Editing Ba'ath Party (section)

===Jordan===
{{Further|Arab Ba'ath Progressive Party|Jordanian Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party}}
Following the party's establishment in Syria, Ba'athist ideas spread throughout the Arab world. In Jordan Ba'athist thought first spread to the [[Transjordan (region)|East Bank]] in the late-1940s, most notably at universities.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=135}} While the Regional Branch was not formed until 1951, several meetings took place at the universities where students and professors alike would discuss the Ba'athist thought.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=135}} Despite the ideology being very popular, it took time before the actual Regional Branch was established.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} A group of teachers established the Regional Branch in the city by [[Al-Karak]].{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} At the very beginning, the clinic owned by Abd al-Rahman Shuqyar was used as the branch's meeting place.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} Bahjat Abu Gharbiyah became the Regional Branch's first member in the [[West Bank]], and was thus resigned the responsibility of building the party's organization in the area the branch secretary in the West Bank, and was thus responsible in that area.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} In the West Bank, the branch was most active in the cities of [[Jerusalem]] and [[Ramallah]].{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}}

The 1st Regional Congress was held in 1951 in the home of [[Abdullah Rimawi]].{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} The congress mapped out the "future course of the party".{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} The next year, the 2nd Regional Congress was held, this time in Abdallah Na'was' home.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} It elected a Regional Command and appointed Rimawi as the branch's Regional Secretary.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} Shugyar, Gharbiyah and Na'was agreed to serve in the Regional Branch's Central Committee.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} Rimawi and Na'was, his deputy, would prove effective leaders.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} Shortly after the 2nd Regional Congress, the branch launched a successful recruitment campaign in Jordanian and Palestinian neighbourhoods and cities.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} On 28 August 1956 the branch was legalized by a High Court.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|pp=136–137}}

Both Rimawi and Na'was were [[Parliament of Jordan|elected to Parliament]] in the [[1950 Jordanian general election|1950]] and [[1951 Jordanian general election|1951 elections]] as [[Independent politician|independents]] (the branch was not a legal party at the time).{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=137}} In the 1951 election, the branch managed to elect three members to parliament.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=135}} Rimawi was able to retain his seat in parliament until the [[1956 Jordanian general election|1956 election]].{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}} None of these elections can be considered democratic.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=175}} Shuqyar, during the 1951 elections, was imprisoned by the authorities because his views were deemed too radical.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=175}} Less than a month before the election day, the British Embassy in Amman had estimated that Shuqyar would gain an easy victory.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=175}} However, because of the undemocratic nature of the election, Shuqyar was not elected.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=175}}  As voting patterns would prove, voters who voted for Ba'athist candidates lived in [[Irbid]] and [[Amman]] on the East Bank, and Jerusalem and [[Nablus]] on the West Bank.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=136}}

Shuqyar during a government-imposed exile to Southern Jordan, used his spare time reading Marxist and [[Leninism|Leninist]] literature.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=137}} While he never became a communist, Shuqyar began to support communist concepts.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=137}} On his return from exile he tried to persuade the Regional Branch to join in an electoral front with the [[Jordanian Communist Party]].{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=137}} However, the Regional Branch leaders Rimawi, Na'was, Gharbiyah and [[Munif Razzaz]] opposed such an idea, and because of it, Shuqyar left the Ba'ath Party.{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=137}}

Rimawi and Na'was were elected to the National Command at the 2nd National Congress (held in 1952).{{sfn|Anderson|2005|p=231}} At the 6th and 7th National Congress, the Regional Branch elected Razzaz to the National Command.{{sfn|Rabinovich|1972|p=227}}