Communist Action Organization

The Communist Action Organization in Lebanon – CAOL (Arabic: منظمة العمل الشيوعي في لبنان‎‎ | munaẓẓamah al-‘amal al-shuyū‘ī fī lubnān), also known as Organization of Communist Action in Lebanon or Organisation de l'Action Communiste du Liban (OACL) in French, is a Marxist-Leninist political party and former militia in Lebanon.

The OACL was one of Lebanon's few multi-sectarian parties, with Christian, Muslim and Druze members, but its main support base lay on the Shi'a Muslim community. OACL played a major role in the political radicalization of the Shi'a community during the 1970s. In the 1980s, it had a membership of about 2,000.

The OACL was formed around 1970 through the merger of the Organization of Lebanese Socialists and Socialist Lebanon.

The Organization of Lebanese Socialists was led by Muhsin Ibrahim and Muhammed Kishli. It had its roots in the Lebanese branch of the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM), a radical pan-Arab movement. During the 1960s Ibrahim was a leading figure in the leftist tendency with the ANM. This tendency, led by Naif Hawatmeh, argued that the ANM ought to adopt a Marxist outlook. This was opposed by the top ANM leader George Habash who, although being open to introducing Marxist concepts like anti-imperialism into the discourse of the ANM, wanted to retain the anti-communist character of the organization.

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