workers and peasants in the modern middle...

Workers and Peasants in the Modern Middle East

The working people, who constitute the majority in any society, can beand deserve to be subjects of history. Joel Beinin’s state-of-the-art surveyof subaltern history in the Middle East demonstrates lucidly and com-pellingly how their lives, experiences, and culture can inform our histor-ical understanding. Beginning in the middle of the eighteenth century,the book charts the history of peasants, urban artisans, and modernworking classes across the lands of the Ottoman Empire and its Muslim-majority successor-states, including the Balkans, Turkey, the ArabMiddle East, and North Africa. Inspired by the approach of the IndianSubaltern Studies school, the book is the first to present a synthetic crit-ical assessment of the scholarly work on the social history of this regionfor the last twenty years. It offers new insights into the political, eco-nomic, and social life of ordinary men and women and their apprehen-sion of their own experiences. Students will find it rich in narrativedetail, and accessible and authoritative in presentation.

is Professor of Middle East History at StanfordUniversity. His publications include The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry:Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora (1998) and Wasthe Red Flag Flying There? Marxist Politics and the Arab–Israeli Conflict inEgypt and Israel,1948–65 (1990).

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The Contemporary Middle East 2

Series editor: Eugene L. Rogan

Books published in The Contemporary Middle East series address themajor political, economic and social debates facing the region today.Each title comprises a survey of the available literature against thebackground of the author’s own critical interpretation which isdesigned to challenge and encourage independent analysis. While thefocus of the series is the Middle East and North Africa, books arepresented as aspects of a rounded treatment, which cuts acrossdisciplinary and geographic boundaries. They are intended to initiatedebate in the classroom, and to foster understanding amongstprofessionals and policy makers.

1 Clement M. Henry and Robert Springborg, Globalization and thePolitics of Development in the Middle East






Workers and Peasants in theModern Middle East

Joel BeininStanford University






The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom

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© Cambridge University Press 2001

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First published 2001

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data

Beinin, Joel, 1948–Workers and peasants in the modern Middle East / Joel Beinin.

p. cm. – (The contemporary Middle East; 2)Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 0 521 62121 6 – ISBN 0 521 62903 9 (pbk.)1. Working class – Middle East – History. 2. Artisans – Middle East – History.3. Peasantry – Middle East – History. I. Title. II. Series.HD8656.B44 2001305.5′62′0956–dc21 00-068950

ISBN 0 521 62121 6 hardbackISBN 0 521 62903 9 paperback






To the spirit of the Thälmann Battalionand the Abraham Lincoln Brigade,and those who carry it forward today






Contents

List of tables page viiiAcknowledgments ixGlossary xiList of acronyms and abbreviations xivMap 1 The Ottoman Empire,1699–1914 xviMap 2 Egypt and Bilad al-Sham xviiMap 3 The Middle East in the twentieth century xviii

Introduction 1

1 The world capitalist market, provincial regimes, and localproducers, 1750–1839 21

2 Ottoman reform and European imperialism, 1839–1907 44

3 The rise of mass politics, 1908–1939 71

4 Fikri al-Khuli’s journey to al-Mahalla al-Kubra 99

5 Populist nationalism, state-led development, andauthoritarian regimes, 1939–1973 114

6 Post-populist reformation of the working class and peasantry 142

Notes 170References 174Index 199

vii






Tables

6.1 Turkish workers placed in positions abroad page 1506.2 Arab labor migration 1506.3 Strikes in Tunisia, 1970–77 1556.4 Strikes in Turkey, 1963–94 161

viii






Acknowledgments

This book synthesizes and develops much of what I have offered in mygraduate colloquium on Economic and Social History of the ModernMiddle East for over a decade. The students I have had the privilege ofteaching in that class occupy a very special place in my heart. I haveenjoyed immensely learning from them and sharing their companionshipand sense of purpose.

Eugene Rogan and Marigold Acland first proposed to me that I writethis book and accompanied it through its completion. I am most gratefulthat they did. The process of writing has forced me to think more broadlyand clarified many issues in my own mind.

In addition to them, Rob Blecher, Elliot Colla, Kenneth Cuno,Zachary Lockman, Karen Pfeifer, Marsha Pripstein Posusney, NancyReynolds, and Shira Robinson read parts or all of the text at variousstages in its development. They offered many valuable comments andsaved me from some careless errors. Had I been able to implementall their suggestions, this would undoubtedly have been a betterbook.

Papers that evolved into chapter 4 were delivered in the spring of 1999at the International Workshop on Modernity in the Middle East: Historyand Discourse at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; the Seminar onEmpires and Cultures Annual Workshop at Stanford University; and theConference on Nation and Cultural Perceptions of Identity at UCLA.Early versions of chapter 6 were presented at the 1998 annual meeting ofthe Middle East Studies Association and the Conference on NewApproaches to the Study of Ottoman and Arab Societies at BogazıçıUniversity in 1999. An early version of small sections of chapters 5 and 6was published as “The Working Class and Peasantry in the Middle East:From Economic Nationalism to Neoliberalism,” Middle East Report no.210 (Spring 1999):18–22.

A brief research trip to the Middle East in 1997 was supported by aHewlett Faculty Research Grant. Much of the text was written during1999–2000 while I was a fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center – an

ix






extraordinary institution for which I wish much continued good fortuneand success.

This is the first book I have written without being in close contact withits subjects. Nonetheless, some of them have always been in my mind andheart. I can never repay the debt I owe to Fathi Kamil, Hasan �Abd al-Rahman, Muhammad �Ali �Amir, Muhmmad Jad, Muhammad Mutawallial-Sha�rawi, Atiyya al-Sirafi, and Taha Sa�d �Uthman – Egyptian workerswhose insights and memories of their own lives launched me on my aca-demic career and who affirmed through their struggles and their kindnessto me the values we share.

As always, Miriam has supported me with her care and love.

x Acknowledgments






Glossary

�aliya – wave of Zionist immigration to Palestineamir or hakim – commander or prince, the hereditary ruler of Mount

Lebanon�ammiyya – commune, the name for peasant uprisings in nineteenth-

century Mount Lebanon and Hawranaradi al-filaha or athar – lands on which peasants had usufruct rights in

Egyptaradi al-usya – lands granted to the mamluks in Egyptayan (Tur.), a�yan (Ar.), also called derebeys, agas, or mütegallibes – provin-

cial notables or warlords who enhanced their power at the expense ofthe central Ottoman state

bilad al-sham – greater Syria, including current-day Syria, Lebanon,Jordan, Palestine, and Israel

boyars – local notables who became absentee landlords in Wallachia andMoldavia

çift–hane system – the normative agrarian land-tenure system of theOttoman Empire. Each peasant household (hane) had the right to per-petual tenancy on a farm (çift) large enough to sustain the family onstate-administered land as long as taxes were paid and cultivationmaintained

çiftlik – a farm, sometimes, but not always, a large, market-oriented estatecolon – a European settler in Algeriadira – the collectively held tribal domain in North Arabia and lower Iraqdunam/dunum – Palestine: 1 dunam�0.23 acres; Iraq: 1 dunum�0.618

acreseffendiyya – primarily an Egyptian term, the urban middle strata educated

in a western style and adopting European dressesnaf (Tur.), tawa�if (Ar.) – urban guilds of artisans, merchants, and

service workers, rarely peasantsfaddan – the standard Egyptian land measure, 1.03 acresfarda (Ar.), ferde (Tur.)– head tax imposed by the Egyptian regime during

the occupation of greater Syria in the 1830s

xi






gedik – originally, the tools necessary for a craft; subsequently, the right topractice it

Hatt-ı Serif – 1839 Gülhane Edict, marking the onset of the Tanzimatreforms

Histadrut – the General Federation of Hebrew Workers in (the Land of)Israel established in 1920

hospodars – wealthy Greek merchants who ruled Wallachia and Moldaviaindirectly for the Ottoman state

ib�adiyya – a tax-free grant of uncultivated lands in mid-nineteenthcentury Egypt

iltizam or muqata�a – tax farming or the plot of land itselfimara – the hereditary principality of Mount Lebanoniqta� – the land-tenure and administrative system in Mount Lebanon,

often misleadingly translated as feudalismirad-ı cedid – the fiscal apparatus established to finance the nizam-ı cedid

military unitIslahat Fermanı – 1856 Reform Decree, the second of the major Tanzimat

measures�izba – an Egyptian estate where peasants were given a dwelling and land

to grow subsistence crops in exchange for labor service on the land-lord’s cotton or other cash crops

Jabal Nablus – a district in the north of the central mountain chain ofPalestine

Janissary Corps – a musket-bearing infantry unit of the Ottoman armyjiflik – Arabization of çiftlik, an estate given to members of the royal family

in mid-nineteenth-century Egyptkharajiyya – peasant lands defined by the 1854 Egyptian land lawmalikâne – life-term tax farmmamluk (Ar.), memlûk (Tur.) – an elite warrior-slavemevat (Tur.), mawat (Ar.) – waste or uncultivated landmilk (Ar.), mülk (Tur.) – privately owned landmiri – state-administered landmugharasa – a cultivation contract common in Mount Lebanon: an owner

would engage a peasant to plant trees on his land and cultivate them inreturn for a portion of the land and the trees

mültezim (Tur.), multazim (Ar.) – holder of a tax farmmuqata�a – a district in the land-tenure and administrative system of Mount

