Where now for the Egyptian revolution?
Following hot on the heels of revolutionary events
in Tunisia, the Egyptian masses took to the streets during 18 tumultuous
days. Now, all the authoritarian regimes in the Middle East and beyond
fear for their rotten rule. This is, however, only the beginning of the
revolution in Egypt. PETER TAAFFE assesses the current critical
situation and possible developments.
IN RESPONSE TO the 1936 French mass strikes and
sit-downs in the factories, from ‘distant Norway’, Leon Trotsky wrote:
"Never has the radio been so precious as during these days". How much
more so – with the array of modern global communications – can we agree
with those sentiments in relation to today’s Egyptian revolution!
Millions and billions have had a grandstand view of the splendid
unfolding of this drama. All other ‘distractions’ have been put in the
shade: football matches between Egypt’s top teams were cancelled,
perhaps the ultimate indicator of the effect of revolution!
We have written previously (see The Socialist, 10
February) that, even in a spontaneous revolutionary movement, the
guarantee for a successful outcome in overthrowing the ‘ancien régime’
can often be found in the element of leadership present in the
insurrection, and which has been prepared by the revolutionary forces in
the previous period. This was clearly missing in what commentators
dubbed the ‘leaderless revolution’. Yet such was the immensity – the
human flood – and determination of the masses who occupied not just
Cairo but all the cities of Egypt – six million on the day of Hosni
Mubarak’s speech on TV, according to the Independent’s correspondent,
Robert Fisk – that Mubarak’s act of defiance crumbled as he fled to his
lair at Sharm el Sheikh.
A number of factors were responsible in finally
prompting the generals to oust Mubarak. Undoubtedly, one was the
occupation of Tahrir Square. It was bad enough for the regime that it
was forced to tolerate the mass occupation of the square for a
tumultuous 18 days – which represented an element of dual power where
the street challenged the state machine. But when it began to grow in
size and power after Mubarak’s infamous TV performance on Thursday 10
February, the generals took fright.
The biggest crowd ever gathered in the square.
Ominously, some began to move towards the presidential palace, the TV
stations, defence ministries and other centres of the regime’s power.
This conjured up visions of a Serbian-type development, with mass
occupations of the TV, etc, and all that flowed from this. Worse, with
the prospect of a Tunisian-type storming and occupation of vital
strategic interests of the regime, we now know that Robert Gates, US
Defence Secretary, urgently contacted the Egyptian generals during the
vital hours of Thursday night and Friday morning demanding Mubarak’s
immediate removal. Even more threatening was the decisive emergence of
the working class through important strikes – even factory occupations –
which represents a new and decisive turn in the Egyptian revolution.
Element of surprise
THIS EARTHSHAKING 18-DAY convulsive revolutionary
development – not the last word that will be spoken by the masses in
Egypt by any means – took all layers of bourgeois public opinion and
‘opinion formers’ by surprise. The Committee for a Workers’
International (CWI) was not amongst those who were incapable of
foreseeing these developments. In recent world relations documents,
prepared for the tenth world congress of the CWI that met in December,
we foreshadowed the removal of Mubarak (see: www.socialistworld.net).
This was not the case even with the most ‘informed’
commentators. Robert Fisk, whose reports for the Independent newspaper
have best illustrated the revolutionary events, honestly confesses now,
"I was wrong" to dismiss the likelihood of a revolt against the Egyptian
regime. (15 February)
In a very informed piece in a recent issue of the
London Review of Books, an observer speaks of the impression he drew
from a visit to Cairo last year. There was, he writes, a widespread
"myth of Egyptian passivity". He reported an Egyptian journalist saying:
"We are all just waiting for someone to do the job for us". Another
popular Egyptian sociologist also remarked that "Egyptians are not a
revolutionary nation", and he concurs that "few would have disagreed"
with these sentiments.
On the surface, the molecular change in the mood of
the masses was not obvious, particularly to superficial commentators
without roots in the population, particularly the downtrodden workers
and poor farmers. Actually, all the ingredients for revolution had been
prepared beforehand, with a split in the ruling class, the middle class
in opposition, and the workers and poor showing their colossal
discontent with the worsening of their conditions, rising prices and the
aggravation of mass unemployment. This was shown in the previous strike
waves amongst the workers (see the CWI website) which convulsed Egypt
and shook the ruling class at the time.
