists, and Free Officers

Title Copyright Contents Preface List of Tables List of Illustrations List of Maps Book One The Old Social Classes Part I Introduction Chapter 1: The "Old Social Classes": Practical and Theoretical Clarifications Applicability of Concept Difficulties of Analysis Chapter 2: Of the Diversity of Iraqis, the Incohesiveness of Their Society, and Their Progress in the Monarchic Period toward a Consolidated Political Structure Chapter 3: The Geographic Distribution of the Principal Racial-Religious Groups and Relevant Causative Factors. Chapter 4: Some Religious-Class and Ethnic-Class CorrelationsPart II The Main Classes and Status Groups Chapter 5: The Mallāks or Landowners Chapter 6: The Shaikhs, Aghas, and Peasants Chapter 7: The Sādah Chapter 8: The Old "Aristocracy" of Officials Chapter 9: The Chalabīs and the Jewish Merchants and Merchant-Sarrāfs Chapter 10: The Crown and the Ex-Sharīfian Officers Book Two The Communists from the Beginnings of Their Movement to the Fifties Part I Beginnings in the Arab East Chapter 11: The Earliest "Levelers" the Armenian Hentchak the Jewish Communists. And the Communist InternationalPart II Beginnings in Iraq Chapter 12: Husain ar-Rahhā l, as-Sahīfah Group, and at-Taḍāmun Club Chapter 13: Pyotr Vasili and the Basrah and Nāsiriyyah Communist Circles Chapter 14: The Founding of the Iraqi Communist Party Chapter 15: Two Iraqis-Three Sects Chapter 16: Beginning again or the Communists in the Period of the Coups d'Etat (1936-1941) Part III Causes Chapter 17: Of the General Causes That Made for the Increase of Communism in the Two Decades before the July Revolution Part IV Fahd and the Party (1941-1949) Chapter 18: Fahd Chapter 19: Toward a Tightly Knit, Ideologically Homogeneous PartyChapter 20: New Situations, New Approaches Chapter 21: The Arrest of Fahd and after Chapter 22: Al-Wathbah Chapter 23: The Disaster the Death of Fahd on the Gallows the "Children Communists" Chapter 24: Fahd, the Communist International, the Soviets, the Syrian Communists, and the People's Party Chapter 25: The Communists and the Question of Palestine Chapter 26: The Character, Scope, and Forms of Party Activity Chapter 27: The Organization, Membership, and Social Structure of the Party (1941-1949). Chapter 28: The Finances of the PartyPart V The Party in the Years 1949-1955, or the Period of the Ascendancy of the Kurds in the Party Chapter 29: Bahī'-ud-Dīn nūrī Rebuilds the Party Chapter 30: The Intifadah of November Chapter 31: More and More Extremism, Less and Less Sense Chapter 32: A Defeat for the Party, or the Birth of the Baghdād Pact Chapter 33: A Bit of Forgotten History, or the Tragic Occurrences at the Baghdād and Kūt Prisons Chapter 34: A Debate on Religion Chapter 35: The Composition of the Party (1949-1955). Title Copyright Contents Preface List of Tables List of Illustrations List of Maps Book One The Old Social Classes Part I Introduction Chapter 1: The "Old Social Classes": Practical and Theoretical Clarifications Applicability of Concept Difficulties of Analysis Chapter 2: Of the Diversity of Iraqis, the Incohesiveness of Their Society, and Their Progress in the Monarchic Period toward a Consolidated Political Structure Chapter 3: The Geographic Distribution of the Principal Racial-Religious Groups and Relevant Causative Factors. Chapter 4: Some Religious-Class and Ethnic-Class CorrelationsPart II The Main Classes and Status Groups Chapter 5: The Mallāks or Landowners Chapter 6: The Shaikhs, Aghas, and Peasants Chapter 7: The Sādah Chapter 8: The Old "Aristocracy" of Officials Chapter 9: The Chalabīs and the Jewish Merchants and Merchant-Sarrāfs Chapter 10: The Crown and the Ex-Sharīfian Officers Book Two The Communists from the Beginnings of Their Movement to the Fifties Part I Beginnings in the Arab East Chapter 11: The Earliest "Levelers" the Armenian Hentchak the Jewish Communists. And the Communist InternationalPart II Beginnings in Iraq Chapter 12: Husain ar-Rahhā l, as-Sahīfah Group, and at-Taḍāmun Club Chapter 13: Pyotr Vasili and the Basrah and Nāsiriyyah Communist