Maurice Salibi (), a

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n communist politician, who served as general secretary of the

Syrian Communist Party The Syrian Communist Party () was a political party in Syria founded in 1944 as a division of the Syrian–Lebanese Communist Party, which later split into the Syrian Communist Party and the Lebanese Communist Party. In 1972, it became a memb ...

for a brief period in 1968. A lawyer by profession, Salibi hailed from the Christian minority.
Middle East Record 1968
'. p. 737 Salibi represented the second generation of leaders of the Syrian Communist Party. He was a prominent figure of the party in

Homs Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is ...

in the 1940s. During three years he served as an envoy of the party to Europe, working at the

World Peace Council The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization created in 1949 by the Cominform and propped up by the Soviet Union. Throughout the Cold War, WPC engaged in propaganda efforts on behalf of the Soviet Union, whereby it criticize ...

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. In 1968, the party leader

Khalid Bakdash Khalid Bakdash (occasionally spelled Khalid Bagdash or Khaled Bekdache, ) (1912 – July 15, 1995) was a Syrian-Kurdish politician who was the founder of the Syrian Communist Party (SCP) and lead it from 1936 until his death in 1995. In 1954, Bakd ...

suffered a heart attack and was flown to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

for medical treatment. In Bakdash's absence Salibi was elected new party general secretary in September 1968. However, after the election a series of meetings of party leaders were held (in which the Soviet embassy in Damascus participated), and the election of Salibi was annulled. Salibi resigned from the post, and Yusuf Faisal was elected new provisional general secretary. A few months later Bakdash returned and reassumed his role as general secretary of the party. Salibi retained his seat in the party Central Committee, though. When the Syrian Communist Party was divided in two in 1986, Salibi sided with Yusuf Faisal's faction. He remained a

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

member of the Faisal-led Communist Party.Perthes, Volker.
The Political Economy of Syria Under Asad
'. London .a. Tauris, 1997. p. 196

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salibi, Maurice Syrian communists Possibly living people 20th-century Syrian lawyers