Moreover, there is a history of open opposition and
rebellion to Egyptian regimes. The 25th January, when the revolution
really took off, is itself the day on which an infamous massacre of
demonstrators by British troops was carried out in Cairo – ironically,
of police, who are universally hated in this revolution. There were also
the revolutions against the royalty in 1952, and bread riots against
both Anwar El Sadat – who preceded Mubarak – and Mubarak himself. The
spark to ignite this current revolution undoubtedly came from Tunis.
This was symbolised in the triumphal placard after Mubarak had exited:
"A tale of two cities: Tunis and Cairo".
A soft coup
THE JOY OF the Egyptian workers was unconcealed. One
commented on the day that Mubarak fled: "We built the pyramids. Today is
the fourth pyramid". (Financial Times) At the same time, the
consciousness that the revolution had not fully triumphed – full
democratic rights remain to be implemented, and are in doubt so long as
military rule is not dismantled – was evident in the views of many of
the revolutionary fighters. One commented correctly that "we cannot stop
with half a revolution". In fact, a kind of ‘soft coup’ in the aftermath
of Mubarak’s departure has effectively been carried out by the generals.
The main elements of the Mubarak regime – landlordism and capitalism –
have not yet disappeared.
The army reflects the social composition of Egypt
itself. Conscripts make up about 40% of the army. They have been
radicalised by the revolution, but so have significant layers of the
officer corps, particularly the junior officers. During the 18 days,
they remained sympathetic but mostly passive towards the revolution and
the revolutionaries.
The generals, therefore, will attempt to restore
strict military discipline. They are conscious, as Fisk commented, that
the soldiers refused, when Mubarak gave orders for the tanks in Tahrir
Square to open fire on 30 January, as fighter jets strafed Cairo in an
attempt to cower the demonstrators. Tank commanders were seen turning
off their headphones in defiance, many of them having contact with their
families who demanded of them that they do not fire on the people. The
increasingly democratic sentiment, itself reflecting the radicalisation
of the middle layers of society, represents a mortal threat to the tops
of the army.
Both the army elite and those they guard – big
business and landlordism – believe that the masses’ job ‘is done’. They
must now go back to sleep! Yet in the Observer newspaper, one defiant
participant declared: "The revolution isn't over yet". Others commented:
"We don't want the military… They are not democratic". An indication of
the depth of the change that has been wrought was that even the former
pillars of Mubarak, such as the government newspaper Al-Ahram, declared
(of course, after Mubarak had safely fled Cairo): "The people ousted the
regime… Egyptians had been celebrating until morning, with victory in
the first popular revolution in their history".
There are some illusions amongst the masses in the
army as a kind of guarantor of the revolution. This is reinforced by
those like Mohamed ElBaradei, who declared after Mubarak’s defiant
speech that the army should take control in order to prevent an
"explosion" in the country. This sums up the fear of the liberal
capitalists of anything which threatens the economic and social
foundations of capitalist Egypt. The capitalists understand that,
ultimately, the army – despite its record of military rule over 60 years
– is the guardian of ‘private property’, the wealth of the ruling class.
Moreover, WikiLeaks has shown from diplomatic messages that Mohamed
Hussein Tantawi, still the army commander-in-chief, wielded "significant
influence [in Mubarak’s cabinet where he] opposed both economic and
political reform that he perceives is eroding central government power".
Shashank Joshi, an analyst from the Royal United Services Institute,
also comments that Field Marshall Tantawi "embodies the reactionary
forces still embedded at the heart of the regime that may have shed its
figurehead but not its essence". (BBC website)
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The threat of counter-revolution
FACED WITH THE choice of the status quo and a real
revolution, particularly the socialist revolution, the ruling classes,
including the army, will always choose the first option and accommodate
themselves to reaction as the ‘lesser evil’. An Irish revolutionary,
Henry Joy McCracken, once said: "The rich always betray the poor". This
is particularly true for the rotten landlords and capitalists which
predominate in the neo-colonial countries.
In the first period, the representatives of the old
regime are compelled to accommodate themselves to the new power. For
instance, in the Russian revolution in 1917 – not only in August, when
he attempted a crushing counter-revolutionary coup, but even soon after
the February revolution, the reactionary General Kornilov schemed
against the coalition of alleged workers’ representatives, the
Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries, and the capitalist parties.
Kornilov offered the provisional government troops to put down the
workers in Petrograd and crush their newly acquired rights, particularly
the workers’ and soldiers’ councils (soviets).
