The Corrective Movement () was the political, social and economic program, launched by Hafez al-Assad, soon after his seizure of power in the 1970 Ba'athist coup d'etat in Syria. Assad later compared the Corrective Movement program to Mikhail Gorbachev's future perestroika program. The main policies of the program included a shift away from radicalism in the Ba'athist project of socialist transformation of society, expansion of mass recruitment into the Ba'ath Party, and a limited degree of economic and political liberalization.
The Corrective Movement program was the new government's reaction to the results of the extremely radical and aggressive policies of its predecessor, Salah Jadid, and was marked by a number of political and economic relaxations and changes (especially in the first decade). Reforms eventually succeeded in eradicating some of the far-left policies of the radical Ba'athists who preceded him and improved relations with the Sunni Arab merchant class. Program also led to the huge militarization of Syria and constitutional centralization of power in president's hands.
When the communist regimes in the Eastern Bloc collapsed, an ideological crisis within the government arose. However, Assad and his supporters hit back, stating that because of the "Corrective Movement under the leadership of the warrior Hafez al-Assad", the principles of economic and political pluralism, which had been introduced "some two decades" beforehand, safeguarded the Syrian government from the possibility of collapse.
However, as a result of the program, Syria also faced a number of economic and political problems, such as shortages of goods and austerity policy in the 1980s, as well as the formation of a totalitarian Assadist dictatorship and the gradual isolation of Syria from the entire region.
Background
Salah Jadid
Since 1966, Syria has been effectively ruled by General Salah Jadid. Jadid, who held radical pro-Marxist views, became the first major ideologist of neo-Ba'athism. The rule of Jadid's Marxist-Leninist regime was characterized by brutal repressions, the harsh imposition of atheism and far-left reforms. Jadid's swift and harsh imposition of such radical measures was extremely unpopular inside the country. Repressions Almost immediately after coming to power, Jadid reorganized all state intelligence agencies, centralizing their activities and management under the National Security Bureau, which gained a sad reputation for its brutal methods of torture and imprisonment of political prisoners.Kahana; Suwaed, 2009, p. 294.Paul, 1990, p. 38.Seale, 1990, p. 150.
Radical socialism The Jadid regime adopted a Marxist program of rapid economic development. Jadid and his supporters prioritised socialism and the "internal revolution", promoted the idea of class struggle and attempted a socialist transformation of Syrian society at a forced pace, creating unrest and economic difficulties. As the state assumed greater control over economic decision-making by adopting centralized planning and strictly regulating commercial transactions, Syria experienced a substantial loss of skilled workers, administrators, and their capital. The properties of traders, local businessmen and land owners were confiscated by Jadid's radical leftist regime, while the Syrian military forces became thoroughly politicized with neo-Ba'athist officers.
Atheism Jadid's ideologues openly denounced religion as a source of what they considered the "backwardness" of the Arabs. The new regime decreed that religious schools were to be closed, religious institutions nationalized, the powers of religious leaders curtailed, and religious provisions removed from the constitution, among other anti-religious measures. The Jadid regime was very anti-religious and imposed severe restrictions on religious freedom, banning religious preaching and persecuting the clergy. Neo-Ba'athists viewed the religious clerics as class enemies to be liquidated by the Ba'athist state. The party disseminated the doctrine of the "Arab Socialist New Man", which conceptualised the "New Arab Man" as an atheist who campaigned for socialist revolution and rejected religion, feudalism, imperialism, capitalism, and every value of the old social order.
Assad takeover and adoption of a new policy
Coup d'etat
In 1970, a coup d'état took place in Syria that overthrew the Jadid regime and brought Hafez al-Assad to power. Assad named his coup the same name he later gave to his reform program (the "Corrective Movement"). This military coup was presented to everyone as a "correction of intra-party politics" and not as a seizure of power using the army. Assad announced adoption of the new policy on November 16. The first declared goals was Syria's cooperation with "progressive" governments of the Arab world and all forces fighting the Zionists.
November 16 Communiqué The communiqué of November 16, 1970, criticized Assad's Ba'athist predecessors, and especially the Jadid regime, for their authoritarian and anti-popular rule, oppression of the masses, and widening gaps between the people and the party. The communiqué declared Syria's need to change its economic, political, and social course. Regarding foreign policy, the communiqué stated that the government would strengthen relations with Arab progressive and reformist governments, while developing relations with socialist and Third World countries.
For domestic policy, communiqué proposed the following actions as main (copied from "Social change and politics in modern Syria" by Yoshihiro Kimura):
1) To mobilize all progressive people's forces to participate in the struggle;
2) To establish a parliament for the people within 3 months which will be composed of representatives of parties, people’s organizations, craft unions, trade unions, and other progressive organizations;
3) to develop socialist transformation in order to lay the material foundation of socialist Arab society;
4) to promulgate domestic administrative law, etc.
