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Corrective Move

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For other revolutions with a similar name, see Corrective Revolution.

Corrective Move
Part of the Arab Cold War

Date22 June 1969
Location
Aden, South Yemen
Result

Left-wing victory

Factions
Left-wing faction of the National Front Right-wing faction of the National Front
Commanders and leaders
Casualties and losses
None

The Corrective Move[a][note 1] was a successful bloodless coup that took place in Aden on 22 June 1969, which oversaw the overthrow and purge of the ruling right-wing faction of South Yemen's sole legal political party, the National Front (NF), by its left-wing faction.

The coup was mainly led by Abdul Fattah Ismail and Salim Rubaya Ali, who overthrew the then-president of South Yemen and leader of the right-wing faction of the NF, Qahtan al-Shaabi, along with prime minister Faysal al-Shaabi and his cabinet.

Social and political reforms followed the leftist takeover; the state was transformed into a Communist state, institutions were nationalized, schools and universities were built, education became freely accessible to everyone, and a new Family Law was enacted, ensuring equality between men and women.

Background

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Further information: Aden Emergency
South Yemen's first cabinet which announced on 1 December 1967

Following South Yemen's independence from the British after 128 years of colonial rule,[7] on 30 November 1967, the National Liberation Front, which subsequently became known as the National Front,[8][9] split into two factions. The Aden-based ruling right-wing faction, which supported a capitalist system, faced off against the Hadhramaut-based socialist left-wing faction, whose ideology was based on Vladimir Lenin's The State and Revolution. The book emphasized the need for a revolution to dismantle the existing structures and establish popular state institutions.[10][11]

Economically, the withdrawal of the British left more than 20,000 Yemenis unemployed, and 100,000 educated people linked to the colonial structures had left alongside the British.[9] The closure of the Suez Canal deprived the capital city of Aden of 75% of its shipping and trade income. The income per capita was £40. Furthermore, the British failure to fulfill their aid commitments led to the state losing 60 percent of its revenue.[12] The lack of experience of the new leaders worsened the economic decline and chaos.[13][14] In addition to all that, neighboring states such as Saudi Arabia and Oman, along with the right-wing republican regime in the Yemen Arab Republic and the ousted nationalist groups like the FLOSY and the South Arabian League, aimed to crush the newly established state.[15][16]

On 1 December 1967, Qahtan al-Shaabi was appointed as president for A two-year term. After taking the post, He appointed himself as prime minister and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces,[17][18][16] and announced the state's first 12-man cabinet, with his cousin,[19] Faysal al-Shaabi, as Secretary-General of the NF.[17][20] On 11 December 1967, the sultans, traditional elites, and individuals linked to British rule were stripped of their positions and had their property seized.[21]

Fourth National Congress of the National Front

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On 30 January 1968, Abdullah al-Khamri, a member of the general board of directors of the National Front's newspaper, al-Thawri, published an article titled "Are the Revolutionaries or the Opportunists in Power?", where he questioned the leadership of the National Front ("Opportunists") and called for incitement against them. The published article was not reviewed by the other members of the board, Faysal al-Shaabi and Abdul Fattah Ismail, both of whom condemned it. This incident created a feeling of distrust among members of the NF, leading to more internal divisions. The leadership of the NF decided they would discuss those problems within the party's upcoming congress.[22]

The disagreements between the factions were planned to be resolved at the Fourth National Congress of the National Front.[13][23][24] The General Committee of the National Front announced a Preparatory Committee headed by Faysal al-Shaabi, Abdul Fattah Ismail, Ali Saleh Abad, and Abdullah al-Khamri, and they were given the task of meeting up and preparing the congress.[22] The committee never met to prepare for the congress, and Ali Nasir described the six-week preparations for the congress as "chaotic". During the preparation period, Abdul Fattah Ismail announced that he would leave Yemen for Cairo, citing healthcare reasons. Ismail's announcement effectively disbanded the preparatory committee assigned by the General Committee of the National Front.[22] A new de facto committee was formed and chaired by Nayef Hawatmeh and prepared the congress, without referring to the leadership of the party.[22]

The congress was held from 2 to 8 March 1968, in the city of Zinjibar of the Third Governorate.[10][25] Soldiers from the Armed Forces, who were not members of the NF, attended the congress, despite protests from the left-wing factions.[25] According to Ali Nasir, the congress was held "in a general atmosphere of toxicity."[22] The left-wing position was most clearly outlined in Abdul Fattah Ismail's programmatic speech, titled The Noncapitalist Path of Development. In this speech, Ismail argued that South Yemen's future could either be shaped by the "petty bourgeoisie" or the "revolutionary forces" (the workers, poor peasants, and partisans). He criticized the bourgeoisie for its inability to combat imperialism and promote the necessary economic and social changes, such as agrarian reform and industrialization. He pointed to historical failures, like the revolutions of 1848, and criticized the overthrown regimes of Kwame Nkrumah and Sukarno. Additionally, Ismail denounced the governments of Egypt, Algeria, Syria, and Iraq, accusing the bourgeoisie of masking its dictatorship as "socialism" and arguing that their leadership was more harmful to national revolutions than open counter-revolutionary forces.[26]

The left's ideas of transforming the state into a People's Democracy, adopting scientific socialism and anti-capitalism as the NF's main ideology, the establishment of a 100,000 to 150,000 personnel People's Militia, the restriction of party membership for workers, peasants, soldiers and revolutionary intellectuals, and the transfer of power to the Supreme People's Council resonated well for most of the attendees of the congress. They won the majority of seats for the left-wing in the newly elected 41-member General Command of the party.[10][22][27] After the congress, the leftist faction succeeded in gaining majority support for a series of resolutions aimed at launching a new phase of "popular democratic liberation" in South Yemen.[14] These resolutions called for collective decision-making at all levels; a purge of the civil service, army, and police to remove "doubtful hireling counter-revolutionary elements"; land reform involving the confiscation without compensation of land owned by religious endowments, "kulaks," or "feudalists"; nationalization of residential property in urban areas; and the extension of state control over all sectors of the economy.[28] Politically, the congress emphasized the creation of popular organizations over existing institutions, mandating the rapid formation of local popular councils culminating in a Supreme People's Council.[29] In terms of security, the congress reflected leftist distrust of the British-created army by calling for the strengthening of the Popular Guard and the creation of a popular militia composed of trade unionists, peasant and student unions, and other revolutionary bodies.[30][31] In exchange, they agreed to a "compromise leadership" for the country under al-Shaabi's presidency.[20]

After the congress, the Qahtan-led right-wing faction released an official statement criticizing their opponents' "infantile leftism". They singled out what they saw as the key mistake: the belief in class conflict and the imposition of a dictatorship of one class, rather than striving for harmony between classes. This critique reflected one of the central tenets of Nasserism: the rejection of class conflict as a defining characteristic of Arab Socialism. Qahtan's faction also condemned the left for its criticism of the "brother Arab countries", arguing that such ideas were out of touch with the realities of South Yemeni society. They accused the left of overlooking local conditions and dismissing the NLF as a coalition of laboring forces, instead of viewing it as a party for a single class, as the left suggested. Additionally, they argued that the left mistakenly compared South Yemeni society to 19th-century European societies, ignoring the significant differences in religion, tradition, history, economics, and customs.[27]

Conflict in the National Front

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The Fourth Congress was a victory for the left. The congress defined the NF as "a revolutionary organization that represents the interests of the workers, peasants, soldiers, and revolutionary intellectuals and adopts scientific socialism as its method of analysis and practice." Party membership was restricted to the aforementioned groups. Following the end of the congress, the party began the immediate creation of popular councils, implementing agrarian reform, nationalizing foreign capital, conducting a purge of the army and its administration, and implementing a program of mass education. Consequently, the army did not agree with the outcomes of the congress, as it was facing a purge. During the congress, leading army officials had been carrying out propaganda campaigns within the army in which they denounced "communist influence," and following the end of the congress, they decided to stage a coup. The army decided to take action when NF cadres in Aden held a meeting on 19 March 1968, in support of the Fourth Congress's outcomes. On 20 March 1968, a group of officers, led by army commander Colonel Hussein Osman Aschal, arrested eight leaders of the left-wing General Command, surrounded the presidential residence, and demanded that a new government be formed to "liberate the country from the communist threat." However, the officers lacked sufficient support, and al-Shaabi himself, for whom the coup was intended, distanced himself from the rebels as a series of demonstrations broke out in Aden, Ja'ar, Yafa, and Hadhramaut against the rebels. The rebellion ultimately failed.[32][33]

Eventually, a confrontation developed within the National Front leadership between the left-wing, which advocated for "new reforms in the interests of Yemeni workers," and the right wing, which aimed to preserve the existing state apparatus and its management experience while granting broad powers to al-Shaabi.[34] The right-wing faction, led by Qahtan al-Shaabi, opposed the significant changes proposed by the left-wing regarding the social and economic structure. They maintained a conservative stance on issues such as "liberating all Arab lands from colonialism, supporting the resistance of the Palestinian people, and backing socialist regimes worldwide in their resistance to imperialism and colonial forces in the Third World."[35] The leftist faction aimed to advance significant social and economic changes that would benefit the working majority, rather than maintaining advantages for the privileged elite.[36] They promoted the establishment of popular forces and proposed land nationalization. They were focused on serving the interests of the working class rather than the wealthy minority. Qahtan believed in the continuation and development of existing institutions.[35]

Qahtan ordered the release of imprisoned cadres as a gesture of support for leftist leaders, describing the army's actions as "sincere, but in error." He also took steps to arrest those involved in the army's conspiracy. To strengthen his radical image, he quickly passed a land reform act that confiscated lands and redistributed them to National Front supporters.[37] Opposition was already spreading from below: the Organization of True Partisans demanded an end to the "riot of the communists." The student newspaper Al-Unf al-Thawri advocated for extreme measures, suggesting that "ashtrays be made from the skulls of the bourgeoisie, and fertilizer from their bones."[38] The army dealt a significant setback to the left, pushing them out of key positions within both the Aden party and the government. As a result, the decisions made at the Fourth Congress became meaningless. Additional arrests followed, causing many cadres to flee from Aden, seeking refuge in the hinterlands or North Yemen.[37]

On 30 March 1968, the right-wing faction, unhappy with the results of the congress, staged a violent leftist purge to stop the implementation of the ideas that were brought up during the congress.[10] It led to their temporary dominance of the party,[7] but ultimately they failed to purge the left. At a rally in Aden on 1 May 1968, the participants were barely kept from clashing.[38] Two days later, left-wing students and soldiers rebelled in Madinat Asha'ab district. The uprising was suppressed, but already on May 14, the left-wing staged a counter-coup, led by Abdul Fattah Ismail and Salim Rubaya Ali.[7] 14 (out of 21) members of the General Committee gathered in Zinjibar and demanded that the president implement all the resolutions of the Fourth Congress. The situation reached a military confrontation, but it eventually failed too[10] after negotiations with Ali Antar, al-Shaabi again agreed to a compromise—the participants of the uprising not only avoided repression, but also returned to their previous high positions.[39]

In October 1968, the left was officially reintegrated into the National Front's leadership following Ismail's return from Moscow and subsequent negotiations with Faysal al-Shaabi. While the left did not immediately regain governmental roles, the two leaders reached a political agreement known as the "Programme for Completion of the Stage of National Democratic Liberation". This initiative emphasized internal party unity, collective leadership, and structural reforms aimed at countering external threats and preventing internal divisions, including tribal conflicts. It also underscored the importance of restructuring the military and fostering revolutionary awareness, highlighting a shared belief across the political spectrum that the armed forces needed to be brought firmly under party control to avoid becoming a destabilizing force.[40][39]

Coup d'etat

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20 Fils Postage stamp commemorating the Corrective Move

The Corrective Move aimed to "restore the revolution to its correct course", which was aligned with Marxist socialism, and was significantly influenced by the Soviet Union.[7] The balance was upset on 15 June 1969, when Qahtan al-Shaabi dismissed Interior Minister Muhammad Ali Haitham, a right-wing leader who had recently started building his relations with the left-wing, from his post.[41][42] The move had been made to prevent Haitham, who aimed to become prime minister, from garnering the support of the armed forces.[42] The General Command of the National Front declared this decision unilateral, taken without consultation with the front's leadership,[43] and called for Haitham to be reinstated.[42]

