The Egyptian Communist Organisation (Arabic: ?? , al-Munaamah a-iah al-Miriyyah, abbreviated ..) was a political organisation in Egypt. The group emerged in mid-1948 as the Voice of the Opposition, following a split from the Democratic Movement for National Liberation. Voice of the Opposition published Sawt al-brulitaria (?? ??, 'Voice of the Proletariat'). In December 1948 the group merged with the group Toward Bolshevik Organisation, becoming the Egyptian Communist Organisation.[1] It was dubbed as 'MISHMISH', a pejorative distortition of its acronym. Mishmish () means apricot in Arabic.[2][3]
The leadership of MISHMISH was almost exclusively Jewish, made up by former members of the Iskra group. Albeit the organisation adopted a '100% proletarian' line, most of its leaders came from wealthy backgrounds.[4]
MISHMISH condemned the Egyptian military intervention in Palestine as a 'racist war'. It saw that war as a ploy of the Arab bourgeoise, supported by imperialists, to divert the class struggle of Arab workers. The organisation called for Jewish self-determination in Palestine. In the view of MISHMISH Zionism would not be able to retain its dominance over Jewish politics in Palestine as the Jewish working class would be radicalised, and that Israel could develop into a socialist state.[4]
In 1949 MISHMISH was one of the bigger communist splinter groups, with several hundreds of members.[4] Its relationship to other communist groups was however very bad. MISHMISH routinely dubbed the other communist groups as police informers, blaming them for arrests of communists. Moreover, it began to label all other Egyptian communist groups as 'Titoists'.[3]
In early 1949, two MISHMISH cadres were arrested in Alexandria. In August 1950 the Cairo-based leadership of the group (Sidney Solomon, Odette Solomon, Aslan Cohen, Mirayy Cohen and Mohamed Sid-Ahmed) was arrested.[5] After the August 1950 arrests, the organisation became dormant. In 1954 it was dissolved, as the Solomon couple left Egypt.[4]
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Iskra (Egyptian communist organisation)
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Iskra (Arabic: , ash-Sharara) was a communist organization in Egypt. Iskra was founded in 1942 by Hillel Schwartz.[1] In the initial phase of its existence, the membership of Iskra was a few tens.[2]
The followers of Iskra were, like the supporters of other Egyptian communist factions, active inside the Wafdist Vanguard.[2]
Iskra emphazised studies of Marxist theory and its application in Egyptian society.[3] The approach of Iskra was that the first task of the communists was to build a base amongst revolutionary intellectuals, and that mass mobilisation would follow at a later stage.[2]
In 1944 Iskra established a study centre, Dar al-abahth al-'ilmiya ( , House of Scientific Research). The centre published literature and gave classes on communist thought.[3]
In 1945 Iskra was one of the forces behind the foundation of the National People's University, an institution that provided courses in politics and social sciences for labour activists.[3]
In February 1946, Iskra was one of the groups that organised the National Committee of Workers and Students, a mass movement for national indepedence and social reforms. The National Committee lasted until July the same year.[2]
In 1947 began publishing the newspaper al-Jamahir (, 'The Masses').[4] Shudi Atiya ash-Shafi was the director of the House of Scientific Research and later the editor of al-Jamahir.[5] Ash-Shafi had been the first Egyptian Muslim to become part of the Iskra leadership.[1]
In 1947 Iskra merged with the Egyptian Movement for National Liberation (HAMITU) to form the Democratic Movement for National Liberation.[6]
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Social profile
In comparison to other comtemporary communist organisations in Egypt, the membership of Iskra largely consisted of intellectuals. Like all communist groups, the cadres were mainly urban and based in the Cairo area. A large number of the Iskra cadres were Europeanised Jews or belonging to other European minorities. Many of the Iskra activists belonged to the upper strata of Cairo society, and were often recruited from the Lyce Franais du Caire. The recruitment was often done through arranging parties and social events. In 1945, Iskra had a membership of about 900. 40% of them were foreigners.[7][8]
Notably the Jewish members of the Iskra leadership took a more militant anti-Zionist approach that non-Jewish cadres. Around 1946/early 1947 they formed the Jewish Anti-Zionist League.[1]
It was in Iskra that the first female communists were organized in Egypt. Some of the first women cadres were Latifa az-Zayyat, Soraya Adham, Fatma Zaki, Inge Aflatun, Aime Setton and Odette Hazan Solomon.[9]
The Iskra group soon got the reputation of being a haven for sexual libertinism. In fact the anti-communist discourse in Egypt at the time, which was centered around claims that the communist movement was morally depraved and dominated by Jews, was largely based on the reputation of the Iskra group. Other communist factions became harshly critical of Iskra, especially the role of women in the organisation. Henri Curiel, leader of HAMITU, criticized Iskra for organizing parties as a tool for political recruitment.[7][8]
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The Democratic Movement for National Liberation (Arabic: ??, abbreviated ??, 'HADITU', French: Mouvement dmocratique de libration nationale, abbreviated M.D.L.N) was a communist organization in Egypt 1947-1955. HADITU was led by Henri Curiel.[1] The movement followed a line of National Democratic Revolution.[2]
HADITU was founded in July 1947 through the merger of two communist factions, the Egyptian Movement for National Liberation and Iskra.[3][4] Soon after the foundation of HADITU, the organization had a membership of around 1,400, being the largest communist organization in Egypt at the time.[5]
