Union of Working People's Forces-Corrective Movement

{{Infobox political party

| name = Union of Working People's Forces – Corrective Movement

| logo =

| colorcode =

| leader =

| president =

| chairman =

| general_secretary = Issam Al-Arab (1974–1978)
Hasan Qubaysi (1978–?)

| foundation = 1974

| ideology = Nasserism

| headquarters =

| international =

| website =

| country = Lebanon

}}

The Union of Working People's Forces – Corrective Movement or UWPF-CM ({{langx|ar|اتحاد قوى الشعب العامل - الحركة التصحيحية}} | Ittihâd qiwâ al-'amal al-cha'b al-'âmil – al-harakat al-tashihia), also designated variously as the Nasserite Correctionist Movement – NCM (Arabic: الحركة التصحيحية الناصرية | Harakat al-Islahiat al-Nassery) and the Nasserite Socialists (Arabic: الاشتراكيون الناصريون | Al-Aishtirakioun al-Nassery), was a Nasserist political party in Lebanon,{{cite book|author=Albert J. Jongman|title=Political Terrorism: A New Guide To Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, And Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgDks1hUjhMC&pg=PA611|year=1988|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-1-4128-1566-6|page=611}} which was active during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990).

Origins

Led by Issam Al-Arab,{{cite book|title=SAIS Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EdKFAAAAIAAJ|year=1982|publisher=School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University|page=80}} the party was formed through a split from the Union of Working People's Forces in October 1974.{{cite book|author=Itamar Rabinovich|title=The War for Lebanon, 1970-1983|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Af-tDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA83|date=30 June 2019|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-1-5017-4295-8|page=83}} Apart from Al-Arab, co-founders of the group included Fouad Itani and Samih Hamada.

In founding the new party, Al-Arab condemned the support of the Union of Working People's Forces leadership to the new Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.{{cite book|author=Frank Tachau|title=Political Parties of the Middle East and North Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OEOLAAAAMAAJ|date=1 January 1994|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0-313-26649-2|page=343}} Al-Arab argued that the Egyptian government under Sadat had abandoned Nasserism.{{cite book|title=Translations on Near East and North Africa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zua5AAAAIAAJ|year=1975|publisher=Joint Publications Research Service|page=60}} The party joined the Lebanese National Movement (LNM), whilst its mother party Union of Working People's Forces parted ways with the LNM as it sided with the Syrian government.{{cite book|author=Marius Deeb|title=The Lebanese civil war|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=odJtAAAAMAAJ|date=February 1980|publisher=Praeger|isbn=978-0-03-039701-1|pages=68–69}}

Military structure and organization

{{Infobox War Faction

| name = Nasser's Forces
قوات الناصر

| war = Lebanese Civil War

| image =

| caption =

| active = 1975 - ?

| leaders = Issam Al-Arab
Hasan Qubaysi

| headquarters =

| area = Beirut, Mount Lebanon (Aley, Qmatiyeh and Bdadoun)

| size =

| predecessor =

| partof = Lebanese National Movement

| allies = 22px Progressive Socialist Party (PSP)/22px People's Liberation Army (PLA)
{{flagicon|Palestine}} Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
{{flag|Libyan Arab Jamahiriya|name=Libya}}
{{flagicon image|Flag of the United Arab Republic (1958–1971), Flag of Syria (1980–2024).svg}} Syria

| opponents = File:Forces Libanaises Flag.svg Lebanese Front
{{flagicon|Lebanon}} Lebanese Armed Forces
22px Al-Mourabitoun
{{flagicon|Israel}} Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

}}

Like other Lebanese Nasserist parties, the UWPF-CM had its own militia, the Nasser's Forces (Arabic: قوات ناصر | Quwwat an-Nasir) or Forces de Nasser in French, whose formation was announced on April 15, 1975.Almodon. [https://www.almodon.com/politics/2017/4/13/%D8%AE%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D8%AD%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%AA-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B1%D8%A8 خمسة أحزاب انتهت في الحرب] The party and its military wing were supported financially and militarily by the Libyan government.

The UWPF-CM in the Lebanese Civil War

Although small in size, the Nasser's Forces took part in fighting in Beirut, in the Battle of the Hotels,Jureidini, McLaurin, and Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas (1979), p. 6.O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 29.Tony Badran, Lebanon's Militia Wars in Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict, and Crisis (2009), p. 38. Chyah, on the Ras Nabi-Sodeco axis, at Khandak El Ghamik as well as in combats in Mount Lebanon (Aley, Qmatiyeh and Bdadoun).

However, relations with its LNM coalition partners were strained to the point of the Nasser's Forces battling rival Nasserite parties such as the Al-Mourabitoun in November 1975 over control of the Karantina district in East Beirut.O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon (1998), p. 36.

The party underwent a split in 1978. In an extraordinary congress there was a dispute between Al-Arab, who argued in favour of alliance with the governments of Iraq and Libya, and his opponents led by Hassan Qubaysi. On July 23, 1978 Al-Arab was declared expelled from the party and Qubaysi was named new General Secretary of the party.

The Nasser's Forces continued confronting the Christian Lebanese Front right-wing militias between 1978 and 1982. After the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the departure of PLO, the Nasser Forces went underground and supposedly converted itself into a clandestine resistance group.

References

Bibliography

Edgar O'Ballance, Civil War in Lebanon, 1975-92, Palgrave Macmillan, London 1998. {{ISBN|0-333-72975-7}}
Itamar Rabinovich, The war for Lebanon, 1970-1985, Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London 1989 (revised edition). {{ISBN|978-0-8014-9313-3}}, 0-8014-9313-7 – [https://books.google.com/books?id=Af-tDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA83]
Marius Deeb, The Lebanese Civil War, Praeger Publishers Inc, New York 1980. {{ISBN|978-0-03-039701-1}}
Paul Jureidini, R. D. McLaurin, and James Price, Military operations in selected Lebanese built-up areas, 1975-1978, Aberdeen, MD: U.S. Army Human Engineering Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Technical Memorandum 11–79, June 1979.
Tom Najem and Roy C. Amore, Historical Dictionary of Lebanon, Second Edition, Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, Boulder, New York & London 2021. {{ISBN|9781538120439}}, 1538120437
Tony Badran (Barry Rubin ed.), Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict, and Crisis, Palgrave Macmillan, London 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-230-62306-4}}