This is a warning of what can happen if the
revolution and the gains of the working class are rolled back. So also
is the example of Chile in the 1970s. General Pinochet – the head of the
army under the radical socialist government of Salvador Allende – used
his position to prepare the coup which drowned the Chilean workers’
movement in blood. Revolution, unless carried through to a conclusion
with the establishment of socialism, inevitably ‘provokes’
counter-revolutionary attempts on behalf of the remnants of the old
regime.
So it was in the magnificent Spanish revolution with
the attempt to seize power in 1932 by the reactionary José Sanjurjo.
This was defeated because the revolution was not yet a spent force. But
when they considered it opportune, reaction once again attempted to
strike back. After the failure of the Asturian commune of 1934, which
resulted in the ‘two black years’ (bieno negro), this prepared the way
for another and even mightier revolutionary wave when the Popular Front
was hoisted to power on the backs of the Spanish masses.
A golden opportunity to carry through a revolution
was once more given – then, again, in May 1937 – but was squandered
because of the false policies of the leaders of the workers’
organisations who formed a coalition – a strike-breaking conspiracy –
with the liberal capitalists which rescued Spanish capitalism and
prevented the socialist revolution.
A similar problem emerged in the Portuguese
revolution which overthrew Marcello Caetano in 1974. To begin with,
right-wing generals disguised their views. Then, in March 1975, General
Spinola (the first formal leader of the revolutionary government)
launched a military coup which was ignominiously defeated and actually
ignited a revolutionary wave, resulting in 75% of the economy taken into
state hands.
Military manoeuvres
A SIMILAR SCENARIO could open up in Egypt over time.
It is not just the trappings of the Mubarak clique which should be
removed but also the socio-economic power upon which it rested. The army
tops are bound by a thousand ties to landlordism and capitalism. The
head of the army, Tantawi, is one of the biggest owners of industry – in
fact a series of industries – in Egypt. The Egyptian army is very
similar to the Pakistani military elite in this regard: both own
significant sections of industry and merge with the capitalist elite.
How can this officer caste be expected to
demonstrate unswerving sympathy and support for the revolution? After
the first stage, which has contained a big element of a political
revolution – the removal of Mubarak without yet touching the economic
and social foundations of his regime – they are seeking to manoeuvre to
adapt to the revolutionary winds when they are in full force. But, once
the working class decisively enters the political arena – as it has done
magnificently in recent days through a series of strikes and occupations
which go beyond the issues of wages and conditions by demanding, for
example, the removal of corrupt management – the attitude of the officer
caste undergoes a profound change. Combative strikes and demonstrations
have broken out amongst workers in private and state manufacturing
industries, as well as by ambulance drivers, transport workers,
journalists and even the police, begging for ‘forgiveness’ over their
past crimes.
Contrary to the impression given, not all sections
of the army were ‘neutral’ or sympathetic to the revolution. Horrifying
tales have emerged about army torture chambers in the Sinai and
elsewhere in which brutal beatings and executions have taken place
against opponents of Mubarak even during the revolution. Moreover,
demonstrators have been arbitrarily picked up from the streets and
subjected to similar treatment.
At the same time, there were significant sections of
the officers who sympathised and joined the revolution. This, together
with the example of the junior officers marching in the mass
demonstrations, indicates that, at least at the lower level, the army
has been infected by the virus of revolution.
At the same time, there will be growing opposition
to the rich army elite at the base, including amongst the junior
officers. Why should the army tops be the ones who alone decide on how
the army as a whole should act in the course of the revolution? Not just
the working class but the ranks of the army, too, need the means to
express their views and suggest relevant action for society as a whole.
It is true that, at this stage, the Egyptian army is not at the level
of, for instance, the Portuguese army at the time of the 1974
revolution.
That army had been enormously radicalised by
Portuguese imperialism’s war against the liberation movements in
Mozambique and Angola. As a result, formerly right-wing officers were
radicalised, came into opposition to the Caetano regime, with some
seeking links with the organisations of the working class. As a result,
they were open to the ideas of socialism, which deepened in the process
of the Portuguese revolution itself. Similar situations have occurred in
the neo-colonial world on occasions, for instance, in the Philippines.
But the officer caste in Egypt is bound hand and
foot to the interests of the possessing classes. Moreover, under
different US presidents, it has become an integral part of US
imperialism’s ‘security’ framework for the Middle East. Mubarak was
propped up essentially by the colossal tribute paid by US imperialism to
Egypt, which amounted to $1.5 billion annually. A big portion of this,
if not the majority, was doled out to the military, particularly to the
summits.
