Winter 1992

he Communist Movement in Egypt 1920-1988 I Tareq Y. Ismael and Rifa’at el-Sa’id

Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1990,234 pages. Contemporary Issues in the Middle East. LC 90-32961. ISBN 0-8156-2497-2 $37.50.

Review by Joel Gordon, Ph.D. Franklin and Marshall College

here is a growing body of literature on the Egyptian Left, one that treats the Left critically and with greater nuance than

before. Rifa’at el-Sdid’s works in Arabic are standard scholarly references. This collaborative effort with Tareq Ismael, who has written introductory texts on Arab politics, is a disappointing addition. It is too elementary for specialists, yet presupposes a specialist’s knowledge of people, events, and issues. One is left uncertain whom the authors seek to address.

This book offers encyclopedia-style references for some twenty-five organizations-some bona fide movements, others little more than cliques-over seven decades. The authors present platforms and trace the cycles of mergers and fractures that have characterized the Egyptian Left. Much of the information is presented for the first time in English. Ths is not of small value, for the book covers a wider chronological span than previous studies. However, the authors fail to place the myriad factions in clear

52 Drn?E-s

historical context, to analyze philosophical and tactical differences that divided-and hampered-the Left, or to assess the influences of Egyptian communists on political and social reform, and on the Nasserist state in particular.

This book will confuse the reader who knows little of modern Egypt and who will not be able to distinguish one faction from the next, and will frustrate the reader who seeks more than platforms and rosters. The authors fail to bring to life any of the movements or members, or to address the ideas that inspired them. Who propagated communism? How did they fare in factories and rural areas? How did communists compete or cooperate with other reform movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood? How did state repression shape communist ideology?

A reviewer should be wary of trying to rewrite the book at hand. Yet in this case the authors’ primary purpose, to reject a ”conspiracy paradigm” that posits communist movements as monolithic and beholden to Moscow, underscores a fundamental misdirection in their approach. The conspiracy paradigm, while trumpeted by various governments, was hardly ever taken seriously even by them, and is certainly not by most scholars today.

The authors divide Egyptian communist history into three phases or ”movements.” The first, formed in 1920, foundered in 1928, a victim of state repression, British infiltration, and Comintern interference. The second emerged in the 1930s, expanded during the following two decades, battled then collaborated with the Nasser regime, and ultimately dissolved itself into the Arab Socialist Union in 1965. The third movement emerged in the mid-1970s and is, the authors contend, still in the process of self-definition.

The authors’ treatment of each period raises more questions than it answers. One is left wondering whether to credit the Ziwar government or communists themselves for obstructing Comintern efforts to dominate the early movement, and what responsibility communists bear for the movement’s demise. The characterization of the second movement is problematic for its breadth. Sa’id has elsewhere considered the 1940s and 1950s as distinct phases, a periodization which, given the dramatic shifts in the relationship of communist movements to each other and to the state, makes more sense than that here proferred. For the thrd phase the authors concentrate on an underground party and virtually ignore the Tagamu’ party, a legal coalition of Marxists and social democrats that plays a major role in the parliamentary opposition, and whose leading figures-including Dr. Sa’id-trace their roots to factions

!23@?5t of M a Ea5t Studies 53

Winter I992

described in this book. Surprisingly, there is but one reference to this party.

are referred to either in passing or in the course of a discussion of one particular faction, their circumstances and import taken for granted. Many crucial issues are treated at best in cursory fashion. Even if local conditions led Egypt’s communists-and the authors are right here-the willingness of many to follow the Soviet lead in foreign affairs needs closer examination. So do the attitudes of various factions towards parliamentary politics prior to the Free Officers coup. Despite the authors’ avowed focus on local conditions, they posit the Palestine war as the event that most influenced communist strategy in the early 1950s. Communist perspectives on the collapse of the old regime are scarcely noted. Collaboration with the Free Officers and the communist role in the July 1952 coup are accorded less coverage than one might expect. The influence of communists on the junta and as close advisers to it are ignored. Communists are portrayed simply as victims of state repression, when in fact they were active contestants for power and influence, and lent support to regimes that suppressed them (the Wafd in 1950, the Free Officers in 1952, Nasser after 1956). The contributions of communists to Nasserism and their critique of it are lost in a discussion that focuses on the decision to disband the communist party. Some assessment of this strategy seems warranted.

important and provocative questions-questions that might have been posed more clearly at the outset-about the contribution of communists to Egyptian political culture, social and ethnic origins of Egypt’s communists, their successes and failures in mobilizing mass support, and their uneasy coexistence with Egyptian nationalism. Here, too, their treatment is problematic. The authors write as if the communist ”movement” was a single entity. They credit communists for influencing ”the direction of change of politics” (p. 157)-to what extent remains unanswered-and for serving as Egypt’s social conscience, an honor that others would contest. Their search for the ”ultimate limiting condition” (p. 156) upon each movement is highly reductionist. Finally, they bemoan the lack of a truly Egyptian communism, but what that might entail remains cloudy. Here their dismissal of Tagamu’ is especially curious. One cannot help feeling that their focus is too narrow within both Egyptian and international contexts.

Major developments and events that characterize the periods

In their concluding section the authors raise a number of

Throughout, this book is marred by opaque language and careless editing. The Wafd was "inherently hostile" to the labor movement (p, 26); "a huge fire erupted in Kafr al-Dawwar as a result of labor protests" (p. 70); Huditu "twice helped the Free Officers "through positive participation and support" (p. 73); a military tribunal passed "extremely harsh sentences" (p. 75). Chapter 5, ostensibly about "The Communist Movement and Nasserism," treats exclusively anti-Zionism prior to 1949. Arabic names or organizations and journals are usually translated at first use, but sometimes are not. Some renderings are inconsistent: the Arabic Huditu for the Democratic Movement for National Liberation, but DMNL-RC for a splinter group. The four appendices appear to be random selections. There is no bibliography, and the absence of major published works in the end notes accents the authors' failure to engage contemporary scholarship.

THE NEW BIBLIOTHECA ALEXANDRINA A Link in the Historical Chain of Cultural Continuity

Revised edition 199 1

by Mohammed M. Aman, Ph.D. Dean and Professor

School of Library and Information Science University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

UWM-SLIS Occasional Paper 3 This revised edition is the story of the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina in

Egypt, starting with its vanished ancient predecessor. Dr. Aman is a member of an international team of consultants for the new Library.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee's efforts in the United States toward support of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

Proceeds from the sale of this publication will go to the University of

$10.00. Checks should be made payable to UWM-SLIS.

Send order to: Occasional Papers UW-Milwaukee School of Library & Information Science P.O. Box 413 Milwaukee, WI 53201 U.S.A.

1 Tele: (414) 229-4707 FAX: (414) 229-4848

I)@e5t of H a Emt Studies 55