Qahtan al-Shaabi's dismissal of Haitham was blocked by the NF, which had been strengthened by the return of the left faction. A four-day dispute followed, during which Qahtan found himself facing an opposition he could no longer control. On 22 June 1969, the resignations of Qahtan and Faisal al-Shaabi were announced. In their place, a new five-man Presidential Council was formed, assuming the functions previously held by Qahtan.[44] Following his expulsion, Qahtan was imprisoned and later placed under house arrest.[45]

This new collective leadership was composed of figures from the NF's "secondary leadership" who had supported leftist policies in factional struggles dating back to 1965. Salim Rubaya Ali, a prominent military leader during the liberation struggle and organizer of the Crater and May 1968 uprisings against Qahtan, became the new President and chairman of the council. Haitham was appointed Prime Minister; Abdul Fattah Ismail became General Secretary of the NLF; Ali Nasser was named Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces; and Mohammad Saleh Aulaqi took the post of Defence Minister. The cabinet was further filled with other leaders from the left-wing faction.[44][46] By the end of November 1969, the General Leadership session expelled 20 right-wing leaders from the organization, including the ousted president.[47][48]

Reforms

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State and government reforms

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Meeting of the newly formed Muhammad Ali Haitham cabinet after the success of the coup in December 1969

South Yemen was transformed into a revolutionary[5] Marxist-Leninist state until its unification with the Yemen Arab Republic in 1990. The NF continued to rule the PDRY, and in 1978, after a merger with the People's Vanguard Party and the Democratic Popular Union Party, it was transformed into the Yemeni Socialist Party by Abdul Fattah Ismail. Pursuing socialist policies, the ruling party transformed South Yemen into a welfare state with good education, women's rights and low corruption.[49][4] The new government, committed to uplifting the "toiling masses", excluded "feudalists" such as sultans, sheikhs, and their like from its people-oriented planning. The liquidation of this class formed an integral part of its broader agenda for social transformation.[50] In 1986, the country faced another party split and a bloody coup attempt.[51]

Agrarian reforms

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See also: Democratic Yemeni Union of Peasants

On 27 November 1969, the government nationalized the country's main economic sectors. According to the decree that nationalized them, all foreign monopolies in the commercial, financial, and banking sectors of the local economy were abolished and transferred to the state sector.[7]

Salemin, Abdul Fattah Ismail and Ali Nasir Muhammad during the peasant revolt they organized, 1970

The Marxist government soon organized several peasant uprisings in the country. This was done to prepare the necessary ground for the implementation of socialist reforms in agriculture. The first of these took place on 3 October 1970 in the southern regions and was followed by similar uprisings in other parts of the country.[7] Later, the government issued an "Agrarian Reform Ordinance". This Ordinance greatly increased the importance of the public cooperative sector, for example, by creating several state farms and agricultural cooperatives. In July 1971, the government organized the first "Poor Peasants' Congress," which adopted several resolutions and recommendations, aimed at "solving the agricultural question in the interest of the farmers and poor peasants through the peasant uprisings and the march on the road of establishing and forming the public cooperative sector".[52] Five years later, the government organized a "Constituent Congress," which in turn created the Union of Democratic Yemeni Peasants. All these measures gave a noticeable boost to agriculture: according to official data, the growth of the agricultural sector was 70 percent. The production of eggs, chicken, dairy products, vegetables and fruits increased significantly. The First Five-Year Plan achieved notable progress in agriculture, with a strong emphasis on boosting the production of foodstuffs and raw materials vital for industrial development. It also prioritized the expansion and improvement of irrigation systems to enhance food security and reduce reliance on imports.[53]

Social reforms

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See also: 1974 Family Law
Yemeni girls in school

Despite the conservative environment and resistance, women became legally equal to men, polygamy, child marriage, and arranged marriage were all banned by law and equal rights in divorce were sanctioned; all supported and protected by the state-affiliated General Union of Yemeni Women.[54] The Republic also secularized education and sharia law was replaced by a state legal code.[55] Slavery in Yemen, which had been abolished in North Yemen by the 1962 revolution, was now abolished also in South Yemen.[56]