However, in the aftermath of the immortal 18 days
and their lasting repercussions, opposition and questioning of the army
leadership have been fermenting amongst the lower ranks. This will grow
and come into collision with the army tops. It is therefore necessary
for the revolutionary forces to raise the question of fraternisation
with the rank and file, to raise the slogan of linking the movements of
the workers and the poor farmers together with the base of the army –
through the organisation of committees of soldiers with democratic
rights to propose changes in the army and in society.
Yawning class chasm
ALONGSIDE THIS, AND more crucially, is the
overriding need now to build on recent important working-class struggles
by beginning to construct workers’ committees in the factories and poor
neighbourhoods, linked together on local, regional and national levels.
From the very base of society, amongst the most
exploited and downtrodden workers and poor, a revolution naturally
invokes sympathy and support. Even the ‘outcasts’ – normally almost
unnoticed – have been drawn into the maelstrom of events. This is as
true of the Egyptian revolution as those that have gone before. The
homeless children of Cairo, as Fisk described, have been caught up in
the revolutionary events. In heartbreaking accounts of these unfortunate
victims of the system, numbering a colossal 50,000 in Cairo, Fisk
describes how these children were caught up on the sides of both
counter-revolution and revolution in the battles that unfolded. The
demonstrators in the square in particular took many of them under their
wing, gave them food and provided sleeping arrangements. This gives a
glimpse of the solidarity towards the victims of landlordism and
capitalism which the revolution has evoked.
Above all, the revolution provided an opportunity
for the working class to advance its own demands of an industrial,
economic but also political character. After all, it was the economic
factors and the discontent which resulted from this which were the main
driving forces of the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions. The
deterioration in real wages, combined with astronomical price rises,
particularly staples like food, drove the revolution on, affecting the
middle class but, particularly, pushing those workers, the urban and
rural poor, ‘over the edge’. According to official statistics, in a
population of 80-85 million, 40% live in poverty, 44% of the labour
force is illiterate or semi-literate, and a crushing 54% work in the
‘informal sector’.
A widespread and yawning chasm between the rich and
poor has widened enormously under the impact of the world economic
crisis. This was illustrated by workers who spoke to the Independent on
Sunday about their wages and living conditions. Some payslips of weekly
wages amounted to 400 Egyptian pounds a month (£42). A hospital
anaesthetist commented that his gross pay was 700 Egyptian pounds a
month (just £70). From this princely sum, this worker had to find £11 in
taxes and £15 for electricity.
Seeking to mollify the workers who were rising in
support of the revolution, Mubarak graciously granted to six million
state employees a 15% increase in their salary – just before he departed
the scene. This was merely a 15% increase in the basic salary, which
amounted to no more than 20% of the total wages. Demands for a living
wage, a shorter working week and all the other demands of the working
class, including health and safety, should be reflected in a fighting
programme for the struggles of the working class in the next period.
The call for an independent organisation of trade
unions is vital. The state-backed trade unions are a sham. They imitate
those that existed in the Stalinist states. Mubarak implemented a host
of measures emanating from Stalinism, to which he and the Egyptian state
were linked at one stage (he is a fluent Russian speaker). The lackeys
and corrupt place-seekers in these organisations must be replaced with
genuine, fighting trade union and workers’ representatives.
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Independent workers’ organisation
AT THE SAME time, the incipient trade union
movements in Egypt should turn their backs on the western-based tame
trade union leaders who wish to ensnare them into accommodating Egyptian
landlordism and capitalism. Such union leaders in the west invariably
bend the knee to capital. The Egyptian masses did not rise up against
Mubarak just for economic reasons. The logic of their struggle means
that they must fight for the abolition of the system which has enslaved
them, linking this to democracy. The acquisition of democratic rights is
essential, including the vital ones of the right to strike and form
unions.
But the working class needs its own organisations
for struggle, both in the factories and in society in general. It is
necessary that they have a powerful, independent voice in this
tumultuous period, just as their Russian counterparts did in 1905 and
1917. The ruling classes will strive to create a ‘parliament’ in their
own image, with their own representatives dominating. The masses must
have ‘their parliament’ – workers’ and farmers’ councils – while
fighting for a democratic constituent assembly.
