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Warmed or Burnt by Fire? The Lebanese Maronite Church Navigates French Colonial Policies, 1935
Abstract
This article sheds light on the development in the relationship between the Lebanese Maronite church and the French colonial authorities during the mid-1930s. It focuses on the confrontational stance of the church toward the French under the leadership of Patriarch Antoine 'Arida (1863–1955). I delineate 'Arida's resistance to the imposition of the tobacco monopoly, the Régie, and his diplomatic and political maneuvers, culminating with the 1935 popular uprising against the French, which cut across Muslim and Christian lines. Through the analysis of French archival documents and reports, I argue that the deterioration in Maronite-French relations was primarily caused by the colonial mapping of Grand Liban and its disruptive consequences for Mount Lebanon's leadership and economy. With the French imposition of the tobacco monopoly, the conflict took the form of a nationalist resistance against the French. Ultimately, the Maronite Church pursued a delicate balance between the interests of its parish and commitments to the French. The crisis sparked a critique of the French colonial logic, pushing the Maronite Church and the nationalist Lebanese elite to struggle for independence from the French.
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The relationship of Patriarch 'Arida and the Zionist movement is not part of this article. Patriarch 'Arida and his vision to found Lebanon as a “Christian state” led him and other Lebanese Maronite leaders to explore a possible alliance with the pre-1948 Zionist movement but without compromising the essential components of this imagined Christian state, as independent, sovereign, and immune from being eclipsed by another cultural affinity whether Zionist, Muslim, or French. For a study of 'Arida and the Zionist, see Laura Zittrain Eisenberg, My Enemy's Enemy: Lebanon in the Early Zionist Imagination, 1900–1948 (Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1994).
Yusuf Sawda a representative of the Libanist discourse and a founder of Hizb al-Qawmiyya al-Lubnaniyya (The Party of Lebanese Nationalism) urged France to help Lebanon achieve its independence and protect it from absorption by its Arab Muslim neighbors. Sawda argued that France must help preserve Lebanon due to the strong historical ties between the two countries. See Yusuf Sawda, Fi Sabil Lubnan , 3rd ed. (Beirut, Lebanon: Manshurat Dar Lahd Khatir, 1988), 325. See also Michelle Hartman and Alessandro Olsaretti, “‘The First Boat and the First Oar’: Inventions of Lebanon in the Writings of Michel Chiha,” Radical History Review 86 (2003), 37–38; Kais M. Firro, “Lebanese Nationalism versus Arabism: From Bulus Nujaym to Michel Chiha,” Middle Eastern Studies 40:5 (2004), 1–10; Raghid al-Solh, Lebanon and Arabism: National Identity and State Formation (London: The Centre for Lebanese Studies in association with I.B. Tauris, 2004), 6.
On “mechanistic” approaches in the study of external historical forces, see Rifa'at Abou-El-Haj, Formation of the Modern State: The Ottoman Empire, Seventeenth to Eighteenth Centuries , 2nd ed. (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005), 12.
Albert Hourani, Lebanon and Syria: A Political Essay (London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1946), 4.
Ibid. By Francophile elements, Hourani meant the Christians, the Alawites, the Kurds, and other minorities.
Kamal Salibi, The Modern History of Lebanon (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1965), 207. Recently, Salibi has expressed “nostalgia” for the French Mandate over Lebanon. See Hashim Qasim, “Muqabala ma' al-Mu'arrikh Kamal Salibi,” Al-Mustaqbal al-'Arabi 378 (2010), 129.
Salibi, The Modern History of Lebanon , 163.
Stephen Hemsley Longrigg, Syrian and Lebanon under the French Mandate (London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1958), 112.
See the introduction of Antoine 'Arida, Lubnan wa Faransa , translated by Faris Ghassoub (Beirut, Lebanon: Al-Farabi, 1987), 27.
Ussama Makdisi, The Culture of Sectarianism: Community, History and Violence in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Lebanon (Berkeley, CA and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 2000), 163–165; “Moving beyond Orientalist Fantasy, Sectarian Polemic, and Nationalist Denial,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 40:4 (2008), 558–560.
See Shafiq Juha, Ma'rakat al-Masir Lubnan fi 'Ahid al-Intidab al-Faransi (Beirut, Lebanon: Maktabat Ras Beirut, 1995), 292–293.
See Engin Akarli, The Long Peace: Ottoman Lebanon, 1861–1920 (Berkeley, CA and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1993), 51–52. See also Joseph Antoine Labaki, Mutasarrifiyyat Jabal Lubnan: Masa'il wa Qadaya, 1861–1915 (Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Karma, 1995), 256. See also Eisenberg, My Enemy's Enemy , for the several proposals that the early Zionist movement and Maronite figures, including Patriarch 'Arida, exchanged to change the demographic composition of Jabal 'Amil, 78; 98; 100.
See 'Isam Khalifa, Fi Mu 'tarak al-Qadiyya al-Lubnaniyya (Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Jil lil al-Tabi' wa al-Nashr wa al-Tawzi', 1985), 70.
Mas'ud Dahir, Tarikh Lubnan al-'Ijtima'i, 1914–1926 (Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Matbu'at al-Sharqiyya, 1984), 53–54.
The Maronites formed 52% of all the Christian communities in Lebanon. Kamal Salibi believes that Grand Liban was the project of the rich Lebanese Catholics which was adopted by the French when they took over Lebanon in 1918. See Qasim, “Muqabala,” 129.
Khalifa, Fi Mu'tarak al-Qadiyya , 70.
George Hakim, “Industry,” in Sa'id Himadeh, ed., Economic Organization of Syria (New York and Beirut, Lebanon: American University of Beirut, 1973), 126. French sources point to the increasing investments of European entrepreneurs in the private Libano-Syrian tobacco company established in 1930. This change went hand in hand with the “modernizing” of industrial processes. As a result of the issuance of new laws, around 185 new industrial undertakings replaced their machines with new ones. See Hakim, “Industry,” 130–132 and Ministère des Affaires Étrangères (MAE), Mandat, Syrie-Liban 1918–1940 , 14 mars, 1934, carton 866.
The banderole law of tobacco issued in June 1930 replaced the law of tobacco monopoly that existed in all the Ottoman provinces except Mount Lebanon. The new law liberated all processes of manufacturing, cultivating, and marketing in the territories under French rule. The state levied taxes by sticking a stamp on tobacco packets. Under the banderole, tobacco products, which did not carry official stamps purchased from the Ministry of Finance, were not admitted into the market. See Donald Quataert, Social Disintegration and Popular Resistance in the Ottoman Empire, 1882–1908 (New York: New York University Press, 1983), 13–18.
The standards for this classification have to do with the size of the working force, capital, and connection to the international market. See, L'indicateur: Libano-Syrien, 1928–1929 , Per 356, Nantes, 15–16.
The old Ottoman Régie had two tobacco factories in Damascus and Aleppo that together employed 200 workers. See Badr al-Din al-Siba'i, Adwa' 'ala al-Ra'ismal al-Ajnabi fi Suriyya: 1850–1958 (Damascus, Syria: Dar al-Jamahir, 1967), 44. Four major financial groups established its 7,000,000 FF capital. These were the French group which contributed 3,700,000 FF, the Franco-Suisse group which contributed 1,000,000 FF, the Anglo-American Egyptian group which contributed 2,000,000 FF, and the Libano-Syrian group which contributed 300,000 FF. See also, MAE, Nantes, Mandat Syrie-Liban 1918–1940 [Pour le Haut Commissaire sur la compagnie Libano-Syrienne], 14 mars, 1934, carton 866.
Al-Siba'i, Adwa' 'ala al-Ra'ismal , 44. These territories had been subjected to British colonization after WWI.
From the interview between a tobacco industrialist and the Mgr Patriarch Elias Richa. See MAE, Syrie-Liban, 1918–1940 , no title, carton 718, mars 19, 1936 and MAE, Levant, Syrie-Liban, 1918–1940 , “Tabacs et Monopole,” 3 aout, 1934, vol. 549.
MAE, Levant, Syrie-Liban, 1918–1929 [Régie Ottomane des Tabacs], 7 Mars, 1924, vol. 320, 45a.
This runs contrary to Longrigg's claim that the expenses of the French mandate were “borne by the French” or that they “did not recover these ‘civil expenses of the Mandate’.” See, Stephen Hemsley Longrigg, Syria and Lebanon , 115.
See Yahe Karyergatian, “Monopoly in the Lebanese Tobacco Industry,” (MA thesis, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, 1965), 26.
The company in question consisted of the Libano-Syrian Tobacco Company, a Syrian entrepreneur Osman Charbati and a number of Lebanese entrepreneurs such as Hanna Qasouf and Brothers, Sema'an Sawaya and Sons, and Munib Sukkari. See Al-Iqtisadi (1977): 12. For more on the Régie, see Malek Abisaab, Militant Women of a Fragile Nation (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2010), chapters 1 and 2.
