[Marxism] "Resistance in Egypt"

[yossi schwartz]

For us the few Marxists in Israel the Egyptian working women and men are not
only a source of aspiration but we see our  class in  Egypt as the leading
battalions  together with the Palestinian masses and the Iraqi resistance
of  the  anti capitalist  and anti imperialist struggle in the region.



The ruling class in Egypt is a close ally of the Israeli ruling class and
both states collaborate to imprison the Palestinians in  Gaza's ghetto. On
the other hand few  years ago when the port workers in Israel  went on  a
strike against privatization,  Israel ruling class appealed and received the
aid of Egyptian, Jordanian and Lebanese ruling  classes  to help the Israeli
capitalists to break the strike by allowing the ships' cargoes to enter
Israel via their ports.



We are aware of the long history of the workers in Ghazl el-Mahalla. It was
a center of resistance even before the war of 1947-8.



As a matter of fact the revolutionary struggle of the working class
following WWII was felt every where and for this reason the Western
imperialists and their Social Democratic servants and Russian imperialist
with their "Communist" parties betrayed  smashed and defeat this wave. One
of the outcome of this defeat for our class was the formation of the Israeli
Zionist state and the Nakba.



Was it not for the massive political support for the Zionist state by all
the imperialists including Russian imperialism who send weapons and
volunteers  to the Zionist ruling class Israel would have not been formed..







In any case we can find in a revolutionary magazine of the time the
following description:



In the other countries of the Middle East as well the Palestinian war left
its marks. In Egypt the labor movement never again reached the climax of
February 1946, when for some days the Workers' and Students' Committee
dominated the streets of Cairo and Alexandria. Nevertheless, new big strikes
and struggles were still to come. In September 1947, for instance, a strike
was declared at the big textile factory in Mehalla al-Kubra where about
30,000 workers are employed. The strike led to armed clashes with the
police. On April 5, 1948, however, it was the police force itself which went
on strike, demanding improvement of its working conditions. In the strike in
Alexandria thousands of workers left the factories and organized a huge
demonstration which was joined by the striking policemen, part of whom were
armed. It took the Egyptian army two days to restore order after martial law
had been declared. It should be stressed that this strike was only the
culmination of a whole series of strikes and disputes at oil companies,
textile factories, sugar mills and transport companies (i.e., the Suez Canal
Co.) which broke out in March and April, 1948.



The revolutionary struggle of the Arab working class  leading to the
overthrowing of all the regime in the region and establishing a working
class federation of the Middle East that include a workers State of
Palestine from the river to the sea is the only solution.
Fourth International, October 1949


S. Munier Zionism and the Middle East

The Aftermath of the Jewish-Arab War

S. Munier [1]<http://www.trotskyism.org/newspape/fi/vol10/no09/munier.htm#n1>,
Zionism and The Middle East – The Aftermath of the Jewish-Arab War (A Report
from Israel), Fourth International, Vol.10
No.9<http://www.trotskyism.org/newspape/fi/index2.htm#fi49_10>,
October 1949, pp.277-283
Today for our class to win , the struggle must lead to a socilaist
federation of the Middle East with A socialist Palestinian Republic  from
the river to the sea as one of the states. This of course requqires that the
struggle will be led by the organized most consciousness section of the
workers .