Farajallah el-Helou
| Farajallah el-Helou فرج الله الحلو |
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| Born |
6 June 1906 Hosrayel, Byblos |
| Died | 25 June 1959 Damascus |
| Nationality | Lebanese |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Home town | Hosrayel |
| Title | General Secretary |
| Predecessor | Fuad Shemali |
| Successor | Nicolas Shawi |
| Political party | Lebanese Communist Party |
| Spouse(s) | Virginie el-Helou |
| Children | Boshra, Najwa and Nada |
Farajallah Estephan el-Helou (6 June 1906 – c. 25–27 June 1959, exact date not clear) or Farjallah Helou (in Arabic فرج الله الحلو) was a Lebanese communist militant, a popular Lebanese political figure and head of the Lebanese Communist Party.
Farajallah el-Helou was born to Estephane el-Helou in Hosrayel, Mount Lebanon in a conservative Maronite family. He studied at a public school in Jbeil (Byblos), then in Amchit and Notre Dame de Mayfouq. His mother and part of his siblings left Lebanon, Farajallah el-Helou stayed with his father Estephane and who opted to stay and his siblings Mariana, older sister and Ghaleb his brother. He later traveled to Syria where he was a teacher in Arabic language and literature the National Evangelical College in Homs and also continued his studies in literature in Syria where he got exposed to Marxist ideology. At the end of the 1920s, he returned to Lebanon and alongside Fu'ad al-Shimali, Yusuf Yazbek and Artin Madoyan, a founding member of the Syrian–Lebanese Communist Party and the party's first secretary. He married Virginie el-Helou, a communist party sympathizer and had three daughters, Bushra, Najwa and Nada.
In 1934, el-Helou travelled to the USSR including a tour of the Asian Soviet Socialist Republics and wrote the book A New Humanity Building a New World (In Arabic انسانية جديدة تبني عالما جديدا). In 1935, he became part of the Syrian–Lebanese Communist Party later renamed Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) and Syrian Communist Party. El-Helou became a member of its Central Committee and actively took part in demonstrations against the French Mandate of Lebanon and Syria and for independence of Lebanon. He was arrested briefly in Syria and deported to Lebanon. In 1937 he was named secretary the Central Committee of the party headed by Khaled Bakdash. He unsuccessfully led an electoral campaign to be elected as a member of the Lebanese Parliament from Mount Lebanon. He also supervised the publication of the Lebanese Communist organ Voice of the People (in Arabic صوت الشعب). In 1939, he was arrested again, this time by the French Mandate and put to trial and convicted for 5 year imprisonment. He spent 22 months in prison alongside party leader Nicolas al-Shawi before release in 1941.
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