Editing Ba'ath Party (section)

===Neo-Ba'ath: 1964–1966===
{{Further|Neo-Ba'athism}}
[[Neo-Ba'athism]] refers to the dramatic changes that manifested in Ba'athist ideology from 1960 to 1964, and the Military Committee's takeover of the Syrian Regional Branch and the National Command in the period 1964 to 1966.{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|pp=170–175}} The 6th National Congress signified the takeover of the party by an anti-militarist left, which opposed both the traditional leaders in the National Command and the pragmatists in the Military Committee.{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|pp=174–175}} When the anti-military left called for [[popular democracy]], no involvement of the military in national politics and popular struggle, the Military Committee became concerned.{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|p=175}} In 1965, Ba'athist President [[Amin al-Hafiz]] imposed the socialist policies adopted in the 6th National Congress; fully nationalizing Syrian industry and vast segments of the private sector, and establishing a centralized [[Planned economy#Command economy|command economy]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ginat|first=Rami|date=April 2000|title=The Soviet Union and the Syrian Ba'th regime: From hesitation to Rapprochement|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284075|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|volume=36|issue=2|pages=157–158|doi=10.1080/00263200008701312|jstor=4284075|s2cid=144922816|access-date=2023-02-21|archive-date=2023-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221122004/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284075|url-status=live}}</ref>

By 1965 the anti-military leftists began to "spread rumors about the rightist character of the military junta [Military Committee] within the party and their subversive efforts to engulf it. There was not a single officer in the party who was not accused of conspiracy and reactionary tendencies."{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|p=177}} In collaboration with the National Command, the Military Committee succeeded in expelling the anti-military left from the party at the 7th National Congress.{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|p=179}} The Military Committee, which now controlled the Syrian Regional Branch, took control of the Ba'ath Party in the [[1966 Syrian coup d'état|coup of 1966]].{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|p=180}} The military committee accused the Old Guard of diluting socialist ideology and casting aside "[[collective leadership]]".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ginat|first=Rami|date=April 2000|title=The Soviet Union and the Syrian Ba'th regime: From hesitation to Rapprochement|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284075|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|volume=36|issue=2|pages=153|doi=10.1080/00263200008701312|jstor=4284075|s2cid=144922816|access-date=2023-02-21|archive-date=2023-02-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221122004/https://www.jstor.org/stable/4284075|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Middle East expert Avraham Ben-Tzur, "the [neo-]Ba'th in its latest variant is a bureaucratic apparatus headed by the military, whose daily life and routine are shaped by the rigid military oppression on the home front, and [Soviet aid among others] military aid."{{sfn|Ben-Tzur|1968|p=181}}