The Arab Baath Movement ( Ḥarakat al-Bath al-‘Arabī; lit. Arab Resurrection Movement or Arab Renaissance Movement) was a Ba'athist political party and predecessor of the Arab Socialist Baath Party.Jasim M. Abdulghani. Iraq & Iran: the years of crisis. Croom Helm, Ltd., 1984. Pp. 27. The party was first named the Arab Ihya Movement (Ḥarakat al-Iḥyā al-‘Arabī; Arab Revitalization Movement) until 1943 when it adopted the name "Baath" (meaning resurrection).Michel Curtis. People and Politics in the Middle East. Transaction Books. Pp. 132, 139.Jasim M. Abdulghani. Iraq & Iran: the years of crisis. Croom Helm, Ltd., 1984. Pp. 27. It was founded in 1940 by Michel Aflaq.Michel Curtis. People and Politics in the Middle East. Pp. 132.David Seddon. A political and economic dictionary of the Middle East. London, England, UK: Taylor & Francis e-library, 2005. Pp. 19.Ghareeb, Edmund A.; Dougherty, Beth K. Historical Dictionary of Iraq. Lanham, Maryland and Oxford: The Scarecrow Press, Ltd., 2004. Pp. 2. Its founders, Aflaq and Bitar, were both associated with nationalism and socialism.Rami Ginat. Egypt's incomplete revolution: Lutfi al-Khuli and Nasser's socialism in the 1960s. Routledge, 1997. Pp. 11.

History The Movement was formed in 1940 as the Arab Ihya Movement by Syrian expatriate Michel Aflaq.

Shortly after being founded, the Movement became involved in anti-colonial Arab nationalist militant activities, including Aflaq founding the Syrian Committee to Help Iraq that was created in 1941 to support the anti-British and pro-Axis government of Iraq against the British during the Anglo-Iraqi War of 1941.Spencer Tucker. The Encyclopedia of Middle East Wars: The United States in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq Conflicts, Volume 1. Santa Barbara, California, USA: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Pp. 30 The Syrian Committee sent weapons and volunteers to fight alongside Iraqi forces against the British.Spencer Tucker. The Encyclopedia of Middle East Wars: The United States in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq Conflicts, Volume 1. Santa Barbara, California, USA: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Pp. 30

Aflaq unsuccessfully ran as a candidate for the Syrian parliament in 1943.Spencer Tucker. The Encyclopedia of Middle East Wars: The United States in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq Conflicts, Volume 1. Santa Barbara, California, USA: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Pp. 30 After the Syrian election defeat, the Movement sought cooperation with other parties in elections in Syria, including the Arab Socialist Movement of Akram El-Hourani.Spencer Tucker. The Encyclopedia of Middle East Wars: The United States in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq Conflicts, Volume 1. Santa Barbara, California, USA: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Pp. 30

The Party merged with Al-Arsuzi's Arab Baath Party in 1947, and al-Hawrani's Arab Socialist Movement later merged into the party in the 1950s to establish the Arab Socialist Baath Party.

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