HADITU published a legal weekly newspaper, al-Jamahir (, 'The Masses'). Al-Jamahir had a regular circulation of 7-8,000, but the circulation occasionally peaked to around 15,000.[6] Al-Jamahir played an important role in the growth of HADITU. Free copies of the newspaper were handed out to workers at factories, and the newspaper became an important rallying point to spread the influence of the movement amongst industrial workers. The newspaper had a relatively high journalistic standard, with photographic essays and industrial exposures.[7]
In early 1948 Curiel presented the paper 'The Line of National and Democratic Forces' to the HADITU Central Committee, a document that became an important point of reference in the organization. The document contained criticisms against the earlier leadership and political line of the Egyptian communist movement.[4]
HADITU had a student front, the Communist Student League.[8] HADITU also led the Preparatory Committee for an Egyptian Students Federation.[9]
HADITU went through a series of splits. One of the first groups to break away from HADITU was the Revolutionary Bloc led by Shudi Atiya ash-Shafi (a split provoked by the non-inclusion of ash-Shafi in the HADITU Central Committee as the movement was reorganized. Ash-Shafi argued that HADITU had a bourgeois outlook). In April 1948 two HADITU splinter-groups, Toward a Bolshevik Organization and Voice of the Opposition, merged to form the Egyptian Communist Organisation. Another HADITU splinter-group was Toward an Egyptian Communist Party (NAHSHAM).[10][4]
In the wake of the January 1950 election the political climate was normalized somewhat. The more open political environment enabled HADITU to work more effectively and expand its influence. HADITU was the most effective political force in the workers movement at the time, playing a leading role in various trade unions.[11]
In the summer of 1950, Curiel was expelled from Egypt. Curiel was labelled as a 'foreigner', in spite of having held Egyptian citizenship for 15 years. In exile, Curiel settled down in Paris were he formed a HADITU branch of Egyptian-Jewish emigrs. The group became known as the 'Rome Group'. The Rome Group was able to secure some financial supplies to HADITU and translated HADITU documents into French and circulated them in Europe. Whilst Curiel formally remained as a HADITU Central Committee member, he no longer played any role in the decision-making of the organization and was not consulted on any major matters.[12]
HADITU supported the 1952 coup d'tat, being the only communist faction to do so.[13] Several prominent figures in the Revolutionary Command Council and the Free Officers had links to HADITU. RCC member Yusuf Siddiq was a member of HADITU. Another RCC member, Khalid Muhyi ad-Din, had briefly been affiliated to HADITU in 1947. Whilst not a RCC member, HADITU member Ahmed Hamrush was a prominent figure in the Free Officers Movement. HADITU member Ahmed Fu'ad, a military judge, acted as a liaison between HADITU and Gamal Abdel Nasser. However, in retrospect it appears that HADITU overestimated its influence over the RCC. The RCC also contained followers of the Muslim Brotherhood, and neither HADITU nor the Brotherhood were in control over the revolution.[14]
Towards the end of 1952, HADITU had around 2,000-3,000 members.[15]
Other communist groups voiced fierce criticisms against the government in junction with the violent suppression of a strike in Kafr Dawar and the execution of two workers accused of being the leaders of the strike.[13] After the executions of the two labour leaders, HADITU and non-communist trade unionists agitated in the working class neighbourhoods of Alexandria and Kafr Dawar (in vehicles, with loudspeakers, borrowed from the army) calling on workers to remain calm. The support to the government after the Kafr Dawar crack-down affected the HADITU influence in the labour movement, and created internal rifts between the party and its trade union cadres.[9]
In January 1953 the government closed down the legal press of HADITU. The Communist Student League took part some in militant protests against Nasser, but this was rebuked by HADITU. However HADITU reversed its policy of not criticizing the government in August 1953, as the government launched a crack-down on communist groups on the advice of the American embassy in Cairo.[13]
1953-1955 was a period of disarray in HADITU. The organization was weakened over disputes on how to relate to the regime. The movement had difficulties in handling the rising Pan-Arabist nationalism. One sector favoured supporting the government, due to its pan-Arab orientation in foreign policy.[16] In September 1954 there was a major crackdown on the organization, 25 of its cadres were arrested.[17] In the same year Joyce Blau, who had functioned as the courier between Curiel's Rome Group and the party in Egypt was arrested. With her arrest, communication between the party in Egypt and the exiles was cut off.[13]
Curiel's role was a bone of contention. In September 1952, the French communist daily L'Humanit published an article accusing Curiel of having had contacts with a Trotskyist informer during the Second World War. When HADITU attempted to conduct unity discussions with other communist factions, the issue of Curiel's membership (being tainted by the accusations in L'Humanit) became a stumbling block.[18]
In February 1955 HADITU merged with six other factions, forming the Unified Egyptian Communist Party. The Rome Group was not consulted or informed on the merger (although, once Curiel heard of the merger he and the rest of the Rome Group supported it). As the merger went through, the memberships of Curiel and HADITU leader Kamal Abd al-Halim (a close associate of Curiel) were suspended.[19]
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Egyptian Marxist Organisation was a communist group in Egypt. Notably, in 1949 a faction of the group adopted Maoist ideological interpretation, being the first section in the Arab communist movement to do so.[1] The group disbanded in 1965.[2]
