Kamal Jumblatt

Kamal Fouad Jumblatt (كمال فؤاد جنبلاط; 6 December 1917 – 16 March 1977) was a Lebanese politician who founded the Progressive Socialist Party.

He led the National Movement during the Lebanese Civil War.

Kamal Jumblatt was born on 6 December 1917 in Moukhtara.

He was born into the Jumblatt family, a prestigious family originally from present-day Syria, whose members were traditional leaders of the Lebanese Druze community.

His father Fouad Joumblatt, the powerful Druze chieftain and director of the Chouf District, was murdered in an ambush on 6 August 1921.

Kamal was just four years old when his father was killed.

After his father’s death, his mother Nazira played a significant political role in the Druze community during the following two decades.

In 1926, Kamal Jumblatt joined the Lazarus Fathers Institute in Aintoura, where he completed his elementary studies in 1928.

He achieved his high school diploma, having studied French, Arabic, science and literature, in 1936, and a philosophy diploma in 1937.

Jumblatt then pursued higher studies in France, where he attended the Faculty of Arts at the Sorbonne University and obtained a degree in psychology and civil education, and another one in sociology.

He returned to Lebanon in 1939, after the outbreak of World War II and continued his studies at Saint Joseph University where he obtained a law degree in 1945.

Kamal Jumblatt practiced law in Lebanon from 1941 to 1942 and was designated the Official State Lawyer for the Lebanese Government.

In 1943, at the young age of twenty-six years and following the unexpected death of Hikmat Joumblatt, he became the leader of the Jumblatt clan, bringing him into the Lebanese political scene.

Despite his influential political role, throughout his career, he was in a rivalry over the political leadership over the Lebanese Druze with Majid Arslan.

Arslan was often preferred to represent the Druze faction and the longest serving Minister in Lebanese politics and served 22 terms as the Lebanese Defense Minister.

In September 1943 Kamal Jumblatt was elected to the National Assembly for the first time, as a deputy of Mount Lebanon.

He joined the National Bloc led by Émile Eddé, thus opposing the rule of the Constitutional Bloc, headed by the then-President, Bechara El Khoury.

On 8 November 1943, however, he signed the constitutional amendment (which abolished the articles referring to the Mandate) demanded by the Constitutional Bloc.

On 14 December 1946, he was appointed minister for the first time, for the portfolio of economy, in Riad Al Solh's cabinet.

His term was from 14 December 1946 to 7 June 1947, and he replaced Saadi Al Munla.

Sleiman Nawfal replaced Jumblatt as economy minister.

In 1947, in spite of his own election for the second time as deputy, he thought of resigning from the government.

He began to believe that change through the Lebanese political system was impossible.

Kamal Jumblatt officially founded the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) on 1 May 1949.

The PSP was a socialist party espousing secularism and officially opposed to the sectarian character of Lebanese politics.

In practice, it has been led and largely supported since its foundation by various segments of Lebanese society, especially members of the Druze community, and the Jumblatt clan in particular.

In 1949, Jumblatt firmly opposed the execution of political leader Antoun Saadeh and held the government responsible for his assassination.

In the name of the PSP, Jumblatt called the first convention of the Arab Socialist Parties, was held in Beirut in May 1951.

Prior to the 1952 elections, Jumblatt declared the formation of the opposition salvation front electoral list in a rally on 18 March 1951 in the village of Barouk, Mount Lebanon.

Clashes between Jumblatt's supporters and Lebanese security forces led to the death of four, three of them were PSP supporters.

After this incident he gave his famous speech:"Today, our party was baptized with blood".

In the same year, he was reelected for the third time as Deputy of Mount Lebanon.

Jumblatt regularly published articles in Al Anbaa, which was founded by him in 1951.

His writings frequently contained criticisms against President Bechara El Khoury.

In 1952, he represented Lebanon at the Cultural Freedom Conference held in Switzerland.

In August 1952, he organized a National Conference at Deir El Kamar, in the name of the National Socialist Front, calling for the resignation of the President.

In September 1972, Kamal Jumblatt received the International Lenin Peace Prize.

He is the father of the Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and the son-in-law of the Arab writer and politician Shakib Arslan.

He was a major ally of the Palestine Liberation Organization until his assassination in 1977.

He authored more than 40 books centered on various political, philosophical, literary, religious, medical, social, and economic topics.