There is a crying necessity, therefore, for a
genuine trade union confederation of Egyptian workers. At the same time,
this must be linked to the creation of an independent, flexible and
democratic political expression for the organised working class. The
equivalent of the mass committees, which were created in the Russian
revolution and have featured in other similar movements in history, is
vital for the working class of Egypt today. When, in the first Russian
revolution of 1905, such committees were improvised, they were merely
strike committees. None of the workers’ political representatives
imagined that they would be broadened out into mass organs of struggle
and, eventually, after the October 1917 revolution, into organs of power
for the victorious working class. The demand for mass workers’
committees is not applicable in all situations as some on the left
imagine. But it is legitimate to raise this demand in revolutionary
periods, which is obviously the case in Egypt.
It is appropriate to form mass councils of action
when there is a fundamental change in the situation, when revolution
begins to unfold and the masses pour onto the scene. Kept in the dark
night of 60 years of military rule, the Egyptian masses will be testing
out all means to express their views and action to change their lives.
This is not the situation yet in every part of the Middle East. But this
demand does apply to Egypt at this stage and in the next period. The
whole situation suggests the creation of such committees, which should
also involve neighbourhood committees, small-business people, etc.
A revolutionary constituent assembly
ALREADY THE STRIKES have taken on not only economic
and industrial characteristics but are, at bottom, political as well.
This is shown in the strikes and occupations in some factories.
Undoubtedly, these developments are of an incipient character.
Nevertheless, they are symptomatic of how the Egyptian workers view the
situation. A revolution is, above all, a great teacher of the masses,
who learn more and with greater rapidity than in normal periods. A
French revolutionary figure once said that, in the five years of the
18th-century revolutions, the French people had acquired more experience
than in the previous six centuries! The 18 days in January and February
were a period of educating and steeling the Egyptian workers in the
processes of revolution and counter-revolution.
In order to sustain this, however, the working class
needs to draw all the necessary conclusions. It is absolutely necessary
to begin the process of creating mass committees today. At the same
time, democratic demands and slogans arising from this assume a crucial
character. The working class must fight to express its own independent
position in society, jealously fighting for and guarding its independent
existence, especially from ‘well-meaning’ but fatally flawed liberal
capitalists.
It must also champion, in fact, be the best
advocates of, a democratic programme and democratic rights. This is the
only way that the working class can put itself at the head of the
downtrodden sections of society – the farmers, urban poor and sections
of the middle class – who see the gaining of democratic rights as the
most urgent task in the situation which obtains in Egypt today.
Democratic slogans, such as a free press – including the nationalisation
of printing press facilities accessible to all trends of opinion,
particularly the working class – and the right of free assembly are
necessary.
But the most important demand of a general character
is for a democratic parliament, a constituent assembly. The regime has
announced that elections will take place in six months. In recent days,
it implied this could be as early as in the next two months. It is quite
clear that the possessing classes, even when they are prepared to
concede some democratic rights, are not in favour of real, honest
democracy accessible to all. No trust in the generals or the
‘higher-ups’ to construct a genuinely democratic Egypt! In the last few
days, the generals have appeared in their true colours by calling for
the end of strikes, which ‘cause chaos’. This is their price for
dangling the prospect of limited ‘democratic reform’.
In answer to this, workers should demand that,
alongside the independent workers’ and poor farmers’ councils, the
overall democratic programme should be crowned by the call for a
constituent assembly, which can only be revolutionary in character given
what will take place in the context of the unfolding revolution.
Moreover, such a body can only be convened if it represents the
majority, the toilers in the towns and countryside. Committees to ensure
that the elections are properly organised, that votes are not bought as
in the past, will be absolutely essential.
We differ completely from all pro-capitalist
formations that have also raised the question of a ‘constituent
assembly’ in a general way. The working class has no interest in a
regime in which the president has the ultimate say. This was the regime
of Mubarak, Sadat and, before him, even Gamal Abdel Nasser. The working
classes were elbowed aside as were the poor masses. We are against a
second chamber which is invariably used as a check against the more
radical demands of the working class and poor. One chamber in democratic
elections to a revolutionary constituent assembly should be the
watchword of the Egyptian masses.
Such a demand, taken up in a mass campaign by the
revolutionary forces would, have an enormous effect in the charged
situation in Egypt. It will be furthered by the creation of a new mass
workers’ party which would give a voice to the forgotten and voiceless
masses. The working class should fight for class independence,
particularly from false friends who emanate from the ‘liberal’ wing of
Egyptian capitalism.
