Communist Students Supplement

The LCP outside party institutions

by Kanj Hamadeh

I joined the Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) in 1997, three years after my return with my family to Lebanon from abroad.

I was nineteen at that time. I worked on the student level in the Faculty of Sciences in the Lebanese University (LU).

For three years, I was responsible for political relations, organization and activities. I was also active in the Civil Activities Section within the party until it was dissolved.

Afterward, I was active for under the banner of Communist Students.

Concerning the decision of my expulsion (LCP), all what I can say is that I cannot blame the new generation who chose to renew its membership in the party.

With those members, I worked at the LU. I don’t blame them because I know that in a six-month period  they will either leave the party or join Communist Students.

When my LCP membership was terminated, my emotions took over my reason. People I worked with for four years, an institution I adhered to: To its agenda and to its long history, were all over.

But when I was over with the emotional aspect, I realized that the party was neglecting its history. It was not proposing anything anymore. People were leaving it. It lost any interest in the future.

The party is not sacred. It is a means not an end. A means of change controlled now by people unable to represent its history and to lead it towards the future. I see today youngsters leaving this institution, supporting communist opposition factions or joining Communist Students, all which  have become the true LCP.

This is why I still opposed my expulsion decision. Those who reached the top positions in the party through electoral frauds in the congresses do not represent the party.

Any institution’s relation with the individual results from its capacity of voicing his concerns and fulfil his hopes.

As long as the party is unable to provide framework to individuals and to the country, individuals’ beliefs should prevail. The institution is not fulfiling its role anymore. When I thought this way, I was relieved.