The Ba'ath did not exactly fail the people, it just lost (similar to how soviet union just "lost"). We could argue that Bashar himself failed Syrians, especially in the 2019-2025 period. But by then, he was as far from Ba'ath as was Gorbachev from Communist party.

To add, in mid 20th century, communist parties in Syria and much of the Arab world were unconditional followers of USSR and influential foreign communist parties, even in matters that like the early support of Israel, or the French communist party supporting the french occupation of Syria. The Ba'ath party emerged instead as an Arab implementation of socialism, where Arab liberation was centered, and dependence or blind following of foreign bodies was rejected. It was only opposed to Communism in that sense. If you look at the Ba'ath congress of 1966, you'll see it was even more revolutionary than the communists.