Madoyan established links with Sultan al-Atrash and cooperated in arms smuggling between Beirut and Jebel Druze during the 1925-1927 Syrian revolt. Madoyan was arrested by French authorities in 1926. When the Central Committee was re-organized in 1928, Madoyan remained a member of it. In 1931 Madoyan introduced Khalid Bakdash to the Central Committee, Bakdash soon thereafter became general secretary of the party. Bakdash stayed in Moscow from December 1933 to 1937, he became the permanent representative of the Arab communist parties to the Communist International (Comintern) in 1934 on Madoyan's suggestion. In Bakdash's absence, Madoyan ran the day-to-day affairs of the party along with Farajallah al-Hulo and Nicola Shawi. Madoyan proposed towards Comintern the formation of a federation of Arab communist parties with a common leadership, but this idea was not approved by the Comintern leadership due to security concerns.