Scholars have pointed out that labor and democracy movements in Egypt witnessed an upsurge in the 2000s paving the way to the Egyptian uprising of 2011. To explain the unprecedented wave of labor unrest and youth mobilizations, scholars have emphasized the role of hardships and the acceleration of neoliberal polices in the 2000s. But since hardening life conditions and neoliberal attacks are the norm of both the 1980s and the 2000s, other factors are necessary for explaining this unpreceded protest wave. Two main changes stand out. There were alterations to Egyptian capitalism, and subsequent political realignments that took place between the 1980s and the 2000s. I first argue that the concomitance of three factors gave more workers leverage and disruptive capacities. The adoption of an export strategy, and the increasing dependence of the state on the growing competitive export sectors gave workers in these sectors leverage. At the same time, despite the neoliberal turn, Egypt still had a significant public sector, with unionized workers, and a history of labor militancy. The decline in state-labor corporatist relations, and in state repression in comparison to the 1980s also played a role. Second, changes in Egyptian capitalism were associated with political realignments of the 2000s — which led to the disintegration of the NDP social base, hindering the ruling party’s ability to mobilize support. It also led to an opening of a political opportunity in the 2000s, which created space for the opposition to mobilize around the 2005 parliamentary elections, invigorating youth activism. The Egyptian state then faced massive social unrest and a growing political opposition. The ability of the vibrant democracy movement to put forward a clear political reform program by the end of 2010, the continued mobilizations of disruptive labor sectors, and the excessive exclusionary policies of the regime in 2010 undermined the legitimacy of the state, and led to mass mobilizations by 2011, forcing the regime to concede to Mubarak’s removal.