The Fertile Crescent - The Cradle of civilisation

Sa'adeh and the SSNP

Oussama El-Mohtar

In the tenth lecture of his book The Ten Lectures, Sa'adeh makes the distinction between the SSNP and other parties by emphasising that the SSNP is not a "mere" political party, which represents the interests of a certain group of people who are vying to unseat another group of people from power. He characterises the unique nature of his party's goal as such:

"The goal of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party is an all-embracing one that deals with the fundamentals of 'National Life' through all its various aspects. It encompasses all the basic issues of a national society: economic, social, political, spiritual, moral, and the lofty purposes of existence. It comprises the national ideals; the purpose of independence; the establishment of a healthy nationalist society. It embodies a new intellectual ethical outlook; laying the foundation for a new moral order. All this is embodied in the basic and reform principles of the Party that constitute a Cause, a holistic outlook to Life; a complete philosophy."(1)

From the above, we can summarise that the Goal embodies the following:

- The party's doctrine

- Its Ideal

- Its unique moral outlook

- Its unique outlook on Life, the Universe, and the Arts.

- Its outlook on the Arab World.

The Party's doctrine is found in its eight Basic Principles, (2) to which Sa'adeh attributed a high level of importance. They are part of the Goal itself, and are also referenced in the preamble to the constitution,(3) and incorporated in its articles.

The doctrine deals with all aspects of what Sa'adeh termed "National Life" (Al-Hayat Al-Qawmieh). It deals with the establishment of the concept of a nation, which he deemed to be missing in Syrian intellectual circles when he founded the party.(4) It deals with the concept of national identity and distinguishes it from other identities such as ethnic, linguistic and sectarian.

The basic principles are statements of facts based on a set of knowledge. They are answers to philosophical questions, which preoccupied Sa'adeh since his youth.(5) The first principle answers three questions: Who are we? What are we? Who does Syria belong to? The second provides the answer to: What is the Syrian cause? The third: who is responsible for it? The fourth: what constitutes the Syrian People? The fifth: what is the Syrian homeland? The sixth: What is the underlying principle for national unity? The seventh: where does the Syrian renaissance draw its persona and ideals from? And the eighth answers two questions: do we have an ideal? And how do we rank it?

Sa'adeh defined a principle as "a point of departure for thought in a certain direction."(6) Therefore, the aforementioned answers should not be treated as static replies to mere curiosities but rather as dynamic means to improving Syria's national life. Sa'adeh attached a great deal of importance to them on a theoretical and practical level. In explaining the second basic principle he says:

"These principles are not static statements, nor are they dead words or co-ordinated letters. They are a living force from which basic and fundamental decisions will be born, and upon which policies will be built. Policies and plans pertaining to our interests; moral policies and intellectual policies as well; organisational policies and policies that determine our direction; policies that attend to our fundamental and lofty ideals, which are at the centre of the Syrian social nationalist cause, and the social nationalist order."(7)

The Principles are not an end in themselves but rather a beginning. To Sa'adeh, knowledge that provides no benefit is no different from ignorance that causes no harm.(8) Those principles represent a reservoir of intellect that assists the Syrians to better understand the complexities of their diverse composition, and a compass to chart a better future for them.

Sa'adeh knew that Syria would never be able to move forward as a nation, and to fulfil its ideals, and contribute its fair share in the advancement of civilisation until the philosophical questions referenced above were uniformly answered by the Syrians. He also knew that with the existing divisions it was going to be a long and bitter struggle until the Syrians find themselves with one uniform outlook surrounding all these issues.

"Work on clarifying the concept of a nation and the struggle to establish such a concept, are still going on in this country. The struggle shall continue until the Syrian society finds itself with one single concept that unites it in one single emotion embodying its spirit, its reality and its lofty objectives in life."(9)

The concept of the Ideal so preoccupied Sa'adeh that his book The Intellectual Struggle in Syrian Literature deals almost exclusively with it, especially as it manifests itself in music and literature. Sa'adeh understood the importance of literature and the arts in assessing the spiritual values of a nation and in giving expression to them. He gave such a high prominence to the role of the artist in the creation of a renaissance that he placed him/her alongside philosophers, geniuses and great leaders, who are capable of creating a new vision for their societies.