Makdisi, The Culture of Sectarianism , 16.
Ibid.
Ibid., 8.
See Carolyn Gates, The Historical Role of Political Economy in the Development of Modern Lebanon (Oxford: Centre for Lebanese Studies, 1989), 8, 17–18.
“Ahali Bisharri Yarmun al-Tabigh fi al-Nar,” Al-Nahar 3:2 (1935), 4.
Abisaab, Militant Women , 44.
Ibid.
Juha, Ma'rakat Masir Lubnan , 428.
See, MAE, Syrie-Liban, 1930–1940 , 9 Avril, 1935, “Situation politique au Liban,” vol. 500, 1.
MAE, Paris, Syrie-Liban, 1918–1940, “On Excellence Monsieur Le Ministre Des Affaires Entrangeres (Levant),” Février 1, 1935, carton 718.
De Martel is referring to the time when the Maronite leaders could not agree on a presidential candidate in 1932. Muhammad al-Jisir, a Sunni Muslim leader, seized the state of discord among Christian dignitaries and declared his intention to run for presidency. Al-Jisir relied on the Lebanese constitution which gives the right to any Lebanese to become the president. Christian leaders rejected the al-Jisir maneuver and asserted that the Lebanese presidency had been designed exclusively for the Maronite because they are the largest Lebanese sect. See Juha, Ma'rakat Masir Lubnan , 343.
MAE, Pairs, Syrie-Liban, 1930–1940 , 20 Avril, 1935, “Situation politique au Liban,” vol. 500, 210.
Ibid.
MAE, Syrie-Liban, 1918–1929 , “Expose Des Du Projet D'arrete Instituant Un Monopoloe Fiscal Des Tabacs Dans Toute L'etendue Des Territories Sous Mandat, Beyrouth,” 13 Avril, 1929, vol. 320, 2.
MAE, Pairs, Syrie-Liban, 1930–1940 , 20 Avril, 1935, “Situation politique au Liban,” vol. 500, 210.
Ibid.
MAE, Syrie-Liban, 1930–1940 , 9 Avril, 1935, “Situation politique au Liban,” vol. 500, 1.
Ibid.
Ibid. The report noted that Maatouk used his connections with high dignitaries in Bkérké. Bkérké, a town in Mount Lebanon, is the location of the Maronite Patriarch.
MAE, Pairs, Syrie-Liban, 1930–1940 , 23 Avril, 1935, “Situation politique au Liban. Monopole des Tabacs,” vol. 500, 213–214.
MAE, Syrie-Liban, 1930–1940 , 9 Avril, 1935, “Situation politique au Liban,” vol. 500, 1.
See Meir Zamir, Lebanon's Quest: The Road to Statehood 1926–1939 (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1997), 167.
Ibid. 'Arida founded a cement company with some of his relatives but later sold it to a Jewish investor. See Juha, Mu'tarak Masir Lubnan , 392 and al-Manara 6:1 (January, 1930), 69.
MAE, Syrie-Liban, 1930–1940 , 9 Avril, 1935, “Situation politique au Liban,” vol. 500, 7.
Ibid., 8.
Ibid.
Desmond Hosford and Chong J. Wojtkowski, French Orientalism: Culture, Politics and the Imagined Other (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010).
Albert Memmi, The Colonizer and the Colonized (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1965), 82.
MAE, Pairs, Syrie-Liban, 1930–1940 , 23 Avril, 1935, “Situation politique au Liban. Monopole des Tabacs,” vol. 500, 213.
The colonial authorities granted a number of economic privileges to selected European companies, mostly French. These companies were the Société des Tramways et d'Électricité, the Régie Co Intéressée Libano-Syrienne des Tabacs et Tombacs, the Régie Générale des Chemins, and the Banque de Syrie au Liban.
MAE, Syrie-Liban, 1930–1940 , 9 Avril, 1935, “Situation politique au Liban,” vol. 500, 2.
Ibid.
Ibid., 3.
Ibid.
Ibid., 4.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid., 5.
Ibid.
MAE, Syrie-Liban, 1930–1940 , 9 Avril, 1935, “Situation politique au Liban,” vol. 500, 7.
Ibid., 397–398.
Ibid., 11–12.
See Juha, Ma'rakat al-Masir , 422.