Assad stated that he intended to move away from the authoritarian approach by reorganizing the ruling party, popular organizations, and introducing pluralism in accordance with democratic principles, "correcting" the state's course. This is where the name of the reformist program comes from.
5th Regional Congress The 5th Regional Congress of the party was held from 8 to 13 May 1971. Almost the entire congress was devoted to discussing the difficult legacy of Jadid's far-left regime and how to address it. Most of those attending the congress believed that Jadid and his associates had deviated from the true ideas of Ba'athism. Issues of centralization of power, popular democracy, and relations between the party and the people were also addressed. Based on the unfortunate experience of Jadid's anti-popular rule, the congress agreed on the goal of creating a new legal framework, national administrative law, and the importance of popular organizations.
At the same congress, within the framework of the adoption of the policy of "Ta'addudiyya" (political pluralism), the question of creating a coalition of left-wing parties was raised (which was later actually created under the name of the National Progressive Front).
11th National Congress The 11th National Congress was held from August 23 to 29, 1971. The congress reaffirmed the need for party unity at the national level (both organizationally and ideologically), as well as for achieving pan-Arab solidarity for the sake of victory in the Arab struggle against Israel. According to the congress, "strengthening the strategy of socialist and unification struggle and liberating the occupied territories of Israel must be set as the basic goal of Arab policy."
At the National Congress, Assad assured party members that his leadership was a radical change from that of Jadid, and he would implement a "corrective movement" to return Syria to the true "nationalist socialist line". Unlike Jadid, Assad emphasised "the advancement of which all resources and manpower would be mobilized was to be the liberation of the occupied territories". This would mark a major break with his predecessors and would, according to Raymond Hinnebusch, dictate "major alterations in the course of the Ba'athist state". Assad called his domestic reforms a "Corrective Movement", and it achieved some results. Some of the main goals of the Corrective Movement were to restore the trust of the people and external potential sponsors in the government and to revive the economy, which had suffered serious hardships after the aggressive and unpopular policies of Salah Jadid. Soon a new National Command of the party was elected, consisting, in addition to the Secretary General, of 5 Syrians, 6 Iraqis, 3 Palestinians, 1 Lebanese and 1 Jordanian.
Anti-Jadid purges In the first few years, Assad carried out numerous purges and repressions against suspected and proven supporters of Salah Jadid, arresting them on charges of sabotaging the government. In 1971, one of the deposed leader's relatives, Izzat Jadid, was arrested; in June, numerous people were arrested on charges of supporting the deposed regime; in December 1972, a new wave of arrests and detentions took place on the same charges.
Economic reforms
The Corrective Movement program did not abandon the use of the five-year plan system. Assad proved to be more pragmatic in his policies than Jadid - therefore the reforms of his Corrective Movement program were characterized by initial economic relief from radical oppression: the Assad government immediately abandoned Jadid's radical and unpopular Marxist program of development (However, Assad continued to follow the socialist Ba'athist path - the economy remained centralized and largely controlled by the government). As stated, the Corrective Movement continued the purpose of the March 8 Revolution, but slightly changed the priorities in their achievement, which was formulated in the new constitution of the 1973 model. Assad created the Higher Economic Council, a group of technocrats that helped him centralize economic governance throughout the 1970s.
Under the Corrective Movement program, the government has allocated significant resources to improve the lives of citizens: all Syrians were given access to subsidized food, free education, and state-funded healthcare. Assad cut prices for basic foodstuffs 15 percent, which won him support from ordinary citizens. The confiscation of goods under Jadid was reversed, restrictions on travel to and trade with Lebanon were eased, and Assad encouraged growth in the private sector. Encouraging the private sector in the economy played into Assad's hands after the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the oil embargo (and the rise in oil prices) and the influx of Arab capital. Moreover, higher prices for agricultural exports, as well as the state's limited economic liberalization policy, encouraged growth. By the end of the decade, the Syrian economy had shifted from its traditional agrarian base to an economy dominated by the service, industrial, and commercial sectors. Local production of majority of consumer goods has increased in 1970s (however, production of items such as refrigerators or paints has stagnated and even fallen down). The state continued to play a role in regulating prices for basic goods and in employing citizens - according to official figures, by 1991 the unemployment rate was only about 6 percent. In the 1990s, the government launched a major campaign of economic relaxation known as Al-Ta`addudiyya Al-Iqtisadiyya.
Liberalization of economy
In official language, the process of economic and political pluralism in Syria has come to be called "Ta'addudiyya" (literally "pluralism" in Arabic), but for the term economic liberalization there was another term - infiraj. The chief architect of the infiraj was technocrat Muhammad al-Imadi, the Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade.