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A History of Egyptian Communism: Jews and Their Compatriots in Quest of Revolution
Abstract
The proposed paper will focus on politics and society in Egypt, generally, and on Jews and Egyptian communism, particularly. It will show that since the emergence of organized communism in the post World War I period, Jews played an active and productive role in the Communist movements in Egypt. The paper will narrate the history of Egyptian communism with special reference to the Jewish participants in the last four decades of the monarchy and shortly thereafter. At the same time, however, it does not belittle or disregard the role played by other activists in Egypt. The participation of Jews in Egypt’s communist movement has received remarkably little scholarly attention. The propsed paper, based on a broader study, will endeavor to fill the lacuna in the existing literature. By drawing on sources, which were hitherto inaccessible (much of the source material is gleaned from archives in Egypt, Russia, Amsterdam (the IICH), the United Kingdom, the United States and Israel), the proposed paper will provide the following new findings: First, stressing continuity, it challenges the prevailing belief among scholars that the Egyptian communist party went through two major phases – the internationalist in the 1920s and the nationalist of the 1940s. Second, it will argue that – contrary to the prevailing belief in the literature – the Comintern was not involved in the expulsion of Joseph Rosenthal, the founding father of organised communism, from the ECP (12/1922). Moreover, his expulsion had nothing to do with the fact that he was Jewish. Also, Egyptian communists of Jewish origin were active in nearly every communist faction, and are to be held accountable for the fact that the Egyptian communist movement remained divided most of the time. Third, the communist movement swam against the national current on key issues (especially with regard to Palestine, Sudan, relations to the Soviet Union and neutralism) and paid a heavy price for it, although their positions were later – at least, in part – adopted by the Egyptian government. Fourth, through prominent communist theoretical forums, the communists presented a social and economic revolutionary platform on issues related to feudalism, capitalism and monopolies; social justice and democracy. The revolutionary platform that they presented with regard to these issues had gradually seeped into government policy and thinking, particularly, under Egypt’s military regime. The latter reformulated, elaborated, implemented and institutionalized, at different phases and under changing social and political circumstances ideas originated in that platform.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Egypt
Sub Area
Middle East/Near East Studies