Health care reforms

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Yemeni nurse

The new government emphasized the importance of adopting policies aimed at modernizing health care and providing it to all its citizens. For example, in the reports to the so-called "Unification Congress", the need was noted for such things as: training and development of medical personnel, the establishment of several medical institutes, and the opening of hospitals and other medical centers in all governorates of South Yemen.[57]

Electrification

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Since Britain did not attempt to electrify anything outside Aden, after their (and their specialists) flight in 1967, the whole country was in complete darkness (except for Aden itself). As a result, the Socialist authorities created the "Public Corporation for Electric Power" (PCEP).[58] The main goals of the PCEP in the early stages were to restart the power plants, connect them to the general electricity grid, and establish a center to train Yemeni personnel to work with electricity. Soon, the government and the PCEP launched three and five-year plans aimed at increasing electricity production to meet the needs of the South Yemenis.[58]

See also

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References

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Explanatory notes

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  1. ^ Arabic: الخطوة التصحيحية, romanized: al-khutwah at-taṣḥīḥiyyah, lit. 'The Corrective Step'
  1. ^ also known as the 22 June Corrective Move,[3][4] or the Glorious Corrective Move[5][6]

Citations

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  1. ^ Brehony 2017, p. 444.
  2. ^ Halliday 1985.
  3. ^ Burrowes 2010, p. 79.
  4. ^ a b Lackner 2022.
  5. ^ a b Brehony 2013, p. 45.
  6. ^ Müller 2015.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Mehra 1978, p. 895.
  8. ^ Stookey 1982, pp. 61–67.
  9. ^ a b Brehony 2017, p. 430.
  10. ^ a b c d e al-Hamdani 1987, pp. 11–15.
  11. ^ Halliday 2013, p. 229.
  12. ^ Halliday 2013, p. 227.
  13. ^ a b Gerasimov 1979, p. 162.
  14. ^ a b Stookey 1982, p. 64.
  15. ^ Halliday 2013, pp. 227–228.
  16. ^ a b Stookey 1982, pp. 63–64.
  17. ^ a b Brehony 2013, p. 33.
  18. ^ Halliday 2013, p. 228.
  19. ^ Schmitz & Burrowes 2017, p. 437.
  20. ^ a b Gerasimov 1979, p. 163.
  21. ^ Brehony 2013, p. 61.
  22. ^ a b c d e f Muhammad 2020.
  23. ^ Halliday 2002, p. 20.
  24. ^ Lackner 985, p. 54.
  25. ^ a b Halliday 2013, p. 232.
  26. ^ Halliday 2013, pp. 232–233.
  27. ^ a b Halliday 2013, p. 234.
  28. ^ Burrowes 2010, p. 121.
  29. ^ Lackner 1985, p. 54.
  30. ^ Stookey 1982, pp. 64, 66.
  31. ^ Lackner 1985, p. 55.
  32. ^ Gerasimov 1979, p. 164.
  33. ^ Halliday 2013, pp. 234–235.
  34. ^ Gerasimov 1979, p. 161.
  35. ^ a b Halliday 2002.
  36. ^ Brehony 2013, p. 58.
  37. ^ a b Halliday 2013, p. 235.
  38. ^ a b Gerasimov 1979, pp. 166–167.
  39. ^ a b Gerasimov 1979, p. 169.
  40. ^ Brehony 2013, pp. 69–70.
  41. ^ Halliday 2002, p. 23.
  42. ^ a b c Brehony 2013, pp. 43–44.
  43. ^ Gerasimov 1979, p. 171.
  44. ^ a b Halliday 2013, p. 238.
  45. ^ Lackner 1985, p. 79.
  46. ^ Lackner 1985, p. 60.
  47. ^ Gerasimov 1979, p. 172-173.
  48. ^ Lackner 1985, p. 61.
  49. ^ Lackner 2017, p. 689.
  50. ^ Mehra 1978, p. 900.
  51. ^ Burrowes 1989, p. 75.
  52. ^ Mehra 1978, p. 896.
  53. ^ Mehra 1978, pp. 896–897.
  54. ^ Lackner 1985.
  55. ^ Cigar 1990, pp. 185–203.
  56. ^ Miers 2003.
  57. ^ Mehra 1978, p. 899.
  58. ^ a b Mehra 1978, p. 898.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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