Socialism Before Marxism

Socialism Before Marxism

This article is necessary because it comes at a time where Marxism-Leninism is experiencing a renaissance, from Nepal to Europe and even Arabia. Thus, it becomes necessary to address the question of what is to be done and what science is to be used Marxism-Leninism or Arab Socialism. The question of which will win out, Marxism-Leninism or Arabism has in truth, already been decided and has already played itself out, but many intellectuals wish to ignore the truth and continue espousing Marxism-Leninism and old lines. So, it is time enough that we Arabs address the issue for ourselves.

Socialism has existed for centuries. According to even Marx himself, he did not create Socialism, but it had existed in other forms (from Christian Socialism to Utopian Socialism to Pre-Feudal Socialism etc.). The roots of Socialism for the Arab must then begin with the classic society based along tribal lines, in which the tribe itself owned everything and every member of the tribe benefitted from this. This is a base-form of Socialism, which was not advanced nor did it single-handidly unite the Arab nation, but all members of the Arab nation lived in and moved from this sort of society.

From the three primary "first civilizations" of Arabs in the Bilad al-Rafidayn (modern Iraq), the Nile (modern Egypt) and the Indus Valley (modern India), Arab civilization began to develop out of tribal based society and into a more complex society. These societies often lived on the basis of slavery and in some advanced cases, serfdom. With the rise of the Message of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the unification of the Arab homeland began. This revolution itself did not finish or conclude with the life of the Prophet, but it only began there. Over the following centuries, the Arab homeland was mostly united from al-Andalus to India, the height coming during the reign of the Khalifate of the Abassids in Baghdad.

The first main Socialism during this period was the revolution of Hamdan Qarmat. Qarmat believed in radical equality, as well as a form of mysticism and he led a revolution in Bahrain (historical Bahrain, the region). In the state he established, all people received an equal amount of necessities and lived quite well and participated in society as equals. Over the next few decades however, his society sunk into banditry and eventually collapsed in on itself. Nonetheless, the radical message he preached would have great impact on the people of that region.

By the late-1000s by the Western calendar, the Arab homeland was in crisis. The Turks had by-and-large taken over much of the Abbasid lands, while the Fatimids of Egypt had formed their own Khalifate. With the coming of the Crusades, things only went from bad to worse. During this time, a man named Hassan as-Sabbah, who had been studying in Egypt, began to propagate a rebellion against the Turks, Fatimids and the Crusaders. Establishing his base at Alamut, the Assassins, as they become known, launched a campaign against all 3. Working often by assassination, they also propagated their ideology in villages, gaining bases and villages around key cities, they were able to wage their people's wars to a large degree of success, notably assassinating Nizam al-Mulk the Vizier of the Seljuk Turks in 1092, Ibn al-Khashshab the Seljuk Qadi of Aleppo in 1125, Al-Afdal Shahanshah the Vizier of the Fatimids in 1121, Khalifah Al-Amir of the Fatimids in 1130, Raymond II the Count of Tripoli in 1152 and even the Christian King of Jerusalem Conrad of Montferrat in 1192. These successes largely achieved their goals and their leader, Rashid ad-Din Sinan came to an understanding with Salah ah-Din later. The efforts of Hamdan Qarmat in creating a Socialist society, as well as Hassan as-Sabbah in the formation of a vanguard organization as well as a successful people's war, far pre-date the works and lives of Marx, Lenin or Mao.

Another greatly important theoretician was Ibn Khaldun, whose works clarified the contradiction inherent in civilizations and ruling classes, which cause their rise and fall and rise of a new order. His works also clarified the fundamentals of economics. Truly, Ibn Khaldun did 500 years earlier, what most give credit to Marx for inventing.

The history of Socialism in Arabia and the Arab context far pre-date Marxism-Leninism and Maoism, it would be very unwise and foolish for Arabs to discard thousands of years of history and shorten history to the past 200 years as most Marxists do. There is nothing in Marx, Engels, Lenin or Mao for Arabs to learn, for we Arabs can look amongst our own history for knowledge.