Between 1919 and 1921, a series of large-scale uprisings erupted in the port city of Alexandria, Egypt. These uprisings targeted institutions of the British colonial regime, including military and police, in addition to the European bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie. The uprisings were often accompanied by numerous strikes and protests that took place in various industries across the city throughout this period. Although scholarship on modern Egypt has conceptualized these events as part of a country-wide nationalist revolution that began in March 1919, a close reading of colonial state records and media reports indicate that nationalist demonstrations played a minor role in the Alexandria uprisings. Laboring men and women, characterized as “the rabble” in colonial records and “the mob” in media accounts, were at the forefront of the uprisings, in some cases ignoring the requests of nationalist leaders that sought to intervene. This paper argues that the nature of the post-WWI uprisings in Alexandria challenges the nationalist framework that scholars have long used to study the events of the early interwar period in Egypt. Bringing together a variety of sources from this period, including colonial records, legal records, media reports, and trade statistics, this paper shows that the events in Alexandria were primarily labor uprisings that are best understood in the context of Alexandria’s shifting relationship to the global economy both during and after WWI. The decline in Mediterranean trade during the war followed by the reintegration of Alexandria into the global economy after the war resulted in a sudden influx of foreign goods, a surge in the circulation and price of gold, and rapid inflation, which had serious repercussions for industries both in Alexandria and across the country. This paper will highlight the effects of the wartime economy on workers in early interwar Alexandria as a starting point for rethinking the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 within the framework of the global economy.