Statement from Executive Committee of the Communist International on the French ‘mandate’ in the Levant.

‘Down with French Imperialism! Long Live the People of Syria!’ from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 4 No. 30. May 22, 1924.

Twenty years ago French imperialism stretched out its greedy hands towards Morocco, and thereby initiated an era of rivalries and brute cunning in Europe, which led to the world war with its ten million killed and wounded.

The Treaty of Versailles brought much plunder to the French imperialists, but this did not satisfy their voracious appetites. This predatory Treaty, which cannot be too strongly condemned, enabled French imperialism to establish itself in Asia Minor, and while fear of Turkey compelled it to abandon Cilicia, it still continues the military occupation of Syria.

The inhabitants of Syria have not ceased to protest against this occupation and the crushing of the weak by the strong. While France is groaning under the burden of a debt of 430 milliards, and the government declares it cannot meet the cost of reconstructing the devastated regions and cannot find the means for providing the social insurance repeatedly promised to the workers, it unhesitatingly squandered over ten milliards of francs in order to ensure the domination of its industrial magnates, financiers and traders in Syria.

Today the French Government, at the end of its tether, is endeavouring, at the expense of the population of Syria, to recover part of its expenditure by exorbitant taxation. To this the Syrians refuse to submit. To pay taxes to the invader would be tantamount to recognising the yoke which the latter wants to impose on them. Popular risings are reported in all parts of the country. The expeditionary corps, scattered over a vast territory, is in a precarious position. In the course of the last fortnight over two hundred young soldiers have fallen innocent victims of the onslaught of the rebels. How many more are destined to fall before the ambitions of the moloch of imperialism are satisfied! Under the pressure of the rebels, important posts in the interior of the country had to be abandoned, and the bulk of the French troops was compelled to retreat towards the coast.

The Communist International is not satisfied with merely denouncing the action of French imperialism in Syria as contrary to the “right of self-determination”. It calls upon the French proletariat to fight energetically against imperialism the instigator of wars. It invites the French peasants to unite with the workers in this struggle against the megalomania of big industry. The peasants have nothing to gain by the French capitalists exploitation of Syria, except increased taxation resulting from increased military expenditure and probably another blood-letting of which their children will be the victims.

Sixty years ago, the Second Empire was compelled to retreat in the face of the insurmountable difficulties of a conquest of Syria. This happened in 1860 when the Syrian people were not yet conscious of their strength. Now, however, Arabian nationalism, awakened from its lethargy and inspired by the passionate nationalism of awakened Turkey and of the entire Near East, is determined to fight for its independence and is resolved to reject by force of arms the servitude which a foreign capitalism desires to impose on it.

The Communist International, including its French Section, is on the side of the Syrians who are fighting for their national freedom against the encroachments of French capitalism. It will support with all its might the Syrian peasants in their class struggle against their own feudal landowners. It is on the side of the entire Syrian nation in everything which the latter will undertake to free itself from the abject yoke of the most rapacious imperialism under the sun the imperialism of the Comité des Forges and of French finance.

The struggle of the rebellious Syrians is identical with the struggle now conducted in France by the metal workers, miners and textile workers for six francs, the eight hour day and the workers’ government. The Syrian peasants and French workers unconsciously are establishing an anti-imperialist united front. The task of the Communist International and its French Section is to make clear to everyone this unity of the Syrian and French fronts.

Down with imperialism!
Syria must be evacuated!
Down with colonial brigandage!
Long live the independence of subject peoples and of peoples threatened with subjection!
Long live the union between the workers of the metropolis and the workers and peasants of the colonies in the struggle against the common enemy capitalism!

The Executive Committee of the Communist International.

International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecor” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecor’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecor, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly. A major contributor to the Communist press in the U.S., Inprecor is an invaluable English-language source on the history of the Communist International and its sections.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1924/v04n30-may-22-1924-inprecor.pdf