Radicals around Riyad al-Turk criticized Bakdash and asked for internal party democracy, as well as a more favorable view towards Arab nationalism and pan-Arabism.

Essentially the choice facing the Communists then was to submit to the leadership of the Ba'th Party in the NPF, which brought a variety of restrictions, or attempt to function outside the law.

Central Committee member George Sabra was arrested during another government crackdown on the party in 1987 and was sentenced to eight years in Sednaya Prison by a state security court.

In 2005, the party held its clandestine sixth conference at which it adopted new rules and changed its name to the Syrian Democratic People's Party, signalling its adoption of western-style social democracy as its ideology, rather than its previous Soviet-style Marxism-Leninism;[3] since the early 1980s, it had been highly focused on democracy issues, and the 2005 conference essentially formalized a development long in being.

The same year, party activists co-founded the Damascus Declaration, a coalition of parties, human rights groups and pro-democracy activists named for their document demanding the country's transformation from a "security state to a political state" based on regular free elections, a democratic constitution, the rule of law, pluralism, and individual rights.

[2][4] Party leader Faeq al-Mir was arrested in December 2006 after being taped by Syrian intelligence agents calling Lebanese politician Elias Atallah to offer condolences for the death of Pierre Gemayel, Lebanon's Minister of Industry.

Al-Mir was charged with "undertaking acts that weaken national sentiment during times of conflict" and "communicating with a foreign country to incite it to initiate aggression against Syria or to provide it with the means to do so" and sentenced to three years in prison.