Al-Qaidah (newspaper)

This article is about Iraqi newspaper. For militant group, see Al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaidah

Founded	January 1943
Political alignment	Communist
Language	Arabic
Ceased publication	June 19, 1956 (1956-06-19)
Circulation	~5,400 (as of 1954–55)

Al-Qaidah (Arabic: القاعدة‎‎, The Base) was a newspaper published in Iraq. It was an organ of the Iraqi Communist Party. It was printed clandestinely for thirteen years, albeit with interruptions.

The first issue of al-Qaidah came out in January 1943. Al-Qaidah was founded in the midst of a split in the party. It was set up by Yusuf Salman Yusuf (Fahd)'s three supporters in the party Central Committee: Daud as-Sayegh, Hussain Muhammad ash-Shabibi and Zaki Muhammad Basim. The newspaper sought to compete with ash-Shararah ('The Spark') for the position as the party organ. Effectively the different factions were known by the names of their publications. As-Sayegh served as editor of al-Qaidah before being expelled from the party.

Al-Qaidah was banned by the government, and being caught with an issue of the newspaper could result in a prison sentence. By 1947 al-Qaidah had a circulation of around 3,000. It was probably one of the most widely-read newspapers in the country at the time. It was primarily read in Baghdad, the Shiite south and the Kurdish north. During 1954–55, seventeen issues of al-Qaidah were published. In spite of being an illegal underground publication, its issues had an average circulation of around 5,400.

In 1955 a workers newspaper, Ittihad ul-Amal was founded after which al-Qaidah began focusing more on agrarian issues.

Al-Qaidah was shut down as the party reconciled with the Rayat ash-Shaghilah ('Toilers Banner') group, and Ittihad ash-Sha'ab ('People's Union') was founded as the new party organ. The last issue was published on June 19, 1956.