Editing Ba'ath Party (section)

===Rule in Syria, infighting, the 1966 coup and split: 1963–1966===
The challenges of building a Ba'athist state led to considerable ideological discussion and internal struggle within the party.{{sfn|DeFronzo|2009|p=61}} The Iraqi Regional Branch was increasingly dominated by self-described [[Marxism|Marxist]] [[Ali Salih al-Sa'di]].{{sfn|DeFronzo|2009|p=61}} Al-Sa'di was supported in his ideological reorientation by [[Hammud al-Shufi]], the Regional Secretary of the Syrian Regional Branch;<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Westley|first1=F.C.|title=A weekly review of politics, literature, theology, and art.|journal=[[The Spectator]]|date=1964|volume=212|pages=473|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ciQ-AQAAIAAJ&q=shoufi}}</ref> Yasin al-Hafiz, one of the party's few ideological theorists; and by certain members of the secret Military Committee.{{sfn|Seale|1990|p=87}} The Marxist wing gained new ground at the 6th National Congress (held in October 1963), in which the Iraqi and Syrian regional branches called for the establishment of "socialist planning",{{sfn|Ali|2004|p=105}} "[[Collective farming|collective farms]] run by peasants", "workers' democratic control of the means of production", and other demands reflecting a certain emulation of [[Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet-style socialism]].{{sfn|Hiro|1982|p=143}} Aflaq, angry at this transformation of his party, retained a nominal leadership role, but the National Command as a whole came under the control of the radicals.{{sfn|Ali|2004|pp=106–107}}

In 1963, the Ba'ath Party [[1963 Syrian coup d'état|seized power]] in Syria, and from then on the Ba'ath functioned as the only officially recognized Syrian political party, but factionalism and splintering within the party led to a succession of varying governments and new constitutions.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=55}} On 23 February 1966, [[1966 Syrian coup d'état|a coup d'état]] led by [[Salah Jadid]], the informal head of the Military Committee, overthrew Aflaq and Bitar's cabinet.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=59}} The coup sprung out of factional rivalry between Jadid's "regionalist" (qutri) camp, which promoted ambitions for a [[Syria (region)|Greater Syria]], and the more traditionally [[Pan-Arabism|pan-Arab]] faction then in power, the "nationalist" (qawmi) faction.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=59}} Jadid's supporters were considered to have been more left-wing then Aflaq and his peers.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=213}} Several of Jadid's opponents managed to make their escape, and they fled to [[Beirut]], [[Lebanon]].{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=59}} Jadid moved the party in a more radical direction. Although he and his supporters had not signed onto the victorious far-left line at the 6th Party Congress, they had now moved to adopt its positions.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=213}} The moderate faction, formerly led by Aflaq and al-Bitar, were purged from the party.{{sfn|Federal Research Division|2004|p=213}}

While it took some years, the 1966 coup resulted in the creation of two competing National Commands, [[Ba'ath Party (Syrian-dominated faction)|one Syrian-dominated]] and another [[Ba'ath Party (Iraqi-dominated faction)|Iraqi-dominated]].{{sfn|Ali|2004|pp=106–107}} However, both in Iraq and Syria, the Regional Command became the real centre of party power, and the membership of the National Command became a largely honorary position, often the destination of figures being eased out of the leadership.{{sfn|Ali|2004|pp=106–107}} One consequence of the split was that [[Zaki al-Arsuzi]] took Aflaq's place as the official father of [[ba'athism|Ba'athist thought]] in the pro-Syrian Ba'ath movement, while the pro-Iraqi Ba'ath movement still considered Aflaq the ''[[de jure]]'' father of Ba'athist thought.{{sfn|Bengio|1998|p=218}}