International repercussions
THE EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION was not just an event for
the country itself, but was a Middle Eastern and world phenomenon. The
Egyptian masses have shaken to the foundations the imperialist powers
who believed they held all the reins in their hands. One placard held up
in the post-Mubarak celebrations summed up the regional effects of the
revolution: ‘Two down, 20 to go’. First, Tunisia and now the Egyptian
revolution. Of course, they will not be automatically replicated in
every detail or at the same rhythm throughout the region.
There is not one stable regime in the region, as the
CWI commented last October. The most reactionary regimes in the Gulf
states, the semi-feudal potentates, are trembling before the magnificent
movement of the Egyptian workers. Already in Jordan, the echoes of these
movements have been reflected in mass demonstrations, as they have in
Algeria and in Morocco, with 18% graduate unemployment and where mass
movements cannot be ruled out. In Yemen, the president has promised to
vacate office. However, his attempt to hold on to power for two more
years is untenable. He could be toppled by a mass movement in the next
period.
The balance of forces has decisively changed in the
region. One of the most frightened regimes is undoubtedly what appeared
to be the ‘strongest’, Israel. Hitherto, the Israeli ruling class was
backed up by the Mubarak regime through the shameful embargo imposed on
the starving, miserable Palestinian masses of Gaza. At the same time,
the Suez canal is being used as a vital economic and strategic military
factor for bolstering Israel. Most nauseating is the posture of those
like Tony Blair and Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, towards
their ‘personal friend’ Mubarak and his successors. Blair, as is widely
known, used the facilities in Mubarak’s holiday homes.
The Israeli working class, which recently has come
into collision with its own government, will also have been affected by
the Egyptian revolution. A democratic socialist Egypt would initiate
close collaboration between the working class in both countries, leading
to a real and lasting peace through a socialist confederation of the
Middle East.
A medium- and long-term consequence of the events in
Egypt could be the opening up of the scenario of another war. But the
most important ‘war’ to be fought in the region is the class war.
Clearly, a new page in history has been opened up in the region and the
world, particularly for the working class. All the forces striving for a
socialist world – the Socialist Party and Committee for a Workers’
International – salute the Egyptian working class and fervently hope and
expect that that this opens up a new favourable chapter in the movement
of the working class throughout the world.
What next after Mubarak’s overthrow?
Mubarak’s removal, and the attempt by the
military high command to safeguard the essence of the old system and
capitalism, has naturally sparked off a lively debate in Egypt on
what should happen next. In these discussions, the CWI argues for:
* No trust in the military chiefs and no
participation in any government with leaders or officials of the
Mubarak dictatorship.
* Immediate lifting of the state of emergency.
Immediate freeing of all political detainees and prisoners. No
prosecution or victimisation of activists in the revolution.
* Full political freedom. Freedom to publish and
organise. Democratic control over the state media, opening up the
state media to publish the views of all political trends supporting
the revolution.
* No restriction of the right to strike and take
other industrial action. Full freedom to form trade unions and
conduct trade union activity. For democratic, combative trade
unions.
* Arrest and trial before popular courts all
those involved in the Mubarak police regime’s repression and
corruption. Confiscate the assets of the looters and corrupt.
* Urgent formation of democratic committees of
action in the workplaces and neighbourhoods – particularly in
working-class and poor neighbourhoods – to co-ordinate the removal
of all remnants of the old regime, maintain order and supplies and,
most importantly, to become the basis for a government of workers’
and poor representatives.
* Formation of democratic rank-and-file
committees in the armed forces and police to ensure the officers
cannot use these forces against the revolution.
* No to rule by the military chiefs or the
elite. For a government of the representatives of workers,
small farmers and the poor!
* No to a constitution approved or drawn up by
the military. For the rapid election of a real democratic
parliament, a revolutionary constituent assembly. This should not
only agree rules for elections but also a programme to change the
conditions of the Egyptian masses. Such a parliament can only be
convened – if it is really to represent the majority of the
population – under the control of democratic workplace and
neighbourhood committees. Representatives of the workers and poor
farmers should form the majority in this parliament/constituent
assembly.
* For a genuinely democratic socialist Egypt.
For the nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy
under democratic workers’ control and management to enable a
socialist plan to be drawn up to raise living standards for the vast
majority of Egyptians in the cities and the countryside.