On this day in 1934, the Iraqi Communist Party was founded. In the 1940s, the ICP successfully organized the working class, but was crippled by state repression. The ICP is still active today, participating in the 2018 national elections.

The Iraqi Communist Party emerged out of a nascent leftist student movement; Husayn Al-Rahhal, sometimes called "Iraq's first Marxist", formed the left-leaning group "Mutadarisi Al- Afkar Al-Hurrah" (Students for Independent Ideas). A member of this group, Yusuf Salman Yusuf, would serve as the ICP's first Secretary under the cadre name "Comrade Fahd".

Under Yusuf Salman Yusuf's guidance, the party grew with great success over the next decade despite being illegal. The ICP supported strikes and walkouts, its members served as union leaders, and the Party spoke out against government repression. This repression led to Al-Wathbah, a period of urban unrest in Baghdad in 1948 in which hundreds of protesters were killed.

Following this uprising, Fahd and two comrades were publicly hanged in 1949 after being accused of organizing agitation from prison. The ICP was further hurt after adopting the Soviet position of supporting a Zionist state in 1948, causing many members to resign and public support to decline.

In 1953, communists actively resisted the Ba'athist coup that deposed Abd al-Karim Qasim, who had good relations with the Party. Dozens were killed, and a campaign of anti-communist repression followed.

After a brief period of legalization in the 1970s, the ICP broke ties with the Iraqi government following another anti-communist crackdown in 1978 and Saddam Hussein's rise to power the following year.

In 2018, the ICP won more than 1.5 million votes as part of the "Saairun" political coalition, gaining 13 seats. Al-Khateeb, a communist teacher and feminist, said upon her victory "the Communist party have [sic] a long history of honesty - we were not agents for foreign occupations. We want social justice, citizenship, and are against sectarianism, and this is also what Iraqis want."

The party was supportive of the 2019-2021 Iraqi protests. And boycotted the 2021 Iraqi parliamentary elections, stating that ''In light of the deepening political and social crisis in the country, with the dominant forces monopolizing political power and imposing their control over the country’s destinies and the direction of social development, the widespread corruption and the lack of prosecution for the most corrupt, the assassinations, kidnappings and intimidation, in addition to the deterioration of the living conditions of the people, especially the working people, due to the increase in poverty and unemployment, and the absence of basic services... Under these complex conditions, laden with crises and risks, talk of providing an atmosphere conducive to holding free and fair elections has become nothing but an illusion exposed by the tragic daily realities and the bitter suffering of millions. Based on this, we announced in the statement issued by the party’s Central Committee on 9th May 2021, the suspension of our participation in the elections in October.

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