Lebanon administered by a hereditary local notable, or muqata�ajimusha�a – collective form of landholding in Syria and Palestinemusharaka – sharecroppingmutamassirun – permanently resident Greeks, Italians, Armenians, Syrian

Christians, and Jews in Egypt

xii Glossary






mutanawwirun – in Syria, the term for the urban middle strata educated ina western style and adopting European dress

nizam-ı cedid – the European-style military unit established by SultanSelim III (1789–1807)

Rumelia – the European parts of the Ottoman Empiresalam – a contract in which a merchant lends a peasant money and the

peasant agrees to deliver a harvest to the merchant in return for a spec-ified price or portion of the proceeds from the sale of the crop

sarifa – a hut made from palm branches (Iraq)sened-i ittifak – 1808 Document of Agreement confirming the powers of

the provincial notablesshari�a (Ar.), seriat (Tur.) – Islamic lawSipahis – Ottoman cavalry soldierssufi – a Muslim mystic. Mystical orders (turuq) were often mobilized for

political and social purposesTanzimat – mid-nineteenth-century elite-initiated legal, administrative,

and fiscal reforms of the Ottoman Empiretimar – a rural land holding used to support a sipahi and his retainers.

Larger holdings were called ziamet or hass.tujjar – long-distance merchants of Cairo�uhda – a land grant to a military or civilian official in mid-nineteenth-

century Egypt�ulama� (Ar.), ülema (Tur.) – Muslim scholars�ushr (Ar.), ösür (Tur.) – Ottoman land tax calculated as a percentage of a

crop, variable by region�ushuriyya – privileged estates (ib�adiyya, jiflik, and �uhda) according to

the 1854 Egyptian land lawvakıf (Tur.), waqf (Ar.) – a public or family endowment established in

accord with Islamic lawWafd – the leading nationalist party of interwar Egypt, named for the del-

egation formed to negotiate independence at the Versailles peace con-ference

Glossary xiii






Acronyms and abbreviations

ASP – Arab Socialist Party (Syria)ASU – Arab Socialist Union (Egypt)AWC – Arab Workers’ Congress (Ittihad al-�Ummal al-�Arab, Palestine)COLA – cost-of-living allowanceCPI – Communist Party of IraqCUP – Committee of Union and Progress (Ottoman Empire)DISK – Devrimi Isçi Sendikaları Konfederasyonu (Confederation of

Revolutionary Trade Unions, Turkey)DMNL – al-Haraka al-Dimuqratiyya lil-Tahrir al-Watani (Democratic

Movement for National Liberation, Egypt)DP – Democrat Party (Demokrat Partisi, Turkey)EMNL – al-Haraka al-Misriyya lil-Tahrir al-Watani (Egyptian

Movement for National Liberation)FATULS – Ittihad al-Niqabat wa�l-Jam�iyyat al-�Arabiyya (Federation of

Arab Trade Unions and Labor Societies, Palestine)FLN – Front de Liberation Nationale (National Liberation Front,

Algeria)GFETU – General Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions (al-Ittihad al-

�Amm li-Niqabat �Ummal Misr)JNF – Jewish National FundJP – Justice Party (Adelet Partisi, Turkey)LP – Labor Party (Egypt)MISK – Milliyetçi, Isçi Sendikaları Konfedarasyonu (Confederation of

Nationalist Workers’ Unions, Turkey)MTWU – Niqabat �Ummal al-Sana�i� al-Yadawiyya (Manual Trades

Workers’ Union, Egypt)NCWS – al-Lajna al-Wataniyya lil-�Ummal w�al-Talaba (National

Committee of Workers and Students, Egypt)NLL – �Usbat al-Taharrur al-Watani (National Liberation League, Palestine)PAWS – Jam�iyyat al-�Ummal al-�Arabiyya al-Filastiniyya (Palestine Arab

Workers’ Society)PCGFETU – al-Lajna al-Tahdiriyya lil-Ittihad al-�Amm li-Niqabat �Ummal

xiv






Misr (Preparatory Committee for a General Federation of Egyptian TradeUnions)

PCP – Palestine Communist PartyPSD – Parti Socialist Destourien (Destourian Socialist Party, Tunisia)RPP – Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, Turkey)TLP – Türkiye Isçi Partisi (Turkish Labor Party)Türk Is – Türkiye Isçi Sendikaları Konfederasyonu (Confederation of

Turkish Trade Unions)UAR – United Arab RepublicUGTA – Union Générale des Travailleurs Algériens (General Union of

Algerian Workers)UGTT – Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (General Union of

Tunisian Workers)

Acronyms and abbreviations xv






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