Communist University of the Toilers of the East
Born in Damascene Kurdish neighborhood to a Syrian-Kurdish family. He was first recruited to the communist cause at the age of 18, while a student at Damascus University. He was subsequently active in student agitation against the French occupation of Syria, and came to the attention of the police. In 1933 the party judged it best that he leave the country, and in 1934 he enrolled in the Communist University of the Toilers of the East in Moscow. During this time, Bakdash produced the first Arabic-language translation of The Communist Manifesto.