"The Syrian Social National Party was officially founded on November 16, 1932. Of the six original members, three were from Dhour el-Choueir (Lebanon) and of the other three only the name of George Abdul Massih is known."[6] On November 21, 1934, Sa'adeh wrote the basic doctrines of his Party, and by 1935 the membership of the still secret political organization reached a thousand.

The rapid growth of the Syrian National Party made it impossible to keep its existence a secret any longer and "on November 16, 1935, Sa'adeh and several top members of his Party were arrested by the French authorities in a series of raids in which the documents of the S.N.P., including the records of membership, were seized. In the subsequent trials Sa'adeh was sentenced to six months of imprisonment." [7] (This writer was a witness to one of the raids, in which his uncle was arrested.) In a speech delivered by Sa'adeh on March 1, 1938 (Sa'adeh's birthday and the official anniversary of the Syrian National Party) the leader of the S.N.P. stated that "the presence of a traitor among the members exposed the Party membership to the French authorities."[8]

The French Mandatory Power was greatly disturbed by the emergence of a new political organization whose basic objective (the unity of Greater Syria) was diametrically opposed to France's policy of suppressing nationalism and preserving the status quo in Syria and Lebanon.

What really added to the disappointment of the French authorities in the emergence of the Syrian National Party was the fact that its membership was mainly made up of Christian Lebanese. This revelation proved particularly frustrating because it represented a challenge to the Mandatory Power's policy of maintaining an independent Lebanese state whose Christian majority owed allegiance to France. The French, who had little sympathy with any form of nationalism in the countries and territories under their rule, hoped to make of Lebanon an ecclesiastical state based on Christian foundations and traditions and inspired by French culture and civilization. In order to achieve this purpose they depended on French educational institutions and especially on the Jesuit University of Beirut (Université St. Joseph), the mainstay of French culture in Lebanon. In an article published as far back as 1906, the French-language magazine L'Orient, issued by the Catholic Press in Beirut, Lebanon, expressed this objective when it said, "The infusion of the advanced civilization of France into the life of the people of the Levant will certainly help to enhance our Catholic outreach in that area."[9]

Furthermore, the fact that Antun Sa'adeh was associated with the American University of Beirut and that many of the members of his party were A.U.B. students and alumni, disturbed the French authorities to no end. The French regarded the American University of Beirut as a hotbed of Arab nationalism and viewed its Anglo-Saxon educational system as the most serious threat and competition to French culture.

Published in Al-Zawba'ah: Volume 2 - Issue 7 , March 1998 (By Dr. N. K. Makdisi)

Translated by Dr Edmond Melhem-Australia  

[6] See Al-Masa' in issue of November 19, 1935.

[7] See L'Orient, (monthly periodical) The Catholic Press, Beirut, issued April 1906, p. 121 (in French).

 [8] Antun Sa'adeh, "Speech of March 1, 1938," published in The Assyrian Bulletin.

[9] See L'Orient, (monthly periodical) The Catholic Press, Beirut, issued April 1906, p. 121 (in French).