"The creative artist and the philosopher are the two who have the capability of escaping the constraints of time and place, to plan a new life and draw wonderful ideals for a whole nation."(10)

The Ideal is a vision and an outlook on life, which emanates from love. "Friendship is the consolation of life, but love is the incentive for the Ideal," Sa'adeh once wrote in a guest book.(11) He later expanded on this by saying:

"Love is the foundation of a new 'social belief' that unites people around a new Ideal. Should it (love) take root in the hearts and souls of a whole people, it would create wholesome co-operation and wonderful empathy that fills life with hope and creativity."(12)

The Ideal has to embody the values of Truth, Good and Beauty. And these values have to be viewed and accepted on a societal basis. They have to be accepted as such not by an individual or a number of individuals, not even by one generation alone, but across several. "Truth, to be deserving of such a name, cannot rear its head briefly and then disappear, or be limited to certain individuals… Truth could begin with one individual and spread into society. But for it to be established as Truth, it has to be accepted by society at large."(13)

The principles that Sa'adeh put forth represented the Ideal for which he was willing to give his life. And he did. As if foreseeing his physical demise he declared: "These principles represent the cause for which we strive, and for which we stand together or fall together."(14) In this he was ever consistent. He dismissed material love which is characterised by "feverish looks and quivering lips,"(15) and put forward a new concept: "Love is the union of two souls each telling the other we are united until we achieve our Ideal or die striving for it."(16)

Sa'adeh did not invent an ideal for his nation; rather, he uncovered it from beneath layers of dust that had hidden it through time and the loss of national, social and spiritual continuity in Syrian life. He characterised Syria as a nation, which had always been led by the ideal of contributing to human civilisation and the elevation of human life. This, Syria did through concrete contributions in the fields of geographical discovery, science, literature, urbanisation, civil code, and music. But perhaps what uniquely characterises the Syrian ideal is its universal outlook and the willingness, nay, wanting to share its knowledge and wealth with other peoples through peaceful interaction.

He summarised his outlook on the Ideal through a call he made to Syrian writers:

"Let us light a torch for this nation which is wandering in darkness; a torch that shines with our truth, and the hope raised by our will, and the correctness of our life. Let us build for our nation palaces of love, wisdom, beauty and hope, and let us construct them with material found within the history of our Syrian nation, its talents, philosophy and teachings that have dealt with the essential issues of human life. Let us embrace a new vision, a new outlook onto Life, the Universe and Art. An outlook by which we can revive our beautiful and great truth from its doldrums… Let us embrace such an outlook with a new understanding of the human existence and the fundamental issues it faces; a new outlook that embodies our personality, ambitions and ideals. Come to Liberty, Duty, Discipline and Strength, not because they represent the emblem of a political party,(17) but because they represent our intellect and our feeling about life, and hence became the emblem of national renaissance, in which we have invested all our hope, strength and will."(18)

Sa'adeh held the view that Syria is one of four Arab nations, the other three being Arabia, the Nile Valley and the Great Magrab. He rejected the notion of one Arab nation based on language and religion. He refused to "replace our knowledge, which is based on scientific facts with intuition and fanciful wishes."(28) He called for the establishment of an Arab front that could withstand the greed of imperialistic nations. However, he equally believed that for Syria to be able to contribute meaningfully to the well being of the Arab World, it had to achieve its unity and to have something meaningful to offer its sister nations. He believed that his Party's principles could be Syria's greatest contribution to the Arab World.

Despite the clarity of his position Sa'adeh was exasperated in fighting the continuous attacks on his party and the label of "enemy of the Arabs." As far as January 1949, six months before his assassination, he was still fighting to establish what he called "Realistic Arabism" based on the national character of the four Arab nations as he identified them, against the "Delusional Arabism" calling for one Arab nation comprised of 50 million people.(29)

(1) Sa'adeh, The Ten Lectures, p. 171.

(2) Refer to Basic Principles.

(3) Refer to the Preamble to the Constitution

(4) The Ten Lectures, p. 167.

(5) ibid., pp. 46, 50.

(6) ibid., p. 14.

(7) ibid., p. 59.

(8) ibid., p. 46.

(9) ibid., p. 167.

(10) Sa'adeh, Intellectual Struggle in Syrian Literature, Beirut 1978, page 28.

(11) ibid., p. 70.

(12) ibid., p. 36.

(13) From "Al-Majmou' wal Mujtama', (The Group and Society) article, first published in 1747, An-Nashrah Arrasmiyah.

(14) The founding speech, June 1, 1935, The Ten Lectures, p. 27.

(15) Intellectual Struggle in Syrian Literature, Beirut 1978, p. 65.

(16) ibid.

(17) These are the four corners of the Zawba'ah, the SSNP emblem.

(18) Intellectual Struggle in Syrian Literature, Beirut 1978, p. 65.

(19) The Ten Lectures, p. 172.

(20) ibid.

(21) ibid.

(22) ibid., p. 173.

(23) Intellectual Struggle in Syrian Literature, p. 19.

(24) ibid.

(25) ibid.

(26) ibid.

(27) ibid., p. 20.

(28) The Ten Lectures, p. 174.

(29) We fought Delusional Arabism to establish Realistic Arabism, Kul Shai', Beirut, January 28, 1949.