Circles Chapter 14: The Founding of the Iraqi Communist Party Chapter 15: Two Iraqis-Three Sects Chapter 16: Beginning again or the Communists in the Period of the Coups d'Etat (1936-1941) Part III Causes Chapter 17: Of the General Causes That Made for the Increase of Communism in the Two Decades before the July Revolution Part IV Fahd and the Party (1941-1949) Chapter 18: Fahd Chapter 19: Toward a Tightly Knit, Ideologically Homogeneous PartyChapter 20: New Situations, New Approaches Chapter 21: The Arrest of Fahd and after Chapter 22: Al-Wathbah Chapter 23: The Disaster the Death of Fahd on the Gallows the "Children Communists" Chapter 24: Fahd, the Communist International, the Soviets, the Syrian Communists, and the People's Party Chapter 25: The Communists and the Question of Palestine Chapter 26: The Character, Scope, and Forms of Party Activity Chapter 27: The Organization, Membership, and Social Structure of the Party (1941-1949). Chapter 28: The Finances of the PartyPart V The Party in the Years 1949-1955, or the Period of the Ascendancy of the Kurds in the Party Chapter 29: Bahī'-ud-Dīn nūrī Rebuilds the Party Chapter 30: The Intifadah of November Chapter 31: More and More Extremism, Less and Less Sense Chapter 32: A Defeat for the Party, or the Birth of the Baghdād Pact Chapter 33: A Bit of Forgotten History, or the Tragic Occurrences at the Baghdād and Kūt Prisons Chapter 34: A Debate on Religion Chapter 35: The Composition of the Party (1949-1955). Now back in print, this classic work has assumed a new significance in light of Iraq's recent history. The late Hanna Batatu's landmark study of Iraq's social formation during the twentieth century is widely regarded as one of the most significant works of recent times dealing with Middle Eastern society and politics. Originally published in 1978, it is one of the very few comprehensive, primary source-based histories of any Arab country ever written. In the course of pursuing research in Iraq, Batatu happened to meet Abdul Karim Qassem who later went on to lead Iraq after the overthrow of the Hashemite monarchy in 1958. The prior friendship resulted in Batatu gaining access to otherwise secret state archives. Combined with extensive interviews and on-the-ground research, The Old Social Classes catapulted Iraq into a new light. At nearly 1,300 pages the work is dense with detail including large numbers of tables and raw data to illustrate his analytical points This comparative study analyses the traditional elite of Iraq and their successors the Communists, the Bathists and Free Officers in terms of social and economic relationships in each area of the country. The author draws on secret government documents and interviews with key figures, both in power and in prison, to produce an engrossing story of political struggle and change. Hanna Batatu was born in 1926 in Jerusalem. He immigrated to the United States in 1948, receiving his PhD from Harvard University in 1960. Apart from research fellowships at Harvard, MIT, and Princeton, Batatu held two major teaching appointments: at the American University of Beirut (196281), and at Georgetown University (198294), where he was named Professor Emeritus upon retirement. He died in 2000. This comparative study analyses the traditional elite of Iraq and their sucessors - the Communists, the Bathists and Free Officers - in terms of social and economic relationships in each area of the country. The author draws on secret government documents and interviews with key figures, both in power and in prison, to produce an engrossing story of political struggle and change. 'A landmark in Middle Eastern historical study' Roger Owen, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 'By far the best book written on the social and political history of modern Iraq' Ahmad Dallal, Professor of Middle Eastern History, Stanford University A comparative study analysing the political elite of Iraq, drawing on secret government papers and interviews with key figures to provide a unique and authoritative book on Iraq prior to the US led invasion.